She sat there, leaning back against her headboard, lingering, in case another message came through from the twins or Nikola, before deciding to head back down and find them herself. She left the room quickly without looking around her. She had no plans to get lost down memory alley again.
It wasn’t hard to track down Nikola. She’d barely entered the Hideaway when she spotted him. He sat nestled in his corner, accompanied by the idle Sunday afternoon chatter, and big shocker—Hanna, once more. They had dragged over a little corner table and had their holoblocks open atop its surface. But instead of having their heads buried in the coding and tech schematics, a green juice rested in each of their hands. A leisurely Sunday, indeed.
“Hey—you two.” Kat approached cautiously, entirely thrown off by their casualness. It was much too easy-going. Like, was she interrupting a date?
But Nikola looked over, eagerly beckoning her to take one of the armchairs perpendicular to them, while Hanna met her gaze, almost equally excited about something.
“What’s going on?” Kat asked, hovering just over the seat.
“It’s all ready to go.”
“All of it? Communication signal, decoy and everything?” Kat dropped down into the third armchair, sitting up nice and straight.
“I used a process quite similar to what we didbefore…” Nikola’s voice dropped a few soundbites. “I basically replicated the build we used on Segura with an added layer of framework. Your recipients will need to upload a specific line of code in order to receive any of the messages or signals. But you shouldn’t have any of the breakage issues we had last time.”
“And the signal will be secure?” Kat verified. That part was new.
“Secure and non-traceable,” Nikola nodded, but he glanced glowingly over at Hanna, through the gap between his eyes and his molecular-protection specs. “That part was actually thanks to Hanna. Along with her idea to create the decoy, she implemented a trigger that also acts as security guard. Upon interception—even without an actual breach occurring—transmission will immediately shut off. Of course, you will have to resend your communication. But that shouldn’t be an issue.”
Kat turned to thank Hanna for this twist of luck in their favor, and found her formal rival and co-cadet smiling at her. How was that for a twist?
“There’s really no thanks necessary. Consider it a going-away gift,” Hanna said, with much more humility than Kat had known the cadet to possess. “Forbothof you. May you find whatever it is you seek.” And there was only earnestness in the cadet’s gaze.
“With your blessing, I’ll go ahead and send this over,” Nikola said. “I believe you said Zane was going to help coordinate the installation?” Nikola asked.
Kat nodded, slowly, glancing between the two of them.
Nikola had worked quickly.
Hanna as well.
And with the twins’ and Whistler’s work also wrapping up…
She couldn’t believe this was happening and that she was even thinking this right now. But even with her show of optimism with Lee the other night, it really looked as if they might pull this off.
She was still dazed and dripping with disbelief when Lee caught up with them. His hair was freshly washed, the beginnings of a curl dangling just over his brow. And her favorite earthy scents nearly sent her dragging him back up to his dorm as they crashed over her, again and again.
The corners of his lips turned up as his eyes briefly, but not shyly, traced over her, no longer ignorant to her inner longings. Seemingly reluctantly, Lee redirected his gaze over to Nikola and Hanna, politely receptive and gracious as he accepted news of these latest developments on the communications front.
She somehow managed to resist tugging on that loose curl as they got through Hanna’s contribution, the temptation returning tenfold at the first break in conversation when Lee looked back towards her. But behind those glittery feelings and sparking emotions, another tension lay. An agitation and frustration that not even hours in the gym could erase.
They were two days out from their arranged departure and still hadn’t uncovered the location of Segura’s base. And while they may have beat the odds in securing logistics on the ground floor, without that direction, their immediate future was still shrouded in a fog.
They were spared the work of smothering that tension and coming up with more exciting things to say by Nikola and Hanna standing up first, excusing themselves, to replace their drinks with some snacks from the vending machines.
She didn’t bring up Jed as she and Lee started across the Hideaway, not wanting to add to the tension. She’d run into him earlier, the cadet apologizing profusely for not having found anything that might help Lee yet. But he’d done more than enough for them already; the rest would be on their shoulders.
“I sent ahead the funds to my aunt this afternoon,” she said, lightly, trying to pull some of the storm cloud away from him before it could fully settle. They may not have the answers yet, but they had done everything else that they possibly could to prepare.
“Oh yeah?” Lee asked, his eyes still fuzzy. He was still in his head.
“Deposited it with the nova-banc as an ‘early advance’ from the Academy. If Vyna sticks to the payment plan, she should be good for at least another six months. After that, I’ll have to figure something out. But we can cover that when the time comes. Between your funds and mine, you and I should be able to get by for some time.” Assuming of course they weren’t caught, arrested, and the hope of the galaxy pulverized before then.
“We’ll make sure she’s taken care of, Kat,” Lee said. And despite his own afflictions, there was only tenderness in his eyes as his hand brushed against hers. The warm touch, a light in the dimness. He’d said something to that nature before. A few times. And for some reason, today she allowed herself to believe him.
The Canteen was just coming to life below them, when Lee stopped, suddenly, as if the imminence of their journey was only just dawning on him. “Did we think of food, yet?”
Kat laughed, softly, letting go of some of her own frustrations. The nature of this mission was already proving so much more than their usual raids. Food being yet another factor she hadn’t realized she took for granted until it was on them to organize. “Whistler and Zane are handling it for us. I actually thought you’d put him up to it… But Zane reached out a few days ago and said they’d take care of it.”
