“Yeah. That would be great, because fireproof-ish won’t be good enough for these crazy bastards. They need their uniform to be totally fireproof, like chuck them in the Sun and pick them back up a week later kinda fireproof.”
“Okay, one moment,” Astrid said, and spoke into her comm.
A second later, I’m assuming Gerome picked up. We heard his voice, “Hey, Captain. What can I do for you?”
“We’ve a request from Shaun to make some completely fireproof uniforms. Can the textile printer handle that?”
“Um, sure… I think. I’ll have a look at what options are available. From what I know, we may need to acquire specific materials to do that.”
Astrid looked at me questioningly.
“Great!” I said, “Find out what you need, and when you're on the planet, pick it up. We should arrange and issue new, official Uprising uniforms to everyone. The Fystr are kind of our mortal enemies. Wearing their uniforms kinda takes the piss out of what we’re supposed to stand for.”
“Yeah. You actually make a really good point. I mean, we’ve worn them purely because of their functions and durability. It’s a bit of an insult to continue to wear them if we don't need to. It feels right that we should create our own identity,” Astrid replied.
“Yes, I can definitely agree to that sentiment.” Rufus added. “I had honestly never even thought about it, but now it’s been mentioned, I feel dirty just wearing this thing.”
Ember patted my arm, “Yeah. We should definitely get rid of them.”
She was just about to continue, when Gerome’s voice came through the comm.
“Sure I can do that. Forward me some designs. I already have everyone’s size. I’ll start printing them off as soon as we have a decision.”
“Two for everyone!” I shouted, so he could hear me over the comm.
“Sure!” Gerome shouted back, “Though I might need more materials for that.”
“You're going to get everything you need. As for the style of the uniforms, stick to the same as we have, only with a new logo and the Uprising name.” I said.
“And a different color! This color is shit, I don’t like navy!” Ember shouted after me, then she spoke at a normal volume, “Any suggestions on color, guys?”
Rufus shrugged, “Gold?”
“Green! A nice dark green,” Astrid said.
“If I had to choose a color, I’d go black, like a panther,” I winked at Ember. She smirked but also blushed slightly.
“That leaves you with the deciding vote, Ember,” Astrid said.
“We can have all those colors if you like, guys. Trust me, I can combine them to have us all looking fabulous,” Gerome announced.
“I’m happy with those colors, I would have picked black, so Shaun has already done that for me. I can’t wait to see what you come up with, Gerome.”
“Keep it cool though, I don’t want to look like a bloody Christmas tree,” Rufus added. I had to agree with the sentiment. The ‘fabulous’ statement had me slightly concerned, too.
“I'd like to see a sample before you churn out over 400 of them,” I threw in. I wasn't floating around in the best ship in the galaxy wearing a shit uniform.
“I can't wait to look fabulous,” Ember said, prompting a smirk from Astrid.
“Right. Enough about bloody clothes, for now,” I snapped, “We’ll work on a design, and you guys can, too. Put the word out across the ship if you like, and we’ll choose from the best ideas.”
“Should make it a competition,” I heard Gerome’s voice again over the comm.
“Ah, Gerome. You're still here. Welcome to the captain’s meeting,” Ember said, sarcastically.
“Oh, right. Sorry! Gerome out.”
I shook my head, smiling at the ridiculousness of the last five minutes. “Back to business, guys. Once you have what you need on Tanath, and that includes a good job for us to take on, meet us over on Arus,” I said.
“Okay, Shaun. Are you sure you want us to split up? Seems unnecessarily risky. You know like in a horror movie, where you scream at the TV ‘No! Don’t split up!’” Astrid said.
“It’s going to be fine, Astrid. Don’t worry. We're practically on the same planet, anyway. Plus, we’ll be in constant contact with one another; we can do hourly check-ins if you like? Obviously not us personally, but we can get set up some kind of system.”
“You clearly haven’t seen the same horror films as me, then. But yes. We’ll aim to set up a system of constant communication,” she replied.
Ember jumped in after I had finished, “Astrid, I think we can all agree that splitting up is a stupid idea. However, we don't have any choice. The Uprising is potentially a target after harboring Torax. Not to mention those ships we’ve destroyed. The Thoth and Seshat are not, nor are you, linked with us. You need to get us our next job, and we need to go to a smuggler moon to kidnap a load of Veiletians. Let’s just get this fucking done. Hopefully, life will be easier once we do.”
Astrid looked affronted, but smiled, “I suppose we have few choices here. So, I’ll agree to source mercenary work, providing we remain in constant communication. If we don’t hear from each other, we’ll know quickly that something has happened and come to your aid, or you to ours.”
I nodded acknowledgement. “And once you're finished up, we’ll meet up on Arus. I think we could do with a face-to-face meeting.”
“Yes, Shaun,” said Rufus. “It’s been quite the stroke of luck running into you again. We were at our wits’ end in this strange place. I felt mounting any kind of retaliation upon the Fystr to save the Earth was worse than impossible. Now, I feel like it is just improbable, but I’ll take those odds.”
“Well thanks, Rufus. I know how you feel. Hopefully, if we keep going
