[color=598527]"Only a phobia if it isn't justified or rational, which it most certainly is."[/color] Stukov was not interested in trading barbs with some xeno, no matter how determined it was to convince them that it was anything more than looking for the real reason it was here, and spend their lives to see it happen. Whatever higher machinations it had in mind, the armsman knew for fact, would not find an ally in him. The only thing that stayed his hand was Morgenstern's orders to the contrary, and the fact they had bigger problems to sort out. The open warp anomalies and cult presence were both equally concerning, as was the hazardous objective they had located. But no, they were going to be gallivanting about instead of securing the object and investigating the leads they had. Of course, Morgenstern put her foot down on not overdoing it, despite any amusement she may have found in such a contest. Fortunate indeed he was not feeling particularly festive nor competitive at this point at time.

	[color=598527]"Duly noted."[/color] Stukov wasn't wasting his breath on stating the obvious, given the clearly untouched items in front of him. If he needed food, he had rations he could wolf down between firefights, and that would suffice. Solares' reaching for "his" food elicited no reaction from the [i]Armsman[/i] as he instead referred to his dataslate, reviewing the situation and conditions they would be dealing with while on the planet. He would at least be as prepared as he could be, despite recent damaging of his equipment and the mild fact he was, by all accounts, critically under armed compared to the rest of the retinue. He had some ideas to rectify the situation, of course, but that wasn't going to happen in some needlessly fancy restaurant. Rather, he would need to get back to the base armory, restock, rearm, and if need be requisition the equipment he had in mind. Maybe have his arm replaced as well, given it was tainted by the xeno trickery, but he would have to burn that bridge when he came to it. The tech priestess, mad as she was, would no doubt be all too willing to hack his arm off if it meant 'upgrading' him, something to keep in mind. At the mention of being ready to move out, Stukov nodded briskly.

	[color=598527]"Sooner we get moving the better. Let's get this done with."[/color] If he had any say in the matter, Stukov would have been up and on his feet right now, heading off for the transport to get their objective back to base. But it wasn't his say, and he wasn't going to just run off because he didn't like the orders or plan that was given. Better or worse, he was one to follow orders. At least rational ones, and while he firmly believed the current ones stretched that definition, well, that wasn't grounds enough to consider them unlawful. Not yet, at any rate.