Jessa watched and waited next to Ian as Pellan greeted each person in turn. It wasn’t odd to her that the man essentially ignored her. It was always that way in public. They had appearances to keep up. She watched as Pellan attempted to put each person he greeted at ease. She also watched how each person reacted upon meeting them and it could all be summed up in one word: distrust. This was not surprising to her either. The initial contact with the Atlantis had not gone as Jessa had been promised. Rogan, Da Mu, and Zala Tsu had terrorized and attempted to kill anyone that tried to stop them from getting the Prism . After fighting the crew for weeks, Jessa finally decided to be a key instead of a battering ram to find it. The process had been slow and uneventful. In truth, she did not exactly know what the Prism would look like which made the search next to impossible.

Jessa tensed up the most watching Pellan greet Styxx and Rinker. Styxx scared Jessa. It was not that the woman was mean or cruel but much harm had come to her friends and those she called family. This often changed people. The first time Jessa saw this change was after the massacre on Halston. She had led a protected and safe almost idyllic life on Kublai Tais where the only bad events was missing dessert or not passing tests. It was after Halston Jessa learned how unpredictable people could be and how justified they could be in their anger against the Union. The Union directly hurt Styxx which made Jessa nervous the Marine Captain could emotionally lash out. Instead the woman was worthy of her rank returning Pellan’s greeting with honor and integrity albeit not warmly but with enough diplomacy to make the Federation proud.

Rinker was an entirely different situation. His life was directly on the line. Being a mind seer was a capital offense. Jessa did not mention anything about Rinker except that he was an aide to the Captain and a nurse. In hind sight, she probably should have said something to Rinker about how she presented him in the distress beacon. The man had been utterly kind, if not irritating, since her arrival. Jessa now understood the reasons mind seers were banned however not the why. As irritating as he could be, Rinker caused her to think about so much she believed in. He was humble and gracious in his meeting with Pellan which Jessa hoped would keep his identity hidden.