[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/894043780448157727/1047315919615045672/FA20ADE0-C236-459E-A3C0-93658A9EB2E7.png?width=1440&height=506[/img]

[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][color=00abFF][i][b]We should die for the things we believe in
But live our lives in the dark, self-deceiving.
In the snow, all the world that we knew is ice
And so we are cold, dead and gone.

Shine a light till the dark sky is burning
Wolves are howling, and fortune is turning.
But our hearts and the words that we say are ice
And so we are cold, dead and gone.[/b][/i]


[/color]
[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[color=005EFF]"Hmm..."[/color]

In one of the rooms this ship was built with for residency, a plasmoid lay across a bed against the wall, plucking away at the strings of an instrument. The opening to a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BNYtqsjeEc]song[/url] they picked up in another galaxy far from here. Unlike the rest of the crew, Strata had nothing to do currently, so they simply entertained themself on the strings. The ship was quiet, and the cameras were their only company. When the small prying eyes looked at Strata, they just stared back in disinterest. Multiple ration bars lay next to Strata, which the captain may or may not have been conveniently missing up to this point. Some of the wrappers were empty and some were yet to be devoured whole in the process of Strata contemplating what this leg of their life would lead to. Winning a game of poker against a dragon, and then detonating a star on top of a tyrannical empire were great stories to tell around the proverbial campfire, but what else could happen in this place, so far away that such things may as well not exist?

That was what Strata intended to find out.

They were about to start again when a speaker crackled to life. [color=a187be]"Rise and shine, crew. Get your asses to the Mission Deck in ten, gotta brief everyone before we touch down."[/color] Time to go to work, it seemed.

[hr]

A few minutes later, the glowing humanoid was on deck. A blue human silhouette with veins of violet-white veins spiraling all throughout their body, leading to what could only be considered a heart of some sort. Their face was nothing but the same glow, swirling in a similar shape to a spiral galaxy. Foggy clumps of paler shades of blue danced across Strata's "skin" like impurities in a stone. At what would've been a human's right hip was a [url=https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F73%2Fda%2Fd4%2F73dad47ee8cb2f61f3d5bdcdfca028d7.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=a04ecee39997f8dfffe521637b05533e66d385fd4a4d461cee1847f2cae10c57&ipo=images]laser pistol[/url] jammed into the leg. Not in a holster, but directly stuck in the volume that made Strata's body. Inside their right arm could be seen a small number of rectangular shapes, other objects stuck inside them like a living backpack. Strata showed up to the briefing like this, ready for whatever they needed to do, even if it looked a little odd to be impaled by a gun.

They looked around and saw their new crewmates. The Gas Giant, as they named her, the rat, the bird, and the robot. Three others had yet to show up so far. The doctor, the co-pilot and the tech support. [color=005EFF]"I see we've yet to crash into an asteroid. Clearly, someone aboard this ship knows what they're doing."[/color] Banter mixed with small talk. Silence bored Strata to tears and made them want to do something stupid, so they filled it until they were [i]expected[/i] to do something stupid. [color=005EFF]"Don't keep us in suspense, captain."[/color]