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Your heart rate spiked again. Are you alright?
Kira didn’t reply. Her mouth formed a thin line as she grabbed a chute to go down instead of taking the long way. This was something she needed to do in a hurry.
Kira?
There was noise in the engine room, just not enough of it. The new reactor was shiny, fancy, and only produced a very soft, barely audible hum as it towered over her. She was facing her very own, and quite literal, ship of Theseus. She stood within the Callistar, but with so many changes, so many parts swapped out. Was it still the same ship she knew?
Touching it with her bare hands, she did not care if it left marks. Part of her life had been taken away with this change, and yet she’d allowed it. This was no longer her home in a sense, and those returning she knew would feel the same. Alec might not want to be on a ship that no longer ran like clockwork because of his presence. Sure, Morgan might appreciate the speed, but Alec and she had a connection to it that was irreplaceable.
Leaning in, she put her forehead to it. She forgot the real reason she came to the ship, that heavy weight in her pocket unmoving.
“What are ye doing?”
The uneasy truce the two had conjured up between them was possibly about to be over.
The only reason she did not lash out was because Watson sounded, softly, only to her, Kira, please.
He promised Watson a body, one he could have autonomy over. For his sake, she swallowed her anger, knowing how irrational it would appear. Quinn had only been attempting to do his job. It was a retrofit, after all. Things were going to change, they had to change, but this was no longer her ship anymore. It was shiny and new. It may have been old junk, but for the stars, it was her junk.
Bringing her forehead just off the metal, her hands remained as she informed him, “I was listening.”
“Ah, not much to hear anymore,” Quinn said, evidently aware that things were far different. “Oh, I decided on what to do with yer hiding hole. Hope you like it.” Nonchalant, he dropped that bombshell on her, turned and walked away, evidently not picking up on the simmering anger in her voice or body language.
“To do with it?” That brought a raise in octave as she rushed after him. She’d shown him the room in confidence, not knowing he would find another project to start. It was her place of peace and it was her final haven after he’d destroyed everything else that made home home.
Watson made a soft plea again, but she wasn’t hearing it. All she wanted was an explanation of what he had done. Racing after him he disappeared as if he dropped out into space.
She clenched her fist in anger, her nails biting into her skin. Rushing with a swiftness she saved only for emergencies.
Kira, I’m sure it can’t be that bad.
“Don’t defend him,” she growled back.
Reaching her haven, she stood outside, repeating the moment with the reactor. Her lower lip quivered as she shakily put a hand on a scanner instead of a keypad.
The room was... mostly the same. Quinn had added a few things. The first large change was the removal of a chunk of the floor. The newly depressed section’s depth sat only a few inches deep, filled in with some sort of cushion. He’d not moved the area that she had left the blankets and pillows, but essentially made it an even nicer place to get comfortable.
Another addition was planter boxes around the sides of the room that he held grown miniature trees. It made stepping into the small room feel like stepping inside of a forest. There were even a few unused planters, so she could plant and grow whatever she might like. The boxes had automated day/night cycle lamps and would detect moisture levels and self water if required, though she could turn that off if she wanted to handle that herself.
A note rested on the astrium projector that explained the setup.
It went into detail on how to operate the planters automated systems, that he’d installed, apparently, a hidden compartment in her room that acted as a dumbwaiter so she could sneak any supplies down to the room easily, there were instructions for how frequently and where she could get fertilizer from the composting system to keep the plants alive, and lastly a mention that he had swapped out the keypad to a biometric one. She was the only one registered to it. So, even if someone learned about the room, they still couldn’t get in.
It warmed her enough to the ship to see the effort he’d made. It was certainly way more than her own small presents, but she figured he had no sense of cost and gift giving before this.
“Gabby,” she said to the little lizard. “Let’s go find your maker.”
Gabby’s response was to lick at Kira’s cheek, having crawled up out onto her collar. Quinn was a little hard to find, but she got lucky. A drone overheard her when she was muttering to herself about where he might be, and guided her to the airlock at the back of the ship. Peering out the viewing window, she could see Quinn in a suit, working on the engines.
Hitting the com on the airlock, she said, “Quinn?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you like to have dinner with me?”
“Yeah.” He never looked up from his work, his arms in an access panel and his eyes glued to his task.
The only meals she’d seen Quinn eat in person had been breakfast and one dinner. Considering that the breakfast one went better, she did a home-style one like Hela made, which involved contacting the chef for her advice and guidance. The small call made her spirits brighter.
