fellowshippers | (no subject)

title: Introductions
rating: pg, for now
warnings: none, for now
summary: Billy meets the rest of the crew.
disclaimer: not mine, yadda, yadda, yadda
a/n: i think this is the most characters i've ever had in a fic. well, that weren't all having sex together, anyway. i hope i can keep everyone's personalities straight. let me know if i mess something up, all right? prologue, Part 1: Meetings.

The rest of the crew was gathered in the mess hall. They were crowded around a long table, finishing up what must have been lunch. Dom plopped down next to a boy who hardly looked old enough to enlist on a transport ship and clapped him on the shoulder, not caring that it caused the boy to drop a forkful of what looked like peas in brown gravy onto his lap. "Lijah!" Dom exclaimed in the boy's frowning face. "Got someone for you to meet," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the man standing quiet and confused in the doorway.

Lijah squinted up at Billy and wrinkled his nose. "Who's that? I can't see him all the way back there." He brushed the dropped mess off his white jumpsuit, smearing it more than cleaning it off, then shoved another forkful in his mouth.

"That," Dom proudly declared, "Is my new lover."

Quickly swallowing his mouthful, Lijah laughed and said, "That was quick, Dom, even for you."

The other three men at the table laughed while Billy sputtered from the doorway. "I am not! I don't know what.... I'm the new doctor. I just met him, just a moment ago...."

A tall and willowy young man held his hand up to stop Billy's rambling. "Don't mind Dom, there. He gets a little overeager sometimes. I'm Orlando. That's Elijah there." He gestured to the young boy, then pointed in turn to the other two men. "And that's Sean." The short, muscular man next to Orlando nodded his head at Billy. "And the mean looking shit at the end of the table there is Andy. Say hello, Andy." The dark-haired man in the dark gray wool coat who was hunched over a bowl barely looked up at Billy and mumbled "fuck off" under his breath before turning back to his meal. Orlando continued as if the man had done as he was told. "It's nice to meet you...?"

"Um, Billy," the doctor said, coming into the room to offer his hand to Orlando. "Billy Boyd."

Orlando smiled. Billy couldn't help but see how beautiful the man was, even in the plain denims and blue shirt he wore. "It's nice to meet you, Billy." Orlando clasped his hand tightly and shook it for longer than was strictly necessary. Billy found he couldn't look away from the man's soulful brown eyes.

"Oi!" Dom exclaimed, standing up and coming around the table to yank Billy's hand away from the man. "I saw him first, whore. Back off!"

Billy stumbled back a step from the force of Dom's intervention. "What the hell?" he cried, setting one hand on the table for balance and grimacing as it landed in some of the brown gravy. "Dom, that's uncalled for! Orlando was only being civil."

Dom frowned and Orlando laughed. "It's all right, Billy. Dom's not insulting me. I am a whore. The ship's Resident Morale Officer, actually, paid by Zap to keep the crew happy. So, if you ever feel the need, my cabin is just down the hall...." He pointed in the correct direction, but lowered his hand at the dark looks he received from Dom and, strangely enough, the man seated next to him -- Sean, Billy recalled. "I'm here to help," Orlando finished, glaring back at the two men.

Never having met a real whore before, Billy was at a loss as to what to say to him. He gaped like a landed fish for a moment, then turned to shake hands with the other men. Orlando looked disappointed for only a moment, then was smiling his beautiful smile once again, though it didn't quite reach his eyes this time. "So," Billy asked Sean. "What do you do?"

With cold, green eyes, Sean stared briefly at Billy, calculating before he responded. "I'm the Safety Officer. Remind me later, and we'll set up a time for you to get acquainted with our security procedures and set you up with your safety equipment, all right, Billy?" Sean stood, adjusting his gun belt over his severe black uniform, and shot a look at Orlando, who was not looking back at him. He shoved his empty plate toward Andy, who caught it and stacked it under his own with a sneer. Then, he waved and was out the door.

Frowning, Billy asked no one in particular, "'Safety equipment'?"

"He means your guns," Elijah supplied. "Everyone has to have them, and you have to know how to shoot, or you end up like David --" Elijah was cut off by a sharp kick under the table from Orlando. He cried out in pain, then stuck his tongue out at the other man.

"Don't you have take off checklists to go over or something?" Orlando asked pointedly. "We do lift off shortly."

"Yeah, whatever," Elijah groused. He pulled a thick pair of black-rimmed glasses out of his shirt pocket and slipped them on, then slid his plate toward Andy, just as Sean had done. "I'm out of here. See you later. Nice to meet you, Billy." Elijah turned and bumped into the doorway on his way out.

Dom smiled widely at Billy's confused and moderately concerned face. "Elijah's our pilot," he explained.

Billy nearly choked on his tongue. "You have got to be kidding me," he murmured. Whores, guns, visually impaired child pilots.... He was starting to wonder if it was too late to back out of his contract. "Who is Dav--?"

"Well, that's everyone," Dom said, cheerfully interrupting. "Wait, except for Catie. You under there, hon?" Dom leaned forward to look under the table. Billy leaned, too, and saw a very lovely woman sticking up through a hole in the floor, holding a full plate. It was the last thing he expected to see under there.

Lifting an empty fork in hello, the woman smiled wide and said, "Hello, Dominic. And welcome, William. I assume it's William...?" Billy nodded. "Lovely. Welcome, William, to Fellowship. It's not a very good name for a ship, I know, but we've taken to calling her Fran, anyway. I'm not sure I quite remember how that got started now." Catie dropped her fork to sweep golden bangs off her forehead and extended one slim, white hand to Billy with an air of sophistication one rarely saw in a woman stuck between decks and wearing white overalls.

Billy didn't know if he was supposed to shake her hand or kiss it. In the end, he opted for an awkward reach under the table and slight grip of her fingers. "Nice to meet you, m'am," he mumbled. He wished he hadn't left his hat on his bunk so he could tip it.

Smiling a brilliant smile, Catie squeezed back before dropping Billy's hand. "Now I must go, dear William. Fran is calling to me. She wants to power up and leave this desolate rock to stretch her wings a little. I do hope to see you again soon. I would cherish the chance to speak to you about a few things." And with a wink, she dropped down through the floor, taking her plate with her.

His first instinct was to try and catch Catie as she fell, and Billy fell forward onto the floor, reaching down into the square hole she had disappeared through. "Hey!" he called, then blushed in embarrassment when the rest of the crew laughed.

"She's all right, Billy," Orlando said calmly. "She's just dropped down into the engine room. She hates to leave it so much, she cut right through the ceiling into the mess to take her meals."

Billy looked down through the opening and, sure enough, Catie was already hard at work doing something to a rumbling machine. He watched her for a moment because something didn't quite look right, something about her legs, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it before Dom was calling him away.

"Well, that's everyone, Billy. C'mon, let's see about getting your things before Catie has us in the air." Dom pulled on Billy's belt loop and dragged him from under the table. He helped him up, then clapped a territorial hand on his shoulder as he shot daggers at Orlando.

"Nice to meet everyone," Billy said politely and let himself be led out of the mess hall. He went over all the names and occupations in his mind, trying to commit them to memory. Elijah the pilot, Orlando the Morale Officer, Sean the Safety Officer, Catie the engineer, Andy the.... "Wait," he called to Dom, who was slightly ahead of him in the corridor. "That surly fellow, Andy, what does he do?"

His steps only faltering slightly, Dom looked back over his shoulder at Billy and grimaced. "Andy takes out the trash," he said hollowly. Dom started walking faster, and Billy hurried to keep up, wondering just what the hell that was supposed to mean.