"Did you gland during the crash? It looks like there was a malfunction with your implant. The mixture didn't distribute correctly and didn't shut off properly either. You have a bit of swelling in your brain and around your cervical spine between C3 and 4. I can program a countermeasure to reduce the swelling but longer term we'll need to run a full diagnostic on your gland, neural lace and nervous system.

Zey sighed. She tried to move her head but the cable was still plugged in and the feeling of that was beyond awful. So the Captain remained perfectly still.

"Ok doc, thanks. How long?"

"20 minutes, give or take. We caught this early enough to prevent lasting damage - It could have become much worse."

[hr]

[h3]Iris & Zey[/h3]

Iris made a brisk pace through the corridors of Jotunheim bumping into a few civilians, and techs, with little regard, mumbling as she went. This is single handedly one of the most important things that mankind has come across, and for some reason, only after a few days have passed, did they think it would be pertinent to wake me their chief biologist. I approached the bridge and came to an abrupt stop at the doors that did not open at first. Iris huffed and looked the doors up and down, but before she had long to look them over they started to open. “Thank you.” she scoffed under her breath as she entered.

As she stepped in she was met with only two people being on the bridge, Dr.Feng the head Medical Examiner, and her person of interest Captain Kadıoğlu. “Captain.” she snapped with a slightly aggravated tone. She looked to the doctor who was putting some things away then back to Zey. Taking a few more steps to close the distance between them she began. “Pardon me Doctor Feng, but I need to talk with the captain for a moment, can we finish up whatever this is?”

Feng stared at Iris for a moment, then walked by her, nodding as he went.

"By all means. Welcome to the party, Doctor. "

Zey stood looking intensely at Iris as she came in. Her arms were folded.

"Doctor Lambert, welcome to Kanth-Amerek. Your cryo gave out at one hell of a time. What's your status?" The Captain's words were cordial but her tone wasn't.

“Richard did well at stabilising me.” Iris started in with formalities, and pulled up her tablet as she continued explaining. “The lab is in much a similar state as the rest of the ship with a few of the machines needing some work before they are operable again.” Iris’ tone was matter-a-fact and almost accusatory with the last part. “Edward is continuing to sort through the equipment that had not been prepared for jump, and as we are on the topic of our jump; why would we have waited to wake up the chief biologist when we are making continued contact with alien lifeforms the likes of which would be extremely important to begin studying!” She raised her voice a bit and emphasised the last part further with unwavering eye contact while pointing indirectly as if the windows of the bridge were an opening to the new planet. “Every moment lost is a major setback in progress towards understanding them, and finding out crucial information that could lead to massive scientific advancement.”

“Cryo isn’t as simple as flicking a switch and you’re back in the room, Doctor. We didn’t exactly have the luxury of waiting for you.” Zey shot back, meeting Iris’ stare.

“Wodan has taken extensive video and audio recordings of the natives; you have clearance for those. It is now going to work on a translation program. One of the newcomers can read thoughts and so interface directly, apparently.” Her face was taut - while this prospect would excite some of the crew, including potentially Iris, she didn’t like the idea of a mind reading alien outside.

“I don’t need to remind you that your responsibilities don’t end at intelligent life. We also need to figure out if their food is safe for us to consume. We have enough rations on board for 24 people to last two years - we now number nearly 60. We’re working on getting back to Earth, but that could take some time.”

Zey took a step closer to Iris. She could smell the chemicals on her body from the forced sleep.

“That means we’re stuck together, like it or, as in my case, not. This isn’t one of your sick experiments either - this is real. Good people can die from the slightest mistake here; you may be OK with that, but I'm not. So if I catch a whiff of any bullshit from you, anything at all, I won’t wait for a trial on Earth. Am I making myself crystal clear?”

[hr]

After this latest interaction between the crew and the natives, Zey had a quick catch up with Mallory in the corridor, then called another crew meeting. Ezra was dialled in so he could listen while still on watch. 

She announced Wodan’s plan to create a translation algorithm, and reiterated what Mallory had said about knowledge being their main leverage. The natives weren’t stupid - they could see and had mentioned how much more advanced their tech was. Zey wanted to give them enough information to understand what Humans were and some parts of their history (maybe putting a positive spin on things). But the recipe for gunpowder? Under no circumstances were they to divulge that information. They had to just hope that this lizard mind reader was too confused by their new and unexplored brains to find that stuff out already.  

Zey then outlined her priorities while the translation software was underway. First, they were to build some defences outside of the Jotunheim. The next few weeks were still very uncertain; they had to be prepared to defend their home. Nothing fancy to begin with, just a fortification which had existed for thousands of years in Human history - the trench. The crew appeared to have vastly superior firepower over these aliens, but they were so few that only a dozen lucky arrows could devastate them. The ship was on a hillside, so Zey suggested that Eva [@TinyKiwi] and her suit plus robots would be the best placed to lead the excavation, with input from Ezra on positioning.

The Captain then introduced the newly awoken Dr Lambert to the crew. Some of them would have met her before, but mostly she had been kept in the background until after launch. Zey allowed Iris to highlight her qualifications, then explained her task of investigating the Natives’ food and biology.

Third, Zey proposed sealing the shuttle bay and setting it up as a living area for the passengers. Three days in, they were all scared and angry, and had taken many opportunities to stop crew members in the hall to voice those concerns. Zey made it clear her desire to move them to more permanent lodgings rather than the temporary set up in the mess hall. The telescopic docking ramp would be deployed to create a primary point of egress, and she wanted some sort of reception area set up outside to receive visitors.

Lastly, she announced that after an initial delay, herself and Mallory would be interviewing the civilians individually. This was firstly to try to assuage their many concerns. It was also to understand their skillsets, with a view to eventually assigning them roles. Zey warned everyone in the room to expect a request to train or supervise this new workforce in the coming days.

Despite everyone’s exhaustion and the relatively late hour, the meeting was lively. Lots of back and forth showed that the crew was utterly invested in the process, which is sort of what Zey wanted. She wasn’t a dictator, regardless of how the chain of command worked. She knew that her team were experts, and should be allowed to input into the priorities. By the end of the meeting, she was absolutely exhausted. Zey made her way back to her cabin and rested, letting the cocktail that Feng had put together work its magic.

Over the next few days, the Jotunheim was a hive of activity. Zey certainly felt better from that next morning, but carried on having daily check ups with Dr Feng. A more thorough X-ray and diagnostic was scheduled for Day 10. The med bay was still busy, and Zey didn't want to add to the team's woes.