Chapter 305 - Three of Us

It had snowed all day, and by the time the Triumph of Darron descended, there was a good inch or two on the ground. Not much, compared to a New Hampshire winter up in the mountains, but enough to concern him when it came to the Varnathi.

If everything held, the plan was simple. Pack the site, get the vehicles aboard, and fly for the Vault.

Eleanor had been pulling readings from the area for a week, trying to piece together the EM storm over the mountains and work out how to engage the different overflows. That was tomorrow’s problem. Tonight, loading the Triumph was the priority.

The Territory Control Tower would remain behind with the fusion plant, the waterworks, and the hydroponics growhouses. Automated turrets had been plugged into the grid around each building. If all went well, they would only be gone a couple of days.

Luca drove the Centurion out to the Triumph, five kilometers west of the tower. The ship sat huge and dark under the cloud cover, its hull catching the dim red light of Proxima b while vehicles and teams queued for the ramp to the hangar and storage decks.

Luca parked the Centurion and stepped out into the chilly evening air. For a second, he thought about putting on his helmet, then decided against it. The wind was fresh and crisp, a welcome change from the perpetual recycled air of their vehicles and the Triumph itself.

He looked over the assembled teams and wondered, not for the first time, why these strangers had decided to trust him with their lives.

Emily caught him before he had gone ten steps, jogging up with snow dusting the white plates of her armor.

"We should be wheels up by midnight," she said. "Just getting everyone sorted."

“Great,” he replied. “Everyone’s here?”

“Not yet. The Timber Crew is coming in from the north, they have just exited their portal and should be here in another hour, and the Argonauts—”

“We don’t know,” Ryan finished. He had come up behind her, wiping his greasy hands on a rag. “They went into their portal 3 days ago and nothing, not a peep.”

Three days. Long portal delves weren't unheard of, but they were hard to plan for. “Has anyone checked on the portal? What’s it say?”

“They’re definitely still in there,” Emily replied. “It's closed, still active.”

“Alright,” Luca said after a moment. “Someone needs to be there when they come out, so I’m heading over and taking a dropship. I want to be there when they come out, in case they need any help. Em, keep loading the ship. I’ll be in touch.”

“You’re not going to go alone, are you?”

“No, no, I’ll need a volunteer,” Luca replied, looking around for Joey or anyone from his infirmary team.

“I’m in,” Ryan said, stepping forward, his plasma rifle already slung over his shoulder. “You’re not doing this without me.”

“Are the turrets all set then? The armory and inspections?”

“The turrets were up an hour ago and the Triumph has control, and Chris has the armory, Klaus is inspecting the dropships, and everyone else is getting dinner at the mess hall.”

Luca hesitated for a moment and ran a hand through his hair.

“Keep your comms link active,” Emily said. “Don’t make me come looking for you.”

Luca grinned at her. “What, don’t trust me?”

“Not a chance,” she said. “Ryan, you’re the babysitter.”

“Roger that,” Ryan said, saluting.

“Hey! I resent that,” Luca rolled his eyes, but he didn't pull his hand away from Emily's.

The flight out took ten minutes and they didn't fill them with much. The forest below had dropped most of its foliage in the last few weeks, and the light snow swirled up off the canopy and away as the dropship flared down at the edge of the clearing.

The portal stood in the middle of the gap, frozen in place, hanging in the air, pulsing slowly. Luca went down the ramp first, helmet on now, rifle up, and swept the treeline. Nothing moved. The insect hum that ran under everything on this planet was gone, killed by the cold, and the snow blanketed over whatever sound was left.

"Cozy," Ryan said, crunching down behind him. "Think we'll get company?"

“Doubt it,” Luca replied, his voice low. “All the portals nearby are on cooldown, but keep your eyes open.”

He approached the portal and raised his hand:

[System Message: Active Scenario]

Gateway: Sealed
Recommended Level: 64
Maximum Level: 72
Mission Objective: Echoes in the Recovery Ward
Difficulty: Medium
Time Limit: N/A
Status: Unavailable
[End of Message]

"What's this one about?" Luca asked.

"No idea, but if they're still in there, they're fighting like hell," Ryan said. "Three days is no walk in the park."

"Tell me about it." Midnight Veil came back at him, four days of grinding misery on the far side of a closed door. "They'll come through."

"And if they don't?"

Luca didn’t answer immediately. He crouched near the edge of the site, adjusting his rifle’s scope. “If they don’t, the portal will go into cooldown. And we move on.”

They approached the dropship, lowered the ramp, and just sat there.

“Emily, come in,” Luca called over comms.

There was a scramble on the line as someone on the bridge patched her through. “Captain, we read you,” she called back, her voice sounding very official.

"We're at the portal. No movement, status says unavailable. They're still inside."

“Understood,” she replied, then added. “Everyone’s on board, we’re all loaded.”

“Copy XO,” Luca said. “Carry on with the plan, orbit the Vault site, and maintain orbit. We’ll join you as soon as we can.”

“Be careful out there,” she replied. “They knew what they were signing up for, Luca.”

“I know Em, I know,” Luca said, closing the channel.

Ryan scuffed at the dirt with his boot, his usual energy spilling out. “Alright, genius,” he said, shooting Luca an exasperated look. “What’s the plan? You didn’t think to pack snacks? Chairs?”

Luca sighed. “You’re the one who volunteered.” He hadn’t expected to still be here, standing around like an idiot, waiting. “I thought they’d be out by now.”

"I volunteered for a rescue, not a campout." He nodded at the portal. "We're standing around like targets while who knows what closes in from the trees. Great planning."

“Bite me,” Luca shot back, though his grin took the edge off his words. He adjusted his grip on the rifle, his eyes focused on the portal ahead. “If you’re so worried, why don’t you head back to the Triumph and grab some gear?”

“Don’t tempt me. I could be back in five.” But Ryan didn't move.

Luca hesitated. It wasn’t like Ryan to suggest leaving him in the lurch, but he had a point. They were exposed, under-equipped, and the likelihood of something nasty stumbling out of the woods wasn’t zero.

He scanned the dark edges of the forest. The shadows were bending and twisting in the faint breeze. It felt too quiet. Maybe he was overthinking it, or maybe it was just the way the portal’s hum seemed to seep into his bones.

He sat down on the ramp instead, rifle across his knees, and looked at the snow coming down past the dropship's running lights, and after a while the restlessness went out of him and something quieter came in behind it.

“You know,” Ryan said after a moment. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“What?” Luca asked, startled.

"Polina. Her leg. You've been off ever since, man. Walking around in this captain bubble where none of us can get at you." Ryan kept his eyes on the snow. "It happens. I almost lost my arm when we found the FTL drive and you weren't this mopey about it."

“Yeah, but you’re—you know, you. And it's not like we can reattach her leg.”

“Well, guess what,” Ryan said, waiting for the punch line.

"What are you, fourteen?"

Ryan looked at him expectantly, “Fine. You won’t bite, so I’ll tell you. Besides the fact that I repaired your—”

“—our.”

“Besides the fact that I repaired our asteroid base, after you destroyed it,” Ryan elaborated.

Luca's stomach chose that moment to growl. “Get to the point."

“Why, you in a hurry or something? Anyways, after I cleaned up your mess—”

“—you mean, after die Stürmer and Furia Andina cleaned the mess the Nullmaws left behind because someone forgot to turn on the shield.”

“Luca, what I’m trying to tell you is we built her a prosthetic. A prosthetic leg.”

A gust came through the clearing and the cold bit his face, and Luca just stared at him.

"You built her a leg?"

“We built her a prosthetic leg using the fabricators in the Asteroid Base. Joey purchased an entire medical kit of schematics back in Sol, out of his own money, and there were prosthetics in there. He never said he expected this to happen, but we can give her a leg back.”

“We can give her a leg back…” Luca wondered, staring off into the forest, and something in his chest that had been clenched for the past month let go a notch.

“At minimum, she can walk again. She’ll never be normal, not unless—"

“—not unless we can grow her a new one,” Luca finished.

The faint rumble of a vehicle approaching interrupted the moment. They both got up and came around the side of the dropship. The Centurion’s arrival felt like a small miracle, its maglev hum softened as it settled into position, its outriggers expanding and dropping into the snowy ground as it settled. The expanding shield dome flicked on and expanded as its own comms tower pushed upwards toward the canopy.

The back ramp hissed and slammed down, and Danny stood in it grinning, in his heavy power armor, holding a kitchen pot between his hands.

Pixel hit the snow without a sound, and she didn't so much as glance at the three of them. She put her nose to the wind once and walked off into the dark treeline at a low unhurried prowl until there was nothing left of her but her tracks.

"Guess who brought dinner?"

"Emily ratted you out," Danny said, by way of hello, setting the plates down on the dinette. "Said the captain started a vigil and dragged Ryan into it, so somebody had to bring you food." He pulled the cover. Steam rolled up into the cold, and under it was pasta with white sauce. "Zayaan's carbonara. Don't ask me what the meat is, because none of us know, but it tastes near enough to bacon that it doesn't matter."

It did. Luca got a forkful into him and the warmth went all the way down, salt and fat and something almost like home, and for a minute none of them said anything because their mouths were full. The dome held the wind out and the snow kept coming down silent on the outside of it.

"Finish it," Danny said, scraping the pan toward Ryan. "I'm not hauling it back."

With the pot now empty and drinks out of the fridge, Ryan opened the box and started building stacks of poker chips out. "Couldn't resist, figured you'd need some real entertainment."

Luca raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “What is this, a camping trip?”

Danny shrugged, leaning back. “Close enough. Besides, what else are you going to do? Stare at the portal all night and hope it stares back?”

“Could’ve skipped the dramatic entrance. We were just fine.”

"Sure you were," Danny replied. "Besides, you might need protection."

“From what?” Ryan asked, cracking open a beer and taking a swig. “Luca’s brooding existential dread?”

Luca shot him a glare and flipped him off. “You’re just jealous because I’m about to wipe the floor with both of you at cards.”

“Bold words,” Danny said, cracking open his own beer and tossing a fresh one to Luca. “Let’s see if you can back them up. But don’t think I’ll go easy just because you’re supposed to be the Captain.”

“Go easy?” Ryan snorted, settling into his seat. “You don’t even know what easy looks like.”

"I'm not going to lose."

"You've got the worst face on the ship. You play cards like you're confessing to a murder." He dealt three hands across the table. "Sit down."

Luca lost the first hand, and the second. Ryan was soon accusing Danny of counting and Danny accusing Ryan of being too dumb to count, Luca losing and somewhere in there he stopped minding.

"What's all this in your coat?" Ryan flicked the pocket where something dried and purple stuck out. "You picking flowers now? You out here making bouquets while we work?"

"Shut the fuck up, Ryan." Danny didn't even look up from his cards. "Half of those are edible, and I'm tracking the spices. You'll be thanking me when we open the first Michelin-star restaurant and you're eating the best meal of your sad little life."

"You think we'll make this settlement work?"

"Everything's a dream until you put some effort and somebody plants the right thing in it." He laid down a hand that took the pot and swept the chips in. "Fold, Luca, your face already did."

Luca folded. His face had already done it.

He sat there with the shield humming overhead and the snow coming down beyond it and his two oldest friends bickering over a beer nobody was supposed to have, and he thought about the thing wrong with him that Ryan had named on the ramp. It wasn't Polina's leg, not really. It was that they'd built her a new one and he'd been so far up inside the command of all this that he hadn't known. He'd climbed into the captain bubble where the air was clean, and you moved pieces instead of sitting with people, and he'd let himself believe that was the job now.

It wasn't the job. Being parked in the snow by the portal his people would come back through was, the first face on the other side of it was one they knew.

"Deal me in again," he said. "I'll win one eventually."

"You won't," Danny said, and dealt him in anyway.

The portal pulsed at the edge of the light, holding his team somewhere on the far side, and the three of them played cards under the snow and waited for it to give them back.