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Iris jolted awake to the sound of alarms over the speakers. It wasn’t any of the normal emergency sounds the crew used for drills but it was extremely unpleasant.
“Oh good, you’re awake.”
“What the hell, Peri?! Was that really necessary?” It then sent a video that was time stamped from 3 minutes earlier where it had tried to rouse several crew members more gently and was ignored by everyone. “Fine, what’s so important it couldn’t wait half an hour for our rest period to be over?”
“There is a potentially hostile corporate battleship headed toward the planetary dock and I would like our on-planet crew to return to me as soon as possible. They are not scheduled to return for another two cycles. I would like to send a shuttle close enough to hail them.”
One of their dads was on planet right now, along with 4 other crew members, and they were currently collecting data in an area with heavy feed interference due to active terraforming. It was unlikely they would be able to get a message to them without getting closer.
“Shit, how did they get so close to the dock before you spotted them?” A pause that Peri didn’t fill which was suspicious, but probably not the most important detail right now. “Whatever, I can be ready in 5 minutes, what’s the plan?”
It highlighted the shuttle bay for departure and started a shared feed with Iris, Kaede, and SecUnit.
Be on the shuttle for departure in 10 minutes. Martyn has been informed of the plan and will meet you at the shuttle for a short check-in before leaving.
Iris and Kaede both sent acknowledges over the feed. SecUnit started to argue that it didn’t need humans to babysit while delivering a message, but Peri promptly muted it from the chat. After a minute it hacked its way back in but had given up trying to argue and just sent a rude sigil through the feed instead.
11 minutes later the messenger team was aboard the shuttle and preparing for take off. Martyn had done a quick check-in with them on the specifics - only travel as far into the interference as needed to communicate with the other team, and no more than 4 hours without communication back to Perihelion or Martyn would personally fly out there and bring them back. Iris had given her dad an extra long hug and promised to keep the trip as short as they could.
It would probably take a least an hour to get in range of the other team, longer if they ventured away from their original planned landing area at all. Iris took a few minutes to breathe and process her surroundings. They had taken one of Peri’s smaller shuttles, with room for maybe 4 crew members along with some emergency supplies. Iris was sitting up front near the controls, though she knew Peri’s bot pilot would take care of everything. Kaede was sitting across from Iris, looking more chipper than anyone had a right to this early in the morning. She had even managed to tame her long blonde hair into a cute ponytail. Iris had just grabbed the first head wrap she found and tied her hair back. She realized now it didn’t remotely match with the crew uniform she put on and was considering whether or not she cared when she dared a glance at SecUnit. It was standing near the cargo area of the shuttle looking like it desperately wanted to pace but didn’t have room. That behavior was pretty typical, but what wasn’t typical was how disheveled and flustered it looked. It was probably still talking to Peri over the feed which could partially explain things, but not its appearance. Specifically, its hair was all rucked up in the back like it had just woken up from a particularly busy night. Iris had woken up like that herself on more than one occasion but it had admittedly been a little while. She chuckled to herself but decided not to say anything. SecUnit would definitely not appreciate a joke about that.
Turns out Kaede didn’t have the same social filter as Iris because just then she turned to SecUnit and said, “rough night huh?”
“What? No?” it said awkwardly while its cheeks blushed slightly.
She gestured to SecUnit and said “I just mean you have a bit of a bed-head situation going on over there. If I didn’t know better I’d give you a hard time about having sex hair.”
At this point SecUnit looked horrified and slightly angry. Kaede wisely took that as a sign to back off. “Sorry, sorry! I was just kidding. Please don’t shoot me, I say stupid things when I’m tired!” She turned back around in her seat and gave Iris a grimace before pretending to look busy with something at the controls.
Iris chose to stay quiet but snuck another glance at SecUnit who was now trying to casually fix the back of its hair. It hadn’t escaped Iris’s notice that it didn’t actually deny Kaede’s accusation. Aside from its questionable hairstyle, its outfit looked pretty normal. It was wearing what she assumed was its favorite jacket with cargo pants and a blue shirt underneath. Wait, was its shirt inside out? Holy shit, Kaede might have been right.
Hey Peri, you heard that whole exchange right?
I can’t be expected to listen to every meaningless conversation that happens among crew members.
Uh huh. Peri absolutely loved listening in and commenting on crew conversations so that was a weak attempt to deflect her next question. So what do you know about SecUnit’s whereabouts last night?
Sorry, it looks like you are about to go out of feed range. I will await your return. Then it abruptly left her feed and blocked her while phoning in some static. Gods it really could be an asshole sometimes.
She decided not to press it for now and turned back to the controls herself. They really did have more important things to be worrying about right now anyway.
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Their mini-mission went as well as they could have hoped. Less than an hour into the flight the other crew came into range. Turns out Peri’s drone had spotted the incoming battleship, possibly even before Perihelion itself had, and the planet-side crew all decided to pause their sampling work and head back in to Peri’s main ship.
They were still out of feed range with the main ship, but Peri’s drone kept badgering Iris since it couldn’t integrate yet.
Why is it refusing to talk to me? Did prime do something to it? I’ve been on-plant for days, it is illogical for it to hold a grudge against me.
We had a rough morning. Leave it alone for a bit, I’ll try to see if it's ok.
Peri’s drone sent an acknowledge then Iris steeled herself. There was no way this was going to be a comfortable conversation.
SecUnit, I know you hate when we ask this, but are you alright?
It visibly tensed then replied, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?
Yeah, not sure why she expected it to actually answer that truthfully. Well Peri’s drone keeps pinging me and it seemed like Kaede may have struck a nerve earlier. Like maybe there was a little truth to it?
Its cheeks darkened again and Iris did her best to suppress a smile. I don't want to pry because you are totally entitled to your privacy, but just so I know how to deal with my occasionally overbearing sibling I have to ask, it was Peri right?
Of course it was ART, who else would it be?!
She didn’t even try to hold back the smile this time. Of course, sorry, I just didn’t want to assume… but that doesn’t explain why you are ignoring its drone.
SecUnit sighed. I don’t know, if you two figured it out there’s no way I’m going to hide it from ART’s drone. Then it’s going to be jealous or something and want me to give it details because it wasn’t there and it just feels too weird. Plus I’m still mad at ART for letting me go on a mission with “sex hair”. There's no way it didn’t notice when I left.
That kind of made sense in a roundabout way she supposed. Both shuttles should be back in feed range in a few minutes. I can try to distract the drone and encourage it to integrate as soon as it is able if you want.
Ok. Thanks. It paused briefly, you won’t tell anyone will you?
My lips are sealed. Though I am always available in case you need to talk. I know you have your Preservation crew you prefer to talk to, but I am here as well.
It sent an acknowledge.
One last thing and I will leave you alone I promise. So... your hair looks better, but before you run into anymore crew members you might want to fix your shirt.
It glanced down at its shirt in confusion before scowling slightly. Under its breath it said, “damn it ART” while zipping up its jacket.