Engineer's log, [i]With Joined Hands[/i]

[GIR]

[this is a holo-recording of a human female dressed in black body armor with sky blue trim, including a helmet reminiscient of an EVA helmet with a black visor. Her back is to the recorder, and she is bent over something on a table, apparently in the process of welding something. The sound of the MIG she's using occasionally drowns out her soft voice.]

[the machine drowns out a few sentences. The speaker becomes audible as she stops to inspect her work.]
Well, Alcippe, you wanted a post with lots of prestige... Now you've landed yourself on the first joint-operations vessel in nearly a century. With Joined Hands... Guess it fits, seeing as it's an Alliance collaboration. I'm surprised the Hestari aren't breathing down our necks about that, but, hey, guess that means they're busy tending to their slaves. Fucking skouriálepídes. If you ask me, we'd all be better off if the Sisters would purge them and get it over with. [a loud hiss drowns out part of a sentence as Alcippe dips the part in coolant to cool.] ... creepier, the Sisters or the Scalies... It's just the way they move around. You never see them, never know if one's going to crush you underfoot or brush you with those blades of theirs. Don't know what Command was thinking when they let those freaks add tail blades to the Scalies... [more welding drowns out her opinion. During this time, a leg clad in Draconian armor appears in the 'frame'.] ... damned droids don't move ab... [more welding]

[the welding stops instantly as Alcippe turns to salute the newcomer]
Imperial Knight-Commander, Ma'am! I-I'm finished.

[There is a pause, as if another, unheard individual is speaking]

R-right away, ma'am!

[both leave. The recorder, programmed to shut off after twelve seconds of having no sentient subjects in the 'frame', shuts off, ending the log.]

[GIR]

[This recording takes place in what is presumably the owner's quarters. The woman in the recording has dark brown skin, emerald eyes, and silver-blue hair, though her complexion suggests this is either a dye job, or, given her Aresian armor and the lines of her jaw and cheekbones, her natural color, rather than a sign of age. She is facing the recorder, though, as before, updating her log does not seem to have interfered with her work, given that she is going over service records on her wrist terminal as she speaks.]

Ran into a sauce* today. Literally. And the damned bloodhead* had the nerve to act like it was my fault! One of the Scalies**** stepped in before things got physical, but next time I see him, I'm going to teach him some manners!

In other news, though, there's still no word in the news of Hestari objections to With Joined Hands, and it's starting to weird me out. It's like the lobstersharks** aren't even bothering to keep an eye on the Alliance anymore. The higher-ups claim no news is good news, but half the Nonoff News*** claims the slavers just have something else to look at, and, if you can believe the scuttlebutt, that's got a few people in High Command worried. If it's true, I don't blame them. We're the biggest threat to the slavers. Have been since the Human-Hestari War. If they aren't watching us, it kinda makes you wonder: What are they watching?

[Alcippe yawns]

Oh, one more thing before I end this. I know it's dangerous to gossip about Liches, but I've been hearing whispers when the half-deads don't think anyone's listening... Seems Hades might be making a play for that pileup I've been hearing about. The Sepulcher, I think it was called? Wonder if old skull-head thinks that wreck's a match for the Gotte-class supers? Who knows. Scary thing is, that applies to whether or not he's right, too. Even a Frigate-class Revenant can stand up to a standard battlegroup under the right conditions... I'd say glad they're on our side, but I'm not all that sure Tokamak's on any side except its own.

[Alcippe yawns again.]

Alright... That's it for today. Recorder shutdown.

[The recording ends.]

[Notes:
*Aresian derogatory slang for Tartarian humans (the former is a pun on tartar sauce, the latter is a reference to the dark-blood-red hair that is a dominant racial trait in Tartarian humans.). Ares and Tartarus colonies are both members of both the Union and the Alliance, but, with that exception, the two are, for all intents and purposes, in a cold war, with only the Union and the Alliance stopping the war from heating up. Any time a Tartarian and an Aresian are in the same room, expect them to fight if someone who outranks them doesn't step in.

**Aresian semi-derogatory slang for Hestari. A reference to their physiology (quadrupedal crustaceans with sharklike features and tails.

***Union enlisted slang for unofficial news sites in general.

****Human slang for human-Draconian (lab-grown) hybrids. Scalies average 7-8 feet in height, and, as the name suggests, are completely covered in scales (with obvious exceptions). In addition, they have the tails, tail blades, and claws, and eyes of Draconians. Their speed and strength are half that of a full-grown Draconian, and their perception of time is 1/500th the pace of a human, rather than 1/1000th (one second for a human is perceived as 500 seconds for a Scalie, and 1000 for a Draconian). Unlike Draconians, they can alter their perception of time at will, though their bones, stronger than those of humans, are fragile by Draconian standards, and their scales are only about as hard as steel, though they are virtually immune to energy and heat weapons. Hybrids share the poison and disease resistance of Draconians, as well as their ability to see without light. Like humans, they are jacks of all magics, but masters of one or two disciplines at most. All scalies outrank all enlisted, as well as officers below the rank of Captain.]