Stepping into the rain and leaving Tony is a refreshing cleanse. Ilise pulled her docupad to shelter her head to prevent her makeup from running. Officer Charyd’s parking was nothing to be desired. She would not dock him points for it. The rain fell so slow that it basically floated, but it still threatened to drench her for each moment longer she stayed out here. Sisyphus was casually walking beside her, not even jogging, his own hands stretched over his hair. 

The gates opened as everyone piled in one by one into the waiting room. The slippery vinyl floor was stained with dark brown, red, and blue splotches. A hallway was further down, but based on the buzzing sound in the air, walking through it required clearance. The concrete walls here were naked beside one sign with red letters ordering “Silence until called upon.”

It seemed everyone in the crew could read and obey signs. She made a mental note of it about hanging one up in the latrine about putting the toilet seat down. Saar would probably start doing it after his recent turbulence adventure. He deserved whatever covered him. He had been a headache to command. He only obeyed orders passed to him via Tony.

“Captain Ilise Posey of the Darkstorm.” A voice called over the speaker followed by a buzzer.

She went up near the force field by the hallway. It was so many joules of energy and constantly ready to shock even the largest alien races in the universe. For someone like her and her species in general, it could probably kill her. It flickered off to allow her to pass, but the short red hairs on her head were still raised from the charge. A quick swipe of the hand over her head with a wet hand and the hair laid flat again. It was as presentable as she could be between commanding the Darkstorm, the rollercoaster ride through space, and the rain. The forcefield did not help in keeping her appearance up, but she knew her rank alone would give her respect, even if she didn’t look it. Her hair and makeup had nothing to do with why her appearance would make others question her rank. 

A quick glance back revealed that Sisyphus was standing too close to the forcefield. The human was drenched from the rain, but it might as well be seen as sweat. Sweating on a man was a sign of strength and perseverance. On a woman, it meant she had not been conditioned enough to handle the situation. She snapped her fingers until Sisyphus was looking at her and then motioned to his body. Hopefully, her silent command to get cleaned up would come across, but she was distracted by Officer Charyd before she could see it through. 

The smile that was on Charyd’s dark face made his large eyes squint and it was so wide and bright and it looked so fake that it made her question the man’s intelligence. Maybe he was one of the specials even if it wasn’t in his record. Those really smart ones that had no social skills. When he noticed her looking, his smile softened and turned more natural. It made his large eyes open wider as if he was focusing completely on her, and the wrinkles on the flat bridge of his nose disappeared. It was… cute. 

Her head swiveled forward to avoid the blush glowing on her face. Another layer of foundation was needed to hide her Shacor emotions more. His praise earlier was unexpected. Especially coming from a pilot who placed first in the Cadoon FRX fighter races. She picked him specifically for the Darkstorm crew because of how well he could maneuver an asteroid field being pulled into a black hole in a high-speed ship. Not that Tony couldn’t do it, but having a backup was nice. But Officer Charyd needed to know that he was a second option, a plan B, maybe even a C since Ilise herself also passed the flight exams. Even though he must have a firm grip and nimble fingers. To adjust to that environment. Of course. Nothing else. And of course he would. He could shift into anything.