I quickly put on my synth suit and communicator and exit my station. I must report to my superior before anything else. As I walk through the passageways I witness the ship begin to come back to life. Maintainance bots emerged from their docking ports and are zipping around the deck and in between groggy scientists of varying degrees of consciousness, cryo affects everyone differently after all.
Many of my partners and peers throw various greetings my way as I pass them by
"Already hard at work? You're crazy, buddy!" calls a linguist with dark grey skin. "Come on, you know how I am Skrone. Maybe this species won't be as lazy as you!"
I chuckle to myself as I continue walking down the hallway. Soon I reach the door to the Office of the Head of Research.
I press my communicator against a scanner on the wall. A series of unlocking mechanisms can be heard and the whir of electric motors as the door is opened.
Inside is a spacious yet sparse room. Containing only a large desk and a frail, hunched over figure behind it. This figure is rapidly typing on the many screens projected in front of it, this is the legendary scientist Jiex, the inventor of long-distance cryopreservation as well as countless other precious inventions. Of course, that was in her prime 300 cycles ago. Now she is subjected to managing a tiny research team of a few thousand Kravaxians on an insignificant mission thousands of light cycles from home.
"Ahem, ma'am?" I clear my throat nervously. We've only met one other time when I was chosen to be the head of the team of anthropologists. I was just as nervous then as I am now, my younger self would never believe me if I told them we would be working personally with the great Jiex Karthun'gher before I even reach my 80th cycle.
Jiex looks up from her work for only a moment to glance at me. "What is it?" she asks with a none too gentle tone. "You're here to report in aren't you? Just tap that message on your communicator next time. Your team should already be gathered in your assigned research lab where you will all be briefed on your mission. Dismissed." When she told me to tap my communicator she swiped something up on a screen that promptly arrived on my wrist.
I silently nod and quickly turn around to leave when I hear a low chuckle behind me.
"Oh! This should be an interesting one."
The door closes behind me, I tense up with anxiety as I wonder what she might have meant by that.
I don't have time to worry about that. I am a team leader now. I must be responsible and not let myself make a bad first impression.
Off I go again, down an endless maze of corridors. I pull up a map of the ship on my communicator so that I don't get lost. I've only been asleep on this ship, I don't know my way around!
Finally, I reach a door marked Lab number 12. The door opens to a room full of bristling young scientists excited for discovery and adventure. Most of them are even younger than I am. This once again shows how little importance the Galactic Union is attributing to this mission.