Chapter Text
Kuprum just wanted to collapse into his recuperacoon.
After an exhausting- and exceedingly long- shift bouncing between each corner of the cosmos delivering frivolous shipments to different empire colonies, nothing sounded more appealing to the goldblood than the warmth of slime. But, as was the case with most things off-planet, his desired luxury was nowhere in sight. At that very moment, the desk chair that his pilot had borrowed from the main office would have to do.
It wasn’t that he was drained psiionic wise, but the mental toll of boredom and monotony was starting to hit him. He wanted to stretch his legs for a while, get some feeling back in his fingers, but after being strapped to the circuit of a ship engine for Empress knew how long, he’d have to wait a while until the pins and needle sensation stopped.
And, once again, life had another inconvenience to throw at him.
Vikare seemed as annoyingly cheery as ever. The bronze was sat leaning on his desk and writing a report of their day. Hell, he didn’t even seem annoyed that the gold had thieved his chair. However, it didn’t take too long for his dopey smile to drop at the sound of buzzing from his communication headset. He put down his pen and brought a pair of fingers to his earpiece.
“This is Captain Ratite. Is there a problem, commander?” He began. “Affirmative… Loud and clear…” The bronze paused for a moment, referring to his half-completed report. “It’s a small cargo vessel. Will that be a problem?… Understood. We’ll be ready to blast off in t-minus 10 minutes.”
Kuprum tried to eavesdrop the conversation, leaning as far back on the chair as he could without tipping it. He snapped back forward as he heard Vikare pacing over, closing an eye for effect. When he opened it again though, he found himself dumbstruck by the oddly professional expression the bronze had on his face.
“Get off your backside, sparky! We’ve been called in for an emergency extraction job” he announced, patting him on the shoulders. “You’re not too worn out, are you? You should probably get an energy bar down you- this is going to be a doozy of an assignment.”
Kuprum looked at coworker, confused. He narrowed his eyes, inspecting every inch of his face and analysing his tone of voice to see if this was other one of the bronze’s “larks” or jokes, but found nothing.
“Someone better be fucking dying” Kuprum growled. “We just finished work.”
The bronze’s expression remained dour, much to his companion’s chagrin.
“No, not a someone, a something.”
Vikare looked just as tired as him now, but he was clearly determined to continue his work. He turned to a control panel and went back to setting up their ship for relaunch. He messed with a few switches before speaking again.
“Star G16FH in sector 55ES is fluxing and it’s feared to be reaching supernova soon. We’ve been assigned to help a colony in its obit to evacuate.”
Kuprum raised an eyebrow.
“Oh shit, for real? That’s like, a serious job!” He exclaimed, leaping out of his makeshift resting place. “That’ll be a fuck tonne of work.”
Vikare gave him a quiet chuckle.
“If you’re not up to it, I could very easily
set up one of my old, non-gold powered ships.”
“Like hell you are!”
With a sudden burst of energy, Kuprum puffed up his chest and put his hands on his hips, trying to show that he was indeed fit for the job. His coworker’s insistent worrying was one thing, but his impromptu babying in combination with the gold’s overall fatigue was another. He grabbed an energy bar from the bronze’s desk and tore into it, trying not to grimace from the weird, vaguely fruity taste and gritty texture. The pilot couldn’t do anything but watch; equally confused and entertained. To compensate for his uncharacteristic display of compliance, Kuprum decided to continue talking with his mouth full; Vikare’s number one pet peeve.
“This is the first real assignment I’ve received on this backwater mud heap you call a planet” he said, spitting crumbs everywhere. “You couldn’t stop me if you tried!”
After a hefty, somewhat painful swallow, Kuprum lifted the biological feeding tubes and energy hoses of the ship to prepare for lift off, only to have them smacked from his hands by Vikare.
“Stop using up your energy, chap. We’ll certainly need it if you insist on coming” the pilot scolded. “If you want to make yourself useful, get a spare headset from the cabinet above my desk.” He gestured back over with his elbow before turning to to the steel hangar doors and opening them. “It’s the yellow one. I’ve been working on it for you for a while. I was waiting for a special occasion to give it to you, but what’s more special than a celestial being imploding on itself?”
Kuprum stopped momentarily from downing an entire water bottle he found on the floor while the pilot was talking.
“Why the fuck would I need a headset?”
Vikare sighed.
“Well, in case I need to talk to you or you to me” the bronze grunted. “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be informed about my partner’s status as we head towards a potential supernova or black hole.”
“You’re not gonna let me on the ship otherwise, are you?” Kuprum asked, despite feeling like he already knew the answer.
“Bang on, chap.”
Sulkily opening the cabinet, the goldblood was indeed greeted with a blood-yellow headset. A blood-yellow headset that bore an unsettling resemblance to his morail’s headphones. From the exact shade of gold, to his symbol being printed on the ear piece. They were almost identical, if not a bit thinner. The pair in his hands also felt sturdier, even if they appeared homemade- unlike the ones Folykl found in the dumpster and had him paint. He didn’t like looking at them.
“How the fuck am I supposed to work a headset if my arms are tied up, feathers-for-brains?!” He spat through his usual obnoxious grin.
Vikare looked over the gold’s handiwork and when satisfied, propped himself against the door to the hangar.
“Just bang it against your arm, I guess” the bronze responded dryly. “You’re a smart fellow, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Now, hurry along if you want to come!”
Kuprum snickered.
“That’s what she said!”
Kuprum wasted no time in barging past the bronze in the doorway and prepared himself to be put back into the ship’s energy circuit again. He knew if he could see Vikare’s eyes under those goggles, they’d be rolling- exactly what he wanted.
“This colony we’re helping is at a Stage 4 in development so there’s about 10,000 trolls there, as well as a mother grub” Vikare explained as he opened the door to the old spaceship and ushered the gold inside. It was a rickety old thing. A pre-first rebellion ship that the bronze had lovingly fixed up and tricked out. His pride and joy.
After the door opened, they went for the bowels of the ship where the engine and battery pod was located. Vikare was about to continue explaining the mission, until he saw his goldblooded compatriot eyeing up the hollow power chamber.
“Do you want me to secure you into battery pod?” He asked.
Kuprum chuckled again and wasted no time in getting back into the device. The same device that he just crawled out of not 30 minutes ago.
“Nah, I’m good. Besides, you do it too loose.”
As soon as he finished his sentence, the gold used his psiionics to secure himself into the battery core. The wires and mechanisms dug into the smaller troll’s skin, causing Vikare to wince.
“I asked you to say when and stopped when your wrists started turning gold” the pilot muttered.
“Don’t be a total nookwhiff, birdbrain. It’s when they turn white when you panic!”
Vikare shook his head and watched on as Kuprum continued to get himself secure, all the while wearing his usual toothy smirk. When the pair started working together, the bronze found his partner’s unrelenting glee uncomfortable, but he had become oddly used to it now.
“I’ll keep this in mind” he sighed, resigned. “Just please don’t cut off your hands circulation completely. You need those.”
“Hey, you’re not my lusus! Don’t tell me what body parts I can and cannot maim.”
After the bronze was happy with the engine condition and solar shields level- as well as Kuprum’s general state of being- he left for the cockpit of the ship. The gold was left in the battery pod, feeling the slight tingling of the standby ship. Just as pleasant as it was less than an hour ago. It made him wriggle a bit.
Unfortunately, his moment of electrical peace was soon interrupted by the sound of the headset buzzing to life in his ear. Typical. Leave it to Vikare and his irritating cadence to break through his pleasured, battery-based thoughts.
“Alright, Kup. We’re set to take this bird out of the hangar.”
The small pool of power flowing through him began to increase, telling him that the ship was on the move. Time to let his pilot know everything was in check- or rather, attempt to. Stupid headset. After several fruitless attempts at slamming the side of the headset against his bony shoulders in an attempt to reply, a realisation hit him. He could just use his powers to push the headset button down. Hearing his microphone crackle, Kuprum finally replied.
“Just fucking pilot this tin can” he grumbled, somewhat embarrassed as to how long it took him to get the damn thing working.
He grimaced at the sound of Vikare laughing on the other end.
“Did you only just figure out that you could use your powers to switch it on?”
The bronze cackled in his ear again.
“FUCK YOU BIRD BOY! WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST TELL ME TO DO THAT?”
“I just wanted to see how long it would take the ‘Empire’s Greatest Battery’ to figure out that he could use his gifts.”
Kuprum let out a long, exasperated groan.
“Ugh! You’re such a bulge!”
The pilot finally managed to control his laughter and steadied his breathing. The gold could practically hear him wipe away a tear from under his goggles.
“Don’t say it like that” he said, back to his usual cheerful demeanour. “Think of it more as… battery enrichment.”