FRAMED - Cowboy Bebop fanfiction

Session 21

Quinn arrived at the Mars space port with very little time to spare. Typically, she was the first one to arrive, and the last one to leave; especially when it came to work related events. Unfortunately due to her early morning rendezvous with a certain space cowboy, she now found herself in quite the awkward hurry.

She left her shuttle parked in the lot as she frantically made her way inside. With her purse hanging off her arm and her jacket draped over her shoulders, she ran into the building, scanned her electronic boarding pass, and sprinted towards her gate. 

It was terribly unprofessional of her to meet her partners so late at the loading gate, but due to her authority, they didn't bother questioning her. Instead, they greeted her apathetically before rushing her onboard their flight to Venus.

...

The last time Quinn had gone from Mars to Venus was quite some time ago. Since her last visit, space travel had made somewhat of a significant jump. Typically, it took quite a few hours to get from planet to planet, but luckily for Quinn, she was aboard a new and improved hyperspace travel cruiser that could reach closer to the speed of light than any other ship in the galaxy. That, combined with the combination of the space gates, allowed the flight time to be cut in half. These little luxuries made Quinn's life all the better. 

"Venus is a couple hours behind us, so we've got a little while to prepare for the presentation once we get there," Quinn's partner, Justin, announced as he took a seat beside her.

"Why'd we have to leave so early then?" Quinn's other partner, Cole, scoffed as he sat next to Justin.

"I don't think they anticipated the flight to be this fast," Quinn shrugged sorely while shaking her head. Microz meetings coordinators never seemed to be able map out a manageable schedule for its workers. Quinn resented their work, and it it were up to her, they would've boarded their flight hours later. Regardless, she knew it would give her and her team some extra time at Fusiun to get familiar with their presentation space. Also, jet lag was the absolute worst when travelling from planet to planet, so having a rest period in between events would be comfortable to say the least. 

...

Moments after they had boarded, the flight set off for Venus. 

"Should we start prepping our presentation now? I mean, we've got time to kill," Justin suggested eagerly, but before Quinn could reply, Cole stole the words right out of her mouth. 

"We've got hours on Venus to prep, lets just relax for a moment," he shrugged as he leaned back into his seat. 

"Agreed," Quinn nodded as she yawned into the palm of her hand. Usually she would've been on the ball and ready to work early, but she was exhausted from last night. Quinn figured one coffee would have been enough to get her through the morning, but somehow it was already beginning to wear off.  Her eyelids were getting heavy, and she felt herself quickly growing fatigued. 

"Something the matter Q? Usually you're ahead of this stuff," Justin asked suddenly as he leaned forwards in his seat. He was a partner Quinn worked with frequently. She knew little of his personal life, but she was fully aware of his work habits. Justin was quite similar to Quinn in regards to productivity, so he noticed her mood imbalance almost instantly. They made a good team, but Quinn had never spoken to him casually before. She was taken aback by the use of her nickname, but she didn't dismiss him. 

"Just had a rough night at the office," Quinn shrugged, giving him a half smile. Justin shifted in his seat as he gave her a judgmental glare. 

"You didn't pull another all nighter did you?" Justin teased. Quinn scoffed and rolled her eyes.