View Topic

Hendrik was practically drooling over some of the items on the menu when Aria approached him. He quickly snapped out of it just as she reached him, and stood up to greet her. "Greetings. I am, indeed, Hendrik. You must be Aria, correct? It is a pleasure to meet you too. Please," he gestured to a seat near him, "make yourself comfortable. The others are probably on their way, but it could take awhile for them all to get here. In the meantime, would you like me to order you a drink?"

James walked into the lounge, and saw that two people were already inside, a male and a female. The male was presumably Hendrik, as he had broadcast himself to be at this very location minutes ago, while the female was probably Aria, considering that she was the only female officer aboard.

"Hello," James greeted them as he approached them. "Are you Hendrik and Aria?"

Once more, Hendrik quickly shot to his feet. "That is correct. Please, make yourself comfortable. I don't believe we've met yet, mr...?"

"Alright, alright, everybody take a seat. Papa Gunther's here! Can somebody get me a goddamn beer?" Gunther shouted as he entered the lounge, not caring if he interrupted any conversations. "I'm assuming you lot must be some of the other real crew members, not those sorry-looking saps walking us around like show dogs. Which one of you's this Harry fella sending me messages? You got a thing for me, kid?"

"Ah, I'm James," James said, ignoring "Papa Gunther." "I signed on this remarkable ship as a navigator. You're the pilot, right?"

Anderson walked in amidst the "conversation". Not knowing what was going on, he introduced himself. "Hello! I'm David. You are... "

Hendrik realised a few things all at once.

First, that he was more like his father than he liked to admit. His father had always hated loud people, especially when they were rudely interrupting pleasant conversation. Hendrik's blood began boiling immediately, but just like his father, he kept his composure very well. He wouldn't be able to hide his annoyance completely, but he didn't care.

Second, that this must be Gunther, the loud-mouth gun-for-hire who had been shoved aboard the ship for some reason. Hendrik had encountered a lot of people just like him growing up, and more recently during his stint in the military. What most of them had in common, was that they always talked big and acted tough, but more often than not, he'd end up dragging their half-dead asses back to the shuttle when they'd panicked and done something stupid. They'd pick fights, and think people would be too scared to stand up to them. Invariably, they'd all lock in on the quiet person in a group, thinking they would be too much of a whimp to do anything. They'd usually be wrong.

Hendrik was about to put him in his place, when he noticed his weapon. Hendrik had also learned that these people were notoriously unstable. He therefore decided not to do anything rash, and simply said: "Yes, the name is Hendrik. I simply sent out an informal invitation for all the officers to eat dinner and get to know one another. It is a pleasure to meet you, Gunther. We've heard all about your ferocity and prowess in battle. If you would, the three of us were having a pleasant conversation, and would appreciate not being interrupted." Hendrik shot Gunther a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and made sure to hold eye contact with the brute the entire time. His message was clear: don't fuck with me.

He turned to James: "Yes, I am the pilot. I've been eagerly awaiting your arrival. I sent out this invitation the moment I'd learnt that you had come aboard, in fact. I'm sure we'll have a blast working together."

Hendrik saw the other officer enter now too, one who introduced himself as David. "Ah, mr. Anderson, you are one of the explorers, correct? It is a pleasure to meet you too. I am Hendrik, the aviator. I'm sure the others would prefer to introduce themselves."

The Captain was informed of someone contacting him from his private computer in his quarters. He quickly walked to his computer and activated communications. It was one of his few friends, Dmitri Lunaris. Dmitri was looking worried and downcast and so Alexsandr said,

"Friend. How goes Wintreath?"

Dmitri said slowly, "All is not well. I'm sorry to say, your family is dead. You are all that's left of your Royal Bloodline."

Alexsandr was astonished. He said quickly, " What?! What has happened! Who has done this?"

"There was a revolt. Socialist extremists ransacked your family home and left few alive. They then burned it down. I'm sorry friend, but I have to go"

The screen turned blank. The Captain stared speechless. He told a crew member for no one to bother him and locked his room's door.

"I shall carry the legacy of my family out here then. I will stay strong, as the last Von Erikson living."

Back in the lounge, Gunther met Hendrik's eye contact, then turned and walked over to the bar where a beer was waiting for him. "Is this guy challenging me?" Gunther thought, "I need to feel him out before pushing any more." He then remembered reading about Hendrick's hand-to-hand combat training in his dossier.

Gunther headed back to the table with his beer and quietly sat down. He glanced up at Anderson then back down at his beer, saying just loud enough for the group to hear, "Gunther Stenberg, mercenary and apparently explorer now."

"The pleasure's all mine, Hendrik!" David exclaimed. "Now how about that drink?" David ordered his drink and sat down among his fellow crew members. He heard Gunther's introduction and promptly stated, "David Anderson, Hvitt Riddaral, explorer." A fellow explorer, I could respect, but a mercenary?  he thought. I'll live with it for now, but I'll be wary... of everyone.

OOC: pretend Aria just offered to pay for her own drink or something since I missed some dialogue.

IC:

Aria sat in her seat watching as the room filled up. She noted the names of each as they walked in - James, David, and Gunther thus far, the latter two being her fellow explorers. David seemed agreeable enough, but Gunther... he would take some time. As the bartender came around, she asked for a glass of water.

"Aria Wells, explorer as well. I'm sure it will be a pleasure to work with you," she said in response to David's introduction.

Alexsandr contacted a crew member via his computer to tell Scientist Fern Hun to get on the ship.

The captain suddenly remembered about the mineral shipment. He ordered them to moved to the assembly/engineering area and send a message to Zerick about having supplies at his disposal to use and modify the ship.

"Well it looks like the three of us," Gunthar said motioning to Aria, David, and himself with his beer, "will be getting to know each other pretty well. So here's to us." He raised his beer up then lowered it to his lips, but before drinking he raised it again and continued, "And to our pilots. Try not to crash us into anything." He chuckled to himself and downed the rest of his beer. "Another!" he yelled to the bartender. "Actually make it two, Harry over here said he's paying!" he laughed loudly.

Hendrik decided he'd make no response to the mercenary's pathetic taunts, and keep his word by paying for all the drinks. He reasoned that Gunthar was still a fellow officer, and since he was about to travel through space with the man, and most likely be the shuttle pilot that transported them everywhere, he would need to make an effort to tolerate him.

He calmed himself, and unclenched his fists under the table. He also became aware of his clenched jaw, and relaxed that too.

"Bartender, I think I'll have a snack in the meantime. Did you by any chance stock some biltong?" The bartender nodded, and Hendrik dropped his head in appreciation.

He turned back to the other assembled crew members. "Yes, it will be good to work with you all. Since James will be our navigator, I suppose I'll be your shuttle pilot when you assemble into shore parties. Now tell me, where are you all from?"