Episode One - One Way Trip

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1045 Zulu
'45 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

Lucas stayed in the mess hall...otherwise known as the Commissary, glancing at his watch every few minutes. The saying a watched pot never boils was certainly true in this case. His water was over half drunk and he had only been there a little over five minutes.

Lucas contemplated going to his room but really what was the point? He was already all packed, all he needed to do was go up and grab his pack when they were ready to disembark which wasn't for another forty five minutes.
He also contemplated about trying to find out who he'd be serving with. He had put in for a command position which was still TBA, for good reason he guessed, seeing as how they would have more important matters to attend to.

Rising up from his seat, Lucas threw away the rest of his water before sitting on the floor where he did some stretches for a good five minutes. Rising back up he glanced around, seeing that the Commissary was empty, he ran at the back wall as fast as he could. Reaching the wall he literally ran up it for several steps before kicking off in to a back flip. He landed but kept his forward momentum going. He did several more flips before stopping, having received a glare from the cook. Okay, practicing Parkour in the Commissary was defiantly out for now.
Shrugging his shoulders in apology Lucas returned to his table. At least he had burned up some of the remaining time until they arrived at their destination.

<Tag open>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1046 Zulu
'44 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

-Flashback-
"It's Major Raiden McCallister," Raiden told the flight sergeant, folding his arms as he resisted eye rolling at the NCO. "Jacob is the one that you might hear singing now and again. One huge difference between us is you will NEVER hear me sing." he had to smirk then, as if proud of himself over an idea that he was sure was basically a solid fact. People often confused Jacob and Raiden over their looks as fraternal twins, but they used differences in their personality and mannerisms to tell each other apart. With Raiden moving around with Security, it was easy to assume he was Jacob at first glance when the teams weren't going offworld...It was forever a slight draw back to being siblings that close in not just the physical aspect, but communication style as well...

-Present, as Lieutenant Colonel-
Raiden and his fraternal twin Jacob walked into the Mess Hall aboard the Acropalis. "Wow, just like home. I'm starting to like this thing." Raiden commented as Jacob followed his fraternal, and semi-identical twin a few steps from behind. "It's not bad," Jacob replied. At this point, the two officers saw only one other officer in the room, a Lieutenant Colonel. Jacob and Raiden approached them. Being the same rank as Lucas, Raiden stopped a couple steps away and nodded at him casually while Jacob offered a quick salute. "Hope you don't mind some temporary company, Colonel, thought we'd introduce ourselves before we go on our merry way to get chow." Jacob was quiet for just a moment, observing his surroundings.

<Tags>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1046 Zulu
'44 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

Jacob then took a closer look at Lucas's nametag, which read: "CAFFEREY". " I'm Captain Jacob McCallister, and the Lieutenant Colonel here is Raiden McCallister." the two were nearly identical in body type/height, mannerisms, and voice. The only thing that seemed different was their face, differences in their voice and hair style, and rank. Due to being slightly higher ranking than Raiden, Raiden was often automatically viewed as the older brother, despite that he mainly had the rank due to his field of choice and seniority in that field. The fraternal twins simultaneously extended their right hands, offering a handshake to seal the greeting.

<Tags - note: this post is short enough I didn't see a reason to do a time stamp change>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1047 Zulu
'43 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

""Hope you don't mind some temporary company, Colonel, thought we'd introduce ourselves before we go on our merry way to get chow."

Lucas looked up, a little surprised to see the two men standing there. Before he had a chance to speak, the younger of the two men spoke up.
"I'm Captain Jacob McCallister, and the Lieutenant Colonel here is Raiden McCallister."

Lucas stood when the two men extended their hands.
Reaching over, Lucas shook first Raiden's hand then Jacob's.
"McCallister and McCallister...brother's I presume? Well I'm Lieutenant Colonel Lucas Cafferey, pleasure to meet you both. Feel free to go get chow while you still have the chance, but word of advice. If you feel the need to break out in to a free running mode...don't. Chef over there won't be too happy with you." Lucas said with a glance towards the Chef who, it seemed was doing his best not to watch them.

<Tag Raiden and Jacob>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1047 Zulu
'43 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival

Raiden leaned back on his heels for a moment, glancing at Jacob. "Yeah, we're a rare case of 'half-identical twins'. So we're technically the same age even though most assume I'm the older one." he glanced over at the chef and waved, then turned to look at Lucas again. "Nice to meet you too. I don't do much running around myself, but you might want to look out for this one. I've caught him trying to pull some stunts attempting to show off plenty of times." Jacob was definitely the one with the competitive streak. Knowing full well what he was getting at, Jacob shot a sour glance at his half-twin.

"Just get your food, COLONEL, or I'll start singing."[/i] Jacob threatened, the sour look on his face turning into a brief smirk. "Yeah, I'm going, I'm going." Raiden replied, turning on his heels to move towards the chef. "I'll just take the meal of the day," Raiden told the chef who prepared the main course. "With some chips as well please."

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1048 Zulu
'42 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival

Jacob rolled his eyes behind Raiden's back as he followed him a few steps later. Getting trays for themselves, Jacob snatched a sandwich, and asked for a medium size cup of coffee. He didn't expect it to be the best since they were on a hugely awesome ship. ~"This is just a flying base, food and drinks aren't going to be any different."~ he thought with a mental shrug as the thanked the chef for the coffee. "Oh, bottle of water as well, please." he'd need that later until he had his Camel Pack on him.

Yes, Jacob liked to sing... occasionally. That was mostly only when he was driving. Alone.

Jacob and Raiden returned to some seats a couple chairs away from Lucas and plopped down in them casually. The three were all officers, no need to be TOO formal in a completely empty Mess Hall.

<Tags!>

[Alecia Kazuko Brannagh]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1050 Zulu
'40 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'
Outfit

Alecia took a few more minutes to stare up at the ceiling of her quarters, spread out on her bed in sheer wonder. To her, a girl who had grown up in a world where the Wraith had destroyed most technology that they had built, just being here was unbelievable. The mere moving to and from planets with the other Athosians was enough to get her excitable, but now she was traveling to a different galaxy altogether... If you had told her five years ago that she would have gone through all of that - she wouldn't have believed you. Sure, they were able to travel to other planets through the gates for trading and the such, but this was another thing altogether.

But with that daydreaming done with, Alec kicked herself into action. Checking the time she saw she had just over ten minutes left to get her stuff packed which, considering she was not the type of girl to have so many things, didn't take her too long. Alec just grabbed a bag and bundled everything in there. Clothes were the main things - but her homeland clothes were not bulky things compared to the off-world uniform she had been provided with. It was her homeland clothes that she wore now, a light creamy white dress with dark embroidered patterns on the bodice with no shoes. It was normal clothing for her, but around here it looked quite feminine compared to the military styled clothing. Of course, Alecia had her share of these two, but nothing could beat the style she wore now.

With everything packed up, Alecia placed her hands on her hips and gave the room a once over and when pleased she had everything together, she headed out the door to rendezvous with the other civilians. She was a few minutes early heading there so didn't expect to find many people there, but as Alec walked through the doors she was surprised that she was the only civilian about and the only people occupying the mess hall were all officers, looking quite comfortable in their surroundings. So she was early... No matter, Alec gave a polite nod to the other occupants before heading over to grab herself something to eat. There was nothing like the Tuttleroot soup of her home planet, but she had to admit, it wasn't too bad.

<Tag: Open>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1049 Zulu
'41 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival

Jacob and Raiden both momentarily slowed in their eating. Raiden was about to eat another potato chip when off to his right he noticed a young woman enter the Mess Hall. ~"They let civilians on this ship?"~ It was then he noticed Jacob, who was usually good with his military bearing, 'measure up' the lady. He tossed the chip he had in his right hand at his half-twin. "Oy, she's too young for you, doofus."

<Tags>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1049 Zulu
'41 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival

Jacob quickly glanced at his brother, his expression blank for just a split second, facial skin tone completely unchanging. He glared at him. "I know that. Stop making things worse." He picked up the chip and tossed it back at him. He then waved curtly at Alecia as she proceeded to walk in.

<tags: Lucas and Alecia>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1050 Zulu
'40 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival

Lucas had reached in to his shirt and pulled out a small necklace. The chain was black, made out of what felt like rubber, only stronger. The pendant was a small coffin. The coffin was completely black with the silver letters 'GAC' in the middle.

He heard a small commotion a few tables away. Looking up Lucas saw the two brothers tossing food at each other. Okay, it was a chip but still...
A little ways away Lucas guessed was the cause for the commotion.
A young female civilian!

Rising from his seat, Lucas made his way over to the young lady.
"Hello, Lt. Colonel Lucas Cafferey. You are assigned to the Meropis Expedition I take it?" Lucas said to the young lady.
He felt it was better to go over to her and introduce himself, rather than sit and stare as it appeared the two brothers were doing.


<Tag Alecia, Raiden and Jacob>

[Alecia Kazuko Brannagh]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1051 Zulu
'39 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'
Outfit

Alecia had chosen what food she wanted, picking out a pasty from the counter but there was always drinks... she was usually a water girl but today she felt like something with a bit of flavour. But what... mid-thought she was distracted by the sound of a slight commotion behind her and she gave a glance in it's general direction to see two of the men throwing food at each other. A small smile curled up onto her lips as she was amused by this - the men from Earth were very peculiar sometimes. From here she couldn't quite make out what was causing the ruckus between the two, aside from one of them waving to her, she returned the wave before intending to go back to searching for a drink...

Except the third guy had begun to walk over to her and not wanting to be rude Alecia turned her eyes upon him and smiled warmly. She was a friendly person, as it was common from her world, and she would often be as such until you did something that would strip you of the right for niceties. All of the men were quite older than her, which seemed to be the way so far upon this ship, it wasn't a bother to her though so as the man introduced himself she stored his name away and matched it to his face. She bowed her head to him before she spoke, "It's nice to meet you, Lieutenant," Alecia replied, still with a smile on her face. "I am, indeed, the name's Alecia Kazuko Brannagh, but you can call me Alec." She was very confident for her age and this showed in the way she spoke and the way she held herself.

<Tag: Lucas, Raiden and Jacob>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1052 Zulu
'38 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

Blinking a bit at the return hit, Raiden remained still for a moment before saying "You know what? 52 chip pick up!" as he held the end of the bag, then flicked it squarely for his half-twin, right for the face again.

"Real mature, brother. Real mature. But now the ones over here are mine," Jacob replied, and started to pick up the chips on the table and the few in his lap, eating them one at a time in each hand. Raiden laughed and snatched up a few himself.

"I'm not sure there are even 52 chips in this bag, they never fill the whole thing." Raiden commented between bites. "Yeah huh." Jacob agreed as he munched on a few more of the last chips on the table.

The chef would roll his eyes at seeing this. At least one of the officers in the room was being professional.

<Tags!>

[Deleted]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1052 Zulu
'38 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

Lucas gave a small half smile, which to him was the normal, acceptable military smile.
"Nice to meet you Alec. Would you like to join me? After you have gotten your drink, of course." He asked.

Lucas felt it was his business to get to know everyone. He disliked entrusting his life to people he didn't know, especially on expeditions like this one, of course this being his first time off world didn't change his views on the matter.
Besides, this would probably be his last time to actually talk with anyone, seeing as how they would certainly be busy once they arrived in orbit over the planet.

Lucas took one quick glance over at the two McCallister brothers and just barely managed not to shake his head.
"Brothers..." He thought to himself before focusing his attention on Alec.

<Tag Alec>

[Alecia Kazuko Brannagh]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Mess Hall
1052 Zulu
'38 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'
Outfit

Alec was pleased with the company, besides they were going to be spending a long time out here - it was worth getting to know the people you were going to be living with. Which was why it wasn't so strange for someone to be introducing themselves out of the blue. Alec nodded before replying,

"Sure, that'd be nice, thank you." It was decision time and Alec took her attention away from Lucas for a minute to look at the selection of drinks. Usually she sucked with decisions, not important ones - she could make them quite easily, especially under pressure - but with little trivial things like what to eat or what to wear she could take forever if not given a nudge to hurry up. Of course, Lucas didn't do this outright, but by merely being there Alec didn't wish to leave him hanging while she decided and so she scooped up a bottle of tropical juice and was done with it. Reassuring herself that if she did feel like anything else, it was only a short walk away.

"Shall we?" Alec queried, after having her selection in her hands, she turned her attention back onto Lucas now and suggested moving back on to the tables. She waited for him to take the leadback to the seats as she grinned lopsidedly at his muttering about the other two officers - who now appeared to have accelerated their food fighting, she wasn't the most ladylike of girls and could find the humour in their antics. As she watched, some of the other civilians started to enter the room with meant that it was getting nearer to their meeting time. Alec glanced over at the entrance looking to see if the leader was there or not.

<Tag: Lucas, Raiden and Jacob>

[Pandora Banks]

BC-304 Sun Tzu
Bridge
1055 Zulu
'35 Minutes Until Meropis Arrival'

As Pandora enters the canteen, less than refreshed from her twenty minutes alone, a twenty minutes she spent pacing up and down in her quarters, a few familiar faces watch her from one of the longer tables. She recognises them by the looks of fright on their faces, and their clothes, which are not camouflaged, and barely formal. Her responsibilties - the civilians.

Of the dozen or so that are already here, only one wears a smile. A young girl, who from her fitcheting and illuminated eyes looks genuinely excited, not a trace of the anxiety that courses through the faces of her companions. Pandora walks over, sits down in an empty seat at the table. Not at its head - no one occupied either of the ends, choosing instead to sit in two opposing lines, spaced apart, as if sitting a school examination.

"Nice to see you here," she says, smiling at her little civilian army. Some were missing, but it wasn't too much of a problem for her. After all, if they didn't want to make the effort, then maybe they wouldn't be worth knowing after all. Somewhere nearby, a civilian girl she has very much wanted to learn more about sits deep in conversation with a uniformed man, lieutenant, as far as Pandora can tell. Still, there is time. And if the girl would rather drink fruit juice than what she had to provide, then that would be fine. More for the rest of them, the ones who look like they need their nerves settling.

She reaches into the satchel at her side, produces a bottle of champagne.

"Here's to this next adventure. I know the five weeks here have been hard, and it's been difficult to find time to really get to know each other, but I hope we can start here," She pours the bottle into the lines of glasses that are already set upon the table, The portions she could afford to each one are small, but enough for a toast. She raises her glass. "I feel the occasion warrants a little toast, so...to us."

Tentatively, the others raise their glasses too, and they clink against each other. The first step in their connections, one that Pandora is relying on to get her through this. As they sip quietly, she looks out of the window to her right. Purples and blues smudge past in incomprehensible speed, swirling, but slowing. It wouldn't be long now.