2.4.1

Playing Catch-up

Space never seemed so vast and empty. Yet, while the last eight months filled her with visions of a new world open to her, now all fell away to images of the one she left behind.

Astrid found herself wandering. She refamiliarized herself with the ship, and even spent some time on the top desk to visit with the Bridge crew and to watch the drift of sky promise advancement toward their target.

“Hey, sorry about your Sanctuary, Gorgeous,” Ricks eventually offered from the controls. “It’s been kind of boring around here without you.”

“Thanks,” Astrid replied. Her eyes slid with stars while Shaely continued.

“Captain pulled us off leave the minute he got the call. I don’t see how we could have gotten together any faster.”

The Channeler hugged her chest. “You guys were on leave?”

“Only for the last month or so,” Navigator Hammond supplied from his workbench. Around him, monitors shifted in trajected lights and star maps. His charcoal uniform remained stalwart and unchanged, as did the man’s sharp eyes and ever-gently balding head.

“What were you guys up to before?”

“We let the authorities run Benson off Penny Station, then we gave chase,” Ricks announced. His playful smile seemed to enjoy the memory. “He led us right back into his holdings. We tracked his assembly lines, his distribution center, pretty much any place those weapons touched between Thedes and Tetris.”

“You think you got it all?” Astrid found herself relieved. Even hopeful. “His whole chain?”

“If he had more secure properties, he didn’t run to them.” Shaely sounded sure. “Assuming he fled to where he’d most feel safe, we got the worst of it.”

It comforted Astrid to imagine that if the Static Opposition hit Endra, perhaps they remained hobbled with subpar forces of arms.

But then again, she reminded herself, if it wasn’t the S.O. or Benson’s technology that struck her people, there went their known entity. She realized now what London meant by the advantage given in letting Benson stay in power, at least for a little bit. Now, they knew even less about their potential enemy.

With a sad, melancholy smile, Astrid patted the pilot’s shoulder, in silent thanks for his work, before she dismissed herself, wordlessly, for somewhere else to linger.

Ishioka performed a new intake exam, to adjust her data for how Astrid’s physiology might have changed in the last several months. The doctor remained completely unthwarted by any developments outside the lab, and it provided an odd, stabilizing consistency to be under her care.

But in the halls, Astrid still felt the absence of Commander Kendall. She would have rather liked to talk to him and take comfort in his pragmatic wisdom, and the resolution it often provided her. She took in the gentle fizzle of a ship full of Statics, and yet without the stronger personalities of Karth and Rue, there remained a void.

Even the cargo hold offered less familiarity, as without the grumpy and brooding trooper making her energy known in the corner, it seemed empty and barren.

Astrid began to settle only when the team tucked into their first meal together. Over a double helping of chicken and vegetable stew, Astrid sat across from Romo and Dell to discuss what they did, or rather didn’t, discover.

“The O.L.M.P. just busted a huge trafficking ring out on the Darwinian Delta, only a week ago,” Romo reported immediately when he sat with his own tray. “The Fiends called it in. But out of the three thousand slaves recovered, not one was a Channeler.”

Astrid swallowed a bite to ask, “The O.L.M.P?”

“The Organization for the Liberation of Missing Persons,” Dell detailed. However, the technician’s eyes never left the glowing screen of the datapad in his hand. Astrid could barely make out the shapes of various images while Dell browsed a forum of goods. Presumably, illegal technologies.

Window shopping seemed to please him at least, she thought. Even if the need for it felt dark.

“It’s a joint-nations initiative,” Romo elaborated. “Human Trafficking has always been an issue, but it got even worse when we expanded. It’s too easy to go missing and never be seen again. And most projects out here require a lot of manpower. Willing or not.

“The Darwinian Delta is named because only the toughest really make it out there. There’s a lot of money to be made mining the asteroid belt, but it’s an ugly fact most of its strongest establishments are built on the backs of slave labor. Usually, it’s mostly made up of people going out there looking for a fresh start and winding up destitute. But there’s always a vacuum for more. That’s why the Fiends do so well out there.”

“Isn’t it a little weird for the Raider fleet to expose a slave ring then?” Astrid wondered.

“Nah. The Raiders build the grandeur of their image on being ‘free and self-owned’ men and women. Besides, keeping slave labor out of the hands of potential rivals makes it harder for them to step up,” Romo explained. “It’s more unusual the Fiends didn’t liberate the ring themselves. Seems like a hell of a way to recruit.”

Recruiting from a mass of humans with little other choice seemed to work for the EMS, Astrid drew in parallel. Though, she wondered, would it be unkind to compare? Maybe they were closer than anyone cared to examine.

Tenya appeared, with an exhale of dissatisfaction on her lips while she sidled next to Astrid.

“Got through to Governor Dara. They haven’t seen hide nor hair of the Tetrians since forces chased them out after our mission there. And patrols out to the tundra say there’s nothing going on out there, either.”

“They’d be pretty dumb to start back up in the same spot, wouldn’t they?” Astrid moved over to make a little extra room. Tenya’s elbows took stake upon the table to support her pout over her food.

“It’s too easy to under-, and over-, estimate the intelligence of criminals, trust me,” Romo snarked.

Tenya sighed and finally picked up her fork. She inclined her chin to where Dell sat, his own nose nearly buried in his tablet. “Find anything interesting?”

Dell didn’t answer immediately. Eventually Romo nudged him, to which the technician blinked and pieced together he’d missed an address.

“Uh, yes, and no…” he finally set the device down and returned to his meal, if begrudgingly. “The energy weapons we tracked, a few of those are on the market now. And at a high price.”

“Isn’t that bad?” Astrid scowled.

“On the contrary,” Dell explained. “High price indicates how hard they are to come by. And they’re being sold in solitary lots, not batches. Probably just someone trying to make a cash grab on some abandoned or dwindling inventory. They’re not being sold for their intended use anymore.

“What’s more interesting is the uptick in faraday tech. The kind of stuff that protects tech from discharges or energy spikes. Kind of like your music player, Astrid.”

“Oh!” Astrid, having been totally distracted by the terms of their reunion, floundered in embarrassment. “I meant to thank you all for that. Really. It meant a lot to me while I was away.”

“Did it help in your training?” Romo smiled.

“Definitely! Though mostly it helped when I missed you all.” Astrid felt bashful when she found herself saying such a thing out loud. “It was a really thoughtful gift.”

“I want credit for anything that brings out your sass,” Tenya demanded. “I miss ‘sassy Astrid’.”

“There’s a ‘sassy Astrid’?” The Channeler quirked a brow.

“Yeah, about three beers in,” Dell ribbed.

Beside him, Romo supplied, “I put in the hip-hop. It puts me in the mood to train when I’m feeling lazy. And Dell’s responsible for the electronica and dubstep.”

“Reminded me of your abilities,” the technician shrugged. “I tried to imagine what kind of music a Channeler would create.”

“Hey, maybe someday we’ll find out!” Tenya clearly worked to keep the conversation light. For that, Astrid felt relieved.

“Um… and what about the metal? The really… loud, screaming rock? I had to have Eloise explain what it was I was listening to.”

Romo sniggered. “That would be Tilly.”

“Tilly contributed, too?”

“Hell yeah, we all did,” Tenya grinned.

Romo countered, “Some more than others.”

Something in the way he said it, heavy with implications, made Astrid curious.

But then Anders arrived, and after crossing to Sugar to claim his own meal, he too, joined them. But instead of taking is regular place across from Astrid, he came to sit aside her, opposite Tenya.

He didn’t say anything, but Astrid could feel his white noise, laden with purpose and responsibility. It only seemed to clarify with his promotion. But at least he didn’t mask it anymore. Whatever ailed him, he wore it openly.

“So, Astrid,” Romo drew her attention. “Any insight from base on how they’ll take integration?”

“I don’t know. Some seem open to it. But some went the whole eight months without speaking to me. I think I make them uncomfortable.”

“It’ll just take time,” Tenya asserted. “We’ve made a start. You’re at least showing them that it can be okay.”

“Yeah, but in the meantime, now I’m out here and Rahna is back there. And she doesn’t trust the Service. I just hope she doesn’t backtrack on all that hard-earned good faith.”

“And Walker?” Romo questioned next. “Did they send him somewhere?”

Astrid took another bite before she answered.

“Nope. Actually, he’s still at Fort Magnus. Without Channeler abilities they don’t seem to think him much a threat. Because of his Guardian experience, they’ve enlisted him as a consultant. Restricted, of course. He’s still officially serving time for the few crimes we could prove. He’s under constant guard, just like I was when I first arrived. I don’t think they intend to ever pull off his security detail. He still isn’t what you’d call ‘free’.”

“Seems a little risky all the same,” Romo offered. “I’d be stunned if he isn’t as least thinking of ways to break Rahna out. What’s to stop him?”

“About a hundred armed soldiers and nowhere to go.” Anders finally joined in the discussion. “Besides, as long as they have Polaris in their hands, and she’s kept safe, he won’t endanger that. He’ll stay close.”

“You sound sure,” Tenya side-eyed him.

He shrugged and took another bite. “It’s what I’d do.”

Astrid soberly took his caution under advisement. As twisted as it seemed, after all the S.O. inflicted on her people, it seemed Rahna and Walker went out of their way not to hurt them. It confused her, the small flicker of hope she fostered that they, too, could be ‘saved’. Or, at least, redeemed.

But if there’s anything their first mission taught her, it was that her willful desire to see the best in others sometimes blinded her to what they truly were. In this, at least, she could appreciate the fate of the former S.O. leaders did not rest solely on her.

For any enemy could attack them. But only an ally could betray.