In the small room a man had come in after realizing that Seth was not moving enough to check what was going on.
"Seth are you wanting to talk now?" asked the man
Seth did not respond, nor look at the man.
The man got closer to Seth who was still in a meditative state. When the man noticed that he was not answering him he slammed his hand down on the desk as hard as he could to startle him. Seth did not move, he was cut off from outside of his body. No sound would wake him.
The man moved closer, and while looking at the still body of Seth he became more annoyed. "Think you can pretend you half human bastard" said the man before he moved his hand to the side ready to punch Seth to wake him up.
When the man got within distance to punch Seth he moved "I do not think that would be wise" the man froze.
Seth was awoken by his instincts.
"I was just checking if you were awake"
"And if I wasn't you were going to punch me awake?"
"No"
"I am a scout and have the rank of an special command on this ship. I am below the General and you were trying to punch me"
"I said I wasn't"
"I am sure the video would not agree with you" said Seth as he smiled and pointed to the camera in the corner of the room. They never switch it off, in fact it is impossible to switch them off as they were in the mainframe of the ship so that any interrogation could be watched.
The man now visibly scared backed out of the small room, leaving Seth to himself again.
'She is taking her time. Doesn't matter, this is nothing but child's play, though a bed would be nice' Seth thought to himself.
He was about to go back into his meditative state when Maria came through the door with the man who had just tried to hit him.
"Apologies, now" she said in a stern voice.
"Ma'am, like I said I wasn't actually going to hit him"
"That is a load of horse shit, if you think I am going to believe that I will court-martial your sorry ass for attempted assault on a scout. Don't think the General will save you either he has his own problems now"
"I am sorry"
"What are you a child? Apologize better" said Maria
"It is fine Maria, this idiot could not have harmed a hair on my head before he would have been killed" said Seth in a measured tone, looking dead into the eyes of the young man.
He shivered under the gaze. Something was telling him he would have been dead if he was not stopped.
"That is enough Scout, do not threaten my men" came a voice from behind the door. It was Kraft
"You know yourself Kraft, a Scout is outside of the normal rules. Attacking one is considered attacking a vessel of the federation, he would be within his rights to kill that person in return" said Maria
"It was a harmless joke, let us not take it further. I am sure he would like to get some rest" said Kraft
"This is not over Kraft, punish your men properly. If they are not punished properly I will see to it that you will be removed from your command" Maria said
"Do not worry they will be punished" said Kraft looking at his man who was now huddled around himself, making his body as small as he possibly could.
"Good, I'll be looking forward to it" said Seth as he walked out of the room with Maria.
When Maria had left Kraft turned to his man, pulled him out of the room and slammed him against the wall "Clark, you have made a grave mistake today, I will not lose my command over this"
"But sir you ordered" Kraft cut him off mid sentence "I ordered what Clark?, Think carefully about what you are about to say"
"You ordered me to keep him safe for a while"
"Did I order anything else Clark?"
"No sir."
Clark looked away. He knew he was being used as the scapegoat, Kraft had ordered him to 'look after the scout' he clearly knew this is what was meant, the room was waiting for him and the commands for the Scout to be placed in that room came from above him, but he knew he had been used and knew Kraft had a way of proving he said exactly what he said which was not what he had done.
Kraft, seeing the light in the mans eyes fade slightly knew he understood what was going on 'smart kid, to bad he figured it out too late'. He thought as he let him go.
"I will be coming up with a special punishment for you soon" Said Kraft as he left, leaving Clark standing against the wall.
'That tricky snake, he used me. I thought he wanted me to be on his crew under his command but he just wanted an out if things went wrong'
...
"I am sorry Seth I knew they would try something but for it to be that, I was not prepared for" said Maria looking at Seth's eyes, tired as they were.
"It is fine Maria, it was nothing compared to the training I had to go through"
"Well I am sorry for that... and I am sorry for referring to scouts as vessels, I know you hate when people say that"
"I do, but it was for my good so I cannot be too mad"
"You should be more mad, maybe even mad at me"
"I am mad Maria. After the last few weeks I was expecting maybe wrongful praise for my efforts, not to be treated like a prisoner like some captured Druin"
"I am sorry. I only contacted the Harenae Faction in high command after I tried to resolve it in house"
"It is fine"
"No you spent too many hours in there" she said on the verge of tears.
"I know you made a tough decision. It will be okay, they will not ask too much for this and I will help, I promise that" Maria was exhausted from the last dew days and hours and now she had done a trade she had been trying to avoid, she had contacted a faction and asked for help.