Log:Space Team, Scene 2

Space Team 2015/08/30 Breach Griffin Malcolm Indira 2

Indira closes her eyes to enjoy the 'in-flight movie' Malcolm had promised. Maybe she's not actually doing that. But she's smiling to herself.

"T'be honest ma'am, I haven't either. But that just means this is a moment you're never going to forget." Griffin says with a grin. His eyes are hidden behind his headset goggles but they're smiling too!

Griffin shakes the urge to do his own monologue about untouched worlds and unglimpsed vistas & the great unknown before all of us. He gives Violet his most assuring smile.

Violet's legs are shaking even as she tries to grin. "J-just like...skydiving. Upwards?"

"It's perfectly save, Violet," Indira says serenely. "Your people have been capable of flight for your entire lifespan. This is just going higher."

"And into the vacuum of space. Where no one can hear you scream?" Violet replies tersely.

"More like 'around' when we get up there- but the principal's the same." Griffin says with a thumbs up.

"Honestly- if there was an accident, you wouldn't even know it." Griffin says seriously, though why he thinks this will help the scared woman cope is beyond me.

Violet grips her belts a little harder as they go up. "If it were so safe, why are we wearing space suits?" she asks Indira. Then she eyes Rick and Griffin, then leans forward to catch a glimpse of their pilot. "Or more importantly, why aren't they wearing them?" Violet looks back to Griffin. "What do you mean? How wouldn't I?"

"Don't be ridiculous," replies Rick, "We can all hear you scream, Ms. Wyndell. We're all on the same comm system."

Rick is visibly doing his best to look reassuring, going so far as to have removed his smartshades so Violet can see his brown eyes. He offers a small, tight, wounded animal smile in Violet's direction, which probably only works because of that lingering haunted look in his eyes. At the sound of Griffin's attempt at reassurance, Rick rolls his eyes and elbows Griffin in the ribs.

"I brought my suit. It's in my case."

Malcolm cheerfully interrupts from the cockpit, calling over his shoulder, "I'm not wearing one because I'm cleared to survive in space with only a respirator. I'm not just your pilot today, I'm also Starguard Gamma's Agent Forge. Pleasure to meet you all."

Indira opens her ambiently glowing eyes and smiles. "Ah, a member of Starguard Gamma? I suppose this is Mr. Perrault and Mr. Yamaoka's doing." Ever since Mr. Yamaoka reported the Ambassador's incidents straight to their team leader, Dorian Perrault (Aka Spirit), Starguard has tried taking over some of the Ambassador's security detail. Much to her reluctance. She insisted Rick stay as her personal guard and head of security, since he had taken the effort to learn about her special needs and requirements.

Despite the political upheaval caused by this, Indira offers a cheerful, "A pleasure to meet you, Star Guard Gamma's Special Agent Forge Gibbs." She crafts an amalgam of his name.

Violet isn't sure if she's relieved that people can hear her scream. "Well...at least there's comms," she settles. And she has a sneaking suspicion she wouldn't survive to know if something went horribly wrong.

Griffin ignores spacesuit question as he was certain something like that would have been handled for him. 'Well too late to complain about it now.' He thinks to himself.

Griffin just smiles at Violet after Forge's introduction. Better to let them assume the best and deal with the worst IF it happens. There's always holding his breath. He smiles at that ridiculous thought and leans back in his seat. That thunderous calm & clarity of being on the precipice of death and not looking away takes hold.

In the rear of the Sky Saber, there are a cargo area, lockers and weapons racks. And a few mounted space suits, Starguard Issue.

"Just one or the other, ma'am," comments Malcolm, "I prefer either Special Agent Gibbs or just Forge."

Rick rolls his eyes, visibly this time, at Malcolm's Very Special request. The Undead Soldier vaguely regrets not insisting on mixed seating so he could ensure the civilians didn't get restless on the trip up. He shifts his gaze back toward Violet, smiling again as he intones, "What I mean is that you shouldn't be scared. You've got the best of the best protecting you both."

Malcolm shifts his attention back to the semi-ballistic arc he's got the Sky Saber describing in the sky. There are some button pushes and toggle flips, but mostly Malcolm makes weird and indecipherable comments into his headset's microphone that everyone can be fairly certain are completely useless gestures between the roar of the engines and the little matter of the comms blackout that comes during every spaceflight during exit from and re-entry of the Earth's atmosphere.

Changing from atmospheric to non-atmospheric flight is not a thing that Hollywood has ever done well. The atmosphere thins out significantly as you increase in altitude, but the violence of the flight doesn't truly cease until shortly after the Pyle has left the atmosphere and entered High Earth Orbit. Like all good things, the tranquility of space takes a little time to set in when you're entering it from a healthy atmosphere like the Earth's.

Everything abruptly seems to quiet down. Gravity ceases to drag stomachs and intestines toward the Earth's core. The force of acceleration continues to hold people to seats until Malcolm eases back on the throttle - he actually fires the retro-rockets and maneuvering thrusters for a few seconds - and it's really not until that point that things feel like they've truly changed. As the craft slows to a proper coasting speed and the retro-rockets finish their burn, competing forces level out and a sense of gentle tranquility is permitted to permeate the cabin like a cool autumn fog.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to be the first to welcome you to outer space."

The rattling of the ship as it starts to break through the atmosphere causes Violet to attempt to curl up into a little ball. She only vaguely remembers the rules of what to do in an airplane crash. Something along the lines of put your head between your legs, and kiss your butt goodbye. So maybe that's what she's trying to do, with her eyes squeezed firmly shut and holding her breath.

Indira, meanwhile, seems serene as ever as she's bounced around by their exit, straight through the calming zero-g feeling of space.

Only once the calm has returned does Violet lift her head. She looks a bit green.

Griffin grins the entire times. The rattling, the shaking, the arcing and rolling all met the same exact expression on his face. That of a 7 year old on Christmas day getting EVERYTHING he ever wanted in one sitting. Pure unrestrainable glee.

When Zero-Gee is upon them, Griffin maintains his smile, but struggles to see more. Then he sees Violet. He looks over and gives her another thumbs up. "See you did just fine, ma'am." Griffin says.

As calm settles across the ship, there's a breathtaking view of the earth. To the port side of the ship, there's Quinnsat-1, the impressive science station of Anthony Quinn. And ahead of the ship, about five times the size of the Quinnsat-1, is the Intergalactic Space Station.

About two-fifths of the Intergalactic Space Station is dark. And the tech it's built from doesn't look like an earth design. It's dark grey with lines of cyan blue and white lights interspersed. It's sleak, and built in a ring design.

Violet looks up to Griffin with a sway of her head. "Yaaay, did it," she sounds less than enthused due to feeling ill.

"Why are we even coming out here," Violet bemoans, knowing full well why. Still, Indira assumes humans have short-term memories and elaborates.

"Because I need to check over the retrofit for human use and inspect the visitor quarters, and Rick needs to examine it for security purposes."

Rick may have had a reason for wearing his BOOM Suit. As Violet looks up, green-tinged around the edges, Rick shifts his weight and rummages around in his pockets. Quietly Rick calls, "Violet, hands up," before he sends a plastic baggie filled with brown paper bags floating effortlessly across the cabin.

Malcolm brings the Pyle around as comms pick up abruptly with various bursts of static. The Sky Saber sedately barrel rolls to ensure all of the occupants of the cabin get a good look at the Earth so near and so far, rotating through the windows like something straight out of 2001 or Apollo 13 - and gosh, is it just me or is it really hard to end a sentence on a space movie title without a number bumping up against the period?

In spite of Malcolm very gently spinning the craft, the improvised zero-g sick bags find themselves inexorably drawn toward Violet's hands. This is the sort of thing that Rick Mason is terribly, uncannily good at doing. Faintly one can hear echoes of comms traffic from the Intergalactic Space Station as landing control coordinates with Malcolm for a flawless docking attempt. Or, at least, that's how Rick chooses to interpret the unintelligible comms traffic. After all, that's what Malcolm is here for, right?

Right. Malcolm is here to make sure the VIPs get aboard the station safe and sound. Everything else is just gravy.

Violet looks up and catches the brown bag. She clutches it desperately and holds her breath. At least she's keeping it all down. "Thanks, Rick. You're always so prepared," she says thankfully.

"I try," comments Rick. He's provided her with plenty of zero-g sick opportunities with that bag full of bags. Rick looks over at Griffin and comments, "You're not going to eat all the space churros and hurl on my shoes are you?"

Malcolm makes a puzzled sound. He adjusts the Sky Saber's course minutely, gradually shifting the Pyle into a loose orbit of the Intergalactic Space Station instead of a straight approach. It's the sort of course change that no one's going to notice until much, much later.

While you guys wait out the observation timer, please enjoy Malcolm drifting out of the pilot's seat. He skims around the cockpit for the moment, chattering endlessly with someone. Every two to three minutes, however, Malcolm intones, "Attention Checkpoint India-Golf-Sierra. This is Umbrella-Echo-Sierra-Sierra won-three-zero-fiver. Please respond."

From the corner of his eye, out in the blackness of space, Mal sees the stars shift slightly in a certain patch. And then a red flash of light as a red orb streaks for the Sky Saber.