"Alright, alright alright alright," Mike chanted aloud. "Pizza!"

"Check!" Hari called.

"Caffeine and b33r!"

"Check!" Saburouta replied.

"Stations are check," Mike said, answering for himself. "Now, where are our esteemed captain and my cellmate?"

Omoikane popped a window into existence. "They are still in McLaren-san's quarters."

"Oh ho!" Saburouta cheered, throwing Christenson into a headlock. "Does this mean our work is already done?"

"Tobi-kun and the Kanchou are too much alike," Mike said, breaking and returning the headlock. "They're probably talking about work."

Omoikane flashed another screen. "Essentially correct. However, there were 1:37.2 seconds of conversation I was unable to track due to acoustic interference."

"In other words, they're on to us," Mike concluded, releasing his hold on Saburouta.

"Demo, how do you know?" Hari interjected.

"TJ figured out that Omoikane can't register voice commands with old Metallica albums playing. It seems like all other music doesn't bother him, just the early stuff of that particular band."

Saburouta sighed. "Guess Kanchou likes to take things slow, mmmmm Hari?"

"Kanchou and I are alike in that we prefer to build friendships and the like at our own speeds, which also appear to not be fast enough for some people in the room."

Saburouta and Mike spun to see the targets of their plans standing before them. None of the conspirators present were quite sure how much of the conversation had been overheard. It was Hari, however, who broke the silence. "Ano, didn't Omoikane just say that you were both still in McLaren-san's room?"

Omoikane popped

a screen into existence. "They were. I asked them to stay there until I was asked about it."

Saburouta folded his arms. "That's a rather long distance for a comptuer to go so that it doesn't actually lie."

Omoikane responded with "^_^" which caused Mike's eyebrow to lift a notch. "Tober, have you been teaching Omoikane to speak l33t?"

"Actually," JT replied, claming a station and plopping his gear into its chair, "He picked it up from your chat logs."

"Ah, did he pick anything, er else up from my chat logs?"

"It does not appear so," Ruri replied innocently. "Is there something we should be aware of?" she asked as she selected the seat next to Tobias.

"Er, I should go set up my own station now, shouldn't I?" Mike quickly replied as he hurriedly made his way to the other side of the room.

Hari watched with a look of concern on his face, as the space Christenson was retreating to was cordoned to be one of the opposing sides. "Ano... aren't you going to be on the same team as us?" Mike and Tobias looked at each other and quickly shook their heads as Mike replied, "It's stacking the deck as it is letting the three of you be on the same team."

"Demo... I've never doen this before..."

McLaren tossed an extra IFS unit to Hari. "We tried to weight everying into two sets of two teams: Blue and Green, Red and Yellow."

Saburouta grabbed a char in the still empty blue quadrant of the room. "hai, hai. Mike's green team, my blue, Kanchou's yellow, and Ryoko's red teams."

Ruri glanced over to JT as she sat down. "Has Ryoko-san arrived yet?"

Mclaren shrugged. "Omoikane didn't show her as arriving yet, but Saburouta threatened me within an inch of my life if I didn't give her command of a quadrant."

"This certainly seems like something she'd enjoy," Hari commented. "Demo, aren't we missing a few seats for our side, Tobias-san?"

ruri quickly countd chairs and found herself in agreement. There were at least half a dozen less chairs in their area than in the other corners.

"Just leveling the sports field, professor."

"A bit arrogant now, aren't we?" Ruri chided.

"Perhaps, but at least not in my own abilities," Tobias replied, glancing sideways to enjoy the arched eyebrows emanating from the seats beside him. "What? You didn't think Omoikane would be content just keeping score, did you?"

Ruri's eyes widened in mild suprise momentarily but returned to normal as she considred the situation. "I suppose it makes sense, as technologically Omoikane could be viewed as merely an evolution of the AI in games."

"Demo..." Hari interjected, "wouldn't Omoikane have an unfair advantage over us?

Tobias shook his head. "Mike figured out how to segment him so that the part he was using to control his character couldn't see the maps until we do, as well as how to basically underclock a portion of him to give him more human reaction times. The handicap won't make him any less of a formidable opponent, but it does put things a little better in check." Tobias looked over the area he'd claimed then stood and walked over to the food table.

"Ne, Kanchou," Hari started as soon as tobias was out of earshot. "What do you think of him?"

"Hari-kun, tobias-san and I know you're part of Mike-san's 'consipracy.' Perhaps you should tell me your own impression of him. I admit I'm surprised you're a willing participant," Ruri replied frankly.

Hari blushed and stuttered, trying to form a reply. Ruri toyed wth the console in front of her. She knew it was probably a bit cruel of her, considering she was well aware of how he felt about her, and it appeared that he was thnking more about that than he was her question.

Hari breathed a sigh of relief when McLaren returned before he could form his reply. Ruri silently cursed at how quickly he'd come back. While she had no intention of answering Hari's question, she was genuinely interested in his answer to hers. She glanced up and smiled slightly to Tobias as he stopped in front of the claimed stations, noticing he had conscripted one of the technicians to help him carry plates and drinks. Her classic look of suprise soon replaced the smile when she realized just how much food he had piled on their plates. "Tobias-san... isn't this a bit much?"

"Eh, it'll be a long night. Save getting up a few times," Tobias responded, handing Hari his plate and a cobalt-colored bottle. He took his own plate form the patient tech beside him and set it at his area before he took another bottle and opened it to hand to his captain.

Hari stared at the beverage he'd been handed after he opened it. "Ano... this isn't... beer, is it?"

Seiya appearead seemingly out of nowhere to stand in front of Hari. "EEHHHHHHH!!!!!! This is no beer! Since Fressange-san isn't here I'll have to explain on her behalf! This!" he cried, thrusting forth his own mostly-empty bottle to hold before Hari. "This is alcohol-free! This is guarana! This is an engineer's drink! Better than coffee! Better than Jolt!"

"Ano, Jolt?" Hari asked.

Seiya continued without pausing to realize Hari had asked a question. "This is better than twice-brewed coffee made from Jolt!"

"Ew," Tobias muttered to Ruri, who nodded in response.

"Ruri-chan! Hari-kun! I give you.... BAWLS!!" Seiya triumphantly finished, replete with the fist holding the bottle thrust into the air.

Mike walked over form his corner of the room and stood beside the chief engineer with arms folded. "Mr. Uribatake, how much Bawls have you had?"

Seiya scratched his head for a moment before replying. "Four, I think. Maybe five. No, wait. Six."

"In other words, enough," Mike finished and suddenly mock-curtsied. "Excuse us, Kanchou et al, but Seiya and myself were just leaving for other parts of the room. Come, Bossman!"

"So, Kanchou," JT said thoughtfully as the trio watched Mike half-drag the energetic Seiya away, "was the ship more or less of a madhouse before they hired us?"

Ruri cocked her head slightly as she looked over at him, "About the same, actually."

"Damn," the engineer replied with a smile. "Gonna have to kick it up a notch, I guess. Omoikane!"

"Is it time?" a familiar screen asked.

"Bang a gong, the gib is on," McLaren replied.



// \\



Ruri stretched and glanced at the time as Omoikane switched maps. Ryoko had made her somewhat grandiose entrance around six when the gibbing officially began. The group had managed to stick with Capture the Flag for a considerableamoung of time, almost three hours, until Ryoko had gotten tired of Saburouta getting the drop on her. Everything then promptly turned into a free-for-all deathmatch which Omoikane was more than willing to accommodate. Ruri glanced up to see a few crew members slip out quietly and then just as quietly keyed up the rankings so far.

"You and Omoikane are rather formidable," Tobias' voice teased form beside her.

Ruri glanced at him before studying the screen some more. "Omoikane's standing isn't suprising, but I am surprised to see myself leading Ryoko-san."

Tobias laughed slightly, "Quake, where all else is equal."

Ruri stifled a yawn before she continued. "Hari-kun is certainly enjoying himself," she said as she watched the boy talk excitedly with Saburouta about the last few rounds.

"indeed," Tobias agreed, surveying the room. He saw Mike immersing himself in something but couldn't tell what. He had noted from Ruri's screen that his friend's ranking was about where it should be, so it didn't worry him too much. He was probably trying to crack into things he already had access to, which he had a habit of doing.

"Tobias-san, I believe I'm done for the night."

Tobias stood as well when she rose. "Um, care for some company on the walk back to your quarters?"

"Aren't my quarters out of your way?" Ruri asked.

Tobias shrugged and pulled his jacket off of the back of his chair. "Technically, sure, but I need to walk some of the caffeine and guarana out of my system. Unless you'd prefer solitude, which I'd completely understand after the past four hours."

"Hai," Ruri heard herself say with a little bit of shock. As they walked out of the carnival Ruri reflected that the shocked part of her came from the same part which wanted to mope because Yurika wasn't coming aboard, and the part that said "sure" was the part Yurika had taught to occasionally need other people.

"Um, you have no reason to asnwer this if you don't want to..." McLaren started after the din behind them disappeared.

"mm?" she responded agreeably as she began phrasing answers for any one of a multitude of cliché and predictable question she'd heard people ask in similar situations.

"Kanchou, I know it's not my place to ask, but is everything okay? Something appears to be bothering you."

Ruri smiled slightly and let out a small sigh of relief. She caught Tobias' puzzled look from the corner of her eye. "I was just expecting a more... predictable question."

McLaren grinned. "After all of the conspiracy, you mean? Something like..." he leaped in front of the captain and fell to one knee, adopting a cavalier pose and tone, "My dearest Captain, though I have known thee but one short week, I hath decided that it is thee I must wed if but thou wouldst have me! Nay! Answer me not now! Meditate upon thus and return thine answer on the morrow my fair lady!"

"Me thinks thou doth protest too loudly, my Lord," Hoshino returned.

"Touche, Kanchou," Tobias said as he rose and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, returning as well to his usual light brogue.

He fell into step beside Ruri as she opted to continue down the hall before speaking. "I suppose after your theatrics I owe you an honest ans- Chotomate," she cut off, stopping short in the hallway. "You weren't serious back there, were you?"

Tobias shook his head. "Of course not, Kanchou. That'd be a rather stupid question to be serious about after knowing someone barely a week. As to your previous statement, your reputation precedes you, Kanchou. I expected either the answer or no answer at all. I doubt you're capable of dishonesty. Unless you're reputation's dead wrong."

Ruri felt her cheeks slightly redden but pressed on in her reply. "How much do you know about this ship's and her predecessors' histories?"

"Everything the public knows, of course. There are some miscellaneous pieces that, let's say, I've 'acquired' from Nergal's archives, plus what Omoikane's told me, which I guess is a lot." he laughed self-deprecatingly. "I guess the only ones more familiar with Nadesico history are the ones who've made it."

"So you know who Yurika-san is?"

McLaren nodded, "At least the name I know. First captain of the ship. Married Tenkawa Akito. Adopted Hoshino Ruri. Believed dead along with Tenkawa Akito in a shuttle accident. Rescued by Hoshino Ruri and the Nadesico C from the Successors."

Ruri returned the nod. "We had asked her to be the ship's resident command officer, but I found out early this afternoon she is choosing to remain on earth for the time being. I suppose I'm disappointed at the decision."

"I see. That's certainly to be expected." They lapsed quietly into their own thoughts as they continued to walk. Some minutes later they found themselves in front of the Captain's quarters. Ruri paused momentarily and then swiped her access card through its slot, opening her door. She thought for a moment more then turned to Tobias and bowed. "Thank you for inviting hari-kun and I this evening. I enjoyed it."

Tobias somewhat awkwardly returned her gesture. "Thank you for coming, Kanchou. You certainly gave everyone a run for their money." As both righted themselves, each found the other to be blushing slightly. "um, since we'll be launching I doubt we'll have Peaceful Days' pizza again, but I'm sure we'll have the same event next week. Yourself and Hari will certainly be welcome." Ruri noded in agreement and stepped inside her quarters.

"Oh, and Kanchou," McLaren said before the door closed. "Um, I have plenty of tea. You're, ah, welcome to have some anytime."

"Arigato," Ruri replied with a smile as she closed the door.



// \\