[b]Teige[/b]

Teige put her index finger on her cheek as she looked into her locker. These were all of her possessions. A handgun, a necklace, a portable comms unit and a Garden brand dress. She took her rucksack and put all the items but the handgun, which she strapped to her hip, and the comms unit, which she put on her wrist, in it. She slung the light rucksack over her shoulder and walked out of the room. She exchanged a few greetings with a few members of the crew, then finally arrived at the airlock. She waited there for a long while, she chatted with a crew member stationed nearby, drank some water and practiced meditation. 

Then the airlock's intercom came to life, and a familiar voice came through. "Hello, Exploronaut 367, Roi, here. I'm here for Exploronaut 360, Teige." 

Teige smiled, "Here I am, Roi. I'll let you into the airlock, give me a moment." Teige fished out her ID card from her uniform and passed it over the panel controlling the airlock. Its outer door opened, let Roi in and then closed. Pressurization came into effect and then the inner door opened.

Roi was wearing a green and black space, sleek space suit. It looked more like a loose Exploronaut uniform with a helmet than a space suit, though. Her face was obscured behind the dark visor of her helmet but from the body language, Teige could tell Roi was glad to see her. Roi was also carrying a second suit on her left arm. "This is yours." Roi said, voice distorted by the helmet's microphone, and extended her arm towards Teige.

Teige grabbed the suit and quickly put it on, over her uniform. She locked the helmet in place and stretched her limbs. "Will it be a space walk to the ship?"

"More like a space jump, we're only a few meters out. Also, Teige-" Roi hesitated, "There was a terrorist attempt at the Tree."

Teige could feel her heart skip a beat. The heat drained from her face and she turned to Roi. "A terrorist attempt?" 

"Some alien sneaked into the Tree's perimeter, avoided all guards and priests and blew himself up right beside the Tree." 

Teige was at a loss of words, and after she failed to form any after a few attempts, she simply pressed the button to close the airlock and depressurize. The airlock did its work and soon they were facing the void of space. Excitement filled Teige, yet she showed none of it now. Getting physically excited right now would be detrimental to their objective. A moment passed, and Roi bought her fingers to the side of her helmet. She mumbled something into her personal comms.

Then, Teige saw a large shadow. It descended and descended, up until it was leveled with them--That was Roi's ship. 

Roi linked her arm with Teige's and nodded. "On three we jump, you know the drill." Teige nodded in response.

"One," They got into position.

"Two," Roi's ship's airlock opened, brightly lit with an orange light. 

"Three!" They jumped. Roi grunted and Teige bit her lip. As they exited the human ship's airlock, gravity became non existent. They flailed their legs in synchronization two times, then stopped. They drifted toward the ship ever so gently. Once they got closer though, it was clear they were off course. They'd hit the ship's hull at that rate. 

"Move us to the right, Roi. I'll stabilize the acceleration once we're correctly aligned." And so Roi activated her personal thruster at mid potency. A moment later and Teige activated her own, which aligned them in front of the airlock. They deactivated the thrusters and prepared for landing. 

They both felt the sudden tug of gravity as they entered the airlock. They did not fall, though. They separated their arms and each arrived with a somersault. 

Teige was the first to stand and she grinned. "That was exciting." 

"Tell me about it." Roi said and chuckled, then the airlock closed and they took off the space suits. "We can't stay in human space, Teige. You understand, right? The Priests requested the Exploronauts and Navy to provide higher security for the Tree and to look for possible ties to a bigger organization." 

"I understand. The Tree's more important than this." Teige nodded in agreement, then the airlock let them into the ship. Roi brought her wrist up and spoke into her comms bracelet. 

"Take us back to the Homeplanet, Koi. Let's get there as fast as possible, we'll refuel once we get there."

The ship whirred into action. It aligned itself with the correct Faster Than Light(FTL) route, and then it jumped into the void.