Aleks turned to look at Gansu, eyes hard and dull, like frost on glass.

“Princess comes with orders. She is assuming direct command of the fleet, including us. Not sure where this is going from here, but we are dealed an awful hand of cards, and holiday is not even in the deck.”

He turned to look back at Abigail, preemptively resting his hand on her shoulder and squeezing - gently, but firmly - in case she tried to leave before he was going to let her. Abigail shook her shoulder a little bit but metal-polymer grips were hard to escape from once caught. She kept that same still eerie smile on her face as her eyes narrowed slightly in rapid and solemn thought.

Aleks glanced back towards Gansu and - either realising how deadly his expression was, or his mood finally levelling out - softened his gaze.

“It is understandable that this may be cause for concern. I have spoken to her, she seems reasonable and willing to learn, which is undeniably better than the worst case for leadership.”

"Like I said I'm - sure - she'll - be - [I]wonderful[/I]," Abigail said between jerks of her shoulder, trying to free herself, "but I'm more concerned about that rookie all alone out on the ship! Poor thing's probably lost. Hey, here's an idea -" she stared Aleks dead in the eyes, her gaze cold and fierce. "Let me go. And I can go…[I]look[/I] for her."

Aleks blinked at her rapidly, weighing up the choice in his head - keep her here, or let her go. Neither one of them seemed very much like a good something to do, both of them had the potential to lead directly to catastrophe, but…

“We must speak later.” He looked at Abi, staring her down, straight in the eyes. “Ok?”

He waited for a response before he let her go.

Abigail stared back. She wriggled a bit more, sighed then gave Aleks the most sanctimonious, pristine salute she could muster at such an awkward position. "Yes sir, Lieutenant Commander Danielsson sir," she barked back at him and clicked her heels.

The moment she was released Abigail was [I]gone,[/I] squeezing past Gansu and rocketing down the corridors out of sight.

Aleks waited a moment.

“You little shit.” He mumbled, after a moment more. “Nevermind. She’ll be fine. Yes, bad news, Gansu.”