Jezebel scanned the numerous monitors from her seat at the Captain's chair, most showing a sort of graph or meter that was related to the inner-workings of the Bos. She understood the gist of the information displayed on the monitors, but would need to consult Chief Engineer Vimes for a true in-depth understanding of it all. Several crew members were seated at small stations dispersed around the main deck, each looking over a myriad of screens and tablets. Jezebel fidgeted in her seat slightly, slight murmurs and the idle tapping of buttons the only sounds filling the open space of the room.
Jezebel blinked, cleared her throat firmly and finally spoke. “Can I get a status report, please?”
A few heads jumped and whipped around, seemingly unaware that Captain Howard was even in the room. “Oh! Captain, you're-...ahem, right! Right. Status report.”
One of the closer crew members stood up from their station and pressed a few things on the tablet they held, bringing up a sort of slideshow of relevant information for the Captain.
“All ship systems are online and running smoothly. Chief Engineer Vimes completed a thorough sweep and gave an all clear. As for new messages...” The crew member swiped on the tablet, bringing a new set of slides up. “I cleared any spam and personal messages to their designated files, Captain. You did receive a mission directive from Jux'il, a representative of Galaxy Affairs in the Sol Government.”
Jezebel gulped nervously. Already jumping into the serious stuff? She supposed she shouldn't be too surprised, but still. Her suit felt all the more tighter on her as anxiety started slowly creeping up. She took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before exhaling.
“Ok then, put it up.” The crew member nodded and swiped up on the tablet, a recording starting to play on the main monitor.
Whom Jezebel assumed to be Jux'il appeared onscreen, the top of their torso and head in view. They appeared to be a member of the Duvek race, Jux'il sporting the reddish skin and natural scale covering that was common among them.
“Hello, Captain Howard! First off, I would just like to congratulate you on your promotion to captain. You must just be thrilled! Of course the circumstances of your promotion were, uh...less than ideal. But! No need to dwell on that, right? I've got a favor to ask of you.” Jux'il paused, pupil-less yellow eyes glancing over to something out of view of the frame. They reached a hand over to grab at it, a slight smirk showing on Jux'il's face before popping the unknown item from their hand into their mouth.
“Mmmm! Oh, I apologize! This thing is still recording, ha!” The Duvek, who Jezebel now assumed was leaning more towards the feminine side, wiped their mouth with a handy mesh cloth and looked back to wards the Captain. Jezebel had not noticed before, but Jux'il's face was more plump than any other duvek's she had seen in the past. Clearly Jux'il had gotten comfortable in their position within Galaxy Affairs...
“So, to make a long story short...my homeworld has grown unstable in the last few weeks. There have been clashes between duvek settlements and zagian skirmishers. My people always had peaceful interactions with the zagian race. They never acted hostile towards us! Which is why I need you to touch down on Tazok and figure out why the zagians are acting up. I'd look into it myself, but I am kept quite busy here at the center. You know, “Galaxy Affairs”, and all that!” Jux'il let out a warbling giggle, their dimpled cheeks bulging as a row of sharp teeth flashes with a smile. “I've included the coordinates to Tazok with this message, along with some cultural readings. See what makes the duvek and zagians tick!” The duvek added a wink at the end of the statement before the recording stopped.
Jezebel puffed her cheeks out, just thinking on the message for a moment before blowing a stream of air out to deflate her cheeks. “She seemed a little...nonplussed about the fact that her homeworld was going through some stuff. Hmm...”
The Captain sat up straighter in her chair, looking past the nearby crew members to the front of the deck. She quickly spotted the crew member she was looking for, the ship pilot Dutchess Maltea. The dogean was smiling and waving towards Jezebel, her tail wagging excitedly.
“Ah, Dutchess Maltea. Punch in--”
“Already punched, Cap'n! We are on course to planet Tazok and looking at around a three day trip, without the added chance of a run in with a surprise asteroid field or ship full of bloodthirsty space-bandits! Or, OH, or even a legendary deep-space leviathan! That. Would. Be. Awesome!”
Jezebel sighed and let her hand slip down from her face. “Please, Dutchess, do your best to not let the Bos come anywhere close to any of those things. Ok?”
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