(joint post between Jacknotch, Ethan, Rico, and Derp)
Commander May was floating down a corridor, talking to someone seemingly important on his tablet when he’s abruptly stopped by a figure appearing from behind a bulkhead, sending the tablet into the nearby wall.
Cmdr. Linda Villacres and Dr. Jorge Bienvenida just finished one of their blogs when they decided to go meet some other crew members in the South Hills module, floating through a series of tunnels into the main area. Linda seeing the commotion, floated over to the two. “Everything okay here?” she asked everyone.
Commander Bert Cunningham extends a hand to the man he knocked down and then says to the two people, 'Yeah, everything’s fine; accidently bumped into someone here."
He righted himself, grabbing his tablet. “I’ll give you a call back.” before turning it off. He finally turned to the man who bumped into him. “Mhm.”
“Sorry about knocking you over, I should’ve been more careful while floating through these tight halls.”
“It’s fine.” He sighed, tucking his tablet aside. “Don’t think I’ve seen you two before?”
“Probably not, though you probably might recognize me from a couple of PR events over the years at Xagrurgian Space Agency-sponsored tech conferences,” Bert said.
“Been up here since January, I don’t get much of the news.” He sighed, curling his legs around a handle.
Linda smiled as her partner floated up, “Well Im Linda, Im the commander of my small crew. This is Dr. Jorge Bienvenida. We are up here doing studies of the deep solar system and solar eruptions.”
“How long you guys been working in your programs?,” inquired Bert while tapping his tablet’s screen to make sure it isn’t broken. “Also, my name is Commander Bert Cunningham.”
“About ten years now.” replied Charles, tapping his tablet. “I guess I’m the station commander, 'til June, anyways.”
“I’ve been working the program since the '60s.”
Linda made a smirk at the Xagrurgian as she notice his flag, her shirt displaying a Nacatan flag, her face lit up. “Its a pleasure to meet you both, Ive spent time in South Hills but Ive never would have thought to be in space with a Xagrurgian,” she shakes both their hands before floating back a little. "So, what are your guys’ main mission while up here in Spacelab?
“Run experiments on prolonged human habitation in space, study planets with the telescope we got attached the station, that sort of shit we usually do,” Bert says. Bert notices the smirk on her face when she saw his patch and then responds, “Well, ‘expect the unexpected’ would be appropriate here,” Bert chuckles.
“For the past month or so day-to-day running this place, I guess.” He shrugs.
Linda looking at Bert started to almost crack a chuckle “Dude, how old are you? Like 87?”
“Old enough to still have fun,” he says jokingly says while smiling.
Charles shrugs. “Eh, that’s one record I don’t want to hold. Oldest guy in space.”
“Well, I’m not just going to go become some old fart and waste away my days at some golf course. Might as well continue what I always wanted to do. Besides, someone has to train the greenhorns.”
Linda looked to Charles, “Nice to meet you, and your crew we thank you all for inviting us to be apart of this great mission” she turned to look at the map, her finger followed along the maps corridors. “Man this place is huge!” She said in excitement.
Bert then turns to the map Linda points at. “Aye, technology sure is advancing fast. I remember when I first landed on the moon back in '69. Pod was cramped as shit but we all made it. Ah, I miss those days,” Bert reminisces, his mind placing him a cramped shuttle with 3 other astronauts, blasting off into space.
Garia was trying to look busy reading papers as she tried to listen into the conversation. Although she knew it was bad manners, she didn’t want to intrude upon the conversation. She decided enough was enough, and moved towards the group. She just caught someone saying they were on the moon. “Hi, I’m Garia, you were on the moon?” she asked quickly. She then realized that she had rushed what she was saying, and decided to ignore that.
“Yep,” Bert answered the woman. “You got any questions about it or my trip?”
She looked at him with her eyes widened a little. “Yes! How did it feel to actually walk on the moon?” she asked him.
Bert chuckles and then answers her, “It felt absolutely mind-blowing, like ‘Holy shit, I’m on the goddamn moon,’ Hell, I even forgot I had a mission to do tasks there and was mesmerized by the barren but tranquil landscape of the moon, snapping back into reality after my buddy nudged me and told me to get the flag.”
Garia imagined the scene in her mind. She wished that she could have gone to the Moon. She then looked at the man. “That sounds great. All that I did was sit in a capsule floating around Earth.” Then she realized that she had not properly introduced herself. “Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce my self properly. I am Garia Catori, former astronaut from the Musika Space Program, and currently on stand-by for any future Zukchivan Space Program, though I doubt that will happen in my life time. You must be Bert, right?”
“Yes ma’am. Commander Bert Cunningham of the Xagrurgian Space Agency. Serving proudly for over 50 years ,” giving her a salute jokingly.
She smiled and gave him a return joke salute, before setting her hand down. “How do you like the station?” Garia asked him.
“It’s pretty nice. Especially when compared to my country’s old space station Minsk. The poor old station suffered severely from the budget cuts a while back and we had to decommission it. How about you? How’re you liking the station?”
Garia nodded. She kind of liked the station, but still not that much. “It’s…ok I guess. It does have a lot of space, but it is kind of far away from home if you know what I mean. It still is exiting to be a part of this station and to see how it runs. Maybe one day in the future, Zukchiva could have some modules up!” She sighed. “I do miss my home.” Then she thought of a question to ask. “Hey, do you have any family back on Urth?” she asked Bert.
“Yeah, I got a wife and two kids, Marshall and Erin. Wife’s living in Laona right now and the other two are giving lectures at the University of Imperium.”
“Oh wow, that’s very nice! I was thinking of getting married when I came back, but being a part of this space station now, I guess I will have to wait until Zukchiva leaves the program if it ever does. Imagine if one day we could live permanently in space?” she said.
Bert looks around at all the technology on the walls and consoles and then says, “At this rate, we may not be far off.”
“She nods. You may be right. If you did get the chance, would you move your family here? I wouldn’t if not for anything, then just so that may live normal lives, if I ever do form a family.”
“I’ve considered that question many times over the years and the answer is surprisingly no. My reason is space is still too risky for colonization with our current technology along with the lethal effects of prolonged radiation exposure.”
“You do hold good points there. Why is it surprising to you that you will not bring your family to space?”
“Being a national icon in my country for a pioneer of space travel, many people would expect my response to be all for space colonization.”
Garia shivered. The thought of being a national icon scared her, though that was probably what was happening to her right now. “I think I will be famous when I get back home. I mean, I am the first official Zukchivan in space. Is it hard having all those… expectations on you?” she asked Bert.
“Initially, yes; but as time went on, I got used to the constant autographs and questions about space. Of course, the missus chases off the occasional paparazzi from our front lawn.”
“Paparazzi?” she asked astonished. She thought that only happened in movies. “You are lucky that they have not found a way to camp on your lawn. I would hate to have that happen to me.”
Bert laughs and then says, “Good thing no one really knows my wife. She can always make an excuse to get them away like saying they have the wrong address or whatnot.”
Garia raised an eyebrow. “They fall for those excuses every time?”
“There’s also our dog to do deal with the stubborn ones.”(edited)
Garia chuckled a little. “Your dog must be quite loud to get rid of them. Did you expect to become so famous going into space?”
“Yeah, I did. The Xagrurgian Space Agency was a world-renowned organization back then and passing their extremely stringent criteria to become an astronaut there took some serious skill and brought quite the prestige.”
“What do you mean back then? What about now?”
“Back in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, the agency was highly funded and prized by the government. Then the Auroran-Imperial War broke out and most of the funding got diverted to the military for the war effort. During the 80’s and 90’s, the agency sort of recovered and then the newer administrations prioritized the military against the rising terrorist threats in the world and as a result, several space missions were cancelled in the 2000’s along with R&D programs. The space agency looked like it was going to die until our recent president, James Deref , changed budget priorities and ramped back our funding for the space program at the expense of the military.”
“Wouldn’t that have massive effects? I mean, less nations are prone of war with much more powerful weapons, but what happens if your nation is attacked?”
“Apparently James Deref is relying on the UNAC to defend Xagrurg against an attack,” Bert scratches his head about what the wisdom of Xagrurg’s leader’s decisions for the nation after saying it out loud.
“UNAC?,” cocking an eyebrow.
“United Nations of the Auroran Continent. It’s a political, economic, and military organization succeeding the Auroran Continental Assembly after the Auroran-Pacific War as of late,” Bert describing the massive organization.
“Oh. Do you think other nations in an alliance may launch their own space stations?” Garia wondering about the others’ space programs.
“Probably the Atlantian Alliance up north will launch one and the Gondwanan Council in the near future. There’s also the United Firean Nations I think they’re called, but I haven’t heard anything from them in a while,” Bert answered her.
“What do you think will happen if those stations become weaponized? I personally don’t think it will happen, but what if it does in the future?” Garia asked in curiosity to Bert.
“They won’t; trust me on that. Especially after the 4 Days War incident with Myriad,” Bert said gravely after having flashbacks of watching Myriad being destroyed on live TV.
Linda who was more or less fascinated learning about xagrurg was intrigued by his mention of decrease of military budget “So what did you guys do with all that extra equipment if I may ask?”
“We either sold it to various nations or individuals or destroyed them. Though don’t take my word on that because the Xagrurgian Space Agency works separate from the Department of Defense,” said Bert.
"Ahh, Kuthernburgs is apart of the MOD, giving it good funding, but mostly we use private space companies cheaper, meaning we can spend more on research, she proceeds to turn to Garia "Well hello, I dont believe we met.
Garia looked at the woman and then smiled. “Hello! I am Garia Catori, representing the nation of Zukchiva! And you are?” she asked the lady.
“Im Linda, I’m part of the Kuthernburg crew,” pointing at the module area with 4 flags hanging in the walkway, 3 of which belonging to the commonwealths and Kuthernburg.
“Morning Linda. I’m Bert and I have an addiction to alcohol,” Bert jokes.
"Oh if it aint Hennessy, I dont want any! she chuckled back at the crack at humour.
“So, how you served in the program?” Bert asked Linda.
“Started off in the Nacatan Airforce, flying stealth bombers, moved to the fighters, earned enough hours, went through some training, and here I am!” She said with excitement.
“Served with the 2nd Airborne Paratrooper Regiment back in the 70’s during the war here and a bit of Kuthernburg.”(edited)
Garia looked at Commander Bert. “You served in the military!? You have been through a lot of stuff!” she exclaimed.
“Only doing what my country requires me to do,” Bert says.
Garia nodded at Bert. “I myself have not done much in the military. I may join when I decide to stop representing Zukchiva in space, but I do not know if I should do that yet. What do you think?”
“It’s always a solid choice, though I heard drill sergeants for the marines are assholes,” Bert jokes.
Garia laughed. She honestly had been too amazed in being up and space and doing her work that she had forgot about having fun in her free time. “I guess it could be true. Did you reach a high rank, or earn any achievements in the military?” she asked him.
“Well, I became captain of my platoon until I was discharged from the service and went back to the program. During my tours, I got a couple of Purple Hearts and a Medal of Honor.”
“Woah! Did you sustain any major injuries?,” Garia asked in amazement.
“Sniper bullet to the left shoulder,” Bert shows her the scar.
Garia looks at the scar. “Wow, that must have hurt!” she said to Bert.
“Well, it didn’t hurt as bad compared to my wounded pride when a female sergeant managed to beat me at arm wrestling at a bar,” chuckling.
Linda listened to the two I served in 4 conflicts of my own serving in the Airforce," she looked around “Ive been everywhere, lifes pretty exciting in Nacata.”
“I don’t doubt that. My old war buddies who vacationed in Nacata can confirm the Nacatans are a rowdy bunch,” smirking.
“Liquor and budd, we can drink you out a house and then travel to the beaches and throw a hell of a party,” she chuckled.
“If you think your parties today are crazy, you should’ve seen the parties when I was just starting in the space program; beer, weed, lsd, cocaine, hookers, you name it, we had it,” Bert reminiscences about his young adult days.
Linda smiles before looking at her watch “Ooh seems like I have to return to the mission readings show a solar flare eruption happening.” “Alright, I’ll see you later,” Bert says. As everyone went their way, Bert continued his efforts to find his team in the ginormous superstructure.
