"Oh, and Alara, do something about that nose, will you?" Mercer ordered on his way out.

"Aye, sir." she said, lowering her eyes.

Alara tried not to be hurt by how abrupt he had been. It was a practical consideration, she told herself, nothing personal to her. Of course she couldn't go undisguised on a planet that hadn't had first contact yet. She knew that.

It was just mission prep, she thought, trying to drown out that voice in the back of her mind arguing that just because she is Xelayan doesn't mean she isn't just as pretty as Commander Grayson!

Or, you know, any other human woman onboard. Not that it mattered. Of course. Physical opinion was not relevant to anyone's duties.

Which was just as well, Alara sighed as she applied the patch to her nose to cover the ridges. She looked like someone punched her in the face and she only had primitive medical technology to treat her wounds. At least she only had to wear it down to the planet and not on the ship where… anyone could see her.

Mercer met them at the shuttle bay to greet their guest from Sargas 4. He exchanged pleasantries with the young woman but she seemed more interested in gawking around at the ship. He took advantage of that as they headed for the conference room, stepping closer to Alara.

"Report." he kept his voice low.

"This society is weird, sir." Alara whispered back. "They take their social media very seriously. John is in trouble."

Ed gave a grim nod in response.

When they arrived at the conference room, Ed pasted on a smile and waved Lysella inside. Before he followed, he turned to his Security Chief and paused for a moment.

Alara was taken aback when her captain reached out to pull off the strip concealing her Xeleyan ridges. She had removed the itchy sweaty headscarf in the shuttle but she had forgotten about her nose.

"That's better." he said and smiled as he gestured for her to precede him.

As she headed inside to her seat, Alara was glad once more than Xelayans don't blush.

When Alara returned from dropping Lysella off on the planet, Ed was there to meet the shuttle again. He told himself he was just checking on the situation. Making sure the shuttle wasn't seen, and Lysella wasn't going to out the existence of extraterrestrials to her planet. The Orville would catch hell from Union officials for that kind of interference.

After what happened to John, and Alara's own close call with the Weird Hat Sect, he also needed to make sure Alara made it back safely.

"Everything go okay?" he asked as his Security Chief disembarked.

"Smooth sailing, sir." Alara nodded and stood at attention.

Ed had noticed she did that more when she was feeling unsure. Taking refuge in professionalism.

He couldn't blame her. It had been an unsettling case of first contact. The Orville had experienced the worst of the Sargas 4 society and almost lost a member of the crew. After his experiences with the Krill, Ed hadn't liked the idea of sending his officers in undercover to begin with. His fears has only been confirmed. Thank god they had all made it back this time.

"Quite a mission, huh?"

Alara sighed and some of the tension eased from her body.

"Yes, sir." she said.

"Maybe don't let John hump anything next time," Mercer smiled to ease the sting of the criticism, "But you did the best you could down there. Good job."

Alara smiled her thanks.

"Well," Ed said, clapping his hand on her shoulder. "I'll let you get back into uniform. Can't have you looking the 1990's exploded all over you while you're on duty." He looked over her disguise again. "Can't believe everyone on Sargas 4 wears those badges all the time."

"Yeah," Alara glanced down at it the red and green voting buttons on her badge. "Its really important to them what other people think of them. We obviously don't go as far as they do, but that's true in Union societies too, isn't it?"

She wasn't wrong, Ed thought. Humans sought approval from each other in plenty of toxic ways, and he was willing to bet Xelayan's weren't that different. Maybe if more people voiced their approval and demonstrated their good opinions of others, Sargas 4 society wouldn't have evolved the way it did.

Ed Mercer tried to learn from mistakes, even if they weren't his.

His hand dropped from Alara's shoulder and pressed the Upvote button on her badge. It glowed green for a moment. When she met his eyes in surprise, he gave her a wide grin and a wink.

"See you on the bridge." he said, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and turned to leave the shuttle bay.