As the
Aether Hound neared its destination, Captain Ferran was back in her quarters by a large, brass cage, dressed in some of her fine-yet-practical clothes as she fed biscuit pieces through the shining bars to her parrot, Vedroc.
A gift from a relative a few years back, poor Vedroc had admittedly been rather neglected, having been 'oohed' and 'ahhed' over by the young Ferran for a while before she grew bored of him. The brightly-coloured parrot had ended up in the care of the head cook of the Toskhain Household, where he picked up a frightful assortment of bad words.
Ferran had somewhat guiltily retrieved the bird upon receiving her warrant, feeling every good Rogue Trader needed a familiar of some sort. Vedroc, rather disheveled-looking these days, had for his part been quite mistrustful of his fickle mistress, and rightfully so.
She was busily trying to regain his friendship with a steady supply of tasty biscuit crumbs and the occasional piece of fruit.
Right now, she needed the bird's cooperation. She desperately wanted to make a good impression on this, her first venture as a Rogue Trader, and had dressed accordingly. A red silk shirt, a pair of decorative gloves, comfortable cotton trousers and a rather incongruous pair of rugged, black lace-up boots formed the base of her outfit, covered by the thick, broad-shouldered jacket of her carapace armour; a bright blue sash draped across her torso to accentuate the brass-coloured metal plate over her right shoulder, proudly bearing the crest of House Toskhain.
Naturally, she fretted ceaselessly over her appearance as she coaxed Vedroc onto one gloved hand, gnawing on her lower lip as she pulled the parrot from his cage. At that moment the voice of Acting Governor Demin Harmann came over the comms.
+...I would be honoured if you and your commanders would join me over dinner once you arrive.+
The young Captain managed to reply quite gracefully, considering she was wracked with nervousness and was currently balancing a grouchy parrot on one hand whilst activating the microbead.
+Of course, Mister Harmann,+ Wait, was she supposed to call him 'mister'? 'Acting Governor' was too much of a mouthful, and besides it sounded as though she was emphasising the fact she was here to take over, and just 'Governor', well, that had the opposite problem. Still, he called her Miss Toskhain, not Captain. She figured it'd be fine.
+The honour would be ours.+She was just considering what else to say when Vedroc, terribly interested in whatever the crackly voice through the speaker was saying, piped up with a choice phrase of vulgar gutter-language, prompting Ferran to hastily sever her end of the connection.
She scowled at the parrot perched upon her wrist, who looked entirely unrepetnant.
"Throne, Vedroc, I hope Harmann didn't hear that!" She deposited the bird on her shoulder, giving him one last, withering look before heading out towards the bridge.
"And you had better hope so, too. I'm the one giving you the treats, remember?"With that, Captain Ferran heads to the bridge
((Or wherever the access corridoor to the station goes)), parrot on her shoulder as she uncertainly buckles her weapon belt about her waist, plasma pistol and sword hanging at either hip.
'I hope they don't make me look too... I don't know, unfriendly.' Putting her silly worries (mostly) aside, she contacts Jericho via micro-bead, observing the docking arm through any view-screens she passes.
"Arch-Militiant, this is the Captain. I'm on my way over now. I was just wondering if you could, well, tell me about all this security business beforehand?">Equip parrot and head to the point of disembarkment, have Jericho brief me on the security plan as I go.