Day ??? of year 384 Post-Downfall
Sunstorm imminent

[[All time is given in (local) normal time, with works in steps of 100, rather than 60/24.)
One NT second is about a tenth of Earth-time second. 
One NT minute lasts about ten Earth-seconds.
One NT hour about 16.66... Earth-minutes.
One NT day is about 27.7... hours or 1.16 Earth-days.
One Qatrainian year is about 0.31 Earth-years]]

[h3]The Lone Survivor[/h3]

74:04:15 LNT

	Kay had not immediately followed, so he was well and truly on his own now, to be inspected by the locals as if he were a snake they were not quite sure whether was venomous. One of them even looked ready to shoot him just for the simple crime of being [i]there[/i], thankfully shut down before getting around to penetration testing Notrau's armor. All he could to was remind himself that [i]everyone[/i] was going to shoot him if he failed to ignore all provocations, and just keep pretending that this Gramps of Kay's was an Anderekian officer and he was simply waiting for further orders. 
	And so he just stood here after his introduction, alert and impassionate, tensely waiting as Gramps delegated his tasks to someone else before introducing himself in turn. "Wary" would have been a more apt descriptor than "weary". 
	[i]“Let’s talk in my quarters. Food was one of the first things we packed up, unfortunately, so I can’t offer a proper meal just this moment, but I think I might still have some crackers in a cupboard, or some cookies. And I’ll make something to drink. Do you prefer tea or coffee?”[/i]
	"Acknowledged." He wasn't not at all comfortable with the thought of indoors. [i]Entering[/i] was easy, but coming back out? Who knew. For a dozen seconds or so his mind kept trying to decide between following protocol with a superior and  simply speaking to a fellow soldier. "Tea, I figure. If you don't mind." That's the second time in a rather short span an Eighfourian had offered him food. Was that, too, an unspoken protocol of some kind? 
	Even with his armor, one might notice his shoulders relaxing when Dee-A asked Kay to come with them. [i]Thank fuck.[/i] Unless... 
[i]
	He [b]hadn't[/b] put her, too, in some form of dire danger, had he?[/i]

	The tension returned as they reached Gramps' quarters, with the man formerly known as Notrau coming to a full stop on the doorstep, turning his head to take in the room. There was something in his demeanor that  made it seem as if he expected a full firing squad to be hiding in the small space next to the door hidden from sight until you stepped in. But it was just a room, and quite civilian, if a bit more makeshift than the Trenian ones he had seen. 
	For now, it felt safe enough to comply with the request to take a seat, rifle against his side and arms loosely folded in front of himself. Once it was down to just the three of them in private, it quickly, and rather predictably, began feeling much more like an interrogation. 
[i]	“An Anderekian soldier who actually had enough independent thought to realize that your faction couldn’t care less whether you lived or died, and that before you got yourself shot or lost any of your equipment. If you’d be presumed dead and lost there must’ve been a battle. Probably with the Trenians. And the Anderekians lost.” He sighed. “I don’t suppose you know whether the Anderekians or Trenians use AI?”[/i]
	"I wouldn't know what fate awaited renegades if I were the first to try," Enn said simply, visibly raising his shoulders to shrug. "The rest was luck. That, and being in position to lose equipment and dying being mostly synonymous to begin with." He doubted the Trenians had brought anything that could score a direct hit on an infantryman and not leave you with new and improved body plan. "But you're right about the gist of it." Surprisingly well-informed, all things considered, but one could expect something like that from someone who had been described as [i]former trader.[/i] 
	Enn-que sighed. 
	"I haven't seen any evidence of an independent, autonomously-acting machine minds among either Trenians or Anderekians. That's what is said to reside in the west. But I believe they - Trenians, I mean - sometimes use AI-assisted targeting. A human wouldn't be able to shoot like that." 

74:04:75 LNT
(early evening)