||THE WORST TEAM||

- 9096 - TRW - STARVUS - TZAR CAPITAL -

Jime rolls up his sleeves and manually pushes up the old squeaking garage door, leading into the Sivvy's storage room where she keeps a stock of unfinished, if not rejected, projects.

He holds up the door, using as much upper body strength as he can muster, while Chroma and Sivvy push the ship into the cellar-like room. Jime ducks underneath the bottom of the door and lets it slam down behind him.

Sivvy turns up the dial on the only working light in the room, which flickers on and off repeatedly, like the electrical equivalent of someone coming in and out of sleep, struggling to stay awake.

Chroma dusts off a nearby table and pulls herself up, crossing her legs. Jime notices that she's wearing pink tights which ombre into purple near her ankles and he can't help but think of this as a painfully Chroma-like fashion decision.

Chroma picks up a device next to her. It's a triangular piece, with a hole through the middle. Black and red wires coil around it's handle. She hits it against her palm and watches it light up with a charged vibration.

"Are you ever going to use any of this stuff?" asks Chroma, "I mean, why even make them, you know?" She shakes the triangle, "What even is this thing?"

Sivvy turns around. She examines the piece (clearly searching her memory) and crosses her arms, "Obviously it's a.... it's..." she tilts her head to the side, squinting her eyes, "You know, i'm not really sure what that is."

"I think what Chroma is trying to say..." Jime continues, "Is that if you wanna get on Harleys good side, maybe you should consider.. I dunno... "

Chroma puts down the device, "Turning these inventions into an actual... like... career...? Personally, I don't think that's a horrible idea."

Sivvy looks between Chroma and Jime, her hands on her hips. "What's wrong with what i'm doing now?"

Chroma's eyes widen. She puts her hands up defensively, "We didn't say there was anything necessarily WRONG with what you're doing..."

Jime scratches the side of his chin, "We're just trying to er... ensure....."

"That you don't get pushed aside by the other people that use this place for... work... you know? And wouldn't you like to quit your job anyway? You could do this full time!"

Sivvy gives her a look, "I like working at the library."

Jime raises an eyebrow, "Do you really?"

Sivvy pauses. She shrugs and sways her head side to side. "Shelving's a bit more tedious than it looks but other than that..."

Chroma shakes her head,"Seriously, Siv, other people do it. Why can't you?" She hops off the table, "Even Zebel does it. How hard can it be?"

Sivvy averts her attention away from them, swiping her hand across the surface of her ship and looking into its reflective surface.

Jime gives Chroma a side glance. "Do you have something against it?" he asks, "We just thought it might help you out in the long run."

Sivvy leans against the aircraft, her arms folded, "I dunno, it's new. Just lemme think about it, okay?"

Jime gives her a strange look and walks over to her side of the room, "What's there to think about?"

Sivvy runs a hand through her curls, "I'd like to do this more often, sure, but at the same time..... ah... " She pauses. Jime stands in front of her, waiting patiently for her to finish her thought.

Sivvy lets out a sigh, "I do it for myself, you know? I work on whatever I want, whenever I want. I don't wanna like..." She searches for the right words, "mess with that.... if you understand what I mean. I like it like this, and if it ain't broke...."

Chroma nods her head, "I was thinking you'd say something like that."

Sivvy scrunches her nose, standing straight, "How long have you been planning on having this conversation?" She looks at Jime, "Is that why you approached me earlier this week? Offered to help?"

Jime and Chroma shift uncomfortably.

"Well.. " Chroma says, "We didn't exactly PLAN this per say..."

"But we have been talking about it with each other." Jime finishes.

"And I mean, we aren't trying to offend you, or make it seem like some kind of intervention.. actually, if you decided to say yes to the idea, we were planning on... like, helping you out. This could be the start of something..... Don't you think that would be pretty cool? If we could all work together?" She laughs nervously and looks at Sivvy with hopeful eyes, anticipating a response.

Sivvy pauses. She sighs and turns her head away, "I'll... I'll think about it."

Jime blinks, surprised, "You will?"

Sivvy reluctantly nods her head as Chroma rushes over and gives her a mildly suffocating bear hug.

"Aww, yay!" she says with a smile, "It'll be fun, I promise. You're gonna love it."

Jime is staring at Sivvy skeptically, questioning her with his eyes.

Chroma reaches out and pulls him into the group huddle, causing him to emit a surprised yelp, "Christ, could you pull my arm a little further out of its socket please? That would be wonderful."

"That could be arranged."

Sivvy lets out a laugh, stifled from how tightly she's being held at the waist. This is, she decides, possibly going to be the worst team she will ever have to work with.

* * *

- 9096 - ELSEWHERE -

"This is literally the WORST team I have ever had to work with."

"Calm your tits, you wrinkly prune."

"Where the hell is Helena?"

"She'll be around."

There's some static and ruffleing on the other end of the transmitter.

"Ay yo, purple, you heard about the job i've got?"

"I don't really care. I need to get through to Helena."

"C'mon, ask me."

A loud, exasperated sigh.

"What is it?"

"Dude, it's crazy."

"Yeah?"

"Off planet too."

"That's nice, tell Helena to call me. It's important-"

"Can you guess where?"

"What?"

"What planet they're flying me to, bro. Can you guess?"

"I don't give a-"

"Just guess."

Silence. Another sigh.

"What is it? Is it Khan?"

"Nope. Sitzel."

"What's so great about Sitzel?"

"Are you kidding? Chicks everywhere. Slick green skin, the antennas. You know how I like em."

"Actually no, and I didn't really want to know. But you told me anyway."

There's a clang, followed by a large blast.

"Jesus, are you working a job?" groan, "Whatever. Christ. Just tell Helena I-"

"Hold on a sec, I gotta call you back bro, the little thing got out of the crate thing. You know how it is."

The call disconnects.

He resists the urge to snap his transmitter in half and eat it.