The Balladeer is cheerfully oblivious to the fact that he might be hitting some hidden buttons! He's not even especially anti-government - just very anti-ROMAC.

"No..." he responds, peering at it doubtfully. "Maybe it's friendlier than it looks? I think that'd be against genre conventions, but who knows?"

Behind them, the door whisks open again. The woman from before doesn't sound quite as calm and cool as she did before. "Captain, it's a Zoran scout ship! They're armed, but they haven't raised their shields yet. What are your orders?"

"Ah..." The Balladeer glances sidelong at Mako. Giving orders doesn't come naturally to him. "Can we talk to them?"

The officer nods. "We'll open hailing frequencies."