Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Seventeen, Part One

 Notes: Did I say we were back to plot? We're almost back to plot!

Title: Cloverleaf Station: Chapter Seventeen, Part One

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Chapter Seventeen, Part One

 

Three days of running revised location algorithms, all greatly refined thanks to the fleet of probes guided by Catalina, had left them with only one truly viable spot to check for the remnants of his and Zakari’s old ship in. It was within a reasonable amount of drift from his last known location, it allowed for all the impact variation the ship could have withstood without breaking apart, and it was relatively protected from the rest of the field. If Zakari wasn’t there, then he wasn’t anywhere.

The thought rested with odd quietude in Kieron’s mind. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel the importance of such a discovery, or look forward to finding out his friend’s fate once and for all. It was more that…well, there was only so much anticipation and exertion he could take at any one time, and all of that personal bandwidth was being fully occupied right now by Catalina and Elanus. They’d kept him so busy, working on Lizzie and remembering to eat and sleep and watching light shows in the dark of Hangar Five that, well…resigned despair just didn’t get the chance to find purchase inside of him. Which, he knew, was surely much of the reason the pair of them had been so insistent on keeping him occupied, but he couldn’t find it in himself to resent it.

He knew better than to try, too. Otherwise he might end up cornered in his room again, having affection and guilt forced on him in equal measure.

“It’s going to be a tough spot to reach,” Elanus commented, tapping the point of his chin with one long finger. “Doable, but tough. Baby, you’ve been working on your new defensive laser array, right? How long until full implementation?”

“Tonight!”

“Pull the other one, you only started that project two days ago.”

“Tonight, Daddeee!” Catalina was insistent, the whine evident both over the implant and in the air of the hangar. Listening to her in two different frequencies had been a little overwhelming at first, but Kieron was quickly getting used to it.

“Since when have you been able to implement system-wide hardware changes in under a week?”

“Since noooooow.”

“She’s getting so big,” Kieron whispered just loud enough for Elanus to hear him.

“Shut up,” Elanus snapped, but there was no real heat to his voice. “She’s big when I say she’s big. Until then, she’s my baby.”

“Kids don’t work that way.”

“I’mma biiiig ship!” Catalina added, because of course she heard everything they said no matter how softly they said it. “Smart and faaaast!”

“I know you are, but—”

“Not a babeee!”

“You’ll always be my baby, and that’s final.”

Kieron headed off the useless argument before feelings could actually be hurt. That was something he knew how to do now—wild. “If you can get that upgrade done by tonight, then we can test it after some rest and head into the asteroid field at 0400. Does that sound good to you?”

“Mmm.” Suddenly Catalina sounded a little less sure of herself. “I don’t like it therrrre.”

Elanus didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow at Kieron. “I know,” Kieron said after a moment of wrestling with himself. “I don’t like it there either.”

“You doooo! You’re verrry brave. But it makes me scarrrred.”

Uh-oh, tread lightly. “It’s only natural that it makes you scared,” Kieron said gently. “You were brought here against your will and made to sit in the middle of that place for days. It must have been so exhausting for you to always been on the alert, especially with that awful guy calling the shots.”

“Heee’s down in the darrrk now, and I’mm with you and daddee, and I’m still scarrred.”

Down in the dark? It occurred to Kieron that he should probably be more interested in exactly where Deysan Mortiz had been held since he’d been taken into custody. Elanus had arranged everything—he’d had to, since Kieron had been more goo than person by the time he and Moritz had gotten back here. But he could focus on that later.

“I was scared too,” Kieron admitted. “It’s scary out there, extra scary when you have less control over your situation. But you’re going to have full control when we go out there next, Catie. I promise. I won’t make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with.” If he had to, he could finish fixing Lizzie in another seventy-two hours and take her out instead.

It would put the ship at the very limits of her capability to withstand radiation to go that far and back, but Kieron had no choice. The longer he waited, the longer the odds of finding anything left got.

“I don’t want to go.”

“Then you don’t have to,” Kieron said immediately. Elanus straightened, a look of alarm on his face. What? Had he thought Kieron was going to force Catalina to take him out there? “I’ll go in the Lizzie and—”

“I don’t want you to goooo.”

“I have to.”

“Baby, we talked about this,” Elanus said, gentle but firm. “You can’t tell other people what to do. Kieron said you don’t have to go, but he’s going. And I’m going to help him. No more argument about that.”

“But it’s not saaaafe!” Catalina wailed, and Kieron wished for the umpteenth time that he could hug her, just wrap her up in his arms and hold her tight.

“It’s as safe as we can make it, and—”

“It’s safest with meee, so I’m going toooo.”

Kieron and Elanus exchanged a confused glance. “I thought you said you didn’t want to,” Kieron said.

“I dooon’t!”

“Then—”

“But you’re going, and you’re safer with meee! So I’m going too! I want to be brave like you and Daddeeee!” She pushed the color orange through the implant—firmness, resolve, a little bit of fear but not enough for it to overwhelm her.

“Well then,” Elanus said, relaxing his spine a little. “I guess you are a big ship now, aren’t you?”

Catalina glowed with his praise. “Yesss!”

“And we’re going to make sure you’re a very safe ship too,” Kieron added. “So let’s make sure we have lots of time to test the laser array, okay?”

“Okay, Keeeeeron.” Catalina’s feed went dark as she refocused on her upgrades. Kieron sighed with relief and turned back to Elanus, only to find himself jerked out of his chair by the man, who was already marching them out of the hangar.

“What? What’s going on?” Had he fucked up? Was he about to get another lecture?

They only got as far as the hall before Elanus turned around, lifted Kieron onto his toes, and latched onto his mouth like it was his sole source of oxygen.