You can count on me like one two three, I'll be there

[Mariya Fleischer]

[media]https://youtu.be/4JNtAtGGNRU[/media]

Year: 851 ABY
Time: 10:24 am
Location: Onboard Mariner IV

"If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea,
I'll sail the world to find you.
If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see,
I'll be the light to guide you..."

The song came from the hi-fi set of a customised scout vessel. Specifically, a E-9 explorer called Mariner IV in the midst of a hyperspace jump. The ship belonged to a particular blonde hailing from Alderaan, cutting a height of 5' 4" and was sitting on the pilot seat. Sitting beside her was her taller friend with yellow locks tied in a ponytail, enjoying a cup of hot stimcaf while whistling to the tune. The ponytail lass was clearly enjoying herself, her posture slumped comfortably against the chair while the windows showed the familiar wormhole of a ship jumping at light speed. To be exact, the ship's 0.9 hyperdrive class meant it was slightly faster than an X wing. That was the kind of speed needed to cut through the necessary distance, for the two friends were making a faraway stop.

Ketal, a neutral planet located in between the borders of the First Order and the Galactic Alliance.

"You know, after all those hologram videos and holotexts, I never thought we would actually find the time to do this," Mariya smiled and sipped on her blue milk stimcaf. "Everyone has been so busy, especially Aes'ona."

Mariya had explained to her pilot friend earlier during their meeting in Alderaan about how she met [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]. She had suffered from injuries during her prison break attempt, ending up in a First Order medical station. It was the doctor who patched her up and kept her identity a secret. Ever since then, she had been communicating with her besties and decided to arrange for a friendly gathering. It took some time to sort out the timing, but finally things started to look up when Aes'ona managed to squeeze out time from her busy schedule to meet them.

She tapped on the hololink on her wrist to activate the hologram video mode again, something she had been fiddling for quite a while. When not at work, the device proved to be useful in recording on her favourite moments in life. Like now, at the cockpit of Mariner IV. The familiar blue flare shot out from the lens, indicating that the recording had started.

"It's now... 10:24 am," Mariya glared at the time on the dashboard. "I'm onboard Mariner IV with Marina here..." An adjustment of the video angle. "Yup, there she is. We are now in light speed and are traveling to Ketal to pick up Aes'ona. Can you believe it? I think I will believe it when I see her again."

Another shuffling of lens' position, this time pointing to [member="Marina DeVoe"].

"Hey Marina, you are on camera. Say something, quick."

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Two weeks earlier...

"Oh?... I had thought you said she helped you....you know....get away?" Yes, her friend had told her that, but at the time Marina had thought that was that. Well truth be told, she had been ecstatic finding out that Marina had been held up so to speak by those vile Imperials.
Yes, ecstatic... like rejoicing...happy. Yes, happy to know her friend had been detained against her will and not had made a conscious decision in not reaching out to marina for over a year.
And yes, marina felt awful about feeling good about the fact that her best friend wanted to get a hold of her, but had cycled through a horrid ordeal with prison, prison break, getting all banged up and even falling into the horrid hands of Imperials. So Ok, the doctor of torture as all Imp must be, did have a moment of conscious eating at her horrid brain and helped her friend. But then soon after, when Mariya was free, that was the end of that horror tale...right?

Nope. Not by a long shot.

Now months later Mariya decided to slam her with a hammer to the back side of her head with the notion that Marina should meet this Imperial? Marina had been more than lost for words when she got the following devastating explanation that her best friend had actually and unbelievably made friends with the Imperial?

"Are you-..." Marina was on the edge of freakin the frak out when suddenly she caught herself and jammed on her own brakes. What was she doing?...Was she going to tell her most precious friend who she can and not be friends with? All that ran through Marina's head in microseconds. Yes, sometimes she could indeed think on her feet. Usually she was this keen during real duress situations and well..yes, this moment was indeed that situation.

"Ahem...." She swallowed clearing her throat, taking a breath before she continued.
"Excuse me..." she adjusted her posture, running her hands over her person one time to iron out her apparel and speak in a calm, steady voice.
"...this uhm.... this doctor...." Good God it were hard to maintain herself.

"...where are you thinking of meeting her?.... In some detention center again...maybe she's got a friend inquisitor...or three..." Shoot, what was she doing?
She had to stop it. Stop herself from telling her friend what to do.

"I'm sorry, please!" Marina quickly begged her friend to give her a moment. "just give me a moment to absorb this.... Let me finish..please." It was her friend's jaw which had dropped which gave Marina clue that she was more than upset with what Marina was reacting to her mentioning a friendship with Aes'ona.

"Ok...." She nodded, cursing the gods to let go of her features as they seemed to be hanging on her face creating a frown.
They complied and she slowly, however difficult it were, had a kind of forced smile that was definitely, not what even a child could see was genuine.
"Ok...yes.... yes... you can-" Was she about to tell Mariya that she could keep Aes'ona as a friend?
Oh shiet she was and had caught herself just in time.

"I mean.... you can go meet her somewhere and....and I'll...ahem... I..." Good God she couldn't believe she was going to say what she was going to say. " I....I'll....fly you there."

"I'll fly you there and ....and meet her too. Thank her for taking care of my best..." Ok, tears now were getting everything out of focus... but you know what?...she wiped them off and stayed the course. "... friend."

And that was two weeks ago.
Since then as her friend made arrangements and the day s counted down; not a peep, not a word on her friend's choice of friends, from marina whatsoever.
...well, honestly she did meet Mariya and befriended her in the worst of places. Almost as bad as being in Imperial space..Nar Shadda. But if you asked Marina, she'd state that she'd rather walk through a dark alley in Nar Shadda than in a well lit restaurant (if the Imps had any class) in Imperial space.
Ok, maybe not walk alone in Nar Shadda...and not through a dark alley either. But then again, that lump in her throat as the days counted down got ...very big.
But she stayed the course. After all, she loved her best friend and couldn't let her down. Not with the promise she made. She gave her word to meet Aes'ona and if the gods didn't think she'd actually go through it, marina was going to prove them wrong.




Present Moment on the Mariner IV...

" Love my bestie..." She beamed a smile at the vid recorder.

"She's always got the latest jams going...a little too loud at times..." Marina stuck out her tongue at the recorder..
" But look at her..." She turned the recorder towards Mariya. " She got the moves to back her music too..."

"TK!...music volume...level 6.." She then shouted, over the music that was still blaring, to her droid

The volume of the music came down to a level that didn't overwhelm the recorder, even though it did have filters that took voice over music. Still her ears and voice trying to record over the music had to be elevated. It weren't that she didn't like it loud. it was. But she traveled mostly solo in her ship and her ears rarely experienced really loud music, say for night clubs. But then alcohol buffered most of the clubs hard beats.

Marina put the recorder on the console (still recording) got up off her chair and took hold of Mariya's hands.
"Yea...that's right...come on...swing those hips...hu-huh...uh-huh..." and so they danced through space together at hyperspeed.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

| Location : Ketal Space Station |
| Time : GST 1026 |
†††
Outfit (x, x, x, x)

Aes'ona sat cross-legged on an empty bench in the docking terminal for pick-up flights. She was picking around her dark red-painted nails, trying to fix her grown-out cuticles that work had not left her time to properly care for on FIV Malice. At least, that was her justification--what she told herself.

At the start of a semi-recent mission she was allowed leave to go on, along with one of the many stormtroopers stationed on the same fleet as her, a cross-factional research venture, she had not had a great experience when trying to get to know her fellow crew members. She had not even gone in feeling hostile toward any of them--much less acting as if she was. She had tried to keep her and her escort's alignments a secret, for the sake of the Void! She was still not sure, months later, just how the resident contractor had made them: all either of them had done was stick together (for they were there together), and pick out outfits of dark colors and leather. Where those two things a crime?

Not as far as she knew, but she also knew that it was an intuitive type of hate that over half of the galaxy held for the First Order. Something in the way they walked? Their slight, higher-seeming accents? Maybe, actually, yes. And maybe, the lack of color in the wardrobe did help pinpoint the leaning of their loyalties.

At least, it did somewhat. During her short visit at Sanctity Physic Dormitories on FIMS Mountbatten, Mariya got acquainted with the Aes'ona that had her quarrels with the First Order, mainly about its humanitarian efforts--or, rather, disturbing lack thereof. Despite that and her periodic outspeaking, she was still a loyal First Imperial. She served in their navy for feth's sake.

She knew that this Marina knew that much, as her general position was embedded in the signature line of her SPD holomail. In such, a change of wardrobe, at least alone, would not probably do much to change the woman's first opinion of her, but...she tried. Plus, she did feel good in color, living most of her professional life in two shades: black and white. She almost felt like a normal civilian again.

Still, it did not really help her nerves generated by the soon-to-arrive situation. High anticipation. And she was not look forward to retelling her life story...but, she didn't need to. It would be helpful, sure, but she did not owe it to either Mariya or Marina.

/ [member="Marina DeVoe"] / [member="Mariya Fleischer"] /

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Wait, what?..."

Mariya protested weakly when her friend took off her hololink and set it on the console, dragging her off her chair. She laughed at Marina's dance attempts, joining in the fun. The cockpit became a temporary dancefloor for the two of them.

"It's chorus! Let's sing along... You can count on me like one two three, I'll be there." She urged her friend to follow her lead, her hands wrapped around Marina's neck. "And I know when I need it I can count on you like four three two; You'll be there...Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah. Wooo.... woooo.... yeah, yeah."

Marina was right about her friend having access to the latest songs, because that was partly because of her work. Mariya needed to play music in her cantinas when there were no live bands, so she had spent effort pouring through the galaxy's smash hits. The result was a playlist stuffed with catchy tunes and smash hits for all moods and occasions. Marina had already heard some of them, including the smash hit by Seline Gomeza which was played during the visit to Mariya's chateau. There were others which would be sprung out when the opportunity arose.

"Oh shoot, we are reaching," Mariya saw the blinking lights from the console. She stopped the recording and retrieved her hololink before hopping back into her seat, ready for the arrival. [member="Marina DeVoe"] went back to her pilot position dutifully, being the only one capable of handling the ship. The mercenary could hardly fly and generally hitched rides from others. Someday she would learn how to fly... maybe.

"I am seeing the space station. Great, let's dock and find the good doctor."

It took them another ten minutes to dock the ship at the departure terminal. Mariya slipped on her sports hoodie and stepped out of the ship, trying to see where her other friend was. The strawberry blonde was just a short distance away, sitting on the bench.

"Hey Aes'ona!!!"

She waved and gleefully skipped over to [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]'s position, giving her a big hug.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

Before Aes'ona had even registered the approach of [member="Mariya Fleischer"], or knew what was happening, she was pulled up to her feet and wrapped into a hug. She laughed over her friend's shoulder before readjusting the handbag on her arm in order to properly hug her back. "I see someone has full strength back in their arm," she commented. Honestly, it was more of a guess from the tightness of the hug; Aes'ona had not known Mariya's arm's level of pre-break strength.

She gave a quick glance around, even though she knew they would be no First Imperials in sight. "Now I can finally stop calling you Mary in public," she teased.

Then, the doctor cleared her throat. She gave a friendly wave and a matching warm smile to [member="Marina DeVoe"]. "You must be Marina," she observed, walking over to the other blonde and offering a handshake. "I'm Aes'ona."

 

[Marina DeVoe]

The term 'Looks can be deceiving' couldn't have been more put in perspective than of the woman who was standing right in front of her.

It were a contrast to what Marina had expected...and the woman were in civies! Had she expected her to actually be there waiting in uniform?
The woman was nicely dressed. Not over the top as some would come to expect, and not slumming about trying to blend in with the less fashionable normal folk. If Marina didn't have her inner blinders on, she would have thought this woman were of good upbringing and normal..like her and Mariya.

But the fact that Aes'ona was as normal looking and with enough friendly outlook, that one would wonder why Marina was just standing there having the woman's hand outstretched to her for an awkward amount of time.
But it were not intentional of Marina to miss the gesture, as she had been transfixed on her features..that smile...God..it were like her own at this moment. This revelation caused Marina to look away...down. And there it was, Aes'ona's hand outstretched for her to take in a gesture of friendship... and peace.
She jumped on it, realizing she had missed it. Maybe rushed to it a bit too fast...if that wasn't awkard. But nevertheless it did reveal she had missed it during that awkward moment.

"Marina... yes, that's me..." she said, in her best controlled voice.

" Marina DeVoe of House DeVoe, daughter of Duke Kyle DeVoe of Aeiden Providence, Northern Alderaan..." Good God! She didn't just recite her family protocol now did she?
And what was with Aes'ona's hand?..it felt slippery...like the woman had just washed her hands coming out of the ladies-
But no, it weren't anything the matter with the woman's hand. It was Marina's own cold and clammy hand that she realized were damp. And it were due to her prolific balance between panic and passing out at this moment.

"A pleasure... erm...nice to meet you. " She nodded, slipping her hand away, knowing quite well the woman knew now without a shadow of a doubt, she was sweating her.

Marina naturally patted herself on the back for presenting herself like a baffon...or something along the line of a little lamb who had come upon a lioness and...well sheep do at times freeze up in terror.

But it wasn't that Marina feared harm or anything of the sort from Mariya's friend,no. It were the prejudice for all Imperials she had somehow come to build up on her own as she grew up discovering what they did to her ancestral world and her people. It were not how she had been brought up, but rather the dreams..the feelings she'd get when visiting Alderaan Graveyard. And she had vigily done so, for as long as she remembered on a yearly basis. It were the past few years that she had come to feel in this manner towards the Imperials, as she went on solo pilgrimages there. But despite even feeling her ancestor's voices there urging her to keep with 'Peace without Bloodshed', the heartbreak of the genocide was still there.
But it did strengthened Marina's resolve to carry on their voices of Peace without Bloodshed for her ancestors, otherwise their death and sacrifice would have all been in vain.

For the past few moments, if one were to describe what Marina felt like, it were like a bandaged-up mummy, tightly wrapped and suffocating from the tight bandages and heat.
It were without say, that although on the exterior she didn't look that distraught... it were at a distance. Up close, Marina couldn't hide the fact that her banks were almost dripping with perspiration...a cold sweat. But like the true soldier she convinced herself to be, she had her good smile on as she miraculously made it over to whom Mariya had spotted to be her Imperial friend. And a good smile it were, as it had seen much rehersal in front od a mirror for two weeks now.

Why had she agreed to come with her friend and meet Aes'ona? She had made a promise to and had even offered to fly there for her friend.
But how could Marina feel so out of place even face to face with another human being like this? There were no indication, no line on her face that suggested she was an Imperial. She looked like them...smiled like her and wasn't overbearing not one bit. As she remained there with marina seemingly looking on, she couldn't tell if she were still sweating or that it were tears running down her cheeks. This woman in front of her was as human as she and beautiful by any standards. There was no evil in her eyes..nor lines on a stern brow.

The odd one was herself..Marina here between the three standing there in the port. It were Marina who had come here with a predisposition of so much uncertainty and fear. Fear not of being harmed, but fear that she could not ever accept this woman to be her friend's friend.
Marina felt so wrong.

"I'm sorry.... I just had a bit of difficulty making it through the docks..." Marina went on to say, as she causally dropped her hand to her side and made like she were slightly fixing her light blazer. In reality she were trying to get the cold sweat off her hand.

The docking part, she wasn't lying about. It was surprising that Mariya had not said anything about it. Then again, her friend had been glued to the cockpit's glass as they approached the station looking for signs of her Imperial friend, that she may not of noticed that Marina had missed her mark...twice.
What may have looked like the Mariner backing away from the missed mark and trying to align itself twice was exactly that. Marina had been watching her friend's reaction as she approached the landing bay that she almost side swacked one of the port walls. Luckily she and the ship had quick reflexes and was able to slightly back up and retry. But as the gods would have it..no chance. Marina had to do it twice and with the port control ringing in her ear piece with demanding what the hell was she doing?'.
It wasn't like Marina at all to ever mess up like that...but then again, she had way too much anxiety coming up to the moment of truth, not to mention having her eyes on Mariya and not the landing bay...and of course, meeting the Imperial.

"And you are Aes'ona." She then remembered, jutting out her hand, but stopping short, as she remembered also that they just shook.
"Aes'ona Terrani....yes you are."
It were at this moment that the notion of jetting herself out of the Mariner soon wasn't off the books. Of course the woman knew her own name, Marina!

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Haha, I prefer Mariya," she laughed, remembering the little lie she had made when she first met her friend.

Then [member="Marina DeVoe"] came in, somehow a little wooden and stumbling with her actions. Mariya could read the signs of anxiety written Marina's face and guessed what was going through her Alderaanian friend's mind. Every now and then, Marina would talk about her visits to her ancestral homeworld, a graveyard of some sorts. Whatever happened was more than eight hundred years ago, but some of the Alderaanians continued to bear a bitter grudge against the Empire. She could never wrap her head around that. The current First Order might not have the best reputation and had once destroyed the Hosnian system, but it was not the original Empire that destroyed Alderaan. Prejudice be damn, especially based on eight hundred year old historical records.

But she knew better than to mention this to Marina at this moment. What she needed to do was the melt the ice. And that she did by whipping out her hololink's holo camera mode and squeezed the three faces into the frame. "Yeah! Look, my besties S'ona and Marina are here. Everyone wave and smile!"

With her selfie addiction done, she wrapped her arms around her friends' shoulders. [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] on her left, Marina on her right while she stood out in the middle with her height. "We really should get moving along. I'm the one paying the docking fees and they charge by the minute..." she muttered, rushing them to walk over to the docking pod and enter Mariner IV. It was more of an excuse to make everyone move instead of standing around awkwardly.

"Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere... done."

The ship door slid open and Mariya hopped in. She was really happy that everyone was onboard. Now all they needed to do was to fly off to Alderaan where her chateau awaited. It would take quite a while but there was sufficient entertainment on board, including Dejarik, Pazaak and Sabacc.

"Marina, we should get ready to take off."

 

[Marina DeVoe]

What was wrong with her, she asked herself.
Marina had never quite took a look at herself when she acted like so, but on this occasion she were conscious of her every move. And it was pretty pathetic to watch herself acting this way.
But she just couldn't snap herself back to her normal happy-go-lucky self, no matter how hard she forced herself. There were so many conflicting feelings bouncing this way and that in her head that plainly she was feeling kind of dipsy...lightheaded.
She recognized it as some sort of panic condition...a panic attack as she had heard people describe what she may be going at the moment. But she were aware of it and still couldn't swim to the surface to catch her breath.

But she perceived..endured and went along with the motions. It were like she was the little sister that Mariya had to bring along because her mommy said so.

'Shoot...' Marina thought. 'I'm the third wheel!...'

She nevertheless smiled as Marina brought her shoulder to shoulder along side to record their moment. marina's smile couldn't be said was coming from her heart, as it would reveal later on in the recording that it were forced there. Somehow that too ran past her mind, not helping one bit her struggle to get over this. maybe she'd be able to photo-shop it...edit her smile to look like-
But no, she knew it would definitely looked like somebody tampered with it and who else would do that but her.
All she could do as Mariya took the lead and initiative was to nod and smile along.

It were strange how she found herself entering the Mariner's cockpit with no recollection of even going up her ramp, let alone board her ship.
Her droids beeping and whining trying to get her attention just weren't sinking in. it was surreal looking down on the droid and all she could see were its indicator lights just flashing and its turret moving. Her eyes came up on the consoles and then over to the blond she recognized as Mariya. Was she dreaming?...and why was everything so peaceful and quiet... was she dreaming?...
Her thoughts didn't pick up that the cockpit lighting seemed to be dimming...only that everything suddenly was tunneling away-

Her eyes fluttered open to a bright light not knowing where she was at the moment, as it seemed she was coming out of a dream. Marina was over her, but the room...the ceiling rather, although somewhat familiar didn't make any sense.
Then it all came into focus, the ceiling was that of her cockpit, and Mariya was knelling over her, but nowhere was the other woman.

"Oh shoot..." Marina put her hands over her face.
"Oh God...I passed out didn't I?" She seemed to be more coherent than before. And why not, as her body reacted the only way it could...and that were to reset itself.
Her secondary reaction following that primary embarrassment of realizing what happened, was to get up. Only her friend's hand on her shoulder edged her to stay down.

"Sigh... I'm alright....seriously....I'm Ok."

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

"Yes, that'd be me," Aes'ona replied, and then joked, "I hope I don't disappoint."

The doctor was anything but daft. It would not even call for the intuition of a Lorrdian, which she still had no idea she was, to tell that [member="Marina DeVoe"] was nervous. About what, she could not quite tell, with absolute certainty, but she felt that it was over where Terrani lay her loyalty.

She almost forgot her train of thought when [member="Mariya Fleischer"] drew both women into a picture. "Oh, Void, Mariya..." she whined, covering her face with her hand before revealing a slightly flushed face and a fun-loving smile. As could probably be inferred from her reaction to the selfie, she was not used to getting her picture taken on the fly, or so casually. The First Imperial medical officer could sit for official military portraits for her file all day, but...

Then, she followed Mariya and Marina into Mariner, almost dragged along by the former's strides. The doctor normally wore a short, chunky heel in her medbay on, now, on the bridge of the Malice, and they forced her to take smaller steps. With orthopedic flats on her feet, she found herself still taking the short strides she was so accustomed to.

Once on board, Aes'ona excused herself almost immediately to the refresher. Inside, she put down the seat and sat on the toilet. She took off her left shoe, grimacing ever-so-slightly as she did so. The athletic tape she had outlined her arch and heel with had become somewhat distorted from walking even that short distance, so she got to tying to fix it.

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Yes, you did pass out for a moment,"

Mariya gave a sigh of relief. Upon entering the ship, she found herself having to take care of her friend who had just fainted for whatever reason. Too much nerves, she reckoned. Still, it was good that [member="Marina DeVoe"] was awake. She had no idea if [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] was capable of flying a ship, but she was definitely not capable of piloting the Mariner IV without some hiccup happening. Maybe she really should take up a pilot course or find a private tutor, since she could afford one.

"Alright, you better take a minute to rest before flying the ship. Won't want you to crash into some god forsaken planet or an asteroid."

She made Marina sit up and put her friend onto the pilot chair, making sure that she looked fine. Her friend was breathing normally, the pulse felt okay and the eyes were not glassy. Her limited first aid knowledge decided that Marina was indeed alright. With that done, the blonde walked out of the cockpit and looked for the good doctor, who had went to refresh herself. Somehow it was taking longer than usual.

"Hey uh, S'ona. You alright?"

The blonde gave the door a gentle knock and asked. The last thing she needed was to hear a response saying that there was something wrong. Or worse still, no response.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"I'm good...really..." She said, as her friend looked her over.

"The coordinated have been calculated already. It's no big deal getting the ship to the jump point." Oh how in hell's fury had she passed out like that?

"Mariya...come on, I'm fine. Really....sigh.
Go ...go batten down some hatches or something. I got this."She took in a few good breaths then ran her hands down her face, before pushing her bangs over and out of her face.
Sure enough, her friend left her be. Marina had no clue as to where she was actually going as there were no hatches to batten down. Maybe she should tell her that she was just kidding? Marina just didn't want her friend to make a fuss of what had happened. Especially with the other woman on board.
Marina quickly turned to see where her friend had gone off to, and eyed her straight down the corridor near the main crew bathroom. Now why would Mariya go to the head there and not her own cabin, across from hers?
"Oh..." she then realized it was the other woman in the head, and got back out of her chair to see as it looked something was amiss.

Bee-be---bee-beep

"Don't you start... keep your digital opinions to yourself." She replied to her droid, seeing her going after her friend.
But the little droid rarely let her have the last comm.
"Quiet you, go back to your charging station...to your room, TK." She wasn't going to argue with it right now.
It re-beeped nevertheless, as it turned to leave.

"No, wait....
Better yet. Get this ship off this station TK. " She then said, getting up off her chair and headed to where Mariya was knocking on the Mariner's head in the corridor.

"Hey ..." Marina got her friend's attention, who was knocking on the head's door.

"Look, sorry about tha-t..." She were about to explain when she realized the concern on Mariya's eyes.

"Wha?...what's going on?... She Ok in there?" She asked, now quite concerned as she had no idea what took place during her beauty rest. It was at that moment that the ship's drives came on line. The Mariner was hopefully going to get off the station without a mishap, for it was the first time Marina had ever given her droid the task of maneuvering the Mariner IV, not to mention ever taking the ship off.

"Whoa...Hehe.... " Marina felt a shift underfoot and put her hand on the corridor wall to maintain balance.

"Gyro's TK!... Auto gyro compensators!" She shouted down the corridor over to the cockpit.

"Hehe...his first time..." She jested to her friend. ..."...with people on board."
The little droid was certainly capable of flying the ship, but it had not put the gravity compensators on line along with the sub-light drives. Not that the Mariner IV needed the gyros for the droid to fly, but it did make for passengers a smooth, almost bump-less flight. it compensated for G-forces as a result from maneuvers and take offs such as now. It maintained an artificial gravity in the ship even in space.

"Hello?... Captain DeVoe here....uhm...you Ok...Aes'ona?" She took her shot at knocking.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

One after the other: [member="Mariya Fleischer"], then [member="Marina DeVoe"]. Aes'ona would have found it humorous, had she not been thinking about how to best explain her current situation--preferably in non-concerning layman's terms. Could she do it? With Mariya, it was somewhat doubtful that no fuss, no matter how small, would be made. And Aes'ona would wholly deserve it; she had brought this upon herself. Well, not the condition--she had been born with the weakness--but she had completely ignored the health of her foot for the last few months, in-effect making it worse.

And uncomfortable. Sometimes painful.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Just re-tapping my foot. Nothing major."

The doctor finished her self-treatment soon after she was done speaking, and, after slipping back on her flat and washing her hands, stepped back out into the hall. She gave a semi-theatric gesture, like a thespian would make after their performance, minus the bow. "Here I am. Still alive."

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Re-taping your foot?"

Mariya raised an eyebrow, her single left. It was unusual for someone to do that, unless there was an ankle or foot injury. But her thoughts were broken by the sound of the tap running and the door swinging open. [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] made the announcement to the two blondes that she was alright. Somehow the taller blonde was not convinced, judging from the doctor's earlier comment. She decided to take the doctor's words as good for now.

"Alright, you are the doctor here, so I will assume you know what you are doing..."

Emerald eyes glanced down at Aes'ona's shoes, but Mariya was unable to tell which foot was suffering from the injury.

"Why not you take a rest at the med bay? We have medical supplies, including ice packs and other stuff. Maybe do a little icing or stretching."

The blonde was beginning to wonder if this whole gathering was going to work out well. [member="Marina DeVoe"] had just fainted and Aes'ona seemed to be suffering from some sort of leg injury. Usually she had to take care of Marina who was a handful. Like a kid at times. While previously she had to depend on the doctor to treat her arm, this time round she seemed to be the most healthy lot out of the three. Not that it really mattered. Once the vessel reached Alderaan, they would be well taken care by her butler, Gordon Crett. At least that was the plan.

"Come on Marina, give me some support to move S'ona to the med bay."

Her stubbornness was determined today, ignoring any protests.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

Aes'ona sighed. Her prediction had been right; [member="Mariya Fleischer"] was, in fact, worried.

"I--there's not much more I can do, but alright," the doctor stammered. "I'm fine, I swear. I just push myself at work too hard. Have to impress the Fleet Admiral." She flashed a smile, but then it deteriorated with realization. "Maybe I'll just sit down in the main hold and play some cards? I don't...do well watching hyperspace travel." She could safely assume that they had or were soon going to jump, as their destination was Alderaan. Halfway across the galaxy again, but no matter.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"There's a med bay on the Mariner?..?? " She asked that so seriously that one would question if she indeed didn't know one actually existed on her very own ship at all...

Marina had given her droid the go ahead before on taking the ship out of the station's bay. Although she were accompanying Marina and Aes'ona to the med bay, she needn't help carry the woman, as she took to walking herself, say for Mariya next to her.
"Sigh..." She rolled her eyes, trailing behind the two.

So yes, Marina followed. After all it were her ship and she were responsible for her passengers, despite she had been the one who blacked out...but hey, Aes'ona was Mariya's new toy thingy for now, so what could she do?
Well, Marina instinctively looked back toward the open cockpit door and caught the star-field, just as she felt the slight tinge of her ship jumping.
That, and the hum of the hyper-drives kicking in.

​

Ok, no biggie, right? It were just a jump.

"Hmm..." Marina still sighed...wondering.
Well sure, the droid could well operate the ship on its own. in fact on her first ever solo flights years ago it were TK who went over her calculations and overall operations of the Mariner. TK was certainly top of the line and never had it failed her. Still, it were a bit out of the ordinary for it to take upon jumping without her say so. Then again, she did tell it to get the ship out of the dock and the calculations were there on the main screen ready for the jump.
"...oh well." and that was that, as Mariya tapped the door to the med bay to activate the door.

The med bay doors swung open to reveal a pretty well equipped medical room...with not only a bed, but one that could easily be converted to a surgery table. It were a sort of convertible table/bed and 3-in-1 type that also articulated into a comfy chair... say for oral surgery and general exams.. etc..
Not that Marina could perform dentistry, but she could mix up the compounds and slap some on in there to repair a tooth or two. Like, how hard was it to do that, right?
But regardless, she was trained as a first responded. After all, she was with the coalition. Ok, more on the political side of it. But she were indeed equipped for rescue missions and assisting medical frigates.

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Fine, we'll close the windows then in the med bay and we can play your cards," Mariya nodded her head. Her stubborn streak was refusing to budge, no doubt triggered by the possibility of having [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] unable to participate in any strenuous activity. If her friend had some unexplainable phobia of watching hyperspace travel, then all they needed to solve the problem was to shut the windows.

"TK, can you shut the med bay windows?"

The droid somehow heard her yell and made it happen. The blonde let her friend take a seat on the nearest chair and searched the cabinet for an ice pack. She found a couple and brought them to Ae'sona, having no idea if they would really help but figured it might be worth a shot. She had no idea how good [member="Marina DeVoe"] was with first aid, but she decided not to ask. Marina was sighing and dragging her feet along behind.

"Here, you can use them for your foot if you want,"

Mariya rolled a second chair over to let the doctor rest her leg if she wanted to, while she hopped onto the third. Somehow she felt less than useful today. Piloting a ship and first aid were not her strengths, and yet these skills were in demand today. She gave a sigh and walked out of the med bay, coming back in moments later with a deck of Pazaak and the chessboard for Dejarik which she put on the table.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Was her friend, playing doctor with the doctor? marina nearly chuckled at the thought. But she didn't as it most likely would have been miscontrued as making fun of an injured person. She weren't like that..right?...

For a minute Marina played with the notion of handing Mariya the medical laser saw, and maybe in her friend's haste of playing Miss Nightengale would unknowingly amputate the good doctor's-
'Oh shoot...' Reality check, hit her by way of her conscious.
'...are you kidding Marina!...really?!' her self-awareness jolted her out of that daydream.

"Ahem...She could have my cabin..." Marina broke in. Once more her true nature took hold and she got between Aes'ona and her too eager to play doctor friend Mariya.

"Just listen to your friend a minute, Mariya... Give her breathing room! All she want's is to get off her feet awhile. She can lay down in my cabin..." Marina took to offer. She were serious, as the other large cabin, she had already given Mariya at the start of this trip.
Marina figured to give the other woman one of the smaller cabins of her choice. But seeing that the doctor was playing her card well, as she had Mariya eating out of her hand, so to speak...
'Gah...you're drifing again, Marina...pull it back....' her conscious tugged her back in line.

Yes, the doctor was indeed not at all Ok. Just the fact that she had tried to play it down and not make any mention of her ankle, played on Marina's compassion.
'Fine....I'll give the poor woman a chance before I stuff her in one of the escape pods and eject her into space...' Marina made a silent pack with herself.

"Seriously...it's large enough to accommodate quests, as it's got a sofa in there. And I'm sure TK could round us up a deck of cards...or I'll just have him print them out for us." She was genuinely offering.

"Besides, I couldn't dream of putting you in Mariya's cabin....it's a mess in there. 18 hours and it looks like she's been living in there two month's already..." Yes, she were making that up. For all she knew, Mariya had not even taken anything out of the small pack she had brought along...say for an already change of clothes.

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

Though Aes'ona smiled at [member="Marina DeVoe"]'s offer, clearly thankful, she shook her head gently. "No, thank you, it's quite alright." She laughed quietly then as she slipped her left flat back off and, unwrapping her arch, held the ice pack to it. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to cause a fuss. Or be rude. I just find it...ironic." What, that she so often hurt herself while healing others? Yes.

She glanced up at [member="Mariya Fleischer"] entered the bay with the game cards and board. She threw up her hands in mock exasperation and gave a matching scoff. "Ah, Mariya! Plannin' to add insult to injury and bet me at pazaak again?"

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Well, the doctor certainly knew her way around the bay.
Aes'ona had pulled a few drawers open to find the cold compress, as her friend took a moment to leave them together. It were a bit still awkward marina in there with the Imp, so ranting away and offering her cabin was just another way also to keep chipping at the ice.

The doctor activated the compress and applied on her foot, kindly declining on marina's offer to use her cabin for the duration of the jump.

"Ok...well, the offer still stands. You can rest up anytime-" But before she were able to finish, her friend had come back.
Somehow or other, Mariya had returned with a deck of cards and a board.

"Hmm.." Marina wondered where that came from.
Most likely her friend had packed it and had maybe slipped her mind to mention it earlier...nor offer Marina a game on their way to the station to pick up the doctor.
Well, Ok, so Marina really wasn't a card player and the few times Mariya had tried getting her in a game and trying to teach her didn't quite go without frustration. Still, Marina now would have liked it, if Mariya had at least asked her before anyway....even though Marina would have refused. But, but that wasn't the point!

"Sigh... I...ahem..." she cleared a lump in her throat. " I'm going to go check on the droid. " She then said, letting Mariya pass and enter the med bay. As her friend did so, Marina gave her a pat on the back and an OK smile.

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"My room is not in a mess," the blonde gave her blonde friend a slightly daggered look, grabbing Marina DeVoe to stop her from slipping away. "Not so fast, young lady. You will stay with us," she gave her friend a smile that clearly read something along the lines of "Don't you dare run away".

Mariya dragged her friend back into the room and responded to [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]'s mock scoff. "Heh, you should be thankful that I didn't ask you to go on stage to sing a song at night. Instead, all I asked was your leave time to join us at Alderaan."

Mariya knew that she had been lucky to win the previous Pazaak card game, but luck could only bring her so far. If she were to play again, she might be the one losing the bet this time. The flight was going to be long and she wanted to smoothen out the kinks between her two best friends. They might never become as tight as she hoped for, but playing games was her idea of creating some bonding.

"Since we have some time..." emerald eyes stared at the other two ladies with a hopeful look, "I think both of you should get to know one another better. Play a game or two, or just talk a little. And yes, that means no drama or cat fighting, thank you very much."