Gabriella’s office turned out to be Davidson’s old one. When he had been in charge it had been a total mess of piles of paper and half-finished tinkering projects. Lissia had never seen the tabletop because of the mess, and was surprised to find it was made of wood. Synthetically grown wood, but nevertheless something other than the stainless steel everything else on Haven was made of.
Gabriella had done an admirable job in getting the office in order, but Lissia could tell it would eventually revert to how it had been. The ‘in’ dock was stacked precariously high, and Gabriella looked to be working on at least five different things at once. As she sat down behind the desk she pushed some of the papers to the side and pulled a large folder out from a drawer.
She began looking through the folder as she spoke. “How much do you listen when Saxton talks about the array?”
“Enough to make polite conversation until he gets to the point.” Lissia answered. “Why?”
“Because Saxton might have accidentally stumbled on to something extraordinary.” Gabriella said as she handed Lissia a page from the folder.
The paper was a mixture of schematics and notes scribbled on by hand. Lissia scanned the page, but the handwriting was only borderline legible. The schematics themselves weren’t much help either.
“Uh, what exactly am I looking at?” Lissia asked as Gabriella spread more pages from the folder out on her desk.
“Apparently Saxton’s biggest problem with the array is getting coverage. He says the system itself is stable enough, but anywhere outside of major stations you lose connection.” As Gabriella spoke Lissia looked over the pages. The schematics began to make sense.
“And this is a signal booster he has cooked up?” she asked, a little skeptical.
“No, much better.” Gabriella answered.
From the loose pages she pulled an old manifest of a station. “This is an old communications station. Saxton found it while trawling through all the old files on the array. He says it used to be an internal corporate network, and the corporation that owned most of this sector built the station to get better coverage.”
Lissia began to understand why Gabriella was interested. “How much coverage?” she asked.
“Well according to a memo, total coverage.” Gabriella answered with a rising enthusiasm in her voice.
Saxton’s array had started as his personal project, but as he linked up to the other stations it became quite popular. Anyone with a communicator could connect, and communicate with people across the sector. It was nice for keeping in touch and sharing reports, but the lack of coverage outside of stations meant that ships were still flying mostly blind. With total coverage, that would be a different story.
“Wow.” Lissia said absentmindedly as she began making sense of the pages. “Where is the station?” she asked, and looked up from the papers.
Gabriella pulled a slight grimace. “That’s the tricky part. We aren’t exactly sure.”
She turned on the terminal on her desk and gave it a hard whack that cleared the static on the screen. After a bit of maneuvering she pulled up an orbital map of the system.
“According to the records, it was meant to orbit here.” She said as she typed in a command and highlighted an orbit around HAD_1, or Hadi as people called the planet.
“But…” Gabriella sighed as she continued typing away at the console “Due to some orbital decay because of sloppy math, it probably ended up closer to something like… this.” The orbit on the screen shifted, and ended up colliding with the asteroid belt orbiting the planet.
“So it’s gone then.” Lissia said matter-of-factly.
“Yes, well, probably.” Gabriella answered while staring at the orbital calculations and rubbing her chin. “Saxton has been running more precise simulations ever since he found the manifest, and he seems to think there is a not insignificant chance it has slipped into the belt and matched speed with the asteroids.”
Lissia crossed her arms. “What exactly does ‘a not insignificant chance’ mean?” She asked. This was the type of language Saxton used when his tip was a goose chase.
Gabriella grimaced again, and seemed to choose her words carefully before speaking. “That Saxton has been a bit tightlipped about. But I don’t think he’s bullshitting me. I’ve seen the math, and as far as I can tell it seems solid.”
She looked at Lissia with genuine hope in her eyes. It sounded like a total pipe dream, but Lissia had to admit that Gabriella was usually too much of a realist to get suckered into pipe dreams.
“Okay, so let’s just assume that this station is not only more or less whole, but also not stripped clean. Why are you talking to me about it?” she said as she sat on the edge of the desk.
“Like I said back on the hulk, our ships are not exactly the most flexible at the moment.” Gabriella began in a careful tone. “We would need to get into the belt where our calculations place the station to run scans and the like. To do that we would need a maneuverable ship…”
“Like The Kestrel.” Lissia finished as Gabriella petered out.
For a moment they both sat in silence, trying to come to terms with what Gabriella was suggesting. They both knew Lissia would never let anyone else fly her ship, so it would mean working together again.
Before the silence fully settled, Gabriella spoke. “I just wanted to let you know about this whole thing, so take some time and let me know what you think. We can go see Saxton as well if you wanna hear it directly from his mouth.” Gabriella was trying to not pressure her, but Lissia felt the pressure regardless.
“If I were interested, what exactly, I just mean if I am not helping out as a part of Haven…” Lissia began, havinga hard time asking Gabriella what was in it for her. Before she would have just done it because Haven needed it, but now she did not have that luxury.
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Gabriella sat chewing on her lower lip for a bit before answering. “I’m not promising anything yet, but I might be able to ask around regarding your, situation. People weren’t happy to see you go, Lissia.” She finally said, looking anywhere but Lissia’s eyes.
Lissia pulled a frustrated face. “Not everyone, maybe. But I remember a handful of people who were more than happy to see me guilty of scalping.”
As Lissia spoke, she felt the smoldering anger that had sat in her stomach since that day rise again. The allegations had been totally bullshit. She had found a big haul but Jenkins, who had read the shipping manifest, had immediately assumed she was stocking up to hold out on Haven. He had said something snide, and Lissia had let her temper get the better of her, so she made some comment about his ex-wife that he took personally. Then before she knew it he had her indicted for scalping.
Gabriella took a deep breath, and began talking in a overly calm tone. “Either way, I think I might be able to convince some people to put your exile up for a vote. We have a meeting next week, so I can still put it on the agenda. Again, I’m not saying I can have it taken care of just like that, but most people on Haven don’t really believe you did it.”
Lissia’s heart fluttered at just the thought, but she tried to force herself to be realistic. “But, has exile ever been revoked? Isn’t it for life?” She asked.
Gabriella leaned back in her chair and flung her arms out, gesturing to the office. “No, but a month ago I never imagined anyone but Jamison working behind this desk. Things change, Lissia. It’s not always for the worst.”
As she shuffled some papers around she added. “If people don’t believe you deserve to come back, most are at least fair. If you help Haven with this, that would normally qualify an outsider for a spot here. Don’t expect luxury accommodation, but I think you can at least get full access again.”
While Lissia’s head swam with the idea of coming home again, Gabriella checked her watch and swore under her breath. “I have like, three places I need to be, and two reports I need to write.” She said as she got up and began rifling through her desk for the right papers.
“I’ll think about it and get back to you.” Lissia managed hoarsely. Really there was nothing to think about. Now that it was in front of her she realized she wanted nothing more than to come back to Haven. To the gardens, the people. As she looked at Gabriella absentmindedly tucking a loose strand of her shoulder-length auburn hair behind her ear she realized how much she had missed her, even if she had hid it under her anger.
As Gabriella found the folder she was looking for she looked up at Lissia and smiled reassuringly. “Good, We’ll talk later. If nothing else we can fly out to Saxton on Schrottzport together. I imagine you also have a bone to pick with him about his tip.”
It took Lissia a moment to realize what Gabriella was even talking about. “Huh? Oh yeah, yeah.” She answered, but her mind was already running off without her.
As she stood lost in thought Gabriella began exiting the office, but stopped when Lissia didn’t follow. She looked concerned. “Lissia, are you alright?” she asked.
Lissia finally snapped out of it. “Yeah, just a bit tired. Go on, I’ll see myself out. I hopefully still know my way around.” She said with an attempt at a jovial tone with a small smile.
Gabriella smiled back, and right after she was out the door she poked her head back into the office. “It’s good to see you again Lissia.” She said, before hurrying off to the hundred small fires she had to put out. Even in Lissia’s disorientated state it made her heart flutter.
***
Lissia began wandering Haven aimlessly as she tried to get her thoughts in order. She had been telling herself that she was fine with her exile, but now that there was a chance of coming back she was desperate for it. The problem was that a lot had changed. Her time away from Haven had changed her, and Gabriella as well. She wanted to come back and act like everything was fine, but she couldn’t let go of her anger.
As she walked the familiar corridors of the station she passed two people doing maintenance on one of the countless panels constantly failing throughout the station. She carefully stepped around their work area, and as she did one of them made eye contact with her for a brief moment. As Lissia continued down the hall, she heard the two begin to talk in hushed tones, and before rounding a corner she noticed them craning their necks after her.
She already hated the idea of people looking at her like that, having to explain what happened, why she was back. She quickly got her bearings, and began marching towards the hangar. There was one place on the station where she was sure no-one would ask her questions, and luckily that place also served drinks, so Lissia headed for Taverns Bar.
The bar was mostly empty, except for a group of off duty scrappers. Lissia took a seat on the opposite side of the bar from them, and Tavern quickly showed up.
“Well hello Lissia, been a while.” He said. “What can I get’cha?”
“Cider, if you have any.” Lissia answered, keeping her tone neutral.
Tavern sucked on one of his teeth as he bobbed his head from side to side. “I got some, but it’s a real bitter batch.”
Lissa snorted. “Is it ever not?”
Tavern pursed his lips and began pouring her a glass. “You ain’t wrong.” He said as he slid the glass towards her, and Lissia picked it up and took a sip. She struggled not to knot up her whole face, and managed to swallow and give Tavern a nod. When she didn’t say anything more he simply walked down the bar and left her to her drink. He knew what people who came to brood at the counter looked like.
After a few sips Lissia managed to get more or less used to the taste. Even for Havens cider, this was very tart. Whenever she went to Taverns she always ordered at least one glass, just so he would keep serving it. She always hoped the next batch would be better, but if no one bought it she feared they would stop making it. What she wanted was cider like they had had back at the colony, but they still seemed to struggle with getting it right on Haven. That at least hadn’t changed.
Gabriella’s words kept rattling around her head. She wanted to believe that change could be good, but in her experience change had always come at a great cost. Her whole life had been ripped apart when the colony had been overrun by the Skargs. Only Gabriella, Gabriella’s older brother Jarvis, and Lissa had made it out. Jarvis had died soon after. When the colony’s nuclear reactor had gone critical as the Skargs tore it apart he had been exposed to the radiation. The cancer had left just the two of them. And more recently change had meant exile from the one place she felt at home… Lissa shook her head. She felt herself starting to sulk, something she had started doing more than she liked recently. She had to keep looking forward.
Right then she decided to take Gabriella up on the offer. Even if she couldn’t come back to Haven fully, working with them as an outsider was the next best thing. Plus having spent the last hours with Gabriella had been nice. Even if things weren't like they used to, she really seemed like she wanted to make things right between them.
Having come to her decision, Lissia dug some old Haven chips out of her pocket and left them on the bar for the drink. When Haven had begun taking shape as a proper station they had needed money, and someone had found the colorful little plastic disks in one of the recreational areas of the station. Ever since they had been the official currency of Haven, even if people still mostly bartered.
As Lissia began to get up she noticed Tavern giving her a glance from the other end of the bar. He kept chatting away with the scrappers as he poured a beer, but his gaze flickered from Lissa to her class on the bar. She hadn’t finished the cider. Even for her this had been too tart, but when Tavern raised an eyebrow questionly at her she sighed deeply. Slowly she picked the glass back up, and raised it in a weak toast in Tavern’s direction. In one quick motion she tilted her head back, and chugged the last half of the cider down in one gulp. It tasted like old vinegar, and as she suppressed a shudder she tried to pull a neutral face while giving Tavern a thumbs up. She then hurried out, wondering how the hell they had still not figured out how to ferment fruit.