Click. Click.
"Shit, is this thing on?"
Soft laughter.
"Yes, it's on now."
"Fuck. Restart or just cut the footage later?"
"Eh, just cut the footage. It's getting edited anyway." She saw the barest of movements in her peripherals; a shoulder shrug if she had to guess. He cleared his throat as she moved out of frame, pulling him forward.
"And start."
"Welcome to The Jupiter, Officer. You have been hand-selected from a group of highly capable, intelligent beings from all over the galaxy to help guide this ship in its mission across the universe." She laughed quietly at his expression, his eyes flitting over briefly to meet her own before he gestured for her to step forward.
She did so, wings fluttering awkwardly. She let a smile paste itself onto her mouth, awkwardness tainting her movements as she fumbled for her lines.
"But before you can board The Jupiter, you must meet several requirements. First, Common is a must-have language. If you can't communicate, I'm afraid you'll be cut before you even step into the arena. Second, rudimentary combat skills are needed. You will be landing in several highly dangerous areas and being able to defend yourself from danger is required. Last, but certainly not least, you need to have a unique skill set and a broad range of knowledge. If the engines break down and your engineer is out of commission, you need to be able to step forward and get those engines running again. While this is not everything, these are the basics of what you need before your training begins."
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"Hold up, Blue's dead?" Disbelief dripped off Coral's tongue as the Sproutling stared up at Rose. Avi felt her wings twitch as she caught sight of Purple clinging to the Merling, limbs visibly shaking, quick breaths echoing in the hollow space between them all. Blood caked Purple's legs and hands, mostly dried but some still oozed every time Rose moved or redjusted.
"Yes, they had a screwdriver driven through their throat. It looked..." Rose trailed off, shooting an uneasy look at Purple. "...intentional." The word was whispered softly, but Purple flinched anyways. Avi glanced sideways, noting the red hot anger rolling off Yellow in palpable waves, his fingers twitching at his side. He looked as if he wanted to reach forward and grab Purple away from Rose. She'd known those two had gotten close, but hadn't noticed that they'd gotten that close.
"Intentional? So somebody murdered Blue is what you're saying." That was Maroon, the skittish Gunner twitching with every word, head moving in minute increments to switch rapidly between everybody. Void coiled around their feet; tendrils of liquid shadow and glittering white specks that blinked at them suspiciously.
"Yes." The Merling nodded slowly, head tilted to the side to watch everyone. Lime frowned, wings fluttering at her side as she stepped forward.
"Coral, I believe you have information on what may have helped cause this?" Avi switched her attention to Coral, the diminutive figure nodding swiftly, hands clasped in his lap.
"We have very recently entered new territory, which you may have noticed when we were hit a while back." A few hesitant nods throughout the Cafeteria; mumbled acknowledgements. "It was not an asteroid as most believed, but instead a hostile ship. We were boarded in Navigation by two of these hostiles, both were killed by Yellow. Me, Grey, and Maroon thought the threat was gone, but it seems as if one more had gotten onboard on the left hand side of The Jupiter."
Purple's head turned to face Coral and Avi could picture the confusion on the young Bunn's face, strong enough to briefly overpower the grief.
"What kind of hostile?" She asked quietly.
"A race I believe are called Imposters due to their abilities. After collecting a dead body, they digest it and gain the memories and ability to shapeshift into them. If you notice any irregularities with the crew, if somebody's just a little off, you need to point it out immediately. I think there's only one, since we got the other two but we need to be careful. One of us here in this room is the Imposter." Coral's words rang out with a sharp finality, dulling the chit-chatter of some of the crewmates and throwing the room into stifling silence.
"What? What do you mean that there's only one onboard with us." Red was standing now, voice firm but raised to reverberate over the hushed whispers in the room, feet planted firmly on the ground, staring down at Coral. Corl stared back up at him, impassively, swaying slightly.
"I said what I said. I'm sorry, but until we find out who it is, there's not much we can do other than take precautions. Anything unusual, report it to Gray or me."
"But what if it's you or Gray? What then?" Red fired back, stepping closer to the tiny Sproutling. Coral hesitated before responding.
"I was with Gray the entire time, it's not either of us. If it is, you have my full permission to take us out."
Red settled back, apparently satisfied with that but his hands shook as he sat back down, head tilting in a silent question to everyone else.
"If that's that, I'd say Purple or Rose is rather suspicious. Purple found Blue's body rather quickly and Rose was close enough that it couldn't have been a coincidence." Cyan spoke, slamming a hand on the cafeteria table and glaring towards the two. Purple's head shot up, whipping towards Cyan.
"She watched Blue die and you're blaming her?" Yellow stood up abruptly, taking a half-step closer to Cyan who instinctively stepped back. The Feli said nothing in defense of Rose who stood there quietly, still holding Purple to her side. A low snarl erupted from him, reverberating through the air with a soft hum. Cyan held out their hands in a placating gesture, backtracking hastily.
"It's probably not Purple, but you have to admit Rose is suspicious. She got there so fast." The Healer spoke quickly, still moving swiftly backwards out of reach. Yellow paused, turning his attention to Rose.
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A voice cut through Avi's mind and she winced, turning towards Green. Everyone's head swiveled to face him. It is too early to make assumptions. You all are dismissed, continue as normal. He stood up gracefully, movement fluid as he simply left towards Navigation. Lime hesitated before falling into step on his right hand side, the two walking in silence for a few minutes.
"What's going to happen to us?" She said softly, letting herself fall into a seat and spinning the chair to face Green.
We're going to be fine. I'll get us out of this mess.
"And if you don't?"
A pause.
We'll simply hope it doesn't come to that.
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