Alone once again, Atton rolled his eyes and turned back to the screens, flipping through the data at random while he waited for his mood to improve. The old hag was the only member of the crew he'd hoped would know some things he didn't, in general and for this mission. So much for that.
Let her rest—she's earned it. After all that exhausting, dangerous work she did back on Gulvitch, I'm surprised she's not in a coma... Yeah, this is all gonna be up to me.
He flew the ship. He did the talking. When danger showed up in the field, he was the first to head into it and the last to get out. He prodded, badgered, and cajoled each of his pain-in-the-ass teammates into doing their parts so that they wouldn't all die.
Finally, he was the brains of the operation, as was just demonstrated. Captain Atton Rand, Republic SIS, was where the buck stopped. He had brought these people together and gotten them this far; nobody else needed to think because he would always know what to do next—and if he didn't know, then he was bound to figure something out just in time.
In short, this crew thought of him the way the last one had thought about Meetra.
And look how well that turned out.
Atton wasn't surprised; he'd figured this out months ago. But he still wasn't used to it.
