Visiting the onboard bar did little to ease his anxious nerves; then again alcohol was hardly doing it for everyone else either. The most one would expect was to down too many glasses and hope with a now slow and influenced mind is enough to get someone confined to quarters for inability to perform duties given the situation as such. Basically everyone was felling uneasy. Possibly the only person who had it easy was the barkeep, the cooks, and the facilities maintenance staff as their job was stuck within the bowels of the frigate. Everyone else was expected to also work outside too; eventually of course.
"Need another round, boss?" asked the barkeeper.
"...Nah." Rayland replied, "That should be enough Carlos ,just needed to clear my head."
"A lot of that going on around here...I would've assumed you would have kept at least a bottle that in your own quarters." Carlos commented, sensing the easiness with the Captain right now.
"I do. Though honestly I would have emptied the entire thing."
Carlos raised his eyebrow, "So you're instead swigging from my stock...?"
"Well, yes as you can see here." said Rayland, raising the empty glass in gesture, "I just don't want to ask myself for more because I know I will yes."
"...That bad huh?"
"Yep."
With that said, Rayland toggled the holo-projector on his wrist and tapped the interface, depositing his fee into the virtual account for the bar. Saying his farewells and left the stand to perform his own duties. However awkward it felt to end the brief exchange on that note, honesty rang true that they were over their ends with this one; more than the usual.
Rayland eventually arrived back to his quarters after taking several detours through out the Infamous Alto, observing and checking in with the crew as they performed their duties. Despite the tension in the air with the fact they were in ever present hostile territory, much of the crew were unchanged with going about their tasks. It was simply the job they were hired to do; maintain the ship's functionality, regardless of the territory and situational awareness which should have been apart of the job description. Too late for that now. It had almost been half a day and Rayland was already feeling the fatigue of stress against him and his psyche. Perhaps he should have asked for another glass, or better yet that his entire bottle. His childish desires nagged at him but in the end he knew better. Maintaining his own stock was a bit of a priority, as he was sure he would be visiting more often.
As he looked as his at his tired face in his mirror, something caught his attention. In the mirror's reflection, he could see the reflection outside of the ship as the hull sensors manifested the scene through the room's holo-emitters. But more specifically, he could see what appeared to be an humanoid like form, bathed in shadow as its ebony silhouette stared at him with two noticeable white glowing eyes. His adrenaline suddenly spiked, forcing the Captain to spin around and face the projection. But to his surprise, there was nothing there. All he could see was the ship pen in ever poor condition, with the inner facilities unattended by all except the darkness hardly illuminated.
Rayland maintained his gaze as the protected images from the outside, trying to make sense of what happened. He turned around to face the mirror but like the projectors, nothing. Feeling annoyed and likely frustrated, he growled, rubbing his eyes and shutting down the projectors, not wanting to see the outside for the moment. Perhaps another glass would-
A self-inflicted slap to the face kept him in check; he needed to see Sel.
Managing to locate the medical office, Rayland stepped into the office and knocked on the wall. "Hey, Sel? You have a moment?"
