comm 003

[scanninggaydis]

Who: Felix Gaeta
Broadcast: Video, Fleetwide
Action: Vanquish Cargobay
When: Now!

[When this video starts, Felix is standing over two boxes stacked on top of one another. The top one is open, and he's pulling....books? out of it.]

If anything was going to convince me that these sponsor drops are pointless, it would be this. Our fleet is attacked, and this is what someone thinks to send?

[He glances at a title, frowns, and then holds it up to the camera. Dating Advice from a Manwhore: A Guide to Overcoming Self-Doubt, Relationship Struggles, and Finding Your Authentic Self. After a second, he puts it down, and takes out another one: It's Just a F***ing Date: Some Sort of Book About Dating.]

I'm really not sure what to make of this particular interest in my dating life.

[Or lack thereof, but he doesn't need a man, thanks.]

Anyway. There's more where these came from and I sure as hell don't need them. If anyone's interested, let me know. You can contact me privately too. Just in case, you know, you feel the need for privacy.

[He pulls another book out of the box at the same time that he goes to end the video and...looks vaguely surprised and confused for a second. Just before the video cuts out, there's an image of a different kind of book on the screen.]

Comments

[scanninggaydis]

Nothing important.

[Better her than him!]

[passingthrough]

So, terrible sponsor drops aside, how are you doing?

[scanninggaydis]

Making do. Our ship managed to make it out of the attack mostly unscathed, so that's good.

You?

[passingthrough]

We had some damage. Got boarded. But we're all okay and the ship is getting repaired. Unexpected bout of excitement. I knew there'd been an attack before. I didn't realize there had been two, but I think I convinced myself it was never happening again.

[scanninggaydis]

Two attacks?

[He frowns, and leans on the box in front of him.]

Clay talked about one....

Glad to hear you're all okay.

[passingthrough]

Yeah, Nami and Vash clarified that for me. All I knew about was the time a fleet fired on us to drive us into a nebula which didn't sound that much like an attack. But I guess there had been a more traditional attack sometime before that one.

You too.

There was a lot going on during. We tried to help protect other ships, but we were pretty busy protecting ourselves too.

[scanninggaydis]

We were lucky, we were able to mostly provide support to other ships.

If this is a pattern, the fleet has got to be more organized next time.

[Which, he knows is a sentiment he's seen other people express over the network after the attack. It's absolutely true.]

[passingthrough]

Agreed. We worked with a few other ships, but a fully united force would be good. It would also be good if the ships weren't so empty or had so many vacancies and redundancies as far as augments go. But people get attached. [She has.]

[scanninggaydis]

Right, the augments. I was basically redundant on my ship, at least when it came to the augment.

[Not useless in terms of his ability to help. Just. Two pilots was unnecessary.]

Coordination's hard when no one is really in charge.

[passingthrough]

I used to be, but back then we had all the essentials and I spend about half my nights off ship. More if we're in a system with nice lodging, so I thought the extra pilot was a good idea. And now it's just me again.

Mmm, like a fleet leader?

[scanninggaydis]

Well, an admiral or commander, if we're being correct.

[It's a fleet with a bunch of ship captains.

He shakes his head after that, though.]

I doubt people would like that though. And I'm not sure they'd be wrong.

[Being able to be organized quickly would be good, but honestly? The idea of technically being under the thumb of another admiral isn't appealing. He likes Clay well enough and he's a good kid, so he's okay with being on a ship with a (civilian) captain. But that's about it.]

[passingthrough]

I'm not that military oriented, but sure. [She nods.] Until we were actually attacked I didn't put much stock in the idea of having a captain at all. Even though I am one now.

[scanninggaydis]

I am. Was.

Anyway, it does seem pretty pointless, outside of an emergency. It's not like we have a goal to fulfill, outside of being entertaining. I assume mostly the hierarchy there for audience interest.

...Maybe for authenticity too.

[passingthrough]

Authenticity?

[scanninggaydis]

For the premise of the show. A fleet of spaceships.

[passingthrough]

Oh, right. Wait, are you saying it's not believable I could be a badass spaceship pilot?

[scanninggaydis]

I was talking more about the captain and first mate positions, really. The other positions make a little more sense. People need to fly and fix the ships. Although I suppose the Atroma could have made all of it unnecessary. It would probably undermine the show, though.

[He narrows his eyes at her, as if in assessment, and then raises his brows.]

I guess I can see it, though.

[Again: there's not a whole lot of seriousness going on. At least not in the obvious way he deliberates it. She probably could. He knows a badass 14 year old pilot. Kitty could probably be one too.]

[passingthrough]

[She smiles back at him.] I've flown things before this. They weren't spaceships to be fair. But I knew some aliens. I'm full of cred.

[scanninggaydis]

See, there you go.

[Okay but now he's curious.]

You knew them? From home, or from the prison?

[passingthrough]

From, well, both. And here.