It might have been wiser for Solae to take a nap herself but she elected not to do so; Rene had made significant contributions towards getting them to San Roayo and she felt obligated to match his efforts. She obviously lacked the raw strength he possessed and thus had been of little help in making the barge sea worthy. What she was able to offer was an apparent natural knack for technology that had not been explored during her upbringing as a future marquise and leader of the Stellar Empire. The diplomat was by no means an expert even with the tutelage of Mia. Time and practice were absolutely necessary for her to reach the skill level that mere apprentices had in the field. The artificial intelligence she was reliant upon for her learning was also not designed for the purpose of imparting a specialized education on its users. Even with the advent of synthetic beings, human (or humanoid) individuals were used for instructors, as it had proven an impossible task to make any program mimic the discipline and intuition that were used by the best to motivate and understand their pupils.

Both the woman and child were seated at the small table in the galley that seemed to get very little use. Damaris had a tall glass of water that was half-gone, a simple beverage intended to make certain she stayed hydrated, while Solae had an almost empty cup of coffee. She had spiked her brew with a few splashes of cheap liquor that she had discovered buried deep in the pantry where one smuggler must have been hiding it from their criminal colleagues. The linguist wouldn't jeopardize herself or anyone else by getting inebriated, so the dosage had been low enough it would not even produce a buzz, but it gave a little more bite that helped keep her awake, alert, and focused in conjunction with the caffeine.

"Did you have a good nap?" Solae asked as Rene entered.

Hanging off the back of her chair was a small waterproof tote that in its past life had been used for the transportation of small sums of currency and illicit drugs during inclement weather. Tucked inside was a clunky, outdated tablet roughly the size of a brick and half as wide. What it lacked in pleasing aesthetics it made up for in the multiple protective coatings and barriers that meant anything short of an apocalyptic typhoon would not destroy it. Twenty or thirty years ago it would have been standard issue for colonizers and scientists evaluating the results of terraforming on an unstable world. Solae didn't know what the tablet had been used for before, although she ventured a guess it was something unsavory, and had it reset to factory conditions. The only data that had been uploaded after it was wiped clean were maps of San Roayo. All of the rest of the storage was free purposefully for the noblewoman to fill to capacity with what she could download from the communication center's archives.

In addition to the sturdy tablet she had packed a compact emergency medical kit, a small set of utility tools in case she had to brute force her way into a control system, and the funds that had been left behind by the prior crew of the [i]Bonaventure.[/i] Packing any more felt as if it might be too burdensome. Solae recognized a need to travel as lightly as possible while being prepared; they did not want to appear more suspicious than they already were and they ought to weigh down their sea vessel as little as possible if they hoped to navigate it successfully.

Damaris let out a giggle at the reference to the nap as Rene stepped in. Knowing he had taken a nap had made him significantly less frightening to the adolescent as she saw it as something small children did rather than adults. Her parents were not of sufficient social standing to take breaks in the middle of the day, like many working aristocrats who took full advantage of their status, and so she legitimately did not know anyone above the age of a toddler had such liberties or inclinations. Considering it as was advantageous for Damaris to be more friendly and trusting towards the soldier, Solae was not inclined to point out the gap in her perception.

"Did you want to have something to eat before we go? We have quite the variety of instant, high in carbohydrates, low in nutritional value meals to choose from. I'll even let you take a swig from my bottle," she teased with a wink. Damaris only devolved into more girlish giggling that reminded Solae of when she used to be so easily amused by adult things. At the time her parents had found her adolescent amusements grating because a lack of composure could reflect poorly upon them.