Dogfighter Gospel created by Damien Phoenix and Phoebe this chapter by Kristen Smirnov Log Nine: Downbeat Spare water was a luxury few ships had. To one who spent most of her time either in dogfighters or on a station, however, such limitations on what could and could not be used seemed downright foolish. "Coffee?" Kass offered to her new captain as Kenji scrubbed at his eyes. He threw a glance over her form, following it with one towards the pot full of the caffeinated brew. Her most winsome smile in place, Kass extended the mug towards him once again. After a moment's hesitation, he took it. "Water supplies are rationed, you know. If you're thirsty, we have a full stock of vitamin and protein drinks; help yourse-" "Aww, come on, Kenji," the blonde said as she blew away the tendrils of steam curling up from her cup. "I know you're used to ship life, but you've gotta realize those little tubes of goop don't compare to..." she paused, waved around her mug, and finished, "a real cup of joe." Settling down into his seat around one of the mess hall tables, Kenji fixed a bemused look on Kassidy. "'Cup of joe?' And please, call me Kenji." "Uh, I already was." "Yes, I noticed that." Before the new addition to his crew could notice the smirk on his face, Kenji raised the mug. Besides making an excellent way to hide his amusement, it was also, he had to admit, some pretty good coffee. The door slid open, and the duo looked up to greet the newest arrival. Nadia cocked an eyebrow at the two of them, the newcomer in particular. "Kenji," she dutifully greeted, before adding, "I didn't expect you to be an early riser, Ms. St. Claire." "I'm just full of surprises," Kassidy drawled at the frowning brunette. "Coffee?" "...No, thank you." A fourth figure made its appearance, momentarily diffusing an exchange that promised to be unpleasant at the very least. Jiang stretched an arm languorously above her head, yawning. She quickly covered her mouth with her non-raised hand, but it didn't hide the blush. "Ah, good morning, everyone." A smile replaced her embarrassment as she took the mug of coffee Kassidy offered her. Nadia frowned. As the four settled themselves around the table, the last two crew members arrived. Ayako and Jake blinked as they entered; six people hardly filled the mess hall, but it was still half again as many as they'd been working with. "So, are we ready for this?" Kenji asked as he sipped his coffee. A faint grimace crossed his face as he let the hot liquid travel a bit too quickly down his throat. Kass flashed him a concerned look; he shook his head at her. "What are we doing, exactly?" Ayako asked, looking around at everyone. "I know we're undercover, but what's the plan past that?" Kenji stroked his chin thoughtfully, making a mental note that he'd forgotten to shave. "Well... we're still waiting for the payment. At least, that's what the people on the other end think we'll be expecting. If we go, meet them, and make it seem like a job well done, they might happen to have another one laying around to hand over. If we hope to track down any real evidence to follow, we're going to need to make contacts through these missions." "What kind of missions do you think they'll be?" Jake asked, his voice tight with a tension Kenji found somewhat surprising. "With the failed combat missions that have occurred lately, I imagine any groups are going to scale back for a while and try to recoup their losses. Five to one we wind up with shipping runs." "Are you sure about that?" The captain turned and met Jake's gaze for a long moment. Realization dawned, and he quietly but firmly added, "If there's any assignments that deal with civilian outposts... I'll try to get us another one. But we may have little choice in where we end up going." The young man maintained his position for a bit longer, then dropped his head in a exhausted nod. "I know. We can't afford to turn down missions if we're going to track down the traitors." Kenji pursed his lips slightly as he watched Ayako pat Jake's leg; she obviously meant for the action to remain unseen. "Jacob... we're going to be pretty much on autopilot for the next four hours. You could get some more sleep, if you want." Jake raised his head, eyebrows instantly darting down into a confrontational glare. "I can serve the same as anyone here." A sigh was his response; Kenji quickly followed it up with, "Of course, of course. Uh, go to the bridge, then. Keep an eye on things. Ayako, help him out. Nadia, Jiang-" The Chinese woman blinked in surprise at him. He shrugged good-naturedly. "S'how we operate around here. Please feel free to call me Kenji." At her slow nod, he continued, "Fleet sent us the records from some of the terrorist wreckage they found floating after the battle. It's decoded, but as we were pulling out ASAP to allay any suspicions, it wasn't able to be analyzed for anything relevant before we left. See if you can't get anything before we arrive." The two nodded, and rose in unison from their seats. Jiang gave a quick wave to Kassidy, thought it seemed somewhat nervous as she squirmed a bit under Nadia's appraising stare. Kenji spun in his seat. "And-" "And I wanna check out the munitions on this girl. Maybe do a little tweaking, y'know... Fleet techs are always way too conservative with weapons design. You can get a lot more performance with just a little more risk, if you know what you're doing." "...Excellent plan, Kassidy." Kenji resisted the urge to tug at his uniform collar. "Well, then, to your stations. Try to relax... I'm sure we'll have plenty to get excited about by the end of the day." The three nodded, and left Kenji alone in the hall. He rubbed at his face with his hand, exhaling a great blast of air. He'd forgotten just how tricky it could be to integrate new crew members. Nadia didn't like Kass, he could see it. Hopefully, he could trust her to keep all dealings with the blonde strictly professional. Indeed... he hoped. * * * * * "It's a reference to the leader," Jiang deduced. Nadia craned her head back, peering around the stack of crates separating them. "What sort of reference?" The petite woman frowned, running her eyes back and forth across the jumbled mess of text that Fleet intelligence had managed to give them before their departure. "I keep seeing this name running through the different communiques... a code name, anyways. 'Whistler.'" Nadia pursed her lips. "Perhaps he's Canadian. There's several intelligence agencies that have based their headquarters in Vancouver. He might be a former operative." "Maybe he likes to whistle," Jiang joked. "... ... Sorry." She cleared her throat and continued, "Anyways, I saw that, and I remembered hearing it before." Nadia shot her a suspicious look. "Just where would you have heard that?" "Kass and I have worked undercover too. You hear names get thrown around, especially pseudonyms." "Yes, I know. I did a little research about the two of you, when I heard you'd be joining us." Nadia's tone grew even more icy. "You didn't tell us you'd been under investigation by internal affairs." Jiang's expression turned incredulous. "Because it was a false accusation, and we were cleared. But I'm sure that doesn't have any bearing on how the six of us will be working together now, right?" Her tone left little room of argument. "Of course not." Nadia cleared her throat, then shifted her shoulders slightly as she turned back to her work. Jiang eyed her for a moment longer, then sighed. She hoped Kassidy was making friends in this crew easier than she was. * * * * * It seemed that barely any time had passed before he heard, "Aren't you done, Ken?" He let his chair come back to rest on the ground and craned his head back towards the voice. "I usually sit and watch the stars for a bit after everyone leaves. It's not the best view, but it's quiet." Part of him wanted to chastise Kassidy for being overly casual with him without permission, but it was, after all, exactly what he'd been trying to get the rest of the crew to do. And that accent certainly gave her a way with words. She turned a chair around and straddled it, turning her gaze to the starfield as well. "Yeah, it is nice. All quiet, peaceful..." She trailed off, then grinned. "So you're probably waiting for me to leave again, huh?" He turned, letting his gaze run over her tanned features. Old instincts kicked in, and he decided to see if this addition to the crew was a bit more forthcoming than the originals. "Well... like I told Jake, we're pretty much on autopilot, except for the work Nadia and that friend of yours are doing. Nothing to do for the next four hours but wait." He broke into a wide grin, rising from his chair with a practiced grace. "Would you care for a drink?" She quirked an eyebrow. "At 0700?" "I didn't realize there was an approved time frame." Kassidy held his gaze firmly; Kenji realized with a growing twinge of nervousness that he was soon going to break out laughing. Luckily, she beat him to it. "Well, Ken, I think we're gonna get along just fine. Just don't try and tell me what to do... I like things my way." He subconsciously straightened, throwing his shoulders back into perfect military posture. "Remember, Ms. St. Claire, I am your captain, and-" She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking about when we're on-duty." It took a moment for this to process. He had to fight down a strangled cough when he did. As it was, he barely managed to urk out, "...Oh." * * * * * "Captain on the bridge." Kenji adjusted his uniform jacket, using the motion as a distraction from looking over towards Kassidy. She used no such restraint, and flashed him a white-toothed grin in front of the rest of the crew. He began to clear his throat, only to choke on his own saliva as he realized she had her jacket on inside-out. "Oh, silly me," she declared, peeling the tight-fitting piece of clothing off and putting it back on the right way. "What're y'all staring at? Don't you have jobs to be doing?" She did that on purpose, Kenji thought darkly to himself. Well, now that he'd been marked, might as well accept it and get on with their duties. "Did you find anything, Nadia?" Stepping away from Jiang, who was shaking her head ruefully at Kass's display, Nadia offered a data pad to Kenji. "We've got a code name to look for. Beyond that, it's going to take some more analysis, and some more investigation. There's a lot to work with, there, but we don't yet have the ties to make to what's presented." He nodded, trying as he did to fall into the breathing rhythms he utilized while working his katas. He needed to focus... they would soon be working in the underworld, able to depend only on themselves. Watching Nadia's -- and, to a lesser extent, Jake and Ayako's -- slightly distrustful gazes towards the two additions, he amended: able to, with any luck, depend on themselves. It was a cliche, but thinking about it helped distract himself from circling around another one. As Kassidy turned her lascivious gaze away from him, Kenji swallowed hard and made himself walk towards the captain's seat. This ladies' man was forced to admit to himself that the cliche he'd been trying to avoid extended to more than just military matters: he liked being the predator, not the prey. With any luck, he'd be able to avoid that situation in the realm of their mission. It seemed as if he'd willingly handed over any hopes of it being true onboard the ship. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was already 1100 hours, and the day was just beginning. "Open a channel, prepare docking procedures. You all know what to do." Captain Kenji Aino took the opportunity of people busying themselves with their duties to make a promise to himself: he would keep in control of this mission. Any problems would be found out before they could surprise them. Any enemies would be rooted out before they did the same to them. And- "You look tense, Ken. You gotta relax, or you're gonna be keeling over by the time we actually dock." -And he would think things through a little further before he hit on a crew member the next time. * * * * * Author's notes: BLAH. I chipped away at this thing all week, and still ended up depending on last-minute panic to get something done. Since I had such massive writer's block, we ended up with another downtime chapter, and a short one at that. ^_^; Sorry about that. I'll try to do better next time, and actually, y'know, advance the plot. Quite a concept, I know. -Kristen