Sarah tilted her head to one side, brain trying to sort some sense from the nonsense her ears were reporting. What sort of person offered you a job and finished it with 'I'm trusting you too much. Don't screw up.'? More importantly, who was she to offer? Sarah's earlier plan to head for the door trundled back to the front of her mind with all the grace of a siege engine. It didn't help that eagle-woman looked like she was trying to decide between snapping something's neck and crawling into a ball. Talking to her gave Sarah a far greater understanding of the mental processes of a deer on a highway then she'd ever endeavored to have. In retrospect, perhaps this hadn't been the best choice of time for the projector. She powered it down with a twitch of a finger.
"Thanks." She made no move to touch the datapad. "But I'm really not sure this is the best time. I mean, I've only been here a couple of weeks."And I've got no idea who you are. Or how to talk to half the people on this station. She tugged the chair back, sweeping to her feet. "Besides, I don't want to be head of anything. Give me a ship to fix and I'll fix it, sure, no problem. But you'll need to find someone else to run your station. I can't just jump in and start telling people what to do." The rest of the sentence didn't need to be said. She said it anyway, common sense screaming it's condemnation all the way. "And I'm not sure you should be, either. Not when you're... Like you are. Sorry." She slid her own datapad under her arm, stooping to collect the toolbox from the floor, doing her best to ignore the visual daggers she was sure were burying themselves in her back. "I should really go and get the rest of the projectors installed. Nice meeting you, Michael. And you too...Er... Anyway. Nice." She scurried from the bar with all the dignity she could muster, sweeping back into the hallway with a flurry of too-quiet footfalls before vanishing from view.
"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."
- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.