More than an hour had passed since the Orville had jumped out of quantum cruise beyond the edge of Kalivane space.
And during that time, the Planetary Union exploratory vessel had just stayed right where it was.
Aside from a squad of engineers who'd flown off in a shuttle and returned only after nearly an hour—who knew what they'd been doing—the troublesome little girl who had "hijacked" the Orville hadn't done anything at all, much less issued any further orders.
"Reporting!"
"Captain Annie!"
"The mission has been completed successfully. Awaiting your orders!"
Soon, an officer returned from the mission and reported to the bridge. The troublesome little girl, who had been lounging in the captain's chair and leisurely eating cherry after cherry, sprang up in an instant.
"Got it!"
(*^▽^*)
"Go get some rest!"
?(?ω?)?
After that, Annie eagerly sat back down, grabbed her teddy bear Tibbers, and used him to wipe her hands and face. She impatiently waved away the officer, who seemed to have something to say but hesitated, then tossed her bear back onto the seat.
(...)
(￢?￢.)
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
The officer did have something to say, but after glancing at the many senior officers and crew members on the bridge, he simply stood at attention, then obediently turned and strode away.
"Captain Annie."
"I still stand by my earlier suggestion."
Although he had no idea what mission Annie had sent those crew members to carry out, the robot Isaac once again proposed the plan he'd calculated had at least a five percent chance of success.
"Based on my analysis of some of the debris left after the beacon exploded, I successfully cracked the Kalivans' holographic disguiser. Perhaps we could learn from them, disguise ourselves as a Kalivan ship, sneak in, and bring Captain Ed and First