Skye found herself in Eclipse later that night. One of only two bars in the area, the owner, Liam, was planning to make his living offering a place for the crew of the Neptune to unwind after a long shift on the ship. The inn, squirreled away in a corner of the construction complex, was a pleasantly spacious place, easily able to hold 100 members of Neptune's crew. Inside was decorated with several dozen freestanding tables, as well as lined with booths along the walls. It was comfortably dark, giving a minor sense of privacy, yet lit enough that no accidents befell its patrons. Music was playing during open hours, with live music every Friday and Saturday night.
As Skye continued to nurse an ever diminishing tequila sunrise, she seemed to be studying the wood on the bar itself. Why didn't he show? I still need that centrifuge replaced to keep studying Phil's experiment… She harrumphed softly at her glass. Just wait until tomorrow…
"Liam, another when you have a sec." she muttered at the smiling bartender.
"I'll pay for this one. A pretty lady should never drink alone, I think." Said a voice over her shoulder.
"You should go find a pretty lady, then." She replied dryly.
"So is it lack of self-esteem or no desire for company?" He pressed on.
"What do you think?"
"I think you're waiting for someone to get past a façade of a tough exterior and talk."
She turned around in her chair, "Listen, pal, I appreciate your obvious…" she paused as her eyes glanced up momentarily, taking the sight of him in. "…Confidence, so don't take this personally, I'm just not the talkative type."
"Perhaps not talkative, but definitely interested goin' by that look in your eyes." He said smugly.
Skye laughed. "You sure don't lack nerve."
"Tell ya what, let me buy you a drink and we'll play a game of pool. If you still don't want anything to do with me, I'll leave in peace, deal?"
Skye thought about it for a moment. He IS alright to look at… "Alright, fine. Only cause I don't want to bruise your guy ego or whatever" her hands waved around his body.
The man laughed, "Oh, you're so considerate. You're my hero now, you know."
"Well I should be!"
The man looked serious for a moment, "You know what, you're right…"
Skye looked at him quizzically. "Huh?"
"I'm going to go to my bunk tonight and build a small idol so I can be reminded every day that you're so merciful to me." He laughed loudly.
"Jerk! Are you serious right now?!" She hit him playfully as she racked the pool balls. "I'm breaking, it'll give me a chance to imagine your head as the cue ball."
"Oh, that's so original." He chuckled.
"I'm Skye, by the way." She said properly.
"I'm Emeric."
"Well, Emeric, I hope you're ready for an ass beating, cause I've had a frustrating day and I'm not in the mood for mercy." She said with more confidence then she actually felt, clearly feeling the effects of her liquid courage.
***
Phil was among the small group gathered in the navigation section of the command module that evening. As the leading astrophysicist, he was in command of the crew that had designed and implemented the critically important systems that would lead the Neptune on its voyage across space.
As late as it might have been, Phil's crew had insisted that he come and inspect the day's work and insure that the systems were installed successfully. They would, of course, be tested rigorously and thoroughly over the coming days, weeks, and even months to guarantee that they wouldn't fail after leaving their dying planetary home, but the crew were rather proud of their accomplishments for the day and each were looking for opportunity for advancement, which came by way of recommendation from their crew chief to the higher ups in Stormlord given that their reviews were coming up in the next few weeks.
"If you look here, you'll see I even have a station designed solely for spectrographics. Our journey shouldn't prevent you from taking your chance to enjoy one of your passions in life." Amanda said.
Clever trying to use something like this. He laughed to himself. "It's well done and I appreciate the sentiment."
"If you would come here, you can see that some of us prefer to actually accomplish something to the benefit of the ship as a whole instead of trying to butter up our superiors." Rachel countered. As she showed him through what she had done, Phil couldn't help but think of how she was right. I have to do what's right for the Neptune, not what I want to do myself.
A few minutes later, Phil pulled the pair together for a quick rundown of his thoughts.
"I appreciate the work you've both done today. Rachel, your stations are exceptionally well done and thought out. We're sure to benefit from the hard work you've done on these over the last few weeks and I'm glad you were able to have them finished successfully. Amanda, your work has also been superb, but taking time out to design a station for my benefit as a way to continue a hobby is unnecessary. We will keep it, as it's already done and I'd hate to see it go to waste, but be sure to focus your efforts moving forward on the benefit of the ship as a whole."
Amanda's face flushed red in embarrassment and she turned quickly to walk away. Her muttering voice under her breath caught Phil's attention. "Was there something you wanted to say Amanda?" he asked.
She turned and with a clear look of anger, she said "No. Of course not, Doctor Coulson." Her voice dripping with sarcasm, she continued, "If you'll allow me, I have projects elsewhere that could use my attention?"
Phil considered calling her on her attitude, but decided the best course of action would be to approach her when Rachel wasn't around. Besides, it had been a long day, he thought, and he could use a break. "As you wish, see you tomorrow morning."
He turned to Rachel. "Your work today really has been exceptional. This design is brilliant, what made you think of it?"
"Well, I simply realized we needed a way to plot our course moving forward rather than using digital computers, I thought it would be better for navigation if we had a 3d model of our course instead." She said smiling, trying to mask her excitement.
"An excellent idea. I know you're aware your yearly review is due, I believe, at the end of the month. Would you be interested, possibly, in leading a crew of your own?" he asked.
Her eyes grew wide and her smile couldn't be contained. "Would I!? I'd be honored, Dr. Coulson!" She exclaimed.
"Well, I will put in a good word on your behalf with our bosses, but I can'-…" His voice was drowned out by a deep explosion nearby.
Both jumped involuntarily at the noise and ran towards the door. Walking into the main hallway, they turned and saw smoke coming from around the corner far down the path. Running down to the corner, Phil arrived first, turning quickly to catch Rachel and prevent her from seeing what lay before him. "Rachel, don't!" He said quickly. She stopped, shaking. "Go and find Skye and have her come here as quickly as you can, ok?" She stood frozen looking at the smoke billowing behind Phil. "Run and find Skye. NOW!" He roared at her. She turned quickly and sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her.
Phil turned and viewed the scene before him. On her back lay Amanda half out of a pile of rubble and seemingly missing an arm, but what kept Phil from trying to help her was the pool of various bubbling chemicals she was laying in as the room she had been standing next to was none other than Cloudsong Labs.
An hour and several games of pool later, Skye was still playing and laughing with Emeric.
"Alright, so you're pretty good." She finally admitted.
"I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to be as good. What's the score now?" he asked.
"I think we've both won 3."
"Hmm, a tie breaker then! How bout we make it interesting?" He was smiling.
"What'd you have in mind?" She asked curiously.
"If I win, we take this game back to my bunk." He said confidently, pausing to see her reaction, which was to open her eyes in surprise, smile, and blush. Emboldened, he continued, "If you win, you can d-…" He didn't get to finish his sentence as he was knocked over by another patron of the bar. The man had tripped and fell headlong into Emeric, causing both to spill over into a nearby table and set of chairs in the bar.
Skye jumped in surprise, rushing over to check on the two men. "Emeric! Are you ok?!" she asked quickly. He responded with a groan as he tried to sit up but couldn't because the other man was on top of him. As Skye tried to split the two apart, the man sat up and tried to say something, but before intelligible words could come out of him mouth, puke appeared instead, covering Emeric's chest and stomach.
"Oh my God!" Skye shrieked as she jumped backwards to avoid the spray.
"I'm so sorry…" the man mumbled before collapsing on top of Emeric again. "Get this idiot off of me!" Emeric yelled, trying desperately to get a grip or some kind of leverage in the slippery mess he found himself in.
Several other patrons had now appeared and bodily lifted to man off of him so he could get up from the ground. "Well, I think this is not what I had in mind for tonight." Emeric said in a huff. "I think I'm gonna just go. I'm sorry." He turned before Skye could respond and was walking to the exit and out the door.
"You fucking idiot! What the hell is wrong with you? Gah, I was so close!" She said angrily to the man.
"Ionno…" he slurred. "M' tired…" he continued heavily.
"Ugh, you're disgustingly drunk. What's your name? I'll drag you back to your bunk since I'm going to mine cause you ruined my damn night." She said hotly.
"You're so n-nice.." he slurred again. "Ma friends call me Doug."
"Well Doug, you just ruined my first chance in months to finally... Nevermind..." She lamented but her voice trailed off.
"Ok…" Doug mumbled, clearly not an active member of the conversation. The pair slowly made their way across the complex to the Phoenix Module. After they arrived, Skye had him direct her to his bunk where she deposited him not-so-gently on his bed and stalked off towards her own. As she arrived at her bunk, she was in the process of changing as a smashing sound was heard on her door, like someone was trying to kick it in.
"Skye, please! It's Rachel from navigation! Somethings happened to Phil! There was an explosion next to Cloudsong and he sent me running here for you!" her breathlessness put a terrible sense of urgency on everything she was saying.
In a flash, Skye's weariness was washed away as adrenaline surged through her. She took off shouting, "Maxwell, engage Delta protocol!"
"Immediately, Skye." Came his voice in response. "I beg your pardon Dr. Tsaka, but I must ask you to step outside."
Rachel looked curiously around but complied, leaving the room. As she did, the door slammed shut automatically and a deep chime signaled an AI leaving or entering the room.
Melinda and Lance had just finished their shift at botanical gardens. Both as members of the botanical team had been hired as part of the effort to insure the survival of key species of plant life from Earth. They were discussing different ideas about caring for plants on other planets when they saw two people running at full speed towards an area of the complex where they saw smoke rising from one of the buildings even in the dark, due to how well lit Stormlord kept the grounds for security purposes.
"Mate, that looked like Skye!" Lance blurted out.
"Who?" Melinda asked.
"That girl from the chemical labs I told you about. The pretty one." He said.
"Ah, well, we should probably check it out."
Lance turned to look at her, "Are you normally this bloody calm when a part of the grounds is seemingly on fire?" Without waiting for a response, he turned and sprinted off towards where they were heading.
"Shit happens…" she muttered as she ran towards them, too.