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(1) Jo Kaori leaves her quarters. She doesn't need to look to find the person she seeks; she walks directly across the deck to the seating area, where she already knows Captain Kahn sits alone.

She takes a seat. "Good day," she says deliberately, rather than giving the standard Myeong Mai greeting to which she's already tested Kahn's reaction.

Captain Kahn smiles for a second, hearing Kaori give her a normal greeting as she prefers "Good day, Kaori. I am reviewing the Gravdime test procedures. I have the instructions playing on a loop in my comm ear device. So I may get distracted."

Kaori pours herself a cup of coffee, tea apparently being in short supply aboard Shadow Fox. "Understandable," she says - and in fact she's been picking up overtones of the loop's content as her mind is wide open to Kahn's. "I'm looking forward to the test, with great interest." She sets the coffeepot back on the table. "It seems a very noisy process."

Captain Kahn: "Yes, it will be noisy when we have a Gravdime test."

Kaori sips her coffee. "You seem to be in a very strong position here, Captain," she says thoughtfully. "Certainly compared to what you would have been in had Admiral Verne taken you into custody, and brought you to Cyhnon." She takes another sip.

Captain Kahn: "Yes I am sure this is a Win-Win situation for the Admiral and I. She knows what she is doing." She passes Kaori a small crystal with the audio of the updated Gravdime Test process.

Kaori smiles slightly, pulls out her padd and inserts the crystal. "Thank you. I wish as much was forthcoming about Naeya. I've been waiting three weeks for information I understood our group would receive as soon as we arrived." She skims rapidly through the text version of the information she's half-heard through Kahn's ears, waiting for a response that likely won't be what she needs.

Captain Kahn: "Your stay on Shadow Fox may be a bit longer."

Kaori nods. "I expected that. I'd like to be making better use of it, though. At the very least, we should have received the up to date language information I'd requested. And a basic planetary survey - geophysical conditions, vegetation, and so forth - the station must have that. Even basics like temperatures and storm systems and atmospheric density and gravity and length of day and year. Admiral Verne, however, doesn't seem to have authorized its release to us, and also hasn't made herself available to talk." She glances at Verne's cabin door. Verne isn't there; she's been spending a lot of her time off the station, aboard the orbiting research vessel where her mental trace is at this moment, leaving apparent leadership of day-to-day operations on Shadow Fox to Kahn.

Captain Kahn: "I have been very valuable ally for the Admiral, I can assure you of that. And the planet is a planet, almost like Paradise."

"Of course you are valuable to Mercedes Verne," Kaori replies. "Now what about that planetary survey? 'Like Paradise' is too general a description to be useful." She's caught some imagery as Kahn's given her non-answer, enough to whet curiosity, but not enough to work with - just a view from space, suggesting plant life with chlorophyll and a broad liquid water zone between arctic and equatorial latitudes, but not a lot more.

Kahn says, "You will get all the information you need before going to Naeya. Anything you don't get, consider it unavailable"

"We have some extra time to play with here, after the rush of leaving Cyhnon earlier than planned," Kaori points out. "It would be good to know the reason for the sudden rush. And the more we know about our destination before we land, the more likely the mission will be to succeed. I'm an exoagronomist by trade. What we don't know on Naeya may not kill us, as it would on many planets, but information is still essential, and the longer we have to familiarize ourselves with it, the more useful it will be."

"You will do fine, I assure you."

Kaori smiles politely. "Perhaps. But 'fine' is such an imprecise concept."

Captain Kahn says, "I am sure you realize this but you are the investigation team. You were chosen above many other candidates for a reason."

Kaori resists the temptation to sound a little tart as she responds, "I was chosen partly for my training and experience in navigating unfamiliar planetary conditions. A large chunk of an exoagronomist's introductory training deals with interpreting planetary survey data. Going in blind isn't good practice - not even on a planet almost like Paradise."

"Time for me to make my rounds." Kahn stands and heads to the control room.

Kaori finishes one cup of coffee, pours herself a second, and decides to wander down to Deck 2 where Kahn is moving from station to station, checking in with the crew members on duty.

Captain Kahn: "How are the Long range sensors Cmdr Keester?"

LCDR Keester: "All quiet Captain Kahn, No signs of the serpent ships for four days now."

Kaori quietly studies a couple of unstaffed displays, the second of which proves to be tracking solar emissions data from the system's stellar primary, Anigisul. She pours over it almost hungrily, while maintaining surface-level awareness of the minds and emotions around her. Listening through the ears of others is a skill she's been refining, in the absence of other data sources to satisfy her driving need for information.

Captain Kahn: "Commander Hannah! How is engineering?"

Cmdr Hannah: "Yes Captain Kahn, Engineering is in top shape. The Gravdime primary and secondary power generators are fully charged. The Life support is at 95 % and will be at 100% soon. The water reclamation is at full capacity but will return to 50% after our next delivery of the Ice from the Angisul System. Miners are about ready to bring our supply. Estimated to be here tomorrow at about mid day."

Captain Kahn: "Ensign Fenzioc, report."

Ensign Fenzioc: "Yes, Captain Kahn. Did you see my request to join the Dragon Slayers? I am a very good pilot, I assure you, captain."

"Ensign, that is not the report I am expecting."

"Yes Captain. Right away." The young woman looks at the monitor and clicks some keys quickly. "Captain Kahn, the GravDime navigation computer passes all the tests. It now says a Gravdime jump is rated at 98% accurate in four minutes time."

At the solar emissions tracking display, Kaori raises a quiet eyebrow. A two percent level of inaccuracy may not sound risky, but it could make the difference between emerging safely outside an atmosphere, or dead inside a wall of stone on the planet. Maybe the GraveDime drive will automatically keep the station out of gravity wells? She breathes deeply to maintain her surface calm and keeps listening as Kahn continues her rounds.