Captain Neela

Posted on Sat Nov 16th, 2024 @ 10:24pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Commander Ichiko Gail

Mission: Let The Games Begin
Location: Lounge

Just as she had met with Captain Wataba in the crew lounge, Abigail found herself in the lounge again, this time waiting for Captain Neela. Where she had deliberately delayed her arrival with Watabi, with Neela she had planned the opposite, arriving early and giving herself time to settle and compose herself before her companion arrived.

The doors to the lounge eventually swished open, the diminutive stature of Captain Neela almost easy to overlook. Her ears, and that wild red fur, were beacons to find her. That wicked smile seemed perpetual and stuck as she walked in, actually taking the time to acknowledge the others in the room. Perhaps being famous (or infamous) and now standing among strangers was a welcome feeling? Maybe it just further isolated her?

It took a moment or four for Neela to spy Abigail, and when she did she made her way over. "Captain Laurens." the use of her name and rank, she saw Abigail as equal parts person and station. "Normally I'd get a reaction from a crowd. Cheers or sneers, but here? Nothing. I don't know if I miss it, or just found my new favorite spot to get away."

"Didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" she inquired. "I tried to be on time but this ship has a LOT of hallway."

Abigail laughed softly. "Yes, that it does. Honestly, I still get lost sometimes if I'm walking around the ship. I've had to consult diagrams more than once to figure out where I am and where I am going." She smiled warmly. "How have you found everything so far? I trust your quarters are suitable?"

Neela took the chair next to Abigail, sitting and going so far as to bend a leg to put a foot up on the chair itself, holding onto the knee. "We have something similar on Ts'usugi craft. Not as chatty as a Dalacari ship but, it gets you where you need to go. I found someone in a hallway and managed to stumble out the phrase 'Lounge where please' or something." she smiled. Enjoying the memory.

"The quarters are very nice, thank you. The fellahs love it. We're not used to the good accomodations. All part of the story." she rocked a little, "I'm going to assume that dear of a ship second told you about Shujinko and Akuyaku?" despite the notion, the implication, and words unsaid she still seemed in good spirits. She LIKED being the underdog.

With a smile, Abigail nodded. "I may have bribed her with gingersnaps prior to these meetings to find out what I needed to know in order to not mess up and cause offence. That's the last thing I would want to do after you've all been so amazing with having the match here." She paused, biting her bottom lip for a moment. "Does it bother you at all?" she finally asked.

"Gingersnaps, eh? See now I HAVE to try them." she grinned. The grin persisted, "I appreciate the concern. No no really. You're going all out for us, and I appreciate that. I love Kinetic, I love the power it has to reach people. And you're giving something I love respect. So, thank you."

"If we're being honest, I've been looking forward to meeting you. You and the rest of starfleet stood where we didn't, did what we didn't. You stood before the Koldaran, and you routed them until the Son's and Daughters of Ts'usu arrived. If you hadn't, my Wall would have been up to his ears in sludge trudging through Koldaran lines. You don't even know it, but you probably saved his life."

"For that, he's going to play his ears off." a pause, that grin faultered. "Does it b.. No. No it did. Not anymore." she admitted. "At the start I thought I could turn the team around. Win a few, put a name on the board, climb the ranks. Wasn't meant to be. So, I took the Flames and made them mine. We used to be a team of cheaters, misfits, and just thugs." she started, "Now we're the team against the grain. We do what we want, we say what we want, we slap the hands of the fans in the stands, and when we win it's because we won. Not because we cheated."

"Their boos are just cheers meant just for us. Every rude gesture is just a wave meant just for us."

Abigail swallowed hard at the mention of the Koldaran but covered it with a smile. "I will admit, I am looking forward to seeing you play. I have tried to learn about the sport but in writing it seems far too complicated," she finished with a laugh.

"It's easy, watch three matches, study hard, and then take a mark two to the gut." she offered, mostly in jest. "After that, nothing to it. Do you have a simulator room on this ship? I'll bring one of the trainer orbs and give you a lesson."

"Just do NOT tell Wataba." a pause, "Or, I mean, tell him. Seeing his face would be worth it."

"Simulator room?" A momentary pause of confusion. "Oh! Holodeck! Yes, we have several. I'd love a lesson, that is, if you have time. I don't want to interfere with your schedule."

"Please, I'm late to my own training." she waved the motion off, entirely too casual with a hostess, a ship's captain, and a higher ranked military officer. All Neela was was famous.

"If I vanish too soon before the event, the Kinetic foundation will have my tail. So, find a time sometime, figure a half of one of your hours, and me and the guys will show you the basic basics." she offered. "The least I can do for THE Abigail Laurens."

The dark haired human shook her head slightly. "You flatter me," she said with a laugh. "But we didn't do anything special. We did what needed to be done because it was the right thing to do. If it wasn't us I'm sure someone else would have stepped in."

"Yes, but when? Right place, right time." Neela offered, then looked around at the lounge. "So, HOW many people are part of this Star Fleet? Not like, people people but, Daughters of Ts'usu... Daughters of Terra... Daughters of... wherever she's from." a pause, "That's a she, right?"

Abigail nodded and laughed. "Ensign Kalynn is Bajoran, the ridges on the bridge of her nose are a giveaway. The Federation... I guess there is somewhere in the vicinity of 200 member planets spanning across about 8000 light years. Brought together by a shared goal of peaceful exploration and freedom."

A pause, a slow turn of the head, "I'm sorry. My Earther speak must be off. Did you say two HUNDRED?" she was surprised and impressed. Certainly not Surpressed, though. She composed herself before she continued, possibly for the first time in her career. "Okay, okay that caught me. Okay so, there's hundreds of people in your federation, and I'm guessing just shy of hundreds of people on this ship?" she asked, looking around again.

"That's badass. I like it." she smiled. Watching a Child of Ts'usu so openly wear their emotions was new, but that might just be something she did to irk the home moons. "I want to share the love of Kinetic with you, Captain. I want you to be a part of something I love. I want you to cheer. I want someone here, among all these people, I want someone here to cheer for me. Not out of ego." a pause, "Okay a little out of ego, but I want the children of Ts'usu to reach out to the stars hesitantly, take their first steps among all of this, and I want the first thing they are asked is 'So, who's Neela?'."

"I want us to be more. Everyone is afraid of more enemies. No one considers more friends." she paused again, and gave a glance over. Haunting, hollow eyes, but whatever pain there was at being the perpetual Bad Guy was nowhere to be found. Either it didn't exist, or she was exceptional at hiding it in public.

"Would you be my friend?"

"One can never have too many friends," Abigail offered with a smile. "Especially friends as bad ass as you."

Now it was Neela's turn, she just pshaw'ed the notion, "Pshaw... maybe just Bad." she said, owning the role, sliding back into the persona. Neela the Daughter of Ts'usu was leaving the moment, Neela the Captain of the most reviled akuyaku band had returned. It was nice to meet them both. "You know, it's taboo for contact. Some Children of Ts'usu go their whole lives alone." and with that notion in the air, Neela offered a closed fist in the universally recognized 'fist bump' posture.

"No fan of mine gets left abandoned. Society builds the walls, I break them down."

Abigail held her fist up, reciprocating, a smile passing over her lips as she looked at the alien in front of her, filled with a feeling of satisfaction at the way everything had happened. "Let's do it."