Act One, Scene One

[Akirapryde]

Nogueera heard Lylliana excuse to leave. She frowned inward but put on a soft smile, "oh yeah, sure" Nogueera said taking a step back and allowed Lylliana to leave the conversation.

Commander Bonham watched her walk up with a heavy sigh. The last thing he wanted was to be engaged. Sure he did his best to put on a pleasant face but the pain was still overwhelming. He took in a deep breath as Lylliana worked her way through the last crew members that stood between him and the upcoming conversation.

Lylliana made her way to grab a cup filled with warn apple cider and approach him slowly, "Commander Bonham. ...sir?"

Bonham nodded as took small cup of warm beverage. "Ensign Skytower," he said putting on a smile. It was completely superficial. He hoped that it would prevent most unwelcome conversations.

He listened carefully as she spoke about the turn out. He nodded to her as she continued to speak. "If I hadn't shown up, my squadron wouldn't have let me live it down" he explained as he looked around, "though I don't see Lieutenant Paxton." He hoped that the conversation wouldn't grow beyond this kind of talk. He really didn't want to talk about Kinchlirah or how he felt or the number of rumors about the accident a few days ago.