[after receiving the initial assignment]
Devereux stepped through the hatch into the conference slightly more than two minutes late. She preferred to be the first one to her briefings. She felt it gave her a slight advantage to watch everyone as they came in, a chance to judge their mental and physical state before settling on the final mission assignments. This morning, though, every conversation she had seemed to take several more minutes than it should have. As a result, she arrived late, feeling the lack of her usual few minutes of quiet preparation.
She was pleased, though, to see that everyone was present and already seated. Both Elizabeth and Rusty, although seated apart, had matching mugs of coffee. Hope sat stoically at her usual place to what would be Devereux's left. Across the table, next to Elizabeth, sat Hawkes. He appeared alert and ready, but then Devereux had rarely seen him look any other way. She had seen him begin to show signs of fatigue under constant battle conditions. With faint humor, she wondered how he would hold up in the upcoming situation.
"Good morning," she announced almost cheerfully. Although she had managed to coax herself into a smile as she walked through the hatchway, she suspected that most of those present would realize it for what it was. She felt it was important, nonetheless, to try to portray a positive attitude. Their assignment, she knew, could have been far, far worse.
"Good morning, Captain," Elizabeth responded brightly. She appeared ready, almost eager, to hear their new orders. Hawkes echoed the lieutenant's greeting.
"'morning, Cap'n," Rusty offered a little too cheerfully.
Devereux studied him quickly, but her initial assessment was that there seemed to be little more than an early dose of caffeine running through his system. He gave her a deliberate, cocky smile and then turned his gaze to something more interesting somewhere on the bulkhead behind.
As Devereux seated herself beside Hope, the Aerian officer nodded once to her before turning her attention once more ahead. "Captain."
"Now that we have that out of the way," Devereux began, "I'll presume that you've all guessed that we have new orders." She paused a moment to quickly gauge everyone's reactions. No one appeared particularly surprised by the statement. If anything, Elizabeth seemed to become even more sharply alert. Hope and Hawkes simply sat attentively. Rusty appeared almost smug, trying to hide his knowing smile behind a sip of coffee. Devereux then realized that, had he checked in with Engineering before coming here, he would probably know at least about the course change.
Devereux tapped a control on her tablet and the holographic projector in the middle of the table flickered into life. It displayed a rendering of a large, pleasingly designed vessel. "The Ariel is a chartered transport carrying a group of diplomats to Sagan One for a series of talks." A time and distance log was added at the bottom of the display. "They suffered a drive failure and are unable to make their own repairs at this time."
"We know how that is," Rusty murmured in a tone that was clearly audible to everyone at the table.
Elizabeth shot him a sharp glance. Devereux glanced at him, but gave no reaction. Rusty simply smiled.
"We're supposed to take them to Sagan One?" Elizabeth asked.
Devereux shook her head. "Fortunately, no," she replied, allowing her relief to show in her voice. "Command recognizes that we're not really equipped to ferry the delegates all the way there," she said. "But the nearest other ship is several days away," she went on. "Colonel Martinez thinks it would be a bad idea to just the leave them on a stranded ship for that long." Her lips moved in a faint grimace. "Unfortunately, I have to agree."
A confused expression formed on Elizabeth's features. "I thought we weren't taking them all the way to Sagan One?"
"We're not," Devereux explained. "We're to pick up the delegates and then rendezvous with the Bonaventure, who will take them the rest of the way to the conference in the luxury accommodations that they're used to."
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