"That's it, I'm out!" Mona pushed herself up from the low table with a grunt.

"Si' down, Mona."

The brunette shook her head as she began to pace across the common room. "As if Bellerophon ain't securitied enough, this guy Hamer's paranoid as a…guy who's real paranoid, see, I can't even think up a decent simile no more! Dex, there ain't no way we're gettin' into that parlor."

The mechanic allowed his head to roll back onto the common area's couch. "Aw, come one, we only been at it…six hours straight. Don't tell me that teenage brain o' yours is givin' up already."

"Hey, you know I like crime as much as the next girl. But why don't you get the Cap'n or Miss Penn to help you with the plan? I jus' try not to crash this thing."

"A service we all deeply appreciate." Mona beamed up at the Companion as she descended the stairs.

"H…hi, Miss Penn. How are you today?" Daphne squirmed a little under the girl's adoring gaze. It had been this way since she'd come aboard and Mona had heard she was a real live Companion, but Daphne was still a mite uneasy about having someone looking up to her. She just smiled.

"I'm fine, Mona. I think Rachel wants you on the bridge."

"That's my cue." Mona slapped Dex's shoulder good-naturedly, then sprinted up the stairs, sparing a final, blushing nod for Daphne. The Companion nodded awkwardly as she went.

"Wei yao." Dex cleared his throat, finding it difficult to look at the redheaded Companion, as usual. "The, uh…the Captain doesn't really need her, does she?"

"I'm sure she will by the time she gets there, but I heard the shouting and I thought you could both use the break."

"Thanks." Dex scrubbed his face with his hands, then felt it heat up as the Companion sat down, like always, just a little too close.

"So, what are we working on?"

"Uh…tryin' to figure on how t' break into a floating island and steal somethin' that's tagged for state-of-the-art security systems at all access points without callin' in a substantial local Alliance presence or gettin' anyone killed."

Daphne not