"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Acting-Captain," Thabo Nkosi said.

Jaya nodded. "Of course, Research-Major. You are the head of the scientific aspect of this mission, whatever you have to tell me must be important."

They were walking through one of the many gardens of the Craton. This was one of the best; it extended over three decks and even had short trees.

Two children darted past them, racing each other, and Nkosi smiled. "It is wonderful to see children after so long," he said. "Before coming to this system I was on a research outpost for two years. There were only twelve of us, and none married or with any children."

"I hope you can take some time to yourself after we are finished on Ko," Jaya said.

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"Perhaps I will," Nkosi said. "But that day is not today, and I still have much work ahead of me." He smiled, sadly. "And not much time in which to do it."

Jaya stopped under the shade of a tree. The lights above them were far brighter than was usual on most ships; emulating a higher fraction of the sun's rays.

"What can I do to aid you?" she asked.

"The diplomatic mission to save the !Xomyi is, of course, the most vital part of the operation," the Research-Major began. "But there is still much we do not know. Resources have been difficult to get out here, and so we are left with many gaps in our knowledge. I hope that the Craton may be able to help fill in some of those gaps."

"We would be happy to do so," Jaya told him.

"I am glad to hear that. We actually have not mapped all of Ko. Our scans are of a low-quality, only sufficient to find inhabited areas. But given that we will soon lose this world, more is needed."

"We can put up scanning satellites," Jaya said.

"I am afraid that will not work. You see, the debris from Omen, despite being very small, is everywhere in low orbit. Unlike your communication satellites, the scanning satellites are not armored, and so the tiny impacts eat away at them like an acid. So these scans will need to be done manually by the Craton."

Jaya considered. Yes, the man was asking her to put the ship into a hostile environment.

But the ship had heavy armor. Her frontal cone alone could probably eat half the dust in orbit without issue.

"Yes," she told him. "I believe we can manage that."