Atka stopped by the table where the Exalts were seated with their surviving mother, smiling at the half-asleep Lily. “Glad to see you’re all doing well.”
Elene inclined her head slightly. “Indeed. Though it is unfortunate Markus is busy… I believe he was waylaid by Emma about something to do with her Cyberdisc…”
Eva still was chowing down on a what seems like a mountain of food, she stopped eating to see Atka “Oh, Atka it’s good to see you. What brings you here, Colonel?”
The Inuit woman smiled. “I was just checking on friends. I don’t believe we’ve had much of a chance to talk off the clock, Eva,” Atka mused. “And you can just refer to me by name here. I don’t have any plans to call you ‘Lieutenant Aergerter’, after all.”
Eva smiled at being called a Lieutenant. “That still has a good ring to it, heh heh. So Atka, you’re friends with my daughter?”
Right… she was the other female ‘template’ Lusett used aside from herself. “Yes, I am.”
“The Colonel is a bit too modest, but she saved Emma and Lily, and likely Vee as well, from Invidia when she was possessing that girl… that tends to be a positive way to initiate a relationship,” Elene intoned with a slight grin.
Eva looked at Atka “You saved my kids, thank you for that Atka as far as i’m concerned that makes you my friend as well. Eva looks at Elene. “I’m a terrible mother aren’t I?”
Elene raised an eyebrow. “Not at all… why would you say that?”
Eva looked down “Well Desmond saved you, Atka saved you. Me I haven’t done much for you three, Hell I barely kept in contact with you three when you were with EXALT. I haven’t done much for you guys at all.”
“I’d hardly call that your fault… only Desmond had the implants necessary to carry communications, and the other circumstances have been just that. Circumstantial. Had you been around, you would have done the same thing,” Elene responded resolutely. “You spend as much time with us as you can in the present, anyway… speaking of which, I wonder if I could persuade your boyfriend to work for Exalt Enterprises…”
“And thus Elene became an evil corporate mastermind.” Atka chuckled. “At least try not to sound like a stereotypical villain.”
“Yea, we don’t need the world to go after EXALT again. Besides I was thinking about asking Jean to work for EXALT, I mean I would be close to him and I hope you and Lily will be doing some good. Which reminds me, Lusett had some warehouses with some of her old experiments were.”
“I’ll be sure to claim them once this all settles down,” the heiress affirmed. “For now… we have a God of Fear to kill.”
----------
Emily scanned around the room as the group was finishing their meals, noticing Atka wandering around between the tables. She raised her hand and waved.
“Hey, Atka, come take a seat!”
The scout nodded, sitting at one of the open chairs at Emily’s table. “How have you been?”
“Pretty good for the times,” Emily smiled, “how about you? Enjoying Christmas?”
“Of course.” Atka smiled. “It’s my favorite holiday. We even celebrated it up in the far north… syncretism and all that.”
“I’m slightly surprised no one has complained about it, with all the cultures we have here. I guess the need for a holiday from all the stress transcends all that, though.”
“Or perhaps we’re just surrounded by good people.” Atka shrugged. “I’d like to believe the latter.”
“Yes we are,” Emily nodded. “So, how are you spending your ship time nowadays? Just roaming about?”
“And training,” Atka added. “In the Christmas spirit, I was wondering if I was capable of something. Took a hint from Desmond’s fire and your electric ability, and well…” Atka lifted a hand, a helix of true ice winding itself together. “Hydrokinesis?”
Emily watched intently as Atka performed her new ability. “If it’s ice, it would be cryokinesis, wouldn’t it?”
The ice dissipated, and Atka snapped her fingers. “That’s perfect! Needed a cool-sounding name for it. And… an accurate one.”
“It does sound pretty cool,” she smiled. “And you never have to drink a warm soda ever again.”
The Inuit woman chuckled. “I suppose so. It may not have a ton of combat applications, especially since the origins are shackled to me like my other powers, but that in itself is refreshing.”
“You never know, there’s a situation for everything. I recently got an odd power myself…I’m sure you can guess from who,” Emily noted.
“I can hazard some guesses about what she might teach you…” Atka mumbled. “Not that I mean anything… bad about that.”
“Yeah, your guesses are probably right,” the support chuckled. “But I can distract and disable well, and that has its uses.”
Atka rubbed her chin in thought. “I could probably freeze hydraulics, but I’d have to get into contact with them. Though I’m no stranger to close combat, so that wouldn’t be too much of a hassle…”
“True, just don’t take any unnecessary risks,” Emily replied.
“No more than the usual,” Atka replied with a smile. “I’m not about to charge a Sectopod just because I can… that’s more the style of our enemy.”
“They do like to underestimate us, don’t they,” she smirked.
Dallas nudged her, “the Commander said no work talk, you know.”
“Bah, we can talk about aliens, some of them were sitting here for like an hour after all,” Emily retorted, taking a sip of her drink.
Elene inclined her head slightly. “Indeed. Though it is unfortunate Markus is busy… I believe he was waylaid by Emma about something to do with her Cyberdisc…”
Eva still was chowing down on a what seems like a mountain of food, she stopped eating to see Atka “Oh, Atka it’s good to see you. What brings you here, Colonel?”
The Inuit woman smiled. “I was just checking on friends. I don’t believe we’ve had much of a chance to talk off the clock, Eva,” Atka mused. “And you can just refer to me by name here. I don’t have any plans to call you ‘Lieutenant Aergerter’, after all.”
Eva smiled at being called a Lieutenant. “That still has a good ring to it, heh heh. So Atka, you’re friends with my daughter?”
Right… she was the other female ‘template’ Lusett used aside from herself. “Yes, I am.”
“The Colonel is a bit too modest, but she saved Emma and Lily, and likely Vee as well, from Invidia when she was possessing that girl… that tends to be a positive way to initiate a relationship,” Elene intoned with a slight grin.
Eva looked at Atka “You saved my kids, thank you for that Atka as far as i’m concerned that makes you my friend as well. Eva looks at Elene. “I’m a terrible mother aren’t I?”
Elene raised an eyebrow. “Not at all… why would you say that?”
Eva looked down “Well Desmond saved you, Atka saved you. Me I haven’t done much for you three, Hell I barely kept in contact with you three when you were with EXALT. I haven’t done much for you guys at all.”
“I’d hardly call that your fault… only Desmond had the implants necessary to carry communications, and the other circumstances have been just that. Circumstantial. Had you been around, you would have done the same thing,” Elene responded resolutely. “You spend as much time with us as you can in the present, anyway… speaking of which, I wonder if I could persuade your boyfriend to work for Exalt Enterprises…”
“And thus Elene became an evil corporate mastermind.” Atka chuckled. “At least try not to sound like a stereotypical villain.”
“Yea, we don’t need the world to go after EXALT again. Besides I was thinking about asking Jean to work for EXALT, I mean I would be close to him and I hope you and Lily will be doing some good. Which reminds me, Lusett had some warehouses with some of her old experiments were.”
“I’ll be sure to claim them once this all settles down,” the heiress affirmed. “For now… we have a God of Fear to kill.”
----------
Emily scanned around the room as the group was finishing their meals, noticing Atka wandering around between the tables. She raised her hand and waved.
“Hey, Atka, come take a seat!”
The scout nodded, sitting at one of the open chairs at Emily’s table. “How have you been?”
“Pretty good for the times,” Emily smiled, “how about you? Enjoying Christmas?”
“Of course.” Atka smiled. “It’s my favorite holiday. We even celebrated it up in the far north… syncretism and all that.”
“I’m slightly surprised no one has complained about it, with all the cultures we have here. I guess the need for a holiday from all the stress transcends all that, though.”
“Or perhaps we’re just surrounded by good people.” Atka shrugged. “I’d like to believe the latter.”
“Yes we are,” Emily nodded. “So, how are you spending your ship time nowadays? Just roaming about?”
“And training,” Atka added. “In the Christmas spirit, I was wondering if I was capable of something. Took a hint from Desmond’s fire and your electric ability, and well…” Atka lifted a hand, a helix of true ice winding itself together. “Hydrokinesis?”
Emily watched intently as Atka performed her new ability. “If it’s ice, it would be cryokinesis, wouldn’t it?”
The ice dissipated, and Atka snapped her fingers. “That’s perfect! Needed a cool-sounding name for it. And… an accurate one.”
“It does sound pretty cool,” she smiled. “And you never have to drink a warm soda ever again.”
The Inuit woman chuckled. “I suppose so. It may not have a ton of combat applications, especially since the origins are shackled to me like my other powers, but that in itself is refreshing.”
“You never know, there’s a situation for everything. I recently got an odd power myself…I’m sure you can guess from who,” Emily noted.
“I can hazard some guesses about what she might teach you…” Atka mumbled. “Not that I mean anything… bad about that.”
“Yeah, your guesses are probably right,” the support chuckled. “But I can distract and disable well, and that has its uses.”
Atka rubbed her chin in thought. “I could probably freeze hydraulics, but I’d have to get into contact with them. Though I’m no stranger to close combat, so that wouldn’t be too much of a hassle…”
“True, just don’t take any unnecessary risks,” Emily replied.
“No more than the usual,” Atka replied with a smile. “I’m not about to charge a Sectopod just because I can… that’s more the style of our enemy.”
“They do like to underestimate us, don’t they,” she smirked.
Dallas nudged her, “the Commander said no work talk, you know.”
“Bah, we can talk about aliens, some of them were sitting here for like an hour after all,” Emily retorted, taking a sip of her drink.
