lilliah Okumura's Story

The Marines shook their head, rather the Marine sergeant gestured towards one of his subordinates, whom nodded and moved to open the outer airlock with a sudden hiss.

The Aschen marines weren't worried as they had their hermetically sealed Cuirasse suits on, which sealed them from the outside environment.

The outer airlock door opened up, and a cool rush of air filled through the airlock, bright lights creeping inside from the Reverence IIs hangar deck.

The Marine Sergeant pointed to the lined up crew, and then pointed to the door of the airlock, outside things would become clear, as dozens of soldiers positioned themselves behind redoubts, and deployable cover. There were at least a dozen more Adepts of War as well, in addition to one officer in a dark colored uniform trimmed with dark blue, waiting expectingly. The Marines would escort them out of the airlock, forcibly if needed.

The Oberon crew cooperates with the motions of the Aschen Marine, filing into the airlock with Paul in the lead. They don't show much surprise, the exclusion being Paul, who is shocked at what he sees. They appeared to be in a hangar, but a very large one. The telecommunication of observations through their BrainPals was continuing. Despite the hesitation to leave Henry in the ship, the crew of the Discovery VII continues on and out of the ship. The crewmate known as Robert, their situational Analyst, shares the observation that the heavy ones must be able to operate in gravity after all. Paul is more focused on the fact that there's gravity on this ship. As the crew is escorted out of the ship, they take visual recordings using their BrainPals that they will send to headquarters when they get the chance.

If they get the chance.

The Oberon crew stands silently. Paul has an uneasy feeling that he quickly dismisses, but he still tries to get the attention of the two Aschen, the Marine officer and Lieutenant, and he does his best to convey that there is another person on board the ship. He speaks for the first time, the words undoubtedly foreign to the Aschen, that there is someone else on the ship and tries to convey so through hand gestures, but quickly ceases as he realizes the pointlessness of it, and goes back to silently cooperating. They continue to take visual and audio recordings in the hope they can study them later.

Paul's anxiety increases as he is divided from his crew, but he continues to communicate with them through his BrainPal.

When the woman enters his cell and speaks to him in a way he understands, he quickly makes a mental log before responding.

"I am Paul, of the Oberon. I come from the galaxy RA-619, star system Glendathu, base of operations Klendath.'

He references his mental interface before continuing with some statements of his own.

"We intend no harm towards your people. Our mission was simply to learn about you and contact you at a later point in time. I can say nothing else."

Paul has a quick moment of panic, and sends his recording of the questioning to the rest of his crew, before responding.

"I will answer your questions. Although, and remember this, nothing I say represents the views of my people, the expeditionary forces, or my people's government. I will answer your questions to the ability that I have in answering them. I understand your terms."

He mentally curses himself, wishing any Oberon but himself had been selected, as any other would have said nothing. He'll just answer what he can, he supposes.

Kathryn moved to Paul's right, her eyes staring daggers at him, she was watching his every move, something seemed off though, and it seemed her intuition was nagging at her for some reason.

She got close, close enough that Paul could feel her breath as she whispered.

"Your people, are nothing." She said, pulling away, and going back to tapping at her tablet. "Your people managed to somehow slip your vessel past our defenses, into our core systems, undetected." Kathryn said as she paced around Paul. "We will dismantle your vessel, and we will learn of it's origins. Tell me about your people, tell me about their military strength, their technology level, the location of your home world."

Paul answers.
"Our people are peaceful. We only maintain military strength in case we need it, mainly under the possibility of alien threat. Our current technology level is... Well, the most recent discovery was cold fission, and that was about three revolutions ago. Our closest colony is in RA-619, star system Glendathu, planet known as Klendath. I believe that you are misinterpreting our approaches. We are simply trying to peacefully contact your people, who are obviously much more advanced than us. I can't fully answer your question about military power, as that is outside of my department. Is this enough?"

He tries to hide his anxiety, and does pretty well.