1.14.2

Hashing it Out

Exhausted, physically and emotionally, it took little for Astrid to curl into a ball on the padded table. Doctor Ishioka supplied her a blanket, and beneath it, Astrid tossed in a storm of thoughts.

She wanted to mourn her friend. But her worldview, so vastly expanded as of late, insisted she consider more than her personal loss.

If Argos contained a similar population to Endra, hundreds of Channelers likely died. In addition to their Guardians and Keeper-- more innocents extinguished by mere proximity.

And who knows who else, to have sparked such organized retribution.

She wanted nothing more than to save them. To bear all the risk herself. To push the fight outward, away from the peaceful temples and homes of students and caregivers alike.

And here she lay, adrift between the Channelers and the Statics, no longer a prisoner, but no closer to being “normal” than ever. If she were to be an example, as Captain London intended, being a Channeler would still define her life, no matter where she lived it.

To save her people, she could never rejoin them.

Not that she could imagine returning to such a cloistered life. Not when she experienced the friendship and independence gifted to her by joining the Aldebaran’s crew.

Darkness and doubt swirled in her weary mind until sleep claimed her. When she woke again, Ishioka, convinced her vital signs returned to normal, cleared her to leave the Medical Lab.

Astrid somberly gathered her gear and made her way to the cargo hold.

She found herself tracing her armor plates under her fingertips while she set them into place inside her own locker. She peeled her underarmor from her body, freed her crystal pendant from where it stuck to her skin, and slipped into her fatigue garb.

Hers, she reminded herself. Her own.

She found Anders, Tenya, and Dell still hovered at their usual table in the Mess Hall, conversing over empty plates.

Tenya’s eyes perked up first, and her smile at Astrid’s approach raised even the heaviest of spirits.

The others turned, but Anders rose from his seat.

“Sit. I’ll get you something to eat,” he told her.

“Thank you…” Astrid sat next to Tenya, who immediately leaned in with a comforting pat.

“Are you feeling better?”

“As good as can be expected.”

“When you’re up for it, I’d love to see if you can replicate that burst attack you managed,” Dell suggested.

“Maybe tomorrow. My head still feels a little woozy.” Astrid searched the empty benches. “Where is everyone?”

“Well, Rue is still giving the captain and commander a run-down of what you two discovered. Romo ate quickly and returned to his interrogation. And the others already finished and have returned to stations.”

“We’re in no hurry,” Tenya reassured. Anders returned to set a tray of potato hash before Astrid’s seat, then retreated to his usual position across from her while Tenya continued, “We’re just visiting. We’d be happy to keep you company.”

“I’d like that. Please, continue what you were doing. I just need to eat something.”

They nodded, and soon the trio returned to a discussion of potential army sites, abandoned platforms, and mines hypothetically available to a rogue-faction army.

“Transport is still so expensive out here,” Dell explained. “When projects fail, many private companies consider it more cost effective to abandon their operations completely and rebuild elsewhere rather than relocate resources to a new location. There could be a hundred facilities or outposts just waiting for someone to move in and make use of them.”

“In some ways, that helps right?” Tenya countered. “Like with the Fifth Fleet, Earth tried to build right over the materials they needed to ease costs. This group is probably doing the same thing. I say we track the materials they’re using, find the richest veins, and start our search there.”

Astrid listened half-heartedly to their theories as Tenya and Dell pitched ideas back and forth.

Just chewing Sugar’s flavorful meal sent her abdomen grumbling loudly, and across the table, Anders peeked at her, bemused.

“What?” she asked while Tenya and Dell continued their dialogue.

“Nothing,” he replied. “It’s good you have an appetite.”

“You can tell that from the monster in my stomach, can you?”

Anders smiled gently and rested his elbows on the table. “Something like that.”

Astrid tilted her tray to offer him some of her extra helping, but he waved her off.

“You need it after today. I promise I won’t tease your wolverine stomach for scarfing.”

His smile remained kind, even affectionate. But embarrassed nonetheless, Astrid slowed her eating.

“Welcome back, Rue. Give the captain the D-L?”

At Tenya’s welcome, Astrid lifted her gaze in time to see Rue land in her seat one muscled leg at a time, dinner in hand.

“Yeah.”

The blonde looked to Astrid, a cheerless face under frowning brows.

“They didn’t hurt you too bad, did they?” Astrid asked.

“I could have taken them,” Rue rejected listlessly.

“Well, I should head up to the War Room, see if Captain is ready for us to assemble, yet.” Dell rose from his own bench and collected the empty trays from the table. “Anders, they’re probably going to need you, too. I have a feeling the subtlety of this operation is about to go up in smoke.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Anders gave one last glance to the Channeler across from him before he, too, stood to make an exit.

“I’ll stay. Unless… you two need to talk alone?” Tenya raised a brow to where Rue and Astrid tensed.

“Why would we need that?” Rue glowered.

The men wandered off and Astrid issued a silent plea for Tenya to stay put.

“You know…” Tenya tactfully navigated. “Sometimes things happen out there. We’ve covered for each other before—”

“This isn’t like that,” Rue insisted, abruptly.

“Okay, then.” The chief shrugged to Astrid and rapped her fingers along the table. “Everything is peachy keen then.”

“So, what was it like, your first duo-mission?” Tenya then pressed when quiet threatened to reassert itself.

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Both women answered, then immediately returned to their individual meals.

Tenya’s eyes slid between Rue and Astrid a good minute, and despite Astrid’s beseeching expression, Tenya cleared her throat and pushed herself away from the table.

“I need to talk to Sugar a moment. Be right back.”

Astrid buried her discomfort in a few more bites. When she looked up again, Tenya seemed settled in the kitchen. But instead of engaging with the cook at all, the woman leaned on the counter, to watch the pair.

Astrid scowled.

“A ‘wild animal to put down’.” Rue interrupted the awkward silence. Her eyes deadlocked with Astrid. “Why did you say that?”

“You told me to act tough,” Astrid explained. “I only had so much experience to fall back on.”

“That’s it then? You were just emulating me?”

“I would have thought you’d take it as a compliment. It got us in, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. It did.”

Rue’s frigidity gave Astrid pause.

“I thought we did well. I didn’t mean for you to take it personally.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

The memory of Rue’s vitriol when she ambushed Astrid outside the quarters cautioned her that maybe she shouldn’t have referenced it at all.

“Don’t bring it up again,” Rue directed.

Astrid withheld her frustration, too tired to argue, after what she surmised to be a mostly successful joint assignment.

“Fine.”