"Wow, you two look haggard." Dylan grinned as Kolya and Donovan shuffled into the room, bleary-eyed and yawning. Each of them held a bottle of hot coffee and took a sip through the attached straws after laughing softly.

"We were up late." Kolya smirked and glanced at the floor. "Um, really late."

"It's all my fault." Donovan blushed and shrugged before yawning again. "Well, mostly."

"Wanna grab breakfast before we get started?" Dylan motioned around at the equipment Zadra, Lorkis, Peter, and Mila had just finished unpacking. Dylan and his wives had joined them after finishing their own breakfast.

"Nah, I'm good." Kolya smiled. "This is important stuff we'll be learning, so I'll grab something to eat after we're done. Or when we break for lunch, whichever happens first."

"Same here." Donovan slipped his arm around Kolya's shoulders, held in another yawn, and took another long sip of his coffee. "I should apologize in advance in case I fall asleep during the training session. It's not from boredom, believe me."

"No worries," Zadra said, her voice carrying the same unsettling reverb that Ralissa's had, prompting Dylan to wonder again what caused shonari voices to do that. "I've had my share of sleepless nights, myself -- often for the same reason, if my guess is correct," she added with a wink.

Cora smiled and stepped forward. "I don't believe you two have been formally introduced to the rest of Ralissa's team. This is Zadra Loseen." She motioned to the human and the minotaur and added, "And this is Mila Gerson and Peter Gonzales."

"Nice to meet you." Kolya smiled and shook hands with each of them before moving aside so Donovan could greet them.

"Ralissa's busy with other mission-prep stuff," Zadra said. "Since I've already had the EVA training, I'll be getting you up to speed. When we reach the Vancouver, a small team will board it, assess its condition, search for survivors, and try to get its systems up and running if they've been shut down. A second team will remain on standby in case of emergency or just to relieve the first team if they're on the ship long enough to run low on oxygen." She glanced around at everyone. "Do any of you have experience at EVA or zero-G operations?"

"Quite a few years' worth." Cora raised her hand. "I've been operational for a fair number of decades. Well over a century, if you count the time-skip between the day I was taken through one of those space-time rifts and the moment we all found our way here through another one."

"I've seen some of your interviews about that, but I still can't imagine what a shock it must've been."

"There was definitely an adjustment period."

"More so for the rest of us," Syala said, "except perhaps for Grishnag and Dylan. Grish already went through such a transition when she was around Dylan's age, and Dylan didn't end up that far in the future. The rest of us came from primitive worlds, as we've mentioned before. My own discovery that my species has been exploring space and colonizing planets for thousands of years was quite mind-blowing. I must have been taken from far in the distant past, since my people hunted with knives and spears, lived in tents made of animal skins or huts made of straw, and knew nothing of other planets."

"I can't even imagine what that must've been like," Kolya said. "I'm not sure I would've adjusted to it."

"It's an ongoing process." Syala smiled and put her arm around Zilaka. "One thing that's been a huge help is knowing I'm not alone in this, as most of the others are experiencing the same thing."

Nishara reached over to hold Syala's hand for a moment. She motioned at Lorkis and said, "I can certainly understand what it's like. My people were at a similar point in their history when I was taken." She turned abruptly to Zadra. "Oh, back on topic -- I have a bit of experience with zero-G operations. I've been in space only a few times, though, while the Mae Jemison was undergoing her refit. I found out about some training courses and wanted to take them because I was fascinated by the idea."

"We all decided to sign up with Nish." Dylan smiled. "Cora bought spacesuits for each of us so we could take the course together."

"Mine was rather expensive due to my being so much larger than other species, I'm embarrassed to say." Ayastal chuckled and shrugged. "My homeworld was discovered less than a century ago, and my people are still quite primitive. As far as I know, I'm the only geltharan anywhere other than our planet. That meant a spacesuit had to be custom-built to fit me."

"It was worth every credit." Cora winked at her. "You look hotter than hell in it."

"Why, thank you." Ayastal laughed softly and turned back to Zadra. "I hope to get some use out of it on this voyage. Leaving it hanging on its rack would be a waste, after all the money Cora spent on it."

"I'll ask Ralissa to put you on the primary team, then." Zadra smiled. "Sounds like you know the basics, but we'll go over everything to fill in any blanks. Kolya, Donovan, have either of you gone EVA before?"

"Nope." Donovan shrugged, glanced around, and sipped his coffee again. "So I'll need all the training I can get."

"I've done a few spacewalks," Kolya said with a grin. "Helped with a few in-flight repairs and some orbital cargo transfers on the ships I've been hitchhiking on."

"Sounds like you'll make a good assistant, then." Zadra grinned right back. "I may be asking you to help with some of the demonstrations."

"I'm up for it."

"Alright then. Let's get started."