A Rose by any other name...!

[thespaceopera]

Suddenly, the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose begin to move on their own... slowly, calmly, they drift to into the same direction, away from the other ships of the fleet. Slowly, they move until they side by side.

Over the two ships' intercom, an old song begins to play. And that is all the warning there is before the engines engage -- full speed ahead.

Like a pair of rockets, the ships torpedo forward. As they move, they start circling around each other, like a synchronized dance. They move with incredible grace and skill, far more masterfully than the average pilot augment. Except, each time that they pass each other, they clearly get closer to one another.

And closer...

And closer...

No matter what buttons the crews press, no matter how much they might panic, nothing is going to stop the inevitable. On the final pass, it becomes clear there's not enough room between them to avoid a collision. Any impact alarms on the bridge are blaring at full blast. Any other ships watching will not have time to attempt any sort of interception.

CRASH!!

As if to shield spectators' eyes from the horrors of ships colliding in space, there's a blinding light upon impact -- and once it gradually fades, the results can be clearly seen by all: There is no wreckage. Nothing is broken. But where there were once two ships... now there's only one.

One ship that is looks completely new, but yet is reminiscent of both the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose.

-----------

On the bridge, the crews of the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose arrive, along with the usual pop! of Atroma confetti and ridiculous jingle music upon a successful shuffle. Sitting in the captain's chair is a round cake, just large enough for everyone to have one slice. There's a single candle, and the following message scribbled on top in yellow icing:

"Congratulations - SS Twin Roses!
Happy Fusion!"




... What, did you think you were going to die? Sorry about that.

Comments

[arfvader]

I am all for junk food in moderation. Especially if you're sharing.

[passingthrough]

I always share. [She's good to her crew like that long before she was captain.] Plus, it's less stuff I have to store in my room.

[arfvader]

Speaking of, I wonder how the whole rooming situation works now. Do we have to have roommates? Because I am definitely too old for that.

[passingthrough]

We better not. [She's never been on a ship where that was the situation. She's only vaguely aware it can be the case.] It'll be awkward for whoever shares with me and Winn.

[arfvader]

Please let that not be me.

[passingthrough]

You should be so lucky.

[But seriously...] Did the Goldstone have to share? I don't really know anyone over there except Nightingale and we haven't talked lately.

[arfvader]

I have no idea. The Three Twins only had six rooms, which is why I'm asking.

[passingthrough]

We had ten.

...We should explore the ship.

[arfvader]

Maybe they'll have helpful, decorative nameplates on our doors!

We should absolutely dig into the cake before we go though. If Vash happens to wake up, I'm pretty sure there'll be none left for the rest of us.

[passingthrough]

The cake is not... Yeah, okay, cake first. [She supposes the rest isn't an emergency.] This is you watching out for my nutrition, right?

[arfvader]

Dessert is it's own food group, if you ask me.

[Going over to cut a slice for each of them, what a gentleman!]

[passingthrough]

Okay, you have nutrition lessons I can get behind. I can't believe I'm eating cake right now after that. [She could be bitter about the cake. It is a gift from the Atroma, but she saves all her bitter for the augments.]

[arfvader]

[Ravi makes a high-pitched noise of disbelief, which quickly transforms into a bit of groan when he takes his first bite of cake.]

There is always time for cake. Clearly this should be the decree for this new ship.

[passingthrough]

You are very audibly into that. I feel like our rating just went up to PG-13.

[arfvader]

Are you going to eat yours or keep up with the running commentary? Because I will gladly take it off your hands!

[passingthrough]

You can try, but the perk of intangibility is being extremely good at playing keep away.

[arfvader]

I suppose it'd be a waste of good cake if it got dropped anyway.

[Just going to finish off his own slice with gusto then!]

[passingthrough]

[She is eating though with less gusto as her eyes keep scanning the room.]

We should have been more prepared for this after the Goldstone. [And when she says "we" she means she should have been.]

[arfvader]

There was no way of knowing whether that was a one-time thing, or which two ships could be targeted next.

[He's pretty sure even if they knew, there wouldn't have been anything to prevent it.]

The important thing now is how we adapt.

[passingthrough]

You know just once I'd like my environment to adapt to me and not the other way around.

[arfvader]

Yeah? What would that look like?

[passingthrough]

Not suddenly changing my home out from under me.

[arfvader]

... why don't we take a look around. See what's changed and what's the same.

[passingthrough]

[She nods.] Yeah, good idea. [Not the first time she lost or found a home inextricably changed suddenly. It's getting old and she should probably be more captain-ly right now, but it's not exactly an emergency which she's best at but also not a great time to try and process.]

Do you know what augments people had on your ship?

[arfvader]

Vash is piloting, Wolfe is communications, and Anders is lab support. Pretty sure our new recruit is lab support as well. Do we have a lot of overlap?

[After that last attack, they could really use someone who could get them some working shields.]