They would promote him, wouldnâ€™t they? No more ass end of the dark patrols after this. But only if she didnâ€™t die. If she did, he might not ever see another station again in his life. Theyâ€™d ship him off to one of the Imperial carriers. And if he thought this was boring, there were parts of the empire that were all dead stars and mining colonies. Or worse, theyâ€™d pull him altogether and put him behind a desk.<br/><br/>For one long moment, he didnâ€™t move. Just stared at her, confused. He seemed to be at a loss for words entirely. Why was she acting so nonchalant about this? Didnâ€™t she know what a prison was? This wasnâ€™t a trip to Ederune 10, but this woman spoke about it like she did it every day. She probably didâ€¦<br/><br/>Then he noticed, or it finally registered, that she was injured. Help her up though? Not until she was safely in custody. He turned her back on her stomach, face down, and cuffed her â€“ they were the new model, no more locks, only authorized Corps personnel were supposed to be able to open them. Only then did he haul her to her feet. â€œThe Agniastra has limited medical supplies, and the chimp only has basic first aid on file, but I think youâ€™ll live to sit in front of a judge.â€<br/><br/>Half pushing, half supporting her, he palmed open one of the doors that lined the corridor and deposited and tethered her to the med-bay exam table. Immediately and without consulting him, the room was sealed and flooded with sterilization vapor. Quen tried not to let his irritation with the AI show too plainly.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Sterilization complete. Examination of patient: Zilah DronstrÃ¶m will commence in 20 seconds. Please remain still for the duration of the examination.</span><br/><br/>Heâ€™d let her cool her heels in the med-bay while he searched her ship. And made certain everything on his end was still in working order. The door sealed shut behind him, and he heard the chimp announce again that sterilization had been completed. Maybe it was broken. Just what he needed, a broken AI that couldnâ€™t tell him what was even wrong with it.<br/><br/>Quen wasnâ€™t normally one to lie to his superiors, but he figured this time the report could use a littleâ€¦ creative interpretation. Her ship ran headlong into mine just didnâ€™t sound as impressive as heâ€™d caught her trying to beat it out of â€“ well heâ€™d check the navlogs and see where it was sheâ€™d been coming from â€“ and had no choice but to ram her, putting his own life in danger to bring in one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy.