"Massive day." I grabbed the clean uniform Mothership had provided, standard crew clothing scaled down to human proportions, which still made me look like I was wearing my father's clothes. "Meeting at 0800. Er'dox sent me my assessment results last night."
"And?"
"And I apparently didn't fail spectacularly."
Jalina's eyes narrowed. "That's Dana-speak for 'I aced it,' isn't it?"
"Ninety-seventh percentile isn't acing it, it's just?—"
"Acing it," Elena called from her corner. "You aced it. Accept the win, Dana. God knows we need one."
I wanted to argue, but she wasn't wrong. We did need wins. Small ones. Big ones. Any ones we could get.
Breakfast arrived via automated delivery, nutri-packs calibrated to human biochemistry, which tasted like someone had tried to make food based on a theoretical understanding of nutrition without ever actually eating anything. But it wascalories and it didn't make me sick, which was already better than the last week on the burning planet.
At 0750, I headed for the door. Jalina stood to join me.
"You don't have to come," I said.
"You requested a meeting about all of us. We should all be represented." She adjusted her glasses in that nervous tell she had. "Besides, you shouldn't face this alone."
Elena stood too. "She's right. We're a unit. We present united."
Bea rose with her characteristic efficiency. "Agreed. Safety in numbers."
I looked at them—my friends, my crew, my responsibility, and felt something shift in my chest. Not quite relief. More like a shared burden. Distributed weight.
"Okay," I said. "Let's do this together."
We navigated Mothership's corridors with the directions Er'dox had provided, and I was grateful for the distraction of watching my friends' reactions to the vessel. Everything was scaled for beings twice our height, which made even simple things like doorways feel monumental. The crew we passed stared openly, curiosity barely masked,while Jalina cataloged architectural details while Bea studied the various species we encountered.
Captain Tor'van's office was located in what Mothership documentation called the Command Sector. Appropriate, given that everything about the space screamed authority. The door was massive, the guards flanking it were massive, even the corridor felt like it was designed to intimidate.
Er'dox waited outside, his bronze skin glowing under the corridor lighting. He looked surprised to see all four of us.
"I invited them," I said before he could comment. "They deserve to know what happens to us."
"Captain Tor'van was expecting just you."
"Then Captain Tor'van is about to meet four humans instead of one. Consider it a cultural exchange opportunity."
Something that might have been amusement flickered across Er'dox's face. "You're either very brave or very foolish."
"Can't it be both?"
This time he definitely almost smiled. "Come. Let's not keep the Captain waiting."
The office was exactly what I expected as functional, imposing, dominated by tactical displays and ship schematics. Captain Tor'van sat behind a desk that looked like it could double as a defensive fortification, his scarred face and cybernetic eye tracking our entrance with calculating precision.
"Four," he observed. "I requested one."
"She brought backup," Er'dox said. "Humans apparently prefer collective representation."
"Humans prefer not walking into situations alone when their entire future is being decided," I corrected. "Sir. Captain. Whatever the appropriate address is."
Tor'van's expression didn't change, but I saw his cybernetic eye focus on me with increased intensity. "You're the engineer. Dana."
"Yes sir."
