Chapter Text
Today is a special day, nearly the whole crew is in cafeteria eating a delicious celebration meal made by Yellow and Brown.
"Today's the day White, it's launch day!" Green is simply exploding from joy. Since Green did so well on their first mission they got promoted to reactor duty.
"I'm finally being paid, hehe" Green says. "That's sweet" White smiles looking at Green.
"Okay crew there's an announcement coming from MIRA, and as your captain of course I order you all to be on your best behavior" the very captainly Red says.
A big screen lowers down from the ceiling and flashes on.
Standing there is a black silhouette of MIRA HQ representative. "Greetings crew, we at MIRA HQ have made this last minute call to inform you about a change to the crew"
Already the atmosphere tenses, no one is willing to say anything yet but they were all sure it was Orange.
The representative continues. "Due to some issues Red has been demoted to Oxygen and Shields maintainance, a new captain has been assigned to your crew"
Hisssss the sound of cafeteria door opening breaks the silence.
"Your new captain has arrived" A figure stands in the door. It's Teal.
"With 77 flights of experience I shall safely pilot this crew to Polus" Teal says standing triumphant.
"This crew is hereby authorized to launch" The screen cuts to black and retracts into the ceiling.
"What the hell Orange?!" Purple slams their fist on the cafeteria table, spilling juice on their pizza.
"What did you tell MIRA to get Red demoted?!" Purple sneers. "I only told them Red broke a few rules"
"Red worked really hard to become a pilot, they haven't even gotten a silver medal yet" Green quietly says.
Red sits there, looking at their hands. Trying not to cry and make them look stupid. "It's okay…. You shouldn't blame Orange for this"
A moment of silence follows.
Teal breaks the silence "Well I'm sorry but we do have to get going" Teal walks towards navigation but pauses at the door.
"Don't forget to arm the shields before we take off, we wouldn't want the Ore+ get damaged"
"Yes captain" Just saying that makes Red's mouth bitter. They stand up and walk with Teal exiting cafeteria.
~~~~~
BRRRRBRRBRRRR
The ship rumbles for a while and takes off.
BSWOOOSHH (I love rocket engines)
"I'm really surprised that MIRA cared enough to install new reactors and shields on all of their ships" Black says.
"They don't care about us, they care about the Ore+ getting to it's destination faster" Purple said.
"Come Cyan we're going to check the Ore+" Black walks out with Cyan in hand.
CLANK!
lime bursts out of the vents. "Yellow are there any leftovers?" Lime is panting and covered in grease.
"No sorry Green ate them already" Brown frowns.
"Lime haven't I told you that covering yourself in grease is unhealthy?" Blue says worryingly.
"Without the grease I can't slip n' slop through into electricity and reactor" Lime retracts back into the vents before Blue could say anything else"
The crew all head out to their tasks.
~~~~~
Purple and Red are together in security, the screens lighting up the dark room.
"How could they do that to you, after you worked so hard" Purple strokes their hand over Red's fur.
"I should've listened to Orange and done my job" Orange cries on Purple's body.
"Being a pilot was my identity Purple. Who the hell am I now?" Red wails on Purple.
"I.. I don't know myself" Purple sighs. "You'll have to find yourself.. the real you this time.. okay?"
For a while Red cries on Purple as they lie on the beanbag.
"I should get back to shields before Orange notices" Red wipes his tears off.
"Okay… don't do anything stupid out there" Purple looks at Red longingly.
Red nods and walks out of security, Purple stares seeing their figure grow smaller, then vanish around the corner.
Purple turns back to the cameras, checking navigation, coms, storage and they see Lime and Blue sitting in medbay.
"Blue, you gotta realize that the crew are all a bunch of idiots around you" Lime says. "I… I know I just try my best to ignore it, if my patients are healthy then I'm happy"
"The other crewmates never listen to you when you're talking, theyre too busy looking at your pretty face instead. Listen here big dog, you never laugh at my conspiracy theories and you actually listen when I speak" That's why I trust you, not because you have a pretty face.
"Thank you Lime, really. But this doesn't mean I'm stopping your vaccinations"
"Curses!"
~~~~~
Red is standing at the control panel… staring. "What the fuck is wrong with me" They sigh. Red walks out towards storage, hoping to strike a conversation with anyone.
"Hey it's your captain!"
"Not anymore, not since this mission started" Black says
"Come on be a little nicer to Red, their energy is very shaky right now and is making me feel bad for them"
"Thank you Cyan, thats really what I needed to hear"
Orange walks in from the admin room. "Hey whats happening in here, oh- silly Red you're supposed to be at shields not in storage. You know if the shields went bad right about now an asteroid could hit us"
Red stares at Orange, not being able to come up with an excuse, not being able to dismiss it because hes a captain. "I.. uh I I was-"
"Now now Red, you wouldn't want me to report this to MIRA don't you?" Orange isn't being nice anymore, they're being condescending and for the first time Red can't do anything about it.
"Aaagh I fucking hate MIRA!" Red kicks a crate and storms off, causing a couple of Ore+ rocks to fall.
"Oh no the rocks cracked open, I can feel their energy spreading away" A worried Cyan walks to the rocks and picks them all up. "What do we do Black?"
"It's just rocks toss em back up" Black snatches the rocks and places them on a pile. (Im black after a long day bruh)
"You have to learn to feel the energy around you, every rock here gives off a different energy. Maybe if you read my dream journal you would know!"
"I'm not reading your stupid ass journal!"
"Fine hmmpff!"
~~~~~
Green is tinkering with the reactor, making sure that its working in tip top shape.
"Green you never-"
"AAH!" "White.. you scared the worms out of me"
"Sorry sorry I didn't meant to-"
"No worries wha.. what were you saying before?"
"Yeah I was going to ask you about your worm farm, you never said anything about your family"
"Oh no no no my pops and mom are doing fine they can take care of the worms, besides it was my dream to become pilot and thanks to them its closer than ever before….. I miss them" Green stands there, wrench in hand holding back the tears.
"Anyways what about you White"
"Uhh.. uhm… my dad and mom should be okay, probably at a villa partying away" Their visor darkens as White is becoming more uncomfortable thinking about his family.
"Is… is everything okay? You can talk about any thing to me" Green puts their hands on White's cheek.
"Tchh.. Okay look my parents never really cared about me… all they did was throw fucking beans at everything. I- I remember finding out they paid my "friends" to play with me.. people I trusted with my life were paid to be there"
"I'm… I'm so sorry"
"It's alright… about that lottery ticket. I never won a lottery ticket, I paid MIRA a shit-ton of beans to get out of that hell.. constant parties.. constant cameras- I'm SICK of that shit!"
Green hugs them hard "I really didn't know you went through all of that I.. I'm so sorry"
"Hey hey, you shouldn't be the one crying here.. come teach me how to work with this.. uhh.. reactor thingy"
Green looks at White for a while, they sniffle "Gladly"
Suddenly, Red bursts into reactor room "Emergency meeting now!" and runs off to tell the others.
White and Green run to the caffeteria
They find half the crew in a panic, Yellow and Brown are holding hands shakinly, Cyan is in the corner breathing into a paper bag, Lime is yelling through the chaos.
Purple is standing at the door of admin still from shock, Green makes their way over to them.
"Purple what the hell happened here…"
The stench of blood hits Green like a frying pan straight to the face. There they see Orange's body ripped and mauled on the table of admin.