The dog blinked several times as he was trying to look for Captain Sprinstream's face, soon realizing that she was fast asleep; Aidan cocked his head sideways and felt panic raise in his belly as approached the monitors, but to his relief, she wasn't crashing. She was sleeping instead, which made Aidan a bit suspicious. Edward then started talking, fumbling over his words and clenching his fists, a kind of behavior that perplexed the doctor even more; he listened carefully to his words and his intonation and by the time Ed finished delivering his decision, the dog slowly walked away from him and sat down on the stool near the drawer while looking up at him. He blinked a few more times before he burst into a low, continuous chuckle, a wide grin reaching his ears and baring his teeth, his eyebrows lifted over his eyes. Maybe he was under some funky effect from the painkiller, or maybe he found something quite hilarious to him; maybe both. When the chuckle fit had finally ended, he licked his canine tooth and closed his mouth to form an ironic smile; he shook his head a couple of times and wanted to cross his arms, but since his left one was unresponsive, he only managed to bring them together and entwine his own fingers.

"Right." He started in a whisper, his voice husky with exhaustion and mucus accumulated from the good laughing fit. "Okay. It'll be done. I'll take the samples to the lab and have them analyzed, closed envelope. I don't know how long it will take them to finish, but I'll let her know when I get them back."

With that, Aidan stood up, grabbed the samples and headed out the enclosed saloon, leaving Ed with a final note. "Be nice and wake sleeping beauty in two hours for debrief, in the meantime you're free to do whatever. Word got in, the op's over and Blade wants us gathered in the crew lounge."

Thus, he left the two to their thoughts and dreams and headed over to the nurses to kindly ask them to deliver the samples to the lab with a single condition. Once that was done, Aidan made his way through the cruiser, avoiding bumping into people the best he could and when he finally reached his own little compartment where he would sleep or read and shut the door behind him. He leaned against it and allowed his body to slide down until he sat on the ground, sighing loudly all the way. He had to take a few minutes to regain his composure and go on with the rest of the day, making a list of things that he still had to do that day: shower, change his clothes, work out the manifestos, repack his kit, get his GEAR back in its dock, handle rations to hostages, discuss patient and casualty situation with either Blade or Irry, get a six-pack for Ken, punch Kuraiko for getting shot while he was away, call someone, unpack some books on his PADD and stand vigil for the night. The twang in his arm become more and more painful to him and he felt his patience crack and crumble under the weight of the responsibility he just took without at least questioning his true motive and the odds of his success.

[i]I've royally screwed myself[/i] he thought, a self-pitying chuckle cracked through his dark expression [i]'n she's too much of a coward to tell me what she wants. She leaves the responsibility to her pawn, to make the decision for her since she knew he wouldn't betray his superior. I need to be careful around her, but that poor, poor Ed... Shit, man, aren't you a bit harsh on her?[/i]

He didn't quite have the time to punch himself in the face for his immense transgression, so he manned back up and went on to start ticking items off his to-do list; he gave his sweat-heavy stuff back over to the armory and took a nice, hot shower to soak his tense muscles and loosen up a little. He then retrieved the DATMK he left in the infirmary and before he handled it over to the apothecary, he subtly slid the x ray under the fresh, clean shirt he took on. He received a clipboard with a large form he had to complete in order to have his kit restocked with the necessary goodies and four other patient forms with which he had to provide with the the exact reasons why he used certain medications on them. Thus, he started to complete the form as he slowly made his back at the hangar to check if Stumpy was brought back, and to his relief, the hunk of metal was indeed back along with Kuraiko's own GEAR, which reminded him of the wolf. He sighed internally and before he would go look for him, he ran towards the mechanics and technicians working their magic on his Dartwing and politely asked them to prepare the provisions stowed in his cockpit to be distributed to the incoming hostages. He later learned that Kuraiko was already discharged, to his relief and worry and with basically nothing needing his immediate attention, he headed to the crew lounge. There, he reserved himself a seat and kept his nose affixed to the clipboard, scribbling and ticking away to make time pass. Distress was growing slowly inside him, knowing that he had to lie once more and this time to the colonel; he kept his thoughts suppressed by his current task, but there was little control over the dread gnawing at his heart and the need to scream his lungs out.