Apogee -the point in the orbit of a heavenly body at which it is farthest from a planet.
Astrophel Vermis was honestly tired of getting detained.
The Space Investigators of Fortune (SIF) gave him an apologetic look as they brought him into the local line-up center.
All he had to say was "auto upper pair of eyes" and the SIF had flagged their ship. It was stupid, but it wasn't their fault they had such an idiot for a former captain.
That bile spore of a SIF had just said 'Cyborg of the Vullah race' and now their whole race was on watch, the SIF looking for Phillip DCCLXXXVI or whoever.
But he might catch up with his friend, the only Phillip who he cared about. Ze was mostly flagged for zir common name and auto arms.
Unfortunate for Phillip as ze were pretty friendly for someone who got arrested so much.
Regardless of the stupidity of it all, he trots down the corridor. His crew stared down at the poor Qet that had flagged them, frustrated, but quiet.
"Astro! My favorite cyborg!" Phillip jokes, cantering over to greet him, honestly the insult felt less and less derogatory the more he talked with zim, his fellow auto helping to reclaim the word.
"Phillip! How'd the mission on Chao K04 go? Get 'randomly searched' often?" Ze nods
"There's an ID you can get to only get flagged when landing and taking off, for how many Vullah autos there are now. Wanna come to get one with me, cornua?"
They head towards the lineup, sharing stories and gesturing wildly as a few guards glance at them nervously.
"Alright, get in the lineup star-goats, let's get this ID over with and then you can stop scaring my enforcers," the captain flips through a book, and Astro wonders why they even still try.
No one even knows what Phillip DCCLXXXVI looked like when they left The Hidden, so they could have transferred their mind if they could afford it.
"How are the parents? Did you go to see them or just a message?"
Astro asks as he yawns, using his favorite hand sign: A clawed hand towards the ceiling, meaning shut up or leave, the photographer snarls.
Phillip gave a grin at the camera. "Just visited. I don't think I'm ready to get yelled at for abandoning them..." Zir face sags out of the smile, Astro's ear flicks in annoyance.
"You did what you had to, Phillip, I'm sure they will welcome you back when you are ready."
Phillip breathes a sigh of relief as the SIF sends the two out of the holding center, following Astrophel to chat with his crew. Solaris beams and calls out. "Phillip! It's been a while! How's the ship?"
Brittneyh smirks at zim, maneuvering her cart over to bump into zim and Astrophel. "Still solo?"
"Uh... you and Astro still friends? You seem chummy so..." Dara eyes the two anxiously.
"No, Dara..." Ze sigh dramatically, "me and Astro..."
She narrows her eyes at zim, a glint in her single set of eyes.
Phillip continues dramatically, "we are... more than friends, we're... besties!"
Astrophel bursts out laughing at the face Dara makes, hiding behind zir as he giggles.
"ASTRO! Not the time!" Dara complains as Brittneyh takes a sip of her calfe, waving a fin. "Hon, stop. Star-goat, we gotta go. I swear I will drag you space harlots out of here."
Phillip sighs, giving Astro a four-armed hug, smiling as ze reminds "stay forewarned, cyborg" Astro lights up as he grins at the whole group, a bright gleam in his eye.
"You know what they say... forewarned ain't always..." He stretches his dual pair of arms out in disco hands, finishing with. "... fore-armed"
"I'm about ready for him to leave, m'fors and what not" Astro laughs and squeezes zir shoulder, exclaiming "may fortune shine on you as well, let's split!" He turns away from zim and closes the ship, his tail lashing to smack at Brittneyh when she swats his hip. She yells at him, and he wags his tail as he teases her.
Astrophel grins at his crew as they coo over the pass, the chain it was dangling from to be attached to his belt.
"Alright, we are still ahead of schedule. I'm glad we planned for stops, but it looks like we have extra time to mess around in Freyfolot. Does anyone have any recommended stops when we get there? Maybe we could visit the Palace Castellum Fortunae?"
Brittneyh gives him a ticked-off look, hitting him again with her fin. "We will not be going to a city, you star-sick goat. The SIF checkpoint didn't care, but local authorities would do anything to get in Fortune's favor. Not including that we need to clean this ship up, the BC Sidus Castrum is as spore-ridden as you all are! Hop to it, sandblast one at a time. We will have some mildly interesting people here, from the capital of Noetov." Solaris bolts up and books it towards the guest quarters, its triple pairs of arms grabbing random cleaning supplies. "I call the guest room!"
Brittneyh curses loudly and drives her cart towards the storage.
Astrophel quickly headed back to the cockpit before they could shove him into the sandry. Dara flaps her dual wings but gets pushed into the sandry, Gunay cheering as e books it to clean eir lab.
