Prologue
Not only is Joy Carter the worst poker player on Earth, her title spans across the universe. It took 5 games and the promise of cleaning crew bathrooms for her to arrive to this conclusion. Demoted to observer, she sits on one of the white benches that surrounds the edges of the sterile lounge. It's the last night before the rest of the colony and lower ranking crew wake from cryostasis. The last night for real fun. From here onward, everyone will be preparing for the year and a half long journey to planet C93X. The earth-like planet was discovered 5 years ago by a startup company–almost towards the far end of our galaxy.
After Weyland-Yutani's fall from grace, Bauer Corp filled the gap the tech giant left. The company rose to prominence fast, a fact that doesn't escape Joy's mind, and now they're colonizing their first planet.
It took a year for them to find the right candidates and applying was somewhat tedious. Out of the thousands that craved an escape, Joy made it out on top. After three years of working under top engineers, this would be her first leadership role. A role she had to train for.
The training wasn't as difficult as it should've been. Even though this is one of the smaller colonies, training should've went on for at least 4 years. It's clear that Bauer Corp was in a rush to outpace the startups they've since outlasted.
How did some of these people make it through training? Joy ponders. She takes a glance around the crew lounge, and her eyes are still trained on one particular individual, Hyperia.
Locked in as one of the final three players of the poker game, Hyperia hands whiten around her remaining cards, contrasting her olive tone. Her angular face contorts with frustration. Joy watches as a bead of sweat falls from her short brown hair to her thick eyebrows and down the scar on the left side of her clenched jaw. Happiness flows through Joy at the sight of her sworn enemy losing. Hyperia has been such an asshole since they've woken up from their cryostasis chambers. She constantly undermines leadership and picks fights with whoever she believes weak. Joy and her best friend Tasha. People tend to be scared of her, not just because of her tall stature, but her job as head armorer. Joy heard the walls whisper about her losing her last job from fighting.
What a surprise, Joy thinks to herself, how did she even manage to hide that on her record?
Her thoughts shift to the man beside her as she leans into his warm arms. Noah, the man she's been getting real cozy with over the past 8 months, has made this trip significantly more tolerable. From the way he makes her laugh, to how smooth his voice sounds with that New Orleans accent, and how taut his back muscles feel in her hands. He notices her staring, and his full lips plant a quick kiss on her forehead before turning back to the match. Trevor, his close friend and fellow navigator, is the current poker champion.
That bastard cheated me out of— BAM! The sound echoes through the room. The white table in the center of the room could've broken from the rough hand slamming full force. Joy winces at the slight flickering of the light within the table. This is the last game of the night before the real work began— she was not going to spend the last hours of relaxation repairing crew messes.
"Full house fuckers", A gruff voice rings out the crew lounge followed by frustrated groans. The corners of Joy's mouth slightly turn upwards at Hyperia's demise. She'll have to take over his crew chores for the next 2 months followed by tending to his every whim. Her fellow loser, Petra —the head logistics officer, runs her fingers through dark brown strands — laughing weakly. The less than gracious winner hops off his chair and begins to dap everyone up.
"I might be little, but I stay winning big" he exclaims while flashing the toothiest grin he can manage. He makes his way back to the table and gives a hand to Petra. Judging by the slight grimace of his face, her grip in their handshake must be too tight. He snatches his hand away and turns to look up at Hyperia.
Hyperia's eyes move in disgust from his hand to his face as she huffs out " Unless you want to lose another cigarette rotted tooth, I suggest you move away from me."
"Just for that I should make you brush my teeth for me tomorrow"
She mutters something under breath and stomps away to Dahlia, the second in command, who places a comforting hand on her shoulder.
No wonder she gets away with everything, Joy thinks to herself. It's no secret those two have been getting overtly friendly with each other. Her behavior always goes unchecked, and the others either don't care or too scared to stand up to her.
Hyperia's dark clouds begin to pollute the air around room. Captain Davidson rises from his chair isolated from the others and stretches his arms with a yawn. Joy notices a hint of sadness or, perhaps, guilt within his green eyes.
"Fun's over" he says as he stops in the doorway "The real work begins tomorrow." He takes his leave. The whirring of the machines fills the silence left between crew mates. Silence is never good because it heightens the loudness of Joy's mind. When it gets too loud, her thoughts can spill out of her mouth.
"Is no one else concerned about how unqualified we are to lead this colony?" She snaps her mouth shut too late. Her mouth dries and her soul withers away in embarrassment. The others stare at her as if she has five heads. Everyone is uncomfortable.
"Shut the Fuck up Carter!" Hyperia shouts breaking the silence, "No one here wants to hear that shit." She high fives Mason, the head of security, and disappears to her quarters. Everyone else follows. Tasha pats Joy's shoulder patronizingly before leaving. Noah not speaking a word, grabs her hand and leads her to his room. They've been altering between the two since they've first got together.
Joy reluctantly let's sleep take over as she prepares to start her new life. Worry still holds her in a tight grip, but she tries to bury it down. There are no dreams tonight. Her mind is a blank slate for the new day.
