Nick simply smiles as he slowly rotates his now deactivated arm."Well that just feels wrong." He says with a faint smile, continuing, "Nice toy you got there. A pity that I can't seem to go anyway with Elena if I want to return to it. Not that I particularly want to return here." Leaning back against the wall, careful to not bump anything with his inactive arm he speaks in a more relaxed tone. "A great time if I'm honest with you. Been all over the place and seen a few new things. Of course, none of that has anything to do with the job." He waves at the PDA. "You can thank Elena for the majority of that. I was... preoccupied with something else. Really only tagged along for the meet here."
As the room suddenly turned completely dark, only sporadically lightened up by the flickering candle flames, which sent out a slight, delightful red. That way, it reminded her even more of some sort of romantic date - well, a date in a bathroom, that was. She still had her two automatic pistols at her belt, and she didn't feel that comfortable in a dark, narrow bath packed with two other persons, she preferred to keep her hands close to them.
This time she had already been able to guess the Operative's face, and it wasn't such a surprise than last time to see it again - the long dark hair, the pale skin, the scar on one of his cheeks. Both his and Nick's face were partially lightened by the candles, however the most parts of their faces remained in the shadows of the bathroom, making them both look somewhat mysterious.
She frowned a little about the Operative's comment, however her face as well wasn't fully visible, as she sat directly beside one candle which only lighted the from her point of view right side, the one that was facing the Operative. "As long as it isn't going to become a 'crazy fetish threesome', I'm fine", she said, laughing briefly about this overall weird situation she was in. "My time has been quite good as well. Both personally and business-related. However, I gonna be honest with you, that was a sh*tload of work you got in your hands there. So be careful with it."
Elena slightly braced her arms against the edge of the bathtub, turning her head around to face the Operative's eyes. Actually, a lightened candle was standing right between them, making the situation even weirder for her, however she managed to disguise these thoughts under an innocent, friendly smile she gave him. "Yes, Nick just came to tag along. When I told him he shouldn't come here with his implants, he even more wanted to do so." A slight chuckle escaped out of her mouth, talking about Nick's stubborness in these regards.
"That makes him a good partner for you, then," the Operative said, smirking at Elena again before turning to the PDA, activating it. He already got a quick foretaste of what he was to expect regarding layout, information value and details. The light emitted by the apparently working PDA was rather bright, however not brighter than the candles. Taking a quick look over the reports, he smirked. "The ancient gate in Kansas. Did you figure out more about it? And did you meet some people during your exploration mission?" he asked them, not facing them however.
Elena however faced the Operative as she began answering his questions. She didn't expect him to look at her however, as he seemed quite fascinated by the PDA and its content. Something that honestly made her proud, as it had been mainly her job to scavenge the information and to sort and put them into a nice grid - time consumptive paperwork it had definitely been.
"First of all, we haven't met many people during this assignment. The only thing worth noting were encounters with some very small Gallic patrols in Magellan, probably caused by the re-positioning of the Carcassonne. However the most part of the missions I was just sitting in my cockpit more or less bored." She chuckled slightly. "Of course, there were a few moments where I got surprised by some sightings, but I'd suggest you see for yourself." With her arm, she pointed at the PDA, gesturingly inviting the Operative to have a closer look at what it contained.
After Elena had stroken through her hair for a moment, she continued. "And no, we haven't yet investigated this alien jumpgate in Kansas yet, especially since you warned me what could lurk behind it isn't suited for human eyes. Exact scans also were impossible, as the tempests inside the nebula made our sensors go haywire. However..." She stopped for a moment. "If you wish us to investigate this specific sighting more closely, maybe even sending a small expeditionary force on the other side, you just have to hit us up."
Scrolling through the pictures, he smiled, then turned his face to Elena. "No need to do that. If anything, the all of us should consider moving through that gate as the very last option, in case of an emergency." Then he looked at the Inverness report, opening the picture of Invergordon. On the right side of the picture, there was something visible. A structure. "What is that? That here." he asked her, pointing with his gloved finger to the structure right from Cannish. Scrolling down, he looked whether it was mentioned anywhere else and then suddenly stopped at the purple picture. "How the fu.ck weren't we able to see that in the nebula..." he mumbled staring at the picture. She would notice he was frowning at it.
She watched the Operative as he scanned through what information the PDA offered him, still being quite proud of her job. It had been many late hours of sweaty paperwork after all.
However, as he mentioned what he had recognized on the picture showing Invergordon Space Port, she frowned slightly, and leaned forward to get a closer look. In the end, she reached out for the PDA herself, removing it from his hands and staring at the report flabbergasted. There was indeed another structure visible. She began mumbling. "This is indeed quite interesting. It must have slipped through my onboard computer scans somehow. I didn't even realise there was something else when I made the picture." She sighed slightly. "We can investigate that however, shouldn't take long as we know where to look now." Afterwards, she gladly gave the PDA back again
When the Operativr found the purple picture, Elena couldn't suppress a grin. "Yes, this thing quite surprised me. I didn't something like - well, whatever it is, to be in that cloud."
With a raised eyebrow, she further studied the reactions the Operative would give her, secretly hoping he'd be satisfied with the outcome.
Satisfied he was indeed, with the quality of her work. It wasn't exactly what he was looking for, but it showed a few another interesting aspects. "Hm. Okay, that is a good report. You'll receive the credits asap," the Operative told her, turning his head to Elena again. "Seems like you have been pretty lucky that you didn't meet people during your exploration tour. Good for you, bad for me. Would have loved to know who is patroling and visiting the systems more often recently, but I guess I'll find out about it myself soon enough." Smiling at Elena for a while, he moved a strand of hair out of his face. "There are two things that interest me right now. That nomad installation, a lair. I'm really surprised you found it. That either means the sensors of my ship got tricked somehow or that installation magically popped up in the last four months. A deep scan on that thing would be a rather interesting. Of that thing and Planet Cannish. Does the Forlorn Hope have a ship with advanced sensor systems? Like, of a battleship or something?" he asked both her and Nick, looking over at him for a moment, seeing how he played with his arm.
Elena nodded slightly, facing the Operative. "Good to hear you're happy with the report. We'll sure make good use out of the money we will get from you." She then laughed briefly at him, already being able to guess the approximate amount of money. Which made her mind drooling to be honest. "As for the scans, that will of course be doable. The nomad lair - as you called it - seems to be something not many people know of, a good reason to investigate more. Same with this weird station in Cannish's orbit that our sensors randomly didn't detect at all. It doesn't look hidden at all, so I guess it's been an unfortunate malfunctioning of my systems."
For a brief moment, she stopped, also having a Quick look at how Nick was standing at the wall, in a relaxed manner. She then turned back at her contractor again though. "We don't exactly have a battleship, however we got something else we could use for the job. There are two problems though. First, said vessel, though able to fly, is not back on hundred percent. That's a minor problem though. Secondly, while a light fighter is capable of staying under the radar, a ship of the size of said vessel will not go unnoticed by local factions, and what they won't like to see is a capital vessel entering 'their' space."
For a moment, he thought about it, biting kneadingly on his lower lip as he looked at her. "I'd add another ten million credits if you," he began, raising his hand the way he did on Bethlehem already, first only stretching the index finger, "... give me some more scans of that nomad lair. A quick fly-by should do it. Maybe a circle around it. Give me some pictures and some sensor data about it. I'd like to know whether it is new or how the hell it appeared there. Last time my f-fellows and I were there, there was only a Gaian outpost in that nebula. Nothing else." There was a very short stutter when he said one of the words, however he raised his middle finger now with a bit of haste. "And I want to know what that object at Cannish is. And if you can use your ship to scan the planet Cannish itself, do it. Let's say fifteen millions for all that. Whenever you are able to do that. Doesn't need to be that soon."
His look dropped at the PDA again, scrolling up and down, scanning if he missed something. "Keep in mind I don't want you in trouble. So don't rush things. That nomad lair looks pretty much like it is sort of active," he said quietly, pointing at the picture with the purple energy lights. They would hear him sighing for a moment. "Where is Miss Fenn, by the way?"
Her eyes had been slowly adapting to the sudden darkness around them while they talked, and as she was gradually able to see her surroundings more clearly again, her body slackened slightly. While she had been strainedly sitting in the bathroom before, she now leaned a bit to the side, without bracing her arms against the edge of the bathtub anymore. "Alright, that should all be possible I guess." She mubmled it to herself silently again, whiping a notebook and a pencil out of the right back pocket of her jeans to note the stuff down. "Nomad Lair, Planet Cannish, Inverness ... alright." She looked back into the Operative's eyes, having a grin on her face. "I tend to use oldschool stuff to keep my mind up to date. A lot safer that way, nobody can hack a sheet of paper."
After Elena had put said notebook back in her pocket, she resumed while holding her right hand above a candle flame, feeling the heat on her skin there. In general, the bathroom had heaten up quite a bit, and not soon after it'd turn into a sauna, for sure. "We will try to sneak our vessel into Inverness, I guess now is the best time for it. Auxesia, people we actually don't want to mess with, seem to mind their business in a more withdrawn way lately, maybe they won't even notice us in 'their' system."
As soon as he mentioned the lair again, Elena couldn't help but laugh briefly. "Yeah, that thing -is- active. And on top of it, it's guarded as well. Was kinda suspicious that I met nomad patrols as soon as I entered the nebula. If we bring our artillery, so to say, and not vulnerable fighters, we should be able to stay there for a longer time, enough time to scan this thing thoroughly I guess."
Her expression turned a bit more serious and strained with the Operative mentioning Sarah, however she managed to stay neutral. That girl was a topic she wouldn't even be sure what to say about when it had been a close friend asking Elena about her. In a very explicit tone, she said: "Miss Fenn - Sarah - is preoccupied at the moment." She nodded in order to reinforce her words, however rather for herself than the Operative