Common Area - Firefly Class Transport
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A few stairs lead into this space. It is spacious, containing a kitchen area, eating area, and place to lounge all in one. Cabinets and alcoves provide room for storage.
Two support beams have been given an opportunity to hold a flat plank of a table between them, thus serving as a primary staging area for both preperation and delivery of the food to the table. Behind this sits another counter top, this one with several cooled storage units above it. To the left lies the sink itself.
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It was fun being laid up in bed for awhile, but Cole has apparently decided that it's now less fun... this is evidenced from the fact that, upon Maistar's entrance, Cole can be seen crawling on the floor towards the computer terminal, his tray knocked over and his bedsheets scattered about in his wake.

A clearing of a throat soon follows Maistar's entrance into the room when he notices that the boy has crawled out of his bed. "You should probably wait next time for someone to help you..." He says simply, as he approaches. He looks to see if the tray has spilled anything onto the floor. "And if you reinjure yourself... well, you'll just be laid up for a longer period of time."

Cole looks up at Maistar, grimacing. "Everyone's busy," he remarks tersely. "Or at least they seem to be, since no one's come through this way for a couple of hours now."

Maistar takes a moment to survey the scene. His first course of action is to take two chairs from the table and put them over by the computer. Then, he turns around and comes back for the boy. "Alright, as long as you keep that bum leg of your's on the second chair, I'll help you to the computer. And, I guess I'll clean up after you too."

Cole sighs, letting his mask of dissatisfaction fade away as he nods. "Alright," he agrees. "Thanks." As he's lifted, he asks, "Anyone doing anything important?"

Fortunately Cole's still at an age where the pilot can pick him up rather easily, and nods to the boy's thanks when its given. He'll carry him over to the chair and set him down carefully. Then, he'll help the bum leg onto the chair where it can be extended and effectively immobilized. Then once that's done, he shrugs to the question. "I think we're just waiting for our marching orders for the time being." he says, "So, its anyone's guess what's going on."

Cole's fingers fly across the keyboard as the pilot talks, loading up one of his games. "Thanks again for that story last night. I think I dosed off towards the end."

Maistar smiles, "You're welcome, Cole. I had a feeling that's what happened when I tried to give you a chance to guess who the unexpected guest was." He looks to the screen for a moment, giving a faint grin to the game that comes up before he turns his attention to the mess left in Cole's wake. He walks over and bends down to gather up the tray first to surmiss the extend of the mess. Then he takes it over to the kitchen and gets himself a washcloth to wipe the floor with. Once that's done, he'll just set the covers back onto the bed without really making the bed. And finally he takes the wash cloth back to the kitchen to rinse it off.

Cole's eyes stay on the game, not really watching Maistar's cleaning efforts on his behalf. Idly, he asks, "Who /was/ the unexpected guest, anyway?"

Maistar hms softly, "Perhaps that might be a story best left to another time. Unless you'd rather know right now." he says, then looks to the screen once more. "How do you play that game, anyways?" He watches as the game develops, trying to figure it out for himself.

"Do-Deca-Dead Man?" Cole asks, looking curiously up at Maistar. "You have to line up all the geometric symbols so that the point values form a mathematical pattern. You've never played?"

[Maistar and Cole play for a few hours, and then Maistar leaves. Later...]

Cole has been sitting at the computer where Maistar put him for hours, playing his games. All the while, thoughts of his last conversation with Amery and Mei Li come back to haunt him. Annabelle's father and brother... were they really browncoats, like he and his mom? Where had they been fighting? Who knew what happened to them? After a time, he comes to realize that he's not as helpless in answering those questions as he might have been three months ago, begging on Persephone. Quickly glancing this way and that, making sure that no one is coming, he closes the game and accesses the P'ang Che's external communications array. A frequency he hasn't transmitted on in years, but remembers like it were yesterday.... "Little britches to Mama Fox."

The computer terminal blanks for a moment before coming back online with the ships external communication array status board. The slight metallic thrum of empty air fills the computers woefully underpowered speakers. The display does show that the communication array and the channel itself is open.

Cole hesitates a moment, uncertain, before repeating his hail. "Little britches to Mama Fox... if you can hear me, please respond."

Again, empty air.

Then...

"Hello?" A female's voice, perhaps? The attenuation is off by a hair and the voice mangled.

Cole's fingers stop on the 'shutdown' key as the voice comes back over the speakers. "Hi.." He ignores the strange sound of the voice. "It's me," he says, feeling lame even as he talks. "I know it's been a year... I'm sorry about that." What now? He pauses a couple of moments. "Are you doing okay?" he asks, not wanting to seem like he's just contacting for a favor, even though, of course, he is.

"I guess." Comes back the voice a bit clearer this time. "I'm hangin' in there." Then, as if to slap Cole in the face in an attempt to solidy his feelings of lameness "Who is this?"

Cole's eyebrows jerk up. Who /is/ it? "It's C.. Little Britches," he repeats, sounding more baffled than hurt. "I'm Starlight's son."

"Wait..." The voice's instruction is just as easily cut off as the microphone on the other end is muffled. A moment passes before another female's voice returns. "Britches?"

"Yeah, Britches," Cole repeats. "You..." No, it's probably not her. "The person who used to answer this channel gave me that nickname." He grins slightly, wistfully seeing the moment with his mind's eye. "She said I was always trying to be too big for my little britches."

"And evidently you still are." Is the reply. "This is Mama Fox, sweetie. It's good to hear from you. Where are you?" A slight gasp. "You're not in detention or anything, are you?" Evidently she's /not/ referring to schoolhouse imprisonment.

"No, no, nothing like that," Cole assures her, the tension dropping out of his voice as well as his shoulders. "I'm with a merchant ship now. Good people, if a little... jittery, at times." There's a momentary pause, as he realizes it's the first time he's going to have to give the news to someone who /knew/ his mother. "Starlight didn't make it," he admits, feeling the heartache anew.

There's a slight sigh. "I know, dear...I'm sorry." A pause. "Is there anything I can do?"

"There is something," Cole acknowledges. "A member of the crew on my new ship is looking for news of her family. Father and brother. They served during the war but weren't heard from afterwards. If I gave you her name do you think you could look into it for me? She's... one of the first people to ever be really kind to me, I'd like to help her."

"Co...Britches.." The voice says sadly. "You know things aren't nearly as tight as they used to be. We're just all trying to survive..." A long sigh. "..I can ask the people I'm still in touch with but ... There's no organization because ... There's no /Organization/, you know what I'm saying? Give me the name and I'll see what I can.."

Cole sighs. "Yeah, I know..." He shakes his head. "Her name's Annabelle Merriweather. I'm guessing her father and brother have the same last name, since she's not married." He hesitates a moment only, before adding, "The ship we're on is the P'ang Che, in case you want to... you know, check them out, too." Make sure he's not being used by the Alliance to find old rebels. "If there's anything I can do in return, of course, you know I will."

"P'ang Che..." The voice mutters to herself. One can almost see the scribbling of the ships name with just the mere tone of the voice. "...Okay. I'll see what I can. When will this channel be open next?

Cole considers that a moment. "I'm trying to be discreet... there's only one member of the ship's crew that knows anything about my past." He taps a couple of keys on the console. "I can try to contact you again one week from now, this time? Or, with your permission, I can try to make their comm buffer record messages on this frequency without notifying the bridge, and check the buffer once a day? It might be detected, but I don't think they'd do anything with it if they found it."

"It's up to you, sweetie." Comes the honest reply. "I'm secure. The question is whether you truely trust all of your fellow crewmembers."

"No," Cole admits, "not all of them. But the ones most likely to find it if I'm caught, them I mostly trust."

A long moment of silence fills the airwaves. "Record the frequency. I'll send a datapacket if I find anything." Another long pause. "If I don't, this time next week." A slight chuckle crackles through the speaker. "You might be getting older and feeling more capable, but your britches are still too big. Don't try to trip on your cuffs, okay?"

Cole glances at his fractured leg, grinning. "That advice is about a week too late," he admits with a chuckle, briefly describing the picnic on Shadow and his flying leap into the tables. "I should be on crutches in a day or two, though," he concludes, "and I promise to stay /otherwise/ intact."

"Wait...Crutches?" Laughter fills the speakers to the point that they begin to screech. When it dies down, the voice continues. "Do I even want to know or should we just end it at this?"

Cole once again briefly describes the picnic on Shadow and his flying leap into the tables, presuming the story got lost on the airwaves the first time around. "The doctor here, she's getting kinda attached to me."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Asks the woman's voice, the smile felt even in her tone.

There's a short pause, before Cole admits, "I'm not sure. I like her and all, but... it feels weird."

"Starlight?" A simple question.

Cole nods, but then realizes that that can't be heard over the comm channel, so he says, "I guess that's what it is, partly. But it's also... I mean, a few months ago she didn't know me, and now I'm like her son? She doesn't even know everything I've..." He sighs, not finishing that statement. She was a browncoat in the war; he's sure she'll understand.

Likewise there's undoubtably a nod occuring on the other side of the airwaves at this moment. "I know, hon. I know. But she's taking care of you. Don't go lookin' that horse in the mouth, dong ma?"

"No, I won't," Cole assures the voice on the other end, trying to remember what it's owner looked like the last time he saw her. How many years ago was /that/? "I'd better get this channel closed before it gets attention."

"Understood." Another sigh. "Stay good, little briches and try to keep your trousers clean. I'll let you know what I find, if anything."

"Will do, mama fox. Hope you stay safe, too." With that, Cole presses the shutdown button.