A single percent of a smile that is was, the absence was still noticeable as Jessa blew Luci off in favor or ogling 'Heir Doktor' Wolfe upon their entrance. If the beep-boop didn't know better, they would assume the influx of organic doctors would be somehow related to morale. Mayhap medical attention was something better suited for a creature with meat and bones? Luci honestly held no shred of belief that the value of a 'soul' alone had sway in choosing who pried bullets out of you. It could be argued that this is specifically the reason why having extra doctors on The Condor was essential, as Luci was not known for their bedside manner...or even being able to offer a reassuring smile, for that matter.

Thankfully, they could still hold the attention of their fellow constructs long enough to exchange greetings. Tiny blips of feedback brought about by the glow of Nexus' eye to the point of Luci being tempted to make a joke about how if it kept staring, it might burn a hole through her. However, the machine was surprisingly expressive with a single eye and Luci was curious of how literal such an assumption could truly be. The construct had unnerved them a bit at first, though like their associate 'Garbo', they appeared more interested in tinkering than dissecting crewmates.
Luckily, that was Luci's job, and they were most proud of being of some value since hostile alien specimens tended not to scream nearly as much or threaten to have them ground up. Yes! They were aware what bones were! Namecalling didn't make them any less broken.

Shaking the thought, Luci lifted a hand in a half wave to address Nexus and make it clear that they were very aware that the machine was watching them.
Judging by the noises Garbo was making, there was likely something they missed before showing up. It made no sense to the android why a fellow construct would take such a tone with its kin, though she was well enough aware of the man to know that asking such questions likely wouldn't get them anywhere.
"Tell me about eit. Zeh view iz far from interesting, at that" Luci replied, unwilling to admit that they'd spent their time just kinda...staring. It wasn't like they cooked, took stock of inventory or did much of anything in the way of productivity when at port. "Still building drones?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in mild interest; another unrefined expression that came off almost condescending even though the roboticist had one of the few jobs on the ship worth considering 'interesting'. Well, one of the few that didn't involve cracking skulls or delving into derelict ships for goodies.

The meeting was fairly brief and straight-forward. Luci didn't have any questions since the intel department was literally carried around by Roland who she imagined goes over such information with Marty who no doubt listened intently. The 'ladies and gentlemen' bit stuck with the beep-boop who took the exception in stride, not entirely sure what they could be considered as, themselves. It wasn't like they appreciated having such existentialism pointed out, but at least the captain was honest enough about his feelings.
In all seriousness, Luci was curious about one small matter, raising a hand before speaking. "Do ve have a negotiator or a plan of attack? I doubt zeh Titchua are going to play ball, no matter how nicely we ask" they asked, simply knowing where they were going and why not entirely being enough. At least in the enforcement vids and based off experience, hostage-takers tended to get fairly itchy trigger-fingers in response to assaults.

@Dr Catfish@Erklings25@Mistory

The machine snapped its head to point at Garthar, plates flaring outwards in anger. "The Captain must have misread your training and skills. We would like to educate you on power fundamentals, as power cannot be stored in the manner you suggest without ship-size capacitor banks. To our previous knowledge, the ship is not a capacitor, and will not hold the required amount of power you are suggesting. The primary core is fine serving its intended purpose. If combat proves power draw too intense, we will begin construction on a secondary fusion core using our own fuel cells. Synthetic fuel-time will be halved, yet salvaging ships should provide additional fuel we can process. If power consumption still proves too great, we will move to further analyze core components which draw extensive power and either create protocols to mitigate consumption, or make them more efficient." The mild insult in response to Nexus' previous scathing retort went overlooked.

It had spoken lengthily, but what Garthar was proposing was idiotic. Absolutely moronic. Storing power could only be so efficient. Even with 0-Kelvin super-conductors, there was only so much power a battery could hold and how much it could release over a period of time. Even in the twentieth century this was a known fact. Power cannot be efficiently stored in that manner, it must be used on production.

"With the Captain's permission, we can provide efficiency upgrades using stabilized ion core technology. This will multiply power, yet direct hit in combat creates a one in eight possibility of complete destabilization. This means it will require monitoring by another less capable Engineer." It stated, light moving to beam over Garthar. It was insinuating heavily, rightly so with that rather electrically-defunct request.

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Before the others could enter, Jessa had already jabbed his leg and he held in a groan of pain. He lowered his head to the table and took a deep breath. After the pain had subsided, which was relatively quick, he raised his head again. That was when the others started to enter. First to enter had been Luci. She was much closer to Jessa but he had more reasons to be visited by her due to him constantly getting hurt. He really owed a lot to Luci. For the past two years, she had been the one to take care of his injuries mostly because some of the other human doctors had been exasperated with his antics. "Morning." He greeted with a smile once Luci had sat down beside Jessa.

His eyes tore away from the android when another person came in. This one wasn't familiar to him. The question - "Who are you" - danced in his mind as he tried to dig deeper into his memories but her face just wasn't popping up. Was she a new crew member then? He liked having new crew members to talk to. She introduced herself as 'Dokter Vulfe'. Vulfe? His mind began to go through the numerous Earth languages that he knew before finally ending up with figuring out that it was 'Wolfe' and she just had a really thick accent. But, another doctor! That's so cool!

He was about to say something to Jessa about looking forward to working with her when he noticed that she was staring and then began massaging her temples. Christian began to become worried. Was there something wrong with her? The male was completely oblivious to what was raging with his friend's mind thanks to him not even understanding the basics of attraction. He leaned closer to her before whispering, "Are you alright?" There was genuine worry in his tone that she was sure to pick up.

Then, his least preferred person to talk to entered. The Second-in-Command but more serious than the captain himself, Ryan Rolands. He didn't hold a grudge at the guy; it's just that he doesn't like talking to him. He remembers hearing Sir Rolands trying to joke around but it always falls flat because... well, it's like he doesn't know how to take it easy! But that's one of the reasons why Christian doesn't hate him. He at least tries. He bowed his head in respect to his entrance before leaning back on his seat and looking at Captain Marino.

That was when Nexus decided to test Sir Rolands's order and began to slowly sit down on one of the chairs. The chair began to bend in his weight and then completely snapped off, taking Nexus with it on its fall. Christian wasn't really amused by this part. It was what Nexus said after. Like earlier, he suppressed his laughter but his shoulders were heaving up and down. He was obviously trying to hold it back. Most of the time, you would appreciate how he doesn't just outright laugh out loud in serious cases like this and that's only because he at least has the least bit of manners.

He stopped when the captain began to speak. He fixed his position and then listened intently. So a Titchua Pirate group was raiding their company's ships and this time, they hit jackpot. There was something important in their hands and the top brass want them to retrieve it. Sounds simple enough. He means, it isn't easy but it was simple to understand. He turned his head back at the new doctor before saying, "Looking forward to working with 'ya Doc." He guessed they'd have to introduce themselves to her later on, unless she has files on them in which case there was no need for that.

Then Gar gave out a suggestion to which Nexus immediately shot down. Christian wasn't sure what they were talking about so he opted to just let the captain understand that. He only did what he was ordered to after all. In these cases, he had no choice. Should it have been an exploration mission, he would strike out by himself at any time. In critical missions such as this, he has no choice but to follow orders. Which reminded him, since this was going to be dangerous, he should prepare his weaponry for this. Yeah. He then heard Luci's question and then looked back at the captain. "Yeah, do we have a plan on what we're going to do? 'Cause I don't think we have anything they would want lying around so we can't exchange those for the dignitaries. In which case... we'd have to get them out by force." He wasn't much of a planner really but these were just common sense questions. He at least had some semblance of wanting to stay alive.

A veiled smile tugged at Wren's lips, though he did not reply to Maria's friendly banter. He could not glean any more humour from his dreams than he already had. As the briefing room swelled with the influx of other crew members, Lawrence felt his eyelids flutter, heavy with sleep. The morning chatter began to fade into background din. His head propped up by the crook of his elbow, the filmy pall of a reverie cloaked him.

He could see his mother behind a thick wall of glass; see her pearly smile and the wild, curly hair Wren inherited. His father, too, with his hard-nosed countenance and the bristly stubble of a blue-collar worker. He could see their faces being leached of colour, their dusky visage fading to grey husks. Wren felt himself withdrawing from the scene, too fearful to see such familiar and soft faces etiolate like a dying rose.

Wren's view changed abruptly, and he felt his heart wrench in pain. Standing in front of a small lake, air cockling the edges of the waterside gently, was Drew. The man he left behind on Earth to join the Condor, and to seek a purpose that would make him feel worth a tuppence. He missed Drew, and though Wren agonized over it for the first months of being employed, he never tried contacting the green-eyed charmer. No calls, not even an antiquated letter. He could not put Drew through more suffering to satisfy his own wants. Pain crawled about the peripheries of Wren's mind.

Stop, he begged himself, I don't want to see. It hurts to see.

"-ogue Titchua raiding IOSE ships." The voice of Marino startled Wren from his daydream. He sat upright, fingers knotting together and unknotting on his lap anxiously. He listened, trying to reorient himself back to the job he sacrificed so much for.

The Tichua aliens? Masha's thought began to wonder and the friendly havoc around her started to blur, giving room for images of those foreign life forms. So they are raiding. Interesting. And ironic. Wasn't it one of their Lehds, chieftains from ages ago, that said that piracy as a business was a crime against god because it did not create anything new, but just robbed others of the fruit of their work? Yes, it was. Dante thought similarly of usury. How times change so much but also stay the same. Even with our current monetary systems there is always an excuse to raid, a cause for envy. In a brief pause of thought, she noted tat Wren had refrained from commenting upon her remark, but his smile gave her a hint: she was not to push the dream business, because it obviously gave him some troubles.

There seemed to be some sort of confusion with the non-organics in the room, and the second-in-command had at some point come in and with strict look in his eyes; but Masha was too concerned with her own thoughts to pay any attention at the time and hoped the eye had not taken note of her, especially if there had been any inquiries directed at her which she failed to register. The most pleasant surprise was seeing the new doctor, Frau Wolfe, appear, a most friendly looking person. I will have to brush up on my Tichua, I guess. Aber mein Deutsch ist immer noch gut, Frau Wolfe, und ich freue mich auf unsere Gespräche. She looked forward to being able to use something other than English with her crew mates, especially German which she was fond of.

When the captain asked for questions, the first thing that popped to her mind were dangers of possible combat, because she had had very little training and was not licensed to carry a weapon on the ship. Well, a fire arm at least. She looked at the holowatch on her wrist. The device had already picked up the word Techua and was working on downloading all the date Masha would need. What a handy device, the watch. Quite literally.

"Yeah, do we have a plan on what we're going to do? 'Cause I don't think we have anything they would want lying around so we can't exchange those for the dignitaries. In which case... we'd have to get them out by force." Christian's words confirmed her suspicion.
"Which would be risky, right? Them having precious cargo on their ship. We have to try and negotiate first. If we have it confirmed that these people are alive, that must mean their captors are willing to engage in dialogue. What would be the point of keeping them otherwise? We can't engage them as long as they have the dignitaries." No, don't say that, don't be stup--! "I can try. I can talk to them." Idiot! You are dead! Her heart was beating fast and the digits on the holowatch showed increased beats per minute. She was numb at her own words, but was in a way proud too, even though she knew deep down that what she said were only attempts at avoiding battle more than bravery. But still, small personal victories were satisfying. Hopefully she could calm down before the robot groped her the way he did with the other crew folk.

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Marty rolled his head back, listening to all the questions bombard him. He grinned at the warring robots, well robot and cyborg. He liked Nexus' gumption, but he also acknowledged the fact that Gar was actually being rather sensible suggesting an intelligent method of attack. As Nexus counter argued him, Marty waved his hand as a sign for them to shut up. He didn't know about the rest of the crew, but Gar and Nexus were doing his head in.

He did have a fairly solid plan of attack. The Admiral made him come up with it in their meeting, mainly because if he didn't do it right there and then, he probably wouldn't have remembered. He was about to answer Luci's question when Nexus interuppted him. Loosing his cool for a second, he simply said "Nexus, buddy. I guess you see yourself as the most sensible thing on this ship, so no matter what Gar says, you're going to argue. Well, you clearly aren't. I will not follow through with either of your ludicrous suggestions, frankly, boys. As quick as good old fashioned broadsides would be, I would lose my job if we accidentally killed a hostage. And you, boys, would be for the scrap pile. I want you two to man our good old laser-photon 'blaster'. You're needed for no more than that. Anyone else?"

He next noted Christian and Masha chip in on Luci's earlier question. He was rather taken aback by Masha's request to try and negotiate with the Titchua. For someone who hadn't carried out a mission before, she seemed ballsy. Instead of answering them, he gleefully pushed a button in his chair, turning to the next slide on his presentation, detailing his strategy. "I do love a good slideshow! Well, I don't think that the Titchua are in a talking mood. They won't listen to us, they'll just request their planet back. So, I decided, we'll send round a couple of 'diplomats' as a distrcaction, but send a team of explorers to free the hostages. Then we escape, with them being none the wiser. I was going to send Mr Rolands and a willing volunteer round, I guess that's you, Masha. We got that? Thank god, I was starting to get serious there!"

Nexus listened carefully to the Captain's words. It was no wonder why the Cyber Dog was admitted to the ship. It had similar views with the Captain, even though the suggested method was impossible if not improbable. Storing power was still absolutely ridiculous. While the ion stabilizer would take a significant amount of material, it was mostly suggested to prevent the Cyber Dog's idea from taking place. The shutting down of both ideas came as a positive outcome regardless. It also appeared that the machine's plan had been completely ignored by nearly every crew member. Garthar's plan was diverting power to nonexistent batteries, the machine's own plan was utilizing light inverters to render a group of infiltrators invisible. But it didn't matter, the Captain would know best. The mantra ran through its circuits, making the machine twitch imperceptibly. The stealth generators wouldn't even be difficult to construct if it salvaged bits and bobs from other systems in the ship.

Electronic control modules from the primary guns, spare scrap metal Nexus had brought on, hologram emitters from the Bridge and a simple power source from near any appliance. Not only that — with a bit of finesse — most if not all the parts could be recovered. Still, now was not the time to debate this. If it was approached in search of input, the machine would relinquish its standings. Until then, it would focus primarily on self-preservation. It lacked material to develop near anything with more complexity than a panini press.

Rewrite protocols. Establish code of ethics and conduct. Operate under silence, retain to section in Engineering.

Tweaking the joints and rails in its hand assembly would occupy its time when it was permitted to leave. If it was able to complete that, developing steel frameworks for already imagined weaponry, armour and equipment would retain its attention. Nexus was to establish isolationist policies unless one of the members stood out incredibly to the machine in which case private confabulation would be requested. As it stood, few candidates were likely to grasp the machine's intrigue. If it were not despised, Nexus was viewed with mild skepticism and almost fear.

The Captain's words were incredibly odd to Nexus. While Nexus did have the most knowledge in creating something fully functional, even if lacking in aesthetics, it was always looking for emotional research, piloting large crafts and a myriad of other skills it did not know, typically revolving around interaction. The comment left the machine slightly hurt. Nexus only verbally retorted/scalded Garthar as so far, they had only suggested ridiculous proposals and berated the machine constantly. In fact, Nexus had audio recordings of the first words Garthar had ever spoken to it.

"Nice one, droid. Thought you were supposed to be coordinated. Not tripping over your own feet." He continued with:

"Need to run a scan on your gyroscopic and moter coordination systems. Dont need you putting a hole in the hull. Hell, go get checked in the docking bay. Im sure we can...do something about it. maybe take the legs off completly. Put you on a set of wheels."

Which — to a synthetic — was the equivalent of saying: "Ha, silly human, you're braindead - can't even balance. Go to the doctor, maybe they'll amputate your legs and put you in a wheelchair for life."

@Erklings25

"Well..." Masha said, somewhat dejected. "What went through my mind was them shooting the hostages as soon as we made bold to do anything more than talking ship-to-ship. I suppose I can play the part you intended, as a distraction, if they are ready to have us on their ship, which is exactly what I assumed they would avoid. You are the boss, boss." But partnering up with Mr Rolands? She took a glance at the second-in-command and suddenly felt judged even though he paid no attention to her at all. She would have given anything to flip through the pages he carried, just to see the reports he had written. Somehow she imagined him putting strikes next to their names, having eyes and ears all over the ship, being everywhere and knowing everything that went on at any time.

The holowatch on her wrist vibrated. The downloading was already over and the data was all ready and waiting for her, updating in the background in real time as new words, expressions, idioms etc. were coming to being. The galaxy is large, languages spread interspecies, new dialects were born constantly, new scripts, all influenced by the diversity of the speakers (or writers, in case of those races incapable of vocalising) that counted billions upon billions. It was confusing, complicated, impossible to follow, thrilling. Masha hoped the meeting would soon end. She had a lot to do if she was to make a contribution. I better stop by the medical quarters to get something to keep me awake tonight. Some pills or whatever they have. And better take a nap in the afternoon as well, to recharge my batteries. I think I'll skip the workout. I am not in the mood anymore. I am heading straight for breakfast. Hopefully they have peach-flavoured tubes today, the new shipping arrived yesterday.

Writing up the mission parameters in a personal doc, Lucile's eyes shifted around the table as the attendants spoke and did their best to even edit in dispositions for the sake of judging success. This last bit was quickly abandoned from how difficult it was to feel out the crowd. Wren had pulled themselves back awake just in time to even hear what was going on, having had little input. It was probably better that way as Luci reflected, not entirely sure what the concrete course of action would be regardless of what the captain eventually decided on.
Asking questions seemed the best way to approach meeting, and after having the same questions asked in different ways, words finally escaped Marty who decided to contribute to his own meeting.

With Nexus and Garbo warring over repurposing bits of the ship for other purposes, Luci was glad they were shut down. While either idea had some level of value, editing and deleting bits during the needless exchanges was becoming as close to a headache as she was willing to deal with. Hazing out most of what both of them said (assorted insults included) in favor of the captain's long-winded faff about jobs which required Luci to strike out the possibility of giving the hostage-takers the broadsides, the first layer of simple content came in the way of new voices.

"Oh good, zehr iz a plan" Luci chirped in response to the projection, accompanied with a small laugh, making a motion of rubbing their temples for dramatic effect. In spite of the readings on Masha's watch, she had very definitely volunteered in spite of being in the belly of the beast. It was an admirable offer, and she certainly wouldn't be going alone. If everything went according to plan, important people might not even get hurt.
With that thought, Luci updated their roster of 'important people' to include Masha, just to be safe. No sense leaving her in a category that wouldn't stop aim assists from putting a bullet through her to shoot a target behind her.

Resting one arm on the table, Luci left the other one perched on the elbow to casually raise a hand. "In zee event zeht Miss Novak and Sir Rolands are allowed onto zeh ship, I vould request chaperoning as zeir bodyguard...unless you vould rahzer I secure zee hostages?" Luci suggested, breaking their own protocol of offering said suggestions to suggest such a suggestion. The act of adding the new girl to the 'try really hard not to kill' list plucked a chord of sympathy, feeling they may as well commit. Well, that and stalking halls of an alien ship and discreetly extracting hostages was a bit much to ask from the white and red hardsuit...unless...

The way Nexus had so simply spoken of jerry-rigging the ion...cannon? Hazed out, irrelevant, still! A dampening or stealth grid would certainly be of use, however temporary it could be used with the suit's batteries to consider, at the cost of parts...
And then the idea came crashing down the moment Luci considered asking Garbo to assist Nexus with material acquisition, likely at the cost of his drone parts. Briefly, Luci considered the possibility that yelling at the two would evoke some level of cooperation, but it seemed like a needless step where simply lying to either of them could just as easily get the job done.

Of course, regardless of how the modifications were carried out, it heavily relied on her role in the mission since there was no way she could be in two places at once. Certainly, The Condor's staff had willing 'explorers' to fill any gap she couldn't. In the momentum of plot, Luci had forgotten they weren't a one-man-army...the same mistake that landed them in the synthetic body to begin with.

@Sigurd@Dr Catfish@Erklings25@Mistory
(And others, I think)

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Rolands had fatally overestimated the Nexus machine's intelligence.

One would hope that, if a chair could not hold the metal giant's weight, it would have sense enough to understand the meaning behind the Vice-Captain's order. All meeting attendees should be seated so none serve as a distraction, and more importantly, because it was regulation. It could have simply hovered it's weight close to the seat, while maintaining all the pressure on it's four legs, so that it only looked as though it were sitting. Either Nexus was not well-built and strong enough to hold his weight over the chair, or it was not sophisticated enough to comprehend orders that are not given in perfect detail.

And if it can only obey orders explained to the letter, how can it ever serve as an explorer?

Nexus had revealed a primitive A.I., a poorly designed form, or a disrespect for command. A very deep disappointment, to say the least. "Engineer Nexus," Roland's voice was a slow sigh, "when next we have an opportunity, I need to speak to you. Do you... understand? You may simply respond with the words 'yes' or 'no', please."

The human did not actually wait for an answer: in almost the same breath, the subject changed. "However! In a more appropriate time, perhaps the Captain and I can listen to your engineering suggestions, but we will have to arrange a more proper meeting. This is not the place."

Again no pause for an answer, again a change of subject, again without delay: "Now we must return to more relevant matters, please."

Rolands stood from his chair slowly, with an air of importance, drawing the attention of the room to himself. He had heard Maria's objections; he had chosen not to acknowledge them. It was only another mistake of hers that he would have to remember. Those were piling up quickly.

"I will of course attempt to stall the Titchua, with, or without, Ms. Novak," he bluffed. Realistically, Rolands was not nearing that ship without a translator- nor would he feel confident against the Titchua without Lucile at his back. No man in his right mind wants to be within a mile of hostile aliens without a nearby medic or two, or five, or ten.

The Second-in-Command held together his monotone, all-business facade, but in his heart, Rolands felt a slow-gathering storm.

Oh? Are you, Mr Rolands? Hah... Greetings to you, Tichua! We are here to negotiate. I am Masha, I can speak your language and will be serving as a translator and a diplomat. I am a bit rusty, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes. Oh, and by the way, before we commence, you wouldn't believe what my colleague, Mr Raynolds the second-in-command here, has just said about your people before entering your ship! Oh, my! Now that was an insult to remember, let me tell you. I bet our entire crew is laughing their ribs apart! But me, though? Oh no, my parents are long partners with your folks and I love you, that's why I am telling you all this. Keep it between us, eh? See how well you stall them with a hole or two in your dome, Mr Rolands my dear.

"Well, I suppose you would, Mr Rolands. But," she said, looking at Luci, "I think you should at least take Luci with you. It's a good point she's made. Better safe than sorry, right medic?" Behind her smiling face, Masha thought about Luci's exosuit she managed to sneak a peak at one time. It was a creepy thing, very cyclopean in design and had the aura of an old concentration camp lab worker from the 20th century rather than a medic. But she nonetheless knew that there might come the time when Luci's one eyed face would be the face of an angel, if she ends up butchered or wounded somewhere in space. What was it about extreme sterility and medical protocols that made one so uneasy and apprehensive?

Masha now stood up herself too. The second-in-command was up, the plan seemed to be set, the non-organics were silent and busy with their machinations: surely the meeting was over? She remained standing however, not taking her leave until the captain officially dismissed them all. But the captain,ever since she saw him first that morning, seemed most willing to dismiss himself forever and simply retreat to some forsaken satellite in deep sapce and be an anchorite free from all worries and duties of an IOSE employee.

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Jessa kept her peace, sat on her butt silently and listened with open ears but with no facial expression that would suggest she even was listening too much to the ideas of how to approach the situation thrown into room. But she did listen. And she did understand. And she did know that the both guys were basically measuring their lengths - she considered Nexus a guy now, due to his way of measuring with Garthar. Boys. Always having the act like they are in a constant fight against each other. She knew that a couple of people on the ship considered themselves to be the best mechanic or engineer and she had gotten the feeling that both Nexus and Garthar felt like that description fit them. But they didn't know what she knew, didn't know the technical things that she had seen, that she had learned to operate with. But that was a whole other story, in the past, and she would be quiet and let the two guys fight for the spot of 'the best' of whatever. She knew she had more in her head than she showed and that was enough, she didn't need anyone else to know or to applause her.

The idea of the captain seemed risky and not well thought through and instantly the woman worried for her friend Luci and her team mate Masha. The second-in-command not so much, she felt like he could handle anything with his papers and his stick in the ass. You can't disrespect like that, Jessamae. Shut up.

"I think we need to understand our enemy if we want to approach them properly. The key to a successful mission is planning, coordination and knowledge. And of course a good team, but to no doubt we have that." She kind of shot Masha a look unintentionally, somehow she felt like this woman had guts and would never disappoint. Chris would have probably argued with her that the success of a mission is more about luck and improvising, they had their differences but they were a great team.

"Of course we could try to sneak in and out, but if their ship's technology has anywhere near the latest updates and possibilities, they will know we're there. We would have to hack their system to make sure no alarms will go off, no monitors will show our crew sneaking around where they shouldn't be. The hostages won't just be sitting around in the next corner either. We will probably have to fight. Of course hacking the system, if not done carefully and the right way, will set off an alarm straight away and we will be stuck in them firing at us, or them escaping within a heartbeat. If their system is not updated to the standard... good for us. But I wouldn't risk it without knowing for sure." The headache was making her vision blurry, but she tried to push the pain back and ignore it the best she could. "Then of course there's the question of the why. Why do they have those people and why are they still alive? Obviously they need them for something or need something from them. It would serve us well if we knew who these very important people were and what the Tichua would need them for. And I would suggest to have a very good plan for the distraction if we are gonna send them right into the stomach of the beast. They need a good story, and a better escape plan if they see through the lies."

Her headache was getting worse by the second as she spoke. Thinking about the event clearly wasn't doing her well. She closed her eyes for a moment and rubbed her temple. A picture shot up in her mind. She saw the Tichua. She saw Masha and Luci and Rolands on their ship. But she couldn't see what would happen. The future can change, but once a vision appeared to a Vasciamaerian it was almost like set in stone. She knew that. She would rather not see the future right now. She would rather just... fuck... sleep. Her head was hurting.

She opened her eyes and tried to look like she was fine, but her vision was blurred and her smile hurt her head even more. She would like to have something against the pain, but most things didn't work. After all it wasn't a normal headache.

"We need people on the rescuing team that are quick on their feet, silent, fast in adapting to situations that we might didn't think of happening, quick thinkers, precise firing skills and that work together as a team perfectly. Someone with decent medical skills should be on the team, in case the hostages are hurt when we reach them. Someone skilled with opening locked doors of any kind would surely be a huge help as well. Radio contact to the Condor as well as all team mates on the enemy's ship would be preferably at all times. Who is going to stay on the Condor and navigate us if we end up in a section of the ship? We do have a plan of their ship, right?"

For a split second Jessa wondered if the new doctor knew something about her race and if maybe she would keep her secret if she told her and then maybe just maybe she could help her with the pain she always felt, with the visions she didn't wanna see, with everything that she couldn't tell anyone. But then shook the thought of. The doctor would report her as an alien race and she would turn out to be known as the one that brought the race of The Foreseeing back to light - back to suffering. She couldn't tell her. She couldn't trust her. Why did she want to trust her so badly? Because she reminds you of her. That's enough. With one last push of her stubborn mind, she sent all thoughts about her past and her race to the back of her head, locked it into a closet that was way too full with secrets and left it there in the dark.

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Dr. Wolfe glanced to Romona after noticing that she’d been looking over in her direction, before the large hulk of a machine that was Nexus crashed into the chair and took all of her attention. The amount of machines on the Condor both made her nervous, and prompted her to wonder why the captain would require more than one medically trained crew member. The part that bothered her the most was that she couldn’t read a machine like she could read the body language and facial features of a living person. It was like staring at a computer screen.

Following the instructions of the captain’s Second, Rolands, Amy took a seat beside Christian and remained silent, somewhat nervous in the company of so many new faces. She toyed with the idea in her head, how she was in fact the new one here and that these “new faces” were in fact quite the opposite. Shaking her head out of the little bubble she had entered, she turned her attention to the Captain as he began to address the crew.

A combat oriented mission, one she would likely have little direct involvement in unless it required her to be a part of a landing team. She had very little personal defence, only the rather unimpressive utility knife and standard issue 9mm pistol strapped to her waist to keep her out of harm’s way. She’d have to almost completely rely on the other crew members for her safety. Perhaps she could assist some of the researchers among the crew however. Just because she was a doctor didn’t mean her knowledge was limited to just medicine.

With a gentle smile, Dr Wolfe nodded to the captain as she was addressed, answering him with a simple reply.



It took her a moment to realize that Christian was talking to her, but she turned and gave him a small smile. Amy had a good feeling about him, something…genuine to his words and overall attitude. Offering her hand to him, she responded to him quietly as to not disturb the briefing.



The Doctor looked down and tapped her rather advanced prosthetic forearm, awaiting a response from the AI that had transferred itself into the computer built into said forearm. Upon hearing Avalon’s chatter in her practically invisible earpiece, she whispered a command to it and pulled up her sleeve. Underneath, a blue screen lit up on the white prosthetic that had replaced her forearm and listed out important details on these Titchua. She wanted to know what kind of wounds to expect from their weaponry were someone to get injured.

After the captain finished his piece, both Rolands and Masha had come to an agreement, and Romona had contributed, Dr Wolfe stood from her own chair and spoke. She looked around at each of the crew members as her request was to each and every living organism in the room.

---

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His eyes sparkled when Doctor Wolfe had actually responded to him. He shook her hand with enthusiasm, giving her another grin but didn't speak as the mission plan was going to be presented by the captain at that moment.

Christian listened closely to his captain's plan. It was a plan that was easy enough to understand, but risky enough to warrant some planning. Though, anything simple could pass up as good for them. But there was only one thing he wanted to know. The others voiced their suggestions and whatnot so he opted to stay silent for the meantime. Sir Rolands still was being as stiff as ever and was giving their new member a hard time. Christian would make a joke about it but the vice-captain might put him off the mission if he did.

Jessa suggested and asked things too but Christian flashed her another look of worry. Setting the mission aside for now in his mind, he was still wondering why she was in such great pain. Though hopefully the doctors can help with that. Shaking his head and leaving the medical stuff to the medical staff, he spoke up. "Y'all already know that I'm cool with this plan. Sounds pretty solid to me." He shrugged, his opinion a complete opposite from his partner though he wouldn't be debating with her this time.

He then grinned. "Adaptable? Check. Quick on his feet? Check. Knows how to shoot a gun? Check. You really want me on this mission eh Ramona?" He hoped the joke would be taken in good humor but there was no time to worry about that. He really did think that coming onto this mission was perfect for him, but that decision was up to the captain. He then rubbed the back of his head and then said, "It's great and all but I think... you know, maybe we should know where the hostages are being held in? Maybe a basic map? 'Cause I'm fine with going in blind but it would take a hell of a long time to find those hostages. And that's when they're not going to be dragging them along while Sir Rolands and the others are talking with them." He pointed out. A map was too much to ask for but he wanted to be sure that every resources they could use would be given because he really wasn't sure how the hell they were going to find those hostages without any prior clues.

He then looked at Doctor Wolfe once more when she said that she wanted to check up on anyone with any serious medical condition could come and see her after the meeting. Without missing a beat, Christian placed a hand on Jessa's shoulder with his other hand pointing at her. "Jessa needs a check-up." Though the male didn't know what was happening to his partner, he'd really rather not have her in this condition when the mission is underway. Not only would it be an inconvenience to the mission but she would be risking her own life and Christian definitely did not want that.

---

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Janeway's footsteps echoed like bells through the ship's interior. The clock had ticked far past seven, and she was running late.

The only fellow crew-member she had met so far was a brutally bureaucratic man introducing himself as "Mr. Rolands, Second-in-Command of the I.O.S.E. starship Condor." He must have repeated his rank-and-title at least twelve times. But he was nice enough to tell her the meeting was at 6:30 A.M., and to provide her with the basic layout of the ship.

Not that it would matter soon. Janeway was arriving to a meeting late, on her first day, with no second chance to make a better impression. Joy is not a woman to shrink away from personal responsibility: if she lost her job over this, only herself could be blamed.

She eased the door to the Meeting Room open slowly, with the caution of a technician defusing a bomb, almost daring to hope they wouldn't notice. But when she finally stepped into the office, Rolands was already staring right at her with those cold eyes. "Ms. Janeway," he spoke her name like an accusation, "you are very late."



In a voice that made her want to fall asleep, Rolands explained everything the woman had missed: the Titchua vessel, the hostage situation, the plan of attack, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Either because there were so few empty seats left, or as some kind of penance, Janeway was directed to sit next to the Vice-Captain. Was being near him a punishment? It had started to feel like one. Mr. Rolands acted like a filing cabinet come to life. His back was as straight as the chair's, and his eyes were duller than the leather. He seemed to be almost a part of the ship itself. He was everything in the world that was professional, over-regulated, and boring.

"Dr. Wolfe," the filing-cabinet-man fondled a thick stack of papers between fingers, briefly, before laying it on the table in front of Wolfe with all the importance of an offering, "you will need this."

She might have felt a little drip of guilt, but Janeway couldn't stop her gaze from spying onto the documents. Neither could she stop her heart from sinking deeper than her stomach when she recognized what they were. She had seen those records too many times not to know them.

Mr. Rolands had left Joy Janeway's entire medical history, brain damage and all, lying face-up on the table. It was in plain view. She didn't care if he meant to give it only to the Doctor; anyone could just look over and see "patient has cybernetic implants" boldly displayed on the very first page. It wouldn't take much searching to notice.

Janeway's right hand shot forward, grabbed the papers, and flipped them blank-side-up as fast as she could. It was too early to become the victim of everyone's sympathy again. They could all see that metallic, prosthetic left hand plainly enough, but she didn't need the whole fucking crew seeing into her head. The patient relaxed back into her chair and sighed a little- nobody else had looked at the documents yet, hopefully.

Her eyes met the eyes of the woman Rolands called Doctor Wolfe, the one who would have to read the medical files, but didn't have to make it public. Joy gave her an almost pleading look, one that said: Don't tell anyone, yet, please.

---

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All the questions were getting a bit too much for Marty, who was rubbing his temples out of sheer stress. The whole thing was bringing on a migraine. Maybe holding this meeting early in the morning was not his best idea. He let the crew bicker among themselves, about who needed to go, about how questionable his stragey was, and the like. Truth be told, he had planned this entire mission at 11:00 PM, on his 3rd glass of vodka. As Joy entered the room he shot her a friendly wave.

"Ok, ok, calm down everyone. Two things. Firstly: this is Joy." He loosely pointed at her. "She's new here. My second issue being our strategy. Luci, if you would accompany Mr Rolands and Masha that would be a big help. Our 'away team' will primarily consist of Jessa, Chris, Joy, and Wren. Oh, and Wolfe, you can join them too. We may well need a doctor. Does that sound good to you guys?"

The next slide appeared on the screen, a plan view of the vessel they were storming. "Now, our diplomatic team will send a transmission, requesting to enter their ship to make negotiations. When they are admitted, our away team shall enter through a chute on the south east of their ship, just here. This chute has connections to every room in the ship. What you do then is up to you. Find the hostages, and lead them out the chute. There, I shall be waiting in a smaller vessel, ready to collect everyone. I'll send a signal for our diplomatic team to wrap things up. When we're all back on board, Gar, Nexus, you guys had better fire up the hyperdrive. I don't think our friends will be fooled for long. Now, can we wrap this up, I'm getting a migraine from all these questions so early in the morning."

---

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Jessa almost rolled her eyes, but she resisted. Of course Chris would be okay with the plans - any plan, to be honest - or no plan at all, preferably. She shook her head ever so slightly at him, but he already knew this game of 'back and forth' between them. He wouldn't take her seriously, just like she wouldn't take him seriously. They were like siblings in that way. Chris then couldn't seem to help it and added how much 'she wanted him in the team'. Jessa gave him a small smirk. "I want good people on the team." However, she didn't add anything more. Chris was good. Despite his lack of planning and his ass always being in trouble somehow, he was good.

Jessa needs a check-up. That sentence made Jessa give Chris another kick underneath the chair. She almost missed him completely though and only brushed his leg with the tip of her sneakers instead of kicking it like she had intended. The headache was harming her more than she had thought. She wasn't sure if he was worried for her sake or the mission's sake. She preferred the latter. Maybe he was right and she should ask the doctor for some pain medication against this headache. She had no hope that they would work, they haven't done the trick before and she didn't see any reason why they would do the trick now. Nevertheless she considered it.

The moment a young woman entered the room, Jessa's attention was drawn to her, simply because she was so late. Being late in a meeting that included both the big bosses was a bad idea. And just like that, Rolands decided to explain everything they had just discussed again. Surely that was a good idea for the sake of the woman and probably for the sake of the crew too - hearing it twice wouldn't harm them. But she knew that if she would have been the cause of Rolands explaining something again to the whole crew, she wouldn't feel too comfortable about it.

The woman was new on the Condor, she was certain about that, she hadn't seen her before. Jessa immediately wondered what her position was. The captain then introduced her as 'Joy', and Jessa hoped that this was her name and not the captain's personal opinion about her. Rolands said something to the new doctor about some papers that he dropped onto the table and the new crew member flipped them over. If Jessa would had to guess, she would say she was embarrassed for whatever was laying within them. She didn't care. They hired the woman for a reason, so she must be good in whatever she was supposed to do on the Conder. Jessa trusted in that.

The captain continued with his presentation of the strategy, he announced that Jessa would be on the team storming the vessel alongside Chris - she was actually relieved about him accompanying them - Lawrence, who she didn't know much about really, and the new woman, who's name seemed to be Joy. Jessa hoped that Joy would work well in their team, only a good functioning team was a good one. The best individuals wouldn't make a good team if they didn't work well together. He sent the doctor, Wolfe, with them as well. She wondered if that was within his plans before or if that was a sudden idea he had. Jessa knew it was of great help to have a doctor along them, especially if the to-be-rescued people were injured, but it also meant one more person to take care of. Hopefully she could shoot.

The captain continued to explain their ways in and out, but Jessa already had trouble trusting his plans. If the Tichua figured out how they got inside before they got out again, they'd lock up and guard the chute they used. And the captain had simply ignored her concerns about any kind of alarm or security cameras showing them walking around or showing the hostages missing and didn't even take notice of her request to maybe know why the hostages were hostages in the first place and who they were. In fact, he hasn't even mentioned how many it were. Just indicated that it was more than one person. She would trust the captain though. He knew what he did, right? He didn't make the position of captain by leading his people into death-traps. So he must know more than her, she convinced herself. But he also did use the term 'away team', which in her mind sounded... not so professional for a mission that consisted of saving some very important people.

"Sir?", Jessa spoke when the captain asked to wrap things up, "When will the mission go down?" She expected an answer that ranged from 'in 30 minutes - get ready!' to 'three hours and we have to be on our top game!'. "And who leads the execution team?" Without a clear team leader the chances of the team members fighting over the best way to approach a certain situation were too high, they needed someone who called the shots in case such situation would arise. Better prepared than sorry.

Luci's hand lowered after receiving an answer from the captain, gripping to give a 'thumbs up' in response to an answer. The mess of notes and redactions were stacking up, and irritability pervaded the room. While getting the meeting out of the way as efficiently as possible was appreciated in favor of standing around like a paperweight, the steady decline of the crew's demeanor was difficult to miss. Luci was no exception, having finally had enough through proximity and striking details except expressed by the captain in a rare fit of annoyance.

Import and efficiency was hardly a concern so early in the morning, a detail of organic life that Luci most certainly did not miss. As boring as the clarity was, it had come more in hand than despised.
Being deployed as security for Masha and Rolands made the most sense, being a bit improficient at stealth or fitting into small spaces, especially with her suit. This consideration, however, brought to light a small concern in regards to what the Titchua would be willing to put up with. In spite of the bright colors sported by Luci's 'Iron Maiden', it was still understandably creepy by some standards. Though the standard frame was arguably more flexible and maneuverable, it was hardly bulletproof...though would likely be seen more favorably to appear as a person rather than a machine.
For what it was worth...

Something told Luci that asking questions about the loadout wouldn't be appreciated, like how the captain verbally complained about being asked questions. Luci couldn't help but be conflicted about Marty's choice of operations, since it was assumed that having the meeting at this time was his idea. He always looked like shit, and his dismissal of questions from the disheveled crew discredited his professionalism. Being impatient about crossing t's and dotting i's was a good way to get people killed...people who trusted his decisions.
Still, it Luci was there to do their job without such an excuse as poor self discipline, like staying up later drinking when he should be resting up before an important mission. If the mission went south, at least she wouldn't hang for it.

Luci offered Joy a small wave in greeting, "Good morning, Miss Joy," while simultaneously updating the crew roster with the new entry. Maybe the morning was catching up with the synth as well, having neglected to notice the newcomer on the ship. Nawh, it was probably because of the distractions of the meeting.

---

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Christian grinned at her when she referred to her wanting 'good people' on the team. That meant she thought he actually was good. Bragging aside, his five years of experience should mean something so he guessed that was where Jessa was coming from. However, he still looked like a child who was given a compliment by his teacher, but that was simply because he was him. He felt her foot brush against his leg once more but didn't make contact that would make him writhe in pain like earlier.

He then turned around once more when someone else came in - another newcomer. They were getting a whole bunch of them, that's so nice. He leaned on the chair and then waved at her. So her name was Joy huh? It was probably a nickname but that was neither here nor there. Christian was ecstatic to meet all of these people.

When the captain began to speak, he turned his full attention to him. As expected, the team of explorers were the ones who were going to be deployed to get the hostages. While there were a lot of things they didn't know, he guessed that it should be fine. What worried him the most was the fact that Joy and Doctor Wolfe were going to join them. He didn't really care much with them being new, but rather the fact that he didn't know how to work well with them. They'd have to wing it when they get there. He loved doing that anyway so he didn't open any qualms with it.

Christian just waited for it to finish now.

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“Jessa needs a check-up.”

Dr. Wolfe looked to Christian, then to Ramona with a nod.

“I vill make sure to schedule somezing for you, Ms…” She glanced down to the screen on her forearm. “…Chalkley.”

Dr. Wolfe sat back down in her seat and tapped her forearm once again, whispering to herself.

“Avalon, haven Frau Chalkleys medizinische Datensatze bereit in meinem Buro, went ich wieder.”

She looked back up to the rest of the group, listening intently to the remnants of the mission details. It was then when a new face caught her attention, following a certain Mr. Rolands into the room. A latecomer on the first day? Wolfe shook her head. Even she knew that first impressions were everything in the professional world, and Joy had certainly left her mark. As Rolands began to recap the entire briefing to this Ms. Janeway, Dr. Wolfe gently sighed to herself and closed her eyes. Out of complete habit, she impatiently tapped her fingers on her thigh and only looked up as she was addressed.

“Doctor Wolfe, you will need this.”

“Danke, Mister Rolands.”

The Doctor nodded to the Second before looking to the file on the table. As she reached for it, Janeway’s hand shot out in front of her own and flipped the files. The Doctor looked up with her with something of a glare, before placing her hand gently on the file. She slid it back into her own lap and decided against reading them right away after seeing Joy’s pleading look. She nodded understandingly to her before looking back to Captain Liberto.

“… … … Oh, and Wolfe, you can join them too. We may well need a doctor. Does that sound good to you guys?”

“Aye Kapitan, I shall ready my gear.”

The Doctor looked down now that she had seemingly finished being addressed by the higher ups and began whispering to Avalon once more.

“Bereit sein, um Transfers eine harte Kopie der Frau Janeways medizinische Datensatze zu meinem System als ich zuruck.”

“Wie sie sagen, Doktor.”