Elaine Reid<br/>Onboard Annie<br/>Midwatch<br/>Tagged: Jin-Lai, Mateo, Serena<br/><br/>Elaine took her time with the shuttle's shutdown procedure. She loved the little<i>Annie</i>but the poor girl was an older model and her systems could be particularly finicky at times, especially in the wake of breaking atmo - sometimes the heat mucked with the internals. Thus was the case today and the source of the redhead's string of vulgarity as she released the seal on her armored helmet and yanked it free. Of course the shuttle would act up when she was finally on leave rather than one of the dozen times they'd had to load those damn sheep. Couldn't spare her vac-sealed goo but it could cut into her vacation. She sighed and threw the easy processes into automated mode as she stood to go and rack her helmet.<br/><br/>"Mmm, Serena, I'll probably let you oil me up<i>just this once.</i>" She said playfully as she turned back to the accursed console bank. "It'll at least be a nice break from the damn grease I end up wearing every time I go to the engine room." She growled as three blaring red error messages flared on three different screens and her temper along with it. "Look, look, I'll join you all at the beach. Serena, grab me something to at the Buy 'n Go if you would. You stare enough that you should know my measurements by now." She ran her fingers across a screen that didn't currently display a glaring 'ERROR' message and tapped it to summon the spaceport's ground crew.<br/><br/>"You guys have fun on your shopping trip. I'm going to wrap up here then get through customs." She left out the part that her customs would likely take a half hour or more than the others - her paranoia just couldn't reconcile her moving about on a strange world unarmed and, though it was a backwater, she expected the local guards might object to her revolver and its current load. She moved to her storage locker and exchanged the cylinder she had currently loaded and tugged out three more. One she loaded directly into the firearm, the other two she tucked into a pocket of her hardsuit. The load wasn't quite as likely to ease her paranoia as her current load were simple nonlethal gel rounds rather than high explosive, but from a practical standpoint they were MUCH more likely to elicit questions from the guards.<br/><br/>As she finished her preparations she heard the clunk of armored gloves on the ship's hull and she made her way out to deal with the ground crew. She swept down the ramp like a queen descending from her throne, all demanding authority, as she addressed the men dressed in grimy jumpsuits and fatigues. "Alright gentlemen, I've forwarded details on the fuel and fluids I need topped up. Fill ports are there and there." She motioned with one hand, directing the men towards the locked ports. "I'll pop them in three, hook in and fill, I'll make sure we're nice and topped off, then be out of your hair." She spun back into the confines of the ship then began digging into the numerous error codes before popping the hatch.<br/><br/>She hated being the damn responsible one.<br/>_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/>As Elaine retreated into the dark confines of the ship one of the station security officers thumbed a comms unit to life. He turned away from the shuttle and spoke quietly into the handheld unit. "Majority of the group has departed sir. One still aboard the shuttle, standard top-up procedure by the station techs as far as I can tell." The man shuffled in an antsy manner, pondering the next choice of words before speaking. They had several collaborators at the port, but he'd seen the hardsuit the woman wore. "Should we attempt to apprehend her while she's separated or...?"<br/><br/>A gravely voice growled back over the secured comlink. "No. She's probably still got a line to the others. Wait until she leaves, then sabotage the landing gear. Make sure they can't break atmo at least, if you can manage anything more thorough without alerting her do so." With that the link clicked off, leaving a dead buzz at the other end of the line.