Windchaser

Meteoric - Chapter Five

2024-11-18T16:19:57Z

Title (chapter): Meteoric (5)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: In which the Terrahawks realise they might unfortunately now be racing Zelda to get to their missing zeroid first, Polly doesn't enjoy everyone's pick of television very much (but Doctor Who is fine) but DOES enjoy being invited to stay with his new 'family' if it all goes balls-up and he can't work out where he actually comes from, and Tark makes contact with someone who might know something.

( Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack. After being mildly irritated by Ninestein doing it, Hiro was frustrated to now find himself also pacing quietly up and down the flight deck. (He kept making a conscious effort to stop, and felt like that was probably more annoying than just pacing. At least there was no-one around to mind, right now.) He felt rather at a loose end. 17 and 43 were dutifully reporting to him every time someone found something, but they’d have already analysed it and compiled it into their datasets by that point and all he could usually do was say “thank you, good job, please carry on.” )

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Sundew

2024-11-05T23:34:41Z

“Half-dream”, 2024 11 04

Came to me in that space where the alarm clock has bumped you awake and you can’t get a certain thing out of your head but you’re not quite asleep or dreaming either? I suppose it’s sort of a half-dream. This is all you get, btw. I haven’t pinned down (and probably won’t) any of the rest like why they’re on Earth, why Zelda sent a giant sundew to the planet, WHERE it ended up, how it caught Mary, or anything.

Saw sundews on “Scotland: The New Wild” Sunday night which might have inspired it; I love carnivorous plants anyway (I have two growing on my kitchen windowsill) so it wasn’t a great leap to end up with this. Plus of course I wanted one where Hiro’s love of plants could be the bit that saves everyone! (Even in the episode where the plant was (essentially) the bad guy, AND it was all happening in their own home environment, these two idiots weren’t allowed to be the heroes without help. So. Yes I am biased.)

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( The plant looked like a giant sundew - easily taller than a human, the great spoon-shaped leaves covered in fleshy crimson spines, each tipped with a glistening globule of dew. Velvety, dusky-pink ribbons spiralled down from thickened, wrinkly bulbs like little brains at the top of the thickest stems. The skeletonised remains of small animals and birds drooped from the upper leaves, like small treasures held in open palms to tempt in the unwary. And at the top, wrapped in six or seven of the aggressive leaves, was Captain Falconer. )

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Kestrel Kestrel - Chapter Two

2024-10-22T23:37:24Z

Title (chapter): Kestrel Kestrel (2)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: We join the rest of the Terrahawks operatives in their search for Kate Kestrel, who reported feeling unwell and had to make an emergency landing in the desert. Except that no-one seems able to work out where she is? She can't have got that far, surely.

Kate, unfortunately, isn't in any position to help anyone, seeing as she's considerably smaller than she was when she landed.

And featherier...

( “We can see nothing at the moment, I’m afraid, Captain Falconer. It is a large area to check.” For confirmation, Lieutenant Hiro glanced back at the ship’s command zeroid, who swivelled from side to side on his perch, shaking his head. “We were not in visual range to see her land or exit her ship, but we have predicted her maximum range on foot since then. We can’t see her anywhere within it, but will continue searching. It will be hot, down there; I can only guess that she may have gone looking for some shade.” )

Crossposted to AO3 and ff.net.

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Kestrel Kestrel - Chapter One

2024-10-22T23:27:00Z

Title (chapter): Kestrel Kestrel (1)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: Where Kate recieves an unexpected (unwanted) gift, and gets food poisoning.

At least, that's what everyone ASSUMES it is...

( When Captain Kate Kestrel, international music icon and Terrahawks pilot, finally escaped the stage where she’d been performing and made it back to her dressing room, it was to find her helper zeroid number 55 perched next to the mirror, resplendent in one of her wigs, complete with a scattering of shimmery crystals and a big floppy silk daisy. )

Crossposted to AO3 and ff.net/.

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Meteoric - Chapter Four

2024-10-05T14:43:10Z

Title (chapter): Meteoric (4)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: In which Polly is busy making an accidental mortal enemy, learning that his temporary new family sometimes ask highly inappropriate questions, and having... dancing lessons? Watching Silent Witness? (Oh god so gross.) Getting asked questions that leave him realising he has even less of a damn freaking clue what the hell he even is? (Was he running away? Is someone looking for him? Why are humans so slow? Should he really be taking time off to watch TV with his friend if he's meant to be finding his way home, isn't this just being lazy? What did that mean about the balls touching? And why does Tark have to be such a shithead.)

(But having all this undivided attention is 100% acceptable. Well apart from the bit that freaked him out. Maybe 95%?)

(I hope the Terrahawks realise that when they finally get Spacehawk’s command zeroid back, he is going to have picked up so many additional bad habits… (and that’s additional to the likely PTSD and everything else.)

(They’re handbrake turns, Hiro. It’s not dancing. Get with the program.)

( Most of her flatmates had already left, by the time Laine finally pinned her room door back, although she could hear Jaxon still rattling around next door - and Tark was doing something noisy in the kitchen with a coffee grinder. Laine felt a flash of annoyance; the guy was never there, especially not so early in the morning, so it was obvious he was only there for information on Polly (and she sorely doubted it was out of any actual CONCERN for the little bot). )

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Meteoric - Chapter Three

2024-10-05T14:36:37Z

Title (chapter): Meteoric (3)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: In which we find out that the Martian androids have now also found out about the missing zeroid, and are plotting to try and recover him before the Terrahawks do. The flatmates argue a little over supper, and the amnesiac Polly / 101 discovers his memory isn't the only thing that's shot - his batteries aren't so hot either. Oh dear.

( Well well well. This was all getting VERY interesting... Yung-star pressed the outsized headphone tighter into his ear and concentrated. )

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Meteoric - Chapter Two

2024-10-05T14:27:50Z

Title (chapter): Meteoric (2)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: In which "Polly" gets his name! Plus allocates Laine to be his liaison, expresses concerns about where he comes from, and reveals that (for some mystifying reason) he talks to plants.

Plus we make a detour up to Spacehawk, and find out about a little of the chaos that has ensued since 101 got himself shot down.

( With the notable exception of just Tark, who had made copious excuses to avoid having to join in, the rest of the flatmates had gathered in the lounge by half five, in a big circle on the floor that incorporated their unexpected visitor (and his crater). The collective unease they’d all expressed in their group chat quickly faded on actually interacting with him. )

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Meteoric - Chapter One

2024-10-05T14:05:29Z

Title (chapter): Meteoric (1)
Series: Terrahawks
Notes: Oops. Gravity still works.

When Laine gets home to her university accomodation just in time to witness a small spherical robot punch a hole clean through their roof, she thinks she's having a bad day.

The robot, it turns out, is definitely having a worse one.

Memory inaccessible, no idea who he is or where he came from, it's hard to find your way home (without drawing too much attention) when you're so far above top secret you don't appear to even exist.

...and then there's always that one asshole who wants to sell you...

( Morning rush hour had just begun to pick up when Laine returned home from her night shift at the local supermarket, to the slightly ramshackle but well-loved student flat she shared with five others in east London. Home was empty; her friends had all already left for lectures. She was the only one with a free day, and planned to spend a significant part of it recovering from lugging boxes around all night. )

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Sunshine and Flowers

2024-10-05T13:17:48Z

When they spot what looks like a big garbage can tumbling through space, on a trajectory directly towards the Terrahawks' orbital battleship, Lieutenant Hiro makes the fateful decision to take just a quick look at it before letting Space Sergeant 101 destroy it. What they inadvertently unleash on Spacehawk is rather considerably worse than either of them could have imagined.

( Spacehawk’s Flight Deck was quiet, for a change. )

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Welcome?

2024-10-05T12:18:07Z

Hi!

Old, english and grumpy :: She/her :: Enjoyer of Terrahawks and Transformers

Writer and (extremely) occasional artist. Has been online longer than a lot of you have been alive. Can be found at:
bsky :: AO3 :: ff.net :: Dreamwidth :: tumblr :: plus a few other places under the same username (Twitter, Devart, etc), which I don't really use any more due to choices made by the site owers (e.g. allowing generative-slop art, being Nazis, etc) but do still exist.

Common subjects: Sentient machine-based life forms (robots, androids, etc), both the "ridiculously human" and the total opposite; werecreatures of all kinds, other sorts of transformation; speculative biology, aliens (and the less human the better); ivy leaf motifs; foxes, magpies, kingfishers, cephalopods.

Fiction:
A masterlist of the things I have been working on - both finished and posted, and also planned / in progress.

Terrahawks Masterpost

Blue AU (Transformers) Masterpost

Other Writing (ok yes this needs ~~lots and lots and lots of~~ tidying...)

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Terrahawks Masterlist

2024-10-05T10:08:15Z

Updates:
04/12/2025 – What did I say, I am terrible at keeping these things updated (predominantly because it's s o h a r d to find the oomph for it when you're ~~talking into the dark~~ writing for a small fandom in an internet that just... consumes, these days? (i.e. you get no interactions, and suspect all your "readers" are just automatic harvesters shovelling your art into the slop machine to be ground up and recycled).) But I am still writing any uploading! Just mainly on tumblr/AO3 and not crossposting because let's face it there's only SO MANY hours in the day.

18/11/2024 – Chapter 5 of Meteoric! (Yes I am still working on it.).
10/11/2024 – added a reference to "Ghosts", and link to "Sundew".
21/10/2024 – chapter 2 of Kestrel Kestrel.
10/10/2024 – started posting Kestrel Kestrel.
05/10/2024 – posted! (I always have these great ideas for keeping things up to date in a central place but end up forgetting about them, so please take an ample portion of salt when interpreting all of this…)

( Click here to expand the cut )

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Remember Me, chapter 11

2021-02-13T15:38:01Z

Title (chapter): Remember Me (11)
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Where a dithery jetboy with questionable ethics and even more questionable loyalty sets out to cause problems for himself. And one of our heroes is definitely losing his marbles.

( Ramjet was pretty sure that consciences didn’t get much more annoying than his own, right now. It never had anything remotely useful to say, and now didn’t seem to want to shut up, either. It kinda felt like a thought had broken away on its own, and was waiting in a dark corner to jump on him with a GOTCHA! the instant he put a thruster wrong. )

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How Long

2020-10-07T17:42:39Z

Title: How Long

Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU

Rating: PG-13 I guess? (They're consenting adults and they're only talking about it. Warp is just... petulant. And as usual it's Starscream's fault.)

Notes: There are some people you should just be able to trust, right? So what do you do when you realise you shoulda perhaps been a little more... circumspect? (Whatever that means…)

Skywarp finds out that the relationship between his femme and his bro may not have been quite as exclusively platonic as he’d thought.

(Follows on from “Different Kinds of Heat”)

( It had started out as a normal evening, so far as Thundercracker could remember... )

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Remember Me, chapter 10

2020-02-16T13:29:00Z

Title (chapter): Remember Me (10)
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13
Notes: In which we find Warp is miraculously still functioning! And Slipstream figures out he has a plan, which... doesn't sound like a very good one, actually.

And poor Skyfire gets ready for a night spent standing up.

( Consciousness tiptoed back to Skywarp with the usual flurry of damage alerts. He couldn’t quite put a finger on the point at which just being online segued into becoming aware of his surroundings, but he DID immediately know that he didn’t actually hurt quite so much, any more. Small blessings. So long as no ''critical failure'' warnings blared in his helm, he was well practised at ignoring little spots of discomfort. )

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Reading is a Dangerous Pastime

2020-02-15T22:21:22Z

Title (chapter): Reading is a Dangerous Pastime
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Written for International Fanworks Day 2020, based on the OTW Prompt: "characters react to discovering fanworks they are in."

Skywarp finds out about fanfiction; it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that it ended up turning into a scrap. And Thundercracker wishes Darkwater had come to him about it first.

( Now, Thundercracker knew FOR A FACT that Skywarp had clocked off and gone home some time just into the orn’s second quarter, because the teleport had pulled a double and wanted sympathy from everyone he bumped into. So why WAS he still just standing around – still partially in uniform into the bargain? )

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September update - Writing Projects and music

2019-09-11T00:49:53Z

So yes, you may have noticed a new chapter of something DIFFERENT posted very recently. (Although not THAT different in terms of it has some of my typical themes in it. Hmm. ¬_¬)

For a refresher, the story so far is available on a little Dreamwidth Community I set up to have somewhere to post it; start here at Chapter One.

A new chapter of Remember Me is on the way and hopefully will be in the next couple of weeks!

I've tended to stop posting spoilers apart from to people I 100% trust because there's nothing worse than having (what you think is a) good idea and having someone snipe you to using it (and not even give you any credit for it, augh). BUT! A little musical interlude wouldn't hurt I guess? These are some of the pieces I enjoy listening to while I'm writing - although often I'm accompanied by whatever random ASMR video YouTube queues up for me.*

Remember Me
Looking ahead, the tone of "Remember Me" has darkened a bit and gone from ~teehee, Megatron; what a knob, eh~ to ~slag, he's gonna try and kill us for genuine this time~

And interestingly, it was listening to this track from Mumford & Sons that inspired the change; it's very different from their normal music and not even that "dark", really, but it caught me totally off guard the first time I listened. I think it's the way it builds and builds up and -
suddenly stops. It's rather become the anthem of Starscream's nightmares, which are a lot more traumatic than the music would suggest - Exie will understand, haha. XD
"Darkness Visible"

But of course something lighter comes along and without asking, you absolutely KNOW who this tracks reminds me of. If I allow them a HEA. I may or may not. ¬_¬ HMM.
"Guiding Light"

Then of course there's this, this will ALWAYS make me think of a certain lead trine, and not just because of the official video. I love Caravan Palace - their new album only came out a few days ago.
Lone Digger

Runs from Silence (aka Pulse!Dragon)

Since my summer holiday, Fraemarr's planet (where all the lost dragons go when they're rescued) has basically turned into the Scottish Highlands, with an amazing glaciated landscape of moors and temperate forest, and lochs as far as the eye can see. So when I found a thing called "celtic metal" (which is essentially heavy metal with bagpipes) it was like fate. It's the soundtrack to the entire novel, I think. Ven (ok, expy!Skywarp) thinks it's amazing to fly to.

I'm listening to one group in particular at the moment; the SIDH. This track is pretty representative of what I particularly enjoy (but I love all of it, including "Shake that Bagpipe" XD )
Iridium

Then there's also this, which starts out quite gentle and lulling then changes quite distinctly at about halfway through - you'll probably spot the point I see Ven leading the cavalry over the mountains. XD (Not part of official canon, although I sorta want to put him and actual Warp in the same scene for Pulse to be able to facepalm at both of them.)
Two Steps From Hell - Emerald Princess

Seriously, though, I love this album.

OK - Back to writing!

((*Except when it queues up some horrendous "eating sounds" video. Even videos like "mouth sounds for people who can't deal with mouth sounds." Then my headphones get thrown. Misophonia is a thing - I don't get angry/emotional but I find the sounds extremely uncomfortable and absolutely have to turn them off.))

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Remember Me, chapter 9

2019-08-26T23:48:51Z

Is it a bad sign that a couple of chapter of this is the only thing I've posted in almost a year? Hmm. ¬_¬

Title (chapter): Remember Me (09)
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13
Notes: In which Skywarp demonstrates that he doesn't often stay down for terribly long, and Pulsar goes to see her sister (who feels somewhat abandoned and unloved in hospital).

( OK, so. I probably COULD have planned this a little better, Skywarp accepted, reeling backwards from another blow and feeling the wall impact his battered wings. )

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Remember Me, chapter 8

2019-04-14T08:16:15Z

Title (chapter): Remember Me (08)
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13
Notes: In which we discover that Earth-bound Autobots are watching completely the wrong things, and if/when her family get her back, Skydash is going to have a very interesting vocabulary.

Yes, I am still working on this! Slowly slowly slowly. A combination of work and study is eating most of my writing-energy these days. *goes back to sleep*

( In Nemesis’ monitoring room, it had been quiet for a while. Ramjet wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. He wondered for an instant if the brat had actually died? Or vanished somehow – wouldn’t be the first sparkling with the annoying ability to walk through walls, after all. In the bottom of the bucket, Skydash was cuddled down into a ball, hugging her knees. Still alive, fortunately. )

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Remember Me, chapter 7

2018-10-01T21:54:14Z

Title (chapter): Remember Me (07)
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13
Notes: In which Ramjet finds himself having second thoughts, and Skywarp's plan is discovered by his wingmates. Things... probably could have gone better, all around.

You guys do know how stupid you look, threatening each other with bits of a broken mop, right?

(And I can’t believe the last chapter I uploaded of this was in January. So sorry guys. This should also have been published the same time as all the rest at lunchtime, but Dreamwidth wasn't loading on my PC. Better late than never!)

( Whichever way you sliced it, watching over sparklings sucked almighty slag. Ramjet half-suspected this was a punishment of some sort, perhaps for not being proactive enough? Or for some perceived infraction by his trine, so THANKS to you two obnoxious afts for getting him punished for something he wasn’t even involved in. )

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"Runs from Silence", Chapter One

2018-08-18T00:21:47Z

( Le Fake cut to Chapter One )

"Runs from Silence" is a story I've been mulling around for a while, after reading something that partly inspired me and partly reminded me of other things I've wanted to put into a story for aaages.

I always enjoy the theme of people being turned into other creatures, even if it usually creeps me out, as well. (Okay, I admit it. I have something of a consistent theme of transformation / werewolves / etc in my fiction. It's probably why TFs had such a big impact?)

This one has dragons! Unwilling, grumpy, sore ones. Why WAS she in that crate, anyway?

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Happy? Anniversary!

2018-05-24T07:31:27Z

Title: Happy? Anniversary!
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Notes: Happy 10th Birthday, Blue Universe!

Warp and Pulse swap notes on how long they've been together and managed to not kill each other (intentionally or otherwise). So, Starscream still lives with a bunch of obnoxious glitches. (No sympathy. He brings it on himself.)

OK technically this is a month late, I started posting Screaming Blue in April 2008. But still, 10 years! *throws confetti*

Other links out: [link to AO3] [link to ff.net] [Link to tumblr] [Link to devART]

( After a day spent locked in battle with THE most wilfully obtuse bunch of self-serving councillors on his side of the planet – and coming within a wing-width of FEEDING Waveguide all his carefully-drafted budget assessments – Starscream had been looking forwards to a quiet night to himself. )

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Late Nights and Early Mornings

2018-05-15T21:03:22Z

Look at this! OMG. 😍

My awesome friend Exie (who is totally NOT a brick) wrote a ficlet that follows on from the one I just posted, with the exception that hers is infinitely more adorable.

Late Nights and Early Mornings

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Thundercracker (Transformers), Starscream (Transformers), Skywarp (Transformers), Skyfire (Transformers), Original Cybertronian Character(s)
Summary: Celerity finds out TC has a hobby, and that his family is loud (but that wasn’t news to anyone).

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Take the Initiative

2018-05-13T21:35:35Z

Title: Take the Initiative
Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU
Rating: PG-13 I guess? Do TF cusswords count as swearing? *ponders*
Notes: Tired of watching Celerity allllways sighing at TC's office door, Skywarp takes the initiative to play matchmaker. It doesn’t go quite as planned, but it isn’t a total disaster, either.

Not sure precisely when this is set, other than "some time between Future Tense and Remember Me".

And additional NB: Lara is a BIG girl – not quite as big as Hardline, but close (taller than new-model Seekers, definitely), and built rather like a brick outhouse. She's... not sure how much she likes being THAT BIG.

Other links out: [link to AO3] [link to ff.net] [Link to tumblr] [Link to devART]

( “Grounders,” Skywarp snorted, deliberately baiting Thundercracker's deputy for a response. “Never can handle their high-octane fuels.” )

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"Runs from Silence"

2018-03-10T08:04:47Z

So, after weeks of wrangling with ideas, none of which I was particularly happy with, "Speckle" finally has a proper title: "Runs from Silence"

It means I can properly set up my "novel notebook", at last! (I have a notebook for every major story I write - the Blue AU has ~~a more general~~ TWO* notebooks, with ideas and fluff and pictures in it them) I've already been collecting pictures and themes and ideas together, but without a nice cover it didn't feel "real" yet.

I'm working on putting the plot together - I always used to be a "pantser" but I've only actually finished things I PLOTTED recently so I'm trying that, this time.

(*-get it right, girl.)

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Speckle (working title)

2018-03-05T12:53:04Z

"Speckle" is a working title. You'll note I've attached the tag (Edit: Now it has a proper title, so it's been edited to "Runs from silence", woo!) to a couple of other entries, to save re-linking them...

"Speckle" is the working name the characters give the strange white creature they rescue from the spaceport, because, well... she's speckly? From their point of view, no-one's completely sure if she's sentient or just a smart/-ish animal.

Link to pictures (tumblr)

Yes, Speckle is Pulse. She doesn't understand their language, and they wouldn't understand hers if she could speak it, so there's a lot of confusion in the start. The crew rescue her from the spaceport, from which she was going to be shipped off to a mysterious buyer somewhere, leading to a chase between the planets and the discovery of a mysterious society (hint: might be dragons) at the centre of the galaxy.

But not all is as it seems in the green oasis she might have discovered. Only ~~this little white dwarf~~ our heroine might have the key to finally defeating the growing threat at utopia's heart... and only if she can find her confidence and believe in her own abilities.

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Jess (Jevics a'Sekilus) is a cargo handler, member of a small freighter crew of about seven. He's a laima spur with no real plans for life except drifting his way through it.
Mara (full name undecided) is Jess's cousin, and got him the job on the ship. She's highly unimpressed by how undisciplined he is. She's the first mate, and deals with logistics and accounts.
Pip (again, I don't have her full mame) is an albino DuSkai; albinos are outcasts in her society as they're considered duplicitous as they can't change their skintone, but the freight crew don't mind. She's a good all-rounder, deals with navigation, cargo handling and piloting.
The captain – a jet black ondras, who still doesn’t have a name yet – is also their medic.
There's also a vulline with the wokring name of "Kit" (which will probably change when I can think of something because I have far too many samenames right now), who I think is a pilot+cargo handler.

( Fic notes under the cut... )

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