Snow Day pt. 1

After an attack from a large fleet of pirates, the Mother of Invention was in quite a battered state. The Director had ordered an immediate emergency landing on the nearest human planet for repairs, hoping they could continue on with their mission as soon as possible.

The Freelancers had just been settling down for the night when The Mother of Invention's AI unit informed them all of the impending land. A unanimous groan echoed through the hallways. Whenever they had to land on a planet to refuel or get repairs it always meant long hours guarding the exterior of the ship which wasn't something the large group of soldiers appreciated after a hard day's work.

A low growl escaped Maine's throat as he rolled over and faced the bed across the room from him. Hissing quietly, he reached for the discarded boot at the end of his bed and chunked it at his bunk mate, Washington.

"Ow! Jeez!" Washington's muffled voice cried out. He sat up and glared at Maine who was grinning wildly. "You could've just shook me away.." Wash complained as he pulled on his pants and walked toward their small bathroom. Maine chuckled and retrieved his boot from his roommate's bed. He could already tell that today was going to be an interesting day.

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North smiled and nodded at York as he exited his room and headed to the cafeteria, a good breakfast was just what he needed before the craziness of the ship being grounded began to sink in. North was joined by York, South, Carolina and Maine shortly after he sat down at a table with his meal.

"Another stop, huh?" York mused between bites. "Doesn't seem like it's been long since the last one." Carolina nodded as she took a sip of her juice. "It has only been about five months," she replied. Their last stop had only been to refuel so they hadn't had time to actually set foot on the planet. Despite objections, the Freelancers were actually excited to be back on the ground.

A frantic Washington burst in through the doors, panting and grinning wildly. York raised an eyebrow, "Uhh..what's up, Wash?" All eyes were on the younger Freelancer as he stood in front of them and motioned them to follow. "You guys have got to see this!"

Exchanging questioning glances, the other Freelancers left their breakfast to follow the overly excited Washington. Maine growled deeply and cracked his neck, ready for anything Wash could throw at him. He firmly believed that Washington was up to no good. North noticed the large man's tension.

"You ok?" North questioned innocently. Maine simply nodded once and quietly growled. Shrugging, North fell back a bit to talk to York.

"Hey man, have you seen Wyoming?" North asked as York smirked. "Damn Brit got himself sick last night during a drinking contest with Maine. I don't think he'll be joining us today." The two laughed a bit at the thought of someone challenging Maine to any sort of contest, much less a drinking one.

Washington led them to the hangar door and smiled back at his friends. "Looks like we get a  New Years Day treat!" He exclaimed as the large door hissed open. Audible gasps of disbelief were heard as the Freelancers looked out of The Mother of Invention to see a large blanket of fluffy white snow.

It had been years since any of them had even heard mention of snow. All of the planets they had ever landed on were always hot and dry so the thought of snow hadn't crossed their minds when landing on this most recent one.

"Well?" Washington asked. "What are you guys waiting for? Let's go!" Wash jumped off the deck face first into a thick pile of snow, nearly disappearing into it. North laughed and climbed down to investigate the piles of frozen rain with South close behind, trying to hide her excitement.

Carolina sighed and started to turn around only to come face to face with York. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked, a mischievous look written on his face. "Training room." Was Carolina's excuse. York shook his head, "No you're going to stay here and have fun with the rest of us!" Opening her mouth to refuse, Carolina suddenly felt the sensation of falling as she plummeted to the pile of snow below with a laughing York jumping down right behind her.

"So that's how you want to play, huh?" Carolina scowled as she dusted the snow off her armor and formed a hand full of snow into a firmly packed ball and launched it at York's face. Laughter erupted as York spit the snow out of his mouth and grinned back at Carolina, an evil smirk appearing on his face.

"Oh, now it's on."