The following morning, Kanya's PDD had a message. It came from the central system of the ship.
The crew that came to aid us yesterday will stay onboard and not return to the Aegis due to safety concerns. Hence, do not be alarmed if you see some new faces onboard. They have been instructed to wear their official uniforms whenever possible to prevent any misunderstandings.
We will rendezvous with the Aegis at Nakamura, and the Aegis will escort us out of the system from then on due to recent security and safety concerns.
- MV2904 Central
Kanya was not concerned about this, since he had nothing to do today. He lazily made his way to the cafeteria. Along the way, he saw a 16-year-old in what appeared to be an Aegis uniform. She was frantically walking through the corridors when she saw Kanya.
She immediately headed for him and asked, "Could you lead me to the cafeteria? I generally don't carry a PDD since I have to lug around all these other devices."
Kanya obviously replied, "Sure."
Of course, no one would be without suspicion. Sure, it was not a strange thing to have extraordinarily young engineers, but to have them on any ship like the Aegis was very rare. Either that, or she was just tagging along on some parent on the ship. But would a child follow their parent on a away mission?
"By the way, my name is Pandora. What's yours?"
"Kanya."
Pandora had obviously sensed Kanya's intention to not have a conversation. She then kept quiet and followed him to the cafeteria. While Kanya did not notice, she was always looking around the ship, making mental notes.
It did not take long for them to arrive at the cafeteria where they parted ways. She went to a table that was obviously filled with people from where she came from. Their uniforms were distinctly different from medical vessel staff, who didn't wear uniforms to begin with. Only military or security personnel were required to wear uniforms. Kanya didn't have one - yet. He wouldn't need one until he got onto the Kirkor.
The Aegis was run differently since it was an exploration ship with heavy military staffing. Of course, Pandora was obviously a civilian who was trained lightly under military protocol. Or at least, that would be the conclusion any ordinary person would draw, considering the circumstances, there wouldn't be any time for her to have gone through proper military training anyway.
Of course, no one would be preoccupied with thoughts such as this. However, all of this coursed through Kanya's mind as he pondered how long it'll take to reach Nakamura. The delay would be minimal, but it still meant an additional week to travel from the trade gate to Nakamura.
For now, no one else on the ship knew that something was going to happen soon enough. That is, except the Aegis engineering team onboard.