firstofitskind | Spaceship Parking & Beyond, Sunday Afternoon

Spaceship Parking & Beyond, Sunday Afternoon

Liam had made plans with Kaidan and Verity to go on something of a joyride today, so he'd shown up at the junkyard early to give himself time to do an extra-thorough pre-flight check.

The virtual glass shimmered and became permeable as the shuttle recognized his biometrics, and he sat down in the pilot's seat and brought up the HUD.

ID core, optimal; conventional drive, optimal; weapons, optimal; communications, online; backup controls, online... everything seemed to be in working order. Now he just needed his passengers.

[ooc: for them what's mentioned!]

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After his check-in with Sparkle, Kaidan headed to the junkyard. He had no idea what Liam's ship was like, where they were going, or what they might encounter.

So he was wearing his armor. Not the heavysuit, but the sleeked-down black SPECTRE armor. The only thing that identified it as such was the white wings-and-circle painted graphics on the shoulders. He had a helmet under his arm. His handgun was maglocked across the small of his back.

He headed to the junkyard and found Liam. He spent a moment looking at the ship - its build was completely unfamiliar to him.

"Hey, Liam."

'Unfamiliar' was a good word- the shuttle was a techno-organic construct, something that had been grown rather than built, and looked it. The design was almost bug-like, the front half consisting mostly of shimmering, transparent virtual glass, and the walls in the back half constructed of purple bio-slurry.

Liam waved a hand, dismissing the controls and causing the virtual glass to dissipate so Kaidan could step inside.

"Hey," he greeted. "You dressed up, I see."

Kaidan stepped up and into the ship, looking around with interest. "Unfamiliar ship, landscape without available oxygen - seemed prudent." He felt weird without armor in any ship that wasn't the Normandy.

"Girlfriend on her way? Or did she decide no?"

"On her way," Liam confirmed. "But this means we have time to give you the grand tour." That was a joke, yes. The shuttle wasn't very large; there was the pilot's seat, the two passenger seats about a meter behind it, and then an empty space that could be used to hold cargo. Along the starboard side was a small touchscreen panel, the backup controls.

"It's definitely not of a type I've ever seen before," Kaidan acknowledged, looking over the walls. "Biomechanical? Looks organic."

Liam nodded. "The material's called bio-slurry. Grown on the Mothership and then fitted with virtual glass panels and an interdimensional drive core."

Kaidan listened and asked, "Mothership?"

"Where the majority of the Taelons lived," Liam nodded. "Much, much larger than this. After they died, it was largely dormant for about a year." Until Liam came back from the dead himself. "But now a couple friends of mine are using it to explore the galaxy. That's what I was doing, too, before I made the decision to come here." Yes, he'd apparently given up exploring the galaxy to settle on a strange little island off the coast of the United States.

Kaidan gave him a look and unconsciously followed the narrative. "You gave up exploring the galaxy to come back to a mostly monoculture planet? Why?"

Remember the 'teenage' Liam, Kaidan? The one who had no idea what games were? Or any idea how to have fun in general?

"It's complicated," Liam said, after a moment. "But mostly it boils down to the fact that I never really got to make a lot of my own choices, and I wanted to- I don't know. Have a chance to experience all the things I'd never had time for."

To be fair, he'd also met teenage Kanan who also had no idea what games or fun were and he didn't have instant adulthood as an excuse.

"Fair enough," Kaidan said agreeably. He had heard almost literally that statement from Kanan as well. He was learning.

"And now you have a girlfriend as further reason to stay," he smiled.

"Exactly," Liam said with a grin. And while he was pretty sure Verity would be up for a visit to the Mothership and the weird little crew they'd put together, she wouldn't want to stay. "And friends that I actually met outside of work, and a job that... okay, a job that still gives me headaches on a daily basis, but you can't have everything, I guess." It was a lot more low-key than Protector to the North American Companion, at least.

"You love your job," Kaidan teased, "Don't even try. Honestly, Liam, what else would you do with your time?"

"I don't hate it," Liam allowed. "It's frustrating, sometimes, sure. But it is nice to not have so much pressure from all sides. And I don't know, I could... take up painting, or something?" Actually, he was doing a lot of reading about cryptids. Funny, that.

"I'd rather have you in the hot seat than your deputy," Kaidan allowed, "She's.. excitable."

She was a bitch. 'Major Meathead' indeed.

"Rosa?" Liam shrugged. "Abrasive's the word I'd use. But I like her." Liam liked most people, though he understood why Kaidan might feel different.

"That's a good word," Kaidan agreed, "Maybe I just caught her on a bad day."

Kaidan, Rosa didn't really have good days.

"She seemed competent and she wasn't unwilling to get her hands dirty." On this island, those seemed important.

"That's very diplomatic of you," Liam said, biting back a smile. "She was pretty instrumental in helping get you guys out of the woods." If nothing else, Kaidan ought to appreciate that.

"I try not to judge people on one meeting, and she was nice enough to pass on my message after the shadow shit," Kaidan agreed.

"Which I definitely appreciated," Liam said with a nod. "Any preference?" he added, gesturing at the two passenger seats. They were virtually identical, for the record.

Kaidan lifted a shoulder and took the seat on the right, which would leave his left arm free if he needed it. That's where the Omni was.

"Seemed the least I could do. I wanted to make sure everyone I knew was safe, but I wasn't in any condition to see to it personally," he answered.

Liam nodded and was about to say something else, when Verity showed up.

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Spaceship Parking & Beyond, Sunday Afternoon

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