A Different Egg

Jo tried to figure out how best to broach an impossible subject. "Doesn't it feel weird serving under Matthew Cross' brother...? I mean... don't you feel... bad?"

It was like a slap in the face for Carter.

"Why would I?" she snapped defensively, but she knew precisely what Jo was talking about. She'd simply been pretending the terrible guilt and awkwardness didn't exist. If she ignored it, it would go away. The truth was, her nightmares were populated by the angry, rebuking specters of those who had depended on her to save them only to have her fail them utterly when it had counted the most, and Matthew Cross was right in the forefront of the crowd.

Jo was frowning and searching for the right words. "I mean... We served under Captain Matthew Cross while we were in Banshee Squadron. We were there when he... Well, you know... When those unknown aliens... Plus the way you felt about him. Now we're here on the Eternity serving under Captain Nathan Cross, Matthew's younger brother. Doesn't that make you feel seriously uncomfortable?"

Carter remained stubbornly silent, but the taught lines on her face and averted eyes told Jo enough.

"I mean..." continued Jo, determined to get an answer, or at least to vent her own feelings, "after what happened to Matthew... Do you think Nathan Cross blames us?"

Carter turned her head away from her friend and stared out the windows at the stars streaking by. Outlying streamers of the Briar Patch Nebula could just be seen to the portside, and ahead was a bright jade nebula. And somewhere out there... well, the Great Bird of the Galaxy had been kind to her, but had laid Matthew Cross a very different egg.

- - - - - - - - - -

The walls were built in Hexagon. The model stands, coffee table, and shelf behind the couch are Poser Primitives, The couch, potted plant, coffee mugs, and books are Renderosity freebies. The end table and picture frame are freebies built by me. Lee Carter is 'WLG Lilli for V3' wearing the 'Star Brigade' outfit retextured by me. The model on the shelf behind her is the (still) unfinished Lang class I've been working on, and is the ship she is on. The model on the end table is my Banshee class starfighter (freebie).

I thought it would be neat to show the old Banshee Squadron as they were way back before I upgraded all my Poser stuff, so the photo hanging on the wall is them as they appeared in P4 using the Posette figure and turtleneck uniforms. Back then Carter had blue anime hair.

The whole kit and kaboodle was put together in Poser 6, then imported as a whole into Vue 6 Esprit, lit, and rendered. Lights are much easier to work with in Vue. The only postwork is a tiny bit of touchup on the uniform and the view outside the portholes.