For the first four or so hours of the trip, Ianthe had continued her impromptu physical inspection of the ship -- checking fuel, water, and ammunition reserves, stocks of spare parts and medical supplies, and so on, and dutifully forwarding electronic reports of her findings up to the bridge. Eventually, though, the sheer tedium had caught up with her, and she'd retreated to her quarters where she'd spent the bulk of the journey catching up on sleep. She was third to arrive on the bridge: freshly showered, attired in her stealthsuit plus a battered surplus military jacket, and bearing two mugs of coffee, one of which she passed wordlessly to Neymi.<br/><br/>While sipping idly from the other, and eyeing the results of the scans that the pilot had run, she remarked,<span style="color: teal">"Lots of life-forms. Their physiology's not so unusual that they don't show up on normal sensors, and they're moving around enough that they probably would have tripped any internal defensive systems. Also, if you're trying to keep your hidden research facility hidden, you don't leave the external guns on automatic; otherwise they start shooting at anybody who ventures too close, which announces your presence to God, the universe, and everyone the first time some random dumbass accidentally wanders into your airspace."</span>She grimaced through another sip from her drink before frowning thoughtfully.<span style="color: teal">"Not having a structural diagram makes this harder, because we don't know either the best infil-exfil points or have the first clue where to find paydata and salvage. I have to be honest that I'm not in love with the idea of doing a full sweep and clear of an abandoned lab crawling with who-knows-what, so the sooner we get oriented the better. A place like this will likely have at least a control substation monitoring the hangars and landing facilities, to keep track of incoming and outgoing ships, cargo, and personnel. Neymi <i>should</i> be able to tap into their internal grid from there, so I suggest we make reaching it a priority."</span>It was, perhaps, a trifle disconcerting to hear a girl of about nineteen discussing infiltration tactics like a seasoned professional who'd been doing this sort of work for years.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>