[center][h2][color=lavender]Zaeli Ashren[/color] & [color=913F52]Valiane Driftshade[/color][/h2][/center][hr]
"Copy that," came the answer from the [i]Ionera[/i]'s cockpit, a young human woman's voice. "[i]Ionera[/i], out."

Zaeli Ashren was at the controls, eyes hungrily taking in the sight of the expanse of stars ahead of her. When she'd joined the Starfinder Society, she didn't know she'd be given her own ship to fly on her very first mission. Well, it wasn't really [i]hers[/i], it belonged to the SFS, but they'd looked at her experience flying dinky shuttles in atmo and decided they trusted her with a Pegasus-class scout ship. Just the [i]feel[/i] of this thing in her hands was enough to put a smile on her lips.

"Let's see what you can do..."

Thrusters to seventy-five percent. The soothing hum of the engine rose higher, the hull of the massive cargo freighter off starboard rushing by. Zaeli caught a glimpse of the AbadarCorp logo near her stern. Good riddance. The shape of Absalom Station grew smaller and smaller in the distance behind. That damn place had a gravitational pull, in more ways than one. She thought she might've left it behind for good. [i]Part of traveling is coming back home,[/i] she reminded herself. [i]Gives the journey meaning.[/i]

Zaeli put the [i]Ionera[/i] into a bank, swerving to make their heading, her grin returning. "Oh yeah, she's got some [i]moves[/i]." She spoke mostly to herself, but also to the Ryphorian woman assigned to be her co-pilot, Valiane, seated at her station across the cockpit from her. "Maybe we'll really put her through her paces on the way back."

She slowly pushed the thrusters up to full, then leaned back, flipping a switch and pressing a few buttons on the controls. She'd have plenty of time to get remote control set up on her 3040, but for now it'd have to be manual. "Okay. Autopilot's engaged, and we're locked in on that distress signal. MIRAGE, what's our ETA?"

A monotonous, robotic woman's voice droned down on them from above, that of the shipboard AI. "At maximum thrust, intercept with the [i]Prudent[/i] will occur in approximately ten hours."

Zaeli let out a hefty sigh, lolling her head over towards her co-pilot. "Guess we've got time to kill." She lifted her wrist-mounted computer, quickly opening a few files she'd requested on her new crewmates and finding Valiane's. "So. I'm reading here, 'no piloting experience,' but they assigned you co-pilot. I could give you a few pointers if you want. Unless you're more of an observational learner."

Valiane sat in the seat assigned to the co-pilot, though she questioned the decision made. It was more process of elimination. She was good with guns. She was good at shooting things with said guns from a long distance. So being in this seat made sense, somewhat.

Valiane didn't quite expect to find herself amongst the Starfinders. Quite frankly, if she had autonomy she would not be here, but it served her purpose. She quickly checked the ship's systems as the robotic voice of the A.I. confirmed their arrival time. Valiane, a pale Ryphorian with white colored eyes and long, light blonde hair (almost white itself) sat next to the pilot. [i]"Great, she's a talker,"[/i] Valiane thought to herself tersely. Valiane didn't enjoy talking much. Especially to people who decided it was their business to read a file on her. Granted, the file would not tell the woman everything.

"Don't believe everything you read," she said matter-of-factly as her attention went back to the stars in front of her. The mission itself seemed simple, but in her experience simplicity paved the road for chaos. She trusted herself to get out of any mess that came her way, but she dreaded having to drag around the sorry bunch of people that were with her. Skilled they may be, the more people she had with her on a mission, the less focused she could be. Can't shoot someone through the eye from miles off if she had to ensure one of her team members wasn't bleeding out or fuddling around.

She hoped to not be bothered too much, but as Zaeli said, they had time to kill.

Zaeli blinked a few times, waiting for Valiane to elaborate further, but nothing more seemed to be coming. She noted the Starfinder Society had also listed extensive skill with weaponry for the Ryphorian, so it was probably a good thing she was sitting in the co-pilot's seat instead of someone like Zaeli. The only weapon she really had experience with was the somewhat-oversized handcannon holstered on her leg. An archaic weapon, sure, but Zaeli had always found an appreciation for old tech. And her gun packed more than enough punch to be a threat.

She closed the file and swiped over to another interface, the very first thing she'd set up after boarding the [i]Ionera[/i]. "You like music?" Without waiting for an answer, she [url=https://youtu.be/2Yr3sKPi8mM?si=AzeS8zZrGfX6wTVi]queued up a track[/url] which soon filled the air in the cockpit. Loud enough to feel it, but not so loud it drowned out everything else. Within a few seconds Zaeli's head was bobbing left and right, dark bangs swaying in front of violet eyes, her boots tapping against the floor.

She was in an obviously good mood, free from Absalom Station again and this time at the helm of a ship, and she certainly wasn't about to spend the next ten hours in silence.

Valiane remained silent as not even her opinion on music was going to stop Zaeli from playing it. Truth be told, Valiane did enjoy music. When she target practiced she often had music playing. It helped keep her focus. 

She waited a beat. Then, despite her initial nature, she spoke. "This music is....fine." It was the closest thing to a compliment Valiane was going to give at the start of this journey. 

If there was one thing Zaeli was confident in, it was her ability to get along with people. It was all about being able to adapt, just like when she traveled to a new environment, or took on a new line of work. Try one method, and if it failed, fall back and try something else, and don't get discouraged. This new co-pilot of hers wasn't much of a conversationalist, but that was just fine. She'd already found a way to make things more comfortable between the two of them.

Her head still swaying side to side, Zaeli turned her attention to her computer, continuing her work interfacing with the [i]Ionera[/i]'s systems, and not bothering Valiane with any more questions. [i]I've got a great feeling about this ship...[/i]