When the hoversled reaches the protoss compound, there is a bit of a reception committee waiting. Selendis is accompanied by a full complement of guards. Lilly is confused. The ursadon is unconscious, so a dozen warriors seems a little extreme. On the other hand, she did leave campus and do some dumb things…
“Are you three all right?” Selendis asks.
“A little injured, ma’am,” Lilly states upfront.
Given the number of guards here, Imogen thinks the protoss must be pretty worked up about the scrap Lilly got into. “Lilly and Sunshine need some medical checks, but I can handle that back on our ship if you don’t want us to have access to your medical facilities,” she offers.
“That would be very dishonorable of us. You got injured on our watch… despite our stern warnings.”
“Yes, it was dumb, ma’am,” Lilly agrees quietly.
“We should not have given you that much leash,” Selendis continues. “That was our miscalculation. We will not do it again. We will take all of you to our medical facilities for a full examination to ensure that you are well.”
“I wasn’t involved in the fight,” Imogen says. “I’m fine.”
“I believe you were involved in a vehicular accident,” Selendis points out. “You may not realize your injuries. You may be concussed. Terran brains, primitive as they are, are very easily injured.”
Imogen agrees to what seems like a thoughtful gesture. Without any undue concern, she and Lilly accompany Selendis and some of the guards to the medical facilities, Sunshine in tow. Mehsir stays behind with the rest of the guards to deal with the ursadon. From the enormous size of the examination tables in the room Selendis leads them to, it must actually be the veterinarian facility. Imogen insists Sunshine be looked at before she is; the lyote is still bleeding, while Imogen was just in a little shake-up. She offers her assistance, but the protoss medic refuses it, saying that word is she has already helped quite enough.
The medic examines the lyote and sees to her injuries, assuring Lilly that she will be fine after some rest. Lilly is relieved; she felt really bad that Sunshine got so hurt because she let her run. “I should’ve given her a shorter leash,” Lilly admonishes herself, echoing Selendis. The medic offers that the lyote can remain there under sedation. Lilly agrees; she does not want Sunshine roaming.
Lilly and Imogen are ushered to separate tables. They are encouraged to relax as they are subjected to basic medical procedures, but each of them has a guard posted nearby. After the usual things like having her eyes examined and pulse taken, Lilly gets a painkiller shot to help with her bruises. The medic also confirms that Imogen does not have a concussion. Selendis and some of her guards remain the entire time, monitoring the proceedings.
Once the medical work is done, Selendis escorts the women into another new section of the compound, saying that they want to ask a few questions to better understand what happened. Lilly is confident that she is in trouble. Hope I didn’t get Imogen in trouble, too… “This was all my fault,” she insists. “Imogen really wasn’t involved.”
“It’s not a matter of fault,” Selendis replies. “And Imogen Owendoher is most definitely involved.”As they walk down the hallway following Selendis, guards in front of them and some behind, Imogen begins to grow a little uneasy. She has studied what she can about the protoss from Dominion sources. Even though she cannot properly read their script, she has some knowledge of their iconography. The door at the end of this corridor is labeled, “Containment.” By now, Imogen knows better than to try to get anything off Selendis, so she focuses on the mind of the nearest guard instead. She gets a sense of how suspicious he is feeling right now. What are these sneaky terrans up to? he wonders. They must be spies. If that protoss guard is thinking they are spies, Imogen figures this must be about her own trespass, rather than the trouble Lilly wandered into. After all, this fellow is not just thinking about how dumb the terrans were. No, this is Imogen’s trouble. She is messing with things she completely does not understand here, but at least she has the consolation that it was fun to drive the hoversled.