"Yes Ma'am. Their trick with the evacuation ship almost worked; she wants to be prepared, if she's in a position where they can try it again. But if we're going to go deal with them directly, that doesn't matter."

"It can't be that the whole UC is in on what happened to me?"

    "No, Ma'am, that's not what she meant. She just meant that if they know she's there, they know she's not here."

"You're right. Making a move sooner rather than later would be better for everyone, that way."

    "We'll just need to figure out how to get there; she can sleep on the way."

"Well. We're currently sitting in a SLAYER's cockpit."

"And I know how to fly a SLAYER."

(..!?)

She gives Dheto a speculative glance, but shakes her head.

    "We'd make enemies, that way."

(Emotion Read: relieved.)

“You’d gain some allies, too. Allies closer to where the Mission is. Maybe that’d be a fair trade?”

She considers.

    "She wasn't intending to negotiate with them, and she was intending to come back; even if she had a spare SLAYER, it wouldn't make sense to give it to them. They're fairly obvious, too, not the best choice that way either, and not very good for living in, if we're there for a while. A transport ship might not be as easy to come by, but it'd be much more comfortable, and she could bring people back in it if she ended up wanting to. And bring people with us - there was a leon in the group we brought back who wanted to go back United Colonies. And Nilam, if she still wants to go."

“Perhaps whatever plan you’re discussing would benefit from a dragon’s counsel, and a dragon’s material support?”

    "Yes, Ma'am, once she knows what she wants to accomplish, primarily and secondarily."

“If I can do anything at all to help her out with that, please let me know?”

(Huh. Okay.)

    "Yes, Ma'am." And then to Devika: "Are you okay with that?"

This whole situation is completely insane.

“Sure.”

    "We can take a little time to let you get settled and figure things out, if you'd rather. You'd know better than she would how long they're likely to take to come back, but we can probably give you a few dozen degrees at least."

“Yeah. That’d probably be better for me. Not thinking too clearly right now.”

Deskyl nods.

    "She can do a calming effect, if you'd like; it might help you think through things."

“Think I’d like to appreciate my brain as it is for at least a little bit before having it tampered with any more?”

(Calm does sound good, though. Maybe if she doesn’t settle down in the next couple degrees she’ll reconsider...)

Squeeze.

    "Of course."

Degrees pass.

Deskyl naps, slightly restlessly.

Dheto naps too, well aware that if her passengers do decide to throw a mutiny there’s not much she could do to stop it.

Devika thinks.