[b]Frostbiter[/b]
[b]In Orbit of Heilagur[/b]

The second hanger of the [i]Frostbiter[/i] had been renovated for the research teams of the expedition. Wedged between stacks of servers and electronics were pale curtains hedged the lab spaces.
Abraham looked on tables that were already covered with scattered papers, along with other scientific paraphernalia. Walking down the improvised corridor, Abe had to weave and sidestep himself around researchers and scientists as they moved their equipment or carried their work in and around the hanger. 

Abraham was heading down to the aft of the ship, towards the CDC and the offices of that section of the vessel. The rectangular shaped lift opened up on the wall of the hanger some fifty meters from him, spotting people moving in and out of it. Before he could reach it though, the heavy, clunky doors closed and sealed as the lift went up the ship. Abe's frustration quickly washed out as he patiently waited for the numbers above the horizontal doors climbed and fell again. 

"Are you settled into your office Mr Var Constavos?" Asked a surprisingly casually dressed Lieutenant Tethys. Abe saw her to his side and whipped up a polite smile. 
"Yes I have, it was bigger than I'd expected but it's suits my needs" Abe responded without pressing for anymore of a conversation, slipping his vision back to the lift. In the corner of his eye, Abe could still see the lieutenant standing next to him, her head turned to stare at the same numbers. 

"I'm sure that this meeting won't take too long hopefully" Tethys said as they waited with more people for the elevator. "I wouldn't mind so much if the timing onboard wasn't off from Heilagur so much" Tethys continued, looking to Abraham for confirmation of some sort.
Abe raised his eyebrows. "I know what you mean, I worked on Alsis with it's forty eight hour day but you get used to it..." Abe's mind stumbled upon a thought "...Have you not been stationed off-world before Lieutenant?"

The doors of the elevator retracted back and the duo assembled into the lift that became quickly crowded. The envoy and the dispatcher were pressed shoulder to shoulder as the doors clanged shut.
"No... this will be my first assignment off-world" Lieutenant Tethys said with an honest glance to the Abe in the tight space between them. 

Abe's mind gulped, suddenly a bit more nervous, though he tried to rationalise to calm down his mind. 

-=-=-

The conference room was located a floor below the CDC, the ceiling curved like they were inside a giant shell. A dozen chairs surrounded a long table, though about half were filled at that point in time.
Abraham sat opposite the Lieutenant, trading small talk with the research leads beside her.
A chair away from the envoy sat Wing Commander Willow, the officer in charge of the [i]Frostbiter's[/i] strikecraft complement. His head was shaven and was delighted in telling Abe the condition of the first hanger and how better a posting it was from his last.

"I tell ya' what though, breaking any of this shit would cost me an arm and a leg" The commander said boldly, leaning over the chair between him and Abe.
Before Abe could answer, the bulkhead into the conference room opened swiftly and the captain stepped in with a retinue of officers, everyone at the table stood up.

"Please, sit down" the captain said, a woman with her hair tied back into a tail and her uniform laden with a humble collection of medals. As the chairs scraped against the floor of the room, the captain walked over to her seat. "I hope we all are prepared to leave orbit" The military officers in the room let out a collective 'aye' while the civilian's either nodded or looked bewildered.

"Good, now you all know how important this expedition is. So this briefing is more of a meet and greet before we cast off. I don't need to tell you how dangerous it can get beyond Doctrinate space" The captain started, letting her words simmer around the table.
"I'm sure we all have our own objectives on this expedition, but we all have to share the same goal of getting everyone back safe and sound" The captain continued.

"With that said, we also have this fairly heavy briefing to get through..." the captain lifted the heavy folder placed on the table in front of her. "...hopefully, the mess will still be open by the time we finish so if you all would like to open your copies" The captain started, with junior officers handing out folders to each of the people at the table.