Tahlia smiled as the captain brought up the worst kept secret in all of ITC. she more found it amusing how many people knew what they were doing and let them get away with the charade, rather than calling them out on it. Running her fingers through her messy hair, she began to work it into a neat braid, needing to do something with her hands. “Politicians don’t want to hear ‘we’re working on it.” she said with a sigh. “Apparently what we do is magic and infallible, and any tiny issue is obviously a matter of gross negligence well worth the threat of a major investigation. When I took over, I changed the entire department from fixing crises to preventing them. It hasn’t made me many friends within the company, waste of resources on things that turn out not to be problems and all that, but there have been a lot less ‘Pattern is full’ messages the past five years.” She picked up a discarded hair tie, securing the end of her braid, before freezing when he spoke again.<br/><br/>Taking a deep breath, the young woman straightened up, looking the captain over. He already knew. She could tell in his mannerisms. For her to deny it would only plant her on shaky ground, and she was going to need all the help she could get, this far from the core worlds. “I am.” she finally replied, rather slowly. “Although Tahlia Faye is my legal name.” Nothing she’d told the captain was a lie, and she needed him to believe that.  “But you are one of five people in the galaxy to know that.” he’d said her secret was safe, but she needed him to know how urgent the matter was. “My Father and his brother; myself and my Cousin. And now you.” she leaned against the arm of the couch, her arms crossed over her chest. “I attended University as Tahlia Faye, through a ‘scholarship’ that i’d ‘won’. I applied and got my job at ITC under my own merit. My father didn’t even know i was working for the company for six months. He almost blew my cover.” her lips pressed together tightly. “If you’re going to run a company. You should know how it works,  not rely on others to do it for you. You should know what the employees face, what things can be improved, what protocols add needless busywork and bog down the system. And you can’t do that if you’re sitting on a pedestal. And no one would divulge anything to me if they knew I was Tahlia Faye Richter.”<br/><br/>It was obvious to anyone who could hear her that this was a matter the woman felt very passionate about, and one that easily set off her defenses.  Though she’d never had to, Tahlia had spent her entire adult life ready to defend what she’d done.