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Purple Morning Flutter
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One by one, your crew assembles. Thankfully, William is the first to arrive. When you ask him how to get inside, he smiles politely and says, "Just use your PIC, dude. Here, now say 'Computer, deploy boarding ramp.'" You do so, and a previously-concealed door (or maybe you just didn't notice it, you're not quite sure) slides open and a ramp descends until it touches the ground. Will grabs his bags and leaves to perform the ship's initial setup - it's a long and boring process, he explains, so it's best to get started right away - and you turn to greet the next arrival, bumping into a chestplate.
You take a step back and look up at Oda. His longbow is slung across his back, and he carries more swords than he has hands, suspended from various sashes. "Well hi," you say, extending your hand. He bows deeply. "Go on in when you're ready, I guess." You're not quite sure how to deal with this guy.
"I have arrived now," he replies, straightening back up. A solemn look covers his face. "Pleased to meet my new captain. I must go prepare." As he ascends the ramp, you notice he's left a trail of cherry blossom petals behind him all the way back to the terminal, and probably beyond. He doesn't seem to be tossing them himself, they just kind of fall from his robe. How many has he got in there? As you stand staring at the mysterious samurai, a yell from behind startles you.
"Shiver me timbers!" Comes the cry. Oh, the pirate.
"Richard Caine, reportan fer duty, Cap'n!" He grasps your hand in a one-sided shake. He's pretty muscley for an old man, and has the grip of someone decades younger.
"Welcome aboard, uh, partner!" You try your best to mimic him, but he doesn't seem impressed.
"Oi'd loike ye ta meet me own personal first mate, Paulie," the old pirate continues, nudging his left shoulder towards you. A blue and yellow parrot is perched there, seemingly oblivious to its surroundings. "Say ahoy, Paulie."
"Rawk! Gimme yer booty." Paulie whistles after he speaks. He'll easily become either the most fun or most annoying member of the crew real quick.
"That's a good bird, Paulie! Say, I ever tell you about the time I met ol' Paulie?" You guide Richard up the boarding ramp as he speaks. "It was a dark and stormy night, an' I was drunker than a Russian in a vodka store..." His voice fades away as he enters the ship; you remain outside the greet the last, considerably more noisy arrival.
Each heavy thud upon the ground is linked by the sound of hydraulics as the legs of Natalia's mech move. Certainly not a stealthy machine, although it moves considerably more smoothly than you're used to seeing, and isn't leaving massive holes in the ground as it walks. Bringing aboard a champion mech fighter was a good idea.
"Privyet, comrade," Natalia says across her mech's loudspeaker. "Where do I load Motherland?"
Recalling the command William taught you earlier, you say into your PIC, "Computer, open cargo pod." The pod closest to you and Natalia begins to open.
"I will load Motherland and close up on my own. See you inside, kyaptain." You notice her accent inserts an oddly endearing Y in "captain". You admire the smooth motions and flawless armor of her mech as she loads it aboard before climbing up the personnel ramp yourself.
After a minute of poking around, you find the general direction of things but haven't fully explored the ship yet. The boarding ramp led into a hall, which you crossed into the living room in the center of the ship. It's a long, rectangular room with an ample view of the outside world through the triple-treated magic space glass or what it is that constitutes most of the ceiling here. The walls are lined with empty shelves for displaying your non-existent knick-knacks, an empty aquarium, and a few panels that look like they variously control temperature, communications, and other system features you're sure you'll only screw up if you mess with. At the back of the living room are eight doors, in groups of four on either side. These, explains William, are Jupiter Corp's modular ejectorpods; their entire contents can be easily swapped out with something else simply by jettisoning one and loading in another. Three are totally empty and suitable only for cargo, but the remaining five are set up as fully-furnished bedroom suites. Your crewmembers claim their room of choice, putting their belongings away before coming back to the living room to sit and discuss the most pressing question of the day:
We need money, wat do?
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