The studious mecha-nerd almost fell out of the beanbag he had been using as a seat, the pale skinned cohronl medic had indeed managed to sneak up on him.

"WOAGH!" The runner gave short scream of surprise as he jumped to his feet, muscles slacking when he realized that it was only Isha. Blushing, Malik scratched behind one of his horns, his embarrassment evident on his face even without the blush, violet eyes looking down at the shorter girl. The Runner had been lounging in the beanbag, wearing his standard duty uniform, minus the jacket, while he had done his research. Because of his sudden movement, though, his clothes had shifted around on his body, and he was now fidgeting with the turtleneck's collar.

"You-uh, you kinda snuck up on me there, Isha." Malik started, trying to give her a smile. "It's really embarrassing, a Vaybalri getting snuck up on by a Vayshirin. Well, that just means I have to try harder next time." Malik began to interact with the datarod again, sending Khiyai and Akjit messages.

When Khiyai received hers, it was essentially Malik asking her that, if she had time off soon and if she wanted to see him, that he was spending time with the rest of the first Squadron, and that she should bring Alia with her up to the rec room.

Akjit got his message at the same time. The jist of that one could be summed up in a sentence or two: "Akjit, this is Malik. Stop moping around on your own, and get up to the Rec Room to mope around you squadron mates. At least then, Isha might think you're cute and give you a kiss."

Looking back up at Isha, he grinned, eyes having gotten a good look at her dimensions. A bit chubby, but something told Malik that she and Akjit would look cute together. "So, where are you from anyway, Isha? Colonies? a Planet? The Fifth Dimension?"

"This one's done too." Alia said as she leaned back from the VANDR she was working on. After a second of silence, she looked around and noticed Khiyai wasn't there. "damn it girl, wait around for a second."

It was all still a bit of a blur to Nenetl.

She had gone over the battle in her head a thousand times - for though she outwardly would forever insist on labeling herself the hero of that conflict, she knew well enough that she came dangerously close to dying more than once. That worried her. After all, she was spectacular, unparalleled, the most wonderful creation ever to dreamed or drawn into life... and no more than a hairsbreadth of a missed reaction might have cost her her life.

Twice.

She had saved herself once, she had come to the aid of her wingmates, and at the end, her wingmates had come to hers. The battle had been won, and Bahram had seen no casualties. A decisive victory, one in which everybody came out looking brilliant. The enemy had thrown dirty tricks at them, numbers at them, and unfamiliar vessels at them - and they had met each challenge in kind, defeated them readily.

So why was she so bloody terrified?

The others in the rec room were duly ignored as Nenetl went over in her head again and again the battle. On the outside, she was simply stretching, breathing deeply and meditatively, a factor that might in itself have tipped off that she wasn't quite right as it was an entirely peaceful and nonviolent display.

On the inside, a lance of energy tore into a Soono as explosive charges went off all around. A VT fang sliced through space, and was shot out of the sky by countermeasures before finding its target. A cruiser, dark and unknown, turned a weapon of genocide on an inhabited world. In the eye of her mind, that world was Maekardan, with Kaeshun bright and vibrant, blissfully unaware of the destruction that awaited it.

"Ah, good..." Mu'Tasim grunted as Chanda went by, curling his weights as he spoke, "... morning, Vayshirin Durnal!" The man had recalled her name from the roster after the battle. He had noticed quite of few people he hadn't met in the Mess had shown up to fight in First Squadron. As a result, the Temple Guard made it a goal to at least meet with these people. Since he was an acting War Priest, and Chaplain by that standard, and also the Wing's Second, it was best if he was familiar with all he worked with. He stopped his curls for a moment and gave Chanda a casual wave, weight in hand.

Then, came a twinge of negative emotions. Before he would give Chanda time for a response, his head turned quickly, slinging small beads of sweat that were hanging off the ends of his beard. It was just in time, to see Nenetl walk by, casually ignoring everyone in the room. Though, unfortunately for any intentions of solitude, she was also like Chanda, a pilot that had made herself known at the battle, rather the mess.

"And good morning to you as well, Vaybalri Zeltzin!" Mu'Tasim chimed warmly, setting down his weights for the moment, so that he could focus his attention better on the two subordinates he had just recognized.

Zus looked in the hall behind her, a young blonde man, somewhat more built than her was near the other end, talking to a couple of the other frame runners in his squadron. This was the one person in all of the commonwealth that Zus did NOT want to be around while serving in the vanguard.

Her brother.

Quickly, the Eyr Ranr shuffled around the corner, hoping he hadn't noticed her. Once successful, she quickly (But quietly) made her way toward the nearest door. She entered it, and found it to be full of the First squadron. Her squadron. She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling safe from her younger sibling, especially when she spied Mu'Tasim working out, with his shirt off. A brief blush made its way over the blonde's cheeks before she mastered herself, and made her way to the Sund Wakir, much calmer.

"So, Vaytulri, it looks like I have discovered the secret to your prodigious strength" Zus began, grinning at the man.

******

"... And that's how I helped my sister win the Sky board championship of AR 932" Szemis concluded, finishing his story. The two other Frame Runners chuckled, finding the kid to be somewhat of a joke, but they were nice enough to humor him, since they knew he would be flying with them and they didn't want him angry during battle.

The young Eyr Ranr looked ahead, just in time to see a tall, thin, blonde figure disappear beyond a wall at the end of the hallway they had just entered. The Iroma looked familiar to Szemis, but at the same time, different. Her hair was too long. Still, Szemis said goodbye to his squadronmates and made his way down the hallway at a faster rate, trying to catch up.

He turned the corner, to see no blonde woman, but he thought he heard the sound of a nearby door closing.

Ishtar nodded vigorously which sent her long pink hair to whipping about. After close to forty years of merely watching through sensors, she was finally capable of experiencing everything these people could. And to be honest, she was loving it everything despite only being newly installed.

"Oh yes!" the little NI said in a rather happy sing-song voice. "Vaytulri Al-Sumed has been teaching me many things! Like, what it is to be one of you. After she explained what it was to be hungry, I tried to eat all of the candy she keeps in the drawer of her de--" she whipped a hand up to her mouth, and looked at Amari then. The physician just looked down at the NI as well. From the look, it seemed Ishtar had done so without Amari's consent, and likely knowledge.


The small pale hand fell from her face replaced by a sheepish smile from her lips and on to her gold eyes.

"But sweetstones are good!" as if trying to dignify the slip of the tongue with an answer.

"...Yes, Yes they are." Amari said, now wondering how much of her private store was left. They couldn't exactly go planet side now and in all likelihood it'd be a long trip without the small comforts.

"How much did you eat?"

"One of those closed bags."

"Wh-What?"

"Was I not supposed to?"

"N-No it's ok I suppose..." the Doctor said after. If she'd a normal stomach, Ishtar would've likely been on the floor with a bellyache by now.

The NI didn't seem convinced for the moment.

Amari however had been pointedly trying to ignore the look of remorse the petite construct was giving her with those eyes that seemed to have gone wide and bottom lip in a small pout.

"I've been trying to teach her so she'd better integrate with the crew. Altjira and Solan covered the basics of motor functions and the like but not much in the way of day-to-day living and social aspects since things have progressed ahead of schedule it seems. So. She is quite literally green to being a normal person." the physician cleared her throat somewhat uncomfortably.

"W-wha? I wasn't angsting over flash boiling that other guy alive in his own..." Akjit stopped his angry reply mid sentence, and let hang in the air for a moment. "Ok, ok! I was angsting, but I'm not doing that anymore! See?" The Ivouri spoke, waving his arms to demonstrate the lack of angsting. Though he was no longer in the midst of angst, his sharp eyes couldn't help but key into the other Iroma's stunning features in a single glance before locking on to her face.

Noticed her curves. Her carefully sculpted...grace. Those too. And her face! Yes. That was something pretty much all men had in common, and he was immediately ashamed. Akjit then quickly ascended up to her level, in part to drown out his own shame with his rapid footsteps and as well as to genuinely help, and grabbed the top two boxes from her stack.

With the load in his arms, he was finally thinking straight. This woman was a fixer for sure, and whatever was in the box was going to help her with the job. He couldn't afford to drop them; it would mean his own VANDR might end up suffering due to his own carelessness. 'Not that it wouldn't deserve it.' he thought. And then he did some more realizing.

"Wait. Where are we going?" He asked. "And who are you?"

About that same time, a message for Akjit arrived from Malik on his Data Rod. Of course, the Ivouri didn't know who it was from, considering his hands were full. He'd check it a little later, after he helped this person.

Chanda smiled and nodded. "And a good morn to you as well, sir." she said respectfully, though she meant every word, the end of the staff striking the ground with some force before quickly rebounding up into a secondary follow up strike.

The runner nodded to Nenetl as well. "I'm sorry if I am ruining any ideas of solitude. I wanted to get a good work out in before any meetings showed up." she continued, the rod twirling around her wrist into a side swipe, rebounding lightly off her side.

Isha smiled and laughed softly. "And here I thought I was alerting you gently. My apologies." Then came his inquiry.

"My father, of Ivuori descent, met my Curdatl mother on his home-colony. I was raised there my first 15 years before we moved to Maekardan. So I call the capital home. What about you? And it's... Malik, right?"

Mridula nodded slightly at the pilot as he approached Serhan; after the debacle with their last starship operator, she was still a bit wary of him. Her wariness evaporated as she saw the strange-looking woman appear, flanked by bodyguards; she clapped the girl on the shoulder with a wide grin.

"Hallo!" she said cheerfully. "How're you liking being so tiny? In comparison, I mean." She paused. "...that came out wrong."