“Finally! We’re all back at home, and together again! Yay!”

Mark chuckled in response to Danielle’s excited exclamation, watching her with a smile from across the cafeteria table. “I haven’t been gone for that long,” he said.

“I’ve been saying that this entire past month,” Mote deadpanned. “Nothing will stop Danielle.”

“It’s almost like she’s just a small puppy with separation anxiety,” Kate remarked as she passed Danielle a teasing smirk.

“Aw… c’mon, guys,” Danielle responded with a pout. “I’m just happy to see everyone…”

Mark briefly glanced to Mote, sitting beside him, and then at Kate, who sat next to Danielle and across the table from Mote as the four ate dinner aboard the space station Opportunity. The food itself was nothing to write home about, but Mark still couldn’t help but smile. He reached across the table to tenderly pat Danielle’s head, saying, “don’t worry, Danielle. I’m glad to see you, too.”

“Yay! I knew it!” Danielle grinned as she leaned into his head pats.

Kate, meanwhile, shook her head in disbelief. “So fuckin’ sappy…”

“That is Danielle, for you,” Mote pointed out. “Besides, she does have a point. It’s nice to be able to all eat together, again, even if it’s only been a month and a half since we last did.”

“A month and a half it may have been, but it’s felt like so much longer,” Mark said. “So much has been happening, both on my end and yours.”

“Don’t fuckin’ remind me…” Kate scowled as she talked around the food in her mouth. “So much shit to study, and so many fucking missions, and still, not a single damn breakthrough…”

“Oh, well that’s a shame…”

“Yeah, I remember you said you didn’t like how we were losing a lot…” Danielle said. “…But, hey! At least we won that last mission, right?”

“Sure, but I still only got to fight so much,” Kate countered. “Not to mention the bullshit directive to keep the outpost intact. I can’t let fuckin’ loose if I have to worry about collateral damage!”

“You should always be aware of collateral damage,” Mote declared. “Especially with an explosive ability like yours.”

“Yeah, yeah, what-fucking-ever. Still, though. That mission…” Kate trailed off, her attention directed downward as she idly poked at her food with her fork. After a second’s pause, she looked up at the rest of the group, a serious look on her face. “Am I the only one who thought it felt off?”

“…How do you mean?” Mote questioned.

“Like we were used, or something.”

“Used?” Danielle echoed in confusion.

“Yeah. Just fuckin’ think about it,” Kate insisted. “That outpost didn’t have a bombardment shield. SERRCom has Frigates that can orbitally bombard a target as precise and small as a meter across from LEO — we could’ve sent two of those instead of the stupid-ass toothless support Frigates that we got, and they could’ve taken out the fucking beam jammer and all of the outpost’s defenses on their own. So why the hell were we there?”

“I have to admit, I’ve been wondering that, as well…” Mark replied. “I thought it was just me, though.”

“Wow, that hadn’t even occurred to me,” Danielle remarked, and then glanced toward Mote. “Did you notice?”

Mote looked up at Danielle, his expression unreadable. He remained thoughtfully silent for another couple seconds before commenting, “…no matter how we feel about it, the fact is that we contributed to a significant SERRCom victory. I think that’s something to be proud of.”

“Figures Mr. Goody-Goody two-shoes would say that,” Kate deadpanned.

“Perhaps it’s just your irreverence for authority that has you feeling ‘used’,” Mote shot back. “Commander Shepherd specifically asked for us for Operation New Dawn. We should appreciate that.”

“I’ll appreciate it the same fucking way I appreciate a knot in my back.”

“What?! This is a member of High Command we’re talking about—!”

“Now, now…” Mark quickly interjected, adopting a sheepish smile as he placed a hand on Mote’s shoulder. “Arguing about this now won’t get us anywhere. Let’s just enjoy dinner.”

Kate and Mote both stared at Mark for a second, and then exchanged bitter glances. “…Fine,” Mote eventually conceded. “I can drop it. For now.”

“’For now’, he says,” Kate muttered under her breath.

“I don’t really get what’s going on, but…” Danielle looked at each of Mote and Kate. “We at least have that mission to thank for bringing us all back together, right?”

“Ever the fucking optimist…”

“The mission is over with, anyways. There’s no point in talking about it further,” Mote insisted.

“Well, if you say so,” Danielle replied warily, only to then grin ear-to-ear as she remarked, “but if talking about the future is fair game, then how about our next mission, huh? Have you guys heard about where we’re going?!”

“What? Another mission? Fucking, already?!” Kate exclaimed incredulously.

“Well, ‘mission’ in quotes,” Mark replied. “I was with Danielle when we ran into the Colonel earlier, and he said that we’re all going to Nimalia for a few weeks.”

“…Nimalia?” Mote echoed, his brow furrowing. “Why?”

“Does it matter why?” Danielle countered. “We’re gonna get to see Nimalia! Do you know how much cool stuff there is to see, there?! Mark, tell him!”

“Ah ha ha…” Mark laughed uneasily as he found himself trapped between Danielle’s enthusiasm and Mote’s obvious frustration. “Well… I’ve only been to a couple of places on Nimalia, myself. There’s still plenty I haven’t seen.”

“So we’re going for a fucking sight-seeing trip, huh?” Kate questioned.

“Only sort of. Saito mentioned something about a military summit that he’d have to go to, and that the General wants us to investigate the safety of Compound Tresnon — the town that the Keys are staying at.”

“’Keys’?” Mote echoed incredulously.

“Oh… yeah…” Mark smiled sheepishly. “It’s just a convenient shorthand. It’s better than calling them ‘the recruits’ all the time, I think.”

“I think it sounds kinda cool,” Danielle remarked.

“I think it’s an example of everything that’s wrong with this whole situation,” Mote countered irately. “That term comes from those supposed ‘prophecies’ that the Nimalians used as a justification to steal our recruits from us.”

“Whoa, and I thought I had some hot takes,” Kate replied. “Angry, much?”

“That phrasing is dishonest, anyways,” Mark pointed out. “You know that SERRCom agreed to this, Mote. The Nimalians didn’t force us to do anything. Or are you questioning General Lead’s judgment?”

“…!” Mote’s mouth hung partially open, as he had been about to start a reply before Mark’s final comment. In response to that, however, was only silence.

“Heh.” Kate snorted in amusement. “Good job using that stick up his ass against him, Mark!”

“I still don’t like it…” Mote muttered.

“I think I understand where you’re coming from, Mote… but I think you should give the Nimalians a chance,” Mark suggested. “For what it’s worth, the Nimalians that the Keys are learning from don’t seem to think that the prophecy is real, either. The only one using it to make decisions is Pallan.”

“Good to hear that the Nimalians aren’t all fuckin’ idiots, then,” Kate remarked, and then sighed wistfully. “It would figure that the only damn way we get a break is by visiting an alien fucking planet, though. Damn. At least it’s something.”

“I agree, it isn’t really ideal…” Mark admitted, “but I think it’ll be enjoyable. At the very least, I might get a chance to show you guys the giant tree forest I saw in Relédiaka. And— oh!” His expression immediately lit up as he looked eagerly between the other three. “Now that I think about it, we should be on Nimalia for their Hunger’s Bane holiday! That should be fun!”

“Hunger’s Bane? That sounds fun!” Danielle exclaimed. “What is it? It sounds like a feast!”

“That’s because it is. From what I’ve heard, it originally started as a sort of harvest celebration, so expect there to be lots of good food.”

“Leave it to Mark to be excited about the fucking food event,” Kate retorted, though she wore a grin as she did. “Well, if you’re cooking, then that’s something to look forward to, I guess.”

“Yes… something…” Mote muttered.

Mark passed a quick glance toward Mote, only to find the latter glaring down at his mostly finished dinner. Before Mark could attempt to address him, however, his attention was dragged back to Danielle.

“What have you heard about Hunger’s Bane?” she questioned eagerly, leaning forward over the table toward Mark. “What about other holidays? What kind of stuff do the Nimalians celebrate? Where do they go? What kind of sights are there to see?!”

“Whoa, slow the fuck down,” Kate insisted. “I’m not the one you’re asking and even I’m overwhelmed!”

“Ha ha! Well…” Mark chuckled in amusement, and then side-eyed Mote once more. The Electrotechnic had adopted a neutral expression and resumed eating, his attention drifting across the cafeteria in which they sat. For a second, Mark thought to try and address Mote’s obvious wariness, but then he thought better of it; Mote’s trepidation could be addressed at a latter date, in a more private venue. With that, Mark returned his attention to Danielle, and began attempting to answer her barrage of questions. “Let’s see… what have I heard about Hunger’s Bane? Not a whole lot, but, hmm, according to Karísah…”

---

*

“Oh, Kirstin, you’re back.”

“Uh… y-yeah…” Kirstin meekly replied, glancing toward Scott and Sarah on the other side of the lab before scurrying to her own workstation in the back. “Just, um… ch-checking some things…”

“What a hard worker!” Scott remarked, casually leaning back in his seat as he eyed his daughter. “CSF-1 just returned yesterday, and you’re already back on research!”

“Reminds me of a certain someone I know,” Sarah replied cheekily.

“Ah, same to ye, lass,” Scott retorted. “Anyways, Kirstin, what’re ye workin’ on? The data from that Black Suns splinter group ye fought on Sunova?”

“…Y-yeah.” Kirstin nodded once, though never looked up as she began hooking up a couple of hard drives to her machine. “Had to, uh, s-sanitize the drives, first, so…”

“Right, right.” Scott nodded sagely. “Always have tae be careful when workin’ with foreign computers. Never know when they’ll spring something unsightly on ye.”

“It’s something to be especially cautious of with the Black Suns,” Sarah commented. “Few organisations in the galaxy are as protective of their data and information as the Suns. Even if the group on Sunova was just a splinter force, I’d expect them to be just as cautious.”

“Y-yes…” Kirstin muttered in reply. She knew Sarah’s statement to be true; beyond simply encrypting their information, the Black Suns were known for installing special programs on their hardware that would hijack or otherwise sabotage any unauthorized systems that they connected to. Knowing this, Kirstin had taken special steps to defuse the digital bombs on the two Black Suns hard drives she had with her — a process that had taken her all day. And now she still needed to find a way to decrypt the drives before she could actually access any of the Black Suns data. Fortunately, the SERRCom forces had managed to recover a couple of wholly intact computers from the outpost, which rapidly sped up the process of defusing and decrypting all of the recovered hard drives… but even so, there was an entire rack of drives for Kirstin to work through. It would take several weeks — perhaps even months — of work before she could even begin to look at any of the Black Suns’ data.

“Really is a pain, huh…” Scott said, putting voice to Kirstin’s own thoughts. “I understand some of the recovery work found one of the Suns’ computers in a vulnerable state, which let us peak intae at least some of what they had… but gettin’ the rest intae a good state for research will be hard.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m sure Kirstin can handle it,” Sarah proclaimed, passing Kirstin a welcoming smile as she did.

“Wha-what…?” The Researcher simply stared back, her eyes wide and expression blank in response to Sarah’s claim. “I-I… I’m not that, um…g-good…”

“Ach, don’t sell yourself short!” Scott countered. “A task like this will nae be tae much for a daughter o’ mine!” He then frowned and began stroking his scruffy goatee, his eyes turned down in thought. “Makes it unfortunate that you’ll be gone for a few weeks…”

“…Y-you’ve… heard, then…?”

“That CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir are going to Nimalia? That we have,” Sarah said. “Kate mentioned it when she swung through here earlier. You just missed her, actually.”

“And when ye gae, ye cannae take any sensitive or confidential work with ye…” Scott muttered. “That’ll cut down on what ye can work on…”

“I’m sure she’ll have other things to worry about, you old workaholic,” Sarah retorted. “If anything, this is a chance to see one of the galactic Homeworlds! This is a good chance, Kirstin. You should go sight-seeing!”

“Uh…” Kirstin briefly glanced up at Sarah before lowering her gaze back to her workstation. “M-maybe…”

“I ‘ave heard there’s some good sights tae see…” Scott mused. “Suppose you’re right, Sarah. Ye should enjoy yourself, Kirstin!”

“Mm…” Kirstin grunted noncommittally in response. A moment later, however, she stopped working and allowed her attention to drift over to Scott, who by then had turned back toward his own workstation. …Alright, Kirstin, come on. If you’re going to ask, it’s now or never! What’s the worst he can say, anyways? ‘No’? Well, maybe he could be disgusted. That would be— no, Kirstin, come on, Dad’s never been disgusted about anything! Visibly, at least. But, what if— I mean, he spends so much time at work, so much so that he left me and Mom behind, so, maybe… n-no, Kirstin, that can’t be right—!

“Is something wrong?”

“Eek—!” Kirstin yelped in surprise, jumping in her seat before whirling around to stare wide-eyed at Sarah — who had crossed the lab to quietly address Kirstin from next to her workstation. “N-n-no! N-nothing!”

“Whoa… I didn’t mean to startle you,” Sarah said, a sheepish smile forming on her face as she held her hands out in front of her, as if to make herself appear harmless. She passed a glance over at Scott, who was still working, before turning back to Kirstin. Leaning in, Sarah lowered her voice and said, “is it something about Scott?”

“Wh-what? …H-how…?”

“You were staring at him,” Sarah replied, and then smirked in amusement. “You were staring so hard that you didn’t even notice me approach, in fact. Did something happen between you two?”

“Uh… w-well…” Kirstin muttered, her gaze diverted as she timidly poked her fingers together. More like something HASN’T happened…

“…Well, I won’t claim to know what your relationship with Scott is like,” Sarah eventually spoke up after Kirstin failed to continue her own thought, “but I do know that Scott can be a bit dense at times. Not to mention a workaholic. I mean, we all are, here, and we all know that, but he can take it a little far at times.”

“Y-yeah…”

“Personally, I think the man could use a break. I bet you were thinking the same, weren’t you? A little father-daughter outing, perhaps, what with this trip you’re about to go on?”

“U-um—! W-well… s-sort of…?”

“Ha! Well, you should say so, then! I think he’d be more likely to consider it, if it came from you.”

“…I-I don’t know…” Kirstin hunched over in her seat, her head bowed to a point where her bangs completely hid her face from Sarah. “He… …he d-doesn’t usually, um, l-listen to me…”

Sarah responded with silence. Kirstin couldn’t see what kind of expression she was making — but an audible sigh did escape the Senior Researcher’s lips. “…I was afraid of that,” Sarah eventually replied. “But knowing Scott, I doubt he really means to. And, hey, there’s no harm in at least asking. Right?”

“Uh…?” Slowly, Kirstin turned her head to look up at her colleague, only to find Sarah offering a warm smile. …What? Why is she…? Why is she even bothering with me? Getting this kind of advice from her, of all people, too… Sarah, why are you… why are you so—?

Before Kirstin’s thoughts could finish, however, Sarah had turned toward Scott and raised her voice to shout across the lab. “Oi, Scott! There’s something Kirstin wants to ask you!”

“Wha-what?!” Kirstin spluttered out, glancing frantically between Sarah and her father, who turned halfway around in his chair to look back at the two women.

“Well, look at ye lasses, gettin’ along,” Scott remarked with a grin. He then shifted his attention to Kirstin, saying, “it’s nae often ye ask me for somethin’! What dae ye need?”

“Uh, uh, um…!” Frantic unease filled the young Researcher’s expression, unease that she attempted to hide by ducking behind her computer monitor. “W-well…!” she managed to squeak out, “s-since, um, since CSF-1 is g-going to N-Nimalia, I-I thought that, um… w-well, y-you probably haven’t had, um, a b-break in a while, so, uh… w-well…”

“Ah ha ha, dinnae tell me ye are askin’ me to come along with ye?”

“Um… well… k-kinda…”

“Really?!” Scott exclaimed, a grin overtaking his face as he spun his chair around to face Kirstin’s workstation head-on. A second later, however, his grin receded into a mere sheepish smile. “Ach… I dunnae, Kirstin. I have a lot of work tae dae, even over the holidays. Might even have tae work through Christmas! Ha ha! Ach…”

Is that the only day in December that matters to you…? Kirstin thought warily, but didn’t dare to speak the question aloud.

Sarah, however, responded to Scott’s claim by shaking her head in disappointment. “You can’t be bloody serious, Scott. You can’t have that much work!”

“Ach, it’s nothin’. I’ve worked Christmas before. Ye have, tae! Remember last year?” Scott chuckled to himself. “We had a grand ol’ time with the bevs in the lab, remember?”

“What…?” Kirstin muttered as she passed a timid glance toward Sarah. “Y-you spent Christmas t-together…?”

“Only as colleagues, and because he refused to put down his work,” Sarah insisted. “Scott… you really do work too bloody much. You really should take a break.”

“Ach, maybe. Even if I dae, though…” Scott glanced at Kirstin sheepishly. “…Ach, ye dinnae want ye old man draggin’ ye down. Ye’ll have more fun without me.”

“I-I…” Kirstin started, eying her father uneasily. “W-well… …I, um, g-going to Nimalia isn’t, um, s-super important to me, so, uh… i-if you have that much work, then, um, m-maybe I could, um… t-try and c-convince the Colonel to, uh, l-let me stay behind, and, uh—?”

“And help? Nae, I cannae allow that!” Scott declared. “What kind of a father would I be if I foisted my work ontae my own daughter? One lousy lad I’d be, ah ha ha!”

“Ah… ha ha, um, r-right…” Kirstin forced a laugh in response to Scott’s own, though she hunched over in her chair, her head bowed to once again hide her expression behind her bangs. A second later, she glanced over at the two Black Suns hard drives on the desk next to her, at which point she quickly stood up and scurried past Sarah to the lab’s exit. “I-I, um, I’m g-going to, uh, w-work on the other drives…”

“Oh. Well, good luck with that!” Scott called out to her as she left, though she had disappeared through the door before he could even finish his sentence. “…Huh. That was fast.”

“…Oh, Scott…” Sarah left Kirstin’s workstation to approach Scott’s, shaking her head in disbelief the entire time. “You bloody dunce.”

“Eh?” The Director looked up at her cluelessly. “What?”

“…It’s not my place to say. But let’s just say that these past few months have given me a lot of insight into how your life has ended up the way it has.”

“Ooh, watch with those ominous words, lass! I might start tae think ye’re plottin’ against me! Ha ha!”

“That would certainly be a shame, wouldn’t it. Anyways. We were discussing the Raenaros earlier, right? Something about its CCS?”

“Ach, yes, that’s right! See, I was lookin’ earlier, and…”

With that, the two began again to discuss their work, paying no heed to the clocks as they marched ever onward through the evening.