My first assignment as a Vanquisher was to pick a crew and pack my things. For Vanquisher missions, I would need a small but permanent crew to cover the basics of every mission. Other specialists would join us on an as-needed basis, depending on the assignment.

  I was the pilot (a damn good one, thank you very much), so I needed a weapons expert, a biodatascientist, and a medic. I sat in a boring room with @horus, where he mostly stared at his virtual screen while I made selections.

  kittyboy: "Can I have @astrowave as my weapons expert?"

  horus: "If @astrowave and his commanding officer agree, yes. He's also been promoted, although it is minor, to Thunder Ops II. It shouldn't be a problem."

  The image of @astrowave running down the zombie-infested corridor was still stuck in my head. I'd love to have that type of dedication and raw power on my crew.

  kittyboy: "Medic, I want Pokey. He's a medical spider bot, the one that just revived me this last time."

  @horus squinted at me away from his screen and scowled.

  horus: "No."

  I pouted.

  kittyboy: "Why not? They'd be perfect, and Pokey follows orders to a fault."

  horus: "This Pokey that you talk about. If it's a resuscitation robot, that makes it a specialist with a very specific, very critical task for the starmada. Certain tasks would be beyond its programming. The answer is no."

  kittyboy: "Oh, come on. It's a robot, with vast information at its disposal. I bet I could ask it to replace my neural network, diode by diode, and they'd do it flawlessly."

  horus: "Hard no. Try again."

  kittyboy: "I don't know any other medics."

  horus: "Did you read the dossiers?"

  Of course I hadn't!

  I opened up the booklet in my HUD viewer, showing names along the left and descriptions on the right as I moved my eyes from name to name. I didn't really have the patience for this, and although I knew I should take it seriously since these people would be stuck in space with me, I just couldn't bring myself to analyze all these options. He gave me a list of 784 candidates! So, I used a random number generator and picked number 601.

  kittyboy: "I'll take @bitchfrog as my medic."

  I watched @horus's eyes wander as he pulled up their profile and scanned it. He raised an eyebrow as he read, then looked over to me.

  horus: "You're sure?"

  I hadn't bothered to read the dossier on @bitchfrog. Figured it would be better just to start from scratch and figure them out for myself. I nodded back to @horus.

  horus: "Okay. @bitchfrog can be your medic. Lastly, you need a biodatascientist."

  kittyboy: "How about @shadowhacker?"

  horus: "No, she's on my crew."

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  That seemed selfish of him.

  kittyboy: "I'll let you keep the goggles?"

  He scowled again at me.

  horus: "Hard pass. Pick again."

  "I would have stolen the goggles anyway," I muttered under my breath.

  "What was that?" @horus asked me, now in his informal voice to get my attention, off the record.

  "I like your mustache," I replied. @horus didn't buy it, but everyone likes to be complimented, so he dropped it. There were 271 candidates in the biodatascientist portfolio. I went for random again, picking number 168.

  kittyboy: "I'll take @foxcutter."

  @horus paused again, bringing up the dossier on @foxcutter and scanning it over.

  horus: "Very astute of you. Kind of a dark horse pick, but an excellent choice."

  He paused then and gave me a hard look. I could sense that my selections might fall apart in an instant. I didn't care so much, but I really didn't have the energy to pick again.

  horus: "Did you just pick names that had animals in them?"

  What? Me? @kittyboy? I would never! I was almost certain there was only a little bias in my random number generation. How dare he?

  kittyboy: "I take exception to that statement. I'll have you know that I made virtually no effort to make selections after you denied me Pokey and @shadowhacker."

  That was mostly true. It didn't matter if @horus was right. It was still predominantly random. So what if I liked working with animals?

  kittyboy: "Besides, @astrowave isn't an animal name."

  @horus frowned at me, but he was satisfied, and he probably had had enough of me at that point anyway. He didn't know I once had a pet mouse named Astro.

  horus: "Fine. I'll submit your selections and have them instructed to join you at your ship. You'll be piloting a v90 Dominator. Try not to destroy it. Collect your things and report to the ship at Landing Bay N7."

  He pushed a few virtual buttons, typed a few virtual words with his fingers on his desk, and then motioned for me to go.

  kittyboy: "Don't I need a ship technician?"

  horus: "Are you planning to make modifications to the ship?"

  kittyboy: "Can I?"

  That got me super excited, especially after meeting @stardvark and learning about his Obliteration mode. I absolutely wanted to figure out how to customize and modify my v90 Dominator. First, I'd have to get used to its stock configuration, but once I knew what it needed, or what I wanted, heck yeah, I'd customize the hell out of it.

  horus: "No."

  Asshole.

  kittyboy: "If I have a ship technician, can I?"

  horus: "No."

  kittyboy: "Well, then no. I guess I won't make modifications."

  horus: "Then you don't need a ship technician. The ship has repair droids and will fix itself as needed."

  Well, that was convenient for them, and for me, I guess. I wasn't satisfied with @horus's No to modifications. I opted to store that information under "strongly advised."

  horus: "You leave in two days. Your mission details will be sent over to the ship. Please review these today by 17:00 hours."

  Then he shook his head at me, his face oozing the prospect of future disappointment as he considered what I would likely do instead.

  horus: "And please, @kittyboy. Review the details. I don't want to see you back in a Wavepilot uniform."

  I stood and made the Dew sign at him with my hands.

  kittyboy: "It shall be done."

  As much as I hated having homework to do, I will say that it motivated me to get my paltry collection of personal items gathered so that I could settle into the v90 Dominator. It would have an actual captain's quarters, a cabin that was nicer, more spacious, more like my own studio apartment in space.

  I picked up my new butterfly rug, grabbed my sassy coffee machine, and then picked through a few personal items that I was more or less okay with losing if the ship exploded. I picked a squishy baseball stress ball, a rooster pin, and a nice pair of utility jeans. I carefully put these and my official uniform in a backpack.

  I decided to bring my spiky, spindly locomotion plant named Stuart along with me as well. As a Wavepilot, I died frequently enough to keep Stuart watered and safe on Sovereign Starbase. As a Vanquisher, I wasn't expected to die. I had no idea when I would be back.

  "Well, Stuart, are you ready for an adventure?" I asked, lifting him in my left hand as I draped the backpack over my shoulder. Stuart, being a locomotion plant, naturally latched on around my arm. Kind of cute if you ask me, like a little hug. Best plant in the universe.

  Resolved that I made a good decision, I headed out toward Landing Bay N7, walking proudly, waving hello to people, the model of a good Alliance Starmada soldier. On my way to the ship, I made a final stop at the armory, where they presented me with an arm cannon, a glen11 pistol, and a flip37 pulsar laser. I eyed the glen11, thinking of my adventures with its predecessor, the glen10. What fun we will have! I told it. This one goes to 11.

  I practically skipped my way to the ship, singing chirpy songs about death and violence.