Chapter IV: Prisoner Exchange

Cass, Alex

Thompson doesn't reply for a while. He knows you have the lead on this mission so he can't really go against your decisions. "Well, I'll have some security ready and standing by regardless. We'll do it your way but if someone dies, it'll be on you, Junior."

Moira

You can tell from the woman's expression that she appreciates your effort at pronouncing the name she gave you. You must have at least been reasonably close to it with your attempt. "What we call children are members of a species of animal from our home planet, comparable to Earth bovines, that we have genetically edited to increase compatibility with our people. They are terrible hosts but they are enough to keep our young alive until we can find suitable humanoid hosts for them"

Moira

"That would be all for now. Thank you for your cooperation, Bruce. You have been very helpful!", the woman says before ending the communication. Moia should probably inform someone of the changes to the procedure, with the Veron doctors coming into the hangar bay with their shuttles.

Lorq, Zephyr, Marbo

Lorq accepts the communication from the Dove. Since all of you are in a lab together, you can all see and hear this communication and join in whenever you want.
A young human man appears on the screen. He's wearing a blue spacefleet uniform and the markings of a Lieutenant. He has black hair and a patchy beard.
"Good day, gentlemen. I'm Lieutenant Harrison Abadi, assistant doctor of the USS Dove. I wanted to talk to the medical and science staff of the Potential. Who am I speaking to, please?"

The man turns his attention towards Zephyr. "Lieutenant Commander Borealis. You are exactly the one I wanted to talk about. I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories but according to the files your captain sent us, you were infected by one of the Verons, is that correct? Do you remember anything. Were you conscious?"

Moira

The code you've written based on the Veron engineer's failed code looks pretty convincing to you. You are pretty sure nobody could determine that it's not real unless they tried to actually use it. Then it would be obvious of course, that something's wrong with it.

Science Team

Doctor Abadi strokes his beard in a thoughtful gesture. It doesn't quite look like a subconscious thing, more like he is actively doing it to look more in thought. "I am not asking about any details right now. My worries are just about the humanoid host that is going to be implanted with another one of those parasites during the exchange. I'm asking about whether that is ethically justifiable. You are the only one who can judge that since you are the only one who actually knows what it's like to be infected by those things."