"Taya and I can head back to the Highlander if..." 

"Nonsense!" Her mother exclaimed while her father simultaneously spouted. "We have plenty of room!" 

Neil held his hands up as if to go 'alright alright!' but in truth he was smiling. It was just beginning to dawn on him how strange it was meeting Junebug's family, now that the surprise had worn off. He would never change her no matter what, but he wondered how she had gotten such a different temperament than everyone else. Then again, Neil was the black sheep of his family too, in a sense. His sisters were far better behave than him, and neither of his parents had encouraged him (too much) to be the way he turned out. 

"Have you killed people too?" Madge asked, pointing at Neil with supreme confidence. 

"Margaret!" Miranda called, her eyes blazing. It looked like Madge had finally caught the hint from the look, and she sunk down into her chair and pouted, crossing her arms. 

"It's alright," Neil assured Miranda and Tomaz, though a look from Miranda showed he misread the situation. She was not mad that Madge was annoying him, except out of principal. She was mostly wanting to spare her daughter the details of anything morbid. Unfortunately, the entirety of the table except Junebug were looking his way. Sayeeda plucked a grape from the fruit bowl and chewed as if she hadn't a care in the world. 

"I was a soldier for awhile, so I've seen some action. But I mostly fly nowadays." He said flippantly. Taya sipped some water gingerly, hoping no one asked her any pressing questions. Neil sympathized. 

"Foot soldier? No wonder she likes you." Her father said. 

"Mech division, actually." He professed, drawing some curious looks. It was rare to find actual mecha pilots in the galaxy. They were mostly used for spec ops, unless one was on a planet where the equipment was readily available, like Fortus. He cleared his throat. "But I did do some ground work. Now I'm just a pilot and engineer. I fix, I fly, I follow orders...mostly." Neil winked. 

"Orders?" Her mother asked. 

"Yeah, Sayeeda's the captain." Neil replied, pointing at Junebug.