Ace in Space

How it all Began

Quinn could feel the start of a headache behind his temple. His Mechanic, Artemis, had been had been yelling at him about some problem or another (he never could tell with that woman) for the past twenty minutes. The pilot's, Andy's, constant sighing was beginning to grate his nerves, but the cherry on top was miss Emma Donovan and her fresh out of school optimism. Now this isn't where it all started, so let's go back to this morning.

    Quinn found himself thinking, not for the first time, why he picked this crew. All he ever saw them do was argue and laze about. The only person worth their salt on his crew was Artemis and she was currently in a heated debate with his co-pilot. Quinn wasn't really sure what the debate was about, but he was pretty sure he heard the words zero gravity and cats. "Captain" he hears someone, who he is pretty sure was Andy, say. Reluctantly Quinn turns around to see that yes it was Andy and they were looking very concerned. "You're getting a video call from HQ" Quinn was sure nothing good would come of this video call and he could tell Andy knew this too.

    "Marillo" the gruff voice of his ex-professor says. "Sir, may I inquire as to why you are calling me?" Quinn says to the man. "Yes, you may. The meaning of this call is to warn you that the Pirates have been on the move again. I don't think you have anything to worry about" Quinn nods and returns with "Thank you for the warning, will that be all?" The man merely nods and signs off. Quinn hefts out a loud sigh.

    "You're starting to sound like Andy over there" Artemis yells from her spot next to Emma, who looked akin to a kicked puppy. Quinn merely sighs again, and he's pretty sure he hears Andy mutter something about "rude mechanics", and honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if that's what they said. "All right crew, I have just received word that the pirates are on the move again." Quinn can hear the collective sigh wash over the room. He definitely shared their sentiment.

    The pirates are exactly what they sound like, pirates. They would destroy ships or loot them for all they had and on rare occasion they took prisoners. The pirates had gone quite for about a year before now and no one knew what they were up to.

    Emma was the first to approach him. "Umm, Captain?" she asks in a timid voice. "Yes Emma" Quinn says. "Well, I've never had to deal with the pirates, so I was wondering if you could tell me about them?" Quinn sighs and says "They're not really my area of expertise, so you'll have to go talk to Artemis, she knows all about them." Again, Emma took on a kicked puppy look. "That doesn't work on me Emma I have younger siblings, I know that look all too well." Emma then sulked off to go ask Artemis.

    "you didn't have to send her to Artemis. I know you could have told her more than Artemis can." Andy says from behind Quinn. Quinn nearly jumped out of his skin "Andy! Don't scare me like that!" Andy merely chuckled in response. "And yes, I know, I just don't feel like reliving those times." Quinn says suddenly looking very pensive. "sometimes looking to the past is the only way to move forward" Andy says giving sound yet cryptic advice. Andy had always been a mystery to Quinn. One minute they would be silent and the next they gave advice like candy and could probably recite a physics textbook. The only thing Quinn was truly sure of was that Andy was one amazing pilot.

    Artemis wasn't hard to figure out. Quinn knew from the moment he saw here that she was going to be a fighter. She was fierce and opened the conversation with "If you break my ship I break you" Quinn had legitimately feared for his life, but it was immediately followed by "Your ship? Don't you mean my ship?" Artemis merely said "I fix it, it's mine" The logic wasn't sound but Quinn wasn't going to fight the woman on it. Overtime Quinn learned new sides of the ever-complex Artemis. Like her love for anything with a pretty face and her fierce loyalty.

    Emma was the wild card. She was fresh out of training and had never done actual field work. Quinn was, hesitant, to hire her, but Andy took one look and said "her, it has to be her.". Quinn wasn't sure why they had said that but he trusted Andy. Emma was given the job and as it turns out she was perfect for the position of co-pilot. She could pull off complex moves, was independent, but also took orders when told to. Quinn began to see Emma as he assumed Andy did when they first met (though he had the sneaking suspicion that Andy had a crush that contributed to it).

    Quin pulled himself out of his musings on his crew when he heard a loud crash. "What was that?" he asks. When he gets no reply, he turns to see Artemis with Andy in a head lock. Andy looked as if they couldn't breathe, and Artemis was yelling about tools and "how dare they do such a thing!" Artemis's cry of outrage when Quinn yells "Attention!" to which all of his crew promptly snaps to. "what is the meaning of this?" Quinn asks. Artemis opens her mouth to speak when Quinn holds up a hand. "Emma, I want you to answer" Emma swallows audibly before saying "Andy was putting one of Artemis's tools back, and Artemis mistook it for Andy sealing it" Quin sighs for what feels like the millionth time that day. "Ok. Artemis, I want you to check all of the systems to make sure they are functioning at full capacity." Artemis opens her mouth to protest when he says "Now Miss Villa"

    After about 20 minutes Artemis comes running into the room yelling about something. Which leads us back to where we started. "Artemis! Calm down." Quin  instructs and she slowly deepens her breathing before saying "Pirates"