Shipboard Shuffle

Posted on Fri Mar 5th, 2021 @ 11:37am by Alden Loxley & Alison Bliss & James Thomson & Jonas Bailey & Kindra Graham

Mission: Six Days to Santo
Location: Fortune's Echo
Timeline: Day 24 - Late Morning

With Jonas and James helping, and Alison supervising, Alden had ensured all of Niamh's possessions were moved from the port shuttle to one of the spare passenger rooms on the lower deck. Easy access to the infirmary and communal space, and nowhere on the Firefly was really very far from anywhere else. He felt a little guilty about shifting his favourite counselor from one space to another, but Niamh had been insistent she didn't mind.

Now, with the Companion's luggage on board, the boys were moving Kindra's gear from the cargo bay to the port shuttle and 'helping' her get settled. Alden was quieter than normal as he carried the familiar harp from A to B, and he half-listened to Kindra and Ali's conversation as the two women discussed the space. He was thinking about another shuttle, another time, and a whole different situation.

"So before Niamh lived in this shuttle, it was rented by another companion?" Kindra asked, continuing her conversation with Alison. She tested the bed. "The furnishings are in good shape. They took care of the interior." She felt guilty about displacing the counselor and hoped the crew wouldn't resent her. Kindra would have preferred to delay making an arrangement to rent the shuttle to run her business, until after she and Alden had a long-overdue talk. So much hung unsaid between them, and the longer they avoided speaking, the harder it would be.

"Yeah, Jacob. Pretty..." Alison grinned showing briefly teeth in somewhat predatory way, though obviously with theatrical flair. "As for Niamh, I think she won't mind, but honestly, I haven't had much contact with her..." She hesitated. "To be honest, I have none in fact, at least outside of general crew interactions. It was another of Alden's hire that he didn’t ask me for any input." She shrugged. At one point, it was something that was making her annoyed but these days, after she gave up on being the first mate, she was no longer bothered by it. "If you need help in settling in, let me know. I think that as a companion you'll find having own shuttle to be a good option, allowing for some independence from our operations."

Alden bit at Ali's comment without thinking. "Niamh's an old family friend," he said, a little forcefully and with definite attitude. "She's only been with us since Hera and she's paying her share."

Kindra stood straight, expression carefully smooth, eyes cast demurely to the floor. The last thing she wanted was to be the source of conflict between Alden and Alison, or between Alden and his crew. She took her harp case from Alden gently, touching his hand in the exchange. Once they had a moment alone, she'd offer to leave at the first opportunity, if that's what he wanted. But she was here now, and they all had to cope. "It was mighty kind of Ms. Niamh to give up the shuttle."

As Kindra took her harp, Alden gravitated slightly towards his cousin. He let his gaze trip over the Companion's, and he didn't jerk his hand away from hers, but he was clearly processing something internally. That thought visibly then vanished, replaced by a wonky smile as Kindra spoke of Niamh. "It'll be fine," was all Alden actually said though.

Alison sighed somewhat resigned. She gave Alden soft almost apologetic smile since she let her frustration talk and she already had a conversation about the subject with him. She also wanted to project she was no longer bothered by this. "We do have the second shuttle as well... in case of anyone would need it. Including Ms. Niamh." She said conciliatory toward Alden before turning to the companion. "You'll find that despite initial impressions, Kindra, we tend to work well together." She giggled, knowing that she was stretching the truth a bit. "One big family, right Alden?"

His arm lazily wrapped about James' shoulders, Alden finally offered up a real grin. A big, dumb one that suggested everyone was forgiven - at least for the moment - and he'd decided to move past the undercurrent of conversational bad mood.

"Yup," Alden said, pulling his cousin in closer and rubbing knuckles over the younger man's skull affectionately. "One big happy family," he confirmed. "And a whole mess of love, trust and teamwork," he added, with an obvious, but warmly-offered sarcasm. There was a pause where Alden studied Kindra's face while still gripping James in close.

"Great to have on board, Kindra," Alden noted, as curiosity began to colour his expression. "But why us? You know we're going to Ghost, right?"

"The Kalidasa system. Yes, I've heard. I don't have particular business on Ghost, but it's not Santo, it's not core," said Kindra, an honest hint at her trouble. Her smile for Alden was warm and circumspect. "I could not possibly resist the opportunity to travel in your company, Alden. And the company of your, uh, big happy crew family." She shifted her attention to the young man at Alden's side, and reached out to take James' hand. "We haven't officially met. I'm Kindra."

Okay, well that was interesting, thought Alden, as he returned a lopsided smile that mixed happiness and curiosity. Something to quiz the Companion about later, for sure. He nodded, and let go of his cousin so that James could make his own moves.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Kindra," James greeted politely with his best winning smile, "it'll be nice having another Companion around, Niamh's nice enough but shrinks always have questions," he joked as he gave Kindra his hand, "You any good in a scrap? We find ourselves in one of those often," he asked genuinely, most of the crew could look out for themselves at this point but every added fighter took them further from a repeat of Noah.

"Depends on the scrap," said Kindra, thinking of Alden's barfight, and the business-as-usual implication. She gripped the young man's hand firmly, then released, but remained within arm's length. "Pointers would be much appreciated. I could certainly benefit from hand-to-hand practice, if you're offering."

Jonas had finished moving a couple of things in already. He looked at the two discussing fighting and combat and grinned. He guessed the more there were that at least knew what to do would be good. But even after spending some time with Kindra six months ago, he couldn't quite see her in fist fight. But who knew, maybe she packed quite a punch.

Kindra noticed Jonas' mirthful smirk and grinned back at him, chuckling. "Okay, okay. I did obliviously walk into a dangerous situation a few months back and thanks to Jonas I lived long enough to learn from my mistake." She looked from Jonas back to James, avoiding Alden's gaze. "Seriously, though, I'll never be badass like Alison, but I don't want to be a liability and I'm willing to learn."

"Let's try to keep the need for Ms Graham to fight down to an absolute minimum, huh?" Alden said, his voice sterner as he addressed his cousin, then infused with curiosity as he looked from James to Kindra and then to Jonas. There was a silent nod of gratitude to the big guy, before Alden conceded. "But a little bit of combat training wouldn't hurt..." he said, then frowned and turned serious again. "Well, it better not hurt Kindra, anyway. Ali? I'm trusting you keep these two in check."

"Me?" Alison raised her eyebrow and shook her head. Folding her hands to give her words extra weight she continued. "No, captain. I am just flying here now. Keeping anyone in check is not my job anymore... unless in my quarters." She gave Jonas a long look and winked at Kindra.

The follow-up sigh had a real weight to it as Alden's shoulders dropped just a tiny bit in reaction. "Seriously?" He said, one eyebrow raised.

Alison looked Alden in the eyes for a longer moment.
"Seriously." She confirmed.

Alden looked straight to the decking and toed a random rivet with his boot as he digested that unpalatable response. "We'll talk about it later," he suggested.

Jonas caught Alden's nod and returned one of his own. That'd be a story he'd have to get into later, for sure. But when the leggy, platinum blonde stared at him, he stood a little more upright and grinned. "Absolute minimum. Keeping in check though, never had anyone watch my back like that before."

"Oh yeah?" Alden grinned. "Now I'm intrigued." The XO situation temporarily put to one side, he let his gaze trip from Jonas to Kindra to James and back again. "You can tell me all about it once we've got the ship ready to leave." He turned on his Captain-face then. "Jonas, James, you're on wrangling duty. Make sure everything's battened down, everyone's gear is secured and check nothing's gonna rattle or fall off us when we take-off. James - make sure the food supplies are in and secured. Check back with me in a couple hours and I'll get us an afternoon slot for leaving this fine rock."

Kindra observed the interplay of personalities and relationships. Alison had mentioned the tension in her partnership with Alden and the shift of each partner's role. On the surface it seemed like ordinary banter and bickering, and neither Jonas or James paid it much mind. Or maybe Jonas was distracted by the look Alison was giving him. That thought tugged the corners of Kindra's mouth into a smile. "Thank you all for moving my things into the shuttle. I sincerely appreciate your help." Kindra returned her attention to James. "No pressure about those pointers."

James nodded at Alden's request before beginning to back out the room, his attention on Kindra, "No pressure felt, we'll have plenty of time once the Echo's in the air" he assured her, the truth was he looked forward to doing something that would break their journey up, "Now if you don't mind, I need to make sure we didn't catch ourselves another stowaway" he said, throwing an amused look at his cousin before promptly turning and exiting the room.

That look from James elicited a eye roll from the older cousin, but Alden didn't verbally bite to that obvious dig. With that classic hindsight, he could see both Alison's and Karen's points of view with regards both Tristan and Daiyu, but given the chances again, he still wouldn't handle them any differently. Maybe that would come back to haunt him, maybe it wouldn't, but for now, he was content enough with the ship full of personalities and the journey ahead.

"Two o'clock," Alden said. "Reconvene here and I'll properly brief y'all on the way ahead. Once we leave though, no scheduled stops til Ghost. Bear that in mind if you wanna grab anything before we leave. You've got a couple hours, use 'em wisely." He let his gaze track from each individual to the next and ended on Kindra's own. "Anyone needs me, I'll be between engineering and the bridge." He needed to check with Chloe and Alison, make sure the Echo was ready to go.

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