As soon as their transport landed on the small moon Ro, Jack, Mel and BB disembarked to witness a hungry crowd clamoring for supplies from the cargo ship, which had landed prior to theirs on a priority landing vector.

	The four ex-military observed the situation with trained eyes.

	"Something's fishy here." BB muttered under his breath. "Vok, can you catch something with your optics?"

	"We're not here to spy, BB." Mel interjected sternly.

	The man appeared taken aback for a second or two. Mel had outranked both him and Jack when they were still enlisted.

	"Fuck that, Mel!" This time it was Jack who intervened. "You can't tell me this looks legit to you!" He pointed at the cargo ship. Its cargo bay ramp lowered, a cordon of sailors keeping the colonists at bay while another group was 'busy' handing out a scarce amount of supplies. "If this was a cargo ship carrying supplies for this moon there'd be a hell of a lot more personnel unloading and a hell of a lot more supplies trading hands!"

	Mel bit her lower lip. The boys were right, of course. But that still didn't mean they should get involved. They had not come here to investigate fishy cargo ships with priority landing vectors. "Do you mind?" She found herself asking however, turning to look at Ro.

	"I don't mind." The Noxaara said also finding the situation to be quite unusual. "But I don't believe I'll be able to detect anything from this distance." Ro said. "And I don't believe we have reason to approach enough for my optics to detect anything of significance."

	"Damn!" BB exclaimed.

	"C'mon, guys." Mel urged the boys. "We gotta find either Miranda Nero or Dr Clara Lascelles to hammer out the details of our arrangement." She grabbed her bags and shouldered them. "We've only just arrived. Let's get the lay of the land first. See what's what, who's who and then maybe go spying."

	Jack and BB grumbled, but both shouldered their bags and followed after Mel.

	Ro also followed. "The situation on the moon appears to be quite desperate in terms of supplies." The Protector observed walking besides Mel. "If I'm allowed to contact my people I'm sure they would be glad to help with whatever they can. The Noxaara didn't suffer as much damage as the humans during the war with Nomad."

	"I'm sure they'll appreciate that, Ro." Mel stated looking at her friend with a soft smile. The Noxaara were a gentle race to begin with, but the Protectors especially had this internal desire to help. It was, after all, why she, Jack and BB were still alive.

	The four friends made their way to the general administration building in search of Mel's contacts. The situation on the moon appeared indeed dire. There were injured people everywhere, both military and civilian and it would appear the medical staff was struggling to tend to them all.

	"Mel..." BB looked at her pleadingly, passing injured people left and right. He was a medic in the platoon during the Nomad war.

	"I know, BB." She said in acknowledgement. "Let's just get situated first and then you can go and do your thing."

	He nodded silently.

	Ro could relate. As a Protector she had emergency medicine training as well, although not at par with BB's, certainly not where humans were concerned, but Vokeera understood his desire to help.

	They approached the general area where Mel knew the offices of the head honcho's were. Ro's SEEM auditory enhancement picked up on a light buzzing sound right when they saw a group of marines in exoskeleton suits posted at equal intervals in the narrow corridor. The buzzing disappeared almost immediately.

	"Cargo ship, my ass!" BB and Jack grumbled in unison.

	"Behave!" Mel warned. "I agree this is fishy as hell." She added. "Let’s be smart about it. BB, Jack, see if you can find the chief of security Miranda Nero." She was about to unload her bags on the floor of the corridor when Vokeera clasped her arm to stay her movement.

	Mel looked at the Noxaara questioningly. Ro indicated with a head movement towards the floor. A small swarm of Apis had taken up position on the floor, their wings now unmoving, quiet. Mell cursed under her breath.

	"I feel like we've been dropped in the middle of a play to which we don't know the plot or the lines." She complained looking at the Apis swarm. "Go on, guys." She urged Jack and BB and they tracked back from whence they came. Mel turned to Ro. "By the looks of it we won't be allowed to enter the office of the Director, so let’s try Dr Lascelles's office first."

	Ro nodded and the two of them made their way past Director Ogilvie's office. They stood in front of a door, its plaque reading simply 'Dr Clara Lascelles'. Mel raised her hand and nocked. There was no answer, but shortly after there was a commotion in front of Ogilvie's office. The door opened and a group of people exited the room. Some decidedly 'spook' looking individuals and a woman.

	Vokeera and Mel followed the group with curious gazes.

	"Should we try the Director's office now?" Ro wondered.

	Mel was chewing her bottom lip again. "Let's follow them." She said out of the blue.

	"Lugging our stuff while we're at it?" Ro pointed out. "We'll stick out like a sore opposable digit."

	"It's a sore thumb, Ro." Mel grinned at Vokeera’s inability to accurately use human idioms. "Honestly, you've lived how many years now among humans and still cannot commit to memory our sayings and phrases! Now come on, we're following them!" She proceeded to drag the Noxaara after her.

	The two of them hurried to catch up with the group that had exited the Director's office and began following them at a safe distance as to not cause suspicion.

	"Jack and BB will be so miffed at you when they find out you followed the suspicious looking people, when you didn't let them snoop around." Ro whispered in Mel's ear. Melissa simply grinned. "It would also appear the Apis have the same idea as you." Vokeera indicated with a head movement the swarm of small flying creatures following the group at a respectable distance.


[@Catharyn][@Starlance][@Ozymandias]