Kinnit was still scanning through the damaged data. The tech in Data Archives had finished finding all the corrupted data, and Admiral Stonefist had ordered a 24/7 guard on the Archives.
She rubbed her eyes. The vast amount of data was simply overwhelming. By all rights, this work should be handled by a team of data techs, instead of one Assistant armed only with a scanner. But they couldn't trust anyone else on board right now.
She sighed at the necessity of it. But catching Grimthorn out of the corner of her eye, she straightened up and put on her smile. If this Sisyphean task helped him, then she was happy to do it.
Because that's what a good Assistant did.
She mentally recited the Pledge of the Imperium to herself, and its motto. She hummed the anthem, and before long, her smile became genuine. She rocked side to side slightly as she worked.
It was a good day to live in the Imperium.
Her focus was snagged by Admiral Grimthorn Stonefist sitting at his desk, looking every inch like his name. Her brow crinkled. Lucy's ridiculous suggestion simply wouldn't leave her mind, even at inappropriate times, like now.
But she couldn't help wondering: what would Admiral Stonefist be like in a relationship? Demanding? Caring? Cold? Passionate? He was all those things in his job, but almost no one knew anything about him beyond his stern exterior and high expectations.
But really, he only had high expectations for everyone because he had far higher expectations for himself. It made some people angry or defensive, but it made her want to measure up. He inspired her to grow.
She let out a soft little sigh, and shook her head. Well, it was interesting to speculate, but after all, he was the stable footing of the Imperium, the rock on which the Navy rested. The lofty, grand and powerful Admiral. Not compatible with a relationship.
She was able to focus well after that, but only briefly. Grimthorn's console blinked, indicating a new message. He frowned and popped it up.
"New assignment from CenCom," he said. He scanned through the details. "Looks like they want an investigation. One of our outposts has stopped responding. No word from them in the last few days. It's in the Apus Theta system, bordering Oryndrax space, so they want some firepower on hand, just in case."
Kinnit swallowed heavily.
"Do you think... it's been destroyed, sir?"
"Hard to say until we're there." He stood. "Let's get the fleet moving."
They walked to the bridge, and Grimthorn took his familiar place on the captain's dais, gripping the railing.
"Kinnit, plot us a course, please. All ships, keep your shields ready and your weapons warmed up. We probably won't run into trouble, but 'probably' has a way of turning bad, so stay alert."
The fleet oriented and began streaming through jumpholes to reach Apus Theta.
They popped out in an unremarkable system. It was an unfriendly-looking system with a small, weak sun and scattered, rocky planetoids circling about. There were no enemies, but the whole system felt dead and abandoned.
"People live here?" Kinnit asked, wringing her hands.
"They work here," Grimthorn said, his arms crossed. "It's an outpost, not a colony." His mouth twisted. "Though some stay. They get stranded by habit, or by the comfort of the known."
He flipped open the channel to all ships.
"Deep scan the entire sector," he said. "I don't want us walking into any surprises." He closed the channel. "I'm ready for a boring mission," he said quietly to himself.
They entered orbit around the small class EC planet closest to the sun. Despite the nearness, the pale orange rays washing the surface left it dead and cold.
"Deep scan reports no unusual findings, sir," Lieutenant Renning said. "No unusual energy signatures."
"So, it's not the bugs for once," Kinnit heard Grimthorn mutter to himself.
Kinnit scanned the massive bridge monitor.
"No comm signals, sir," she said. "Emergency or otherwise."
"Alright. Let's get some boots on the ground to figure out what's going on."
"Are we going to send in the Marines, sir?" asked Kinnit.
"Oh, heavens, no," responded Grimthorn. "We only send in the Marines when we want to break a lot of things and establish a beachhead. Right now what we need is a scouting party." He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "Want to go scouting?"
"Is that wise, sir? Should the Admiral of the Ninth Fleet be going on random surface missions?"
"Wise?" He barked a mirthless laugh. "Kinnit, if I only did wise things, my career history would be wildly different. Besides," he said, stretching his shoulders, "it'll do me good to get off the ship for a bit."
She sank her head a little and twisted her fingers together.
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"I only thought that if it were dangerous..."
"It's probably fine," he said. "We'd know by now if there were anything truly dangerous down there." Then a thought occurred to him. "Oh, no," he said, making a placating gesture at her. "I didn't mean for you to actually come, Kinnit. It's never my expectation for you to put yourself in any danger."
She set her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks.
"Sir, I am your Assistant, and that means that I will go with you, wherever I'm allowed. If that's to the cafeteria or to the depths of Geina, I'll be stuck to your hip. And if you're going to put yourself in danger, then I'll be right there with you."
His mouth pinched for a long moment, his jaw working. Then he looked back at the screen.
"Fine. Let's suit up."
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The surface of the miniplanet was as dead as it looked from space. Pale, tumbled, fist-sized rocks covered the surface, stained orange by the weak rays of the sun. Kinnit carefully placed each foot. Even in the faint gravity of the miniplanet, the rocks were so loose and treacherous that twisting an ankle was a real possibility.
Fortunately, they didn't have far to go. They'd been unable to land on the outpost's landing pad, since it didn't look as though it had been maintained once since it had been built.
Kinnit looked up at Admiral Stonefist. He, too, was picking his steps with care.
They were both dressed in orange thinsuits. Since there was some gravity, some sun, and nothing overly toxic or corrosive in the atmosphere, they could forgo full EV suits in favor of the lighter, more flexible thinsuits. A handful of four similarly-attired and armed soldiers scouted ahead of them, and a small science team followed them with instruments.
"What was this outpost for, sir?" Kinnit asked.
"Sensor station," he replied. "Just a place with ears, basically, to keep watch on the the bugs, in case they start getting rowdy."
"Are we sure it wasn't an attack?" she asked. Her footing slipped, and she just missed tumbling to the ground.
"Not likely. Even with guidance and support, the bugs' approach would have left this place a crater."
They made their way to the main building of the outpost. Once they could get a clear view of it, they stopped dead.
"What happened here?" Kinnit breathed.
The roof of the building was mostly intact, but that was about it. Most of the walls had been blown out. Support girders and chunks of architecture held it up, but the rocky surface of the planet was clearly visible through the wreckage of the building.
"Fan out," Grimthorn called. "Look for survivors. Or bodies." Out of habit, he yelled, though it was unnecessary with the thinsuit mics. More quietly, he said to Kinnit, "You don't have to search."
She set her teeth.
"You don't have to protect me, sir," she said, thrusting out one hand. "I came to help, and I'll help." She strode forward, her gesture only slightly ruined by the stumbling as rocks turned under her feet.
"Very well. Just... be careful."
They canvassed the exterior, finding nothing interesting besides twisted wreckage.
"Let's move in," Grimthorn said. "Careful, we don't know how sound the structure is."
They moved carefully through the destroyed structure. There was not much more interesting inside than there was outside. Scorch marks adorned the walls, what was left of them.
"The thin atmosphere kept this place from burning down," Kinnit said, "but this looks like an explosion."
Grimthorn nodded.
"Looks like a single one, too," he said. "Not a series of explosions. Look at the spread of the debris." He turned and signaled one of the science crew. "There's a console here. Hook in, see if you can get any logs. If not, we'll have to hope their black box is still viable." The scientists descended on the console.
"Point of explosion was this way, sir," Kinnit said.
The entered a more open area of the building. A shallow crater dominated the open floor.
"This was the storage area," Grimthorn said. "Following the standard outpost layout, this is where they would have kept whatever materials they needed to operate the outpost. But there shouldn't have been anything dangerous in here. Certainly nothing that would have done all this."
Kinnit picked her way carefully around the crater.
"Kinnit, wait," Admiral Stonefist called. "We don't know how stable this area is."
She put a hand to the wall to steady herself and looked up at him in annoyance.
"You don't have to fret about me, sir, I can take care--"
She suddenly realized he was charging at her at top speed. She only had a moment to gasp before he hit her like a hot-rolling freighter.
----------------------------------------
Kinnit lay on her back, struggling to draw air after having the wind knocked out of her. The thinsuits were designed to be tough, but provided no protection against impact, and he'd hit her like a falling building.
As her vision cleared, she could see the Admiral over her, his face only inches from hers, separated by two thin layers of synthglass. He wore a fierce grimace.
"Kinnit..." he said. He struggled to speak, but his voice had a forced calm. His eyes were wide, staring, unseeing. "Wake up. Run."
As she became more aware, she could take in more of the situation. He held himself up over her in a push-up position, his arms trembling. His struggle was visible even through the thinsuit.
"Wake up," he said, straining. "Run."
She looked higher, over his shoulder, and saw part of a collapsed wall resting on him. With growing horror, she made out two steel girders laying across his shoulders, loosely connected by the dense building material of the wall. And the only thing keep the whole assemblage from collapsing in and crushing her were his arms, positioned to either side of her shoulders.
"Wake up. Run."
With a panicked squeak, she shimmied out from underneath him. It took her a moment to work loose and scramble away. Exposed rebar and bare stone snagged at her thinsuit and bruised her hands and knees.
She found herself in a twisted, complex, three-dimensional maze of stone, wall, rebar, and steel supports. Everything was so topsy-turvy, it was hard for her to even tell which way was up. Dust filled the air. It was filtered by the thinsuit, but reduced her visibility to a few feet. With growing panic, she darted around, squeezing between gaps in the debris, seeking a way out. She quickly lost sight of Admiral Stonefist in the maze.
"Kinnit." She heard his voice over her comms. "Wake up. Run."
"I'm clear, sir!" she screamed back. "You have to get out of there!"
"Wake up. Run."
Sobbing, she ducked, scrambled, and crawled, seeking an escape.
"Sir!" she cried. "I can't find my way out!"
"Wake up. Run."
"Sir, please!" Her voice cracked.
With a loud snap and a tumble of falling debris that thudded heavily into her flesh, she pushed through a wall, and saw a hole into open area. She reached through with one arm.
"Help me!" she cried.
"Over here!" one of the soldiers called, pointing at her. The four men rushed over to her. They grabbed away chunks of debris, clearing out a hole big enough to pull her out through. With a yank that nearly twisted her shoulder out of joint, they pulled her free. She tumbled down the pile and rolled onto her back, staring up at the stars.
"Kinnit," his voice came through her comms. It sounded weak, failing, used up. "Wake up."
"Grimthorn's still in there!" she screamed. "He's still--"
"Kinnit--"
His transmission cut off as, with a heavy groan, the debris further in shifted and collapsed heavily, squirting dust thickly out through the whole pile.
"No!" she screamed.