[4] [ video ] - in which the Tranquility gains a new shuttle!

[zooms]

[ He's tired as hell and not exactly in the best of health yet - there are faded red blotches dotted along his bare arms and exposed face and neck in between long streaks of black engine grease where the chickenpox sores are yet to fully heal - but Hotspur's in one hell of a good mood. In fact he is practically beaming down the video feed as he makes his announcement to the ship at large: ]

Hey, crew. [ Yeah, you guys are all crewmates whether you like it or not. Deal with it. ] I know we're all feeling pretty grim after the past couple of weeks so here's a bit of good news--

[ He steps aside and the feed spins wildly as Hotspur readjusts it to focus on one of the shuttles in the hangar bay. It's beaten up and still has a few exposed panels that need to be refitted but all in all it's looking pretty good. ]

The good ship Tranquility now has a second working shuttle!

[ Said with all the pride of a new father, which as far as Hotspur's concerned is kind of accurate. A quick zoom on the name of the shuttle - Spirit - that had been chosen by Kasumi several months back and daubed with pain-staking accuracy on the flank of the little ship by Hotspur himself. ]

Thanks to Tony's input we've changed up a few things while we were fixing her up so she's way speedier than the other shuttle. I reckon she's gonna make for a bumpy ride though - but that's what you get when you go for speed over stability. [ Not that he seems to mind. At all. ] But she hasn't been tested out yet! So that's going to be... interesting.

[ 'Interesting' here equates to 'exhilerating yet vomit-inducing'. ]

Starbuck, Joker -- I'm going to let you guys fight it out over who gets the honour of flying her out on her maiden voyage and who has to sit shotgun. But you better bring her back in one piece; me and Tony have got a little game of Space Tag to be getting on with.

( OOC NOTE: if your character has volunteered to help out with fixing up any of the ships down in the shuttle bay over the past four months then VOILA here is the fruit of your labour! Feel free to blag that your character helped out with any particular bit, even if it was just passing wrenches and making coffee. c: )

Comments

[whatatoolhewas]

She's all mine. I call dibs. Dibs.

[zooms]

[ cue an Eyebrow Raise of Disbelief. ]

...Somehow I don't think calling dibs is gonna fly with Kara.

[whatatoolhewas]

Okay how about I call I've been here longer and I am way more awesome than you and I've been living down in the shuttle bay she's my baby.

How about those things. Can I call those things?

[zooms]

[ A moment of mock-thoughtfulness at Hotspur nods sagely and pretends to mull over Joker's words. ]

Yeah, no, that's just going to get you a punch in the face. You were safer with just calling dibs.

[whatatoolhewas]

I'll take my chances.

Still calling dibs, too.

[astrogate]

Wanna bet?

[ A smirk. She isn't going down without a fight. ]

[whatatoolhewas]

I'd fight you, but I'd lose.

But seriously? I guarantee you I'm the better pilot. She's mine, okay? Next one, she's mine too, but I'll share her with you.

[astrogate]

[ She isn't even going to go there with the fighting, because issues or not, she would still kick his ass. And she knows that is pretty shitty of her.

Instead she just arches her brow, looking at him in challenge for a moment. ]

What makes you think you're the better pilot though?

[whatatoolhewas]

I have done things with ships great and small that Asari with hundreds of years of piloting experience has never done. I have brought a stealth frigate into atmosphere, got it close enough to kiss the damn trees, and ripped her right back out, with no wear and tear on her and not so much as a sear from the atmosphere rip. I have maneuvered Reaper space, littered with the corpses of ships that simply didn't know what I know. I have danced with fighters with more speed, more maneuverability and still made them my bitch in a frigate.

I am the best. There is no comparing. I have busted my cripple ass to be this good. That's why I'm going to take our shaky little gimp shuttle and make her dance.

drive-by comment, don't mind him...

[zooms]

[ Whilst outwardly pretending to fuss with setting up the shuttle with a new flight log-book in order to allow the other two pilots to duke it out, Hotspur can't help but glance upwards and chime in with a slow, sage nod: ]

Pilots are a modest bunch, have you noticed? Very demure.

[ TRA LA LA back to paperwork he (ostensibly) goes. ]

[whatatoolhewas]

Modesty is for people who don't bust their balls becoming the best. Nobody tells Shepard to be modest when she's all 'yeah I blew up a Collector base in Reaper space, which no one has ever done, ever.' So neither am I.

[astrogate]

[ She rolled her eyes at that, knowing it really all meant nothing to her, as it would always going down to actions over words after all. This man saying he is the best clearly isn't going to be thinking her accomplishments are of any consequence to him, so why bother. She knows she's the best, no need to roll out the fancy jargon to prove it. ]

All that means nothing to me, and you can talk about all those accomplishments like I should give a frak. But what it really comes down to is, who's gonna make it to the shuttle the fastest. [ Low blow, she knows that, but she is looking for the reaction here, just trying to judge what she will do in the long run. ]

[whatatoolhewas]

[Smug, derisive laughter]

That'll be me. You see-- I'm already down here.

[He leaves to eat and shower and comes right back down here, even to sleep. It's just like Arcturus station, where he used to live.]

[astrogate]

[ A roll of her eyes, and she isn't at all impressed with the man. ]

Glad to see you're a social one.

Just know, the better one, is the bigger one.

[ She isn't about to waste her energy on this man if he clearly thinks he is the best, let him. She knows what the truth is; he can have his glory for a bit. ]

[whatatoolhewas]

Yeah, yeah. Social's for people who don't break their hip when they're twenty-three.

[He is the best, and he will prove it. There's nothing he can't fly.]