[Prologue] Beginnings

Ambriel made a couple quick mental notes about the four sitting in front of her, little annotations to the rather bare files she'd been given on them. Being a rather blunt dissident with the major decisions of your government tended to get you shut out rather quickly, especially when you were opposing making friends with a larger nation. On the other hand, Daedalus came off as a little too condescending, regardless of his experience, and though he did have that experience, if he misunderstood how the ship worked, he would be useless to her for the most part. The crew was small enough that a medical officer wasn't needed much compared to more technicians, especially a medical officer who didn't answer the question he was asked. There wasn't much to note from either Nuriel or Frasna, but Noa obviously had spent a fair bit of time studying them. And while book knowledge was useless compared to knowledge learned from fieldwork, she sounded like she had just enough field knowledge to get by for a while, at least.

"So, all of you have experience in the field, even if not on one of the organic ships, which is good to know. What it comes down to, more or less, is that my crew is going to be small enough that I can't afford to have people I can't work with, or who can't work together, and I definitely don't need someone who doesn't know what they're doing." Ambriel settled back in her seat, her wings unconsciously shifting to stay comfortable. "From what was in your files, and what I've seen from all of you so far, what problems there might be shouldn't be a problem. But, I want each of you to tell me why I should keep you onboard. I'll let you tell me in whatever order you'd like."

Frasna waited to see if anyone would go, but when no one went, he let out a small sigh and said. "As you'll find out overtime Shosho, I get along well with others, race means nothing to me. Whether the person is Nepleslian, Yamataian, Lorath, or even our own, I treat everything with an equal amount of respect. Though regretably I haven't flown as much as I honestly wanted to, but enough that I'll be able to recognize any problems in flight."

Despite his race and what he was, he didn't feel himself to be superior to any one person, he could bleed just like everyone else, he could die just like everyone else, he was capable of making mistakes just like everyone else.

"Actually, the Crataeis was a fully organic ship." Nuriel pointed out from where she sat. She'd had experience mending and healing the various veins, capillaries, and organs that acted as 'systems' within the vessel. Even as she mended the sick and injured she did so with the ship as it was nothing more than a two hundred meter long being built for war.

When Noa was confronted with the question of why she should be chosen to serve aboard the ship, she suppressed the urge to flinch. Questions like those, they were the wildcards of life, open to so much possibility, and she knew it. There was no space for hesitation, none at all, so she replied with the most instinctive response she had; "Ma'am, you should keep me on board because you want to have those which you know you can work with, ma'am, I know I am capable of working with others. You want people who know what they are doing, ma'am, if I don't already know what I'm doing, I'll learn and teach those around me who don't know what I know. Most of all ma'am, I am a Patrician, and I am proud of my blood, and the service which my blood pushes me to deliver." It was an intense response, but, it came from her gut, there was no doubt in her about it.