[center][h1][color=silver]Lucius[/color][/h1][/center]

As the two shuttles moved along toward the hangar bay, one bearing the pilot and the other his Framewerk, the silence of the cold, empty space seemed to stand out somewhat more than the normal. It wasn't an arrival filled with pomp and circumstance, nor a covert operation being held under strict parameters. It was not the arrival of someone with ties to the military or the Federation's government, nor was it anyone who held great wealth or had a criminal record. The two shuttles might as well have been carrying shipments of supplies to the Fortress Shiop Solaire, for all it was worth, and yet despite it all the younger man, the new Framewerk pilot who sat in one of the two shuttles, felt as if the air around him was equal parts relaxed and yet able to be cut with a knife all the same. 

All of the training, the drills, the simulation battles, the testing, the sparring matches with other new and veteran pilots, none of it was going to be the same as an actual combat situation. None of it was the exact same, as he'd assumed as of this point in time, as actually being sent to the Fortress Ship Solaire itself and landing in the hands of Project Framewerk in the formal sense. It was a touch nerve-wracking, to say the least, and yet he felt split about the whole matter. It wasn't true combat yet, nor was he having to return to his mother's place of work (or a few similar sore spots) for that matter. In that sense, it was among the easiest things he had been doing thus far into his 'career' already. 

Part of him almost wished he was back in the cockpit of the Rex Artus, a place that by now had become familiar, almost comfortable to a peculiar degree to him if he was being honest about the matter. Still...he had to give it a shot. One way or the other, he had to. Personally, officially, legally, or whatever applied in this situation. In that vein, he'd accepted things already to enough of an extent well before this point in time. 

Though he had managed to end up fiddling with something to keeps his hands and mind busy during the ride-

"Wait, why are you out of your seat, pilot? We're beginning docking procedures."

The voice of the shuttle copilot rang over the intercom, reaching his ears as the brown-haired man was sitting on the floor and half-bent over a somewhat outdated but modern coffee machine. A piece of equipment from the shuttle crew's 'break room/kitchen', he'd been allowed back there to get a cup of something to drink a good few hours prior. Hours being the key word there. The machine had been sitting there gathering some dust, and after that all it had taken was asking the shuttle's onboard maintenance engineer if he could try to fix it. Something to do on the ride at least, he'd argued, and the man had laughed and bet him a fistful of yerries if 'he could get it working before they finished docking'. 

...Challenge accepted. 

[color=silver]"Hmm? Oh. Sorry about that, I needed some room to work with during the ride. Need to take this back before we land, if that's ok."[/color]

"For the love of-...wait, how did you get ahold of-?"

[color=silver]"Engineer made me a bet when I went to get some water a few hours ago, and I needed something to do during the ride."[/color]

He could almost hear a sigh coming from the other end, see it even in his mind's eye, yet even so the intercom remained silent again before it crackled back again to life once more. 

"Fine. But only if you bring me a cup before we're done with docking. [sub]Lazy-ass maintenance guy was supposed to fix that yesterday anywho...[/sub]"

The exasperation from the copilot was almost palpable, though Lucius would brush off the hushed tone of what came afterwards. 

Placing the machine in the empty seat he was supposed to have been sitting in, Lucius stretched his arms and legs for a minute before picking up the machine and looking back at the intercom. They had some kind of camera to keep an eye on stuff like this, he supposed, but he would even so give a semi-relaxed wave into the air before grabvbing up the machine and walking toward the kitchen without another word. As he was just about out of range, however, a flash of something popped into his head. Almost like a dream...but it was something he had become accustomed to nonetheless in his life by now. 

[color=silver]"Ah, and I'll bring a seco-"[/color] 

"Make that two cups!"

Ah, not fast enough on speaking to intercept that one on his part. Not a big deal, but he'd wave again in recognition as the pilot's own voice popped onto the intercom just as he was exiting the room. 

[hr]

The clang of a metal walkway underneath his boots and took his first few steps off of the shuttle, and feeling the weight of being under the effects of a more pronounced artificial gravity, felt more grounding and familiar to him than the tighter quarters of the personnel transport shuttle. A bit of a relief, really, now that he thought about it. Apparently the Rex was to be unloaded soon as wel, even as its transport shuttle sat some distance away on the other end of the hangar, but before than he'd get to at least enter the ship and introduce himself to his superiors. Or, well, those were his marching orders at this point in time. 

Feeling his back straighten up without thinking too hard about it was something he'd become accustomed to, even as he looked over his uniform to ensure that everything was in order, Lucius would take in a deep breathe before letting it out slowly. Not a sign of a welcoming crew was present, but some part of him felt a small weight drop off of his shoulders as a result of that. Besides, he had a pocket with twenty five more yerries in it than he'd had before the shuttle trip, and a cup of hot, semi-watery coffee in his left hand that he'd proceed to take a long sip of before taking a look about himself...and promptly beginning to walk forward without skipping a beat. 

Approaching the exit doors in due course, then, the light-brown eyed man would shoot a glance at a pair of hanger workers, one of which was holding some kind of datapad. From there he gave them a wave, mostly to get one of them's attention, as his mouth opened up with the first question of the day-

[color=silver]"Excuse me, do you know where Admiral Cain is at this hour? I was told to report to him after my arrival."[/color]

No time to find his assigned room or anything, or hearing if he had a roommate or anything like that. Nope. Orders were orders, though some part of the younger man hoped to be able to pull out the guava-jelly-filled dark chocolate bar he'd stashed in the pocket with the yerries he'd won at least. That had been a gift from the pilot in return for the second cup of coffee. From here, however, it was as simple as following a set of directions to the Briefing Room. 

[@Ariamis]