"A few drops should be enough." DeLayne grinned. "Scouts may be small, but we get state of the art medical equipment, and people to use it who want a challenge."
Odeon turned to Cortin. "If you don't mind, Colonel, I'll give him his sample, then come help you."
"Fine. Take as long as you want, maybe get a tour of the ship." She paused, thinking. "Yes … under the circumstances, I think I'd better change your primary duty." She turned to DeLayne. "Captain Odeon has been studying your Empire as well as possible from comm intercepts and what's left of our Founders' records. If you're willing to loan him books or have some of your people talk to him, I'd like to make those studies his top priority. He can then brief me on whatever he considers important."
DeLayne nodded. "Comm intercepts and fragmentary records won't give you very good information, especially since your Founders obviously weren't at all fond of the Empire—I'll be glad to help him learn as much as he wants." He turned to Odeon, grinning. "Come on, Captain—we'll go by Sickbay for the blood samples, then I'll give you a ship tour and introduce you to teaching tapes. Can you read Imperial English?"
Odeon looked up at the ship's name as he followed DeLayne up the gangplank, then shook his head ruefully. "If that's a sample, no—I can recognize most of the letters, but they don't make sense."
"Easy enough to remedy." DeLayne saluted the armed guard at the hatch. "Permission to come aboard, sir? Myself and one of our hosts."
The woman returned his salute. "Granted, sir. Are you permitting him aboard armed?"
"Yes. And no one's to leave this estate—definitely not the compound—unarmed. I'll make that—"
"Captain?" Odeon interrupted.
"Yes?"