An incessant beeping startled Lissia awake. She pulled her seats back upright and grabbed one of the sleeves of her jacket to wipe some drool off her check. As she really woke up it became clear that the beeping was the auto-pilot letting her know that they were approaching Haven. She turned off the alarm and tapped the display in front of her.

After a bit of loading it flickered on and displayed the space around The Kestrel as the radar pinged out from the ship. As the space station jumped up on the display she locked onto it and set their approach. She throttled down and got up to wake up Gabriella who was still asleep.

It took a bit of prodding, and some shaking, to eventually get her awake. As she started to wake up she opened her eyes and gave Lissia a strange look. She eventually seemed to remember where she was and pulled the blanket off as she got out of the chair, rubbing her eyes.

They both settled down in front of the controls, and Lissia turned to Gabriella. “So uh, what exactly is the procedure for docking while exiled?” Gabriella furrowed her brow. Exile was not exactly common at Haven, and the few who had opted for it usually never returned.

After a bit Gabriella spoke carefully. “Well, landing should not be an issue. Anyone can land, it’s everything else that gets… complicated.”

Lissia set her jaw. “I’ll take it. We can get on the ground and take it from there.” She said and throttled up.

As they got within radio range of Haven they were hailed by the station. Lissia pinged back a docking request and was given the all clear and a pad number. It felt odd to be docking at Haven again. She had always taken her exile as a total rejection of her, but all this time she could have docked in the public dock.

As the docking slot came into range the autopilot turned off, and Lissia took over the controls. There was no other traffic so she had the approach to herself, and it felt like coming home in more ways than one. She knew exactly when to cut down the main thrusters and drift up to the slot. As she entered the decompression field she flipped her thrusters to compensate for the artificial gravity, and as the ship glided on the last of its momentum it began to hover. Lissia tilted the nose of The Kestrel forward and slowly hovered down the corridor of the hangar to their designated pad. After extending the landing gear she turned the ship and touched down.

Gabriella got up while Lissia powered down the ship. “I’ll need to have some uh, interesting conversations with whoever is on duty today. C’mon.” They climbed down the ladder to the cargo hold and Lissia opened the back allowing them both to step out into the docking bay of Haven.

Lissia’s senses were assaulted by the sounds and smells of space traffic. The hanger was not particularly busy, but a few ships were occupying it. While Haven was very particular about who was allowed into the station proper, the hangar was open to almost anyone. Scavengers and traders could do business in the open market, and Taverns Bar was open to anyone who could drink without causing too much trouble, and had a sober ride home or planned to rent a bed.

The hangar had some twenty landing pads placed along the strip of open floor that led from the docking slot to the exit on the other side. It had taken some time to figure out the system, but accidents in the hangar had almost gone away when they got a couple of dedicated hangar attendants to coordinate the coming and going ships. As Lissia took in the scene a ragged transport ship took off next to them and began its exit. It looked like it was seconds away from falling apart, but it managed to get down the strip and out the exit. Gabriella placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, and motioned her to follow.

Gabriella guided them towards the small Customs and Security office near the market, but before they made it there someone jogged up to them. They were wearing the closest thing Haven’s security had to a uniform. Other than their encrypted chips, security always tried to wear something red while on duty. This one, Lissia was pretty sure his name was Killian, was wearing a red scarf. When he got closer, he recognized Gabriella and shot her a quick salute.

“Welcome back Captain.” He said in a chipper tone, but as he noticed Lissia he seemed to have the question on his face answered. “I assume the situation regarding Lissia and her, uh, I just mean…”

As he floundered for a moment Gabriella jumped in. “Hey Killian, don’t worry I got this one. Technically the hangar should be neutral ground. Even for, exiles.” Lissia couldn’t help cringing at the word. “Is Kiara in the office?” Gabriella asked.

Killian gave her a nod as he answered. “She’s been a little prickly since Varek got back alone. Told me to tell you to swing by when you got back.” Gabriella gave Killian a very relaxed salute and began walking towards the office. Killian gave Lissia a thin smile. “Hey Lissia. Uh, good to see you.”

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“You too Killian.” Lissia muttered awkwardly before striding after Gabriella to catch up to her.

Inside the office Kiara sat behind a desk covered in paperwork. She was scanning through a thick folder when they entered and before either of them could speak, she did.

“Captain.” She said curtly, lifting one hand from the table just enough to indicate the ghost of a salute. In that way it seemed to Lissia that Kiara had not changed much in the last month.

Gabriella crossed her arms and waited for Kiara to continue, but when she just kept reading Gabriella spoke. “You wanted to see me.” Kiara took her time finishing the paragraph she was reading before looking up from her report.

“I did. What’s the situation with those cells? And why is she here?” Kiara asked while keeping her expression unassuming, but her tone was ice cold.

“I wasn’t the only one scavenging for the cells, and we ran into a Sgark infestation. We were in a hurry so Lissia gave me a ride off the hulk.” Gabriella said. “We managed to find some cells, but only s… five.”

Kiara listened to the report with what appeared to be total indifference. When Gabriella finished, Kiara clicked her tongue. “Five cells huh? I guess the exile wants her half as well.”

“We haven’t exactly discussed…” Gabriella began but Lissia cut in herself.

“Nope, we found six and I took one for fuel. The rest go to Haven.”

Gabriella looked back at her with a baffled look, but Lissia tried to keep her expression as immovable as Kiara’s. They stared at each other for a moment, both unwilling to show anything but disconnected indifference. Eventually Kiara clicked her pen and pulled a form from her pile of papers. “Five power cells acquired, noted.” She said as she began filling out the form.

As Kiara scribbled Gabriella tried to steer the conversation back on track. “Speaking of Lissia, what’s the precedent for letting previously exiled people back onto the station proper?”

Kiara stopped writing, and a muscle tensed in her jaw. She slowly lifted her gaze to meet Gabriella’s, but otherwise managed to keep her nonplussed expression. “What exactly do you have in mind?” Kiara said in a low voice. For a moment her and Gabriella just held each other’s gaze.

“I am just asking if it has been done before.” Gabriella eventually answered.

Kiara leaned back in her seat before replying. “Not to my knowledge. Usually exiles stay away, having chosen said exile.” She said with a quiet certainty, implying it should be a non-issue.

Gabriella seemed to grow tired of the back and forth. “Well if there is no precedent I guess we might as well set one.” She leaned over Kiara’s desk and grabbed a piece of paper from a pile. The invasion of Kiara’s space caused her to freeze. Gabriella then grabbed the pen out of Kiara’s hand and began filling out the temporary past-port, which would allow Lissia to go past the control point between the port and the rest of Haven.

While Gabriella wrote, Kiara sat petrified, her hand still held as if the pen was in it. Her eyes widened as she stared at Gabriella with a look that could have grinded rust off the floor. Gabriella politely ignored it, continuing to fill out the form. As she finished she inspected the paperwork, and handed it to a shell shocked Lissia.

“There, that should at least get you inside. We have some business we need to take care of before you run off.” Gabriella said matter-of-factly

“Okay” Lissia mumbled while inspecting the paper, mainly to avoid Kiara’s gaze. If their eyes met Lissia was afraid she would turn to stone.

“I’ll be by with a full report at some point. See you later Kiara.” Gabriella said and turned on her heel. Lissia followed her out of the office, daring a short look back at Kiara. She was staring into the air, her right eye giving a slight twitch. Lissia practically ran after Gabriella without a word.

“So I take it Kiara is not my biggest fan?” Lissia said meekly as they headed back to The Kestrel.

Gabriella gave a snort. “Lissia, Kiara was never your biggest fan, but she’ll come around. In a day or two she will act like nothing happened.” Gabriella climbed up into the cabin to get her things while Lissia re-secured the bundle of power cells.

“Were you serious by the way?” Gabriella asked as she awkwardly climbed down, box in one hand and rifle on her shoulder. “About not wanting your share of the cells, I mean.”

Lissia hesitated for a moment. She had not really thought before blurting it out, but she did not want to back out now. “Yeah, of course. Haven probably needs those cells more than I do. Besides, I have fuel for a while in the one I got.” She finally answered, her mouth doing the thinking for her.

Gabriella seemed caught off guard by her answer. “Huh, well alright. That’s certainly good news for the hydro farms. They need the extra power for the grow-lights since we increased production.”

At the mention of the farms Lissia was suddenly overcome with a desire to see them. It had been so long since she had seen something that grew in dirt. “Can we go see them?” Lissia blurted out without any attempt to hide her excitement. Gabriella broke into a smile as she nodded. “I was just going to ask you if you wanted to go.”