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Percy was one of two Terrans on this spacecraft. As a captain, Percy had been taught to work based on his head and not his heart, but to still hone his intuition in situations of dire need.
Annabeth, his head of communications officer, was a book smart nerd (and his best friend) who relied heavily on her brain and knowledge, and found no difficulty doing so.
This caused some heated discussions. One of which had been going on for several years now, but Percy had let go since they had a certain cute Plutonian on board who he didn’t want to upset.
Nico was Plutonian nobility and was Percy’s Chief Science Officer. He was very intelligent and competent at his job, and Percy would never want to endanger his relationship with any of his crew members.
However.
Frank Zhang was a Martian who had been living in a colony outside the Solaris system with an endlessly curious mind who liked to know whatever there was to know about the planets surrounding “Solaris” (in quotes because apparently Percy’s very own Sun was not the only Sun, so he couldn’t call it the Sun anymore. Dumb universe.)
“Captain Jackson, sir,” Frank saluted him on sight.
“Not necessary Frank, we’re not on a mission or on the deck,” Percy sighed. Frank was trained by the Martian military before coming to the Space Academy on Terra, and relied heavily on his training when in social situations. It meant he was pretty formal around Percy at all times.
“Right,” he paused, his copper skin reddening with a blush. “Percy.”
“Yes, Frank?” Percy put on a smile. Frank was also quite shy, but Percy enjoyed answering the man’s questions and getting him out of his shell.
“I was wondering about the star Terra revolves around,” he started, and quickly pulled a small notebook and pen seemingly out of nowhere. Percy raised his eyebrows, impressed.
“What about it?” He patted Frank on the shoulder and started walking with him towards the mess hall. This seemed like a conversation to be had over lunch.
“Records are inconsistent about how many planets orbit Solaris,” he continued as they entered the packed room, and Percy nodded sagely as they sat down at an empty table.
Percy noted internally that Annabeth was picking up her food, and had noticed them. This could get interesting. He scanned the area for Nico, unfortunately, Percy noted that he was only one table away with his half sister Hazel. Hazel and Frank were romantically involved, so the two would probably join this conversation. This could get ugly.
Percy had to think of damage control.
“Sorry, could you repeat that?” Percy asked and shook his head, lost in thought as Annabeth sat down.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hazel’s eyes light up as she noticed her boyfriend.
“Records are inconsistent about how many planets orbit Solaris. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the situation?” He repeated himself. Right, Percy kept forgetting that he was from a colony, and therefore didn’t know much about the Solaris system.
“It was debated for a while a few years ago,” Annabeth answered for him, and Percy frowned. “But it’s eight,” she finished.
“Fuck you! It’s nine!” Percy exclaimed. Hazel and Nico paused in the process of sitting down at the table with Annabeth, Frank, and Percy.
The two seemed to assess Percy’s bright red face, Annabeth’s calculatingly raised eyebrows, and Frank’s nervous gulp, and slowly sat down to watch.
“Pluto has only made two and a half revolutions, Percy. It’s too small and barely caught in Solaris’ gravity!”
“Viva la Pluto, fuck you!” Percy shouted as he punched his hand in the air. “Fight me,” he added jokingly as Annabeth rolled her eyes and addressed Frank.
“Technically, there are eight planets and one dwarf planet, but much of Terra’s population was angered by the loss of Pluto as a “planet,”” she added the air quotes, much to Percy’s irritation. “And they still emotionally are attached to it.”
“Interesting,” Frank was furiously jotting down notes and Percy rolled his eyes, wary of the reaction his two Plutonian crewmates might have, but the two were simply observing.
It was later in the evening when Nico approached Percy by tapping him on the shoulder.
“Hey, Percy,” his deep voice was soothing to Percy’s agitated nerves. The day had only gone downhill from earlier.
“Hey, Nico. What can I do for you?” Percy smiled at the other man. Nico was incredibly handsome with his olive skin and great black wings.
“Thank you, for earlier. I know it’s silly, but it’s nice to hear at least someone still considers my home planet a planet,” he smiled softly and squeezed Percy’s shoulder where his hand still lay, and walked away.
Percy was left a little shell shocked, and stood there like a dork for a solid two minutes before meandering back to his cabin. Pluto being a planet might be the hill that he died on, but it was a beautiful vision.