The robot intrigued Gwen, and she stole glances at it as she packed up her bag. She ran her fingers lightly over the leather, and she allowed herself a moment to think of her father, the very man who had given her the satchel. What was he doing now, she wondered. Did her parents ever look up to the sky and imagine that their daughter was among those stars? Did they worry for her? Did they sit in their parlor, gazing around them, and pray that she was coming to knock on the door? Gwen shook the thoughts away. Many times she had regretted leaving her parents. They had loved her, she knew that now. They had loved her as best as they could, and she had left from boredom. Gwen allowed the guilt to resettle in the pit of her belly, and stood up. She couldn't go back. She had betrayed them when she left, and returning suddenly would be cruel. It had been many years since she had departed. They probably assumed she was dead. She looked up to the others and suddenly realized that she wasn't quite sure who the lieutenant was. Could anyone tell the difference between the Lahari?
Landon looked around. The palace was quite confusing. He approached a door leading to a corridor to the left. Before his hand touched the fine wooden frame, it slammed open. It almost hit him as he fell backward in shock. In the doorway was a large Laharan. He wore heavy Laharan armour, which looked quite similar to Human chainmail, with many unusual medals clinking together on his left breast plate. Out of all the Laharans, the crew had seen he was the tallest and most intimidating. He looked at the crew before looking down at Landon. He grabbed Landon by the arms, picked him up back on his feet and cleared his throat. "Are you maggots the ones transporting our king's royal treasure?" He demanded, small bits of saliva landing on Landon's face. Landon slowly wiped his face with his arm. "Yes. We are." He said, unsure whether the large alien was going to rip his arms off or something extreme. The Laharan stared down at Landon. "Well, you better hurry up! His highness is on a busy schedule and must have it transported as soon as possible. I've had the liberty of it being put on the rust-bucket you call a ship "..." Landon looked up at the Laharan, an unamused expression on his face. "Thanks..." He simply said and turned back to his crew, clearing more saliva off his face.
Alpha finished packing as she glared up at at Laharan Soldier. "My Scanners are telling me there's a giant *squee!* in the Cargo Bay." she said quietly, hoping he didn't hear her.
Landon cleared his throat. "Okay crew. You know our job. Let's get back to the ship." He entered inputs into his communicator. Once he finished, he began walking back to the doors. "Hurry up, double time!"
(Agh, damn. Sorry.) (Kinda ironic that the last sentence posted was "'Hurry up, double time!'", and then we failed to post for a week.) Gwen followed, taking one last glance around her at the warm room. So rarely was the team allowed to be in such comforting locations. With a small sigh, she exited the room.
Alpha was behind the two girls as she waited for them to get going so she could get going. "Quit mingling already and hurry up." as she grabbed both of them and hauled them onto the ship. "He said double time for a reason."
Landon walked behind them. He chuckled at Alpha's determination. He made sure everyone was onboard before boarding, himself. Upon the doors closing, he began heading to the bridge where his crew awaited his return. He pressed some buttons on his arm-bound device and stood in a turbolift, headed straight up. When the doors opened once again, he stepped out, walked down the corridor and into the bridge. He sat in his chair and ordered the ship to take off to their destination.
"Oh God, here we go again," groaned Gwen. She sat on the ground with her knees to her chest, and she held her legs close, waiting for it to be over.
Alpha seemed totally immune as she pulled out a tiny rolled up paper with some leaves stuffed into it and lit it with a built-in lighter before putting it in her mouth. "so, where are we transporting the cargo again?"
TRACY appeared from her terminal. "I have set a course for our destination, Xerdan." She began. "It is a peaceful planet with a hierarchy of its own. It currently has a peace treaty with Lahari even though no conflict has began between the two planets. It is most logical that we are transporting this treasure to Xerdan because of the peace between the two planets." A small tentacle-esqu pipe protruded from the wall, extinguished the makeshift cigarette and sucked it away from the Android. "And please refrain from smoking on the ship." The AI warned. "It is strictly prohibited."
Ginger looked at TRACY with fascination. All types of technology fascinated her, her grandfather would go on and on if started. Thinking of which... She snapped a quick photo of the planet as they left, and messaged it to him, alone with the text: "Just taking off! So excited! I miss you lots! TTYS -Ginger"
"I believe it is wise to take a seat and strap in before we take off." TRACY continued. "It will get bumpy." The ship began to shake as if on cue as the thrusters began preparing to launch.
Ginger didn't strap herself in on time, she fell down on her rump as soon as it started shaking. "Oh dear, here we go!" She said to herself as she tried to crawl into her seat.
"Oh my God," Gwen muttered, sliding into her seat and strapping herself in. She noticed Ginger struggling to get into her seat and offered her a hand. "These rides always make me queasy."
