"... will Miss Alasea be all right by then?" Ileyna asked hesitantly, looking unsure and concerned.

Matt leaned back, placing weight on his elbow. "...let's hope so."

Ileyna nodded glumly, poking at her food for a bit. "I hope so too."

Matt didn't like it when Ileyna looked sad. "You want a cookie?" He slid off his pack and opened the top, pushing everything in the pack down as he fumbled through it. "Here we go." He pulled out a small pack of creme sandwich cookies, balancing it as he snapped the pack shut. "Get one."

"Mmn." She took the proffered bag and took one of the cookies out to slowly munch on it.

Matt tossed two cookies at once in his mouth. Man, too bad milk was pretty bad in space. He could use some right now.

"I guess we better find something to do on this ship," Ileyna said, floating up from the bench. She grabbed her beret as she did, clutching it in both hands instead of putting it on her head where she normally kept it.

Time passed. Hugo decided to float around the Ragnarok and check out what it had to offer. Matt, meanwhile, began looking for Helena and Alasea, whereever the hell they were.

It was R.D. who found Matt and Ileyna first--the girls were nowhere to be seen. No surprise, really. The Ragnarok was an absolutely massive ship, its size more than capable of taking on Greedy's castle and destroying it without the need of a black hole.

"... seen Alasea yet?" he asked when he found the two of them.

"No, and it's startin' to piss me off," Matt said. "We really need to get some walkie-talkies or something."

"We still have those transceivers we were given," R.D. said, "But Alasea left hers in those quarters. I have it with me now."

He "leaned" back in the air, relaxing his stance as he floated in the hallway. "Its starting to get late, though," he said. "We should probably get some rest. It'll be easier if we have to look for her again tomorrow."

"I wanna find them now. At least tell them where we are."

"Call Helena on the transceiver then," R.D. suggested. "She should still have hers on her."

Matt patted down all of his pockets before locating the transceiver, snugly hidden away. He pulled it out and turned it on. "Hey. You there?"

"Yeah," the transceiver crackled.

"Where are you?"

A pause. "I don't know."

"Oh, that's helpful." Matt sighed and covered the speaker. "Y'all can go to bed if you want. I'll zip around again."

R.D. sighed and shook his head at Helena's response.

"All right then," he said to Matt's suggestion. "Try not to get lost yourself. C'mon, Ileyna."

"Alright," Ileyna said, floating over to R.D..

Edited by RisingDragon on August 28, 2009 at 17:02:42.

"And I'm off!" Matt pushed off and soared down the hallway, pumping out his fist like a superhero. "Whooooosh!"

The next day, R.D. woke up to find his quarters empty. Not quite perturbed by it, he somehow managed to wrestle his way out of the sleeping bag he was cocooned in and shower, then got dressed to find his friends. The door hissed open softly, and he stepped out, looking in both directions of the hall before choosing one and heading down it.

He first found Ileyna. The girl was on an observation deck, floating about around the windows, looking out into space with an expression of wonder. For once, she did not seem to mind the lack of her beret on her head. There was a large object out in the distance, darkened by a lack of sunlight pointed in its direction. R.D. noted that since there seemed to be no active movement of the ship's defense systems, the object wasn't a threat.

"Hey," he said, floating up to the girl. "Seen the others, Ileyna?"

"I think Matt and Helena and Hugo went to the mess hall," the girl responded, turning to him. "Miss Alasea was taking a shower when I left. Looking for them?"

"Yeah. Let's go find them."

"Okay!"

The girl took his proffered hand, and the two made their way from the observation deck and to the mess hall.

Matt had discovered a neat little concoction-a special kind of cereal bar that combined the cereal and the taste of milk into one solid, crunchy treat. He and Helena both picked up bars mixing corn cereal with marshmallow shapes, and were cheerfully munching away.

"This ain't so bad," Matt said. "What about you?"

"It's okay," Helena said. "I just wish the lamb we packed was still good."

"Eh. We'll find some more later."

The door to the mess hall slid open and allowed R.D. and Ileyna entry, at which point R.D. released the girl's hand as they made their way over to the serving counter, where they too encountered the cereal bars.

"... the heck is this?" R.D. muttered, shifting the wrappered snack in his hand. He tore it open and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully. After a moment he swallowed and asked for a lot more.

The cook quirked an eyebrow upwards at him at the absurded request. "What for?" he asked suspiciously, pointing a ladle at him in an comical, almost threatening manner. R.D. rolled his eyes.

"My friends will be leaving soon. These bars will be useful if we have to eat on the run in the morning," he explained."

After a moment, the man nodded and called back into kitchen, and after a moment, another cook floated over and gave R.D. four of the boxes, putting one of the boxes into his satchel and planning on putting the other into the bag they kept most of their foodstuffs in.

Ileyna, meanwhile, floated over to Matt and Helena, munching on her own breakfast bar. "Good morning!" she said cheerily as she arrived.

Hugo noticed what R.D. was carrying. "What's with the box?"

"Breakfast supplies," he said shortly. "That way if we have to run for our lives in the morning, we don't have to listen to anyone complain about a lack of breakfast."

Grabbing a hold of the food supplies bag, he dumped the remaining three boxes into it.

Matt tipped a pointer finger at R.D.. "Look, that was, like, once...twice."

"Once was enough. I didn't like going without food either," R.D. shot back, eying Matt with a sidelong glance.

The mess hall door opened again. This time, it was Raven who entered. He looked to be in good spirits, despite being slightly pale. He lifted a hand to them in greeting as he floated over to them.

"How you feeling?" R.D. asked, looking at him.

"Like hammered shit," he replied. "I'm off the combat roster until I recover from using the Ultimate Nine-Ball."

'Oh, Raven, don't cuss around the children'. That's what Matt wanted to say in some whiny voice. But...eh, fuck it. "Handles like a bad dream, doesn't it?"

Ileyna had peaked out from behind Matt and R.D. at Raven's arrival; the Razgriz Squadron flight lead hadn't noticed her immediately. At least he had the decency to look apologetic.

"Well, yeah, it does. I've never been in something that moved so fast. The scientists are working on better dampeners for it, but they're not confident they can do it."

"What's the alternatives?" R.D. asked. "The Ultimate Nine-Ball's too powerful to leave lying around." Never mind the fact that it scared the shit out of everyone that looked at it.

"I don't know. I have one idea but I'd need to talk to Larown about it."

"Considering what you still need to do to win this war," Hugo said, "let's hope you get it figured out."

The man nodded. "We'll find a way. We always have, wouldn't be here if we didn't," he said. "So, when are you guys planning to leave?"

Matt held up his snack. "After we finish these off. Though I'd prefer to land on solid ground before we take off."

"I don't think that'll happen," Raven commented, shaking his head. "We're headed for the Polaris outpost, but since we're undercrewed for the Ragnarok, it'll be a while before we reach there."

"Not much we can do about it, then," R.D. said. "Matt will probably fall on his face when we go through the Gateway, but he does that all the time anyway."

Ileyna giggled.

"Ha ha ha!" Matt slapped R.D. on the shoulder. "Ah...that's why I brought you along, R.D.. You've got a thick head, so it'll be a good source of protection for me."

Helena just tore another chunk off of her bar and kept looking out at the vast stars unfolding outside.