Damn, Mer'aib, getting a move on there! LOL! I like Maya's answer there, what with being captain and knowing things that the crew does not. I don't blame him for not liking it himself, but it makes sense. And I also like that she commiserates with his position there, too; marks of a good captain, being able to empathize with her crew, especially when she secretly agrees.

And then oh, crud, Sh'Fane gets involved. -facepalms- Man, I don't blame Maya for being annoyed as hell, because that is some very unprofessional behavior there out of the two of them. I'm glad she swats them down and pushed them off to the side for the moment, especially as what's going to come cannot be anything easy to deal with.

Clever of her to have Chen involved, too. It would definitely put an insectoid at ease to see that the Federation has more like her there. The meeting between Chen and Ket is oddly sweet? And fascinating, too. I hope they do get a chance to meet again.

Ooh, boy, I'm looking forward to seeing what goes down with the Lexington, too. You're really awesome at plot-weaving, guy. I'm impressed by how you have these two concurrent arcs that take place so far apart chronologically, but parallel one another to some degree in the narrative. I'm kinda worried for Ket's species, at this point, 'cause it seems like they are doomed to repeat some mistakes themselves.

Oh Maya. I hope you're not setting yourself up for a bruising or worse here. Great chapter!

Author's Response: First Tess and Bobby and now these two. For now, I think, having your chief of security and the marines commander not on the same page is probably a bigger concern for Maya. We'll definitely see more of Chen and Ket down the road. This was a very interesting dynamic to write since it involves two non-humanoids who may have much in common with each other, but less with other humanoids. I'm really glad the the two story arcs here are working for you. Re-reading some of it now, years later, I do think some of it feels a little bit clunky. For example, we don't really get a sense here what it is that Amaya already knows about Ket's people, mostly because much of the actual first contact is being told in the Lexington plot line. Overall, though I'm still pleased how it all worked out in the end.