2022-01-15: The Black Brew Beckons

• Log: 2022-01-15: The Black Brew Beckons
• Cast: Mayvy Hawkins, Soji Murakumo, Mitsuba Greyvalley, Edge Sainklaus, Lune Zoldak
• Where: Aboard the Dreisstrager
• Date: January 15, 2022
• Summary: Mayvy gets some help moving supplies to the AOS Core. Meanwhile, the halcyon call of coffee attracts interlopers.

---

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       It's been a few months  since the Dreisstrager shipped out, but--perhaps understandably--it's taken time for the crew to get settled in. On R&D and technical chief Mayvy Hawkins' part, she packed quite a bit more equipment than she thought she'd need, only to discover she actually needed progressively more of it--and at this point, taking requisition deliveries from Nergal.

       Currently, she's beside the loading bay, sitting by a cart of boxes, looking over an inventory list on a clipboard and checking over the cart's contents. "Right," she mumbles to herself, "Better all be *here* this time," she mutters.

Soji Murakumo posed:

"Never expected I'd be on manual labor...who am I kidding, of course I did..." Ensign Soji Murakumo remarks, as he begins moving a dolly of boxes forward. He hasn't actually talked to the R&D chief besides once or twice strictly about business, so this is a good time to get to know her better, he hopes.

Wearing his sunglasses *indoors*, Soji looks at his own instructions, and brings it over to the loading bay next to Mayvy. "Chief Hawkins? Ensign Soji Murakumo. I've got what I think is the last of it, just need to make sure it's all in order."

A pause. A long pause, as he looks over her.

"Gotta say, I'm always dazzled that we have such a beautiful R&D head."

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       Mayvy smirks, glancing Soji's way. "Thanks. But I think I'm a bit out of your league, kid." Ouch.

       She scans silently over the dolly, glancing down at her clipboard, chewing lightly on her pen. "Right. Should be everything. That or the supply department's getting another earful." She drops her clipboard on her dolly, tucking her pen behind her ear. "Looks like we're going together. You know the way up to R&D?" she asks, giving her cart a shove--and pausing, giving Soji a second look. "You, uh... gonna have any trouble seeing?"

Soji Murakumo posed:

Soji feels the response deep in his soul. A rejection, a heartbreak, a- actually he wasn't that interested, he's just a louse, as he pantomimes each of these reactions and then laughs. "That's what everyone says." Ouch.

"Yeah, I've familiarized myself with the ship's layout quickly enough." He starts moving with her, assisting in the cart moving, as he responds with the most serious voice.

"-10 to sight, +100 to Charisma."

He allows her to believe him for just a moment, that he's serious, before cracking that grin again and taking the sunglasses off, folding them into his pocket. "Good point. I'm used to wearing them, but with the heavy labor...might as well be safe. My charisma score will suffer, though."

As they move down hallways, with Soji at the lead, he asks. "How's it feel, being active on the Dreisstrager? Beautiful ship, huh?"

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       "But you still keep trying. Huh." There's another pause, a glance at his remarks, and she laughs. It's a boisterous "HA!" followed by a few snickers, more subdued.

       Her eyes light up at his questions, as they move out into the halls. "Oh God, you have *no* idea. This ship is-- it's like nothing I've ever *seen* before. She's a whole new paradigm in warship design, and don't get me started on the AOS system! The computer, it's... the management interfaces are beyond next-generation. Everything's integrated and coordinated on a level I've never seen before, and it's built with expansion in mind. There's a virtual intelligence system in there, too, it's built to record combat data and use it to build some sort of training sims, among other things."

       She did say 'don't get me started', but... well, it seems you got her started.

Soji Murakumo posed:

"Well, yeah." He doesn't elaborate on why he keeps trying, instead, Soji just continues pushing as Mayvy's info enters one ear and sorta goes out the other. He gets some of it, though. The stuff he likes.

"Training sims? I assume for mobile suit piloting and ship command, right? Wonder if they could mimick the VangRay, I need more hours."

The VangRay, aka a Flying Brick that somehow still works, is currently in the mechbay. It is not being ominous. Certainly not.

"What about the crew? I haven't gotten much time to really socialize yet, what with us getting our legs wet. Captain sure is a looker, though. ...don't tell her I said that." Push, push.

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       "Oh--Yeah. I haven't tested it out yet. Prefer to get a bit more combat data first, but from the look of things, interface shouldn't be a problem," she says vaguely. "VangRay's the big black-and-red boy, right? Nice looking machine, definitely uh... unique. A bit doofy."

       "Yeah, pretty sure you're gonna tell her yourself anyway. Crew's good folks, mostly... I've known most of them for at least a few years. You'd probably like XO Hardin." There's a bare little hint of venom in that last remark, as they wait for the cargo elevator.

       Ding. The doors open, and she wheels the cart inside.

       

Mitsuba Greyvalley posed:

As it happens: they are not alone in the cargo elevator. The Dreisstrager's absolutely enormous, sprawling construction means that there are a lot of places to bring cargo to and from, and that in turn means that... Mitsuba is here, having just finished her *own* round of moving things around the ship. There's a faint startle in her expression as the elevator stops and the doors open, as if her thoughts are elsewhere.

She shakes the cobwebs out quickly. "... Soji. Mayvy. It's good to see both of you," she says, with a small smile. "I was just checking our staple food reserves... we have enough rice and salt to feed an army, which is good, because we're feeding an army." She seems a little tired. ... She often does.

Soji Murakumo posed:

"Well, yeah, but when I tell her myself-" Ding! There she is. Soji stares for a second, before easing into a lazy salute - despite being a slacker, he's one who was in the Federation. "Captain. We were just heading to R&D."

As they move into the elevator with the cargo, he quickly tries to change the subject from whatever she may be curious about. Don't flirt with your captain, that's how you get bad marks. "That's great news. I could eat rice for days...though, some fish to go with it is always nice." A pause, as he thinks about the best way to phrase this. "You have any downtime, Captain? Or have you been in overdrive this whole time?"

And then, a remark to Mayvy, before Soji forgets. "Also, I'm pretty sure VangRay'd be a girl. I dunno, just a feeling I get. More of a she than a he, like a prized car, yanno?"

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       "Oh! Mitsu--uh, captain, hey!" Mayvy navigates her cart to one side, leaning on a crate labelled 'FRAGILE.' The chief is, notably, wearing an black t-shirt bearing the likeness of an obscure tokusatsu hero, and matching drawstring pajama pants. As an aside to Soji, she smiles lightly, eyes half-lidded. "If you have to ask, she's in overdrive. Poor girl overworks herself."

       Turning to Mitsuba, "Why don't you join us, cap'n? Take five with us, should be a fresh pot of coffee waiting for us in the server pits." She wiggles her eyebrows. She glances at Soji, pausing a moment. "Huh. Yeah, I can see it. Not sure she's quite a hot rod, but... yeah, VangRay's got a little bit of a sexy feel to her." She smiles.

Mitsuba Greyvalley posed:

Mitsuba can always snap out a crisp, clean salute, no matter how she's feeling at the moment. Unlike most of the Dreisstrager's student crew and irregular pickups, she actually is wired for this kind of extremely regimented thing. She liked Military Academy 30 a lot.

"At ease," she says, after a moment. "We're trying to keep the atmosphere lighter -- not everyone here was on the verge of graduation when we set sail." She moves toward the back of the elevator, allowing herself to lean against it just slightly. To Mayvy, she offers, "My schedule is open for the next few hours... that was the last thing on my list for the day."

The food talk gets a note of, "Good news! Right now, most of our perishables are seafood... there are some advantages to operating in the Eastern hemisphere so far. I can't promise it'll stay that way." The comments about the Vangray leave her looking a bit lost, though. 'Car talk' doesn't seem to stick for her.

Soji Murakumo posed:

As requested, Soji eases. "Light I can do. You wanna see a magic trick? I just need a deck of playing cards." Mitsuba has activated him, oh no. Mayvy gets a nod. "Man, I've barely caffeinated. And yeah, I guess you could call her sexy, though giant robots aren't really my type."

And then he notices Mitsuba's confusion. "Oh, we're talking about my mobile suit. You know how some people give their cars or ships or whatever pet names? Or in the case of ships, call them 'her'? It's like that."

Soji ahems, awkwardly, but still in a good mood. "I'm going to have sushi as soon as we're done here and nobody can stop me, except maybe the cook."

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       Mayvy knocks on a small crate at the bottom of one of the stacks on her cart. "There's a deck in here somewhere." It's marked 'RECREATIONAL'. "Well. Sexy *for a giant robot*, yes... ugghhh, sushi, you have no idea the *craving* I've had! Do we have eel? I need some unagi." She nods a few times.

       Ahem. "Anyway. Uh, Murakumo, right? Soji Murakumo?"

Mitsuba Greyvalley posed:

"... Right," Mitsuba offers, with a nod. "I'm familiar, of course." She glances off to one side for a moment. This was a little easier with only the 30 grads and Lune onboard -- the more people arrive, well...

... no, she tells herself. She has every right to be in the position she's in, even if she can't fully relate to the pilots. "I'll join you for sushi," Mitsuba says, with a firm nod. "It'll be the go-to meal for a while, I think... and we do have eel -- not a lot, but enough to keep our Chief happy, at least."

She decides to let Mayvy handle talking to Soji and trading introductions herself. She's read that file enough times to know it's not her business to say damn thing number one about Soji he doesn't volunteer himself.

Soji Murakumo posed:

"Ah, but there's the question, Chief, Captain. Do we have eel...sauce?" Soji tilts his head with a grin, before elaborating. "Unagi is good. But without the sauce, it's lacking something. Like peanut butter without the chocolate or steak without the ketchup."

Mayvy gets a nod. "That's the name I gave, yep. Soji's fine, if you want to be informal."

Mayvy Hawkins posed:

       "Ohhh, yeah, the sauce, that's the good shit. Steak on ketchup, though? I might have to kill ya for that one," she remarks offhand, an affable smile on her face. The elevator dings.

       Mayvy's the first one out. "Mayvy's probably fine for me. Chief Hawkins if you wanna brown-nose. I like it, but I don't need it... oh, uh, captain, have you noticed anything missing from the requisition lists? Seems like I lost a couple parts from the last delivery. Think Nergal might've dropped the ball."

Mitsuba Greyvalley posed:

"Steak and --" No. Mitsuba cannot let that into her head. She will go insane. Fortunately, Mayvy takes the responsibility of beaming laser death rays of destruction and hate at Soji for her, a fact which Mitsuba will remember with gratitude for the foreseeable future. She lets it drop.

Mitsuba is the last one out. "Missing parts? I'll look into it. There's a certain extent to which the ship seems to make its own decisions, though -- it's possible those have been reallocated to shipboard construction tasks. I know we were looking into a modified repair gantry to handle some of our more... unique... acquisitions." She closes her eyes a moment. She swears, sometimes she can feel the whole ship move under her. "For now, we'll assume they're either missing or reallocated and file a new requisition -- if they turn up later, well... there'll be plenty of occasion to use spare parts, I'm sure."

Soji Murakumo has posed:

Soji stares blankly. Did he say something wrong? Either way, he responds to Mayvy. "Missing parts? Anything specific? I haven't heard about anything, but I don't go into backbreaking labor like this that often."

Mitsuba, who is already overworking herself, gets a quick response. "Let me help if I can. You don't want to burn out, Captain. I'll keep an ear out and see if anyone knows anything."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       "Yeah, I've noticed that too. It's a bit of a problem when it's parts *I* need for AOS hardware upgrades, but." For that matter, she wonders how it could snatch parts off her table--but she doesn't voice that much. She knows Mitsuba well enough it'd just plant extra seeds of worry in her mind, when for all either of them know, it's just user-unfriendly standard operating procedure.

       "To name a few things..." she starts, "Some high-density fiber-optic wires, ten static nanosolenoids, and an logarithmic isolaser casing. that last one set me back about a week on the latest logistics system upgrade, but I managed to find one left over from an old project of mine."

       Soon enough, they're at the heart of the Dreisstrager--the AOS control room. It's somewhat dark, and a bit chilly; it's dominated by a central column with consoles along all sides, with various readouts and terminals along the walls. One of the back corners of the room looks rather more cluttered than the rest, strewn with plastic models, stacks of paper and books, and a modest tower of instant meals off to one side. A door at the back, next to the cluttered corner, leads further in.

       "Welcome to the ship's brain, Soji," she explains. "This is where the magic happens." The chief starts unstacking boxes, and points over toward the coffee machine. "Set that to brew before I came down, so help yourselves." Several technicians stand at attention at the sight of the captain, though a few seem too busy to stand on airs.

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

"... Thank you," Mitsuba manages. She wants to protest Soji's help, a little, but she doesn't. She can accept help with grace -- at least, for the moment. "I can't interview literally everyone on the ship, so that'll be a large help."

They enter the guts. Mitsuba doesn't come here often. Somehow, even though this place is closer to the Dreisstrager's heart, the bridge feels more like home. There's something about being intimate with the guts that disorients her. She moves to the coffee, and pours herself a cup, tentatively.

"Please -- at ease," Mitsuba asks of the assembled technicians. She takes a moment to breathe, and then asks, "Is there anything else you'd need, if I'll be filing a requisition? Besides what you just listed."

Soji Murakumo has posed:

After Mitsuba pours herself a cup, Soji follows, getting himself some and taking a swig. After a few moments of feeling the burn, he turns to the other two. "Wow, this is a cool place. I doubt I'll be down here often, though. Pilot and all that. Gotta be on the frontlines, saving the Earthsphere." His response is partially sarcastic, but mostly genuine. As Mitsuba asks about the requisitions, Soji adds to her response to him.

"I bet you've interviewed your technicians already, Mayvy, so I'll see who's been on moving duty and if anything weird's happened."

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

       The AOS Control Center; for all intents and purposes, Dreisstrager's core.

It's also where Edge Sainklaus is on his hands and knees, his upper body stuffed up and under one of the control consoles as he roots around for something, grunting and grumbling all the while. "C'mon .. I know as sure as anything that there has to be a G that assistant guy dropped around here somewhere ... please ... I'm thirsty and the cafeteria is closed ... uoh ..."

And so it went. He did in fact find a single Gilla under there, and if combined with his pocket change, it surely would have been enough to afford a refreshment from one of the vending machines. Ordinarily, he'd just find a way to jimmy one of them to get what he wanted, but he didn't feel like getting chewed out for damaging company property. Before the black haired miscreant could make off with his ill-gotten gains, however, he heard the pneumatic hiss of the entrance to the room releasing itself and allowing in new occupants. In response, he scrambles as quickly and quietly as he can into the recesses of the crawlspace.

Which leads things to the present as the dusty and miserable man seethes internally at having completely overlooked the fact there was coffee in the room, and that he'd been stuck here for a bit now, unwilling to expose himself Mitsuba, Soji and Mayvy. Eventually, his patience runs out; not with the waiting, but rather -

       "How the hell did I miss a whole pot of coffee?! This sucks!"

A single arm, a head, and part of his torso hangs out as he slams his fist on the ground, before looking up at Mayvy, as if it was her fault.

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       The saluting technicians relax. "A few things--I'll write up a list, give me a sec." Mayvy pulls a notepad out of her pocket, noting down part numbers seemingly from memory. She pours herself a cup last, opening up a laptop in the messy corner and watching messages scroll by on a text console. "Oh! Right! Looks like we'll be able to start running the sims in a few days. I've been feeding some vintage combat data through the system, and it's been giving way better output." By which she means that it's no longer generating small-squadron engagements against multiple Big Zams."And I'd appreciate that, Soji. Can't hurt to have another set of eyes making sure we don't have a thief on board."

       Mayvy turns back toward the others, holding the list of parts out to Mitsuba, only to stop just short of kicking Edge in the head. She looks down, and instead gives his head a nudge with her heel. "How, uh. How the hell did you get down there?" She looks over toward one of her technicians. "Rollins, get this man a cup, stat." The young man nods, pouring a cup while Mayvy leans over to help pull Edge free of his predicament.

Lune Zoldak has posed:

Drawn by the scent of (blessedly free) coffee, Lune Zoldak stands at a 4-way junction. Stripes of a dozen colors snake in every direction. She stands at the center of a Dreisstrager emblem, and closes her eyes.

She remembers her instruction. She gathers her senses, and catalogues each sound, each vibration, each motion, each break of breath on surface.

"This ship is too -big-." Lune groans, throwing back her head and shoulders and whining. "I've been walking for an houuuuur."

"Well, at least I smell coffee now.

-- MOMENTS LATER, AT THE SLIDING HATCH --

Lune Zoldak, in profile, sassily plants her fists at her hips and leans into the room like Edge owes her two Gilla.

"Looking at that brick you pilot, Murakumo, be glad you're an Earth -Sphere- hero. I hate to break it to you, but I don't think those legs move."

She rises, looking around. "Is this the... reactor core? I heard the loudest humming coming from this direction, so it's definitely drawing some power."

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

The Dreisstrager is idiosyncratic to be sure, but surely it wouldn't sabotage Mayvy's own upgrade plans for it to do something else. Mitsuba... decides to make the conscious decision not to think about it, even though something nags at her that she really wants to think about it. She takes a long drink of coffee, before --

'This sucks!'

Mitsuba takes a breath, and sets her coffee down. "I already had breakfast, so this coffee was more of a social choice... you can have mine, if you need it." She takes a deep breath, and says, "Lune -- this is the Dreisstrager's brain, and the seat of the AOS's operations. I'm glad to see you."

Soji Murakumo has posed:

While he's drinking his coffee, several things happen to shatter Soji's idyllic day. First, Edge Sainklaus is in a crawlspace, as Soji turns to look down at him. "What the hell are you doing?"

And then, as he drinks Terrible Coffee (he has done it enough in the Federation to be tolerant), he nods. "I doubt a thief is stealing your parts, but let's just see."

Lune walks in and immediately makes a dig at the VangRay. He laughs, but then immediately moves to correct, or at least, poorly attempt to. "They move! You just have to push levers 2 and 4 with one hand, hold a button down with the right hand for three second intervals - no more, no less, release after that - and then after six intervals, shift the left hand to levers 1 and 3. Anyways, how are you doing?"

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

It takes a little doing on both of their parts, but eventually, Edge is able to get out and off the floor with some much needed assistance. "Huh? Oh, thanks." he says, his hair bobbing with his small but appreciative nod to Unnamed Technician No. 3. He seemed to be covered from tip to toe with dirt smears, presumably from crawling along the floor and geting stuffed up inside places he really didn't have the bodytype to fit into anymore.

"As for how I got here ... if I told you, I'd have to kill you." he jokes with a smirk, as if he said the coolest thing ever.

Lune Zoldark had a powerful lean and intimidating lean that loan sharks wished they could have. As cute and cool as she could be, he didn't doubt she could probably suplex him through the stern.

"Oh yeah," he intones, "They say black is supposed to be slimming, but it really doesn't help in your case, huh? I bet if you replaced the thrusters with propellers and turbines, it'd make a sick nautical unit, too."

With his own cup of coffee in hand, Edge shakes his head and gives Mitsuba an almost uneasy look - he visibly has to refrain from pulling his scarf up to cover his face.

       "Nah...I've got my own, but even if I didn't, I wouldn't take yours. You uh ... - that's, I mean that kicking back is important too.." he fumbles.

'But, if I accepted her offer, would that mean I could have shared an indirect kiss with the Captain? ... but, that doesn't really change what I just said. Mitsuba works extra hard. Really, she deserves that coffee way more than I do.'

       " ... the taste leaves a lot to be desired, though."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       Mayvy can't help but giggle at Lune's remarks. "In all fairness, probably the second biggest power draw on the ship. Can't say I blame you. Lune Zoldak, right? you're the pilot of the, uh... the mech that looks kinda like Magical Warrior Se--" She snaps her fingers. "Valsione!" She smiles. "I *love* it. God, if I had a machine like that... childhood dream come true." She takes a sip of coffee, and wrinkles her nose.

       Oh.

       "Might want to add some more Premium Blend to the list."

       "Soji, I feel like that's about one step above 'can't turn'. And Edge, remember I'm medical staff too before you make death threats." She reaches over to pat him on the head.

Lune Zoldak has posed:

"The computer core? That shouldn't take half as much power as--" Lune begins, her eyes looking up at the banks of displays and lights of Mayvy's magical voodoo video realm.

"--oh, yeah, for a ship this big, I guess it would. Normally you'd want it to be diffused around, right? So if you take a bad hit, you don't just turn off--"

Lune continues as Mituba offers Edge her coffee and he stammeringly turns it down. "Oh, well, if you're not." She pivots to take the coffee, toasts Mitsuba with a quick smile, and then starts to drink it right in front of Edge.

Her left eye peeks out from behind the tipped-up cup. "Did you teleport out of another, dirtier dimension?" She asks, at the matter of his mysterious appearance.

Mayvy and Soji engage her about robots and she lowers the cup to her waist. "Valsione, yeah. We brought on board pretty much the whole remains of my dad's Japan facility when you picked me up, so I'm still going through the pieces. He was going to show me something great, just like the shows."

Lune smiles emptily. "I'll figure it out and show you what I finish dusting off sometime, Chief. You'll probably like it."

She shrugs, sweeping out her cup-holding hand. "As for VangRay, you can replace the whole thing with a few different terrain arrays, if it's got the space."

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

Mitsuba has never known *non*-terrible coffee. If there is a better world to be had, with better coffee, it lies beyond Unification. "... I don't think I could do what you do at all," Mitsuba remarks, slightly blank at the notion of that much button-pressing to deal with the VangRay's legs.

When Edge insists she keep her coffee, Mitsuba accepts it without too much further fuss. '... He's struggling a lot more than he's letting on. I should at least put a new pot on,' she thinks for a moment -- then second guesses herself; that feels like overstepping into Mayvy's domain. She's the captain, but the operations of the AOS room feel almost sacred.

She eventually thinks to reach for her coffee, but finds when she looks that *Lune* has taken it. ... That's fine, she thinks. Lune could also use it. "The AOS's power draw is tremendous, from what I understand, so the main terminal needs to look -- well, like this. I'm not the expert, but I have the impression Nergal projects always double down on computational power to the exclusion of all else... I believe there *are* redundancies, too. I have full access to most of the same data from my own terminal at the bridge."

Soji Murakumo has posed:

"Right." Soji responds to Edge. "Knife, gun, CQC, or your dreadful smell?" Mayvy and Lune then both get a sigh. "I wouldn't change anything about her. I got her just how I want her - she pilots beautifully, if you're cool enough to withstand the pressure and speed. Like me." A pause. "Though I have no idea what was going through her inventor's brain."

Mitsuba gets a non-wisecrack smile, for once. "Yeah, but I couldn't do what you do, either. Commanding an entire vessel like this? You're incredible, Captain." A hand waves over everyone, but briefly stops before it reaches Edge. "You all are, honestly. Otherwise why'd you be here, right?" And then it gestures to Edge for a split second, before dropping.

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

After watching Lune steal Mitsuba's coffee, Edge's eyebrow twitches once - then twice. He takes one more, tiny, sip of his own drink before breathing in deeply through his nose and extending it directly towards Mitsuba, "Well, that sure did quench my thirst - here. The Captain's gotta stay hydrated, and all .. -"

"- and ... well, honestly, yeah. You could say that."

Seriously, when was the last time a real scrub down was performed there? He had no idea, but considering how dirty he was now, it had to have been a long time ago. Maybe never.

Mayvy's headpat and succinct remark leave him grimacing, just slightly, "R-...right. Duly noted, Doc."

'Sometimes it's like talking to some kind of weirdly sociable menace. The idea of being on the operating table with her using the scalpel gives me the heebie jeebies, so I'll have to try real hard not to get laid up that badly.`

Besides. He didn't like hanging around in labs, or hospitals, to begin with.

"Hey I smell - ..erm, not as bad as I could have, Murakumo. You wouldn't know what hit you."

He picks up pretty quickly on Soji's insinuation, and simply says, "I'm here because ... I'm just doing what I can - " the best he can, Edge almost hears the echo " - because it's something only I can do. I guess I'm also doing it for something really selfish, but I think that's maybe better than just fighting because you're told to."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       "Well, I don't actually know *why* it takes as much as it does. It's a black box," explains Mayvy, sounding consternated. "Probably proprietary corporate bullshit. Really, I don't know why they insisted on putting *me* down here if they weren't gonna just lay it bare." Her glasses gleam, and she gives a teeth-baring grin. "After all, I'll have its secrets sooner or later." The grin drops, though, replaced with a sympathetic smile for Lune, rather less... manic than her usual. "And, um... let me know if you need help."

       She steps over to make a new pot of coffee, laptop cradled in one hand as she scoops grounds into the machine. "I mean, I did say I liked the VangRay--her hips just aren't her strong point. Anyway, there's a few other satellite cores throughout the ship, too, but they're mostly just computing nodes with service terminals. Redundancies aside, the action's all back there." She thumbs back toward the door at the back end of the room. "The Dreisstrager does a hell of a lot of thinking back there. Couldn't tell you *what*, yet, but she's doing a lot of it."

       Her laptop pings. "Oh, hey. AOS just finished putting together simulation. Anyone want to deploy against... the... uh, entire assembled Zeonic force from the battle of A Baoa Qu?" Beat. "On second thought, I'll store that one away for later. Good news, this makes SENSE... just means it needs some difficulty tuning." She slips over toward her nest and starts typing away.

Lune Zoldak has posed:

"Well, at least some of that thinking has got to be muscling through the calculations for the gravicon field. Right?" Lune asks, placing her(-now) coffee cup back down and crossing her arms loosely over her chest, fingers curling gently about bicep. "Since, unless you wanted to flood the entire Earth with enough Minovksy particles to end all wireless communication, forever, you'd probably not use Minovsky Craft Flight with a ship this scale... in atmosphere, really."

Then Mayvy says something fated.

"Huh? What're you talking about? One of my favorite sims is Ao Bao Qu -- the Amuro position? You have to do all the stuff Amuro Ray did during that battle, and can do some different things, too. It's basically that, but you get the Federal Forces backup. Like a great big brawl that you have to figure out. Char's another nightmare to beat, but if we wanted to do a group sim like that it could be pretty good, wouldn't it? We've got all the historical data."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       "Oh, no, this didn't have Feddie backup," Mayvy replies, "It's just you versus Zeon. I can work on changing that, but... I dunno. A survival mission *does* sound fun, huh? And maybe..." She thinks. "Yeahhh. If I can pull apart the sim code, I could play with this scenario a bit. Right. NEW PROJECT. Sibley, can you track down where it's putting parsed unit data?"

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

"... It's not the first time I've heard that, lately," Mitsuba says to Soji. There's a momentary softening of her expression -- blink and you'd miss it, but she seems relieved to hear it. "Soon I'll actually accept it," she adds, with just a hint of good humor.

Edge offers Mitsuba *his* coffee -- and she, likewise, shakes her head. "I'll be fine -- thank you, though," she says. She makes a mental note to adjust his pay scale; if he's rummaging through random corners of the Dreisstrager looking for spare change, he probably needs it...

"I'd actually like to try running that against the Dreisstrager's specifications," Mitsuba says, with a nod, when the simulator comes up. That seems to have the most of her attention, in fact. "Zeon Remnant groups, for the most part, still use Universal Maintenance Plan-compliant units -- a test of the ship's capabilities against a swarm within that performance band would actually be good data." She needs a second to think, but she eventually adds, "I'd like a version with half as many opposing units, chosen at random, but half of *those* updated to Martian Zeon equivalents of the listed mobile weapons. If you can, try having the simulator account for differences in command style -- I'd like to test the same force projections with a statistically average commander, and then against something more like the Red Comet's unique style."

She senses a kindred spirit on this topic in Lune, and turns to face her more fully. "We could benefit heavily from a full White Base posture simulation test, yes. It's one of the most complex battles in modern history, and of the shortlist, the easiest to use for training."

Mayvy's mention that it lacks Federation backup actually gets a smile from Mitsuba. "I prefer that," she says. "That's a more appropriate test of the Dreisstrager's capabilities."

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

Edge awkwardly rubs the back of his head, before retracting his coffee. Insisting on her taking it now would be kind of cringe, he thinks, and so he instead polishes it off himself, as it had cooled sufficiently to down it quick. "Pah..." he breathes out.

       And then chokes moments after. "EH?!"

"W-wait a sec! Isn't this a little overboard? Even half of an army is half an army still! And half of that is gonna' be rockin' their newest fits? That's way too much. We've only got a contingent of ... er .. one, two ... - five mobile units!"

A 'White Base' scenario, indeed. "...ughuhhhhhhhhh...." Edge grouses, "I guess there's no helping it. I'll just have to power through it with Huckebein R .. "

'Besides, with Az's L supporting me, I'm sure we could force our way through. ... Maybe.'

Soji Murakumo has posed:

Edge gets a thumbs-up at that response. He may not know it (or he might figure it out, who knows), but he just gained +10 Approval points.

Instead of responding to it, though, Soji switches to the new subject. "I bet we could beat them. Go rah rah rah, fight the power." He laughs. "Or at least, do well enough that it'd show a Federation victory instead of 'you lose, game over'."

He points to Edge as Edge starts saying it's overboard. "Don't you believe in our power, Edge Sainklaus? I thought you just said you had something only you can do, so you can't be dying in battle, let alone a simulator."

Lune Zoldak has posed:

"And the Federation at the time had a quarter-strength actual fleet, primarily staffed by wounded carriers and second-string and battle-weary Federation line units which had been seeing some of the most heavy fighting possible as the battle closed in on them. Sure, it was a complete carnage, but -they- didn't have fresh units, fresh pilots, and the Dreisstrager to support them."

She leans forward and knocks her knuckles on Edge's chest. "I've done the Amuro part at least a hundred times, easy. It's all a historical record - like a game. You're just chasing the guide-ghost along the track, and can do it your way if you're different. If it's half U-M-P units, even the AOS's messed up simulator can't be that far off - Big Zam is there, so maybe we'll just appease the computer's need for us to fight Big Zam."

Shrugging broadly, she pulls back. "Murakumo's right -- are you doubting, Saintklaus?"

Lune smirks, before transitioning to Mayvy. "It should be fair, if we replace the Federal Forces backup with us, totally."

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

Between the encouragement and jeers, Edge deflates just a little - the knocking on his sturdy netting the not so ultra rare reaction of Edge pulling his scarf up over his nose and looking away, responding with a muffled "Yeh .. "

After another tick of silence, " ... I pick up what you guys are putting down. It sounds like a drag, but I guess it'd look pretty bad if one of Dreisstrager's first pilots didn't put his best foot forward for a sim personally comissioned by her Captain, right?"

Even if he didn't like it and couldn't finger why, besides his proclivity to avoid fighting when he could. .. No, that was probably one hundred percent the cause, he supposed. Edge hated fighting, and he hated the feeling of hot blood thumping behind his ears, and the strained pressure that fills up his knuckles and joints when he pilots.

If he could weasel out of a fight he didn't feel like picking, he usually would. 'It's kind of lame, now that I think of it - with how hotheaded I am.' Edge muses to himself.

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       "Right, yes ma'am!" Mayvy is suddenly motivated, *directed*, taking notes on the captain's instructions and directing two of her technicians. "Bit of an ambitious project for learning how to manually construct a sim, but we've gotta learn sometime...

       She wheels her chair around and pushes off her desk, arriving back next to the others. Her legs are crossed, laptop in her lap. She chews thoughtfully on her pen. "We don't know how the simulator's interface works yet, but we know it links up to your units. Don't think there's gonna be a better field test than combat, though... and with the Dreisstrager's firepower on our side, I think we'll probably have the force value to put up a good fight. Even if we don't *win*... well, we'll know where we went wrong, right?" She grins wide. It might not be the heat of battle that's done it, but the chief's fired up nonetheless.

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

"The Dreisstrager needs to be able to change the world -- on its own, if need be. I don't think we have the power to defeat the entirety of Zeon *yet*." Mayvy offers an opinion, and Mitsuba affirms, "That's exactly it -- we'll know our limits and where we need to improve. What's more, it'll tell us the type of power we need to gather."

... She *does* get that this is, like, a ship, with a chain of command, outside of itself, right? ... right.

Edge steps up to what Mitsuba recognizes is an utterly insane demand from herself that even she doesn't quite know why she wants so badly. It gets a smile from the captain. "Thank you." She rubs at her elbow with her opposite hand, trying to find something else to say -- and in the end, she stumbles.

Lune is easier to talk to, in that way. "I've tried the White Base routing more than once, myself, but I'm too precious about the Gundam..." She sighs. "I *have* completed it but I'm never satisfied with the results. Even with foreknowledge of what's coming, I can't do *better*."

Soji Murakumo has posed:

Soji smiles as Edge chimes in. "Right, and you also need to believe in yourself. We're gonna be a team out there. Not just you and Az, but all of us pilots, and the Dreisstrager too, yeah?"

Soji does not speak to his own results, instead reacting to Mitsuba. "This is why I'm happy I got transferred to this ship, Captain. Changing the world with one ship...something out of the history books. But I believe in it." He then remembers he is holding a cup of coffee and downs it.

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

               " . . ."

Edge is quiet for several moments in thought, 'Is changing the world by force really what we're trying to do? I guess. I mean I don't really have a problem with that. But . . .'

" - I believe that this ship can change the world," he concedes that much. He wouldn't be here if he didn't, "in ways that are both big and small." he finishes, putting an emphasis on the last word there. You didn't need to deflect a meteor or defeat an enemy army to change people's lives. His and Az's lives were changed by Mitsuba and her Dreisstrager, after all.

'I think that's really the thing that was bothering me. I don't think we should forget about the small changes we can make, too - or let the big changes overshadow them.'

"As for this team non-sense, whatever. I'm not extra keen on being so buddy-buddy just yet, but we'll see - for now, though, you can at least trust that I'll act in the best interests of me, Az, the ship and her crew."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       Mayvy grins, scratching the side of her chin with a thumb. "That determination's why I'm here. She's always been like this. ... well. Maybe a few more stars in her eyes, first year at the academy."

       She takes a big swig of coffee, then leans over to free the crate of recreational goods from the bottom of the stack, pulling off the top. After a few moments of rooting around, stacking up about four mecha model kits, she frees a deck of cards. "RIGHT! Here it is." She tosses it to Soji, then unpacks the rest of the kits, stacking them over in her nest.

Lune Zoldak has posed:

Trusting Lune to jovially go along with simulator romps is well-placed. The blond's cavalier good cheer about her memories nolifing the robot egg until she was the very best instead of anything else carry on into a somewhat intense course at Mayvy.

"Honestly, I've been really looking forward to exercised with more dynamic and interactive partners. Aren't you?" She leans in. "Team simulations is basically the one way that pilots can -really- get to know each other, with real, tangible opportunities for growth at every sad failure. Really, isn't it better when you're challenged? They're -just- simulators, it's not the feedback pain lasts that long anyway. You don't -die-. You can try it again, try something else, add more allies, add more advantages, keep going until you figure out the things that work. Each thing that works. Grind it out until you're perfect. -That's- simulator training."

She loops her arm around Mayvy's shoulder, facing Mitsuba, Edge, and Soji. "Right?"

It doesn't sound like a question.

Then-- Edge is a Sad_Poor_Orphan_In_Snow.

Lune loses all that warmth, and a look of only disgust. "Wooow, look at Saintklaus. Fresh off the dirt dimension and he's talking garbage-ese about teamwork when he works on a ship."

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

"It's a large task, and to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure what it entails, yet," Mitsuba admits. "But... if not us, then who?" The thought is heavy -- heavy enough that Mitsuba just can't wrap her head around it. "Soji -- I'll be counting on you." She worries a little about saying that, knowing his history. But it might be crueler not to say it.

Edge highlights the small things -- and Mitsuba has to think about that. But the small things, themselves, prove to be such a big question that she aims down instead. "That's all I'd ask of you. You have the freedom not to participate, should a mission make you uncomfortable, or should you feel it conflicts with that," she affirms. "All I ask is that you do what you can." ... the best you can, she thinks.

Mayvy says something flattering. Mitsuba rubs at the back of her head. "... I needed something to believe in after the Axis Shock," she concedes. "I found it at Military Academy 30." She's about to speak, but she lets Lune cut in -- and then looks a little upset. "... Lune -- don't pressure him like that. I understand wanting to be sure he'll remain reliable, but... please. He's allowed to hesitate, especially when our lives aren't on the line if he does."

Soji Murakumo has posed:

"Right." Soji responds to Lune, shrugging at Edge's response about teamwork, before taking the deck of playing cards. The mention of Axis Shock gets a distant look, but Mitsuba gets a thumbs-up. "You've got it, Captain." He'll do everything he can - anything he can.

"Alright, who wants to see a magic trick? Eh? EH?"

And then Soji does one of the most basic bitch sleight of hand magic tricks he can. He probably read it in a book. But it's still a magic trick, and therefore he's not a liar.

Edge Sainklaus has posed:

Lune very saliently points out his stinkiness - not necessarily the kind you'd pick up with your nose, either. Edge has no real retort for it, all things considered, but some part deep inside of his chest cringes in equal parts shame and appreciation that Mitsuba decided to speak up about it instead. " ... nah, she's got a point." he says. "Though I'm thankful to you for throwing me a bone."

The way his scarf crinkles slightly gives the impression he's probably smiling under it, but only for a second. "Thanks for the coffee. It's probably about time I make like a tree before I get scrambled like an egg," he says, ' .. - and sour the mood.' with an internal musing on the side.

Turning his back to the group, he gives a small, one-handed wave before departing out the only actual door in the room, leaving Soji behind with his bog-standard magic.

In the meantime, a technician winces, "Why is this duct open?!" from somewhere in the massive room. Probably totally unrelated to the dust dimension.

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       Mayvy blinks, visibly a little surprised when Lune drapes an arm over her shoulder. But she nods, back straightening assertively. "Yep! Exactly. The sims are how you learn to work together. They're how you learn to coordinate, operate under pressure, learn *who your squadmates are*!" She nods. "Edge will learn who you are, and you'll learn who he is. It may not quite be the *battlefield*, without any lives on the line--but battle is still where people bare their souls. You'll become a unit," she waxes romantic. She takes another long drink, finishing off her coffee and setting it on the nearest counter.

       She claps politely but dispassionately to Soji's magic trick. She glances back, waving off the technician, "It's fiiine, just close it back up."

Lune Zoldak has posed:

With clearly no problem with personal space - or invading other people's, Lune Zoldak carries on staring at Edge Saintklaus' bad takes machine known as a mouth right up until Mitusba opens her own Take Delivery Device.

Lune's momentarily blank blue eyes shutter once. Mayvy gets the peculiar experience of Lune's bicep adjusting at the base of her neck, and the blond releases the head technical officer without further need of menacing intimacy.

Or Escape Artist checks.

"Sure, Captain. It's a big ship." She agrees easily - more easily than anything else out of her the entire conversation - and re-crosses her arms.

To watch a mediocre magic trick.

One it's done, she nods.

"I thought it was complete garbage, but I noticed I lost track of a card - a subtle technique. Six of ten, but a pass." She nods.

Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed:

"Ah -- you're welcome," Mitsuba offers Edge. She can't find quite the words she wants, so she settles for the ones that get at least some of the way there. "I think I should get going, myself," she eventually adds, a little lamely.

"I'll be in touch about the simulator," she adds, to Mayvy, before she moves to depart. She gives Lune a momentary unsure look, but ultimately just nods to herself.

Soji Murakumo has posed:

After the lackluster magic trick, and the reactions, Soji's all smiles. "A six! That's a new record." And then as Mitsuba leaves, he puts his hand on the side of his face, hiding his frown. Are they okay? Hopefully, they'll make a great team. But time will tell.

So for now, Soji returns the cards. "Nice kits, by the way. I should be returning to report, and then heading to my bunk. Have a good one, ladies."

And then, Soji Murakumo disappeared in a magic trick. Or more accurately, he walked away.

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       "Of course," Mayvy smiles. "Take care, cap'n. And thanks!" She offers a wave to Mitsuba and Soji, then--once Mitsuba particularly is out of view--flumps back into her chair, reeeaching back to pull on a lever to let her lean back. "That. Was mooore people than I expected." She gives Lune a slightly exasperated look. "It was nice, but good *God* I usually need a bit more prep for that."

Lune Zoldak has posed:

Waving to the leaving pair and making a 'Mm-mm' along to Mayvy's goodbyes in shared affirmation.

Then the hatch closes, and Mayvy cranks back the recline, returning to the natural engineer state of gremlin puddle. Lune smiles faintly and nods. "Yeah. New people can be a lot. There's way too many on a ship this size, even with the automation. I'm used to... maybe three dozen, total? Didn't have many people Jupiter-ways."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       Mayvy raises an eyebrow. "Oh, huh! I was wondering about that gap... were you out with the Energy Fleet before this, then? Or were you in a colony out there?" She sits back up, legs crossed, hands in her lap. "What's it like out there? Jupiter's gotta be a hell of a sight up close."

Lune Zoldak has posed:

Huffing nasally once as Mayvy cranks back up at an interesting topic, Lune finds the table Mitsuba's extra coffee had founds its home at and leans against it, crossing her bare leg over her jeans'ed one.

"Welll..." Her head hangs in consideration, staring down her nose. "We definitely were doing what the energy fleet Does, but I don't think anyone was actually attached to the J-E-F's structure. They were all my dad's people, or long-haul commissions. It was a 'school cruise' for me, since a bunch of the physical stuff was taking place in microgravity it just made sense. Dad said he'd have something cool waiting for me when I got back."

Her chin comes up. The blank look. "Cute, I corrected him. Cute. And I got it, too."

Jupiter.

Lune brightens, raised foot tapping in-air. "Space is. . . incredible. It was hard to get used to, at first, a lot of steps to do anything, a lot of rituals before anything you did, but the more you do it, the more it all just becomes meditation time. I got a lot of thinking done. And Jupiter itself is... massive doesn't begin to describe it. Getting near it is feeling that storm that rages on the surface tug at you, drag at you. The gravity well is intense just getting close. And the color -- I don't think they make the right colors of tans to describe it, not really. But Mars - Mars takes red, Jupiter's eye or no."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       Mayavy nods. "Microgravity's... an interesting experience, for sure. Never had /much/ experience with it, and not really the real deal--just a few parabolic flights when we were training." She leans forward, setting her chin in her hand. "Bian Zoldak built the Valsione." A laugh escapes her lips. "--sorry, I've just. I've read a lot of his work, it's weird to think the same guy made something so. Cute. I love it, I really do. Reminds me of some shows I really like."

       "God. I don't know if we'll ever get to go out there, but... pictures and video can't prepare you for reality, can they? I'd bet you can *feel* the electricity around Jupiter. That's what I always imagined."

       "You ever heard of the 'overview effect'?" she asks.

Lune Zoldak has posed:

"You'll get it. If Mitsuba is serious about defending people - serious about simming against Mars Zeon units mixed with Zeonic remnant forces - then she's serious about going to space."

Lune shifts her arms back to brace her shoulders as she reclines a bit herself, until a desk lamp gets in her way, and she makes an annoyed sound as the hot lamp-back touches her lightly-covered back. Checking the desk for a moment, she turns back to Mayvy and the momentary annoyances fade back into the atmosphere.

On the specific topic of Valsione, Lune laughs. "Of course not. He had to be shown. If you think it looks like some magical girl you've seen?" The flapper girl winks at Mayvy. "You're probably right. Some things just work."

Mayvy Hawkins has posed:

       Mayvy nods. "Yeah. I mean... just seeing the curve of the Earth made things more real to me. You hear about space, about the colonies--hell, I've looked at the clusters with a telescope. But seeing the ground fall away, actually *getting* with your own two eyes that you're not on some flat patch of dirt..." She shakes her head. "Ugh. Gettin' sappy."

       She welcomes the subject change. "--yeah, one of the ones I saw when I was a kid. Magical Warrior Selvy. Don't think it's the same design, but... just makes the kid in me squeal a bit." The engineer laughs, and glances over as one of her technicians flags her over. "Oh--looks like we've tracked down the unit data. Got an exciting night data-structure mapping ahead of me." She waggles her eyebrows. Locking her chair back upright, she wheels back over to her nest nearby.

       She looks back toward Lune. "Sorry to wrap up like this. It's probably gonna be an all-nighter. But... you're welcome to come by anytime," she adds with a smile. "I promise the coffee won't always be this shit."

Lune Zoldak has posed:

Lune rises from her casual seat on the table, waving off the apologies with a causal smile and a shrug. "The coffee was coffee. It's a bitter, acidic drug bean water. If you make it good, you've done something extra."

She elbows the door release.

"I'll hold you to that promise, though, Mayvy. Not -always-."

Another easy smile, and Lune backs confidently out the hatch and pivots on her heel to march with purpose down towards...

THE DREADED FOUR WAY INTERSECTION.