"Yes ma'am."

"Well I -"

Why are there emotions here that she didn't put there. Go away emotions. 

" - I'm very familiar with the concept but strongly object to it for myself."

"I suppose I will still abide by the local norms as long as I'm planetside. And might get caught."

Not that the norms about touching make any sense to apply to Moira in this form.

"Yes ma'am."

"Are there ways to switch your caste?"

"No?? Ma'am."

"Are there ways of becoming clean if you're a red? I'm asking mostly to check for low hanging fruit, I don't particularly expect there to be."

"There are not ma'am."

"Assuming this is similar to other castes I've encountered - your work is considered unpleasant and you are paid and treated worse than other castes in ways distinct from not touching you?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Were we allowed to give out warp drive, I'd suggest immigrating to more reasonable planets."

Hm....

"How many reds are there?"

"In the world? Sixty-five million I think."

"Ah, I suspect that is too big of a challenge to address over one casual conversation. Still, other Amaliens will be eager to help I expect."

It will probably be a good deal easier if they have the aid of someone with local knowledge of the sort that's considered so basic explainers don't explain it. 

"Do you expect it would cause a diplomatic kerfluffle were I to bring you home with me?"

She smiles as she says this.

"Yes?? Even if I was discharged they wouldn't want me just going places."

"Why, exactly?"

"Also, aiming to be less mysterious than I naturally am, I have no intention of taking you anywhere you don't want to go. I'm asking because it seems expedient to have a red to talk with when addressing Amentan problems related to your caste and I've enjoyed our conversation thus far."  

"Well because I'd pollute wherever I went. Uh, you could probably email me without it being an incident."

Sigh, it's probably not worth the risk to smuggle her out of here without more of a reason to do so. Even if she does have such a nice face.

"Are you going to be safe for the immediate future? I rather dislike it when bad things happen to people I've tried to help."

"I think so ma'am. Thank you again."

"It was my pleasure."

The rest of Moira's trip to the war zone is substantially more dull. She nods politely and learns what she can, but doesn't learn anything new of substantial value.

When she returns to the ship she has a discussion with Captain Sierra about the situation, and while the Captain won't rule out investigating on her own, she is inclined to allow Moira the time she asked for her to wait.

Moira uses that time mostly to ingratiate herself with the more friendly sort of Amentans - the sort of competent business owners, politicians, and criminals who are amenable to bribery and deal making. The newly established currency conversion pipeline for Amalien credits to Amentan currencies helps smooth the way for her - she even arranges to repay the shady individual she got Peka's credit money from. 

After a few weeks of charming her way through the criminal and not quite criminal worlds, she decides it's a reasonable time to meet with the recently discharged Peka again.

And so, Peka receives an email from Moira's amalienexpanse.gov address providing her with a time and street address to meet at. 

I do not have any excuse to be out of the district at the moment

Well, isn't this a convenient and generous contract for determining whether a skeleton found in an empty apartment is a person, and safe disposal in the unlikely event it isn't just a wild animal that got stuck there and died.

...okay, fine. She will get a truck and head out.

The address is on an out of the way street. Empty except for a nondescript but nice car. It's hard to tell but one might notice the slightest hint of blue added to the black paint.

...Peka's going to idle the car and... wait.