The Illinois-087 vessel was supposed to be a simple scrapping mission for the Blackbourne Team, but nothing about the mysterious ghost ship has been normal so far- so why would it start now?
Along with a video message from a girl they only know as t...
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Academy series (Ghost Bird or Scarab Beetle) All rights go to C.L. Stone.
RATING: K+ for language and violent themes. Mentions of abuse and depression.
WARNING: May contain triggers for some readers- read at your own risk. Nonagon-ic relationships between Sang and her nine boys (Owen Blackbourne, Dr. Sean Green, Nathan Griffin, Dakota 'Kota' Lee, Gabriel Coleman, Lucian 'Luke' Taylor, North Taylor, Silas Korba, and Victor Morgan)
Gabriel ran a hand back through his hair before slipping his helmet on. He sat on his glider, suited up in his bright orange air lock suit, and gave the all clear through his mics to Silas, who was still on the bridge. Across the bay, Luke was sitting on a duplicate glider to Gabriel's, though his was a rusted baby blue, rather than neon orange.
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Gabriel watched the doors leading further into the ship close, locking before the air was sucked from the room. The hoverbike hummed as it started up, the vibrations reminding the artist of thousands of other jobs just like this one he had worked.
"Ready?" Kota's voice asked over com's.
"Yes, sir," Luke replied, leaned further back into his seat. He pulled the bike up, to float a good two feet off the silver grated floor. The nonessential supplies that were kept in the cargo bay were netted to the spaces under the stairs, shifting in their confines as the artificial gravity was lifted.
"Ready," Gabriel lifted his bike off the ground, settling in.
"Alright, hang on boys," Silas engaged the bay doors, warning lights flashing to warn them of the danger of staying in the cargo hold as the doors opened. The programmed hover would keep Gabriel and Luke inside the bay, but they would need to get close to the gaping hole in the back of the ship to secure lines to the Illinois-087 before pulling the craft inside the bay.
Silas had maneuvered the Introductions back as close as he could to the Illinois, and called over the mics that it was Gabriel and Luke's turn.
Gabriel and Luke propelled themselves forward, getting into their positions on each side of the bay, facing the vast darkness. One swift press of a button on the boys' hover bikes hooked the Illinois wings with magnetic cables that they would use to pull the craft into the bay.
In perfect sync, the boys started a slow pace backwards, pulling the Illinois carefully into the bay. While in flight school, Gabriel had had trouble finding his place with the crew, but the moment him and Luke had hopped into the hover crafts simulator, he had found a skill that he had never considered having before. It was the same with all of the Blackbourne crew and probably most of the Academy, they were all lost kids with bad histories and had a tough time fitting in with normal people. But coming together had given each of them a place.
