Diantha Devins woke up to her alarm, an annoying repetitive sound. Once hearing the noise, she immediately turned it off, draping an arm across her face. After about thirty seconds, she opened her eyes. The exploratory expedition was leaving today. She had been preparing for it for over a year; learning as many different languages as possible, practicing the new navigation software developed for it. She was the chief navigator and expert of galactic languages for the expedition, as well as one of the youngest joining it at the age of twenty-three.

Rolling out of her bed, she quickly showered and dried her long blond hair. She dressed in a form-fitting space suit designed to adapt to different environments, something made specifically for each member of the team. She also threw on a pair of loose fitting jeans and a zippered hoodie. She brushed and pulled her hair up into a ponytail and grabbed her small, already packed duffel bag. She had a larger bag already on the ship they were using.

She left the room she was using, one of the many spare ones on the space station they were departing from. The layout of space stations tended to be similar to each other, so she could easily navigate to the hanger they were leaving from. Diantha had grown up moving from planet to planet, space station to space station. Her parents had been space gypsies of sorts, always wanting to explore other planets. She had even been born on an alien planet; she had never been to earth, the birth-place of her race. Now she was on the team trying to find a place for her race; it was rather ironic, her parents running away from other humans, she trying to help them.

Diantha arrived in the hanger, a little early. She usually was. "Morning, Dee. Ready for this?" the captain of the expedition, Arrow, called to her. She nodded, giving him a small smile. They were old friends, having met in training school for the galactic alliance. He had acted as a sort of mentor for her, basically pointing her to where she was today. He was the one who pointed out her gift with languages and direction and had recommended that she try and be a part of the mission.

Government officials weren't the only ones going off on this expedition. Those that had proven themselves in the name of mankind without being criminals were sought after too. Which is why Kae found himself walking into the very same hanger bay. He was supposed to work as security, but there was no way he was wearing a suit. He'd wear the badge as proof, but he refused to wear a uniform. He was a natural born Terran, born in the good ol' United States back on Earth. He never took orders from anyone and was the best at what he did. Some may argue this but he had yet to be defeated in a fight. He was proud of his home and despised the other alien races. He was glad to help find their race a new home, although he would never give up on his home planet. He knew it could be saved and he would never give up on it. He was glad the alien races didn't want them around anymore, they disgusted him and he was glad to be out of their presence. He just wished he didn't have to be taken orders to complete this mission.

Ahead of him He saw the captain, a man named Arrow. He knew of this man's deeds and respected him for it. However he had no idea who the girl next to him was, and nor did he care. He walked over to him, his metal pole, made of an unknown indestructible metal leaning on one of his shoulder, held in his left hand as he walked up to him. "Well I'm here Captain Arrow, just don't expect me to wear your monkey suits, my clothes will do fine. I'm here for my race, not the stupid government that runs it." He had a slightly ticked off look as he usually did. "Just tell me where to report to and I'll get on duty." He didn't feel like waisting time. He jsut wanted to get off this nasty alien rock of a planet as soon as possible. He had made sure all his stuff was transfered to his quarters a day ago. Now he was here at the ship, ready to get going.

(I feel like I'm repeating myself. o.o anyways, have you ever seen the Star Trek Enterprise series? the one wear they have blue suits? we could say our ship looks like that if ya wanted, unless you had something else in mind.)

((it can look like that...that's something easy to envision...let's go with that))

Diantha looked at the new arrival, taking him in. She found it slightly odd that he didn't want to wear the suit, they weren't that bad, at least she thought that way. Captain Arrow just nodded, apparently knowing who he was. "Yes, that's up to you, Kae," Arrow told him. Diantha started towards the ship, a little eager to get going. "Hold up Dee, have you met Kae here? He's here as security, like you from Earth," Arrow said, stopping her in her tracks. "Kae, this is Diantha Devins, our navigator and linguist for this little expedition."

Diantha smiled at Arrow. "Captain, I may be human, but I am not actually from there, in fact, I've never stepped foot on the planet," she told him, shaking her head slightly, as she had told him this several times before. Arrow just found it funny to tease her about it. "Anyways, its nice to meet you," she said turning to Kae, extending a hand out to him.

"Whatever. I'm just here to do a job." Kae headed for the ship, bumping shoulder with Diantha, walking right past her and heading for the ship. The captain was far too friendly and he had no time to make friends. Only the mission mattered. Unfortunately he'd have to ride with them to the ship in a shuttle, the ship being far to big to dock in a normal hanger bay, It was docked high above the space station. He walked the distance to the shuttle, and sat down, kicking out his feet as he sat down in a seat and waited for the other two and the rest of the remaining crew to board the ship. Unfortunately the three of them had arrived early which meat more waiting. He hated waiting, especially with talkative people. But he didn't have much of a choice in the situation so he would just do his best to zone them out. He closed his eyes, and placed his head in his hands as he raised them up. He really hoped the captain wouldn't bug him too much on the ride up.

Diantha raised an eyebrow at the man, finding it rude that he bumped into her. "Wow, he's friendly," she said, watching him head for the shuttle. That made Arrow laugh. "Be nice, Dee, we're going to be with each other for a long time in a small amount of space," Arrow warned her, still chuckling a little bit. Diantha tended to be blunt and upfront about somethings. It had gotten her into trouble more than once; luckily she could defend herself.

After a quick nod, she made her way to the shuttle, ready to get going. She sat down in a seat across from Kae, the shuttle wasn't very large. She put her duffel bag on her lap, they'd need all the space on the shuttle. He looked as though he was sleeping, but she still had something to say to her. "You could have said sorry you know," she said after a few moments of silence.

"Ya, I know." He replied bluntly and emotionlessly to her without even opening his eyes. Of course she would have to sit across from him. Something in him told him he'd be seeing a lot more of her the he'd want to. Whatever, he'd just do his job. He'd have to keep his mind on keeping the peace around the ship. Why humans still fought with each other he didn't get. Why was it always so hard to get along with each other. it wasn't good in today's world. They'd need to band together if they were to survive dealing with the other races.
And this girl, there was something about her that got under her skin. What was it though? What was her job? Oh ya, Navigation an Linguistics. Linguistics, that was it. People who spoke multiple languages usually loved to learn about other cultures. That disgusted him. Why would you care so much about someone's culture when they were your enemies? Although knowing about their military tactics was useful. And as little as he cared for her type, he had to admit, linguistics personal do prove to be very useful.
He narrowly opened one of his dark blue eyes, and looked directly at her. "You girl, Diantha was your name right? You don't sympathize with the aliens do you? I hope not, or we're definitely not going to get along." He closed his eye, an went back to his almost asleep state. "You've been warned, little missy."

Diantha wondered what he meant by sympathizing with aliens. Did he have something against them? That seemed odd to her, having spent more time around aliens than humans. In fact she felt more comfortable around aliens than humans. Aliens she understood, she knew what to expect; humans on the other hand tended to be brash and unpredictable. "Don't call me 'little missy,' I have a name and you know what it is," she told with an edge to her voice him, becoming angry by the nickname.

She sat in silence for a few minutes, looking out the small windows of the shuttle. "What do you have against aliens?" she asked him, calming down from her little outburst. She was still looking out the window, seeing that a few more members of the crew had arrived. They were all still talking to Arrow, looking as though there was an interesting conversation occurring. She recognized a couple of them from the preparations for the mission, her being slightly able to tell who they still needed to arrive. "You still didn't apologize, rude much?" she muttered under her breath, more to herself. He was just going to be a bundle of joy to deal with.

He slowly opened his eyes to stare her, narrowed dark blue spheres that almost seemed to pierce into her. "What do I have against aliens? It's more like what they have against us. IF they're so great then why do we have to go searching for a new home? Why has there never been a successful colony of human and any breed of aliens? They're all dispicable, every last one of them and you'd do well to learn that. I can't recall one time an alien ever actually did anything for our race." He closed his eyes again, doing his best to ignore her until they left for the ship. They were clearly not ever going to get along.
He was fine with this, he had no reason to talk to a linguistic officer.
Soon enough though, people started boarding the transport shuttle and it wasn't long until the shuttle was full and taking off for the Starship. He tried to block out the chatter as best he could. He liked peace and quiet most of the time, and this was one of those times. It wasn't a long trip though so he just ignored it the best he could.

Diantha rolled her eyes at him. It was obvious to her that he had no idea. Aliens were being kind enough to allow humans onto their planets freely, while they searched for a solution to fixing earth. Humans had killed their own planet and now they were looking for a suitable place for them to stay while they repair the planet. Of course aliens and humans weren't going to get along, humans caused all the problems. Diantha was starting to open her mouth to say this to him when the others boarded the shuttle. She simply glared at him through her teal colored eyes.

After the shuttle arrived at the starship, she made her way to her cabin. She threw her duffel bag onto her bed, planning on unpacking it later. She only had a few minutes to herself before she was needed. As navigator she was needed to plot their course. She grabbed a folder from her bag. It contained the route they had mapped out, going by several planets that could be suitable for human life. She made her way to the bridge, walking briskly through the halls. Once there, she sat in her spot and began typing coordinates into the computer.

Kae headed right to his quarters and locked his door behind him. He didn't have any duties to report to until the next day so he decided to relax to some of his favorite music. He loved anything from the end of the 20th century. It took him mere minutes to put all of his things in place, he didn't have much. Just some clothes and a few objects of importance to him which only took up the shelf space above the head of his bed. His staff was leaned up against the wall, right next to the door. When he was done he plopped down on the bed, and listened to his music as one of his favorites, Dragon Attack, by Queen came on. He grinned slightly to himself, nothing lightened his mood better then good music. It helped him forget the troubles of the galaxy, and just relax. It reminded him of home and nothing was more important to him then home. He was a proud Terran, and would defend the name of his home against anyone who dared even insult it.

Diantha finished typing their coordinates into the computer. She pushed a few buttons and a map appeared on the screen, with a faint green dashed line appearing over the map. It was their planned route, she was just making sure that the coordinates were correct before leaving. She would have to constantly check this, but it would be easier to correct their course before they started opposed to while they are moving. As Arrow came into the bridge, she stood, as did everyone else in the room. He came over to her to make sure she was ready. "Looks, good. This means we are ready to leave," he called after looking over her should at her work. "This is your captain speaking, we are pulling away from the landing dock in two minutes time. Please secure yourself and any loose items," Arrow's voice came over the loudspeaker, reaching out to all parts of the ship. Diantha didn't move, just found a more comfortable position in her seat. Arrow nodded towards the first mate who finished the countdown and pushed the throttle. Their expedition was underway.

Kae reach up to tap a button on the shelf, creating a small dome that covered the objects securing them into place. He had gone into space on much less stable starcrafts many times so he was used to any shifting, so he simply stayed how he was, listening to his music as they took off into space. He also knew what to expect when they would hit hyperspace, after they made sure they were on the right track once in space. Until they took off into hyperspace though, he would just relax and listen to his music.

It wasn't long before Diantha was needed as much as at when departing. Once the spaceship was en route, she just had to make sure that she checked that they were still on track. Her linguist abilities wouldn't come into play until they reached any of their destinations; unless a fight broke out between some of the crew due to some sort of misunderstanding, which rarely happened. Diantha sat back in her seat, looking blankly at the screen. After sitting there for what felt like mere minutes, Arrow came over to her. "You look hungry, go get food. We'll be fine without you here for a little bit," he told her. She nodded and stood up, heading for the ship's kitchen.

Kae was perfectly content staying in his room until he was called for duty, but his stomach begged to differ. He ignored it after but after a few loud growl he heaved a heavy sigh and got up, heading to the cafeteria. He didn't bring his combat pole with him cause he doubted he'd need it. He was just going to get some food. The corridors were long but not that crowded. There were a lot of people on this ship but not enough to crowd it. However, with all the people on this ship, he just happened to run into the last person he wanted to see before he even got halfway to the cafeteria. He walked right into her sight so there was no way she didn't see him, but he kept walking, ignoring her as he kept on forward to the cafeteria. Hopefully she had no intent on talking. Hopefully he had pissed her off enough to leave him alone. He hoped so, it might make this expedition a bit quieter. He wouldn't mind that, the less people that talked to him the better. The only noise he wanted to hear was either fist breaking someone's bones or his music.

Diantha noticed Kae pass her in the corridor. She quickly and easily remembered their conversation from earlier. Thinking back on it, she had no desire to actually talk more to him. Entering the cafeteria, she grabbed some food, not being picky about what she ate. Being on a spaceship it was limited in any case. Looking around, she saw only one empty table, which she took a seat at. None of the people in there she had any inclination to talk to, let alone eat with. Most people on the ship tended to be chatty while they ate, something she wasn't used to do. She had spent a long time on alien planets where eating while talking was forbidden or rude, something that had stuck with her over the years. As she started eating, she silently wished for a book, just as something to do as she ate as well as a deterrent for others to talk to her.

Luckily the food was good. It was buy far no culinary art of genius, but it tasted better then any quick food and was actually healthy. He got in line quickly, and something heavy in meat and potatoes, with carrots as well. There was only one table left with any room and there was only one person sitting at it. And that one person just happened to be the little miss from earlier. Joy. He groaned, and made his way past her, giving her a nasty glance as he walked on past her. He'd just eat in his room, he enjoyed the solitude, and quiet. There was no way he was going to sit and eat with her. No way in hell he though as he headed for the cafeteria exit.

Diantha began eating her food as she noticed Kae get into the cafeteria line. The food was fairly tasty, not the best in the universe, but she had eaten worse. She noticed as Kae shot her a nasty glance as he walked past her, giving him one in return out of habit. She sighed to herself afterwords, it wasn't a good idea to fight with him, they were going to be on the same ship together for a long time. "You can eat here, I won't bite, or bother you," she called softly to him, before he exited the room. A part of her wanted him to say no, but she knew that they would have to try to get along, as least pretend to.

He paused for a moment, almost considering her offer, and looked back at her, almost giving her a look of momentary truce. He headed back to his room, not sure why he did so. He sat down at his desk and chowed down on his food. It was good, better then what he had been eating lately. When he was done he left the tray and cutlery on his desk, he'd take it back when he went for the next meal. In the meantime, he went back to lying back on his couch and listening to his music.

Diantha held her breath while he decided whether he was staying or not. She released it as he left, part of her relieved. While she had promised not to bother him, she knew that most humans were accustomed to talking during meals. That was something she did not like to do. She took her time eating the rest of her meal in silence. After eating, she took her tray over to the cleaning area, leaving it for the ones in charge of cleaning. She stifled a yawn at that point, making her want to take a nap. She wouldn't be required to check the navigation equipment for several hours, so she considered it; after all Arrow would let her know if she was needed. Walking to her cabin, she opened the door and went inside. She took off her shoes and laid down on her bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

He eventually fell asleep as he lay stretched out on his bed. He didn't wake up until his alarm went off, alerting him to know breakfast was in an hour. He got up, showered, and grabbed the tray and cutlery, heading out. He left his music playing, it was going to be on 24/7, even when he wasn't in the room, although no one passing by would hear it.
He was one of the first in line for breakfast, and he grabbed the closest table to the dish washer's area so that he could get out quickly. He had a massive plate of eggs, and downed them very quickly, before turning in the tray and cutlery and heading out. He was done before hardly anyone even got there, and went right to his duty station. He didn't have anything major to guard, just had a to patrol a small hardly traveled area. Some people used it as a shortcut but he'd hardly seen anyone all day during his shift. He just grabbed a chair from a nearby storage closet and sat down in his posted area. He wasn't given anything major to guard because he wasn't an official crew member. He knew they didn't trust him fully and he didn't care. He did however hope there would be some missions where he could get off the ship or this would be one boring trip. He hated sitting around doing nothing, but at least the food was good.

Diantha woke up with a start, her communicator buzzing. Groggy eyed she looked at is and cursed. "Shit," she whispered, looking at the time. She had fallen asleep for the night and hadn't checked their coordinates. Arrow was the one paging her. She quickly got out of her bed, checking her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had fallen out of its neat ponytail. She pulled out the band, letting her hair fall down. Looking at the clock again, she sighed. She didn't have enough time to fix it and change. Changing clothes seemed more important to her than her hair, so she changed her clothes and ran out of her room.

She walked quickly down the halls, taking a shortcut she knew from studying the maps of the spaceship. She was most likely the one who knew the different corridors of the ship the best. As she moved she saw Kae, sitting in the hall, most likely doing his job. In an effort to be nice, she said "Hi" as she passed him in her rush to the bridge.

At that moment the ship dropped out of hyper drive and shook a bit, knocking the girl off her feet and sent her right into Kae. "Aaah!" the forced knocked him off the chair as they went sprawling to the ground, Dian on top of Kae in a very embarrassing position for both of them. If he was embarrassed he didn't show it cause he quickly pushed her off as he jumped to his feet. "What's going on? I thought we were going to be in hyper space for weeks, not one day?" He looked at her with a confused look on his face as she let her get up herself. "I think we better get to the bridge to see what's going on."

Diantha blushed furiously when she realized that she fell right on top of him. She sat on the floor for several moments after Kae got up, trying to regain her composure. "Sorry," she whispered as she stood up. At his next comment, she looked worried. "We were, we shouldn't be leaving hyper drive for any reason," she started, dropping off near the end, talking more to herself than to him. After a moment, she realized that Arrow had called her. It must be something to do with this. "Shit," she hissed, starting to run full speed towards the bridge. She arrived there moments later. "Arrow, what is it?" she asked breathless.

(I was thinking they went of course and pulled out of hyperspace before they hit an asteroid belt. perhaps their flight path was sabotaged before hand. *shrugs*)

He rushed after her. If there was trouble brewing he wanted to know what. He wasn't planning on missing out on any action. This mission was planned on being far too boring to begin with. He easily stayed behind her as the two of them rushed to the bridge. "Ya captain," he said some with annoyance, "what the hell is going on, I know you're not going to tell me alien sabotage." He was quite annoyed. It could be a simple miscalculation in the jump, but the trajectories are always gone over and over multiple times to make sure no errors were performed in the very first hyperspace jump.

((Edited post...))

Both Diantha and Arrow looked at Kae as he entered, startled by his comment. Diantha couldn't believe it, how could he think that? It had to be his prejudice against aliens of every kind. As she began to speak against him, Arrow raised his hand and spoke. "We don't know what happened exactly at the moment, but Dia you need to look at it," he said seriously. She nodded, moving silently over to her station. She typed quickly into the computer, trying to figure out what was going on. "Odd, its saying that we are headed towards a meteor belt, there was not one there according to my maps," she muttered, looking at the screen. As the ship slowed out of hyper drive. "I'll have to reset the navigational software," she added. Such events were not uncommon, space was difficult to navigate, things constantly moving there. "Do you have it under control now?" Arrow asked, her nodding.