Abby stopped mid step, her brow furrowing curiously for a moment as she turned back around, toward the dark-haired woman on the end row. 

"Dr... [i]Albright,[/i] yes?" Abby quite literally smacked herself in the forehead, a small laughing sigh as she began to walk back to the woman she'd only just passed. "No excuses here, my head has been going a thousand miles a minute - then again... Oh, you probably don't remember me." 

Abby laughed as she knelt beside the veterinarian's chair, one arm resting on her knee. "Things were a [i]lot[/i] hectic at the time though, I can't blame you. Abigail Larson - [i]'Abby,'[/i] please. I was with the soldiers who arrived at your wildlife sanctuary?"

[i]Hectic[/i] was likely the understatement of the century for that day, but Dr. Albright already seemed upset, on edge - instinctively, Abby chose her words with a care. "I should have at the time, but there never seemed a good moment. I wanted to say [i]thank you;[/i] a belated thank you for my son. He was one of the kids who came to see your wolves after they were brought aboard the Copernicus. The bald eagle too, the injured one. Michael had never seen these animals before up close - [i]none[/i] of them had. He and his buddies couldn't stop talking about them."

"You were [i]so[/i] busy, but really, that meant a lot... "

The silent buzz of the tablet's alarm rang through her knee where it was perched, her brow lifted curiously as she glanced down at the screen. Abby frowned, biting her lip as she stood. "I'm sorry Dr. Albright. Excuse me... But I would love to catch up after this, if you'd like?" Her words were sincere, a genuinely hopeful set of her fingers on the younger woman's arm before she had to turn away back to the stage, and take an honest to God second look at her tablet screen.

Under normal circumstances Abby would have replied via voice-activated response, but she honestly did not wish to speak aloud at this moment. The odds of being overheard were near nil, but Abby's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard anyway. [b]"Good morning Mr. Bach, and thank you for your glowing assessment of my enormous testicular endowment, the size of which apparently would make a whale weep with envy." [/b]

Abby did not despise these men and women, these "NI Technicians," not the way that some aboard the Copernicus might. She did not fear the things they could do, their capabilities or their knowledge, nor would she pity them either. Not because she did not feel for their circumstances - far, [i]far[/i] from it in truth. But because pity was like to the last thing that would do them any good at all. 

They were people, merely people in extraordinary circumstances as was every last living person aboard the Copernicus. Abby would treat them as such, all the way down to the snark that could lighten the mood in an instant - even if she wasn't particularly feeling it herself. [b]"But Big Bill's a teddy bear you know. Really. Make sure you give him a great big hug if you ever get to meet him. He [i]definitely[/i] likes great big hugs. Oh, and lockdown procedures will likely not be necessary, but should the need arise? The SRT team is present as well. Skull cracking will commence apace."[/b]

Abby ascended the stairs to the stage, and checked the time on her tablet, her face stony and set as she stood there, a small figure entirely alone on that stage though, by all appearances, entirely at ease. 

A portal slid back behind the stage, the sound of which pulled the First Sergeant's attention directly as she bellowed the Auditorium to attention. Without any visible mic, the First Sergeant's voice was amplified just so throughout the room, such that she might seem to be standing at any point in the many rows of seating. The military personnel in the room would know to stand immediately, while the call served to let the civilians know the briefing was at hand. 

The man who emerged from the black portal in the hologram forest strode across the stage, long strides eating the distance between himself and the First Sergeant with a feline grace. A full head of short, neatly-trimmed silver-grey crowned him, the ACUs he wore similar to Abby's own. For anyone in the know, the two stars he wore as insignia proclaimed this man a major general. For anyone else who simply had eyes to see, the man's very aura, his ease and commanding presence proclaimed him "the guy in charge."

"At ease," he called, his voice traveling as simply as the First Sergeant's throughout the space, allowing the military personnel to return to their seats. He joined Abby in the center of the stage, glancing toward her with a curt nod before his attentions turned toward the audience.

"Good morning everyone." His voice was smooth, warm and easy on the ears though the hologram forest disappeared entirely, revealing vast swaths of pale grey and blue screen where once a soft summer day had been. "And welcome Third Shift. For those of you I have not met, I am General Benjamin Lahan, the First Commander of the Copernicus. Thank you for being here and, because I can imagine how most of you must feel?" Lahan laughed softly as he began to pace the stage slowly, making a slow arc as his eyes roamed over every last person in the Auditorium, taking them all in at a glance with those sharp hazel eyes. And if his eyes rested overlong on the roughnecks, on the kid with all the tattoos and blue hair, or on the young, smiling girl with the bouncing ringlets and the dark past? If they lingered on the men and women who, during their lifetimes on Earth, might have taken the left-handed fork in the road more often than the right? 

Well there was nothing but warm reassurance to be found in that open, paternal grin.

"I'm going to keep this short for [i]all[/i] your sakes, the sake of your stomachs, and the sake of your heads. My office is located in Section One, alongside Navigation - and the door is [i]always[/i] open. This morning I wanted to give those of you I haven't had the pleasure of meeting, a face to go with the name, and thank you all personally for being here today."

"And so as a man of my word? I'm turning the reins over to the capable hands of First Sergeant Larson, our new Head of Security. I'll look forward to meeting many of you during the course of your shifts." The General leaned down to speak a private word in her ear before turning to leave 

Abby called the Auditorium to attention once more, waiting until General Lahan left the room before she waved the military personnel back to their seats. Some small part of her really wanted to bring the forest back, the one banished by the General. But whatever spell those breeze-teased trees and blazing blue skies might yet have woven was already dissipated, and wasn't likely to return with the news she had to give them anyway.

Abby's gaze searched those faces again. Deliberately. Thoughtfully. She sought the dark eyes of the kindhearted veterinarian, and then looked to Connor, that decent, brilliant kid who looked anything but. To the light-hearted, smiling guy who seemed to have a... Yes, that really [i]was[/i] a cat on his shoulder. Abby almost smiled when her eyes found that grinning smartass Reece, and the strangely comforting bulk of the mountain that was Big Bill.

But she really did smile, just a little, when she looked to Gavin: the only man she knew capable of both easy, comfortable silences without expectation, and bedtime stories with Tolkien with that rich, lyrical voice. Abby took that breath of solace gratefully.

"Good morning," she began, her words even and measured. "Yes, I'm First Sergeant Abby Larson and yes, your Head of Security for the next three years of my own shift. Normally this is the point where I, or someone else like me, would make nice introductions and then have all the crew chiefs and section leaders stand, introduce themselves - and then we'd all get back to nursing our headaches or stomach aches for another day or two before we getting to work." 

Abby nodded, her unflinching blue-eyed gaze sweeping the audience. "We'll still get to the introductions, but there is some additional information it is my responsibility to pass on to you all. And since every person in here is an adult, I will lay this out simply."

"During the course of Second Shift, five people in stasis died: three women, one man and a child." Abby held up a hand quickly, before anyone could protest. "Next of kin have already been notified, and know who they are." 

"At first, it was assumed to be a problem with the cryostasis beds, but that was not so." Abby ran through all the cop speak in her head, the jargon that turned the horrific truth to a more manageable, bloodless banality. "After a fourth woman was attacked, subsequently woken from her medically induced sleep and managed to escape, it became obvious that all five people were murdered by the same man - a cryo tech."

"The man responsible was arrested, tried, and subsequently executed."

Abby did not wait for a reaction. She wasn't done yet, "As a result, previously sealed and secured personnel records have been opened. Some shift members and crews have been changed out - as not a few of you have already discovered. Further, additional security personnel have been woken, and surveillance protocols tightened considerably."

"Legal protocols have been tightened as well. Tampering with a cryostasis bed with the intent to harm, maim or kill the person within is also a capital offense. General Lahan wishes me to assure you all, that your continued safety and security are his [i]utmost[/i] priority.

Abby's jaw was clenched tight. Hell, she was halfway sure her molars might shatter at any moment, though all she did was sigh softly through her nose and brace herself. "Are there any questions?"