A cryopod? At that point, she dropped what she was doing, leaned against the railing and turned to watch with great interest. A cryopod would explain the presence of the unexpected passenger. What it didn’t explain was why the Ulnar were so keen on getting her back. The unknown didn’t look like much trouble herself. Maybe it was something she knew or a skill she possessed that made her worth hounding the Monroe for three days. Perhaps the grunts would be told eventually, if her somewhat frail-looking frame survived the captain’s treatment.

She didn’t understand the fury that seemed to be seeping from the captain’s every pore. This was a successful mission, all things considered - the cargo appeared more or less intact, even though the ship was a little worse for wear, and they’ve taken out a much larger vessel, all at the cost of only one escape pod and one member of the crew. And it wasn’t like they’ve lost anyone irreplaceable, capable loadmasters were ten a credit, and almost any schmuck unfortunate enough to end up on the ship could organize and catalogue boxes. Although given the captain’s current demeanor, keeping these opinions private was probably the healthier option.

Now that the unknown was taken away, she approached the pair. “So, who’s the cargo? If you can tell, that is.” Though she didn’t expect to be told much, where was the harm in trying?

"I must have missed the news that you became the new Captain." Raymond said sarcastically, continuing to walk down the hallway. "But you're right. What harm could this girl do? The girl that was held inside a fake cargo crate that we took from the galaxy's most notorious pirate race that almost went extinct trying to get her back. Oh, I bet she's exhausted from her long day. Let's get her a warm meal, some fresh clean clothes and a soft bed. It's not like Anderson will be using that shit anymore." Raymond turned to face Dev. His eyes were exhausted, but showed no signs of backing down.

They were known to butt heads, but if Raymond were being honest, he respected the man enough to listen to him on certain points. If he was giving him lessons or morals, he should probably calm down. He looked down at the girl for what seemed like the first time, and it struck him on how tiny she looked.

Great. What have we gotten ourselves in to? Ray thought. The exhaustion, and his ghosts made him a cruel man to someone who didn't earn that. He was simply being cautious for the crew, but in doing so making him something he wasn't. She looked a lot like his younger sister...

The Captain loosened his grip slightly on her arm. "Doctors Driani and Valanx, I'm sending the girl up to the med bay. Do a check up, give her food, and and see if you can find anything that makes her so damn special. Diaz swing by too, She hasn't spoken a word, and I want to make sure she knows Common Speech... God knows what the Ulnar did to her." He changed direction, and instead of forcing her to go in front of him, he walked beside her, still cautious.

---

---

Dev gave a slight smile at the Captain's remarks. The two weren't exactly friends, but they were on the same ship together and quite frankly had to put up with each other. Dev was used to being told off, but was happy to see the Captain turning towards reason. Something Dev himself hardly ever saw. But as the captain began making his way to the med bay, Dev made his way back towards the cargo bay. He was sure the Engineer would be working to assess the structural damage the ship had taken, but someone needed to check on the cargo. And without a Loadmaster, Dev figured it was the least he could do.

Dev fired up his datapad as he entered, and almost immediately felt overwhelmed. Crates littered the ground, most of the restraints themselves had been singed or otherwise rendered inoperable for the time. Most of the crates themselves seemed to be intact, though a couple supply crates had been blasted through. The demolitions expert was actually somewhat glad he didn't engage the Ulnar in the cargo bay... he certainly would have blown through a quarter of their supplies at the very least. But once the crates were checked with the latest manifest, Dev provided the input for the changes in what they had left.

Once his work in the cargo bay was completed, Dev began the process of debriefing. He always called it that, but it usually consisted of a series of apologies and promises to not blow up his own crew and allies. With a tap of his comms, Dev first spoke to the Captain. "Raymond, I've updated the manifest. You might want to take a look at it before we reach our next destination. I'm willing to take on the LoadMaster's responsibilities for now until we find a replacement." Once that was out of the way, Dev did have a small apology tour to make this time. He flipped his comms over to his favorite engineer. "I'll try to show more restraint next time, Engi. In the meantime, it looks like you'll have plenty of work to do in patching us up."

Once back in his room, Dev immediately began to put everything back in place. Once his explosives were placed into their carefully chosen locations throughout his quarters, his cot was placed back into its position and Dev passed out almost immediately upon resting down on it. Wrapped tightly in his arms and pressed against his cheek was none other than his Death Whistle. His light snores made him seem so much less of a murdering psychopath than one would usually be very accurate to believe he was.

Valanx walked over to the cryo-pod in the cargo bay. It looked pretty banged up, but there had just been a major fight with some of the most vicious aliens in the galaxy, so that could explain it. The interior was also more padded that most cryo-pods were, particularly at one end, indicative that it had, indeed, held a living creature, perhaps the girl he had seen with the captain - the size of the pod looked to be about right for the girl.

He looked at the screen near the pod's control panel. "Warning! Motherboard damaged. Emergency backup systems active," blinked on the screen. He cursed. Now he would probably have to dismantle the entire thing to get the hard drive out and access the manifest. He tapped a few of the keys to try to see what he could before the backup systems failed. When he tried to access the hard drive, a window popped up requesting authorization. He entered his credentials, and waited for a moment. Soon, a message appeared. "Insufficient clearance," it read. Valanx growled. He would probably have to get the captain to authorize access to the hard drive. He had the highest clearance of anyone on board, so unless the information contained on the hard drive was incredibly high security, he should have the necessary credentials.

Valanx touched the comms device in his ear and spoke. "Captain, I've looked over the cryo-pod. The circuitry is pretty damaged, so I'm going to try to transfer the critical components to a more stable system, and I'll need your authorization to access the information on the hard drive."

@Jones Sparrow@Esailia

Rendyl was reserved as people approached with curiosity, the whole situation made her suddenly long to be in her own bed watching oldschool anime or playing games on her VR. But alas, she was here in an unknown part of space, in a ship of unknown loyalties, among people of unknown disposition towards her...and from the sounds of it being partly blamed for a crewmember's death for merely existing. It wasn't her who stole a cryopod, it wasn't her that instigated a firefight. Just by being what she was, sentient beings were fighting and dying over controlling her.

The girl bowed her head a bit and stared at the floor, even after the Captain let her walk beside him rather than being herded onward. Even if it wasn't her fault, she still felt sorry for the stranger she never even saw. She glanced up and did the only thing she could do to show apology....

She hugged Raymond's arm and looked up, her face plain with sorrow.

---

---

Aamra couldn't help but be taken aback by the coldness that the Captain showed the stowaway. Granted she hadn't exactly given the girl a warm reception either, but it was especially out of the character for the normally roguish Chase to act the way he was. Indeed, she was so taken aback by this action that she even forgot to lay into the bomb-happy hooligan Devronian when he managed to show up to give his opinion, again oddly out of character for him.

"Not usually the one to say this, but I don't think we need to be locking up children in our brig. What harm could she possibly do? Let her wander around with the murder bots keeping an eye on her at the very least, Cap'n."

"I must have missed the news that you became the new Captain." Chase responded with surprisingly bitter sarcasm. "But you're right. What harm could this girl do? The girl that was held inside a fake cargo crate that we took from the galaxy's most notorious pirate race that almost went extinct trying to get her back. Oh, I bet she's exhausted from her long day. Let's get her a warm meal, some fresh clean clothes and a soft bed. It's not like Anderson will be using that shit anymore."

"Captain!" Aamra announced firmly, forcing the Captain to snap his gaze to her for a moment as she stared back. Aamra had a certain knack for saying everything that needed to be said with a stern look, a trait that had helped her well on her way to becoming a proper officer, and it was helpful in intimidating the sense back into someone. It seemed to work on the Captain, his demeanor softening as he looked over at the girl. Sounding much more like the leader Aamra was familiar with, Chase gave the order to have the doctors look the girl over as he walked alongside her, presumably in the direction of the medical bay. Taking a moment of silence, she was reminded of a certain annoyance she had to deal with when Rev's voice sounded over the Captain's communicator.

"Raymond, I've updated the manifest. You might want to take a look at it before we reach our next destination. I'm willing to take on the LoadMaster's responsibilities for now until we find a replacement."

"Good, I will take a look at it during the next inventory sweep in...twenty two minutes and five seconds," Aamra interjected, confirming the schedule on her timepiece. "Then we can discuss your high-explosive antics earlier while you assist with the sweep," Aamra finished off, her dangerous tone hinting at the legendary riot act she intended to read to the demolitions expert. Clicking off the comms, she turned to the captain and the girl, pondering how sad she seemed to be. Did she know what the Captain was feeling? The stowaway did seem to have some degree of mental powers, so it wasn't an impossibility. Still, Dev was right, she wasn't dangerous, at least not yet. The squad could easily keep tabs on her once they were finished clearing out any unwanted guests.

"Captain, I am aware that there is an incoming message from Admiral V'Sul," Aamra said both delicately and sympathetically. "I am authorized to receive communications, if you are...otherwise occupied."

“Yeah, sleep is for the weak, I’m afraid. she thought in response to Dev’s message. It would be even worse now, as the only way she could ever find anything in the cargo bay was by asking Anderson where it was. There was a method to his madness, but one she couldn’t uncover.

“Tango? Please send our illustrious Mr. Arx the appropriate damage report for the damage he caused to the hallway to fill out. Do not use my templates, only the barebones. Attach a note instructing him to get it to me for review in 36 hours.” She was not entirely sure she could do that, but was worth a try. Maybe slogging through the shitfest that was the paperwork would curb his affinity for misdirected destruction.

After a short trip to an equipment locker, she got to work with a jolly tune on her lips, first welding temporary seals over the breached walls to get the hard part over with, then attending to the lighter damage from weapons fire and damage caused by the shattered crate and its contents. At least her work became easier when Dev marked down the cargo that was lost or damaged in the fight. There was a word or two of gratitude to be said later.

It took a few hours to get through the worst of it, including piling up the dead Ulnar near one of the airlocks. Having decided the minor damage to the rest of the ship could wait, Astrid called it a day and retreated to her cabin, turning the rough drafts into full damage reports. She sent the finished ones to the captain with a note promising the rest would be complete before they made it to port and laid down for some hopefully uninterrupted sleep.

He couldn't help but smirk like a fool as he watched Dev's plan unfold. Tony had figured it was a bit of a lost cause at that point, but the demolitions specialist managed to make it work. And he had to admit that the explosion itself was a bit of a spectacle. The shockwave was less than ideal as it nearly threw him from his seat.

Tony peeled himself off of the seat and watched the Ulnar ship as it slowly fell apart before them. It was simultaneously beautiful and unnerving to watch. From this distance, it was impossible to tell what was shrapnel and what was Ulnar. He couldn't even fathom what it would feel like.

Slowly, he stood and ducked out of the turret. Silently - a rarity for Tony - he listened to the crew as they discussed their mystery cargo. A child? Seemed a weird thing to be smuggling. Even weirder to risk life over. He started on his way back to his room, hoping for a moment of reprieve. Nearly wiping out an entire race of aliens definitely wasn't light work, and he still really couldn't shake the image of rat people floating through space.

But he heard his name over the comms and gave a soft sigh. Tony pressed a finger to his comms as he reluctantly changed direction. "Yeah, I'm on my way." He hadn't a clue who the girl was or even what she looked like for that matter. There were a number of species in the known galaxy and certainly even more they didn't know. But the fact that Ray had identified her as, well, her led him to believe she was of some known species.

He slipped into the med bay and pressed up against a cabinet which rattled slightly and sent him hurtling slightly towards the center of the room. And now he would wait.

Raymond was still heated, still upset by how he lost control of himself, his crew member, and the look alone from Aamara confirmed that he crossed a certain line. The Marauders wouldn't be around though if Raymond didn't take the necessary precautions. She was a girl, sure, but she was also hidden from them by the Committee and pirates. Who know what she was capable of. And then the girl hugged his arm. The hand that had been shaking for a while now suddenly stopped, and all he could do was look down at her. For a second the face of pain and sorrow seemed familiar. Too familiar for him to look any longer. He coughed and slowly pulled his arm away, but as he hesitated he put it gently on her back to continue to lead the way. "Come on." His voice was much softer.

Dev's voice once again shot through his ear, but with professionalism. Even after the drama the Monroe and it's crew was able to keep operating. "Thanks Dev... You can overlook the cargo for the meantime. Before you go searching around have Aamara and some robots take a sweep of the area. Valanx then gave a status on the cryo-pod. "I'll give you the green light in a second. Tango, watch over the doctor and help him scan the thing." The Security Officer was the next to speak up, and he shook his head. "No, I don't want to have her in this mess right now. We'll both talk to her in a little bit. Right now I need you to get a debriefing ready to send, try not to be too specific." The Committee made it clear that they didn't trust them with the information about this cargo. He was going to make sure the Admiral gets surprised by the fact that they know full well that they smuggled a human being--which was frowned upon.

The eventually made it to the med bay, where he gave a nod to Tony before leading the girl to a bed and helping her up. He slowly walked towards a wall and leaned against it. "To me she looks human, but honestly she could be some other race. She hasn't spoken a word since we found her. Might be shock. I'm sure she's understood what we've been saying though. Maybe the cryo-pod will give more information but for now, just start throwing 'hello's' at her." He did his best to update the tired looking linguist. They were all exhausted, and after this was over he wanted to talk to the Admiral about cashing in their vacation time.

Committed to her path, Rendyl kept hold of Raymond's arm until he managed to pull away, nodding slowly as she heard his tone of voice change to something more gentle. At least she didn't look soulless to the person who probably held her fate in his hands. She allowed herself to be led onwards by the guiding hand on her back, not really scared of hostile touch now, listening to the Captain speak into his comm. She perked up at the mention of her pod, and a mention of a report. She knew her pod probably had some security built in, just how high was uncertain, and that Raymond assumed he had the authorization...Guessing at it, she wagered this was some sort of mercenary group, well funded by a military to carry out less than reputable tasks that normal military personnel would frown upon, and they had initiated combat with this unknown enemy to retrieve her while she had been asleep.

Her chain of thought was interrupted as the Captain ushered her into a room, well lit with plenty of countertops and a dead giveaway it was a doctor's room; the well known examination bed design. She quickly hopped up and sat on the end of the bed, looking between the two men with a curious gaze as Raymond almost made her sound like an alien!

She huffed. Did no one tell him she had responded to english commands down in the cargo bay?! but then stopped feeling angry, a grin cracking her face. Raymond didn't know if she was human or not? She lifted a hand balled up into a fist, back of the hand facing Raymond...before straightening her middle finger, that shite-eating grin still on her face, clearly conveying no emotion other than humor with the vulgar action. But she quickly sobered up and looked at Tony, giving him all her attention. She lifted her right fist to her chest on the left side and made a circle motion with it.

Yasaliah had been silent to the rest of the crew ever since the fight with the Elnar. Turning off her end of the comms, she hummed a tune to herself, something she was just making up. Captain Raymond had given her the order to fly to the nearest committee report, and she had indeed followed his command. Dev did some bullshit with his gizmos and the Elnar blew up. Yasaliah was happy, though currently quite ignorant of the troubling events brewing deeper in the ship, not giving the strange tingle in her spine a second thought. With the co-ordinates set and no further disturbances detected, Yasaliah kicked off her boots, wriggling her toes and setting her bare feet on the console and leaned back in her comfortable pilots chair, undoing the various safety seat belts for her leisure.

Intending to catch up on some of the sleep she missed, Yasaliah closed her piercing blue eyes and tried to get some sleep. Still with her eyes closed, Yasaliah reached her pink finger up to her ear-piece and contacted the Captain.

"All clear, we're on our way," She yawned briefly before turning off the comm. The Satasi pilot didn't know that Anderson was dead, nor did she know of the specifics of her precious cargo, but she didn't particularly care about either of those things. Tango-bot would do fine on it's own, and it would wake her up if it needed her skills. It didn't take long for Yasaliah to nod off, her arms crossed over her chest and her bare legs outstretched to the console, the teal line dot pattern running along it as it did the rest of her lightly dressed body.

The pilot would not bother to inquire about the ongoing events of the ship, as long as she got paid and fly the ship. That Elnar fight was the most she'd had in a long time, and she dreamt of it.

Subconciously, she tried producing "fuck off" pheremones in hopes to get anyone to try and bother her to go away. They usually weren't very effective, apparently.

Observing, this is what she had been doing silently while heading for the medical bay though probably unnoticed by the commotion of their unexpected guest. Dev had done something highly uncharacteristic compared to his usual interaction with their Captian as he tried to reason with him and found that it couldn't have been better stated if she had done so herself. Raymond's words had been harsh in reply but the reaction in his movements soon changed, just enough to know that Dev's words and possibly Aamra's reaction had added to that. It was a relief that he was seeing to reason about the girl. She could handle caution but that angry stubbornness was much more difficult to navigate. It wasn't long before a new order was issued, putting the serum that she created on the back burner for now though she felt a slight ping of irritation at the fact that her earlier words were either forgotten or ignored then a flash of the situation with Anderson in the medical bay entered her mind and the ping of emotion flitted away. Logically, no one would be completely focused or listen in such circumstances and she should as the humans say...'cut him some slack'. After all, Luirae herself had gone on a rampage through the halls to the cargo hold so this was not something she could really judge Raymond on but it didn't mean the girl was to blame. The girl, Rendyl was showing compassion for what had happened if the arm hug meant anything though it could also be a means of calming instead. She had seen some children do this to parents when at the Spire.

It seemed like the trek to the medical bay had taken an eternity to reach. Tony was already prepared to speak to the girl while the Captain stated his thoughts and updated Tony out loud. She parted her lips, planning to speak up when it snarled into one of slight disgust at the vulgar gesture that Rendyl had decided to make. She had once asked what that meant and was horrified that someone would openly ask to do such a thing and in anger. Humans were so confusing. Why would anyone want to offer that in anger? She shook her head, rubbing her temples for a moment as she felt the desperate want to crawl in bed and forget this day if even for a bit. Luirae features calmed and she looked to the Captian, "I will look her over and lead her to the kitchens to eat once Tony has been able to speak with her as I do not want to be in the way of their conversation. The reason the Ulnar wanted her could possibly be the telepathy. I have never seen this trait in a human until now and that could be used to advantage for the element of surprise. It is possible that she is only half human but only she will have such information and with the damage to her vocal cords, Tony will be the only one to be able to communicate properly. She understands the English language as she stopped using her powers upon command. It seems they are not refined as in close range, it was an unpleasant experience. I will be very curious about the information pulled from the cryo-pod."Rae stated in the doorway before moving to lean against the wall herself, wanting to be out of the way until she could do her part.

---

---

"Yes sir, probably for the best," Aamra confirmed with a sage nod, the comment at the end slipping out somewhat unintentionally. Blinking, she gave a deep breath and straightened out her disheveled uniform, turning on her heel to both gather her thoughts and hide her exhaustion. Years of discipline and training had taught her to never show a fault or a weakness whether she was a disciple or an officer, and it frustrated her to crack like that. Sure it was a minor quip and entirely understandable given the circumstances, but Aamra hated slipping up like that, especially in front of this band of miscreants. For now though, she had work to do, then maybe she could finally get back on her schedule.

"Begin the final sweep of the ship," Aamra directed to the four robotic soldiers. "I will join you shortly once this report is filled out." With a flourish, she withdrew her datapad from an interior pocket, wiping a smudge of some pirate's blood off one of the corners nonchalantly as she prepared a message.

"Right, a debriefing, worded for delicate bureaucratic ears," Aamra mused as she recalled all the important bits of the expedition. "Politics...no river is more dangerous and winding..."

Tony didn't have to wait long before Raymond and the girl found their way up to the med bay. She was...less exciting than what he had expected. A human. Or, as Ray mentioned, probably human. He waited until Ray had spoken before he began to open his mouth, but a flash of movement caught his eye, and he turned quickly to see the girl flip him off.

"Seems you've done my job for me," he replied, hardly bothering to stifle the grin that spread across his face. He pushed off of the wall slowly and crossed the room towards the girl. The snarl from the doorway alerted him suddenly, and he glanced over at Rae.

"Doctor." He acknowledged her with a matter-of-fact nod and a playful smile, stopping in the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his chest. Tony heard her out as well, figuring he ought to gather as much information as possible before continuing. "Telepathy's cool. Definitely not common among humans though, so how would she have figured out how to do that?" His attention turned back to the girl. Her gaze seemed to bore holes into him, and he couldn't help but feel ever so slightly unnerved by the sheer mystery surrounding her. Damn it, he was too tired for this bullshit.

"You're definitely fluent...you just won't speak, huh?" He met her eyes as he came to a stop a few feet from her. His brow knotted slightly as she gestured over her chest. Perhaps she physically couldn't? Rae mentioned damage to her vocal cords, but he wondered when that could have happened.

"Oh, shit," he said softly, a slow realization dawning over him. "Do you...you can sign, can't you?" He slowly rose his right hand to his forehead, making a sign similar to the crest of a rooster. With a quick movement, he flicked his wrist and drew his hand perpendicular to the ground. Hello.

"I haven't signed in quite some time," he admitted, slowly signing along with his words as the muscle memory came back to him. "Can you tell me your name? Where you're from?" He continued to sign as he spoke, mostly for his own ego at this point.

Just as she was finishing the arm movement over her chest in apology, Rendyl looked over at the crystalline doctor as she spoke. Food sounded AWESOME....and once again huffed quietly at being called half human. She didn't have fuzzy ears, a tail or anything else that would show she wasn't anything other than human. Some scientists they are. Yet once Tony started talking, she took an instant liking to him. He was relaxed, friendly, and was actually talking to her like a person!

She nodded furiously at the mention of signing, and what followed from Tony's questions was a flurry of arm, hand, and finger gestures. To everyone else, it was seemingly gibberish in motion. But to Tony, she was speaking clearly with a tone and cadence of her own. Rendyl signed for several seconds before she settled her hands on her lap, indicating she had finished for the moment, smiling almost shyly at her outburst.

She glanced over at the Captain and crystal lady, giving a tiny wave and another sheepish smile.

Valanx grabbed one of the wheeled carts in the corner of the cargo bay to transport the cryo-pod to the lab. He carefully lifted the crate and slid it onto the cart, then wheeled the cart down the hall toward the lab.

Once he reached the lab, he slid the crate with cryo-pod off the cart and grabbed his tools. There was a half-gutted computer terminal on one of the desks that should hopefully be able to compensate for the damaged hardware in the cryo-pod and allow them to access the information that it was carrying. He set to work removing the paneling of the pod to get into the computer system. When he finally got through all the insulation and protective materials he saw how bad the damage truly was. The hard drive seemed to be intact, but the motherboard had a huge crack through it. Getting it transferred to the terminal without accidentally snapping it in two would be a difficult task. He carefully set to work disconnecting all the chips from the circuitry, using a pair of surgical forceps to remove the damaged boards. Everything seemed compatible with the computer on the desk, which made things easier. While he worked, he took note of the serial number of each component. Maybe if he looked these up he'd be able to find out where this machine came from and, in theory, the planet of origin of this girl. He also noticed a strange powder coating everything. He scraped a sample off one of the boards to analyze later. As he got to the damaged motherboard, he noticed that it had been directly connected to the hard drive by means of soldered wire. Clearly, this was not the work of a professional - no professional would use such a flimsy connection. He slowly and carefully removed the motherboard and the hard drive, and noticed a second wire soldered onto the hard drive, this one connected to some sort of canister. It took him nearly ten minutes just to remove this setup to avoid risking damage to the already damaged components, or the macgyver'd modifications

It took an hour and a half of careful work, but he finally got all the cryo-pod's critical components transferred to the half-gutted computer. He powered it on and watched as the machine worked. He still needed the captain's authorization to access anything, but at least the fix worked. "Captain, I've gotten the cryo-pod's components transferred," he announced. "As soon as you're free I'll need your authorization to access the information on the hard drive." He then turned back to the cryo-pod. "What other secrets might you be hiding?" he mused, then set to work taking the entire thing apart to see if it was harboring any other secrets.
@Jones Sparrow

Raymond continued to watch from a distance, keeping his focus even though he was beyond exhausted. She seemed fine, though, after all of this. Raymond held back bitterness, it wasn't her fault. There was something missing here. How did the Ulnar get their hands on this person, and why was the Committee so hellbent on getting her back? The Captain nodded to Rae's advice and own comments about the girl's status. "Just keep an eye on her, Rae... There's something off about this whole situation, Aamara is sending a report now, and I won't have kind words to them when I speak to the Committee in person. Just, make sure she doesn't touch anything. I know she's a kid but there's a reason why the Ulnar kept her a secret. Valanx's voice then came through the comms system, and Ray sighed in frustration. He had forgotten about the pod, and didn't mean to leave the scientist alone with it. "Copy that, I'll be over in a second." He pushed off the wall and looked at Tony and Rae. "Don't take your eyes off her. I'm sure there's something for her to eat in Anderson's rations." He said with a hint of sadness. It wasn't supposed to be passive aggressive, he was just tired of it all.

He entered the Berean's room and was always surprised about how it was all an organized mess of equipment, wires, and other tech. Some of the things Raymond knew, but others he would be lost. He found the science officer looking at a dismantled pod that he saw about an hour ago with a computer. "Damn, you work fast. Anything pop out at you?" Raymond asked, going over to the computer and entering his Captain's code to unlock otherwise restricted tools from the team. He was curious what Valanx found.

@Sedjwick

Tony couldn't help but smile to himself as she responded with such passion to his slow, clunky signing. It certainly did something to boost his ego for the moment. He savored these moments in which he possessed more knowledge of a subject than his crewmates. There were enough moments where he couldn't find a way to make himself helpful - diplomacy wasn't quite useful when the firefight had already begun, and there were some missions where his input wasn't necessary at all.

But now he couldn't combat this sense of pride that washed over him as he communicated with the girl. He took a moment to process her signs and break them down mentally before he turned back to Raymond and Rae.

"She says she's a full human, and her name is Rendyl," he reported, looking back at the girl for a moment to check that he hadn't made a major translating error. "Her vocal cords were damaged is all - she knows what we're saying."

There wasn't much time for comment before Raymond pushed off the wall and made to leave the med bay. "Sure thing, Raymond," he replied, taking note of the edge in the Captain's voice. It wasn't enough that he felt the need to note it, but he tucked it away for later. He shot a look at Rae, gauging her reaction.

"Do you have questions for her?"

In the mean time, he turned back to Rendyl to finish asking his own questions. Again, he began to sign as he spoke so that Rae could follow the conversation. "How old are you? How did you end up in a cryopod on an Ulnar spacecraft?"

Shrugging her shoulders slightly and biting her lower lip, Rendyl was actually glad the captain departed the medbay. She didn't like how gruff he was, and the fact he always looked ready to change his mind to throw her in the brig put her on edge. Crystal lady though, a doctor of medicine from how Tony addressed her, remained. It caused the girl to keep glancing over at the crystalline structure of the woman's body as she tried to keep her focus on Tony, and only tore her eyes away long enough to sign back to the man.

When she was finished her cheeks had flushed red and she was staring down at her lap, clearly trying to marshal her gaze to not stare. It was at that moment though her belly growled in a very obvious way, and Rendyl covered her face in embarrassment. It was only natural for her to be hungry, but why did it need to be so loud!?

Rae listened to his words carefully and tried to pay attention to what he wasn't saying as well as what Raymond was saying. She wasn't the best at reading emotion but she could tell he was taking this hard and the situation with Rendyl was probably the icing on the worlds worse cake but he was still shoving it aside or done with trying to deal with it. She had to admire him for that since he had kept it together while for once, she hadn't been able too. Sure, the crew hadn't actually seen her rampage through the halls but it had happened and she wasn't sure how to face that it had happened. Her focus on him wavered as she noticed the woman sitting across from them gave a tiny wave with a sheepish smile which Luirae actually returned with a small wave of her hand, though a smile didn't find a way to her lips but that wasn't something she found herself doing often even without the events that occurred. It was a rare treat for her to share because that would be like showing her weaknesses. She had emotions but if shown, they could be used against her which is why their race avoided such things. "You have my word that she will not leave my sight. You can trust her with me...." Rae answered softly before looking at Tony and adding, "us." She had faith in Tony and knew that he would follow the orders as well.

Raymond pushed off the wall and she felt her hand twitch to put a hand on his shoulder for support at the hint of sadness that was echoing in his logical statement that would have sounded more normal coming from her than from him. Luirae felt her fingers curl into a fist, effectively stopping her from doing so and letting him walk out of the room. Hopefully, Valanx would be able to provide more answers with the inspection of the cryo-pod. They all needed that right now and the more information they had...the smoother the talk with the committee would be. She felt Tony's eyes on her which made her vivid orange irises to return the gaze, knowing he was gauging her though she was not sure how much she was giving away at the moment. It wasn't a comforting thought, that was for sure.

"Do you have questions for her?"

She turned her eyes to the other woman for a brief second before they moved back to Tony and her head shook gently. She didn't want to interrupt them and it looks like they were truly enjoying each other conversation. It would be better to have Rendyl at ease then ask her questions that she might not be able to answer. Rae suddenly felt a swell of appreciation for her crewmate as he spoke out loud as well as signed since it kept her in the loop of their conversation. It made her realize that he had let her chat with the captain and now that she was not distracted, he had made her a part of it. Rae saw her shrug at the questions asked and wondered if her joining the conversation had made it turn sour. The glances her way had made Rae think she might be correct but at the same time, Luirae was the only one of her race that was off planet. It was not the first time people had stared or tried to figure her out. Humans tended to do it more than most is what she had found. She didn't have more time to debate on that as a loud growl from Rendyl's stomach drew her out of her thoughts and to the captain's last statement before leaving the med-bay. "At least that is a language I can understand without words.'Rae stated before continuing to speak,"Do either of you have objections in moving the conversations to the kitchens? We have not found a replacement cook but my cooking skills aren't lacking in any case. I feel we could all use a comforting meal." That being said, she started to head for the doorway and waiting for the other two to follow or at least Rendyl to if the questioning was coming to a stop.