“We already have a design in mind,” Whistler said quickly, misinterpreting Kat’s shift in emotions.
“No it’s not that, we trust you,” she said, turning instead to address Lee. “But this has me wondering after our ship’s communication signal…”
“Would we loop in Nikola? More hypotheticals?” Lee suggested, using the same, barely-opaque excuse Whistler had crafted earlier and catching her wavelength, right on schedule.
“Is that too many? You’ve got Jed, too, helping us out…”
“Honestly, at this point, I’d rather ensure we do things thoroughly, then worry about discretion. We said it before. We can trust them.” Lee shoved his hands in his pockets.
Kat snorted, leaving Whistler to piece together as much or as little as he liked. “At this rate, we’ll probably end up with Hanna, too.”
“The whole squadron working together again,” she said faintly. Who knows, maybe Levy would find her way back into this too, somehow.
It had taken about three months. But her heart wasn’t confused anymore.
It was finally ready.
That night, she and Lee caught up with Nikola in the Hideaway. Coincidentally, when they found him, he was hanging out with Hanna, the pair of them tucked into a set of stuffed armchairs in a corner.
Kat cleared her throat as they approached. They both looked up, Hanna tracking her gaze like a hawk. But it was Nikola she addressed. “We wanted to ask you for a favor.”
“Shoot,” Nikola said, finally looking up.
She glanced tentatively towards Hanna, before continuing. “Lee and I are working on a bit of a hypothetical project.”
“An extra-curricular, if you will,” Lee added.
“Yeah, that,” Kat agreed. “Anyway, we wanted to see how you would go about arranging long-distance communication, if for some reason you found yourself in a different part of the galaxy, not wanting to be detected…hypothetically.”
Beside him, Hanna’s perfectly manicured brows had risen up into her new bangs.
“Do I have any particular parameters I’m working with?” Nikola asked, adjusting his rectangular specs over his nose.
“Just for kicks, let’s say they’re similar to that of Argos,” Kat said, lowering her voice.
Hanna hadn’t moved a muscle. And again, she didn’t say anything as Nikola considered. “I have some time. I can draw up something for you if you like.”
“Sooner than later?” Kat pressed.
“Sure thing.”
“Nice to see you, Hanna.” Kat at last turned to her, ready for the fallout. But Hanna only nodded, expression carefully neutral.
“And you,” she said.
Only the slightest put-off as per usual by their interactions, Kat followed Lee over to one of their regular tables, peering back over to watch as Hanna leaned in to peer at some video open on Nikola’s holoblock.
“Do you think they got back together?” she asked.
“It’s possible,” Lee mused, pulling out his holoblock.
“I think I’m happy for them.” She let herself lean into Lee’s arm, curling into him as he drew up a fresh file on his holoblock. In-between barreling through the Commander’s mainframe notes, she and Lee had also started narrowing their list of potential base locations based on known amenities and atmospheric conditions, dropping in whatever they could find from the Commander’s hacked mission files. They now had a system and a shortlist, ranging from highly likely to nearly impossible. But if this was the best they’d get, they would make the best of it.
“At least we got one more out of the way,” Kat said, crossing the communication tech off her mental checklist.
She’d only just started into their notes when her hyperband buzzed. She glanced down, squinting, before the message information registered with her brain.
“We’ll have to cut this short tonight…” she murmured, re-reading the message at her wrist. She huffed a laugh, now shaking her head. “I’d forgotten all about this.”
