M'rayl stood there in silence for a moment after the man escaped into his bunk as she tried to process the recent development in her mind.  Her beeping watch broke the silence, and she glanced at it to see that her physical would be coming up pretty soon. So much for relaxing. She took one last look at the strange women, shrugged her shoulders, and then left the room, the door swooshing shut behind her.

********************

The Captain gave a polite bow to the Valt guides, who bowed back and motioned to their right at a large building not too far from their landing platform. The arenas were a really big deal here, especially for tourists, so it made sense to be within walking distance and appear a lot more prominent than the other buildings. Most of the other stuff, besides some souvenir shops and eating places, were underground, including a few other smaller arenas, but it was this larger one that the Captain was interested in. 

"These people are with me," the Captain said to them, motioning to other crew members who wanted to tag along to the arena with him. 

As he walked in he could hear a far away roar of cheers and applause echo throughout the building suddenly before slowly dying back down again. There were some television sets in the lobby he passed through showing the action, where the individuals inside also let loose their own cries of excitement or despair at the sight of one particularly large fellow clothed in rusty looking red armor crashed to the ground, a slender Selva in glittering gold armor standing over him with an energy sword. Despite them wielding weapons they were powered down to nonlethal levels, although the big guy was quite likely knocked unconscious as he crashed into the dirt floor and became still. Aids rushed onto the field with a stretcher, comically working together to try and lift him onto it. 

A few more door openings and elevator rides later and Ahn found himself walking out into an observation room 20 stories high, looking down onto the arena itself where, comically, the people just now were able to get the big guy out through a hallway, huffing and puffing all the way. If the Valt weren't already red skinned then they certainly would be now from all of the hard work that they put into that "performance".

Sitting in a comfortable looking chair in the middle of the room, dressed in a fancy blue trench coat, was a grey skinned man appearing to be in his late fifties with a scraggly beard and mustache. His light grey, almost translucent left iris glittered in amusement as he let out a hearty laugh. His other eye was concealed in an eye patch. Perhaps due to the patch, or perhaps due to him being too into the scene playing out before him, he didn't notice or care about the group entering until Ahn almost stood next to him.

"Admiral Vattour, a pleasure to meet with you," he said, extending a hand.

"Ex-admiral," he replied, modestly, "and you must be Captain Ahn Vora? I take it we have business to discuss involving your lack of crew?"

"Yes, sir."

Vattour motioned for him to sit down in an empty chair off to his left before turning to the other crewmembers. 

"This conversation might be a long and dry one, so please, enjoy yourselves! Don't mind us and watch the excitement...or join in yourselves, if you'd like! Go back to the lobby you must have passed through and say that Old Man Vattour sent you. They'll issue you a competition pass right then and there. Just be sure not to disappoint me, you hear?!"

He let out another hearty laugh before turning to the Captain.

"Ah, so I was wondering..."