Introductions [2430-1-4-Fri-8:30am]

[Grace Forjacks]

Grace was not a cook. Now, she wasn't awful at it. Holo had preferred to have a cook on board, but there had been stretches without 'em, and the first five years she had the ship, she cooked for herself. Once she had the money, and the hungry men, a cook had become pretty appealing to have onboard.

Now her cook was dead, and there were hungry men. Normally she would have let them figure this out themselves, but being as there was a vampire on board, the last thing she needed was angry, hungry men. Especially since one was some sort of bear, quite likely the kind that can maul you to death if he's pissed. So Grace stepped up and cooked.

She stayed to her strengths: ham, hash browns, toast. Grace had already set out a pitcher of water, and another of juice that she's been saving for the next time Klove was pissed with her. There was milk in the fridge as well, but she was going to let that keep chilling, since there was nothing worse than warm milk, espeically warm mammoth milk. There was no real joy in her cooking, just quick assembly-line effort to make sure that nothing got too burnt but nothing was undercooked either.

If she'd been a smoker, she would have been smoking one now. She was going to have to take a nap once everybody else on the ship was awake. Hopefully Klove would still be rested enough to take over the ship if she was too deeply asleep. She doubted he'd be sleeping much, even if she ordered him to do it.

Grace tipped the hash browns onto a plate and walked over to the table, setting it down. Eli was lounging in his seat, no small feet considering that she was fairly sure the seats had been built to prevent lounging. His boots were on the table. That was not happening. She reached out and shoved his feet off. "We eat here." She reminded him. "You wouldn't want me rubbing mud all over my neck before you take a bite."

[Klove Makem]

Klove lay in his bunk, staring up at the ceiling. His arm was aching and his body wanted him to go back to sleep to get away from it. He ignored it, staring up at the ceiling, like maybe his eyes would burn holes through it if he tried hard enough.

A vampire. A fiking vampire. Grace had lost it. She had gone completely insane. You couldn't let a vampire onboard, you couldn't trust them, and you couldn't play nice with them, ever. He would be gunning for her throat the moment he felt that damned bloodlust of theirs.

He heard a noise from the dining room, and the rattle of plates. Grace. And probably the bloodsucker. He didn't want to see him again, but he sure as hell didn't want to leave Grace alone with him. With great reluctance, he got up and dug around to find a shirt. He picked up one of his old ones, thin from wear, and remembered the vampire's look in the shower.

Klove threw it back and grabbed his thickest sweater, putting it on without raising his one arm too much. There. Nothing to see now. As a final touch, he checked to make sure his gun had incendiary rounds in it, and reluctantly left it in his bunk. Sweat pants and a sweater weren't the best clothes to be carrying a gun in, unless you wanted to shoot yourself by accident.

He headed over to the kitchen and looked inside. Grace was cooking. The vampire was sitting on the other end of the table. He scowled at the sight of him, and grabbed a chair as far away as possible. Grace rubbed his head as she passed by him and he barely resisted slapping her hand away. A fiking vampire.

[Eli Wellington]

Eli just grinned at Grace when she knocked his feet off the table. "You could. It would provide that earthy flavour I'm so used to from the rodents." He was kidding of course, but it was a fact. It wouldn't be something he hadn't tasted before. Just not something he would choose to taste when there were finally other options.

Klove wandered in, scowling at him. Eli simply found himself amused at how far away he was choosing to sit from him. Eli had managed to hide his fangs away an hour earlier, knowing that it was better to start hiding his vampire identity before more crew members flipped out at the sight of him. It was taking some getting used to while talking, but at least his grins were far less threatening without sharp fangs glinting at the other person. "Rise and shine, kitty cat! It's a brand new day! ...sort of. ...there aren't really days in space, are there?"

[Jared Castle]

Castle was still tired from last night's action but for some strange reason he couldn't fall back to sleep. Jared wasn't much for waking up early but he was getting hungry and he had smelled food already so he officially got up, got dressed, washed up and entered the kitchen. He yawned and saw someone new sitting at the table with Grace and Klove. Who was that? Some new crew member picked up from Nox?

Maybe he's the new cook. That would be nice. He looks a little... gay... Jared thought as he sat down. He had his gun on him in case of trouble and his hand was kept close to it for safety.

Suddenly Jared recognized the newcomer. It was one of the vampires from the blood drop at the Vampire mansion. Castle stood up pulled out his gun and aimed at the Vampire. "What is that doing here?!?"

[Grace Forjacks]

"No, but we still run on 24 hour days here. It keeps you from being lagged when you're planetside." It was too easy to sleep longer hours if you didn't keep to a schedule, stretching out your days to 30 hours, 35 hours, and sleeping for twelve or fifteen hours at a time. That was a good way to loose daylight. "I wouldn't suggest pressing your face up against any windows once we get past Corus, the daylight will be strong enough to do you in."

Klove snarled behind her at Eli's response. At least Eli had stayed on his side of the table. She didn't need a fight breaking out, not when this was going to require some delicate manoeuvring. Grace shrugged off her jacket, hanging it on the hook by the stove, and turned off the burners as she finished up with the ham.

Castle wandered in. Grace kept an eye on him as she finished stacking up the ham and brought it over to the table. Of course, before she could make introductions, Castle had his gun out and pointed at Eli. She set the plate down, "We're giving him a lift to Terra." She told Castle, voice calm and level in order to put Castle at ease, "Put the gun away before you kill the man that's going to make you a millionaire."

[Klove Makem]

The vamp made Klove's skin crawl, espeically now that he wasn't flashing his fangs. He could almost past as human, almost. The stink of death was inescapable. No matter how nice he looked, he'd always smell like a walking corpse, dried out husk.

Klove snarled at the kitty-cat crack. He was really tired of everybody calling him 'kitty'. And he was going to do something about that if people didn't stop. Like poke out Eli's eyes. See how much the vamp liked not being able to see.

When Castle raised the gun, there was one brief glittering moment when he thought that maybe Castle would do the dirty work for Klove. All it would take was Grace yelling, and Castle could just blow the fikers head apart. But of course Grace didn't. Klove just sulked deeper in his chair, wishing he could urge Castle on but knowing better than to try it. He'd get just as much blame, even though his finger wasn't on the trigger.

[Eli Wellington]

Already he had a gun pointed at him. That was fast. He put his hands up in defense. "Whoooa there buddy. Not a morning person, I take it?" He sized up the new guy. He was human, so the bear was yet to be seen. He was trying to remember if he recognized this one from the blood drop, but couldn't bring his face to memory. He'd probably been too occupied with the cat.

"By the way, my name is Elijah, but you can call me Eli," he added, hands still lifted. "You know, instead of 'that'."

[Jared Castle]

Castle just stared at the vampire.What Grace said made no sense. Giving a deadly bloodthirsty creature on board, for money? Was Grace crazy? Castle had already finally gotten used to living with weres. Now a Vampire? That was too much. You can not trust a Vampire no matter how much money they say they're going to give you. Grace's own greed has made her insane. She's put all their lives in danger for some cash?

Elijah. Something about the name didn't fit.

Castle lowered the gun but kept it in his hand. Just in case. He couldn't kill the thing anyway. He still had regular old bullets from the fight on Romulus. But it helped to keep the thing uneasy with the possibility of one of the few things that could kill it so close to him. "Care to explain a little further? How can you trust that?" He said, making sure to put extra emphasis on 'that'.

[Grace Forjacks]

"I don't trust Eli, yet, but Malcolm vouched for him, and I trust Malcolm." That was a bit of a lie. Malcolm had no idea what Eli had been angling for, or he likely would have been in line for a ride, with every other vamp itching to get off-planet. But he didn't hand out her info lightly. If Eli had gotten it, it meant that Eli was one of the saner vampires, willing to talk instead of just bite. And so far, Eli had been willing to talk, on a full stomach of course.

"If he was going to kill us, he would have done it last night, before the rest of you knew he was even on board." There was no getting around this. That's how Grace would have done it, if she were Eli. "But he won't because he doesn't know how to pilot a ship. So in order for him to arrive on Terra and get access to the all-you-can-eat buffet, he's going to play nice and drink bagged blood for a week. Then he'll disappear into the Below, and you'll have enough money to go on a year-long bender if you please."

[Jared Castle]

There was a Vampire on the ship last night?!? What the fik is Grace on?

She's bringing him to Terra for an all you can eat buffet? She's going to let him just kill innocent people for money? Castle started to rethink being under employment of a woman with absolutely no heart. He wasn't about to get into an argument about that right now.

"What's to stop him from killing us all once we get there and he no longer has any need for us? Jared asked. He could easily just kill us as soon as we land, take the money back and have a smorgasbord on Terra. Not to mention the potential of spreading the Vampire virus all over Terra.

Caste sat down and held up his gun right by his face. Just enough so that Eli could see. He wanted to make him squirm the same way Castle wanted to when he stared at him that way. It made him uncomfortable. So, why not return the favor?

[Grace Forjacks]

"You." Grace said simply. "Jared, I saw you kill half a dozen vampires on Nox when we were ambushed, and last night you got Klove back here without a scratch on yourself. I hired you to do a job, and you've done it well. Why would I think you couldn't do it now?"

There were other back-ups of course, but she wasn't about to let Eli know about them. You didn't show your hand to the other players, not when you'd stacked the deck in your favour. If Eli was going to double-cross them, there was no way he would make it onto Terra's surface. And after that? Well, Grace had no intentions of going down to the Below ever again without incendiary rounds in her pistols. Not much of a change, really. She fetched the toast from the counter and the jug of milk, setting both in the middle of the table.

"I'm not asking you to be friends with him. I just want you to stay well armed, and to not blow his head off unless Eli's attempting to kill someone, and in exchange, you'll be rewarded handsomely." Grace took a seat near Eli, since she was fairly sure no one else would, and started dishing out her breakfast.

[Eli Wellington]

"Look, Sir," Eli stated, intentionally choosing the word in complete opposite to Castle's complete lack of acknowledging he was even a living, breathing, thing. Well... maybe not living. "I'm not an idiot and I presume neither are you. I mean really, what's to stop you guys from killing me once we reach Terra and I hand over the money?"

Now that he'd actually given them such a stupid idea, Eli actually had somewhat of a plan for that. It still wasn't perfect, but he had definitely been formulating it in his head, and he was already prepared in case the Weres tried anything: The metal money case was coated in silver. That would be a nasty surprise if Klove ever decided to break Grace's command and steal it out from under him.

"I wouldn't do this unless I was serious about my intent, and Grace is right, if I'd wanted to kill you and not get to Terra, I easily would have done that last night. I even caught kitty there with his pants down and I've got to admit, that would have been a real fun kill. But hey look, he's still alive and in one piece, and so are you, and now that I'm outnumbered do you really think I'd actually pull something? No. So relax and have some breakfast." Eli shook his head. They could all shoot him the moment he made any sudden movements, so there was no reason for this guy to be so uptight. "By the way, you snore, and it's gross."

[Klove Makem]

Klove was hungry, but he didn't touch the food. His body healing back together was taking a lot out of him, but he still wasn't going to eat. Especially not with Grace sitting so dangerously close to Eli. This wasn't the time to let his guard down. Why did they have to do this? Why couldn't they just kill him now and take the case. Whatever he had his money in, it was here. They could get it open one way or another.

He shot Eli a nasty look as he referenced what happened in the showers. All the hairs on the back of Klove's neck were standing up, and he could feel the itch as he wanted to transform. It would be easy to tear a strip off of Eli with his claws, espeically if Castle had his back. "If you call me kitty one more time, I'm going to rip your face off."

[Kenna Kleykir]

Kenna had woken up briefly when the engine started, and then quickly fallen back to sleep, not even bothered by the sound and heat. If anything, she slept better with it going. She was so happy she didn't have to sleep in the bunks with the other men. In the engine room, it was almost like being home again. Kenna had dimmed the lights to complete the illusion, and she was trying to figure out if there was a way she could bring dirt in without Grace getting angry.

Grace. Kenna was not looking forward to their inevitable talk. She hadn't meant to freeze up. But she had, and she still felt like an idiot thinking about it. It had plagued her dreams, interrupting the usual mix of homesick memories, her father's death, and engines. An angry captain wasn't exactly good for the mix.

The smell of food wafted into the engine, and Kenna's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten last night. The Dwarf sighed and slid out of her bunk, dressing quickly and quickly touching-up her braids. Then she headed out of the warmth of the engine room and walked into the kitchen.

Castle, Klove and Grace were there, and some new fellow. She grunted, ignoring what was clearly some sort of fight and quickly grabbed a plate, filling it up. If they were fighting with each other, she didn't have to worry about getting in trouble. Kenna made sure to take extra of the little potato things, and sat near the new fellow.

Who was he? Not a merc. He was too scrawny for a merc. And his hands were too delicate for an engineer. Pilot? Maybe. Or maybe another thin cook. She popped one of the little potato things in her mouth and chewed. Not as good as Quillan's food. But beggars couldn't be choosers, espeically if you were leaving Nox in a hurry.

"What are you?" She asked, trying to figure out exactly what he was doing on board. "Cook, pilot, something else?"

[Eli Wellington]

"That's fine. There are plenty of other names I could use," Eli retorted, smirking. "How about Pussy? I'm not picky, after all."

He ignored the gun still pointing at him when someone else wandered in. A girl! A really short girl. He lifted his eyebrow, watching her grab breakfast and sit down near him. She must have been the other scent he'd picked up on the ship the night before. It was similar to a human scent, yet different. More... earthy.

He flashed her a grin when she finally acknowledged him. "I'm fabulous, that's what I am! But I think the better question is... what are you?"