It was a good thing Laurey pushed her to spend at least a small portion of her share immediately. Ah well, easily gained is easily lost, after all. They stocked up on parts and materials for their little arts and crafts project in advance, they weren’t going to starve, and with Kanarusian Federation now on board they probably wouldn’t run out of fuel or places to hide either.

What truly ticked her off was Joey. What bodily orifice was he talking out of? What, was he gonna suggest curfew next? [color=#FF2E00]“Or you could trip and hit your head on the table ten times you capless box of shale...”[/color] she muttered under her breath when she realized he was actually being serious with what he was saying, [color=#FF2E00]“If membership here is a two-way tunnel, where the fuck were you, [i]XO[/i]? And funny you talk about recklessness. If you need help remembering ten minutes ago, I’ll gladly help jog your memory tomorrow. In the meantime, look up the definition of ‘less-than-lethal’.”[/color] she hissed in his direction halfway out of the room, [color=#FF2E00]“If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my quarters with a bag of ice on my head. Nobody catch on fire or anything.”[/color]

It was good to lie down after a day like that. Very carefully, no rapid head movement. Today’s events themselves shouldn’t feel good in any way, and while what happened to Alan and the fallout affecting them all was indeed fucked, she was finally useful in some capacity.

But over and above all that, the day’s events got Avelyn thinking. She had to talk to the captain in private. She hoped to do more work for her before asking for personal favors, but today proved they weren’t as inconspicuous as she thought and bad shit could happen just like that. And the sooner this problem was addressed, the sooner she’d stop being a massive weak link of the entire crew. There was still wiggle room, but that only extended as far as OIS thought she was either dead or still captive, and would end the second they learned she was alive and rogue. [color=#FF2E00][i]’You’re some piece of work, aren’t you? Calling for memory checks when you would roll over on them in a heartbeat if it helped you.’[/i][/color] she thought, [color=#FF2E00][i]‘Fucking hypocrite, that’s what you are. BUT… If they help you with this, you’ll owe them a lot. It’s an angle...’[/i][/color] Yes, waiting was no longer an option. They’d talk once the captain’s had some time to decompress from the Bazaar shitshow and the Kanarusian was on board. No point overloading her with bad news and problems to deal with.

The next day, with a shower, a fresh change of clothes and without a headache, found her heading to where the Kanarusian liaison was supposed to board. Arriving shortly before the shuttle docked, she was curious about both the newcomer himself and his thoughts about them. She hadn’t encountered any Kanarusians during the war, and she knew better than to trust Ascendancy propagandists. And after all, the new arrival wasn’t a friend yet, more of a potential ally, all the more reason to make sure there was nothing suspicious in their head, right? While waiting, she typed up a message on her omni-tool.

[code]
From: A. Vernal
To: Cpt. N. Zheng
Subject: Something you should be aware of.
I’ve got a little personal problem that could potentially affect the crew as a whole in a pretty significant and unpleasant way. Meet me when you have a few minutes once the new guy is settled in. Bring Klein if you want to have him scanned, might as well get everything out of the way at once.
[/code]