6. The Chair #2
It was a star map pen. Elena's star map pen. A rare item to begin with that could store data pertaining to travels made, places visited, destinations planned, and trips cherished. This was the very one Elena had used to chart every rescue route the Emberkind had ever flown. At least, until now.
"Officer Reyna Solas, this is your formal notification that I am promoting you to First Mate on the CMS Emberkind starship vessel," Elena said. "It is effective immediately. And yes, all Coalition paperwork has already been filed."
Reyna stared at her. The words hit her ears but her brain was having trouble processing. It was as if her brain went into slo-mo, and she wasn't able to get it back up to speed.
Finally, her voice reactivated. "You... you filed paperwork before even telling me?"
"Correction. I filed the paperwork before you could argue with me over it."
"I wasn't going to argue."
"You're already arguing about not arguing," Elena stated, raising one eyebrow.
Reyna rolled her eyes, making Elena chuckle softly before continuing.
"As much as you may not like hearing it, you argue with me about everything, even something as simple as supply requisitions.
Hell, you argued with me last week about the temperature in the corridor outside the galley!
You once even argued with me about whether a particular shade of alert lighting was amber or gold for over ten minutes.
" Elena stared right at her. "You were absolutely going to argue. "
"It was gold. And I would not have argued about a promotion."
"You would have said you weren't ready."
Reyna closed her mouth, because she had, in fact, been about to say exactly that. But that wasn't an argument, it was just a statement of fact. Or, at worse, opinion.
Elena stepped around the desk, coming to stand in front of Reyna, and held out the pen.
"Every crew member on a PERS-equipped vessel carries a trinket," Elena said.
"A personal object, registered to your individual retrieval signature, so that if and when a PERS has to activate, whether by choice or by emergency, the system will lock onto your trinket's signature and use it as the anchor point for transport.
Without a trinket, the PERS can't find you.
It's what brings you home. Sometimes, it's the only way to get you home. "
Reyna looked into Elena's eyes, nodding her head in understanding.
"I know you know this, but it's important to remember how significant the trinket is to the whole system. How you must carry it with you. How it keeps you between safety and danger. And how it has to be deeply personal to connect to you."
Reyna did know the system. She calibrated every PERS beacon on the ship during the refit and conducted all the checks when new members came aboard.
She understood how each crew member's molecular signature was encoded into the ship's retrieval array, meaning that losing the trinket means losing the tether.
The PERS couldn't pull you back to a ship you weren't connected to.
Most crew members chose something practical but still personal. A ring, a badge, a small tool they carried that may have belonged to a parent or been their first piece of equipment at the academy.
"I want you to carry this," Elena said, holding the pen between them.
"Not because it comes with your promotion.
" Elena put the pen into Reyna's hand, closing her fingers around it.
"Because it's mine, because I used it to draw every rescue route this ship has ever flown since our refit, and because every one of those routes exists because you made them possible, Rey.
Without everything you did, from the logistics to the timing to the crew rotations, you kept us operational long enough to reach every single one of the coordinates I charted.
I drew the maps, Reyna. But you built the roads. "
Reyna looked down at the pen and stared at it, twisting it between her fingers to see the prisms bounce off her sage-green skin. She returned her gaze up to Elena.
"I can't take this, Elena."
"You're not taking it. I'm giving it to you, as a gift. There's a mighty big difference between the two and, frankly, I'm surprised I have to explain the distinction to someone smart enough I just promoted to First Mate."
But Reyna would not be deterred. "But Elena, what about all the star charts you have yet to draw? What will you use now?"
"The Emberkind has other pens, Reyna, don't worry. I'm a starship captain. I can get another one. But it won't be this one, that's what makes it special." Elena considered her, her expression contorting. "What is it you use now anyway?"
Reyna reached into the hidden pocket inside her uniform coat and pulled out a... fork.
Elena stared at it. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume there is a story here."
"There is, but it's nothing substantial. It's simply the fork that was on the table we sat at on the first night at Novahall, during the icebreakers."
Elena didn't move, but Reyna watched as understanding blended into her features upon Reyna's story. She looked down at the utensil in Reyna's hand.
"Can I have it?" Elena asked.
"You want my fork?" Reyna asked quizzically. Elena actually snorted, but found her composure again quickly.
"Yes, I do. May I... may I have it? To use for my own PERS trinket, now that you have the pen?" Elena smiled broadly, almost trying to win over Reyna and convince her to hand over the beaten up, rusted piece of silver.
Reyna laughed. "Sure, Captain. Please, take the fork. It's yours." Reyna held it out to Elena, who took it and studied it closely before looking back at Reyna.
"Thank you, truly."
Reyna nodded before putting the pen into the same pocket. It was lighter than the fork had been and the case was warm from Elena's hand.
"Got your trinket?" Elena asked, repeating the standard pre-mission check with the question every crew member asked and answered before every deployment.
"Got my trinket," Reyna said. "Got your trinket?"
Elena smiled. The real one, not the command version. "Got my trinket," she replied softly. "Now, get out of my office. I have supply requisitions to review, and I'd like to do it without being argued with about the temperature of the alert lighting again."
"It was gold," Reyna taunted.
"It was amber," Elena stated, shutting down the conversation. "Out."
Reyna laughed softly but turned around and left the office, the realization of the promotion she hadn't asked for but she knew she could do well, even if she didn't think she was entirely ready. Elena did, and, right now, that would be enough.
She thought about the pen in her pocket and how Elena's hands had drawn routes across star charts, and how those routes had become rescue missions that had become the purpose of this ship. And the whole thing had come full circle now, with the pen that drew them in her pocket.
She would carry it every day for the rest of her life.
She would make sure to touch it before every shift, every mission, and every morning on the bridge.
But for now, she just knew that the pen fit in her pocket, that Elena had filed paperwork before giving Reyna the chance to argue, and that what would always bring her home was a star map pen given to her by a woman who believed in her emphatically.
Jere found Reyna in Borran's kitchen one evening.
It was late enough that the overhead lights were dimmed to half power and Borran's six-fingered hands were working dough for tomorrow's breakfast menu.
If the smells were any indication, Reyna knew it would draw crowds, as Borran's food tended to do.
She sat at the counter with a drink in her hand and thinking about nothing in particular, which was its own kind of luxury.
"Rey," Jere greeted, sliding onto the stool beside her. "I wanted to talk to you about something. Something important."
"If this is about the naming conventions for the cold wing habitats again, I'm not having this discussion," Reyna quipped, turning to face him.
"It's not about the habitats."
"If it's about how you want to bring the Mosskin Nibblets out of their habitat and onto the bridge, as much as I'm for it, Elena vetoed it, saying the bridge would go into disarray with all the calmness from the furry creatures."
"It's not about the Nibblets."
"If it's about the phrase—"
"It's about soul matches."
Reyna stared at him, noticing he wasn't smiling. In fact, he looked at her like a man who had something real to say, wanting to ensure she heard it properly.
"A soul match?" Reyna started. "Jere, is everything okay?"
Jere nodded, then put his hand on her knee, patting it lightly. "Everything's fine," he assured her. "It's just something we haven't yet talked about and, it's actually a big deal for the Qorrathi. Every one of us is born with one - a soul match."
"Okay. So, I shouldn't be worried? I have to admit, your seriousness is throwing me off a bit."
Jere actually had the decency to chuckle at that, and it made Reyna feel a bit more relaxed about whatever this conversation was amping up to be. Less anxious, if not settled.
"Everything really is okay, Rey. I promise."
"Well, if you promise..." Reyna smiled and Jere returned it, pulling his hand from her knee.
"It's just very important, but also very private. We don't talk about it, at least, not until it happens."
"Has it happened for you?"
Jere took a big breath. "No."
Reyna studied him, realizing there was more he wasn't saying. But she was going to allow him the space to tell her at his own speed. Considering how private and serious Jere was being for the first time ever, she wanted to respect every part of this conversation.