The tension in the room seemed to dissipate when Raymond left, but he realized he was sorely mistaken when he caught how Rendyl stared at Luirae behind him. He swore he could feel the doctor's eyes on him every once in a while, but the tension seemed due more to the unknown rather than to any sort of aggression. He lost his train of thought for a moment as he processed her answers and almost forgot to report back to Luirae.

Tony turned his gaze back to Luirae and met her gaze all of a sudden -- the intense, fiery stare was unnerving at first, but he had worked with her for some time and had mostly gotten used to it.

"She's twenty-six," he repeated for her sake, looking back to Rendyl occasionally to make sure he was correctly translating. "She was...she was sent away for her...gift? And she does not recall being taken onto the Ulnar ship." He noted that he would ask her to elaborate on what that "gift" was. For now, he continued -- and he smiled and turned his full attention back to Rae as he translated the last piece. "She apologizes for staring, Dr. Driani. She has never seen a species from another planet before."

He would have turned back to continue, but he was distracted all of a sudden by the growling of her stomach. Tony grinned back up at her for a moment, finding her embarrassment amusing and vaguely intriguing. For someone who had seemed so alien before, she felt quite viscerally human all of a sudden.

"No objection from either of us, I imagine," he replied, a slight grin still on his lips. Tony turned his attention back to Rae as he moved to leave the room. "I had no idea you cooked."

Rendyl hopped off the table she was sitting on, cheeks still flushed somewhat as she hurried to follow the pair out the door to an unknown destination, knowing only that there would hopefully be food there. Keeping her hands knitted in front of her and her head bowed slightly, she would keep up with the other two, occasionally stealing glances to absorb her surroundings now that she felt a bit safer with current company.

Nearly a foot shorter than Tony and dressed in clothes fit for a street faire rather than space travel, Rendyl felt very out of place in the cold corridors of a space ship, flicking her silver hair from her eyes with a quick head gesture.

"A few things, and I'm looking to see if there's anything else that might be of interest," Valanx responded to the captain's query as he removed another panel from the side of the pod. He paused in his work, walking over to the computer that Ray had just unlocked to look at what information the hard drive might contain as he explained what he had found so far. "The most obvious thing was a strange powder coating all the boards and wires. I've put it in the analyzer, but I haven't checked the results yet." He wheeled his chair across the room to another computer to see what the analyzer had found out about the strange powder as he continued talking. "Another troubling thing was that this was clearly some sort of amateur work. The hard drive had two soldered wires connected to it. One connected to the motherboard, and the other connected to a canister with some sort of sleeping gas. I'll run an analysis on it once we're done with the rest of this stuff. I have a theory on what's going on here, and it's not a good one. I think this is all part of some black market operation. I'll run the serial numbers of the components to see where they come from and whether or not they were stolen to be sure. Whatever's going on, something's not right with all this." He turned to look at the computer readout on the components of the white powder, after which he would wheel back to the other computer to start looking at the manifest and any other important or interesting information that the cryo-pod's hard drive might contain.

@Jones Sparrow@Esailia

Raymond listened to Valanx, a hand on his chin as he scanned the pod with his eyes. Everything he said reeked of black market, and the science officer just kept confirming the information. Everything was being run, everything was being analyzed and as much as he hated it, they had to wait to get some real answers. "Good work. Keep me posted on what you find, and don't be afraid to destroy this thing. Anything that's designed to kidnap girls is never a good thing." He waited a few moments to watch Valanx at work before an idea popped into his mind. "There has to be some sort of console on this thing, maybe hidden. How else would they activate the pod? If we can find that, you and Tango can trace back some locations, check in on wherever it went if they didn't wipe that motherboard... If it's black market, we can probably also find it's final destination." Ray knew that Valanx would be the man to find anything unusual on that console, if there was one. The chances were pretty high at this point. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got a date with a bunch of old polititians with a stick up their ass."

Raymond left the lab and immediately put a hand to his ear.

"Aamara, it's show time... A drink says Councilwoman Bruma calls me filth in front of my face." He smirked slightly. It was no mystery that the Forgei hated the Interstellar Expedition branch, and she hated Raymond even more. It was also good to see Raymond start to get back to normal, despite the exhaustion. Maybe they'll finally get a break. As Raymond walked through the hall towards the comms room, he couldn't help but frown at the way he treated everyone recently... Sure, he was known to be a hardass when they were doing their job, but that little girl struck a nerve, especially with Anderson's death.

"Attention Monroe Crew. Everyone will be meeting in the docking bay lounge in half an hour. That's an order." That was all he said. He hoped that his impromptu meeting would be something Anderson would be proud of.

Yasaliah startled awake when Captain Raymond's voice came over the comms. A meeting? Already? What could possibly have happened that was so important? Of course, the pilot did not know of any of the most recent developments regarding a stowaway with pyschic powers and a mysterious pod, but even these events might not be important enough for Yasaliah to consider interrupting her nap. Still, orders were orders. Yasaliah laughed to herself. Yeah, orders were orders. Mantra of the manipulated. Yet the Captain had been mostly good so far, so until his made-up moral codes got in the way (which they eventally would) Yasaliah was okay with following him.

About thirty minutes later, Yasaliah put two wireless earbuds in her ears and began playing some whining, screeching, bizarre electro-wave music from some obscure band on some obscure planet. Only a few people understood the raw emotion conveyed in it's simple, non-rhythmic melodies.

Reluctantly, Yas gave the pilots wheel a little pat, as if it were a loyal pet, and made her way into the docking bay lounge. Humming to herself, the Satasi lazily crashed onto a nearby couch. She was still listening to the song and not really paying attention to anyone or anything in the room.

”Engineer Langenberg,” Tango’s voice buzzed through the speakers, ”I believe you have missed an announcement by the Captain. The crew is to meet in the docking bay lounge in twenty-nine minutes and thirty-four seconds.”
The room’s PA was disturbing her attempted sleep, yet again. Unfortunately, disabling the speakers or lowering their volume was out of the question. No way that would fly past anyone with half a brain in the engineer’s quarters of all places. She half-opened one eye, still not entirely used to talking to the ship itself. ”Did he happen to mention what the occasion is?”
”No he did not. Although his delivery seemed to imply the gathering is mandatory and certainly not to be slept through.”
”Fiiine. Bloody nagmachine.” she groaned as she pulled herself off her bunk and started throwing her clothes back on. The Irene didn’t talk, why couldn’t they just keep making ships silent?

Having reached the lounge with some time to spare, her gaze fell upon Yasiliah. Of course it was the witch. Astrid perched herself on a chair on the opposite side of the room in silence, wondering what was on the captain’s mind. No more than a minute later, her curiosity got the better of her. ”You have any idea what he wants?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

---

---

The blaring sound of the Captain's message forced the Demolitions Expert (and now Loadmaster) to grit his teeth and slowly rise to a sitting position. He walked over to the sink in his cabin to splash some water in his face, but even that couldn't wake him up properly. He hadn't slept well the past few weeks, haunted by his sentence. This was certainly better than prison... but death as a free man would have been preferable to his enslavement on-board a ship where everyone hated him. He took a moment to look over his physical appearance, nodding in satisfaction after combing back a few loose hairs.

Dev clasped his sidearm into its holster and slung his favorite weapon over his shoulder. The latest attack had left him a little paranoid, especially if a few of those rat bastards were still on-board somewhere. He was in the doorway and ready to leave when he sighed and went back for his data pad. He had more responsibilities now, and the last thing he needed to do was prove anyone right about him being a worthless convict. Once the data pad was secured in its place, Dev sauntered through the hallways towards the lounge.

As he entered the lounge, his eyes darted between Astrid and Yasaliah. Out of the two, Yas was usually more pleasant to be around, especially since the lovely engineer seemed to have a habit of placing the guy blowing the ship up from the inside on her shit list. So he strode towards Yas, taking a seat on one of the couches and propping his feet up on the coffee table. He had heard Astrid's question as he walked in, and decided to let that linger as he closed his eyes in his reclined position, hoping to catch the briefest of naps before the meeting started.

"Hmmm hmmm..hm-hmmmm hmmm..." Yasaliah 'responded' to Astrid's question. Only after a moment of seeing Astrid's lips move, and Astrid's continued eye contact, did Yasaliah notice she was being directly spoken too. Dev was apparently in the room now, as well. Armed to the teeth as usual. Yas realized she had forgotten her gun in the cockpit, before quickly remembering she didn't really care about it. Astrid was some sort of...Yas didn't really know. Again, she didn't really care about Astrid very much, either. She got the impression Astrid didn't like her, for some reason? Oh, well. Either way, she was speaking to her now.

Yasaliah took out on of her earpieces, and the annoying music could be heard emitting from it. "What?" Yasaliah asked.

If Astrid repeated her question, Yasaliah would nod.

"Nope." She would reply simply, and place the earbud back, continuing to listen to the music.

Valanx looked over the printout from the analysis of the powder. It was a strange mix of carbon-based compounds as well as some unknown materials. Maybe if he could isolate the unknown substance he would be able to analyze it more closely, but with it being indistinguishable from the carbon-based compounds at the macroscopic level, isolating it would take a long time, much longer than the half hour he had before the meeting the captain had suddenly called. Well, he could at least look up some of the files on the hard drive before the meeting. He looked up at the monitor. Navigating through a few of the files, he found that the cryo-pod had been meant to sustain an adult female human, Rendyl Manenson by name, age 26. If that was the girl they had found in the pod, she was awfully small for an adult, at least in Valanx's experience with the human species. Navigating to another file, he found the specs for the pod, including that it had been built on Earth, in a place called the United States. It also listed an unusually high level of electromagnetic protection for the pod. That was all he had time to find out before he needed to head to the docking bay lounge for the meeting.

He entered the lounge and sat down on one of the couches. Their demolitions expert, pilot, and engineer were already there, but the captain and the rest of the crew hadn't arrived yet.

"I had no idea you cooked."

”I admit that I do not often advertise such information unless it is necessary. I am also more adapt to cooking over an open flame but stoves are acceptable. It was practical to learn cooking on a stove when it was made aware that an open fire is not appreciated in dorm accommodations or in indoor areas. Rae answered honestly, thinking of the look of horror on her roommates face she had entered their shared dorm to find it on fire. It had been a very controlled campfire in Luirae’s opinion but the other female had not seen it that way and promptly panicked as well as drawn unwanted attention. Attention was one of the reasons she didn’t share talents that she possessed as she didn’t know how to react or if something would go negative in some way.

She pulled her thoughts away from that and glanced quickly at the petite silver haired woman that was accompanying them to the kitchen. It was hard to believe that Rendyl was actually older than her, even though it wasn’t by much. It seemed harder for her to grasp as the woman looked so out of place while walking through the hallways of the Monroe. The outfit, of course, added to the affect but it was more of her manner than anything else. She was making it a point to not look at them, her head slightly down and her hands clasped in front of her almost like a scolded child following her parents. It annoyed her and she didn’t know why. It probably was because she felt that the woman was uncomfortable and no idea how to fix it. She had seemed so comfortable talking with Tony and seemed somewhat relaxed when the Captain had calmed but now she seemed overwhelmed or scared which was confusing. Was she feeling just as out of place as she looked in Luirae’s eyes?

That train of questioning was halted in her mind as Raymond’s voice rang out through the coms.
"Attention Monroe Crew. Everyone will be meeting in the docking bay lounge in half an hour. That's an order."
Hmmmm, that doesn’t give me a whole lot of time to make a meal. Rae thought, having to change up her game plan. It would mean either a pasta dish or sandwiches. It would probably best to decide if she knew how many people were weighing in on wanting to eat or were even hungry. She quickly tapped her com to address everyone, most of them probably already heading for the lounge or there depending on their proximity. ”I am preparing a meal for our guest. Is anyone else hungry?” Rae asked as the group finally found their way to the kitchen.

---

---

"That should give them something to mull over, at least," Aamra mused to herself about the preliminary report. The alien officer's markings gave a cool glow as she allowed herself a little indulgence of pride at her work on this pre-debriefing; it provided everything that was needed in these sort of reports down to the letter but as per the captain's orders left enough out to ensure the high command would be pleasantly surprised by exactly what the pirates had been after. It probably would have floored some of the other crew to know that a stickler for rules and regulation like Aamra was, from a certain perspective, thumbing her nose at the high command, but the officer had no qualms about doing so. The rules exist for a reason after all, and they applied no matter how high or low your rank was, no exceptions. Not to mention as the liaison officer, Aamra had been blissfully unaware that the Council was getting her involved in what could amount to human trafficking. Such an idea sat VERY poorly with her, and were it not for the Captain's orders she would have been halfway through a rant at the first Admiral she contacted over this issue by now.

"Aamara, it's show time," Captain Raymond's voice crackled over the comm line. "A drink says Councilwoman Bruma calls me filth in front of my face."

Aamra barely restrained a scowl at the mention of that name. Yet another one of the joys that came with working on this ship; regular correspondence with that pretentious bat of a councilwoman. She didn't know where Raymond first met her, but Aamra enjoyed the presence of the councilwoman quite some time ago at her commendation and acceptance into the officer corps of the Committee, where she loudly "whispered" to her colleague, questioning what "that speckled reptilian ape" did to become an officer in training. Their relationship had not improved since, but at the very least the contempt for the Forgei councilwoman that Aamra and Raymond shared helped convince the speckled reptilian ape that maybe this Captain wasn't so bad after all.

"Councilwoman Bruma calls everyone filth, Captain," Aamra commented coolly as she turned to reunite with the Captain after finishing a last inspection. "Were I not a devoted servant of the Committee in oath and in spirit, I would comment that the councilwoman has all the vibrancy and creativity of stale rainwater, but as it is I would not dream of disrespecting the esteemed councilwoman." A year ago she would have kicked herself for saying such a thing, but she was assigned to the Monroe after all, the chariot of misfits. When in Rome, as the human saying goes...

The pilot was about as useful as any Satasi ever, though she couldn’t blame her in this case.

Upon laying eyes on the dreaded grenade launcher, she took a breath to say something before deciding against it when she remembered her last conversation with the madman. She did say she’d try to treat him fairly. Besides, further antagonizing the actual criminals of the crew before they’ve all had at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep would likely result in a broken jaw, if she was lucky. And if the past two months of her life were any indication, that was not the case.

Upon Valanx’s arrival, Astrid visibly straightened up. ”You didn’t get to examine the cryopod by chance, did you?” She would’ve loved to take a look at it herself if it wasn’t for the battle damage that required her attention and the very real risk of inadvertently triggering some software-based tamper proofing. Hardware she had covered, but ones and zeros were Astrid’s bane.

As the doctor was one of the few people on the ship she actively tried not to annoy, Astrid swallowed a remark about asking questions to which answers should be obvious and answered with a simple ”Quite.” instead. For how long was she going on nothing more than power bars and water anyway? At least since the last ambush before this one.

As they walked, Rendyl had been thinking about the past hour or so, ever since she woke up. What did she really know about what was going on? She counted on her fingers as she listed things off in her head:
This did not feel like the dream. She was being respected enough as a thinking being. She was not in immediate danger. She was hungry, which meant she had been in stasis longer than a few days...and aliens came in stranger packages than she had ever imagined.

At this last one she glanced over at the kind doctor, and for the first time since seeing the crystalline woman, decided not to make assumptions. What did Rendyl look like to HER? A scrawny female human who was just as much a mystery. The realization made Rendyl blush slightly but smile and quickly give a small nod at Luirae. At least she was being escorted by someone who looked quite astonishing and was nice, rather than disgusting or gruff.

Count your blessings, her father would tell her.

Tony made a soft sound of surprise as Luirae elaborated, but the idea of her attempting to cook over an open flame in a dormitory brought a smirk to his face, and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Afterwards, however, he realized she hadn't laughed along with him, and he quickly stifled it. He noted then that there was very little he knew about Luirae. In reality, he didn't speak often with the rest of the crew either. Speaking with his colleagues at length had always seemed trivial compared with the crowd he used to run with before his fall from grace. But he didn't feel like pursuing it any further.

He looked over at Rendyl then, expecting for just a moment that she would pipe up and fill the silence that had formed around the group. But then he remembered, of course, that she wouldn't. She had cast her eyes downward which made signing particularly difficult. Tony gave the woman a soft nudge with his elbow to catch her attention before he signed in her direction.

"You alright?" he signed, deciding to keep this between themselves rather than speak as well. Tony made a slight grimace, noting that his question was, in hindsight, quite stupid. "Well...as alright as you can be right now, I suppose."

But before he could answer, Raymond's voice blared over the coms in the hallway and caught his attention. He let Luirae respond to the crew before he looked back to her. He felt as though he ought to offer to help her, but he wouldn't have been much help anyway. In fact, thinking about it now, he probably had never cooked a meal in his life. He'd never had to either, for that matter. There had always been people to do that for him.

"I suppose the meeting will be about today's events?" His attempt at conversation was pitiful, and he knew it, but he needed to break the silence somehow.

She hadn’t been too shocked by the surprised sound that escaped Tony as she explained in much more detail than normal. It was rare for her and though he might not know a lot about her or maybe even the other crew members, most knew by now that she kept most things to herself. Rae wasn’t sure why she was in such a form but it most likely had to do with loss. The smirk had had on his face was missed but the chuckling that followed was clear as day. It wasn’t as though she was trying to be cheerful or funny but the story of course could be viewed that way. Rae herself still found a little joy when remembering her roommates face during the event. It was the stifling of said laughter that made her bite her inner cheek slightly.

’It seems I have made a mistake once more. Why are emotions so complex?’ Rae thought as she noticed the awkward silence. She hadn’t meant to even make one in the first place and wasn’t sure where she went wrong but obviously she had. Why else would he have stopped laughing all of a sudden? Now there was only strange silence that had only been momentarily stopped by the Captain’s orders and her own question. The laughter hadn’t been for malicious intent and usually it meant a sign of joy or amusement so she didn’t know why he had stifled the sound so suddenly when she hadn’t indicated it bothered her. Had she? At least, whatever negative worries she had about Rendyl seemed to be fine as the other woman had nodded to her with a smile, that was a good sign.

"I suppose the meeting will be about today's events?"

Luirae was relieved to have the silence broken but the statement made her footing stutter slightly as an image of Anderson face slammed into her mind with a sound of a gun shot. The pace of her steps slowed a bit and her fingers curled gently into fist before relaxing once again. She looked to Tony, a soft smile on her lips and sadness reflecting quite clearly in her eyes as she spoke her next words without a hint of the emotions that were swirling inside her,”I highly doubt that will be the case. Raymond will already have to explain today’s events to the Committee and while some information will need to be shared among the crew...that can wait until we get some much deserved rest and when the orders from the Committee have been completed....no, I believe it will be more of a memorial or a way to express goodbye and remembrance to Anderson since probably no one else but us will. I have been on the Monroe since the beginning and criminal or not, we honor those that fight along side us.”

She took a deep calming breath and opened the doorway to the kitchen, glad that she could put her energy into a task like cooking since she was at her limits. Emotions were not her specialty and when they flared, it was hard to handle them. Luirae had hoped the raging attacks she had done through the hallways earlier had been enough but she had thought wrong. She felt exhausted, physically and emotionally. She just hoped that her assessment of meeting was correct because she could get through that for Anderson to show respect but if it was to go over today some more then Raymond had another thing coming. The doctor has no problems walking out on a meeting like that and she dared anyone to stop her today from doing so.

With those thought pushed aside, she turned her attention to Rendyl.”There is not much I can make within a short time frame so I’ll give you an option from the two easiest choices. Do you want pasta or sandwiches? If you can think of another meal I can make in thirty minutes or less then I would be happy to attempt it for you.” asked her kindly. Whatever the choice may be, she might as well make enough for everyone and any leftovers could be eaten later.

It was a long walk from the medbay to the kitchen, Rendyl noted. So it was hardly a small ship she had found herself on, and it made her wonder what sort of activities a ship like this was used for. Patrol wasn't out of the question, nor was exploration. But neither really seemed to fit the bill. It seemed like they were a mish-mash of people from various walks of life. A solider, a doctor, a scientist...all seeming to have stories of their own, and clearly not from any standardized academy or military base as she assumed all starship crews would need to be drawn from.

She jumped slightly at Tony's pokes, but nodded at his question and gave a simple thumbs' up in answer, along with a tentative smile, and turned her head just in time to get her forehead bonked by the swinging door. It didn't hurt, but she recoiled in surprise and blushed again before pushing determinedly into the kitchen by herself. Hoping Tony didn't give off a laugh as she strode forward with a straighter back, trying to look more adult than she felt at that moment.

At the mention of sandwiches though....she broke down and just barely restrained herself from begging. She tapped Tony on the shoulder and signed a short statement, looking back to Luirae and biting her lower lip lightly, eager to see if her request would be possible...

Tony's brow knotted slightly as he noted the fault in Luirae's step as he spoke up. He'd been expecting the sadness that came with mentioning Anderson even as indirectly as he could, but he hadn't really prepared himself for her expression at all.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," he replied, his voice betraying more of the sudden wave of emotion he felt. Anderson's death hadn't seemed real until that very moment, and all at once it felt too real. "He is...was...Anderson was a really good man." Tony hadn't expected himself to feel so utterly overwhelmed, but Anderson had been one of the few crewmembers he'd felt at least somewhat open with.

It had all started when Anderson stopped him during a secret and not-quite-allowed smoke break in the cargo hold. Tony had figured it would turn into a lecture about the dangers of an open flame in the middle of a pressurized spacecraft, but instead Anderson started to speak of his daughter at length. It was uncomfortable at first, but eventually Tony warmed up and returned the gesture. He'd opened up to Anderson about his own daughter, his ex-wife, his disgraced career. It became something semi-regular - Anderson would bum a cigarette behind the cover of some cargo, and they'd speak to each other like old drinking buddies. He would miss that. And he never would know now why Anderson had approached him all that time ago. Perhaps he heard of Tony's daughter from another crewmember, or perhaps it was some sort of intuition that brought them together. But it wasn't worth speculating now.

"He has a daughter," he said simply, forcing the emotion out of his voice. "I imagine she will be contacted." Tony's thoughts were, thankfully, interrupted as Rendyl walked into the door, and he stumbled slightly in a half-assed attempted to help her. But she found her bearings more quickly than he could offer any assistance.

She tapped at his shoulder before he could ask if she was alright, and the enthusiasm with which she signed assured him she was just fine.

"Oh, yes, probably," he replied, signing his words to himself as he reminded himself to keep brushing up on his sign. "Doctor, she'd like grilled cheese, if that would be possible. Just bread and cheese." He added the last part for clarification, unsure which sandwiches she had in her repertoire. Personally, he'd probably only ever eaten a grilled cheese a handful of times in his youth. The life of a diplomat's son and, later, a Committee member came with more upscale food than bread and cheese. But, he had to admit, it sounded damn good right now.

Tony settled himself in one of the chairs along the countertop in the kitchen, pulling one out for Rendyl to sit in if she wanted to. He let out a slow breath as he sat down and clasped his hands in front of him on the countertop. His knuckles turned white as he tightened his grip on his hands, but he let it relax slowly as he exhaled again.

"I could really use a fucking nap right now," he muttered, more to himself than to either of the women.

"Were I not a devoted servant of the Committee in oath and in spirit, I would comment that the councilwoman has all the vibrancy and creativity of stale rainwater, but as it is I would not dream of disrespecting the esteemed councilwoman."

Aamara's words actually made Raymond laugh. It was strange to think that after all that had happened today, and what he did, that he would suddenly be in a such a bright mood. Maybe it was because he was exhausted, maybe he was too used to it... Maybe both. Maybe he just didn't care anymore. Either way, he was glad that the Security Officer was starting to catch on to the banter. It was as if they were all employees talking crap about their managers. Except their bosses ran the galaxy, and could quite possibly send most of them to prison. "Hey, that's an insult to rain water everywhere... You'll have to give them all the respect, I'm not going to be too happy with them."

Raymond waiting for the Security Officer to enter the communications room. They both stepped on the metallic plate on the floor and with a press of the button, like-like holograms filled the room, all tinting white. In front of them was the Galactic Council. Some smiled, some frowned, others simply looked on.

"Captain Chase." G'Pol, the Chairman said lowly. Raymond put a fist over his heart and bowed out of respect. The man had approved of some of Raymond's actions in the past. He knew the side effects of war better than anyone on the Council.

"We just read the report that Officer Tulez submitted." Felix Copper, the Human Representative said. "We understand that the crate was successfully retrieved from the Ulnar?"

"You read the report, Councilman. We found it. With a cost."

"Was the crate damaged?" The Yhei Councilwoman asked.

"Yeah, it was crushed when the Ulnar crashed into our ship and killed the Loadmaster, Eli Anderson--"

"What do you mean it was crushed?" The Forgei Councilwoman and Raymond's least favorite out of the Committee, Bruma spoke.

Raymond clenched his fist to stop it from shaking. "It was destroyed as the Ulnar tried to retrieve it from our docking bay. Anderson risked his life for it, you know. Because he thought it would mean something."

"Please, Captain Chase. How many loadmasters have you had before? He's just a casualty--"

"He had a daughter. He was going to get out of his sentence with Admiral V'Sul's authorization--"

"The box, Captain. How badly was it damaged?" The Furtim spoke quietly. Raymond shook his head. "Enough for us to figure out what was in it." He paused for dramatic effect. "A whole lot of nothing." Some of the Council shifted in their seats. Raymond glanced at Aamara for a second, telling her to play along for now. "You read the mission debrief. I sent what was left of the contents to our science officer for further analysis. There was a lot of metal, glass, and organic residue. With all due respect, what the hell did you guys make us risk out necks for? Some ancient artifacts, some ancestral burial vases?" In Raymond's defense, he wasn't exactly lying about the contents.

"Captain Chase, are you certain that this was the right crate we assigned?" The human councilman spoke once again. "Do we normally mess up, Sir?"

"do you want me to count the ways you have?" Bruma scoffed. "it wasn't me who messed up this time, councilwoman. A good man died going after this box. He wasn't like us."

G'Pol cleared his throat, and looked at Aamara. "Is this all true, Security Officer?"

Raymond let her answer, looking around at the holograms. They didn't need to know the specifics just yet. Something was very fishy about all of this, and he was interested in why exactly they wanted to risk political scrutiny for human trafficking. It was an old instinct that told him to hide Rendyl's status for now. A few more questions for Aamara were asked before ultimately the Council hung up. As soon as they did, Raymond looked at his Security Officer. "Send the real report to the Admiral. Right now she's the only one I trust. Come on, we got other things to attend right now."

-----------------

Raymond entered the lounge to see everyone exhausted, angry, or both. He saw Rae cooking with was a rare thing to see, and Rendyl in there as well. The place was quiet, but Raymond made it to the center of the room, sitting down at the table, and rubbing his eyes. "I just want to say that these last couple of days have been hell on all of us... But at the end of it we nearly made the Ulnar go extinct. Yasaliah, that was some of the best piloting skills I've ever seen, Astrid, Dev, I don't know who else could have made a nuclear weapon in that time, but it'll be another legendary tale that they'll tell about us one day..." Raymond sighed and nodded. "Anderson would have been proud."

"He wanted it to be a secret until after the mission but... He was going to retire. After this mission. He worked something out with the Council, and Admiral T'Sul pulled some strings and he was going to be able to see his daughter again. He gave all to the Monroe. To us. He was rough and could smell like a Space Bear's behind sometimes but he managed to make a connection with all of us. I don't know about you guys, but to me he was a friend. I know I can lose my temper. I can scream, I can punch, I can call everyone names here, but Anderson wouldn't want that... At least, not genuinely. He'd want me to do those things after losing a hand in poker." He smirked slightly. He pulled out a large bottle of alcohol. "T'Veerian bourbon. Legends say its the best tasting stuff in the galaxy before it burns off your taste buds... I say we all grab a seat, all grab a drink, and play some poker and let our anger out that way. In Anderson's honor."

"Who wants to be dealt in? I gotta warn you, I've been practicing. Diaz, look in that cupboard real quick, I think Anderson hid some Forgei cigars in there."

Dev gave a solemn nod. With Anderson gone, the demolitions specialist was an island socially. He wasn't exactly popular in any of the departments. Doing the sorts of things he had earned that mistrust. But the Loadmaster was in a similar boat. He was serving his sentence and trying to change to do some good. The topic of Anderson's daughter soured Dev's expression further. He leaned forward from his position to stare at the ground, his lips beginning to curl in anger. The Council. They ordered the mission. They doomed him...

At the sound of the Captain rummaging for something, Dev's face lit up. He rarely got the opportunity to drink, let alone drink anything worth savoring. The demolitions expert needed something to pull him out of this slump. Cards and Bourbon... that would do just the trick. He was the first to stand up, making sure his infamous weapon was secured to his side. "It ain't about the practice, Cap'n. It's about Lady Luck, and nobody is in her favor like I am. She's the only reason I haven't blown any of my damn fingers off yet." He gave a wry smile as he wiggled his digits as he made the joke. Dev sidled up at the table next to the Captain, taking a seat to join in the action.

Valanx had expected something along the lines of a more formal meeting when Raymond arrived. What happened was more of a memorial for Anderson, which actually seemed more appropriate to Valanx. Anderson had been a good man, and it was more than fitting that the crew take the time to honor him, now that they were out of danger for a short while. That would surely change when they returned to the Council, but for now they had some down time to gather themselves and remember their fallen comrade.

Valanx rose and joined the captain and the demolitions expert at the table. He wasn't above a few hands of poker, though he wouldn't take part in the drinking. One of the side-effects of the Bereans' diminutive size was a notorious inability to handle liquor. He smiled a bit at Dev's joke and fired back quickly. "I'd say that means you're in her debt, Dev," he said. "And Lady Luck always collects." He finished the comment with an uncharacteristic smirk. Valanx was not a shark by any means, but he was a clever player and had been known to bluff his way to a win on more than one occasion.