Jessie Beadle walked around the market ring of the station in somewhat of a daze. The events of the last couple days still played vividly in her mind. She'd assumed she was going to be stripped of her commission for her unbecoming reaction, but instead the Captain had reacted with sympathy, and hadn't even removed her from her shift. When the battle had started, she'd been prepared, maneuvering the ship into position along with the Moray, flanking the pirates and helping to ensure a quick victory. Though the mission hadn't been without its casualties, which is how Jessie found herself here, rank still intact. She wasn't going to be sent home. She was going to get to continue exploring. Seeing things no humans had ever seen before, and piloting this magnificent ship the whole way!

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Jessie followed her nose to a food stand. Though the proprietor tried to steer her towards more Terran styled foods, Jessie quickly zeroed in on some kind of fried rodent tail, convincing the cook that no, she wouldn't ask for a refund. Now holding her snack, Jessie contemplated it as she wandered. It was strange, sure. Her father would probably freak out if he saw her eating it. But it wasn't bad. Probably could do with a little less salt, but then it probably wasn't seasoned for human taste buds. It was actually really difficult to describe--

"Mission report, Lieutenant."

Startled, Jessie looked around. She'd wandered down a series of cafes, and now stood in front of a table with a man reading the daily news on his commpadd. Eyes narrowing, Jessie cursed to herself. Jevon. He was an agent of Cabal 47, and her main contact. She'd hoped to leave him, and the Cabal behind once they entered the wormhole. She hadn't considered that he'd meet up with her before they could leave. Nor did she consider him taking control of her neural implants to puppet her directly to him.

"I'm waiting, Jessica."

[color=92278f]"You know I hate when you call me that."[/color]

"And you know that you were supposed to be through the wormhole 48 hours ago. Instead, the Prize comes back damaged and requires days worth of repairs. So as long as we're disappointing each other, I'll call you what I like."

He hadn't even so much as glanced up at her this whole time. He was infuriating. and Jessie could see his hand hovering over a button on his commpadd which would allow him access to her implants again.

[color=92278f]"Alright, fine. There was a distress call from a civilian transport. Pirates had captured them. Their captain wanted to negotiate with the ISA for their return, and we were the closest ship. So we were diverted. I wasn't even included in the meetings, my duty shift hadn't started. I only found out when I reported to the bridge and we were in the middle of action. As far as I know, we're planning on continuing with our original mission as soon as repairs are completed. Happy?"[/color]

Jessie watched as Jevon's finger tapped thoughtfully on the edge of his commpadd, dangerously close to the override button. She just wanted to leave, but even if she could will her feet to move, Jevon would just pull her back. It would be no use screaming either, the Cabal had shown her how they operated, and she knew that drawing attention would only get herself, and anyone around in a whole heap of trouble.

"Happy? Not remotely." Jevon said after a moment, his finger-tapping coming to an end. "But it lines up with the reports we've received, so you're off the hook. Very well, you're dismissed." He folded up his commpad and Jessie shivered as she felt her motor control returning to her. Turning on her heels, she briskly walked away, her heart pounding in fear and anger as she left Jevon behind, for hopefully the last time.