Harlock stared into the hold and tried to ignore the laughter from his armoured compatriots. 'I thought this was carrying essential supplies?'

Yattaran cleared his throat. 'Well… that's what the message said,' he mumbled.

Kei sauntered back, clipboard in hand.

'Well?'

He couldn't read her expression behind the faceplate, but it wouldn't bode well for the first mate… 'Over five hundred tonnes of toilet rolls, and both tanks loaded with an alcohol-based disinfectant.'

'We can use that,' Doc suggested helpfully.

'In about a century,' Kei muttered darkly.

Leave it to Ali to say what everyone wondered: '...on a Machinners ship…?'

...

For Polly... who will now be able to compare to see just how much fiddling I do between first draft and finished product!

Author's note, for future generations (if any...): Published at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic CE 2020, during which the behaviour of certain individuals re: panic buying left the rest of us a) baffled and b) without much to go on…

Leijiverse note: Machinners/Machine Men/Kikaikajin… the dastardly cyborgs of Lar Metal.

A CGI-verse fic.