Bond Mason's Story

Bond

He seemed like a flustered type of fella, but posed no threat, that was obvious after a few moments with him. Bond finally did reach out a hand to shake. "Bond," he said firmly. "You like electronics huh? What do you think of this?" Holding up the orange wire, he pointed to the tag on the end. "What Regina's got on board is just about as good, but a bit flimsy. Its the...oh what's it called, the Dalmur Black. You heard of them? Pretty good guys, but nowhere near this."

He watched Tom closely, genuinely curious in his opinion since Saein wasn't around.

Tom shook Bond's hand, relieved that the man had not seen him as a threat. "Bond. Nice to meet you."
"You like electronics huh? What do you think of this?"
Tom peered closely at the tag at the end of the wire. "That's interesting, I've not seen this type before. It looks pretty sophisticated though. I'm sorry, I'm just a scout, I've not got much experience. Electronics is more of a hobby, I suppose."
The thing in his hands bleeped and Tom quickly set it back on its stand in case he'd done something to it that he hadn't intended to, promptly picking up the next thing on the shelf and inspecting it. This was a voice card for an AI. He remembered the voice from the ship, and laughed to himself as he imagined it with various silly voices. He noticed Bond looking at him. "Voice card," he said bluntly, plonking the device back on its stand.
Looking around a bit more he saw the two other crew members emerging onto the street, only for the pink-skinned one to collapse. "Bond! Over there, look!"
Then, seeing that the girl had quickly recovered, he relaxed, and began looking around for something vaguely interesting to talk about, absent-mindedly thinking aloud; "Hmm. Wonder what that was all about."

Bond

Minn seemed fine a second later, but Tom had a good eye. Eddie comforted Minn with an utterly confused expression until Minn simply took off. Her eyes flickered this way and that, as if lost. Bond nudged Tom a bit, which felt weird and didn't comfort him at all, and he led the way to follow them down the narrow lane of shops.

Saein appeared moments later at the same time they reached the shop, trying to be funny and sneaking up on Minn. Bond nearly stopped her, but wasn't there in time.

Hearing the "boo" from Saein, Minn yelped breathlessly, jumping around and hyperventilating at the sight of the mechanic. Hands to her heart, she seemed on the verge of crying when she realized it was only Saein. Arms shooting out, she hugged Saein close and muttered incoherently as Bond and Tom approached Eddie.

"Is she...okay?" he asked, crossing his arms and glancing around the shop. Little knick knack shop. Seemed like every other shop had the same trinkets. "We saw what happened outside? Oh, and this is Tom. Tom, Eddie. Eddie, Tom."

Being nudged was a strange thing. Not many people did this to Tom, and he imagined that Bond probably had a bit of a sore elbow now, metal not being one of the most comfortable things to touch. That's the price you pay for full-time protection.

Following Bond down the street towards the poor girl, he couldn't help but show concern for her. She looked incredibly distressed. He was also about to act on the appearance of a red-haired woman creeping up behind her, but stopped himself when he saw the playful smirk on her face. This turned out to possibly be a bad decision, but the situation righted itself and he found himself being introduced to Eddie.

"Eddie? Hi. I'm going to be a scout on your ship." - then, mumbling - "That is, when I actually remember to give my credentials to the captain..."

He held out a hand for Eddie to shake, waiting for the reaction. Not many people were comfortable shaking hands with robots, but it was worth a try, just for the friendly gesture.

"Don't be alarmed by my appearance. I'm human at heart. Literally. Just with a few... upgrades."

Peering around the small store, Tom noticed something on a shelf that piqued his interest. It was an ancient handheld games console, possibly about 2000 years old, but still in working condition, amazingly. The previous owner had customized it a bit, with hand-painted designs on the inside of the lid. It was brilliant. If only he had some money - Tom sighed. It had been a while since his last job.

Eddie was still concerned with Minn, but since it was Saein who had jumped her, he figured it would be best that he let them talk. Guys needed guy time, girls needed girl time. Maybe Saein could help Minn with whatever it was that was happening. Hopefully it wasn't another one of her 'urges' kicking in, but then he thought that she probably wouldn't just forget doubt her identity because of that.

But now he was being introduced to.... a robot. Why? Did fate just want to see how much he could take? Anytime he looked at a robot, or head an A.I's computerized voice, memories of friends long gone flashed through his head, angering him and this situation was no exception. But he had to be nice, regardless of how much he dispised artificial life, and so he hesitantly shook the scout's hand. Maybe it was a good thing that Bond was there to stop him from doing anything stupid, just with his presence. He only gave a solumn nod in confirmation of Minn's state of health at the moment - he wasn't sure.

"...Right." he said. "Well I am your pilot for the Nightwing's Voyage, currently." his tone wasn't hostile, but it was nowhere near as friendly as Bond might've heard previously. Even when he threatened Bond with the empty gun prior, he still spoke warmly after the act was done. In its simplicity, Eddie's discomfort with Thomas would be noticable to anyone who had been around him for more than three seconds. But he managed to keep from outright showing disgust, simply because this man was somewhat human. He just hoped it wasn't a robot trying to be human, and instead the other way around.

"Welcome aboard."

Saein

Saein was surprised by the extreme reaction from Minn. Had nobody played this universal prank on the girl before? She felt sorry to have scared Minn that much, and glad to be forgiven immediately. Saein liked that her mistake somehow ended in a hug, though she subtly held Minn in such a way their faces wouldn’t touch. Being tired might give her less self control, and now was not a good time for a freak out or fainting.

The group was joined by Bond and a ...robot? Bond asked if Minn was okay, mentioned something had happened outside, and introduced the metal guy as “Tom”.

“Oh... Is something wrong then” Saein said. It wasn’t really a question. She held Minn a bit tighter, feeling extra sorry. “Sorry for my bad timing.”

Being too occupied with hugging Minn, she didn’t wonder why she and Minn weren’t introduced to Tom, while Eddie was. The fact Tom was not entirely mechanical but partially human did surprise her, but no comment about the weird attitude humans had to technology came out. Maybe his body had been replaced because of some extreme illness? Not enough of her mind was available to really think about it.


Uney

"Maybe I do." the human Saein had talked to replied. "Who's asking?"

“Uney Devan is who’s asking!” He grinned, winked and pointed at the human with both hands. “So you do know her, eh? Guess it sucks that firni can only date other firni... sorry I don’t mean to rub it in. And it’s my pleasure to be talking with you, mister...? That drink any good, by the way?”

His intention was to get information, not to share any beyond his name. Well, he might be willing to teach Alex how to talk with a constant unnatural grin.

Uney

Thinking quickly, Uney worked with what he got. “Aha, a doctor, that’s good. You’ll know... how to handle delicate things. I’ve been instructed to offer Saein her old job with a twenty percent raise, but I don’t know where to find her. If you could tell me...” One look at Alex’ face told him he would have no such luck. “...or perhaps you could forward the message to her. She’ll know where to find me.” Uney didn’t mention that instruction had come from his own mind right then and there. Nothing wrong with bending the truth a little, right?

He pointed at the empty glass. “Would you like another? I believe you when you say it’s good, so I’ll have one too.”



Saein

It was difficult to follow what Rokunam was saying. Something new appearing in Minn’s mind? This was alarming. Pushing her friend out of the hug for a moment and holding her by the shoulders, she studied Minn’s face. Were her pupils a normal size? Was her facial expression symmetrical? She also asked questions: “Minn, do you feel dizzy, or have a headache, or anything like that? What day is it? Can you count back from ten?”

Then she remembered reading memories was different from seeing tumors or brain hemorrhages, and that Minn was a confused and traumatized person, so her worry about anything lethal was probably silly. Saein wrapped her arms around Minn once more, the best way to help that she knew.

Saein frowned, and confused little dots flew over her face in all directions. What in space was Rokunam talking about? It was good these things were incomprehensible, emotional memories shouldn’t be shared with random passers-by. They shouldn’t even be shared with friends without permission, at least not with friends who might understand their emotional meaning. Since in her opinion she wasn’t supposed to know the memories Rokunam tried to dig up from Minn’s mind, she gave up on trying to make sense of them.

“Minn -” she said, pulling the girl closer again with one arm, speaking in a near-whisper they hadn’t heard her use before, “Minn, I really admire you for confronting the problem head-on. But if you’re going to dig into lost memories, you may want to do that in private, and with the doctor nearby, cause what you’ll find may be shocking.”

Saein had of course always felt respect for Minn and her other crewmates (even though her tendency to call younger women she didn’t know well “hon” might be considered disrespectful), but the way Minn had just responded to something that must feel immensely threatening, that was truly brave. She hadn’t thought Minn had that in her. If it were up to Saein, she would k... No, that would be inappropriate, and it would hurt herself too. She sighed. Maybe someday...

Bond

He hadn't encountered Rokunam directly, or at least he couldn't remember doing so. Shrugging, he watched him read Minn's memories, the Shariva standing stock still like her spine had solidified into one pole-like bone. Her pinks fingers clutched at each other tight.

Saein gave her advice afterward, holding Minn gently, an action that seemed overly considerate compared to Bond's experience with the mechanic. He smirked a little, before stepping forward with his own input. "I agree with Saein," he said. "Let's get the doc, and probably get back on board. Just in case. If you do need time, you won't have to move anywhere. We'll already be on board."

Minn's pink lips pressed together briefly. Bond knew the motion meant she was uncertain, debating, her fear coiling around her head. Somehow he knew, and hated seeing such a tiny being struggling. Saein's face revealed her worry and confusion as well, dots flitting this way and that curiously. Bond noted that.

"Besides," he went on with a smile. "Minn's dinner for everyone is getting cold. We shouldn't let such a thing happen."

Eyeing Saein, he wondered if it would be okay if he led Minn out or if he should allow her to do it. The crew had been together a day and the mechanic clearly already had an affinity for the Shariva. So he decided to ask Minn her thoughts. "What do you say, Minerva?"

Her full name caught her attention, green eyes flickering up to his, expression contorting slightly between confusion and fear. Bond's smile slipped. Something about her gaze...it reminded him...

He shook out of it. "Let's head back," he said decidedly, not waiting for her words.

Bond agreed with Saein and suggested looking for the doctor and getting back on board. She was probably the one in the group who had seen Alex most recently, so she helfully started “If we’re going to fetch the doctor before going back to the ship, I last saw him at...” That had been a restaurant. Maybe not such a good thing to mention in front of Minn. “Um. Some place in that direction.” She pointed where she had come from. “Then again, if we go look for him, we might miss him and he’ll already be back on the ship while we’re still searching.” Saein hoped Rokunam wouldn’t add the information she decided to keep to herself.

Saein’s stomach voiced its agreement when not letting food get cold was mentioned. Bond studied her face, trying to figure out things he might as well just ask. He also seemed to have some other thoughts, Saein felt clueless about what those might be. Being the only one with informative skin was inconvenient.

Glad that Bond had taken the lead and decided not to go looking for the doctor, Saein nodded emphatically. “Yeah, let’s head back. Right, Minn?”

Before the group started moving (if it would), Saein let go of Minn and offered to shake Thomas’ hand. “Hi. Sorry I was distracted. I’m Saein.” Her greeting was awkward, her instincts had a difficult time figuring out how she felt about this new kind of human/robot mixture, but as a person he deserved a handshake like anyone else.

Tom accepted the handshake happily. "Hi Saein, nice to meet you. By the looks of your clothes, you're the... mechanic? Cool!"
Well, at least someone would be able to fix him if he got in trouble. Assuming she was familiar with old-fashioned robotics, that is. Saein's dancing freckles caught his eye. He watched for a split second, then realised everyone else would see that as staring, so he averted his gaze to Bond, who was now striding purposefully toward the docks. Someone was hungry.
This thought reminded him of his own hunger, he hadn't eaten since breakfast. Part of that was to do with being unconscious in the hangar for most of the journey here. He was actually still a little unsure of what the time really was, seeing as they were on a space station with no day or night.
His mind wandered back to food. Seeing as the pink girl - Minerva was her name, according to Rokunam - and the pilot had been perusing the cooking store earlier, he decided that she was the cook. He wondered if she was good at it, and whether she took requests or not. It had been ages since he'd tasted his favourite food, and it was an obscure and strange concoction: whipped cream, yoghurt and dark sugar all mixed in a bowl. The simplest recipe for happiness he knew.

In this orgy of newcomers and other crewman, Eddie was at least happy to see that Minn had found Saein. Saien would comfort her and help her get through..... whatever that was. Then came one of the newer crewmembers, or maybe it was a random alien of sorts. Edide hadn't seen whatever this was, so he couldn't exactly tell what it was capable of, but apparently, confusing the shit out of Eddie was one of its fortes. When it began its tale of what had happened with Minerva, it mad a bit of sense - he could make out some of what they were doing earlier, but then it just got weird and incomprehensible. Edward didn't really understand what happened after that point.

So now it seemed that they were going to find their doctor. Well that ought to be as simple as finding a turd in a group of politicions, considering all the people stumbling around like they had something to do, which was made evident by their bored expressions that that was not the case. He sighed, knowing that this doctor might not be the easiest person to find, and that they were going to have to really keep their eyes out if they wanted--

*Beep.*

Eddie noticed a small vibration in his pocket, as well as the beeping of his mobile datapad. He read what it said with a small smile.

Heyyyyy guize! Git 2 da ship, kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay? Aight, im owt!

It told him that they were supposed to be heading back to the ship because they would be departing quite soon. That was perfect, actually, now they didn't have to go searching for their doc. Eddie smiled towards the group. "Hey, guess we don't have to look for him. Lets head to the ship and wait for him there." he spoke with a bit of enthusiasm in his voice. If anyone could find out what was happening to Minn, it was him, right? She'd get fixed.

Tom noticed everyone suddenly looking at their datapads at once - he assumed they'd all received a message from someone, presumably the captain. He didn't need to ask what it was, since everyone gradually turned and began making their way towards the waiting ship.
"I wish I had one of those," he thought, before remembering that he had his own system built in. This wasn't as much of an advantage as it might seem, since one of his internet friends, who he hadn't got round to deleting yet, kept spamming him with endless messages about his various obsessions that Tom had never bothered to explore. It was incredibly distracting having an email about flying ponies popping up in your peripheral vision whilst in the middle of a scouting assignment.

Tom turned to Saein and asked for the Regina's datapad address, and proceeded to send her a message with his credentials attatched (these being constructed from memory after his hasty exit from the academy), so that she could contact him at any time.

As they neared the ship, he couldn't help but marvel at its design. It really was a beauty. He was glad to be on this job.

MAK's alert came through quickly, shortly followed by Reggie calling, "Anyone with a weapon, get into cover. We got to clear a path for the rest of the crew!"
Right.

As bullets started flying, Tom pushed aside his thoughts about why they might be attacking, and got straight to the front of the line of crew members, between them and the attackers. These were just normal bullets, they'd hurt, but he could take it, mostly. Lasers would be a different story altogether.
He raised his arm and popped off one of his wrist rockets at the front line, taking about 5 or 6 of them down, but they were quickly replaced by the soldiers behind them. Running to keep between them and the crew, he let his chestplate take the brunt of the fire, arms spread wide to cover the most area possible, occasionally raising one arm to prevent a shot from a soldier, with his handgun.

Moments later he noticed a soldier with a different coloured helmet, possibly a captain. He raised his gun, took a second's aim, and fired a single shot at Reggie. Time slowed as Tom watched the bullet whizz towards him, and without thinking he threw himself sideways. He reached out his hand, not really sure what he was thinking of, and felt the bullet slam into his palm. His arm was wrenched back with the impact, and he clutched his wrist, staring at his hand. There was a massive dent in his palm, deep enough that the bullet had actually lodged itself inside. The pain was more than he'd ever felt before.
Remembering his duty, though, he sprang to his feet and ran with the rest of the crew to the ship, defending them as best he could. His left shoulder and one of his shins stopped more bullets, and a glance behind showed most of the crew to be fine, apart from Colin who was limping with a leg wound. Then the doors began closing.
Tom panicked then. Running faster, he put his arm round the nearest crew member, Rina, and helped her to keep up speed with the rest of the crew as they sprinted for the doors. He didn't look back.

The next moment, he found himself inside with the doors closed. Reggie was screaming and slamming her fists on the hatch, and as he looked out the window, he saw such a horrific sight that he didn't blame her.
He looked down at his hand. The bullet was still there, and there were dents in his chestplate too. He wandered over to the doctor, staring at his hand the whole time, and showed him.
"Look what I caught!" he said, with a grimace.

For a moment Saein was in doubt what to do, investigate the possible enemy on board, which probably was nothing, or start fixing holes like she was told to. “Oh well, she’s the captain, and I’m the mechanic, not the pest exterminator” she muttered to herself. Louder, she confirmed the order she had received. “Understood, captain. Those who can tell a hammer from a screwdriver follow me or Bond to fetch some tools!”

There were a lot of holes, but which ones needed to be fixed first? Walls, floors and ceilings worked just fine with bullets stuck in them, except in extreme situations in which compartments of the ship needed to be separated from each other airtight. Broken lights were annoying but not essential. The vehicles in the hangar weren’t needed right away. The damage to the hangar doors was on the outside and would need to be fixed sometime when there would be air on that side.

It seemed best to just start on one side of the hanger and systematically fix the thousands of holes without priority, unless something truly bad would be noticed. Hangars were built to survive small ships crashing into their inside walls, so Saein didn’t expect any alarming damage, just a few thousand nuisances.

Minn

The commotion in the hangar snapped her back to the reality involving the nightwing. Not even food could distract her at that point. Saein took off without a word and Bond followed suit, with a fleeting order of "Stay. Here!"

Minn knew better than to follow. Her tiny frame inched toward the door to the kitchen, staring down the hall and listening as hard as she could. Only her racing heartbeat mingled with gunshots and shouts. Tears filled her eyes, picturing them dying, one by one, gunned down and she stood there helpless. Clutching at the hem of her sweater, she waited, the Captain's voice ringing down, bouncing off the walls like a ball of sound. Minn couldn't make out specific words, but they started moving again. The ship soared and she lost her balance only slightly, the gravity of the ship hardly changed thanks to MAK no doubt.

Rushing down the hall, she found the hangar filled with most of the crew and shouts. She tried to make sense of what was happening, orders being given out and the tense air constricting her throat.

Only when she saw Eddie did the world stop again.

"No..."

The doctor was already there, but Minn hurried forward, falling painfully to her knees and searching for the wound. "What happened?" she demanded, chest tight and memories of the dead swirling in her mind like a carousel of torture. "Eddie? Are you okay?" Her green eyes lifted to Saein, already tearing up. "Is he okay? Wha-What happened?"


Bond

He couldn't imagine what Regina must be feeling. But he could guess, probably pretty accurately. Grim faced and silent, he nodded to Saein, acknowledging their mission, but approached Regina first before she disappeared behind the elevator doors. He wasn't sure what to say. Something consoling, witty, would nothing be better? He just knew that when he had lost crew mates before, though he wouldn't admit it at the time, it would have helped to have someone there, even just to exist, not speak.

So his eyes locked onto hers, conveying the message he wanted. The doors slid closed and he felt his fist clench.

Minn's appearance shocked him back to the scene. Hysterical, she was crying over Eddie, not helping the doctor in the least. He swept past Saein and knelt beside the pink-skinned Shariva, taking her arm gently. "The Doc'll patch him up. Just let him work." Slowly, he pulled her to her feet, stepping away from Eddie. One finger lifted to her chin, turning her head away from the sight which was enough. Her eyes closed and she hugged Bond's middle, burying her face into his shirt.

A bit uncomfortable, he stood, arms awkwardly not touching Minn at all. He caught Saein's eye briefly, wondering how ridiculous he look. Eventually though, he couldn't deny her the comfort she needed. Hugging her lightly, he patted her pink hair and watched as the doctor worked with Eddie.

“Is he okay?” Minn asked, referring to Eddie. “Wha-What happened?”

“A bullet hit him” Saein replied matter-of-factly. “Eddie is strong” was the most reassuring thing she could offer. Saein couldn’t afford to join Minn in getting emotional, not now. Repressing her feelings, she looked away from the girl. When she turned back, Bond had moved Minn out of the way a little and was comforting the cook. Saein squatted to look Minn in the eye. “Minn. I’m sorry, I need to work now. We all need to work now, to fix the ship, to help Eddie and the others, to get to a safe place. And we’re going to need you, everyone’s going to need lots of coffee and food.” She stroked Minn’s cheek, quickly got up and walked away to hide her own tears. It felt wrong to ask Minn to be strong.

Later, Dedrik came asking for a sitrep. Saein knew what he meant. “I caught a scent I don’t recognize, possibly a creature. If you didn’t find anything, it’s probably just something that drifted in when the doors were open. It’s probably n...” She stopped. “Just to be sure, though... MAK, check for signs of life in spaces that are supposed to be empty. Increase the frequency of routine checks to maximum. Ignore programmed margins of error for measurements when deciding what to report to me, report any value that is higher or lower than actual measurements during normal operation in the past. Pay extra attention to unusual things happening in or near the kitchen. Keep doing all of this until we have done a sweep of the whole ship.”

MAK confirmed understanding the order.

“There’re a lot of bullet holes, but nothing dangerous” Saein continued to Dedrik. “What do you know about who attacked us? Who is down? Who did we lose?”

She listened and nodded while Dedrik concisely gave her the information he had. Meanwhile, her hands worked on replacing a floodlight that had been destroyed by a bullet. Restoring the light would make fixing everything else in the area easier.

Saein did not like what she heard from Dedrik and the crewmembers working around her. How dare the Intergalactic Council attack a ship on a peaceful and legal mission! It was outrageous! It was disgusting! It was undemocratic! It was... time to let some friends know what was happening. “MAK, I’m going to dictate a letter that I want you to put on my datapad. I’ll use that to encrypt it, so don’t send it anywhere else.”

“I’m listening” MAK responded.

Much later, on Othra station, Regina received a message:

From: anonymous relay

Captain Oris,

We are a privately owned company under the jurisdiction of a government that is independent of the Intergalactic Council. We have been made aware of your mission and the attack on your crew. We are sorry to hear about the crew members you lost.

Apart from our offended sense of justice and the belief that completion of your mission may be profitable to us in the future, we have other reasons to wish to assist you, which we cannot disclose in this message.

We wish to transfer one of our employees to you. She will be an excellent intelligence officer. Furthermore, once she is on your ship, we will inform both the Intergalactic Council and our government that she is there. This means that as long as you don’t engage in activities that are illegal according to the laws of our government, any further attack by Council guards will be a violation of international treaties and may be considered a declaration of war. We don’t know if the Intergalactic Council will care, but we consider it worth trying.

If you don’t want our employee on your ship, you may send her away, and we will not interfere with your mission again.

Wherever you are when you receive this message, do not stay there for long. This message is difficult to trace back to us, but might be easy to intercept. Do not wait for us, we have a way to find you.

Be safe, and good luck.

Minn

She pulled away from Bond and started for the kitchen. In the way. She was in the way.

Saein had been nice about it, but the coddling tone wasn't exactly appreciated. Minn knew she was an emotional wreck at the moment though and simply walked away. Bond tried to say something, but she didn't hear him.

The kitchen provided less solace than usual. She started coffee. Little cakes. She even started a complete meal after that. All robotically.

She wondered about the red hand...

Eventually, they landed, crew members coming in and out for coffee and food while working. Wherever they were, she didn't want to be involved, especially with the attack just then. She slipped away, wondering how long it had been precisely since sleeping before. Fatigue didn't describe her though. Finding her shared room with Saein, she stumbled to the shower and turned the water on high, stripping down and glancing down her pink skin, the skin many hands had touched, groped, pinched, bitten and slapped. Somehow, that pain was small. What hurt now was her own mind, because distantly she knew, in a backwards, swirling kind of way, that her memories had been tampered with.

Stepping under the hot cascades of water, she closed her eyes and left the door open to feel the cold air in contrast.

Or she was crazy.

Bond

The bullets were probably mostly found, but a proper inspection had to be done once landed.

Which arrived sooner than expected. Bond sighed, a bit tired, having not slept for a decent period of time since climbing on the Nightwing. Still, he wasn't sure where his room was, if he still had one, or if he'd ever be able to fall asleep. To see his new crew members shot down so mercilessly...and seeing Reg in the state she was in...and...well...

Bond wasn't one to get emotional, but with the lack of sleep and the memories of his first voyage out of the academy weighing on his mind, he chose to continue working over greeting new recruits or finding food. The outer of the Nightwing pulled another sigh from him, but he set to work to release the bullets and patch any holes he could with the help of MAK when he wasn't sure if he had completed an area or not.

Eventually Regina returned to the hangar. Dedrik had been greeting recruits it seemed, Regina taking his place as Bond was about to head back to work after a small break. He appraised her expression, one of forced authority it seemed. Eyebrows high, he met her eye briefly, sending a silent invitation to talk, which she probably needed. But he wasn't going to interrupt. Although he could easily have pulled a prank and dulled her influence as a Captain over these new recruits, now wasn't the time.

He didn't have the heart when mourning was still in order.

Regina

A lot happened after the ship blasted away from the station. The Fotiss finished his introduction, very awkwardly at that. Dia Fora. Why does that name sound familiar? Reggie's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by another new crew member with Saein. Oh, there she is. Glad to see she's okay. The girl next to the mechanic looked very similar to Saein. They might be sisters. The way she spoke to her made her believe that they might be sisters.

Annarein, was her name, explained that Saein was on Shifters, and asked where they could be disposed of. "Just slide it into that slot." She explained pointing to a hole in the wall. "MAK we'll be able to get rid of it."

She released a breath, causing her loose hair to fly up around her face. She couldn't keep MAK flying the ship like this. The AI was fantastic, but she didn't want it flying her ship for long periods of time. Introductions continued and Reggie pressed a few buttons on her datapad. Eddie was still in no condition to fly, according to the doctor's notes. Damn.

"Captain, if I may ask a question."

Reggie looked up to meet the blue eyes of another recruit. "Yes, go ahead. I just..." She glanced around, meeting the eyes of several new recruits, all looking confused. She bit her lip, she was being so unprofessional. She really didn't have time to be a proper captain, as much as she wanted to be. Right now, she needed to get this ship to safety. She didn't want to abandon the new recruits without answering their questions, but she was running out of time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Bond working mindlessly in the corner. Reggie bit her lip again and turned back to the brunette. "I'm sorry, but can we walk while we talk? I have an injured pilot, and an AI piloting my ship."

She didn't bother keeping information from them. There was no time for that. She had to get things moving, and quickly. MAK was great when they needed to get away from somewhere or when it was smooth sailing, but if they were attacked, there was noway to survive. She looked back to the recruits. "Okay, everyone, walk and talk please. We are heading to the bridge!"

She turned and called Bond over, she stepped up close to him, so their conversation was just between them. "Bond, I need you to come with me. We have a handful of new recruits, all with questions. I need to pilot, and now. There may or may not be a galactic ship with a giant army on it right on our heels." She bit her lip. "I really need your help. Answer their questions, anything, we just need to get to the bridge."

"I don't care about lying to them about what happens, so just tell them the truth." She added before turning away and leading the group to the elevator. "Everyone this is Bond! He's our engineer!"