Lunkurn Terminal

Najma wanted Unbe, Helki was abstaining, and Eloxochitl and Latonya wanted Lunkurn, so that made it two votes to one in favour of the latter. Millia was the only one capable of advocating for the ghost, so her vote was a roundabout way of recognizing the true victor. She voted for the Terminal and felt Latonya's urge to perform a celebratory jump.

Najma pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. "Alright. We'll just have to go somewhere with a beach next time."

With that matter settled, everyone parted ways. Millia made for her bunk, hoping to finally get out of her ruined armour. She locked the door behind her, and began stripping it off.

If we're in private now, I'm going to come on out. Okay? Latonya checked with her.

Yeah, no problem.

The ghost left Millia's form, and again she took note of how much less abrasive it was compared to when Latonya had been in control. "These are your adventurer digs?" Latonya remarked, looking around. "I'm so jealous. I wish I had a living space this nice when I was starting out. It's so spacious. You have your own washroom and everything!"

Millia nodded her agreement as she tossed the busted armour in a pile for later disposal. "It didn't look like your Xiong Commandos were lacking much of anything. Have they come a long way since you started adventuring?"

Latonya bounced her head modestly. "Sort of, but I started with the Adventurer Commission, same as you."

"No kidding?" The cow girl was down to her underwear and stepped into the shower. Latonya shamelessly peeked, only getting away with it because Millia was not looking. "What team did you start on?"

Latonya heard the water start up and she moved away, at least willing to afford the other woman that much privacy. "Team Zeal," she answered. "We weren't anything special. I stayed on for a few years, trained a few low-ranks, then joined up with the Commandos." As she spoke she drew the phantasmal claymore from her back and looked it over.

She was still learning her own set of rules as a ghost. Since dying she had been frustrated to no end by the repeated reminders that she seemingly could not affect the material world. Animate beings were as clouds for her - visible, but untouchable. Inanimate things were totally unresponsive. She could touch and feel those items, but even the most weightless of them were as immovable as planets.

But not her sword. Out of sentiment she had attempted to grasp it back on Sobrihiri and was surprised by its unique reaction. Instead of merely resisting her touch, the weapon had yielded a ghastly form of its own; as though it too had died and persisted like Latonya. Thus far, she understood that it behaved like this because it was an item on her person during her demise. Her clothes, armour, helmet - all the things she had had on her - had matched her spiritual state. These things she could properly interreact with as she had in life, providing some low level of comfort in this unfamiliar condition.

"Did anyone else from Team Zeal join the Commandos?" Millia's voice called over the spraying water.

"Not to my knowledge, no." Latonya continued to examine and play with her sword, touching it to surfaces in Millia's room to see if it could evoke any response. It did not. "Though it has been long enough that someone very well could have joined my old team then swapped to the Commandos."

"You don't sound particularly interested," Millia remarked.

"That's because I'm not," Latonya smirked and flung herself on Millia's bunk. She was relieved to find that despite being incapable of affecting the bed with her weight, it still felt soft and pliant to her. Odd. "I know that some people build these deep connections with their teams, but I suppose that never really happened for me."

"Maybe that's why you left for the Commandos," Millia proposed. She stepped out of the shower using a bath towel to preserve her modesty.

"Maybe..." Hearing the cow girl's voice emerge, Latonya craned her neck to get another look.

"Hey! Mind your manners. I'm not decent," Millia rebuked.

"I can see that," the phantom smiled, letter her head drop back to the bed.

"Are all your Commandos as depraved as you?" The novice grabbed her clothes and retreated back to the washroom to change.

"Goodness, I hope not."

Millia slept the rest of the way to their destination. Though she had spent a good while resting after the exploit on Sobrihiri, she had felt tired once again.

Carapace piloted the Oscine toward Lunkurn Terminal. The third planet in the Jeyoib solar system was Trizozume. Around that gas giant orbited five satellites, the second being the ice world Trizozume II; and around that orbited the space station the team sought. Lunkurn was established as a final fueling and rest station for those venturing beyond civilised space. Eventually that boundary expanded far enough beyond anywhere Lunkurn was intended to service. Hence, the station was repurposed as a resort in an otherwise unremarkable corner of its galaxy.

Lunkurn Terminal held attractions of all sorts - even the aquatic, though perhaps not to Najma's standard - but what set it apart were its facilities for microgravity recreation. It offered chambers for preexisting sports conducted in low gravity, and even other games that had been built around the novelty.

Eloxochitl invited Millia and she joined the leader in the cockpit to look upon the nearing station. It was an immense sphere dotted and laced with the lights spilling through the viewports. Big as it was though, it was dwarfed by the white moon it sat in the shadow of.

From a distance, it was merely a patch of space with stars a little too geometric to be natural. Nearer though, Millia could make out the metallic hull. Traffic grew dense once they were within its orbit. Small shuttles, medium carriers, and the occasional hulking freighter moved about the station.

Carapace flew the Oscine to the hangar designated by the Terminal's directory personnel. The ship touched down and Eloxochitl was out before Helki had even reached the boarding ramp. Stand at the top of it beside Millia, Najma cleared her throat loudly to halt the team leader.

"Are we forgetting anything?" the cyborg asked, blatantly jerking her head toward the novice.

The Quetzalcoatl faced the duo. "Oh, um... Millia, I don't know what your into, and it's not really my concern. Have a good time and reach out to us if you need anything, but be sure to come back in one piece. We're spending two nights here. Be back at the Oscine at the start of the third solar cycle." Then, like a child dismissed to playtime, Eloxochitl turned and took off.

Najma shook her head disapprovingly. "Like she said, you can head out and enjoy the station on your own if you want, or we could do something as a group - one might even say: as a team."