Tanya stood beside Amara on the company's landing pad, watching the morning sky for any sign of the Welsh siblings' ship. The three days were up, and she found herself genuinely curious about what they'd managed to produce. Her scepticism remained, but it was now tempered by professional interest.
"There," Amara said, pointing toward a speck that was growing larger against Eden-Five's suns.
As the ship descended, Tanya got her first clear look at their vessel and felt her eyebrows rise in surprise. The craft was roughly football-shaped, but that was where any resemblance to human design philosophy ended. The hull had an organic quality that reminded her of living tissue—smooth curves that flowed seamlessly into each other, with subtle variations in texture that suggested the material itself was somehow adaptive.
"What do you think that hull is made of?" she asked Amara, studying the ship's surface as it settled onto the landing pad with barely a whisper of displaced air.
"Nothing in any materials database I've seen," Amara replied, her security-trained eyes cataloguing every unusual detail. "They definitely found that exploring somewhere humans haven't been."
Tanya felt a flutter of excitement at the thought. Maybe once things were more established here, she could do some exploring of her own. Find ancient ruins, recover lost technologies, maybe even discover something that could give her an edge over the impossible challenges she kept facing.
//Making human analogues of alien technologies would be more beneficial for your education,// Sage interjected quietly. //Understanding the underlying principles provides greater long-term value than simply appropriating existing solutions.//
Tanya chose to ignore that particular piece of wisdom. Sometimes the fastest way forward was to borrow from those who'd already solved the problem, even if it meant skipping a few educational steps. The problem was keeping the government off your back, and she wondered exactly how the siblings had managed that.
The ship's boarding ramp extended with a soft hiss, and Janet emerged with her usual bright energy, followed by Cameron carrying what looked like technical equipment. She immediately took point in approaching Tanya and Amara, falling naturally into her role as the team's communicator.
"Good morning!" Janet called out, her enthusiasm genuine despite the early hour. "Ready to see what we've put together?"
"Looking forward to it," Tanya replied, though she noticed Cameron hanging back slightly, his attention divided between the group and the gear he was managing. "Before we start, I have to ask—what's your ship called? I don't think I caught the name." She was following up on Sage's quiet prompting; they were interested in knowing its name.
"Explorer-2," Janet said with a slight grin. "Not the most creative naming convention, but it fits our work."
//The designation is inconsistent with the vessel's true name. // Sage muttered in Tanya's mind. //Mis-match name will cause problems in operations. //
Tanya filed that observation away for later consideration and gestured toward the equipment Cameron was unloading. "So, what do you have for us?"
"Our solution to exploring the unknown," Janet said, stepping aside to let Cameron take the technical lead as he arranged four larger containers and one smaller box on the landing pad.
"What's in the boxes?" Tanya asked, noting how carefully Cameron handled each one.
Janet opened the larger containers while Cameron found his voice, his technical passion overcoming his social reserve. "Scale armor made from a ceramic composite," he explained, lifting one of the pieces to show its construction. It was a 30-centimetre circular plate. "But the real innovation is the control system."
He opened the smaller box to reveal a complex arrangement of crystalline matrices, their surfaces catching Eden-Five's sunlight in ways that created internal prismatic effects. Tanya immediately noticed the crystals were different from the ones she'd found in vortex drives. These crystals had a deeper blue-green hue with veins of gold running through their structures.
"Different species?" she asked, studying the alien craftsmanship.
"Almost certainly," Cameron replied as if he knew what she was thinking, warming to the subject. "We found this control unit on a small moon in an old Disputed Zone. The architectural style is completely different from anything else we've catalogued. Father believed it was a 1 planet species"
He pointed to different clusters within the control box, his enthusiasm making him more animated then before. "This cluster controls the physical configuration of the armor scales, and you can program up to five different geometric patterns. This one handles power conversion and storage, drawing ambient energy from the ship's systems. This cluster manages the binding forces that hold the scales in formation. And this one," he indicated the central array, "serves as the master controller and interface system."
Tanya studied the crystal arrangements, trying to understand how they might work together, but the principles seemed to operate on logic that human engineering hadn't encountered. "I'm still not entirely clear on how it functions. Can you show us?"
"It's currently keyed to our ship's systems," Janet explained, "but that's easy enough to adjust. Cameron?"
Cameron pressed a control surface on the master controller, and Tanya watched in fascination as the individual armor scales began rising from their containers. They moved with fluid grace, positioning themselves around the front section of Explorer-2 in overlapping patterns that created a seamless protective barrier.
"The scales aren't physically attached to the hull," Janet explained, noting Tanya's intense attention. "The crystal control system generates binding fields that hold them in position relative to the ship's structure. Because they hover off the actual hull, they don't affect manoeuvrability or speed at all, just protect against whatever you might encounter."
Tanya walked around the ship, studying how the scales maintained their formation even as she moved. The engineering was elegant in a way that human technology rarely achieved, and it was functional, adaptive, and somehow beautiful despite its purely practical purpose. The fact that they had been able to use and adapt it to be used by humans was impressive.
"This is impressive work," she said finally, meaning it. The demonstration had answered several questions about their capabilities while raising new ones about what else they might be able to accomplish.
//Their technical competence appears genuine,// Sage observed. //The integration of alien control systems with practical applications suggests considerable experience and skill. As expected of ones with the blessing of the Lady//
Tanya folded her arms, letting the silence stretch as she studied the hovering armor plates one last time. The demonstration was real but her gut still whispered caution. Trust wasn't built in a single morning. //What else are you waiting for?// Sage asked, their tone neither impatient nor coaxing, just steady. She almost answered proof they won't stab me in the back, but caught herself. That proof would only come with time, and she couldn't afford to drive away the only people who might understand what she was.
Tanya looked at both siblings. Janet was watching her reaction with hopeful confidence, Cameron was already starting to power down the demonstration setup with the focused attention of someone comfortable with complex systems. Her initial scepticism had been reasonable, but continuing to doubt them in the face of clear evidence would be stubborn rather than careful.
"Alright," she said, making her decision. "You've convinced me. Welcome to the company."
Janet's smile widened into something genuinely pleased rather than professionally polished. "Thank you. We won't let you down."
"Just remember," Amara added with her characteristic directness, "competence got you hired. Trust will still have to be earned over time."
"Understood," Cameron said quietly, looking up from his equipment. "We're used to proving ourselves gradually. It's how exploration work operates. You earn credibility one discovery at a time."
Tanya nodded, satisfied with that approach.
"Well then," Amara said with a slight smile, "since I had a feeling this would go well, I took the liberty of arranging a proper company meeting. Everyone's waiting in the conference room."
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "You were that confident in them?"
"I was that confident in your judgment," Amara replied smoothly. "Plus, Valentina's been cooking since dawn. She was determined to make a proper welcome meal."
The conference room had been transformed from its usual stark professionalism into something warm and inviting. Valentina had indeed been busy as the table was laden with dishes that filled the air with the scents of home cooking, and someone had even found flowers to brighten the space.
"Company of six now," Red announced as they entered, his prosthetic arm managing a serving spoon with practiced ease. "Starting to feel like a proper organisation."
Tanya couldn't help but agree. She found herself moving between conversations, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere that was so different from their usual business meetings. She caught Amara refilling drinks and pulled her aside.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For this, for the security arrangements, for always being three steps ahead of whatever crisis I'm walking into. I know I haven't been the easiest client."
Amara's expression softened slightly. "Business partner, not client. And you've been learning. The naïve little girl is starting to grow up."
"Only because you taught me to think before I leap."
"Most of the time," Amara said with dry humor. "Though you still have your moments."
Across the room, Tanya noticed Janet had taken Cameron over to Red and Valentina, smoothly managing the introductions with her usual social skill. Cameron looked slightly overwhelmed by the attention, but Red's easy military bearing seemed to put him at ease.
"So how are you two settling in?" Tanya asked, joining their group with a plate of Valentina's excellent cooking.
"The air," Valentina said immediately, her face lighting up. "I had forgotten what clean air feels like. On the station, everything is recycled, filtered, processed. Here, you can breathe and feel... alive."
Red nodded, gesturing toward the windows that showed Eden-Five's rolling farmland. "The space helps too. After years in military housing, having room to walk without bumping into walls or having to schedule time in the recreation areas... it's been good for both of us."
"The girls love it here," Valentina added. "They've made friends with the neighbour children, learned to ride the Hendersons' old mare. Normal childhood things we could never give them before."
Cameron spoke up quietly from where he'd been listening. "It reminds me of some of the frontier colonies we've visited. Places where people had room to build something real instead of just surviving."
"That's the goal," Tanya said, meaning it. "Build something real. Something that lasts. Eden-Five is a testament to our forefathers' ability to adapt and tame the landscape. "
Janet had been chatting with Amara about logistics, but she drifted over as the conversation continued. "Cameron's been looking forward to working with actual workshop facilities instead of improvising on our small workdesk in a ship's cargo bay."
"No more jury-rigging crystal matrices with spare parts and hope," Cameron added with what might have been relief.
"Though you're quite good at the innovating, "Red observed. "We were watching from the window, and that adaptive armor system showed real skill."
Cameron actually blushed slightly at the compliment, and Tanya was struck by how young he seemed when he wasn't lost in technical explanations.
The afternoon wore on with the kind of easy conversation that builds teams rather than just work groups. Stories were shared, A slight tipsy Red's carefully edited tales of military service were full of entertainment. Valentina's descriptions of managing a household across multiple star systems, and Janet and Cameron's more adventurous exploration anecdotes. Including one where Janet had got stuck in slime she thought was water.
"To the company," Amara said finally, raising her glass as the meal wound down. "Six people who somehow fit together despite having no business working in the same room."
"To building something real," Tanya added, echoing her earlier words.
"To clean air and open skies," Valentina contributed with a smile.
"To proper workshops and reliable equipment," Cameron said, getting into the spirit.
"To new adventures," Janet finished.
"To keeping everyone alive during those adventures," Red concluded with the dry humor of someone who'd seen too many plans go sideways.