Chapter Two :: Aegean's First

[Reese]

Reese's eyes met with and rested on Stardust as she made her way past him and Jax. She stopped to bark something at Jax, and Reese hated the way his breath hitched in his throat at the sight and sound of her this close. He stared impassively as she moved away without even so much as a glance in his direction.

You don't even have the nerve to look at me.

His gaze traveled elsewhere. So many emotions brewed beneath his stoic exterior. She used to calm his nerves. She used to be his ally. Now her presence was sandpaper to him. Course, rough, and painful. Irritating. He was grateful to be placed on a team without her. He honestly wasn't prepared to handle what working with her would feel like. It was hard enough to simply watch her walk by.

[waterlily43]

Rayden snorted.

"I will swagger if I want to." He cracked a grin waggling eyebrows at Stella. "And you know I usually have to hold back droves of my charisma. That's the only way I can prevent myself from distracting you oh beautiful one."

-----


Jaime finally released Deo from the group hug. It didn't look like his mood had improved by the leaps and bounds like she had anticipated. Lawric was scolding her--again--for being too loud. She humphed at him with an indignant frown and grabbed Van's arm.

"Come on Van let's go greet the person who's supposed to lead us into the Dotna lab." She brought her mouth close to Van's ear but in a whisper that was loud enough for Deo and Lawric to hear. "Some people just have to frown at a bit of exuberance. How stuffy."

She headed towards Reese with Van in tow. He was looking elsewhere, Jax standing beside him for some reason. Jaime cleared her throat loudly and extended a hand towards him with a megawatt beam.

"Heeyyy Reese! Can I call you Reese? I hope it's not rude some people think it's rude to address people they barely know by first names. Anywayyy I'm Jaime Lewis from the Opps...oh you can call me Jaime! This is Vanesse Yanagi, my BFF! Also from the Opps. Pleased to meetcha!"

[Stella]

Stella was just about to respond to Rayden with a trademark witty retort when Jamie's voice filled the cabin. She looked over their way as Jamie, quite loudly, introduced her and Van to Reese. Stella winced a little and looked back up to her boyfriend with a small smile.

"It looks like I'm in for a lot of fun" she said quietly with a little snort. Rising up to her tip toes she kissed him on the cheek and then stepped away from him a little. Tugging on her her jacket she straightened her clothes.

"Come on now, mission faces no one wants to see us being all lovey dovey. They might get jealous" She grinned at him and leaned against the wall positioning herself next to him.

[Lawric]

Lawric rolled his eyes at Jaime's little 'hmph!'

Typical Jaime.

He crossed his arms and cast a glance around, obviously keeping an eye out for someone in particular. It didn't take him very long to catch sight of the bright pink-haired girl. She was further on toward the back of the deck, alone and looking bored and slightly agitated.

He turned in her direction.

"Hey," he caught her attention as he approached. "Give me the cell phone Leonhart gave you." He held a hand out, looking at her expectantly.

[Reese]

'Heeyyy Reese! Can I call you Reese? I hope it's not rude some people think it's rude to address people they barely know by first names...'

Reese stared blankly.

'Anywayyy I'm Jaime Lewis from the Opps... oh you can call me Jaime! This is Vanesse Yanagi, my BFF!'

His gaze took a brief shift toward Vanesse. BFF? "Pleased to meetcha!" Jaime's chirpy and ungodly loud voice interrupted the thought and stole his attention back.

"... Yeah." He answered in hesitant monotone, still looking at her in the same blank way. Okay. She had totally caught him off-guard; so much so that he didn't even have the urge to be rude. He had no idea how to react to the blaring ray of blonde sunshine in front of him. Her exuberance made him uncomfortable. No one should be this excited about meeting him.

"Can I... do something for you?" he asked awkwardly, glancing at Vanesse again.

[Diego Stanton]

"Noooo!" Deo protested, "No group hugs!!" This was the last thing he needed in the morning. Hugs + Early mornings= hell. Of course to worsen the situation, Van had accidentally knocked Deo's cup of coffee to the floor.

Deo stared from his empty hand to the splatter of coffee all over the floor. "VAN!!" He scolded, "HOWAMISUPPOSEDTOSTAYAWAKENOWHUH?!?" He threw up his hands in defeat and stared at her with eyes that hadn't blinked in the past minute.

He sat down and darted his eyes around like a paranoid person. He couldn't stop shaking his leg or drumming his fingers on his knees. Maybe he should have taken the seeDbucks cashier's advice, he'd never taken 8 shots before.

"Are we moving?!" Deo asked no one in particular, "are we in the air? Are we in Timber? Are we landing now? Are we defeating the dotNA? Are they outside? I see one outside! I think they're trying to say something I think..." Deo blabbered on continuously.

---

oh I don't really have anything for Blaze to say, so just pretend she's on board already XD

[Jaime]

"We just thought we should get to know you better since you're gonna lead us down in the Dotna laboratories! Well I thought so and just dragged Van along but Van is just as friendly as I am! Right Van?" She turned to look at Van still with that beam on her face. She could keep up that beam for hours at end if people let her but most of the time they complained of headaches after ten seconds. This was a new record. This Reese was a good person.

Then she shifted her attention and beam towards Jax.

"Oh Jax, you're the pilot huh? Don't get startled if you see dead people that's not good!"

[Gemma Ridean]

Gemma glanced at her watch. It seemed likely that they'd be leaving in the next half hour at the most and unassuming the worst, the trip to Timber could not take more than 2 hours. In other words, she was only going to have 2 hours to prepare herself for the mission and there was not single minute to lose.

Pacing quickly across the main hall towards one of the stairs heading down, she reached into the front compartment of her duffle bag and pulled out the handout. She frowned, noting its crumpled corners as she re-read the list of objectives. Not that there was much point, since she had already memorized hers by heart. But somehow, seeing them on paper, all outlined and bullet-pointed...well it soothed her.

She briskly scampered down the stairs, making a sharp right and then a lef as she followed the red arrows that marked, 'Gun Room'. And if she recalled correctly, that was precisely where Squall had said the rest of her things would be.

Tugging at the iron door handle, she stepped into the room and was astonished by what she saw. Now Gemma never had liked calling herself a weapons fanatic, but at that moment, even she felt her stomach rumble with pleasure at the sight of the incredible bounty before her eyes. Rows and rows of rifles, cannons, ammunition clips, explosive bombs and packages, rocket launchers, utility ropes, hand knives, and every other possible piece of equipment that a Seed dreamt of laying their hands on, was there for the taking.

/Master shouldn't be drooling over guns. Not ladylike. Let other men take care of "boom-boom".\

You're quite chatty aren't you? Anyways, I wasn't "drooling"...as you so crudely put it...I was merely...observing..the quantity..

/Then put down the rocket launcher.\

"Impudent little thing." Gemma muttured, as she set down the device. Now where were her things?

Hands on hips, she stalked over to one side and began rifling through some of the overhead lockers when all of a sudden. a deafening voice blasted through the room.

"SWEET! INTERCOM! HEY, CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME??"

Gemma frowned. That definitely did not sound like her brother. But then...who else would be in the cockpit? Her brother had a violent obsession with planes that was so unlike his normal easy going attitude. But the very notion of someone else sitting in that cockpit, in his seat....he was going to snap.

[Jax Ridean]

People were talking to him. Reese looked amused. Stardust was abrasive. And Jaime was completely oblivious as always. But their words were entering his brain in bits and pieces, as if filtered through the hazy mirage of blood rushing to his face. Every milli-second that ticked by, he could almost feel the capilleries in his brain swelling and neurotransmitters firing signals all around his nervous system. He was experiencing the most basic human emotion. Anger. Intense anger. The kind of anger that meant his first instinct upon hearing that idiot's voice on the sound system was to dash upstairs and beat the shit of him.

Another second ticked by. He opened his mouth to respond to Jaime's comment. His throat felt dry. He licked his parched lips. But no words could come out.

He stared back at the rest of them. Then slowly, he turned and walked towards the ladder leading up to the cockpit. He grabbed a hold of the first rail. His knuckles were white, he was holding on so tightly. And then he began to climb. One movement at a time, he advanced up the ladder. He was in no rush. His mind felt like it was wiped blank. He reached the top and stepped onto the metal catwalk. Boots clanked against steel.

He was at the door. He gripped the handle firmly. In one fluid motion, he flung the door open.

His dark eyes locked onto its target. Blue eyes. Shaggy blonde hair. Dumb smirk. Why was he not surprised?

His vehement gaze moved to the microphone held in Zacke's hand. His other hand was poised over the control board. The smooth surface of a button looked smeared with a fingerprint.

Disgusting.

Jax cleared his throat. Mustering every ounce of self-control, in even breaths, he steadily asked, "What-do-you-think-you're-doing?"

[Zacke]

Zacke raised an eyebrow.

"Err -- co-piloting?"

He frowned slightly at the look on Jax's face. The pilot guy looked like he was either very angry, or very constipated. It was something Zacke couldn't quite figure out, so naturally he chose to ignore it.

"Hey, I got something in Balamb this morning," he went on speaking in a friendly manner, pulling a large rectangular piece of folded thick paper out of his jacket pocket. "C'mere, look at this," he beckoned once with his arm, before swiveling around in the chair so his back faced Jax and unfolding what looked like a map across the control panel.

[Jax Ridean]

"Err--co-piloting?"

Jax was slightly taken aback by this answer. Here he was, thinking that someone was just a tad too touchy...but a co-pilot was the last thing he had in mind.

/So do you plan on holding the map with your toes?\

Maybe you don't know how things work Raz, but I am a solo pilot. Solo. Meaning no one else gets in the way.

Scratching his chin, he tried to avoid immediately glancing at the map Zacke had spread out over the control board. Instead, he entirely diverted from Zacke's previous comment and scoffed, "You have any experience? Word from Stardust is that you crashed the last one."

He winced on the inside at that last part, remembering a certain event that was the precise reason why he was now piloting the Aegean instead of the Eponine. However, he decided it best not to bring that up.

[Zacke]

Zacke's face formed into a deep frown almost instantaneously. What?! He whipped around to face Jax.

"She said I crashed our last airship?!" A very loud and sardonic 'hah!' of indignation escaped his throat. "Well that was creative of her. Fucking Terry Wildwish is the one who wrecked Lady Luck, not me. Jun, Blaze, and Reese will all back me up on that, too. They were there."

He paused in his rant and looked away, shaking his head. First she told Stella his name was 'Zacko,' and now this... ? He fumed. Doesn't she have anything better to do than stomp around talking shit about me?

He met eyes with Jax again. "Dude, just don't listen to her." He said, before turning his chair to face the controls again. "She's a complete psycho, and I happen to be one of the lucky people she hates. She's liable to make up all kinds of stupid things." The pure annoyance he felt over the pink-headed girl was very evident in his voice. He grabbed up the mic and pressed one finger down on the console's red intercom button.

"Hey Stardust, please stop acting like a gossipy little Cadet and act like a SeeD. Thanks!"

He smirked in total satisfaction and released the button. She'd probably come lumbering up here any minute in her big ugly black combat boots and scream at him or something, but he didn't care. "Okay," he waved Jax over with his arm again, recovering his friendly demeanor as if nothing had happened. "What I have here is obviously an overhead map of Timber. It should help us figure out where to land, right?" He glanced over his shoulder.

[Jax Ridean]

Jax winced when Zacke stuck his finger on the intercom button--again.
More infuriating was how quickly he maintained that stupid, easy-going, "Hey I want to be your friend" attitude.

"Okay, what I have here is obviously an overhead map of Timber. It should help us figure out where to land, right?"

This guy just doesn't get it does he?

Call it selfishness or egotism, but he knew was a damn good pilot. Last time, the situation was thrown out of his hands. He had a strategy, a plan, and it would have worked, but Hadrian just had to rush in there and yell "bail out" on the whole crew and fuck the whole thing up. And what happened? His airship, the one he built with his bare hands, was now rusting at the bottom of the fucking ocean. No, there was no one he could trust but himself. Truth was, he knew that Zacke was only trying to be helpful, the rest of it was pure bullshit but he had good intentions at least. But this time, he was going to enforce this way. On his life, this airship was not going to crash. Up in this cockpit, he could only trust his own actions.

"Us?" he sneered. "There is no us." He stalked over towards the empty pilot seat and sat down.

"Preciate the offer, but flying with a co-pilot just isn't my style. And if that makes you feel less important, than I can't do anything about that." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the glossy black cell-phone Squall had given him earlier and tossed it to Zacke. "Keep that if you need something to take care of. But right now, his voice hardened. "I have an airship to run."

[Zacke]

Zacke caught the cell phone in his hands. He lifted his gaze to Jax, finding himself raising an eyebrow at this guy for the second time.

Umm... ?

"Okay bro, first of all -- you need to chill out." He started, his voice even and calm. "Apparently I've somehow disrespected you? Sorry, wasn't my intention. I'm just trying to make myself useful. I may not be a trained pilot, but I'm not a complete fucktard, either." He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm sure you're more than capable to do this alone. But you and I both know it is not standard SeeD protocol to have one person operating an entire airship. Even if all I end up doing is sitting here staring at buttons, I can at least be a second set of hands in case things get dicey." He watched Jax for a reaction. "Makes sense, right?"

[Reese]

'Don't get startled if you see dead people that's not good!'

Reese frowned slightly at Jaime.

Well, that made absolutely no sense.

Jax ignored Jaime's comment and starting walking away. Hah. Reese couldn't blame him. He wanted to ignore and walk away from this girl, too. If he had it his way, he'd just ignore and walk away from everyone, really. But he couldn't afford to do that if he wanted any sense of cooperation among his team. He sighed and brought his attention back to Jaime. "I'm not your 'leader,' but yeah, whatever." He replied to the blonde. "Go ask Stella if she minds stepping over here for a minute. The four of us need to talk."

His tone was slightly commanding; rude, really. But his patience was wearing thin and he couldn't help himself. In two to three hours they would be down in the middle of the DotNA compound fighting for survival. She shouldn't be smiling like this, he decided. She's obviously not prepared.