Petals of Carbon Steel -- You're a Pilot, Not an Ace. Try your best.

Ideally I would have liked to follow up a three month unintended hiatus with a longer post. Things got difficult for a lot of reasons, though, and I remain very grateful to everyone who follows my writing and bears with me through periodic extended absences like this over the years.

---

"Tham, I need you desperately," you say into your comm as the lift slowly takes you out to the hab ring. Effective gravity slowly increases bit by bit as you're carried down the shaft that connects it to the spaceport.

There's a momentary pause before Jay responds. "From another woman, that might sound more promising," he says. "What's on fire?"

You watch the lights pass by on either side of the shaft. "That girl we took captive -- they're just... letting her plug into that mecha. I don't think anyone really understands how it works."

"They haven't asked me to help monitor that," Jay says, not sounding pleased.

"Honestly, Jay, it's fucking scary," you say, letting some genuine anxiety come into your voice, alone as you effectively are. "I've just... got a bad feeling about it."

"What are we doing with this, then?" he asks, without so much as a second's hesitation.

You feel an intense swell of relief and affection -- you'd probably have kissed him if you'd been in the same room. You refuse to gush, however. "I'm going to Booker — she doesn't... hate me these days, I think. But you'll help me be more convincing about all this, so I'm taking you with me. There have to be some perks to our arrangement, right?"

"It's so romantic when you talk about our relationship that way," he says. "Where are we meeting?"

You tell him, and it isn't long before you're in the midst of catching Jay up to speed.

"This is the right move," he says. "Leski will listen to Booker. And we need to deal with this in-house. Our SRI 'friends' don't need to know more than they need to know."

He falls silent as you approach a waiting tram car, filled with other people now within earshot. You suppose this would be a very different conversation if you'd tried to tell Jay that you intended to share this information with one of the SRI operatives you have a tentative in with. "I thought so too," you say. "You're sure this is where she'll be?"

"Booker told me she was going to try and relax, and this is how she relaxes," Jay says, this being much less sensitive-AIJ-secrets territory. He takes his seat, and you follow suit, just as the tram begins to move. "So, yeah."

"Oh, we're bothering her on her day off," you say. "Now I just feel like a jerk."

Jay snorts. "That is your favourite feeling in the world."

"Normally, yes. But I'm trying to be serious today," you say. "The goal is to not wind her up, for once."

"Well, I can see why you brought help, then," Jay says.

Despite yourself you laugh, before leaning over in your seat and kissing him. It's not long or drawn out, but it's a good release of tension for both of you. "More or less," you say.

/////PoCS\\\\\

Tanner Station's library is not a particularly large space, in and of itself. The size of several living compartments, the whole thing is crammed with public workstations, cozy places to work and study, and even a modest selection of physical books. Mostly picture books, in this last category. Paper and its equivalents are not precisely practical materials on a space station, but kids are often tactile enough to make them worth fabricating anyway.

A young man sits behind a desk near the entrance, the library's sole staff member, by visible appearances. You flash him a winning smile, and are rewarded with a long, wary sort of look in return. As if you can't come to a place like this without being up to something. The fact that it's apparently true doesn't make this less rude — you have a library account, but you've only ever accessed books remotely.

You find Booker reading alone at a quiet table in one corner. As she sees you, you don't make any puns based on her name. For this, you think, you should be praised. "First Officer Booker," you say, taking a seat across from her uninvited.

"... Himegami," she says, after a conspicuous pause. Her tone isn't quite suspicious, but it is wary, as though she's already correctly guessed that you're here to ruin her day, somehow. She's out of uniform, in a comfortable looking sweater, her hair down, which you've never seen before.

"This is important, Sara," Jay says, sitting down beside you. You hadn't known that they were actually on a first name basis.

"Important enough to corner me on my day off?" Booker asks. Still she puts her reader down, looking at the two of you with reluctant attention.

"Sadly, yes," you say. "We have a problem, I think."

As you give her the same explanation you gave to Jay, to your relief, Booker seems to take your concerns seriously. When you finish, however, she still turns to Jay.

"Is this really a concern?" Booker asks.

Jay thinks about that for several long moments, as if choosing his words carefully. "It's impossible to say what that machine is capable of. That's highly experimental neural interfacing tech — it likely has functions that only Tanaka can access, and that could be hard to track externally. What they're doing with her is incredibly dangerous."

"And what would you like me to do about it?" Booker asks. It's a serious question.

"Get the captain to take this to the high commander," you say. "There's not really anyone else who can tell Kassmeyer to fuck off."

"Or at least to make him let me have a good look at whatever it is they're doing," Jay says, perhaps more constructively.

"Right," Booker says. She takes in a deep, weary breath, letting it out slowly. "Right. Well, I knew that this day was going to be a writeoff the moment Kana showed up."

"I've been on my best behaviour!" you say.

"Yes, I noticed. That's what worried me immediately." Booker turns off the reader, and stands up with a reluctant sort of stretch. "You looking serious and sober about something is a good sign that things are very wrong."

"She has a point," Jay says. He gives your shoulder a little squeeze that you pretend isn't as reassuring as it is.

You scoff. "Well, good thing you both won't have to get used to it anytime soon."

/////PoCS\\\\\

Onboard the HDMS Sunspot
Disguised Divine Navy transport

"I've convinced him that the information is good." Captain Edith Kron stares up at the ceiling as she says this, eyes tracking the handholds mounted there in sequence in an effort to calm her nerves — it's as futile an effort in this regard as the stylus she repetitively taps against the surface of her desk. Her office isn't large, and not looking directly at the person she's sharing space with lets her pretend it's a little bit larger. A workstation, one hatch that leads out into the main shaft, another that leads into her sleeping quarters. Space for her strapped in behind the workstation desk, and two others... theoretically.

"Are we sure that it is good?" Sir Salimus asks. He's gripping the edge of her desk, leaning over it with that infuriatingly casual air of his.

"As sure as we can be," Edith says. "No one else is going to have access to that channel."

"That we know of," Salimus says. Out of the corner of her eye, Edith can see him running a hand down his face. He looks like an older and far less carefree man than he did at the start of this voyage — maybe that's why Edith can stand being in a compartment with him now. "They took her and the Carbon Steel intact."

"That's all the more reason to get her out before they can force her to do anything they can use," Edith says. "The technology is what Command cares about, anyway."

Salimus is quiet for a long, uncomfortable moment. "And the girl?"

Edith takes in a deep breath, and lets it out forcefully, flicking the stylus up and away from her. It spins wildly through space, drifting to ricochet off the ceiling, forcing Salimus to dodge out of the way. "Well, we're the only ones who are going to give a shit about her, beyond the way she's useful. So, we'll just have to do what we can. We're the ones who threw that girl into battle, completely unprepared, because we needed her. She's our responsibility."

Salimus gives a sigh in response, which Edith takes for agreement. What else can there be, to something like that? The man can be insufferable, but he's reliable where it counts.

/////PoCS\\\\\

"I don't appreciate my expertise being questioned like this," Kassmeyer says. If he weren't floating, you suspect he'd be leaning aggressively across the table.

"Calm down, Peter," High Commander Bernard says. "This is a matter of operational security. Tham has concerns."

"Tham is a pilot," Kassmeyer says.

"Tham is the closest thing we have to an expert on this technology," you say. You don't flinch, despite the fact that everyone in the room turns to look at you at this point — Kassmeyer glares, and Captain Leski casts you a warning glance. You ignore the first, but heed the second. That you're here at all is entirely a courtesy, and one that can be revoked at a moment's notice.

Still, Jay gives you a look that's halfway between fond and exasperated, which makes it worthwhile. "She's not wrong," he says. "I don't have neural interface tech grafted into my nervous system for nothing."

"Exactly," Bernard says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's just get this over with — enough complaining, Peter. Set Tham up with access to your logs."

With a disagreeable sort of grumble, Kassmeyer moves over to the nearby workstation. With a few deft motions, he unlocks access to the system.

Jay is already messing with the terminal below the workstation, threading a heavy duty data cable into a port there, before steading himself firmly on the table. Then he raises the cord to his temple, and clamped it fast to the induction plate there. "Well, let's see, then," he says. And then he goes under.

Article:

What Jay finds isn't remotely good — you are all poised to be thrown into turmoil once again, and you can only scramble to prepare for that inevitability. What does the advanced warning your trip to the R&D department and dogged initiative provided earn you, during the coming crisis?

[ ] There are no surprise technical problems at inconvenient times

[ ] The civilian population is kept calm and orderly, even in the event of emergency lockdowns or evacuations

[ ] You determine the enemy's angle of approach beforehand