Israfil tried to loosen up a bit and be more casual as he followed them.

Tera approved of Claire's invitation to Israfil.  She could tell the boy was troubled, but she was still shy around humans and was afraid it might have been awkward if she called out to him.  When she introduced herself, Israfil asked, "Oh, you're a Quantum, then?"  He hadn't met many Quantum in his life, and was amazed at how human-like she was.

"Yes," Tera replied.  When Quantums say their last names, they usually say all three letters separately, and then follow it with a simple short way of pronouncing it, in this case, Q-A-Z becomes 'Kaz'.

Tera remembered her conversation earlier with Claire and decided to pick up where she left off, "You said that it was your sister's idea to join the military.  Do you know what her motivation was for doing so?"

They conversed as they headed for the barracks.  it was an organized grid of hallways, sectioned off for the different departments, the pilots had their own section in a corner of the grid, close to the hangar.  The barracks were located in the heart of the carrier; there was no point putting the living space near the outside where it could get hit easily by enemy fire.  Most carriers had more pilots, but cogs took up considerably more space than small starfighters, so only the handful of cogs took up the entire hangar.  With only seven pilots, the pilot section of the Barracks consisted of two rooms and one office.  The office was for Maya and Sion to work in, while the rooms were split into male and female rooms.  The female room was for Maya, Claire, Blythe and Tera; while the male room was for Sion, Solomon and Israfil.  Their names were clearly designated on a nameplate hanging next to the sliding doors.

"Looks like we'll be staying together," Tera smiled gently at Claire, "I hope I will get a chance to get to know your sister a little.  Lieutenant Encarnacion seems nice too."

The arrangement made Israfil cringe in fear; he didn't want to stay in the same room as Solomon or Lieutenant RHS.  Solomon he clearly was afraid of, while he worried that Sion would be strict and not much fun to be around.  He checked the directory and saw that the engineer's quarters weren't too far away.

Tera tried to comfort Israfil by saying, "At least Lieutenant RHS will be there."

"How is that a good thing?" Israfil blurted out without thinking.

"I've met many Quantum like him before.  He values order above all else and even though he may seem harsh, he means well," Tera replied.