Chapter 20

Brigit summons everyone to the bridge the next day. Once she has assembled everyone and the table is up, Brigit addresses them. "Okay, everyone, they have given us our assignment. Unfortunately, it came in before I could get our own job, but I was able to snag some cargo going back to Terrene."

"So we're going right back to where we came from?" Adair asks, a little bored with the job already.

"Yes, but before you get too bored, I'm going to need you and Rory to cook up a new flight plan. The default one will not work. We need to get back in about two-thirds of the time it normally takes." As Brigit says the last, everyone's eyes open in amazement.

Doc is the first to speak. "Is that even possible? I know Adair here is a genius, but even that can't make you gain that kind of performance.."

Cali and Rory are both about to speak, and Rory lets Cali go. "Rory and I were just talking about this yesterday. The Accord rates the ship to go much faster than it does. We're only using about sixty to seventy percent of its capability."

Rory picks up where Cali left off. "Yeah, and that, combined with Adair's creative pathing, should make it pretty attainable." She turns to the captain, "So, cap, what's the rush?"

"Have any of you all been watching the news holos?" Brigit asks. Seeing no one nod, she continues, "There is a tension between the planet Deep," she nods to Doc, "and neighboring Yanus. Both parties have agreed to allow The Trine to step in as moderators."

Everyone nods as other governments have summoned The Trine as mediators in the past. "Well, a member of the Trine is here on Zephyr.."

Everyone's eyes get enormous as they make the connection. They say several things at once,

"Which one?"

"Is it the Maiden?"

"How soon do they have to be on Zephyr?"

Doc asks a question when the rest have died down, "Are emissaries from both Deep and Yanus going to be there?"

Brigit nods to Doc but addresses them all. "I'll answer in order. The Maiden, yes, as soon as possible, and," turning to Doc, she continues, "Yes. And seeing as how it's not much more expensive to add another person to the trip from Deep, they will transport your mother to Terrene as well. If I understand correctly, she has intricate knowledge of Deep."

"And the Yanus as well," Doc states.

"Yeah, I understand that there is a bit of a history between your two worlds?" Brigit queries, knowing the answer, but inviting him to explain the situation the situation in his own words.

"You could say that. While we fight amongst ourselves for every scrap of resources, we can get, especially water. The Yanus have plenty of water, but they don't have sand. They declared Deep theirs and have been sending colonists - in violation of Coalition laws, I might add - every so often. We root them out, give them the option to leave. They refuse, we end up fighting them, they retaliate by killing our children. Not the men who fight, not the women, no. The future."

"They don't actually kill enough to wipe us out, but the threat is there. And since the the fighting isn't constant, and the Yanus mostly only target children, well, it's a bogeymen story told to get children to behave. And it works. Partly because the children know it's true. Some have likely seen it happen. I know I did..." Doc's voice goes quiet after the last.

Adair places a hand on his shoulder. "You gonna be okay? Need a hug?" Doc turns and hugs them, unshed tears in his eyes. Then, as he looks around and sees Rory, hand on heart and a tear slipping down her face, Brigit's blue-green eyes looking cold and determined and Cali looking ready to ignore all the non-lethal codes, he regains himself. "I would like to be there if possible. I might not be the best fighter," He nods to Cali, and she gives him a tip of the head, "But at least I can stand in their way if they attack."

"I'm pretty sure it won't come to that, but I'll ask The Maiden when she arrives. We'll be leaving in two days. If any of you have any last-minute things you want to do, I would suggest not putting it off. Doc, since Rory and Adair need to work on the astrogation updates, would you mind preparing the guest quarters?"

"Sure, I can do that. I didn't think we had guest quarters." Doc answers.

"Okay, everyone has their work to do; let's go." Brigit lowers the table and stands up. She looks at Cali. "I'm going to go get changed; meet you at the lock?"

Cali nods and heads to the ladder.

#

Cali and Brigit meet at the lock. They both seem to have the same idea. They want to dress up, but they are only going to a diner. So instead of dressing up, they both wear what appear to be their best casual clothes.

Brigit wears faded blue jeans and a white cardigan over a black turtleneck. It all fits very well and shows off the low-g curves. She also has her brown hair down, which is unusual, and Cali likes it.

While Cali is checking Brigit out, Bridget checks her out. Cali is also wearing jeans, but where Brigit's look leans to the classy, Cali's tends toward the sensual. Tall black boots, a black cropped leather jacket over a light blue deep plunge necked top. Nestled in the dip is a dagger necklace. She has matching dagger earrings as well. Her red hair is double braided tight to her head on either side, showing off her neck.

After they have both thoroughly checked each other out, they turn for the door. Brigit keyed it open. "Shall we?"

#

On the bridge, Rory and Adair have slid two consoles close together to work on the trip. Rory is pointing out a setting she can tweak in the sail generators when it hits her again. "Wow, the Maiden is going to be on this ship.."

Adair grins as Rory gets distracted again. They wait for her to come back around and listen to Rory continue to ponder. "Have you seen her? I haven't in person, only holos; I wonder how much she'll be taking with her. Oh!" Then she realizes that she's gone off track. "Okay, so if we extend the sails another twenty percent, our speed increases by a factor of three. How much can you get by slipping under the elliptic?"

Adair runs some computations before answering. "Looks like, with a combination of slipping under and doing two slingshots with an additional braking maneuver, we should get another factor of two. So we can, with a bit of recklessness, increase to a factor of five. If we dial it back, adding in some caution, we should be able to maintain a factor of between three and a half and four. Let's run some simulations to test it out."

#

Doc has to ask Tyche where the guest rooms are. He tells himself that it is okay since his purview doesn't include that kind of stuff. It turns out that they are down a short distance from the tech alcove. When he opens the first one, he is glad that the ventilation moves the air all over the ship; otherwise, there would have been dust everywhere. As it is, it seems very stale compared to everyone's personal quarters. He hasn't thought of how much they each personalized their rooms and sets out to give this one a home-like feeling as theirs had.

He sets to getting the room setup. First, he adds string lights as everyone seemed to like those. He also has Tyche tie them into the ship's light controls. He then makes the bed, adding a lovely homemade purple, yellow, and orange blanket on top. Finally, he makes sure that the bathroom had the essentials, including a bright orange towel set.

Finishing, he steps to the doorway and turns. He nodded. But then he realizes the room needs one more thing. "Tyche, view-port on and lights at sixty-five percent."

#

Cali and Brigit sit at a table close to each other, and the server recognizes Cali. "Hey, you were just here the other day. So you liked it, huh?" She smiles at them.

"Oh yeah. Very much. I needed to bring her to experience it for herself." She pats Brigit's thigh as she answers and then turns to Brigit. "Do you like burgers?" At her nod, she turns back to the server, "Two standards with one icy mud puddle to share, please."

She asked Brigit, "Is it okay that I ordered for you? " Brigit nods and leans back, relaxing, not saying anything about the hand still on her thigh.

"So, tell me about you, Cali. I know what I know from knowing you in Academy, but not much more than that."

"Well, let's see." She leans to the side, liking that Brigit lets her hand stay on her leg. "You probably know I was born on a ship, right?" At Brigit's nod, she continues, "Well, did you know its name is Sally's Folly?" Brigit shakes her head, "Well, my great grandmother named it that because she won it in a card game. She had raised when everyone thought she should fold. Someone said that it was 'Sally's folly', and she decided she should name the ship that." Cali, a little nervous around someone she liked so much, thinks she is talking too much and trails off. "It was a good place to grow up."

"It sounds like it. Did you get any flak meeting other people that weren't born and raised on ships for how you came up?" Brigit asks, leaning slightly towards Cali, waiting for more.

"Not really. I mean, kids will tease you for any little thing. I probably got more for being a redhead, honestly. The teasing changed to a novel form of attention when I reached my teens and got these." She holds her hands up to her chest to emphasize her point.

"I could see how that would change the dynamic, yes." Brigit gulps and hides her distraction by taking a sip of water and Cali smiles and leans back, clasping hands in front of her, enjoying the effect she is having on Brigit.

"Wait, you said, 'its name is'. Is it still out there?" Brigit asks.

Cali beams with pride. "Oh yeah. The next generation has come up on that ship. Last I heard, my niece was captain."

Cali interrupts Brigit, who is starting to ask another question, "ah ah ah. I get a chance to ask questions too. You grew up with Adair, right? How did you guys meet and get to know each other?"

Brigit puts down her glass and says, "Well, our families were already close when we were born. Have you heard of the Founding Families?"

Cali nods. "Yeah, but I couldn't name them all right now if I tried..."

"Well, my family, Borea, is one of the founding families, as is Adair's, Toge. The founding families all live near each other on Terrene, so since we were the same age, we just naturally gravitated together. Turned out we make an impressive pair for getting into and out of mischief. I would usually provide the idea that Adair would execute, which would then get us into trouble. But then they would figure out a way to get us out, and if it involved convincing someone of something, I would usually take care of that."

The server brings over their food and sets it in front of each of them. "And I am so sorry, but I forgot to ask what you wanted to drink. Anything besides the water you have already?"

Brigit shakes her head, but Cali says, "You know, I could really go for a nice Sauvignon Blanc. Whatever you have is fine. Thanks."

The server nods and disappears, leaving them with their food. Cali leans forward and smells the food, closing her eyes. "Mmm... Just how I remembered it."

Brigit laughs as she also inhales the delicious scents of her food. "It wasn't that long ago, you noop."

Cali lifts her burger and takes a big bite, Brigit follows suit, and for a time, they just eat, with the occasional smile as they enjoy each other's company.

The server brings Cali the glass of wine she ordered and disappears.

After a time, Cali sits back and wipes her mouth with her napkin. "Wow, that is so good. I'm going to have to recommend this to other people. Now, where were we?"

Brigit answers with a smile, "I was blathering on about my youth while you checked me out."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Well, you can't blame a girl for checking you out, can you?" Cali teases.

"No, no, I can't. But what I can do is finish this burger."

The server sees the burgers finished a bit later and brings over the chocolate mocha shake. The glass has two straws, and the server hands them each a spoon. Then, setting the metal cup down, she disappears again, leaving an 'enjoy' in her wake.

They each dip a spoon in, and bring it to their lips. Brigit is the first to remark, "Mmm... now that is tasty."

Cali nods in return and makes appreciative sounds, sounds that bring feelings to Brigit. Having gotten their initial taste, they both switch to straws and are staring into each other's eyes, occasionally giggling as the eye contact gets to be too much or someone slurps too loud. Soon they finish the main shake, pour the leftover shake into the cup, and attack the rest with their spoons. Their faces being only inches from each other. It is all either of them could do not to kiss the other. So instead, they focus on the delicious shake.

Finished, Brigit sits back. "Wow, that was, well, it was definitely a top-five meal for sure. And the company," She places her hand on Cali's, which is resting on the table, "was top-notch. I'd love to stay and chat, but as you can imagine, there are many captain duties with the Maiden coming aboard. Walk me to the lock?"

Cali nods and stands, holding out her hand to help Brigit up. "Of course, my lady, let us away."

Brigit grins. "Um, I think we should pay first.."

"Oh yeah, duh. Yeah, let's do that." Cali says, and as she does, the server shows up with the bill. Brigit takes it and thumbs payment, adding a generous tip, and they head for the door.

Cali whines a little. "I thought I was taking you out to dinner?"

"You did," Brigit says with a smile. "I just paid for it, is all."

"Alright, fine," Cali says as she holds out her hand for Brigit. Stepping up, Brigit takes Cali's hand, and they walk down the halls, heading for the ship.

At the ship, they stop, and Cali turns towards Brigit. "I have some errands to run, and apparently, you have important captainly duties, so I think I'll leave you here. I had a great time."

"As did I," Brigit replies. "Let's definitely do it again sometime. On or off the ship."

Cali nods as Brigit presents her hand out of habit. Cali shakes her head and holds her arms wide. Brigit smiles and lets Cali embrace her in a warm hug that she needed before getting into the work that she has to do. And the kiss that follows, while strictly, she doesn't need, sure makes the rest of the toil worthwhile.