ɪɴ ꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴀʀᴋɪᴘʟɪᴇʀ (ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1)

ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴠɪɴᴄɪʙʟᴇ ɪɪ

Captain Alise T. Vermont was a widely respected individual all across the galaxy. Having led many missions across the solar system and always being mindful of the crew's needs and often putting that before themselves many times before. That, along with their decision-making skills and charismatic diplomacy, led them to be quite the beloved Captain in most settings, and luckily, this time it was no different.

They'd been called to watch over the very first colonization mission, which might've sounded complex, but was actually rather simple and straightforward: it just consisted in boarding the ship, making sure everything was up and running, and then jumping into a Cryo chamber, waking up after travelling for some time, and finally colonizing the planet and helping the colonists settle. They'd never done something so ambitious before, but Alise was confident nothing would go wrong, especially not after they'd been reassured the crew this time around had been selected by the head engineer himself!

Currently, Alise was traveling towards the Invincible II, the spaceship they'd be using to get to the newly discovered planet. The Captain was looking out the window, seemingly lost in thought, when the pilot spoke up "You might wanna take a step back there, Captain"

Alise flinched, the words bringing them back to earth "Oh- y-yes of course..." they said, looking over at the pilot. He seemed to be staring at them quite intensely, which was something Alise was kind of used to by now... but still made them slightly uneasy.

"I-I'm sorry, I know I'm staring a lot, I'm a huge fan of yours! Been following your career for- quite a while now" he justified himself, which brought a kind smile on the Captain's lips.
"Oh my, you flatter me, sir, thank you so much!" they finally spoke up as well, grinning widely. They didn't particularly enjoy the attention, but they didn't want to look rude in front of a fan, so they did their best to be as relaxed as possible.

The pilot smiled as well, but before he could answer, he remembered he was still piloting the small shuttle, so he got right back to work and contacted the visual tower. "This is shuttle Marmota, approaching docking bay four... closing the blast shields..."

"Shuttle Marmota, you're clear to dock"

"Yeah. Copy you" then he turned back to Alise and began counting down for the landing, however, he miscalculated the timing and due to the landing's roughness, the Captain stumbled, nearly falling onto the pilot.
"Ah- s-so sorry, sir- didn't expect the landing to be so bumpy" they chuckled a bit.

"N-no, no it's quite alright, we just- got here slightly earlier than what I'd calculated!" he said, flashing a nervous smile "I gotta say, it's- it's an honor! I was thinking maybe... we could hang out or something? Go get a coffee or- y'know, beer's cool too-"

Alise shook their head "I must apologize, sir, though I would love to, I must attend to my duties first! Thanks for the offer though" they smiled, beginning to head out "And also thank you for the ride! I shall take my leave now, goodbye!" they said, waving a bit, and before the pilot could answer, they left. Mostly because they didn't like to hang out with people that put them on such a high pedestal, nothing against the pilot, but knowing there were people out there who held them to such high standards always managed to put them on edge, especially cause they were far from perfect, they just happened to be very good at being a Captain, but that was about it, they didn't have any other particular skills.

As soon as they stepped into the spaceship, they were greeted by the head engineer... Mark; they'd been working together on and off for about two years now, he was definitely a reliable kind of guy, if not a bit eccentric. "Ah, Captain Alise! Welcome aboard the Invincible II" he cheerfully greeted with a smile on his face "Glad to have you here, took you long enough!"