The conversation took a few minutes to pick up but the awkward moment was smoothed over by laughs at Ton’et’s very fine inspection of the alien food.

“These florae are all classified as lettuce, but they range greatly in color…”

“Uhh yea?” O’Brian tilted his head.

Ton’et poked the lettuce leaf as if attempting to illicit a reaction.

“How does one make them change from one color to another?”

“Unfortunately, you can’t Ton. It just depends on the kind of lettuce it is, and I think how much light it gets?” Pen chuckled.

“Yes actually, anthocanin in the leaf becomes more visible when the plant gets an abundance of light.” Conolly’s third spoke up.

“Ah! Facinating…” Ton’et left room for the woman to introduce herself.

“Oh I suppose we never did properly meet. Lieutenant Camila Mae, a pleasure.”

Ton’et guessed that all the humans present where above the average for physical fitness and this new one was no exception. That said, she was quite a bit smaller than Penelope. She also had blond hair as apposed to Pen’s auburn though as they noted this detail another one occurred to them. Every one of them had short hair. Pens was the longest but not by much. Ton’et also couldn’t speak for Captain Samir as his wasn’t visible.

“I am curious Ton’et. You seemed to expect the plant to be able to change color. Do the plants on Ossia do that?”

“Oh yes. Ossia Prime is about the same distance from our sun as your earth is from his, but our sun is quite a bit older and has a far lower luminosity. In addition, most of the planet is dense jungle. As such much of the flora and fauna on Ossia has evolved to generate its own light or vary widely in pigment.”

“Sounds gorgeous.”

“I certainly find it to be.”

“And your own ability to change color evolved alongside that… has to be difficult in some ways though, no? If everyone can see how you feel whether you like it or not?”

“Maybe in your culture, but Ossians tend to be… blunter and more open. We see little need to keep our thoughts and feelings secret. For us, being honest about negative feelings is seen as more respectful than hiding them. Its actually quite odd to me that your people have such a way of obfuscating your true feelings.”

Camila shrugged.

“It’s odd to a lot of us too. That said I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with so little privacy.”

“With some discipline and self-regulation, we can control it somewhat and total control is possible. Such training is seen as taboo though. It suggests a desire to be deceptive and ties closely to a shameful time in our history.”

“Shameful?”

Ton’et and Gareth shared a glance.

“War isn’t totally unknown to Wielans and Ossians… A number of species in this galaxy have never known it, many grew past it before they made it to space, and some… needed reminding as to its horrors. Ossia and Weilinar are close to each other relatively speaking and our people developed space travel concurrently. We failed to see past our ignorance and fear and war broke out. We feared the unknown, the other… and lashed out. It took some time before more enlightened minds were able to make peace. It was actually Deags people who acted as intermediaries for the talks.”

“I had no idea, how long ago was this?” Pen asked.

“Oh, ancient history by now, a thousand or so of your years. We make sure it isn’t forgotten though.” Gareth chimed in.

“It is the reason there are so many restrictions on frames. Building a frame for combat purposes is strictly forbidden in federation territory. Ossians are known for our well-made machines, but we forswore frame construction during those talks and have held to that promise to this day.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Ossians created war machines?” Conolly asked.

“Indeed,” they turned a deep blue, “terrible creations built only to take life… the most horrific was a large frame known as knight. Only one was made but it was said to be a monster. Unlike the fames of today made of plastics and light alloys it was made of dense heavy metals. Common energy weapons were practically useless. It was said to forgo ranged combat entirely and wielded a heavy melee weapon.”

“Huh, the name translated quite fittingly. Ancient earth had warriors known as knights. Clad in metal plate armor and wielding swords and axes and the like. Excalibur is named after the mythical sword an old king was supposed to wield.” Conolly commented.

“King Arthur, right?”

“Yep. Totally myth of course but there are those who believe he was based on a real individual, not that any of them can agree and there isn’t anything to uncover anymore. It’ll remain a mystery, I guess. But I’m surprised your people used to be enemies.”

Both of the aliens seemed to shrink somewhat.

“Its not something were proud of but its also not something we shy away from talking about.”

“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” Samir spoke.

“Another of your Terran sayings?” Deag asked.

“An old one.”

Apparently not one you heed often.

Gareth thought but kept himself from speaking aloud, instead offering something else to the conversation.

“The Weilan government dedicated themselves to understanding after that. To make sure that no two species suffer from mistranslation or an inability to communicate. Its why our main export is the translators that have become almost ubiquitous in the federation.”

The humans nodded.

“Do any of you think humanity will try to join the federation?” Deag asked.

“We were in talks to do so after first contact was made but the offer was rescinded. Apparently, we exceed the maximum number of combat forces allowed for a member… by quite a bit.” Samir admitted.

“Ah…”

“That said I’ve heard there have been overtures made recently to set up trade agreements.” he continued.

“Many in the federation are interested in your production of heavy metals.” Deag responded.

O'Brian scoffed as he swallowed a cut of chicken.

“Okay yea yea, heavy metals and trade deals. Cool but I’m here for some stories about our Captain Scylla here. Samir won’t shut up about you, but he never actually gave details. Now that we have the woman of the hour here, could we get some?”

“Can it O’Brian… that said I’m curious myself. They say a lot of things about you but who knows what’s fish and what’s real.”

“I’m sure it’s mostly the former.” Pen said.

“What’s fish?” Deag puzzled.

She chuckled.

“As in the fisherman’s story. Like a person who tells a story and each time they tell it their achievement gets more and more grand. The fisherman’s catch goes from half a meter to six after a few tellings.”

“Ah.”

“So, you didn’t singlehandedly repel a boarding action in the battle of Charea station?” Camila asked

“Singlehandedly no. The Captain here can confirm we had all of Cerberus for that.”

“We did but it doesn’t make it any less impressive. Just off of another mission and we were all clearly exhausted. The only one of us who didn’t show it was you.”

“Eh I was just letting you guys do the work. Didn’t Korin take a bullet in the ass then?”

“Ha! I think he did… yea because he wouldn’t stop bitching about it for weeks.”

“Right? He said… he said if he was gonna take a bullet, the least they could do was put it in a place that would leave a cool looking scar for the ladies.”

“And you told him it didn’t matter cause eventually he’d open his mouth.”

“Scars?” Deag asked.

“Hm? Yea, when an injury is severe enough it can heal over in a way that leaves a mark.”

"Really? How severe?" Deag asked.

The conversation continued but one of their party wasn't following.

Gareth thought back to one of his first times talking with Pen. She’d been working out and it was the only time he’d seen her dressed down. A heavy realization hit him. Humans didn’t have skin patterns. He looked over to her and noticed that, even in a place where she could dress as she wished, she wore long pants tucked into her boots and a long-sleeved shirt. How had he not put two and two together.

“You good Gareth?”

He realized he was staring at her.

“Uh yes, lost in thought on another matter. Actually, Captain Samir would you happen to have a waste room I could visit?”

Samir was already looking at him, that same odd look came across his face only to change into a warm smile quickly.

“Indeed, we do. In fact, you can use the bathroom in my quarters. Back in the office there and through the opposite door. Hang a left.”

“Thank you.”

Gareth hopped off his seat and walked from the room. Following the easy directions took him into a far more personalized room. It was still organized and clean but clearly lived in. Gareth looked left and saw the door that presumably led into a waste-room. Before he turned, however, Gareth noticed the only other light in the room.

Against the wall to his right and under a long viewport was the captain’s personal computer. It was switched on and the monitor showed a video feed of some kind. Gareth didn’t move but upon looking closer he could make out some text atop the video.

*/ArmorCam-AsterCapt./CorminCityIncident/UNREDACTED/*

He looked back to the door he’d come through. It had already closed behind him.