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"I'd rather not talk about the past, but the future," Anderson responded to Henrik's question. "But if you must know, I hail from the metropolis known as Proteus. I know it like the back of my hand. It's chaos, but... it's home."

Anderson finished just as James sat down breaking the news of the captain's family to the rest of the crew. "Can we trust a leader whose mind is in a state of grief?" Anderson asked the crew.

Waiting for a response, he turned to see a man walking in, who introduced himself as Aíne Hiwat, the medical doctor. "I will be conducting a routine medical checkup before we leave orbit," he requested. "I expect all of you to be there."

Anderson turned, gave a quick introduction, and responded, "If it's required, I'll go."

Commander Tomalek entered the lounge, just as a human crew member, who he noted was David Anderson, was giving a bit of a rude remark to the new doctor, but he moved toward them as if he hadn't noticed anything. 

"Hello!  I am Commander Tomalek, Engineering Department.  You must be David Anderson, and you must be Aíne Hiwat, a pleasure to meet you both.  How was your time in the military, Mr. Anderson?  And Doctor Hiwat, would you mind explaining how you can reconcile the precision of science with your belief in a divine being?  I am rather curious about how humans rely greatly on emotions while still embracing logic to a degree." 

After being in orbit for a while, the Captain decided we'll have to leave orbit and begin the grand journey. He decided the main crew members would meet in the Council Room in the Bridge. He started putting the way to the outermost outpost on the starmap.

HKR's "eyes" activated. Its 3 photo sensors quickly scanned the small and cramped storeroom in normal, infrared and thermal modes. Satisfied it was indeed alone, the rest of HKR activated as well. Quickly getting to its feet, it noticed some damage on its body. While running the self diagnostic, it looked at what was actually stored in this storeroom. Non-perishable food, so nothing of any value, it thought. Its attention turned to the diagnostic, which told him what it had already expected. Its left arm was non-functional and its left leg was barely working, the servos making sounds when it moved.

"So much for stealth" it thought. The fight with the assassins the UGC sent to terminate it hadn't been a cakewalk. It was just glad that their new line of AR's (Assassin Robots) were still inferior to HKR. "The new CEO must really want me back". No Bounty had been placed on it, mostly because the UGC wanted to avoid publicly admitting that they had illegally been creating assassin robots for over 30 years, so most people, even the biggest scoundrels, did not know what it was. Better that way.

It turned its attention to the immediate future. With damage to its arm its fighting style would be effected. At least it still had its staff. Its leg damage would also make it more noticeable when it moved, so best to stay in this room. It just hoped that the crew of this ship chalked up the unconscious crew member it had knocked out getting aboard to a simple accident. Killing the hapless security guard would have been a bit to obvious, even for it. HKR sat back down, running scenarios through its processor. All options look... undesirable. Deciding the best course of action was to do nothing, HKR turned on his alarm mode and powered back down....

Aíne Hiwat looking a little shocked at the question. We'll I have faith in many gods of the pantheon. I don't see them as a literal being in the same way as you or I physically exist but rather a representation of the forces of the natural world. He points out a nearby window at the sun. That I know in one sense as a mass of hydrogen and fusion process, but I still know him and pray to him as the divine Belenus, for he gave life to the earth.

He grows our food, powers our cities, warms us, guides us. Why would we not celebrate him.

Entering the lounge behind Commander Tomalek was Zerick.

"I hope I'm not too late to say 'hi'."

The captain decided to go to the outermost outpost without stopping. There, they would make a stop to stock up on any extra supplies. He told a crew member to inform the main crew members about our soon departure.

"I see, and apologize for my bluntness, Doctor.  I was under the impression that your philosophy might impair your ability to function as the Chief of the Wintreath's medical staff, but if you do consider natural forces to be Gods, then I suppose that your position is compatible.  We Vulcans normally have a rather negative view of all religion, but yours seems to be a bit more level-headed than usual—for now.  I look forward to learning more about your philosophy."

Then, hearing Zerick entering the room, he swung around and greeted him: 

"Ahh!  Zerick!  Have you finished the re-polarizating the primary drive manifolds already?  That generally takes quite some time, even when a Vulcan does it.  Were you sure to recalibrate the computer first?"

"What? I just got here a little while ago, got the guided tour, and read all the manuals for the equipment. This is high tech stuff I haven't worked with before. Give me a bit of leniency, Artificer. I don't expect you to know anything about going straight from college to a prototype ship, so stop acting like you know everything and get off my case."

Zerick regained his composure and went to the table to address the other officers.

"I'm Zerick Chase, and I'll be your Chief Engineer."

Suddenly, the announcement system turned on.

"Hello crew. The Captain has ordered to start our interstellar journey. He requests the main crew members' presence at the bridge."

Then, the system turned off with a beep.

Well, Hendrik thought, this didn't go at all like I planned. It's only our first few hours aboard the ship, and already the crew can't get along.

"It's been good to meet you all. I'm sure working with you will be a blast. James, we might as well get to our posts together."

Commander Tomalek quickly followed Mr. Chase, a bit puzzled yet also a little humoured by his response to what Tomalek thought was a friendly compliment. 

"Actually I do, and if you had bothered to review my record, you would know that.  I served for 30 years on the USS Pulsar straight out of the Andromedian Science Academy.  Additionally, you do realise that at least half of the Engineering Department is Vulcan, right?"

With that, Tomalek turned back around and headed off to the bridge. 

"Of course," James told Hendrk, and began a brisk walk toward the bridge. Perhaps he could optimize their route a bit.

Hendrik quickly caught up to the Vulcan to give him some advice. "You might not want to be quite so persistent. You'll just annoy him further. Give him some space."

He looked to James at his side, and introduced himself and James to the Vulcan. "This is James, and I'm Hendrik. I've always enjoyed working with Vulcans."

"And I'm Commander Tomalek.  A pleasure to meet you both.  I've always enjoyed working with humans as well.  Your advice is interesting.  In my own experiences with humans, I have found persistence to be of great use in creating relationships with other crew members, but I will take your advice and give him some space.  You two are both pilots, correct?"