It All Started With Magnets

.24.

Luke nodded again. "I understand, sir." He did, he understood the implications and the importance of her safety. "But I think she also deserves some grace, some understanding, and perhaps a bit of time." She was more than likely trying her best. She didn't have any training, they had to account for that and if she said she needed a break, a moment to breathe, then she deserved at least that.

"I know, Colonel." Hollister sent him a sharp look and seemed like he wanted to say something else when Bianca Hathaway stepped out, lifting a strange looking device with a yellow stripe around it.

"This contains the Accords." She said it evenly, waving the device slightly. "I believe that if we are to keep people happy and keep things moving smoothly we need to understand their code of ethics. That is what this is. The best way we can understand them." Luke shifted to the side as she walked down the small walkway extended from the ship.

"We need something to tell Prime Minister Lawrence and I don't think that will be enough." The Vice-Admiral looked tired and Luke didn't blame him. This shit was exhausting.

"Tell him to suck it up and that we are studying the Accords and that the Galactic Union has agreed that is the best course of action to facilitate first contact properly." The lawyer shrugged, looking completely unbothered and Luke glanced towards the entrance to the ship, wondering if he needed to go and make sure Matthews was fine. That and a rather large part of him wanted to see the aliens again. It was honestly... it made him want to contact his team to tell them about it. They played Warhammer 40k together on their down time, were in the middle of a large campaign as well, and he knew they would all lose their fucking minds if he explained the aliens to them. It was one thing to play the game and another entirely to see things like that in reality.

Matthews was right, on a scale of one to ten thousand, internally he was resting at about a hundred thousand. He just... he just really hated the fact he got pulled from his team and he really didn't want to get too close to her. It was easier to hate the op when he wasn't close to the people in it. He understood the importance of his mission but that didn't mean he had to like it how it was given to him. Yah it sounded a bit childish but his team and him had prepped for months for their mission overseas and he was literally pulled from the plane to head over there. He was allowed to hate that.

"You're gunna need a hundred people on the Accords." Matthews appeared in the opening to her ship and Luke shifted his weight turning to face her. "However big you think it is, double it. You need to get people on it right away. That thing is massive. It's a collective agreement that has been written and expanded on for like five hundred thousand years." She looked a little wan, far more than a little stressed but she was still standing there, willing to do what it took to make sure it succeeded. Luke knew he had to give her more than a little bit of credit for it.

Commander Hollister nodded before looking at the lawyer. "We can get started on that right away." He turned his gaze back to Matthews. "I'm giving you forty-five minutes before we leave to meet Prime Minister Lawrence, Captain Matthews. Use them wisely."

"Yes, sir." She turned and headed back inside the ship and when Luke glanced back at the Vice-Admiral he gave him a nod that he returned before he followed her. He hit the button that close up the ship before he grabbed his duffle he had tucked back near the entrance where he had slept. They were moving off base and that meant he needed his full kit. "Are you hungry?" The question had him pausing before he shook his head, crouching down to dig through the duffle. "Okay. I'm just warming up some rations so I just wanted to ask."

"I'm fine." Luke knew he could get some food from the canteen later, or have some ration bars. It didn't matter much. He pulled out what he needed and moved into tiny closet the ship called a bathroom and suited up. He came out twenty minutes later and glanced around. he hadn't heard the ship opening up but that didn't mean his charge couldn't sneak out.