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Admiral Miles was currently busy finishing up with his morning routine as he listened to his personal VI assistant go through his notifications. "Computer schedule a meeting with Captain Srettia and Captain Michael at their earliest convenience, and get me, quartermaster Rowan on com."

It was only moments, perhaps closer to a minute, before he received a com's request from the man in question. "You wanted to speak with me, sir?"

"Yes. First off, I have a question for you. Did you perhaps get our guest's measurements and biometrics?" The Admiral questioned, wishing he could see the confused face of Rowan.

"Uhh, no, sir." Rowan stumbled out.

"Alright, I will provide them for you as soon as I have them. Secondly, I have two tasks for you. I have concluded that we don't know enough about the surrounding systems. With that out of the way, I want you to refit our guest's shuttle with the best shields and armour, Antimatter lance batteries, and upgrade all systems to the most current available, including the railguns."

Rowan paused for a second to think over the request before asking his first question. "I'm not one to question orders admiral, but is that wise? I mean, you just had it reduce it to civilian grade not even a week ago if I remember correctly."

"A mistake." The Admiral returned. "After the telemetry received from the Gentle Winds, I feel we don't know enough and plan to request our guest to rectify that issue as Chrarada has limited our ability to leave our position. The second task is for you to prepare two sets of active NanoMesh with Mk8 companion armour, A.C.E.S available loadout, and a cradle system. The one for Captain Michael will be easy enough; coordinate with Cheif Engineer Tanda for the construction of Captain Srettias Armour."

"Admiral, I don't wanna step on anyone's toes, but that's a mighty big request, are you sure?" Rowan asked with an unwavering voice.

"I respect your opinion, Rowan. But if I'm going to send our pilot and an alien to scout the surrounding systems. I need to make sure they can return. With the fleet stuck here due to current agreements, I'm sure as hell going to make use of what I can."

"Understood, I'll get right on it. Anything else you need?" Rowan asked as he began constructing his plan.

"That will be all, Rowan. I'll send you the information you need as soon as I get it." Cutting the com, the Admiral finished getting dressed and made his way towards the bridge.

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Michael was in pain, his back hurt, and it felt like he had hit his head on something, so he decided to open his eyes slowly. "Why am I on the floor?" He asked the room, looking around.

"You weren't waking up, you idiot. I had to push you off your bed, which was a fairly difficult task, ya fatty. I'm hungry; let's go get food!." Srettia said, looking down at Michael from his bed.

Groaning, Michael untangled himself from his sheets, slowly got up, and began walking towards the dresser while ignoring the weird noise. Deciding to dress light for the day, he put on some boxers, jeans, and a plain t-shirt, then made his way to the bathroom to wash his face.

Shaking his head in an attempt at waking up, Michael moved back into the living room and looked over to the waiting Srettia, who seemed rather nervous. "Ya ready?" He said with a smile before pausing for a moment. "I haven't seen your hood thingy like that since you spat that goop at me. You okay?"

"Yes... Let's just go get some food." Srettia said, leading the way out the door and trying her best to keep her tail under control.

On the way to the mess hall, The ship's VI assistant informed Michael and Srettia of the Admiral's request to meet them. The two spoke for a quick moment, confirming a reasonable time frame, and continued to promptly entered the mess hall.

Srettia, now being more comfortable around Terrans after the lengthy Q&A she was subjected to the night before, trotted over to the order terminal and ordered herself another large plate of breakfast meats with a side of many fruits.

Srettia then went to sit down while Michael completed his own order with a slight chuckle, making sure to order a bit more just in case and went to sit down.

"You seem happy," Michael commented.

"I got to eat my fill of meat and sleep in a warm bed and got to see a very nice view this morning. Thanks for that, by the way. So, of course, I"m happy." Srettia replied, her tail swishing back and forth.

"You're not nervous about meeting the Admiral?" Michael added.

"Nope, I've already met him. He gave me my ship, remember?"

"I suppose that's true." Michael replied. Seeing that his order was ready, he got up and walked to the front to grab his tray, noticing that there was a lot more food than average for an order. Michael smiled, took the tray to his table and sat down.

During their meal, Michael noticed Srettia eyeing his eggs suspiciously and decided to speak up. "Want to try some? They're eggs, you know."

Srettia just stared at him blankly in confusion. "You would have to collect million's of our female's eggs to create a dish like that."

Michael nearly spat his breakfast out. "No, no, they're Chicken eggs, you dummy. Ummm, Sorry... I thought...You know... This may seem like a weird question, but do your people lay eggs?"

"What? No! That's strange. Why would something lay an egg, and from a chicken, you say? What a versatile animal." She commented in confusion, casually grabbing a mound of Michael's eggs.

"Well, that was friggin weird." Michael thought as he continued to eat his meal.

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"Welcome aboard my ship Captain Srettia, Captain Michael. Please take a seat. We have much to talk about, but first, Captain Srettia, I must ask if you would allow either myself or Michael to scan your body with this tool." The Admiral asked as he held up a strange-looking device for Srettia to see. "This will tell us your body measurements and biometrics and will allow me to proceed with the conversation at a much quicker pace."

After taking a few seconds to consider, Srettia took the device and handed it to Michael, who then directed her to stand up with her arms out while he swished the tool around her a few times before handing it back to the Admiral.

"Alright, you can explain why you needed that now sir," Michael asked.

"Well, let's get down to it then. I have a commission I want to offer the both of you." He began. "As it currently stands, we lack information on the surrounding systems. Our fleet is stuck while we're aiding Aaster and her people, or proper diplomatic ties between our peoples are settled. However, there is one loophole. Which happens to be you, captain Srettia." The Admiral then let his words hang in the air before continuing.

"I need you to investigate the systems around this sector of space and report any abnormal findings. You will be paid in Terran credits as we have not settled on a proper exchange rate as of yet. I will also supply you with all materials and supplies you require for this mission, as well as new armaments. This includes strength and speed augmentation in the form of active Nanomesh armour; its Mk8 compliment power armour, along with A.C.E.S load-outs and equipment cradle. A weapon and armour refit of your current ship, Including antimatter lances and shieldi-"

"Whoa whoa Admiral, isn't this a bit much?" Michael interrupted. "I mean, I'll definitely take the commission, but what's got you so spooked?"

The Admiral looked at Michael for a quiet moment, then over to Srettia before letting out a sigh. "You should know what's got me spooked. Something tore through their system, and I want to know what before it comes back."

Srettia thought over the offer. She had planned to explore the surrounding systems and try to drag Michael along anyway. This way, she'd get paid to do it, get her own Terran armour and a stronger ship. "I will accept your offer, Admiral." She said with a smile.

Pushing forward two datapads, the Admiral let out a grin. "Excellent, I have made up this contract for the both of you. Please read it over and ask any questions you have. Michael, your contract is a bit different. You will act as her training instructor on the equipment while in transit between systems."

It took a full three hours for the trio to go through the contract. But after much discussion and amendments to the agreement, Srettia thumbed and sighed the datapad with a smile.

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Rowan and Tanda were currently working on adapting Terran power armour to fit Srettias build, her tail, longer neck and horns, being a pain to work around. In the end, they ended up adding multiple interlocking plates and a slightly larger helm to keep things flexible enough without losing defensive value.

"Well, Tanda, I think this will work. Now, all we have to do is have our alien lady try it on and see if she can move in it." Rowan announced, looking over the armour and Nmesh proudly. He didn't think it would go this smoothly when he started, but Tanda seemed to know exactly how to make things work. Though he found it odd, Tanda consistently talked to himself in a hushed voice. Something he never noticed before about the engineer.

"I'm confident this will work Rowan, I'm going to check in on the shuttle refit. If you run into any problem when Srettia tries the armour on, let me know, and I'll come down to fix it." With that, Tanda sped off towards the ship, leaving Rowan looking intently at the new Mk0.1 Aasteran armour and under mesh.

"Well, that was fun. I guess I'll just wait until the duo gets down here then." Rowan proceeded to store the armour in its cradle and decided to head back to his post to relax. However, he didn't get much of a chance to sit down as an excited-looking alien came bouncing in his direction a few minutes after he sat down. Unfortunately, she arrived at him just as he was starting to watch the latest episode of Galaxy Knights.

"Hi, Rowan!" Srettia greeted.

"I see you're enjoying yourself." Rowan stated with mild amusement. "I assume you're here for your equipment then?"

"Yup! The Admiral said you might have some armour ready for me." Srettia replied as Michael came calmly walking up behind her with a nod to Rowan.

"Well, he's half right." Rowan returned. "We have a prototype ready. We just need you to get suited up and tell us how it feels. Then we can print out the real model."

Michael seemed surprised and ducked around the counter to look inside the room. "That was pretty quick, Rowan. Figured it take a few days or something for a prototype."

Rowan pushed Michael back over the counter and moved to open the door to let the two in. "You'd normally be right, but Tanda just cruised through the project like it was nothing."

After waiting for the two to enter his room and a short walk, Rowan brought the two to an armour cradle. "Alright, so here's how your suit is gonna work. First off, you don't have nanites to sync to the suit, so that process is skipped. So, for now, you only get strength and speed enhance, none of that fancy reflex or healing stuff. Now, see that puddle of black goop? Ya need to, oh... Well, Michael has done this before, so I'll just leave it to him and go back to my desk while you suit up." Rowan finished, deciding to get back to watching Galaxy Knights.

Srettia looked to Michael for answers as Rowan quickly walked away as if trying to avoid something as Michael began a short speech. "The mesh is a skin-tight bodysuit. So you have to dress down and step in the Nanites so they can cover your body." He began, sneaking a peek towards the entry door Rowan left through.

"Rowan probably didn't wanna stick around and make you nervous, I guess. Once they're on, they'll show up as a black skin suit unless you decide to change the colours or commanded them to meld, then they'll blend in with your features; you wouldn't even know they were on until you stepped into your armour or when you want people to know they're there."

Srettia took her cloak off and looked at Michael for a few moments before he realized she wanted him to turn around. Once he did turn away, she continued taking the rest of her clothes off before quickly stepping onto the nanites.

She was nervous at first. The puddle seemed to start crawling around and clinging onto her feet. Then she started laughing as they climbed up her leg and bit her tongue as they finished covering her tail. Eventually, they reached the top of her neck and stopped.

Looking herself over, she was impressed with the black suit. She couldn't even feel it anymore, but it was obviously there. "Okay, what now?" She asked, turning to look towards Michael.

Michael turned around and stepped forward to take a closer look at Srettia. He leaned forward as he took in sight, trying to make sure everything was in order. He walked around her in a circle, eyeing her features closely, as he made sure the nanites didn't miss a spot. However, during this inspection, he realized his eyes were wandering a bit longer in places they shouldn't have and forced himself to continue, coughing to clear the air. "Yup, everything looks fine."

Srettia had a smug face on. She could tell she got the better of Michael for once and decided she liked this bodysuit as she wayed her tail seductively. "Good, what now?"

Michael shook his head and pointed at the floor. "Place your feet in the two yellow spots in front of that machine, then place your hands in the gauntlets on either side. The cradle should close and seal the armour around you." He pointed out.

Srettia did as instructed, and the odd machine came to life, encasing her in a metal cocoon. After a minute of buzzing sounds, much of which concerned her, the machine let go. And she stumbled out backwards.

An odd screen was now in front of her face, oddly pointing things out in her own language. She looked to Michael, and it told her his rank and full name. She then proceeded to play around, looking at things until Michael spoke up.

"Alright, so let's go over a few things. First off, the Nanomesh should increase your strength and speed to about three times your normal power. You won't have to worry about controlling your strength since it's a smart suit. But keep in mind that if you want to smash someone's head in, you can most likely smash their head in now."

Michael then took a step forward, took one of Srettia's gauntlets into his hand, and began fiddling with a control She didn't quite understand. "Secondly, this power suit your wearing over your mesh. Increases your strength an additional five times. So your currently about fifteen times stronger than normal right now. The armour, however, Is not a smart suit. So you will break things if you're not careful."

Srettia froze up upon realizing how strong she currently was and just stared at Michael, unmoving, waiting for him to continue.

"Alright, let me get my suit on, and we can go to the range to find out if everything is okay for you to get a full armour printed."

After a few minutes, Michael had his armour on, and the two were headed towards the range, Srettia finding out quickly that she needed to watch her tail as she put a small dent in the door as she left the armoury.

"Alright, so walking around seems okay. Let's try running." Michael said, making sure to keep a close eye on Srettia as they went through some standard exercises. Things seemed alright. She only fell over a few times, which was expected when getting used to new power armour. Michael did notice she was being overly cautious of her tail but figured practice would take care of it.

"Alright, it Looks like you're all set. Nothing seems off or wrong? nothing uncomfortable or pinching?" Michael asked, doing another walk around as Srettia stood tall for him.

Srettia felt like a goddess. She was fast and strong, invincible. She knew it was the suit, but it was still a fantastic feeling. She felt like she could take whatever she wanted. She looked over at Michael, extending his hidden fangs before shaking off the feeling. "No, the suit feels great."

"Excellent, let's go tell Rowan, and he'll print you up proper one." Replied Michael.

After a walk to the armoury, they both removed the armour and walked towards their left-behind clothes. Srettia making sure to saunter around Michael, pretending to stretch for a bit before putting on her regular clothes over her suit.

"Looks like everything is in order Rowan." Michael said, doing his best to keep his eyes on the door as Srettia stretched her legs.

Srettia had a grin on as she walked towards Rowan. "The suit and armour worked perfectly. I hardly knew I was wearing one. Well, if it wasn't for the godly strength that is." She happily informed Rowan as she walked through the door.

"That's what I like to hear. I'll adjust it a bit based on your bio scans, print one up, and send it to your ship when it's done. Should be ready in about three hours." Rowan informed the duo.

"Well, what now?" Srettia asked Michael.

Michael looked down at the time. "Well, I guess it's about time for lunch." Michael said, looking back up to Srettia, who was already happily walking down the hall. He let out a smile and followed her down the hall.

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