captain breville

Xari is screaming—Breville lost their ARMS, so she’s going to need to… to… do something! She’s a doctor for crying out loud! “ARMS! Arms, arms, where are you? Where?” It’s a babble, coming from her at this point, “Breville! Wh—” What was she going to ask? Wait, why does Breville not have their ARMS?

“Where are your arms?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think Vorna is using one as a back-scratcher,” Breville says glibly. They’d gesture in Vorna’s direction, but. Arms. And the lack thereof. They settle for a jaunty torso swivel. “But it’s okay! I will have a new shell in approximately one--”

“do you mean you don’t see the shapes in the air, or get blurry vision yourself, breville?” the man asked, brows furrowed. he was asking, rather than out of just curiosity, out of jealousy – enzo had always thought himself invincible, so now that his systems ( designed to isolate setbacks like these ) were failing, he was a tad annoyed. “unaffected for the most part – my judgement, including my sense of orientation, feels mostly unaltered. i believe that it’s instead my trigeminal, vestibulocochlear and optic cranial nerves that took a hit.” 

   “how long is the effect supposed to last, captain? should we be worried about the outcome of the trip?”

“Nope, I sure don’t, buddy!” Breville chirps. “I am one hundred percent mechanical, so I cannot be affected by biological hallucinogenics!”

Their face-screen changes, scrolling long lines of information and calculations. They had little data on this particular chemical, and thus, were not sure of effect duration. Hours at most, they hoped. For now, they were just herding the crew as best they could. Finally, they understood the phrase about herding and felines.

“i… am not sure,” enzo replied, though noticing how his speech was slower than usual. in fact, everything around him seemed to lag a bit. there was a certain aura coating the shapes within his field of vision, as if all the colors of the rainbow bounced off them. even looking at his hands as they moved was weird – breville was probably right. “i thought i’d developed immunity to the blue see particles, but i can confirm my vision is not currently optimal, captain.”

he let out a short breath, nodding along to their words. it was easy to let oneself be suddenly flooded with worry – truth be told, this mission felt different, and so enzo was not entirely sure he felt the usual degree of confidence. but as bold of an idea as it were, the crew – himself included – would have to let faith carry them along. 

   but once that strange sensation died down, enzo felt himself begin to feel the intrigue and excitement of witnessing a new planet get to him. it was like opening a present ( what could possibly be waiting for them? who knew ! ) talking about the inventory made him even more giddy, though thanks to enzo’s own character, the shift wasn’t too noticeable. 

    “thank you, captain. i am glad to be of help to you and the rest of the crew. as for inventory, my own automated system includes ten weapons, ranging from blades to blasters – though, the exact details about the models are classified, per company policy. aside from this i can confirm  that we have an arsenal consisting of six clubbing boomerangs, two messers, one bec de corbin, five shovels, ten sonic blasters, two identity discs, twelve combat jackets, fifteen phasers, three arc guns, ten plasma blasters, five gravity guns, one shrink ray, two particle beam weapons, one colander, one scoop and twelve handheld shields. i have distributed it all in quasi-equal amounts and stored throughout the ship. that way we are not left weapon-less and exposed if one area of the ship becomes compromised.” 

.

Breville listens intently to the list, growing increasingly impressed with each new addition. They especially enjoy the addition of the colander -- a very useful item! “You are enormously prepared!” they chirp, “Thank you for your thoughtfulness! I think--”

They’re cut off as a few things happen with alarming quickness. A pulse of energy, the ship rattling and groaning around them, and finally, moments later, the distinct sensation of the ship starting to pitch downward. Lights go out, their face-screen flickers but their own power source is fine. The ship leans, items and detritus go scattering and rolling with the new angle, but Breville stays put, their magnetic feet anchoring them to the floor.

“We seem to be crashing,” they observe, the height of calm. “All but one life sign is stable.” They can’t detect Cabbie anymore. “Enzo, please report to the ship’s weapons station in case of attack.” Their face-screen shifts, from their little cartoon face to the pilot’s display, the ship jerking mid-air as they try to take control remotely, but still falling. “And brace for impact.”

          ‘  huh ,  ’      tergi is stunned to a point of not having much else to say.  ‘  ninety seconds.  ’  that seems more patronizing than actually helpful, but sure, yeah, we’ll go with that. he might have pointed this out once he’s gathered his thoughts, but the string of expressions that follows confuse him enough that he decides he just won’t touch that for now.

          ‘  i’m concerned,  ’  he states, with all the energy of a father explaining how he is not in fact mad, just disappointed.  ‘  i think we’ve likely passed the point of return and we’re going to do what we have to do, but cabbie has really put us all in a tough spot and people seem to be just going with it. if we’re going to do this… i’m worried we’re all just a little too eager and it’s going to end up causing more trouble.  ’

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“Your concerns are entirely valid,” Breville says solemnly, an oh-so-brief change from their usual cheery chirping. “And I appreciate having someone with a cautious mind onboard!”

Even if pressed, they will not admit that they, too, have reservations. They are flying in the dark here -- no real preparation for their destination, a sudden change leaving everybody scrambling. But Breville knows they cannot change Cabbie’s mind, and they do not want to voice dissent, lest the crew feel uneasy about the disagreement between captain and pilot. What they are left with is... enthusiasm.

enzo was not typically one to offer to striking reactions – or, put more accurately, rambunctious ones. now that they were sailing exciting, unexplored waters, one could never be too certain. who was there to say they wouldn’t run into unforeseen trouble? so because there was rarely ‘off-duty’ time, there was reduced off-duty mindset. 

   that being said, he recognized the peculiar attitude currently displayed by the captain as being overtly positive, and he appreciated it in a sense. it was good to see so much excitement on the ship.

   “totally in the dark?” no, his ears weren’t deceiving him. he was, admittedly, just really surprised – “is there no way to access previous logs for guidance?”

   “well, captain, i had a very different expectation of our initial destination, so i didn’t know exactly what to bring —- thankfully, i ultimately decided to bring the entirety of the arsenal at the MPR disposition. i have on me any gadgets and weapons we might come to need, ranging from elementary cutlery to cutthroat technology. will that suffice?”

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“Unfortunately, since we are touching down on a planet that has never explored before, we have no previous logs for guidance! So we are relying on long-range scans that we are analyzing to the best of our ability -- thankfully, we have many people on board with very excellent abilities!”

So they won’t be totally in the dark. But there will be... unexpected things. Which, Breville supposes, is par for the course when exploring uncharted territory!

a  little  laugh  escaped  his  mouth  as  he  looked  down  at  the  captain,  nearly  bouncing  on  his  tip  toes  in  excitement  as  he  looked  down  at  him.  the  little  pitter  patter  had  almost  made  monty  believe  he  was  hearing  things  as  he  turned  around,  confused  not  to  see  anyone  turning  the  corner  into  the  kitchen.  the  moment  he  made  eye  contact  with  breville,  he’d  gone  from  wiping  down  the  counter  to  nearly  throwing  himself  on  the  ground  to  be  eye  level  with  the  captain.  he  propped  his  chin  up  with  his  hand  as  he  took  everything  the  little  yellow  robot  with  rapt  attention.  none  of  it  was  processing,  but  that  was  okay.  ❛  be  prepared  for  anything,  got  it  !  ❜  was  that  how  you  were  supposed  to  talk  to  a  captain  ?  better  be  safe  than  sorry.  ❛  aye,  aye,  captain.  avast  !  ❜ 

The smile displayed on Breville’s face-screen doesn’t really change as Monty gets down to their level, but it does seem to brighten a little, in the most literal sense. This Florida Man is strange and not-brightly-coloured and just very alien looking, but Breville likes it! They like entities who are positive!

“Arrr, me hearties, yo ho,” they parrot, holding up a tiny robot hand for a crisp high-five.

Vorna turned her back to them and began to exit through the open airlock doors. But just as she was about to be free they spoke again, like they were intentionally yanking on her leash. Being lower ranking than this glorified children’s toy was beyond insulting. 

“I’m not anxious!” she snaps. That might have been true. Vorna was never the best at identifying her emotions beyond anger, so if she was nervous she’d just redirect the energy into her incessant rage. “Cabbie is an impulsive, mal-programmed  android that needs to be put out of commission. But regardless of that fact I adapt quickly and will utilize his incompetence to further my career.” 

“You’re the one who needs to process the fact that there is already insubordination on this ship and it occurred before we even left.” 

“Uh-oh!” Breville trills. “I just heard a Threatening Statement directed toward our pilot!”

Their face-screen flashes, circle eyes drooping with little lines to indicate sad tears.

“Well, myself I suppose!” Breville was cheery—a breath of fresh air to the weird, tense mood that the ship was on. The excitement and adrenaline was draining off her fast and she wanted to not think about a lot of things right now. Just stick to her guns, do the job. “A little weird, considering I am the doctor, but I’ve done it before.”

“If you’d like, I would want to come with you to see your initial diagnostics! Being a doctor’s no good if you can only help your organic crewmates.”

As reassuring as it to hear that Xari is capable of running her own diagnostics, it does present a problem: what happens if she needs a doctor? What happens if she gets injured or ill and cannot treat herself?

mel had spent most of the last hour flipping through the pages of a robotic instruction manual that she had taken from base before they left. didn’t seem like it was going to be of any use but it always was good to take in new information. surely the manual was already cataloged back home on idd, but if it wasn’t she would be happy to bring it back.

looking up from the pages when she heard the voice of her captain she gave him a smile. “hello my orange friend!” she said back. “i am very excited to get to a new planet. so many things to see and so much information to take down. how could i not be happy?” 

“It is very exciting,” Breville agrees. “We are fortunate to be tasked with discovering something new!”

They hadn’t often gotten the chance. Nebula Corps had long since figured out that Breville’s strengths lay in routine and foreknowledge, not the unexpected. But Breville was determined to be a good Captain even with this unexpected change. How difficult could it be!

She found them undeniably unsettling. Most other creatures had a readable expression or body language she could decode, but their lcd screen face seemed to always display the opposite of what she expected. It was creepy. 

Worse than that, they were capable of hiding their emotions, but Vorna was not. Not only was the power dynamic between them uneven due their rank, but they had an emotional leg up on Vorna. 

Vorna listened to them and huffed out a frustrated exhale of recognition. Standing at the edge of the room, she waited for a moment, knowing that she had to be officially released from the conversation by the captain. But the longer they held her here the longer it would take for her to fix her mistake. “Am I free to go?” 

“Yes, you are free to go! Dismissed!”

They wait until Vorna turns and starts walking, and with a flurry of little metallic clink-clink-clinks they catch up, walking alongside. They have to walk quite quickly to keep up with her stride, but Breville’s used to that. Most beings have much longer legs than them!

Vorna was always a very passionate person, although she would go to great lengths to deny this fact. If you were to ask her she would state that she is a perfectly cool, calm, and collected individual. But her employee record said otherwise. And so would literally anyone who’d ever met her. 

When it came to Breville she was constantly fighting the urge to punt that little fucker through the window. Their constant cheeriness was enough to make Vorna want to barf. But the fact that they were either privy to her animosity and just ignoring it or blissfully unaware drove her out of her mind. It was easier to be hated by everyone, at least that was definite. It was sure. 

She scoffed at their words, as if they was asking some ridiculous, “Of course I already did that. Not like it’s hard.” Doubly untrue. She’d forgotten do to that and it was an incredibly difficult task for her. “And you are incorrect. My anticipation of your demise is doing wonders for morale.” 

For a long, long moment, Breville continues to stare. Face-screen tipped upward to face Vorna, that vacant smile still displaying, unchanging. Just two circles a little too far apart, a little v for a mouth.

A quick check of the ship’s logs reveals the spectrum scan has, in fact, not been analyzed. Vorna’s face is currently displaying Anger. She seems to display that a lot around Breville.