The thirty-ish civilians who’d sheltered in the Jotunheim before takeoff were largely still wearing the clothes they’d arrived in. The ship didn’t have enough spare uniforms for everyone. Most had dressed for the cold Norwegian weather, with jumpers, hats, gloves and boots featuring quite prominently. Zey supposed that was a good thing - better to be wrapped up warm than only have a Hawaiian shirt and trunks.

Zey took her cue from Mallory.

“And I’m Zeynap Kadıoğlu, your Captain. We’re also here to listen to any concerns or suggestions you may have.”

In the end, Zey and Mallory were rarely conducting interviews at the same time. Someone needed to run the ship; there was a near constant stream of questions and status reports that needed answering. An exercise that the Captain hoped would take one day ended up taking two.

It seemed to her that the initial adrenaline and shock of the crash was wearing off, and their surprise passengers were now experiencing exhaustion (from cramped conditions), anger (that they couldn’t go outside) and fear (that they were stuck on an unknown planet in a wrecked vessel). Zey had more than a couple heated conversations with men and women who thought they knew better than her and the crew.

No, they couldn’t fly without operational reactors.

No, they couldn’t all just go camping outside to ‘get out from under each others’ feet’.

No, she couldn’t make a special exemption just for them.

She also had good conversations with ordinary people who were happy that someone was in charge, and were tentatively optimistic. They wanted to get home and see their families, and were ready to get stuck in to make that happen.

Zey took all everyone’s feedback on board, then gave them some insight into what was going to happen next. In order to get everyone home safe as quickly as possible, all able bodied people would work shifts. They would obey commands from their supervisor and the command crew at all times. It could be dangerous at times, but they would receive appropriate training, and Zey assured them it wouldn’t be more dangerous than remaining on this world for good.
After fielding a few questions about the work, Zey turned the interview back towards them. What was their skill set? What did they do for work? After combining her notes with Mallory’s list, they had the final tally - 29 civilian souls:

Spaceport cargo loaders x 2
Hangar attendant
Chemical Engineer (was heading to the Moon to help set up a new food factory)
Lunar mining equipment mechanic
Ethical hacker (knowledge of AI) - Broken leg
Archaeologists x 3
Nordic metal band members x 3
Landscape designer for the Martian rich and powerful
Lunar colony architect (head injury)
Solar energy farm engineer - focused more on sales
Marketing consultants & project managers x 3
Investment analyst x 2
Decentralised finance infrastructure engineer - Gunshot wound to shoulder
Gene editor (and mother to an 8 year old boy on board) - Venusian
Mining equipment manufacturing line supervisor (and father to a 9 year old girl on board)
Estate agent
Senior Claims Adjuster - Crisis Management, Cyber and M&A
VR game designer
Artist and graphic designer

One of the passengers who had been in critical condition since the crash died on the fourth day, and two more followed on the fifth day. Zey asked for them to be put on ice in available cryo pods for the time being - she wasn’t certain the natives wouldn’t dig up their dead again during the night.

On Crash+6, Zey reconnected with Eva [@TinyKiwi] about an important assignment. Getting their eyes and ears back was becoming too pressing to ignore. Once trenches had been dug, they were to head to the summit of the hill and set up the Jotunheim’s one remaining portable sensory array and comms relay (the others had fallen out somewhere over the marshes). They would set up two cameras (that was all they could spare) with a live link to monitor the site remotely.

If they could set that up successfully, the crew could begin building a detailed map of the area, identify mineral resources and increase their communications range.

On the morning of Crash+7, communications resumed with the locals who had camped nearby. Zey was on top of the Jotunheim, safely secured with a harness. She was surveying the damage and extent of repairs so far when a request from one of the aliens came through. They wanted to discuss Human biology.

“Is that the one that can’t decide what type of bird it wants to be? It's not asking to cut anyone up is it? What does it want to know?” Zey turned around to look at the camp down on the ground. A spidery mechanical drone clanked past.