This choice: Lovely is asked to beam off-ship by Jezebel, to help with a mission. • Go Back... “Lovely come in”
Lovely shifted awkwardly as she stirred from her sleep with the sound of the Captain ringing in her head.
“Come in Lovely”
“Hmm? Yes ma’am, sorry ma’am” stammered Lovely clumsily as she sat bolt upright in her bed, clearly having fallen asleep after her little dessert feast.
Captain Jezebel chuckled softly on the other end of the comms before continuing.
“Sorry Lovely, your comms were still live and I didn’t realise you were resting”
“Not at all ma’am, the mistake is mine” apologised Lovely as she swung her legs over the edge of her bunk and stretched.
Whilst the need for sleep was not one she HAD to fulfil, Lovely found a charm in laying down and closing her eyes for a few hours at the end of the day. If nothing else it was one of many things that helped make her feel more human.
“No need for formalities Lovely but when you have the chance please come to the bridge, I have a special request for you.”
“Absolutely ma’am, I’ll be right up” responded Lovely with a small smile on her lips.
Without further response the line closed down and Lovely stretched again, her toes touching the warmed metal floor as her arms spread into the air.
‘Well, time to get to work’ mused Lovely to herself as she stood up into her shoes and made for her room door.
As she grabbed the handle the brunette AI caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and immediately recoiled her hand, it instead shooting to the zip on the front of her casual jumpsuit. Blushing at her reflection, Lovely quickly zipped up her suit, covering her plush middle that had been exposed mere moments before.
‘Careful Lovely, can’t speak to the captain with your tummy out’ chastised the AI before heading on her way again.
*****
“Ah Lovely, thanks for coming so quickly” beamed Jezebel, welcoming Lovely to the bridge.
“Any time, what can I do for you Captain?” enquired the AI, folding her arms behind her back with her wrists disappearing behind her shapely hips.
“Well I know it’s not entirely your forte but we have a field team heading out on mission to a new planet and your recording techniques would be vitally important” relayed Jezebel, barely looking away from her controls, adjusting displays and fine tuning instruments as she spoke.
Lovely was taken aback.
Indeed she wasn’t a regular in the field but she always loved any opportunity she had to be out there. After all her free time was often spent deep diving through her files on other explorations and their findings.
“So what do you say Lovely?”
“At your service Captain, thank you for the opportunity”
Lovely threw a salute at her superior before turning to take her leave.
“Great!” smiled Jezebel “oh, one last thing that you might want to be aware of…Skarn is the team leader on this one.”
Lovely stopped in her tracks at the name and she visibly deflated slightly, not that she wanted to make this too apparent.
“Oh, erm…that’ll be fine Captain, thank you”
*****
“Listen up team” boomed Skarn as he paced before the gathered team “we’re hitting new territory here and nobody knows what is out there so be on your guard!”
The lizard man stood straight with his piercing yellow eyes taking note of those present, a less than subtle exhale being released upon locking eyes with Lovely.
“As some of you may have noticed we also have…Lovely…joining us on this mission and she is a safety priority, order direct from Captain Howard so make sure nothing happens to her”
The disdain was clear in the lizard man’s voice just having to reference the former AI and there were few ignorant enough to be unaware of their dynamic.
Skarn hailed from a planet not known for its technology and had developed without it with a greater focus on practical skills making him one of the government’s best field leaders. Star travel was plenty far enough for Skarn never mind having a walking humanoid AI that looked more suited for working the kitchens than field work on his mission.
Lovely meanwhile had never managed to break through Skarn’s exterior and find any common ground which, combined with his frosty opinions, did them no favours.
All the same Lovely was there to do a job and, dressed accordingly in combat trousers, a skin tight white shirt and a sleeveless vest fitted with pockets and blaster resistant plating, she wasn’t going to let the gnarly lizard before her get under her skin.
“Well let’s not waste any more time” barked Skarn, stepping to one side as the team got to their feet, saluting and chanting a ‘sir yes sir’ in response.
As everyone began to file into deployment pods with Lovely leading from behind, Skarn grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crowd and largely out of ear.
“Listen up android, don’t go getting yourself in trouble and we won’t have a problem, got it?”
Standing best part of a foot over her as she grunted uncomfortably from the grip on her arm, Lovely could only nod through gritted teeth with Skarn’s physical prowess on display.
“Good, now get deployed before we start running behind”
Releasing her arm causing the brunette to gasp, the pair split as far as possible as they entered their respective pods and losing eye contact in the process.
Lovely fought back a rogue tear as she took her seat and buckled in.
“Hey Lovely, don’t worry about him” came the reassuring tone of a man opposite the AI.
“Hmm?” quizzed Lovely as she looked up, catching sight of a human cleaning an arm cannon implant extending a few inches beyond what would be the natural length of his arm.
“Skarn, he’s an old dog who doesn’t understand the galaxy has changed and for the better” smiled the man.
Lovely laughed awkwardly, adjusting her sitting position as the pod jettisoned away and started to free fall towards the gravity of the planet below.
“Well he’s definitely not my friend, that’s for sure.”
“You and me both lass” smirked the man as he extended his right hand “names Luther”
Grasping the outstretched handy, Lovely cracked a smile for the first time since her appointment on this task.
“Lovely”
“Well Lovely, you’re in our pod now and WE have your back whilst your on mission”
As their hands retracted the others in the pod cheered and descended into what Lovely was vaguely aware to be field team chants of a less than scrupulous nature.
At least she wasn’t trapped with Skarn though.
*****
“Right teams, you know what you’ve got to do” snarled Skarn having taken roll call and two head counts “get to it.”
A deliberate attempt to avoid Lovely was made which the AI didn’t mind and Luther hadn’t let her out of his sight which was another saving grace.
Time to get to work.
Equipped with notebooks, internal vocal logs and multiple cameras to ensure thorough records could be taken Lovely and the rest of her pod set out into the forested area they had landed just south of.
For all intents and purposes from what records she had seen, Lovely identified the planet seemed to be very similar in many respects to Earth, something Luther confirmed having much more first hand experience on that one.
Whilst nothing out of the ordinary presented itself as the day passed and the sun began to set the odd flourish of interest did make Lovely’s first few pages of notes.
For one the air was filled with any number of familiar aromas that Lovely pinpointed to the mess halls of the ship she was used to be it cooking meats, sweet desserts and everything in between.
Being the first day on the job she opted not to eat anything she found despite being able to pinpoint where specific smells were coming from but made notes to consider trying them in future.
Secondly had been a large overgrown wall that seemed to be covered in primitive carvings.
“Hey Lovely! This one looks like you!”
Whilst not strictly wrong, having her attention drawn to ancient stone carvings by being compared to a particularly voluptuous female figure with flowing hair was a little strange.
Taking photographic records of the carvings it became apparent there was a sequence although the meaning was lost on Lovely at this stage. Most of them did seem to relate to the female figure though apart from the very last that seemed to only feature her face set within a large circle.
‘The planet maybe?’ supposed Lovely taking notes and thinking no more on the matter.
As the day drew to a close though and night engulfed the area in darkness aside from the camp lights that had been set up in the hours before, the various teams reconvened, talked and ate before trickling off to bed for the night.
Although Lovely was finding good company in the team she had landed with she found her bunk calling her and called it a night before the rest.
Luther gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze as she passed that filled the AI with a sense of warmth.
Getting set for sleep and curling up in her bunk, Lovely slowly drifted off feeling content in her latest task even with a certain lizard man looming over her.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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