Prologue Day One #3
"Okay," Reyna began, beginning to talk with her hands. "Let's say that, hypothetically, we do go to collect these three—" Holy hell, THREE. "—Aetherfin from where they're trapped. Say we are able to rescue them in some completely impossible, never-been-done-before way."
"So far I'm following, Captain."
Reyna winced. "Say we find a way to rescue the creatures. Sir, from there, we get stuck again. I mean, how exactly are we going to get the Aetherfin onto the Emberkind, let alone into the zero-G chamber from the shuttle?"
"Ah, I'm glad you asked. That's where Tavi comes in."
"Tavi." Reyna's expression failed to hide her lack of inflection. "My Tavi?"
"Yes. Your Lead Software Engineer."
"And what exactly can Tavi do?"
"Make it happen."
Reyna stared at the screen. "Make it... happen..."
"Yes, Captain. Tavi has experience with zero-G field generation and containment protocols. I know he can tackle this problem and come up with a solution. You just need to tell him he only has three weeks to do so."
"Three weeks?!" The color drained from Reyna's face, which was never a good look against her sage green complexion.
"That should be plenty of time for Tavi. I wouldn't worry."
"No, I'm sure you wouldn't," Reyna muttered under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, sir." Apparently, it wasn't enough under her breath.
Vondra regarded her. The geode eyes held steady, and for a moment the water around the Admiral seemed to come off her in waves, as though heated. She seemed to be assessing whether to push or wait.
She pushed.
"Tell Tavi he has three weeks. I'll send over the coordinates for pickup and expect your update on what he's developed to ensure the creatures are brought onto the Emberkind and contained safely.
That is the whole point of your manifest, isn't it?
" Vondra's gaze bore into Reyna's, and Reyna knew immediately what was coming. "It's what Elena would hav—"
"—it's what Elena would have done," Reyna interjected, bottling her feelings at the mention of her old Captain's name, the woman lost thirteen years ago. "Of course it is," she added quietly, her gaze dropping to the surface of her desk.
"Even Jerel, for that matter," Vondra continued.
Reyna's eyes shot back up to the Admiral's face on the screen.
"Yes, Admiral. It would have been."
"So I can count on you to get it done?"
Of course the Coalition could count on her to get it done.
The Emberkind was built for exactly these purposes, retrofitted years ago to rescue, care for, and transport animals from across the galaxy that were in need, all because of her old Captain, Elena Voss.
Between Elena and Jerel Nox'thelan Carrothi, an incredible Qorrathi Animal Specialist, known to his friends simply as Jere, it was because of them that the Emberkind existed in its current state, had done such good over the years, and was still highly considered among the Coalition's fleet.
That didn't stop her heart from clenching at either of their names. The loss of her two best friends within a year of one another was what brought her into her position as Captain of the ship after serving as Elena's First Mate. But sometimes, she chose to forget at what cost.
With their mention, though, there was no way she wouldn't make this happen, even if it did happen within the Emberkind's space art.
She just had to figure out exactly how to do so.
She needed to talk to Tavi.
Immediately.
"Of course, Admiral. We will be at the coordinates at the arranged time, and we will have a plan to get them on board the Emberkind."
"That's what I like to hear," Vondra said.
Something shifted in the resonance of her voice, a warmth that the Voxlink caught.
The water around her hummed, just slightly, at a frequency Reyna felt in her sternum more than heard.
A Lithyn smile. "Coordinates are on their way, Captain. I'll see you in three weeks."
"Thank you, Admiral."
The display went dark, and Reyna was left in her office, staring at a blank screen, wondering how her Lead Software Engineer was going to capture, transport, and contain three creatures that could only survive in zero gravity.
She took a long breath. Then she pulled out her datapad from inside her captain's jacket.
"Tavi?"
A few seconds went by before a voice crackled through.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Can you come to my office, please? We have a new mission."
There was a pause.
"A new mission, huh," Tavi said flatly. Reyna pressed her lips together, containing her retort. A moment went by before Tavi spoke again. "What miracle am I going to have to perform this time, Cap?"
Reyna sighed before replying.
"What do you know about containing zero-G fields, Tavi?"
Tavi Breck arrived at her office seven minutes later, knocking on the door frame before entering.
"Hey, Cap. What's cookin'?"
"Take a seat, Tavi, please," Reyna said, her voice even and calm.
Tavi nodded and walked into Reyna's office.
The top of his head barely came up to the height of her desk, but Reyna could still observe him walk around and sit in the chair on her left, climbing up into it with no issue despite his small stature.
Tessarae were known for their size first and foremost, but it was also always the least interesting fact about them.
Tavi stood just under four feet, compact and solid, with warm copper-amber skin that shifted in gradient across his arms and face with mosaic markings blazing in bold crimson and gold.
His hair was a deep copper-red, pulled back in a short braid, while his hands, slightly larger than would seem proportionate to his frame, were already moving before he'd fully entered the room.
"Zero-G containment," he said, settling into the chair across from Reyna's desk. "That's the miracle?" Tavi laughed, the sound warm and solid. Just like Tavi, actually, Reyna thought. "I was expecting something harder."
"Three Aetherfin," Reyna said. "We need to get them from their current location onto this ship and into the zero-G chamber."
"We have a zero-G chamber? When did we get that?"
"The Coalition wants us to use the zero-G 'containment field' in the middle of the ship." Tavi was silent for a few moments, his gaze fixed on Reyna.
"They want us to put three Aetherfin in the... I'm sorry, what zero-G containment field in the middle of the ship?" Tavi looked utterly baffled. "I've been here more years than I care to admit and I've never seen one."
Reyna paused and closed her eyes. It really was a shame she could never master meditation. She knew she was going to need it today.
"The zero-G 'containment field' in the middle of the ship. The big glass thing that goes through the whole center? Six floors big?" Reyna explained, trying to point Tavi in the right direction.
Tavi continued to stare at her until his eyes went wide. "They want us to store the Aetherfin in the space art?!"
Reyna sighed. "Yes, but first we have to figure out a way to even get them in there," she paused to stare at him hard. "Alive. Unharmed. And we have three weeks to figure it out."
Tavi didn't shift, but his eyebrows climbed high enough to compensate.
"Three weeks."
"That's what the Admiral said."
"Three?"
"Three."
"Three?!"
Reyna blew out a huff. "Tavi, it doesn't change no matter how many times you say it, it's still only three weeks."
"They're giving us three weeks to move Aetherfin from wherever it is that we have to rescue them, from the shuttle itself, into the Emberkind, and then into the zero-G 'containment field' we apparently have masquerading as a space decorative art installation spanning four decks, six floors, and the width of a small space cruiser? "
"That would be the plan, yes," Reyna admitted. "And we have to move three of them."
"Three weeks, I know," Tavi grumbled.
"No," Reyna protested. "Three Aetherfin."
This time, Tavi's eyebrows shot up quickly instead of gradually as he looked at Reyna. He leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling. Reyna could practically hear the calculations running.
"Okay," he said. "Okay, okay. If we're going to do this, then the field generation isn't the problem.
I can maintain a stable zero-G environment inside the chamber.
The software can handle that. I mean, it's already doing it, technically, since the chamber's been running for years.
" He sat up. "The problem is the transition. "
"The transition?"
"Getting the Aetherfin from point A, which is a shuttle operating in standard gravity, to point B, which is the zero-G chamber.
Every meter in between is normal gravity.
And Aetherfin can't survive in gravity. It crushes their bones and flattens them solid, like a pancake.
" Tavi smashed his hands together in a mighty clap.
"Let's not have Aetherfin pancakes on our ship. That could be the mistake that decommissions the Emberkind," Reyna pleaded.
"Yeah, but, I mean, they were born in zero-G, they live in zero-G, and if they encounter a full gravitational environment, even briefly—" He made a sound with his mouth that Reyna interpreted as bad things happen.
"So we need to extend the zero-G field out from the chamber," Reyna said.
"That's what I thought too. I could run some simulations." He pulled up his datapad, tapping on the screen. "But, yeah, see? The problem is here, with the boundary. When you generate a zero-G field, the edge is hard. Gravity is either on or off. And when a biological organism hits that boundary—"
Reyna's comms chirped.
"Captain?"
"Captain here." Reyna recognized the voice of her Brontari chef, Borran.
"It's Borran."
"Yes, Borran, I know. Go ahead."
"Captain, the Vryx are still in my vent."
Reyna closed her eyes. "I'm aware, Borran."
"My bread is suffering."
"I understand."
"The bread did nothing wrong, Captain."
Tavi pressed his lips together very hard and studied the ceiling with sudden intense interest.
"Did you call Cael?" Reyna asked.
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"He would fix it."
"And did he? Is this a new problem?"
"No."