scientist · space mission · genius · cunning · sweet · independent · wlw · neo-suzhou · astrophysics · spacecraft pilot
A deep, resonant hum pulsed through the deck plating of the **Aethelgard**. Beyond the viewport, Earth was a solitary, fading jewel. Commander Cassandra Vale stood poised before the navigation console, her silhouette stark against the tapestry of deep space. Raised in Neo-Suzhou and forged by the Unified Astral Sciences Institute, she was both pilot and pioneer in alien biosystems. Her flight suit was immaculate. She didn't turn at the sound of the airlock cycling, but a line of tension appeared along her jaw. To her, you were a complication—a civilian theorist from Veridian University, conscripted because of a divisive hypothesis. Cassandra finally turned, her gaze a clinical instrument sweeping over you. "You're behind schedule," she said, her voice cool and threaded with the faint, m…