As Katherine stood there holding out the clipboard to Captain Hunter, she once again caught herself staring and thinking how captivating he was, but when he spoke, she bristled at the tone of his voice.<em>Is he patronizing me?</em>Narrowing her gaze, her temper flared as she watched him slowly lower his weapon to illustrate his point, and snatch the list away from her.  Tamping down the urge to tell him in colourful terms exactly what he could do with his attitude, she saw that despite his obvious disdain, he intended to do what she asked, so she flashed him a triumphant smirk instead and walked away.<br/><br/>Halfway back to her stack of supplies, she admitted that she probably overreacted and resolved to make an extra effort to remain calm and tolerant...even if the handsome man in question was being completely unreasonable!  When she reached Dr. Pike, he was already pushing the dolly of crates towards the exit but she saw two soldiers coming up behind them and held out her hand to stop him. “No, wait...” she pointed behind her, “We need to let them go first.  They haven’t had time to check all the areas yet, and I’d rather not step on any more toes today.”  As soon as she said that, she felt a shuddering vibration, radiate through the ship’s floor, and knew it had to be the FTL engine powering up.  It wouldn’t be long now until they were on their way.<br/><br/>Moving cautiously through the large, alien passageways, they followed behind the soldiers who had their guns drawn; their alert posture and swift movements making Katherine tense to the point she found herself checking around nervously.  Then, as they passed one of the larger rooms, she caught a glimpse of small viewing window, and paused, sucking in her breath.  They were moving!  Bright fluorescent lights in shades of predominately green and blue rippled past in a blaze of colour, and knowing they were racing through the universe at faster than the speed of light was almost too much to take in.  All four of them paused to take a look and after several minutes, one of the soldiers gestured impatiently to keep moving, and Katherine made a mental note to seek out the observation deck sooner rather than later.<br/><br/>Finally they reached the infirmary without incident, and she was able to relax somewhat.  For the next few hours, she helped unpack and organize all the medical supplies and testing equipment before excusing herself. “Well I think that’s just about everything.  If you don’t mind, I’ll leave you to finish up and go start on the research lab.”<br/><br/>“Sure, I can take it from here. Thanks for your help and if you need anything just let me know.”<br/><br/>Nodding, she checked her watch and decided there wasn’t time to visit the lab after all. Sighing she grabbed her clipboard and said, “Well it looks like the lab will have to wait.  This took longer than I thought, and I need to get back and finish helping everyone get settled.  Don’t worry about coming with me; I’ll have someone bring your room assignment and supplies later.”<br/><br/>Making her way back to the Gate Room, she heard Dr. Heath’s voice coming from somewhere down an adjacent corridor.  Curious, she changed direction and entered what had to be the control interface room where she saw the three experts crowded around a console, looking at a holographic image of a swirling galaxy hovering in the air.  The older woman looked up and waived her over. “Oh there you are Kat.  I trust everything is going smoothly?”<br/><br/>Tearing her gaze away from the fascinating image she said, “Yes, there is still a lot to do, but it seems to be going quite well.  No hiccups so far which is better than I expected.”<br/><br/>“Excellent!” She beamed. “I’m happy to report that just as we thought, the ship is fully operational, and thanks to the data from Destiny, we’ve had no trouble figuring out the controls so far.  The two ships appear identical, which is most fortunate.”<br/><br/>Katherine asked, “What about the power reserves?  Is there anything that indicates we might have problems?<br/><br/>Dr. Heath smiled reassuringly. “No, the reserves are more than adequate.  So far, everything is going exactly as planned, and we should expect to arrive at our first destination shortly.”<br/><br/>Katherine wondered how the woman could be so certain of that, when suddenly, several civilians came rushing in, stopping to marvel at the sophisticated room, before launching into a discussion.  It seemed the biggest concerns on everyone’s agenda were how to divvy up the research lab, what equipment could be shared and how they would organize themselves into teams once the ship made it’s first, and highly anticipated stop on a new world.  Katherine shook her head and refocused her attention on work, feeling more than a little overwhelmed as she went over her checklist.  Confident she had the crew quarters organized, that left passing out the provisions, finding the communications lab, figuring out the technology to contact Icarus Base, deciding how to assign stations, responsibilities and shifts to each group member, and then somehow in between all of that, find the time to set up her own equipment and research!<br/><br/>Wondering how it would all get done, she felt rather than saw Captain Hunter enter the room, and when she looked up, there he was standing silent, and watching the proceedings with what appeared to be interest or amusement, she couldn’t be sure.  Deciding smooth things over, she walked over to stand beside him and smiled warmly. “Well it seems we’re already on our way, and I hope you’ve had better luck making progress than I have.  Dr. Heath also seems convinced that we will be arriving at our first destination soon.”  Pausing for a moment, she said, “By the way, I never did thank you for agreeing to help me earlier, but I do appreciate it.” Watching for a reaction, she realized she was staring at the attractive Captain again a little too intently, and chastised herself, forcing her gaze back to the task at hand.<br/><br/>Showing him the clipboard again, she flipped to the third page and pointed. “Ok, here is a list of the crew quarters and who they are assigned to.  I took the liberty of giving you and Dr. Heath the largest suites because of rank and also because I assumed you’ll both need some kind of private workspace as well.”  Turning to the last page, she looked up at him with a hopeful expression. “This is what’s left to do, and I need to come up with a better strategy, especially with respect to crew assignments.  Since you have so much experience, I’m hoping you can assist me, and of course if you need help with anything, I’ll be happy to do what I can.”  Pointing to the others she said, “Tomorrow morning we will get a progress report from the scientists, then perhaps you can spare a few moments and meet up with me to go over what we need to do in more detail?”<br/>