Scission: Humbled?

Even with the internal sensors up, the command deck was still so quiet she actually heard the Tyr's light tread approach.  "How'd it go?"  She didn't turn from her view of the dead ships out the view port.  They were silouetted against the slightly luminous grey void beyond.

"I found what I believe are the crew quarters.  By my calculations there are only accommodations for approximately fifty individuals.  If there was a full compliment then we still have thirty-seven crewmembers left on the ship."  He approached the console and the schematic of the ship that Beka had found. "I wanted to check in before I went in search of engineering."  He paused and studied the white outline of their prison and its inner grey trace work complexity.  "Have you found anything to suggest the ship has an AI as a central computer?"

"No. I think we're dealing with the intellectual equivalent of the Maru.  But using the colour combo's you suggested with the external sensors, I think that's us," she pointed to two tiny bright green blips in the middle forward section of schematic. "You were up here." She pointed a level up behind the forward bulkhead.

"Now what I want to know is what are these?" She ran her finger across the display from left to right.  The outline became a three dimensional presentation and rotated on its central axis to bring the aft to the centre view. The grey interior lines showed three rows of identical sized chambers.  The one in the middle row farthest from them blinked a bright blue and contained three dull orange dots.  A deck below in the bottom row of cells, were three dull blue blips, one to a compartment. "So if that's where we broke out of, and those are the bodies we stowed, then who are they?"

"Our foreign dignitaries," Tyr suggested.

Beka nodded. "Ready for another expedition?" She rubbed her arms.  It was definitely colder in here now.

Tyr reached past her the warmth of his arm making her visibly shudder. "It is colder.  I estimate three degree since we woke. That is faster than I expected."

He handed her the rifle, peeled off his leather vest, and then handed it to her.  He slung the weapon over his shoulder and turned his attention back to the display.

She watched his bare, goose-bumpless back and already felt a degree warmer.  Beka didn't say a thing just quickly put the shirt on not wasting a degree of borrowed body heat. Hugging it to herself, she relaxed marginally.

"Thank you."

He nodded but didn't look up.

The schematic flipped and rotated under Tyr's insistent finger and steady gaze. With machine-like concentration he would memorize the coordinates of every surviving hostile force on this ship she was sure. I'm so glad he's on my side. She continued to observe him with her peripheral vision once she returned her attention to the display.  She decided that his superiority still annoyed her, but only because now she actually felt inferior. 

Despite her rather humble and varied background she never felt inferior to anyone, others were just obstacles to overcome, to be outwitted, conned or simply just overrun.  She was a Valentine and that was synonymous with coming out on top. But she couldn't win against Mr. Perfect Anasazi.  At least not since he'd stuck with them, proving himself beyond any Nietzschean she'd had the displeasure to meet.  Why couldn't he have just been a regular uber?  She would have shot him months ago and given him no further thought, other than that the view wasn't so nice. Now she couldn't even lay a guy on shore leave without thinking that he didn't compare or worse that they just didn't smell right. Grr! Infected by Ubermusk. I will not think about this.  Must do something. "You done yet?  I need to get moving.  Before I explode or freeze to death."

He stepped away and she already missed the heat she'd been stealing by his proximity. And the smell. Stop Beka. The Andromeda could be blasted to smithereens and most of the fleet wiped out and all you can think about is manflesh.  Get a grip!

Tyr gave her an odd penetrating look. "You are very quiet."

"Funny in here it's awfully noisy," she muttered heading out into the corridor, knowing his keen hearing would catch it anyway.