Isk followed Captain Tifera down to the docking bay, the Galactic Council corvette’s hatch had been secured but was still closed, waiting for the superior officers to return.

Captain Derjan Rynard stood at attention in the receiving bay. It had been awhile since he had come into contact with military personnel. He rolled his shoulders and clicked his tongue, it would be a short interaction for sure, not all commanders had the patience for citizens, Rynard was there for protocols and to ensure the Operational Manager didn’t get hurt in the process.

Rynard stood at attention as the acting Captain walked past and up to the hatch.

She gave him the once over, the cameras on her armour zooming in on the retired Knight.

“You’re the officer in charge are you?” Came the coarse question. Rynard took a moment to appreciate being addressed, then another to adjust his gaze downward. Zenthi Captains were not unusual, but her height suggested she was built for messenger work and not the command position her green cape reflected.

A Messenger Captain, that was different.

“Yessir!” Rynard answered none the less. “Facility secure, at your command Captain!”

“No orders, keep the citizen in line and we’ll depart shortly.” Short, sharp and gruff.

Tifera stood at the hatch, and then in a large booming voice, issued her commands to the ship.

“CORVETTE CLASS: 1898702 REFINED, OPEN HATCH!”

Her voice shook the poor operational manager standing behind her her. Heavy hydraulic doors opened up, the sound of several safety door locks opening one by one echoed into the receiving bay. The last door opened and Isk found himself in the crosshairs of an entire Knight squad’s visual cameras.

“OM,” Rynard instructed “Stand behind me, I’ll let you know when it’s clear.”

Isk gave a little nod, but could feel Tifera’s scowl from under her battle mask as he scuttled to the side.

“ATTENTION!” Captain Tifera called to the dozen armoured knights under her command. “I WANT THIS CARGO OFF OUR COMMANDER’S SHIP! TWO TO A POD! SINGLE FILE!” She stomped her foot on the ground with the loud clang of metal on metal. Her soldiers fell in line, each standing ready for orders.

Isk looked on in awe, watching the armoured giants move in disciplined unison. He wished all his staff were as dedicated as them.

Tifera then turned to Rynard, “Where is the unloading zone?” She demanded, her commanding tone losing it edge when addressing the veteran. Rynard stood at attention, arms folded behind his back as he answered.

“Down the hall, fourth room on the left, Citizen asset, Freq-able, in the vicinity!”

“KNIGHTS! DOWN THE HALL FOURTH ROOM ON THE LEFT, DO NOT INTERACT WITH THE CITIZEN ATTENDANT, NOW MARCH!” Two thumps of her tail on the floor and the regiment knights grabbed the pods. Tifera took the lead, storming down the facilities halls treating the simple procedure like a proper mission. Her knights followed suit, each sulin warrior a step behind the other, keeping pace while holding the enormous life pods.

Captain Rynard followed behind, Isk opened his wings to keep up with them.

“OPEN!” the visiting Captains voice boomed from the outside the designated location and the door was quick to follow orders. “KNIGHTS, HOLD!”

She would be the first to enter the room, it was largly empty, save for a few examination scanners. The citizen asset was standing solemnly by the equipment, a lone zenthi like herself with only the quietest of Freq pulses ebbing from him, he might as well have been apart of the apparatus. When she was certain the room was as secure as she was told, Tifera brought in the rest of her knights. “RIGHT! SINGLE LINE FORMATION! UNLOAD CARGO AT THE DESIGNATED AREA, MARCH!”

The Knights filed im after her, placing the life pods in a line towards the end of the examination room. The citizen doctor didn’t move, or so much as flick an ear to Captain Tifera’s shouting as the knights began to unload the unwieldy pods.

Rynard moved in with Isk to ‘supervise’ the delivery, and to ensure both coworkers weren’t in the way. Isk stood beside Xant, neither gave any motion of acknowledgement of each other.

The knights and pods piling in soon crowded the room, he clicked his tongue and turned to inform his charges.

“You’ll be wanting to take a step back-”

Rynard muttered over his shoulder but stopped seeing as the Zenthi had already fallen back in line behind him and backed up against the wall.

Rynard murmured a ‘huh’ under his breath.

Of all the doctors on staff, the Zenthi Dr Uru’Nav Xant was the least likely to step out of line. Mostly because the doctor seemed to be a walking stiff. Rynard had seen it a few times, citizens pushed past the boundaries of exposure, sometimes they became a jitterjacked twitchy mess, other times they could have been mistaken for furniture. Obviously Xant still worked enough to be hired on as head of research, or he was cheap enough. He barely spoke to anyone besides Laandi and never made a call outside the station. Xant and himself were the longest residents of the station, but he barely knew anything past the doctor’s Name. Always professional and never personal, a weird one Xant was.

‘SINGLE FILE MARCH!” Tifera ordered as the last pod was put in place. “BACK TO THE SHIP, RIGHT, DOWN THE HALLWAY! MARCH!!” she almost screamed. Her knights were silent in their compliance. Turning in unison following their captain out of the room.

“I’ll see them out,” Rynard told Isk, “You get the loading zone cleared.”

“Yes captain” Isk sighed, tapping away on his dataslate, watching the brute follow after the knights.

“Cargo is secure…” The OM muttered under his breath as he inspected the pods. “All appear to be functional, life signs reading clear, stealth still activated?”

Stealth technology was not a standard feature for a life pod, in fact it was quite detrimental to the things primary functions. It did not pose a threat however, that would surely be whatever was inside the wretched things.

“Cargo is secure and has been received, your team has been cleared to investigate Dr Xant.”

The Zenthi nodded his head, finally moving from his position from the wall to look over the curious tech.

“Thank You OM Isk, you may send in my team now.” Xant’s voice was docile, detached, but still far more active than he normally was. Perhaps the thought of new fauna or flora to examine had the doctors adrenaline going?

Isk approved the area with a voice command.He didn’t need to be there any longer now he had to discuss the contract parameters with Director Laandi.

“Send the initial reports to my terminal for review. Be as thorough as possible for the client.”

“Of course OM Isk.” Came the impersonal response.

Isk wings fluttered at the reply, he wasn’t even expecting one, something about these pods truly must have caught his attention.