2024-07-25: It's Going To Be One Fine Day
- Cast: Astarte Spalding-Monteiro, Rose Tritten
- Where: The One Fine Day
- Date: U.C. 0099 07 25
- Summary: The Tritten Team is temporarily reassigned to serve on the One Fine Day in order to assist with the campaign against the Vajra. When they arrive, they meet with the woman who will be their captain.
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
It had been a few days since the Vajra attack on Sheryl Nomes concert. Rose Tritten and her team had returned to the Eco for debriefing, and with orders to return to Armory One. On the whole, the teams performance had been...satisfactory, to put it politely. The number of civilians able to be evacuated from Lagos in record time was exemplary, and only the injuries to Sheryl Nome herself were the real black mark against the entire operation. That said, the appearance of the Vajra on Earth itself was most concerning to NUNE, and the team was anticipating future follow up on the matter. Which is why it was no surprise when Rose received a command to report to the Eco's operations officer. She rode the people mover through the hallways of the ship, until she arrived at the office. Knocking twice, the door slid open, and she drifted into the room with a salute to the ZAFT Black Uniform behind the desk, a man in his mid thirties named Pau Rozin. She saluted, and listened attentively.
"Tritten, you and your team are taking a temporary reposting to the One Fine Day for a special operation. Dump your lockers and report to the starboard cargo bay for vacuum transfer no later than 1530. You'll be briefed over there." Rozin said, his purple eyes looking fatigued like an Operations Officer's should.
"We'll be ready sir!" Rose saluted smartly, being dismissed and quickly riding the people mover back to the off-duty room. When she arrived, she spotted her teammates and friends in their little corner of the room. Sushila floated casually, resting her eyes while Aspyn was frantically refreshing her tablet, same as she had been since the attack on Earth.
You know web pages need to load first, right Aspyn? Sushila said as Rose drifted over to the two.
I need to know when Sheryls condition improves, okay?! Aspyn replied, still poking the tablet.
"We gotta go dump our rooms. We're transferring over to the One Fine Day for some special task." Rose cut in, the two looking at her when she announced her arrival.
Oh what? Poo. I had a date tonight! Aspyn frowned, pushing herself up from the sofa and following Rose as she drifted back towards the door, Sushila following close behind.
"What kind of date are you having on ship?" Rose asked, as the trio entered the hallway and placed hands on the people mover once more.
The quick kind, with Yven.
"Desperate huh?" Sushila smirked, causing Aspyn to poke her tongue out at her."Any Idea why we're going over to the One Fine Day?"
"Nope. They said they would tell us over there. We've gotta be at the Starboard Cargo for 1530, so we'd better be quick about it."
The trio quickly dumped their lockers into their kit bags and then changed from uniform to pilot suits. Helmets on and secured, they arrived at the Starboard Cargo, sealing their suits and activating the life support before packing their kit bags into a pressurized cargo pod. The alarm lights blared as the bay depressurized, and the enormous hatch opened wide into the void, where the One Fine Day was waiting alongside. Laser guidance beams connected the two ships, and a winch was fired from the One Fine Day over to the Eco, the crew latched the cargo pod on, and the three women rode the pod across the endless void between the ships. The process was reversed on the other side, the cargo pod returned, the bay closed and repressurized. They were quickly settled into rooms by the XO, and allowed to change out of the flight suits back into uniforms. Not long after, they were following the XO up to the bridge of the ship, where their new temporary Captain awaited them.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
Commanding Officer Juno Xiao always considered herself a model member of the ZAFT forces. Back straight, black commander's uniform always impeccably pressed, dark hair cropped short as was protocol. So why, she had often wondered, was she put under the command of such a lackadaisy captain?
~~"Let them get their bearings, unpack their things, then they can report in. There's no rush."~~
That casual attitude often irked XO Xiao, but even she would be hard pressed to argue with results. So she figured she could at least do one thing by the book and give the team that had been temporarily assigned to their crew a proper tour. The One Fine Day was one of ZAFT's finest and newest Nazca-class ships, and not even she could completely hide her pride as she waxed about the ship's capabilities.
The tour ended as Xiao walked into the bridge, followed by the Tritten Team. From behind the captain's chair, there wasn't much to look at except a few strands of pink and gray.
"Captain! XO Xiao coming onto the bridge! I've brought the new crew members."
A visible shifting in the chair, and the gleam of a pair of eyeglasses. "Ah, wonderful. Right on time, too. I win, Delamain. You're treating next shore leave." The man at the comms console clicked his tongue and went back to his work as the captain slowly rose from her chair and turned to face the newcomers. An older woman of average height wearing a white captain's uniform and hat, her face, wrinkled at the eyes and mouth, and her hair, a salt-and-pepper mix that was almost more gray than her natural pink, were enough to show a life long lived in service. Of course, there was no greater sign of such than the burn scar covering most of her right cheek and jaw, trailing down her neck and under her collar. She leaned on a black walking stick held in her right hand and gave the three a warm smile.
"Captain Astarte Spalding-Monteiro, of the One Fine Day. If that's too much for you, most of the crew calls me Captain Spalding. It's a pleasure to meet you three."
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
Rose immediately picked up on the difference between the XO and Captain as soon as she met both. As the Eco was a Nazca class as well, they were familiar with the general layout of the One Fine Day, but there were a few rooms in different locations that the trio made sure to memorize the locations of, especially their new quarters.
When Captain Spalding introduced herself, the trio were certain to salute back smartly.
"Rose Tritten, Aspyn Strom and Sushila Matthews, reporting from the Eco, Ma'am." Rose introduced the trio, their arms coming down as one...well at least Rose and Sushila's did, Aspyn was always a bit slow on the draw and return when it came to salutes. "I'd like to thank XO Xiao for showing us around. The One Fine Day looks to be an excellent ship and we're honored to sail aboard her. Of course we're not entirely certain why we've been transferred over, Ops Officer Rozin was very tight-lipped about it."
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
"At ease, please." The captain raises her free hand as she makes her way closer. "The reason you're here is pretty simple. You remember the Vajra attack at the concert in Lagos, yes? I'm not ashamed to say we took quite a thrashing during that altercation, and it's left us short some heads. You've been assigned here to give us some extra combat strength as the League deals with the Vajra."
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
The trio were told to stand at ease, but deep inside none of them really were. The trio had immediately moved in to protect Sheryl Nome's concert yacht in the middle of the lagoon when the Vajra attacked, and while all of them got out alive, the ZAKU Warriors they left behind on the Eco certainly showed it. Not to mention the fact that for all their effort, the yacht still got hit, and Sheryl was still comatose in hospital. The emphasis by Captain Astarte on the Vajra threat put a shared understanding between the trio that they would probably be fighting them again, and soon. But now was the time to show that Tritten Team confidence.
"As long as we have ZAKU's ma'am, we're ready for anything." Rose said confidently.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
Captain Spalding gives a light chuckle, walking up to Rose and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You did your best out there. We all did. It may not have gone as we wanted, but that happens. We'll make it right." Her gloved hand gives the shoulder a soft squeeze before pulling back and joining the other on top of her cane. "We got your ZAKUs in the hangar shortly before you came on. Not a huge fan of them myself, frankly, but I'm sure I'll live."
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
Astartes words are comforting. But her dislike of the ZAKU was unusual. It was ZAFT's newest MS and top of the line.
"We've always been able to get good performance out of them ma'am." Rose replied, "It's what we're most familiar with besides the old GINNs and...well they aren't exactly handing out Gundams anymore."
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
"Oh, it's nothing about their capabilities. I know they're quite able, I appreciate that." Astarte gives a soft sigh with just a hint of weariness. "It's just that the look of 'em brings back a few bad memories. Just the sentimentality of an old soldier, is all. Anyway, I'm sure you three will do just fine here."
Her fleeting gloom already blown away, she gives the three a warm smile. "We're not too uptight around here. I try to take things pretty easy."
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
Rose realized exactly how old Captain Astarte actually was at that point. The realization she was dealing with someone who wasn't just alive during the One Year War, but fought in it was...a little awe-inspiring honestly.
"Understood ma'am." Rose smiled "We can do our best to loosen up a bit. Do you know where we're headed next?"
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
The captain nods and walks past the three, heading towards the exit of the bridge. "I don't know about the three of you, but I'm getting a bit hungry. Maybe you can tell me more about yourselves over some grub, huh? Captain Spalding, leaving the bridge. XO Xiao is in command."
"Yes, ma'am!" responded every member of the bridge crew, including Xiao.
"Come, I'm sure the XO already showed you where the galley is. But she probably doesn't know the right mix of condiments to really make these military rations sing, ha!"
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
<poem> The trio looked at each other, smiled, and quickly tailed behind the Captain. They certainly weren't used to having a Captain quite so...casual. And honestly, it was kind of refreshing. And besides, they had left the Eco before getting dinner.
The trio had a good feeling about their time aboard the One Fine Day.