USF Progenitor & Crew: Adventures in Cosmos 01

[#59] Warming Up

"You guys done jacking off or—?" Ka'eo began.
Peter speeded out an AHT!
"Nooo, I'm never done," Mana replied. He fake shouted, "I'm never dooone!"
Peter laughed and mimicked, "No, I'm never done!" He cackled to himself until he calmed down. He asked, "On a serious note? What are we doing next?"
"I checked Nina, and she's got me briefed on what we can expect when we land on the surface of our ice planet. We're landing on a region of tundra. Before I continue, actually, call your brother and the other boys up here to the bridge, so we can all get what's going on next."
"Ka'el, are we already in the star system?" Mana asked.
"Yeah! We're also, unfortunately, not meeting up with some of the guys, because they got reassigned to something more important," Ka'eo answered.
Mana said, "Ah, really? D$mn. So, who are we meeting up with?"
"Call the guys up here so I can tell all of you," Ka'eo ordered.
Peter promptly responded, "I am."
"Okay, good," Ka'eo replied.
"Good!" Mana said, mockingly. He leaned back in his chair comfortably, then turned himself to face his computer to log in and check on his updates.
Peter said, "There, I messaged them, and they're coming up to the bridge, now."
"Thanks," Ka'eo whispered weakly, focused on his own monitor that showed reports from multiple stations on the planet in one convenient location. He read the information excitedly, finding out more about their research and their personal testaments from various blogs and journal entries.
Mana logged into his computer and immediately went to his email account. He asked in a somewhat displeased manner, "When the h$ll did we get paid? Did we get paid yet, or are we waiting?"
"We get paid on the third and the twenty first of every fiscal month," Peter answered. "You didn't know that?" He made a brief cackle and went back to scrolling.
Mana tried to explain, "Naw, because--yeah, I know we get paid on those days, but I thought it was the f$cking... first. What is today?!"
"We got paid yesterday, so that means it's the fourth," Peter told Mana. He cackled again at Mana's seeming lack of awareness.
Mana said, "F$ck your fourth, okay!? F$ck it!"
Peter made an aaaahhd casually and continued to scroll.
Stavros, Alec, and Kanoa walked onto the bridge, following Max who was up ahead of them, galavanting forward eagerly.
Max quoted a StarCraft ghost saying, "Somebody call for an exterminator?"
Mana replied quickly, "Yeah! It's time to f$cking exterminate everyone!"
Peter laughed at Mana's remark.
Ka'eo turned to look at everyone and said, "Welcome! I welcome all of you here and want to give you the heads up on what to expect within the next few hours before we land and then after landing."
"What about meeting up with the other guys? Veno? Caleb?" Alec prodded.
Ka'eo explained, "No, yeah, true. So, within an hour, we're meeting up with them, they're going to launch a small, disposable vessel, board, and then we're going to jettison it into space away from the star. We're going to only be meeting up with Veno, and instead of Caleb Agrecia, it's going to be someone else who was assigned in his place."
The group of guys booed and groaned about Caleb not being able to make it aboard their ship.
"Why not Caleb?" Asked Alec.
"Simply, he was reassigned to another mission. He was only on contract with the USF and his work was subject to change," Ka'eo answered sternly.
Alec smiled glibly and said, "Welp, that's just too bad."
"Yup, bye Caleb. Thanks anyway, even though we didn't really get to know each other," Kanoa said.
Alec chuckled.
Ka'eo continued, "Right, so, next up, it's someone named... Pat. Lieutenant Pat Hoffman. He's from the USFMC, knows a thing or two about frontier work, and he volunteered to help lead the mission. He's much older than all of us, but he's got knowledge, and who knows--if Veno knows him well enough, he's probably humorous."
"Pat Hoffman? What happened to Matt?" Mana asked.
Alec chimed in, "Yeah! Where is Matt?"
"Matt is still en route, too. Sorry, I forgot to mention him. And you guys forgot about him, too, shame on you," Ka'eo said, joking with the crew nonchalantly.
"Oh, good, so Matt is still in the picture," Stavros quickly added. "I want to have a word with him."
"Yeah, he doesn't answer his messages anymore," Peter said.
Alec said, "Well, that's Matt."
"I couldn't agree with you more, Alec," Stavros replied dryly, holding a smile, getting Alec to smile back similarly. The both of them chuckled.
Ka'eo's PCD suddenly lit up, notifying him that the message was urgent. He opened up his PCD and read the message:

Mom: Hello,. This is your mother. Call your dad
(read at unknown 00:00:00)

Ka'eo thought it was weird that his adoptive mom, Cheryl, would contact him so soon, preferring to keep to communications agreement between himself and his mom for safe work purposes. While he was concerned for her, he was also irritated at the idea that his futuristic and augmented mom was still breaking the agreed upon routine, confirming further that it was her individual choice. This also made Ka'eo think that something was possibly wrong. He was wondering if she was in good health, and felt the same way for his dad. Ka'eo scrolled up and then down again on the messages in his PCD and didn't see anything he might've missed. He responded in text after much thinking and reiterating before sending:

Ka'eo: Hi mom, I got your message. Are you ok? Is everyone there doing ok? What's the matter? What's up with dad?
(sent at unknown 00:00:00)

Ka'eo closed his PCD and placed it back in his pocket and thought back quickly about all of the vaccines, medicinal upgrades, nanochip implants, and all the advanced technologies that his birth and adoptive family felt were worth looking into, applied after numerous attempts from Ka'eo to get with the USF's family health coverage program.
The USF's offerings became more affordable since the STARs life performance packages were proving as effective. People in both forces were profoundly affected by the life improvements, some people having been forced to go through hell and back for their loved ones, and some people having easily attained heaven's offerings. Either way, the rewards were insane. Life expectancy was increased significantly and the vitality of homosapiens, on average, increased to 125% and beyond, as though the heavens really were "a place on Earth."
Ka'eo thought back to all the headaches of paperwork, pushing himself to get work after rough times on Earth, and then thought to himself I need a f$cking BLOW JOB is what I f$cking need. Haha, yeah urgent. I know what's urgent.
He chuckled to himself entertained by his own vulgar humor, partly an homage to his father's similar taste, but that didn't interrupt the background cacophony. The rest of the crew was still chatting boisterously and having fun, veering off of mission-related topics and into the realm of sex and vices. They all sounded happy, alive, and like a bunch of f$ckers. Ka'eo then thought to himself in relief, thank God for psychic inhibitors, referring to the fact that powerful psychics can in fact connect to the minds of people planets and even star systems away.

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