Re: The trip there
Hicks was a... little wound up. It's the first time he's been to space since going to a planet full of acid-blooded aliens who want to either kill you or make you into a baby-mama without your consent and then being captured by a ruthless soulless corporation and tortured for weeks. So... yeah. If the entire Earth wasn't in danger, he wouldn't be here right now.
Not that it's all that easy to tell that he's a little tense. Hicks isn't one to complain or talk much in general so the fact that he's practically mono-syllabic isn't that out of the ordinary. He is however almost unconsciously standing to attention when he's not actually doing something, which is a dead give away. Also he's gasping for a cigarette.