Troy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, when two pilots walked out she made a mental note to teach them how to wait until they were dismissed.<span style="font-style: italic">Perhaps a couple of weeks in the kitchen peeling potatoes will teach the two of them to adhere to proper ship protocol.</span>She thought bitterly, more than a little annoyed that they would leave like that. Sure, this was not the most formal of ships, but damnit, when she held a fucking meeting they were expected to attend and wait to be dismissed.<br/><br/>Anger rolled over her form and for a while she just sat there while she listened to the alien speak. Though, the fact that she was so willing to help made her even more annoyed at her own crew.<span style="font-style: italic">Maybe some weeks scrubbing the outer hull of the ship too? That may be just enough of a punishment for them. </span><br/><br/>Stress and the weight of responsibility that came from being in command of such a ship had started to wear on the weary Captain. Right now, what she wanted to do was return to her quarters, have a mug of hot chocolate and just forget for a moment that they were not there. Not in this piece of hell fighting for everything they had and for what? A chance? A small chance to maybe, just maybe get a second chance where they had squandered their first, this was why they did it.<br/><br/>But was it enough?<br/><br/>The cool steel of the table offered a measure of comfort to the heat that seemed to radiate with her rage. It was Veronica’s hand on her arm that drew her from wherever her mind had taken her. A small smile in her direction, before her eyes returned to the datapad before her. It all looked like nothing but a bunch of numbers and symbols at this point. The greens, yellows and so many reds flashed at her from the small screen almost in a silent taunt that she longed to silence with just a throw against the nearest wall. However, she was the Captain and captains could not lose their cool. They could not break down in front of their crew. That was to be saved for their own time, their private time.<br/><br/>“Thank you for your offered assistance and sorry for my earlier comment, it was during the heat of battle but still I do apologize,” she sighed and buried her face in her hands for a moment, before she raked her fingers back through her hair. “How long are the repairs going to take?” she asked Veronica.<br/><br/>“Roughly a week,” the navigation officer said after she consulted her pad. “That is with the help of the Nekans and if we all switch to sixteen hour shifts,” she said with a sigh of her own.<br/><br/>“Ok, so with everything as it is now. We will tend to the wounded first, and then we will hold a memorial service for those that we lost. After that, we can start on the repairs and taking count of all the supplies that we have. I think we got an emergency shipment in just before we jumped. I don’t know if that will be enough, but it will have to be enough for now…” a pause with another sigh. “We are going to have to come up with a plan for attacking them and rescuing Dren. Even if he may be…dead, I am tired, so very tired of just running from them. We are not going to run anymore. We are going to take the fight to them and we are going to show them that humans are not going to just roll over and die. We are going to fight until there are no more, because we weren’t meant to just die. God would not have just placed us on the world to die. That does not sound like a God who would have taken the time to make us in his image, does it?”<br/><br/>It was not a question she truly expected to get an answer from, but it was just something she had to get off her chest. “This debriefing is over, everyone is dismissed. I’ll be in my quarters if anyone needs me.” she stood and gathered her data pad and left them all to leave at their own pace.<br/><br/>Veronica went to Jared, “Come on.” Her voice soft and loving as she placed her hand on his shoulder.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/SrzL48j.png?1">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/>Angela waited for Jon, “There is so much that I want to say to you…”