"Much Obliged for the offer. I will take you up on it."<br/><br/>She nodded, she hadn't really expected him to turn down her offer after all.  It was expected that since he was going out of his way to help her, that she would owe him the same necessities.  If he had somehow turned down her offer she would have been shocked and rather insulted.  One did not ask for anything without expecting to pay for it in some capacity, at least not in her culture they didn't.<br/><br/>"Well, it's all in my publicly accessible record. And...not to sound arrogant, but frankly if you HAVN'T heard all about me, you'd be one of the few. Both my parents were Gene-Augs like myself. My mother was born in the Gene-Aug Breeding Program. My father began life as a Baseline Soldier. He became indebted to the Company and was given the option of Debtor's Prison, or Gene Augmentation and lifelong conscription. His choice was obvious."  In point of fact, she hadn't heard of him, her people where all about blood purity, and Aug's where seen as a sort of abhorrent taint in all they stood for. The fact that the woman of her planet where made to search out the best, the strongest, the most dominant of men, did not escape her notice. The almost fanatical zeal in which Zarillian woman where kept from hearing about them seemed rather suspicious, and unfounded to Lena.<br/><br/>The slight relaxing of his muscles, and his stance had her automatically standing up straighter.<br/><br/>"My parents went AWOL when I was conceived. I was raised for five years on Mindoir until we were discovered. I was cycled back into the system, until the Narali Invasion....I earned my freedom with my actions during the Invasion, and asked to join this expedition. As far from the military as I could get. I believe it's what my parents would have wanted."  She had heard about that incident, but it was the sentiment about his parents that had her confused.  She wasn't used to the idea of being loyal to ones life givers.  In the most part it seemed rather silly to her, but she kept that opinion to herself since as she understood it, not every culture held to the same standards as hers did.  She was silent for a while before finally breaking the silence.<br/><br/>"Well...it seems like you no longer have an advantage over me.  In fact the more knowledge I have of you the more power I hold.  Thank you."  She didn't know why she said that, but it seemed like it had been expected of her to say something, and that seemed to be the most appropriate thing for her to say.<br/><br/>"Since we have some time before the meeting...would you mind if I asked you about all the augmentations that have been made to your body?"  It was a fact that the his status interested her a great deal.