Despite herself, Isa Cortez’s heart sank a little as she passed through the airlock to board Endeavour and found Saeihr Kharth waiting for her. ‘Yeah,’ she said, louder than she meant, ‘that’s probably the more diplomatic welcome wagon.’

Kharth winced, but, mindful that they weren’t alone, kept her decorum as Cortez and her team of engineers filtered through the docking collar and into the cargo bay. ‘Commander Cortez, I’m here to welcome your team aboard… again.’ The efforts at decorum only went so far, and she shrugged. ‘I figure you all know the drill.’

‘It’s like a second home for us,’ said Chief Lann, another veteran of Endeavour who’d left with Cortez, his voice gruff but wry. ‘Like we never left.’

Kharth gave a vague gesture to the young officer to her left. ‘This is Ensign Hargreaves; she’s got all the details for your rooms and the planned deployment. We’re setting off in thirty minutes; our ETA at Scarix is four hours.’

Cortez gave a low whistle. ‘Oh, we’re hitting emergency speeds. Got it.’ She turned to the young Hargreaves, eyebrows raising. ‘Hey, you’re new.’

Hargreaves had to be fresh out of the Academy, though there was a cynicism to her polite enthusiasm. Odds were good that welcoming engineers aboard was not the kind of posting she’d dreamt of in her dormroom. ‘Commander Cortez, welcome aboard. I’m happy to situate yourself and your team -’

‘Worry about the team, kid. I’ve forgotten more about how this ship works than you’ll ever know.’ Cortez kept a smile to banish any sting from her words and stepped to one side with Kharth as Hargreaves addressed the rest of the SCE Unit. She could situate them while everyone else got to work. ‘So this one looks bad but manageable, right?’

Kharth glanced about the cargo bay, making sure nobody was listening in before she dropped her voice. ‘Valance would clearly prefer we were doing something a bit more exciting than helping out opportunistic miners. It’s work, and if we screw it up, people die. But it shouldn’t be beyond us. I’m a bit surprised they sent you.’

‘Tell me Thawn isn’t gonna be insecure about me riding shotgun.’

‘Isa, friends don’t lie to each other like that.’

Cortez gave a wry snort and glanced over her shoulder at Hargreaves, leading the SCE team out. Lann caught her eye and gave a cheery wink. ‘The kid’s new.’

‘Valance’s new yeoman. Bright young prospect, here to learn direct from the captain.’

‘The new Arys, huh.’

‘Less of a stick up her ass, which also means she speaks out of turn more,’ Kharth grumbled. She looked back at her. ‘You been okay?’

‘Sure. Admiral Fluffy has pulled us back to beef up logistics for the colonies, instead of making ourselves useful over the border.’ Cortez hesitated. ‘Karana’s right to be put out by this. You guys were out by Rencaris a while. She and Rourke are gonna have their work cut out for them convincing Morgan that they need to do anything but coddle Federation citizens.’

‘That sounds like politics,’ said Kharth dismissively, leading them out of the cargo bay. Around them, operations officers put the final touches on stowing and securing the equipment and material Endeavour had brought aboard from Gateway for their mission, equipment that would help them prepare Scarix to weather the upcoming solar flare. ‘I specifically told Valance I don’t do politics.’

‘Whatever you say, Commander, first officer of the squadron’s most valuable single asset.’

‘The Sirius –’

‘Is a cruise-liner. On average, Endeavour is the best ship to send for any problem that’s has even a handful of variables.’

‘Yeah, well. Hopefully, this is just engineering problems for you and Thawn to fight over.’

‘And handling scared people, and you bet your ass Scarix management will want to stop mining and ore processing operations as little as possible, as late as possible. Which is the kind of direct responsibility that, I don’t know, a ship’s XO might have to deal with while the captain worries about the big picture?’

‘That’s me,’ said Kharth wryly. ‘The people-person.’ They stopped as they reached the turbolift and, in the pause, Kharth shifted her weight with obvious discomfort. ‘Hey, you should know – this probably wasn’t in your orders…’

They boarded the turbolift, heading for Kharth’s office. Cortez narrowed her eyes at her friend’s awkwardness. ‘Oh, God, what’s happened with you and Airex?’

‘What? Nothing – what?’

‘Oh, I just – you act weird, it usually means that Airex showed one single feeling or…’

‘There’s nothing going on with me and Airex. Right now. Any more.’ Kharth made a face, but this derailing broke her struggle, at least, and she blurted, ‘Rivera’s coming with. Doing coverage of the Scarix mission. Transparent PR bid from command so the core worlds can be told how much we kiss babies, if they’re Federation babies.’

The twist in Cortez’s gut was sudden, as if the turbolift had dropped them ten decks in an instant. She grimaced at the sealed doors. ‘Right. Huh. Is there… you and Karana don’t exactly gossip…’

‘We don’t,’ Kharth allowed. Then she paused. ‘Kally does. I caught her telling Hargreaves she heard Rivera in the background of a call to Valance, first thing in the morning, when we got back here.’

‘Great.’ Cortez paused. ‘I don’t know why I said “great.” I mean “fine.”’

‘Is it fine? That doesn’t sound fine -’

‘I ended it, Sae. I don’t get to be pissy that she’s moving on. If this is moving on. I mean – is this even legal?’

Kharth blinked. ‘I think you mean ethical.’

‘Whatever – shouldn’t we report this?’

‘Do you actually think Karana Valance is leaking stories to her journalist hook-up?’ Kharth clearly couldn’t believe she was the one defending Valance today. ‘And do you care if Olivia Rivera’s being a shit journalist because she’s compromised? Also, who are we reporting this to?’

‘When I said “we,” I was really thinking “you”…’ Cortez’s shoulders sank. ‘You’re right. I’m being ridiculous. And this is fine, really. If this is a waste of Endeavour’s resources, a waste of the SCE Unit’s time, let’s get some good PR on this so we can use it when we really need to do some good. Rivera being here can help with that.’

The turbolift slowed, and the doors opened. Kharth didn’t move for a beat, watching her. ‘You sure you’re okay about this?’

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ It’s only as if the ex with the emotional accessibility of a goldfish has apparently moved on five seconds after I killed our relationship for good. Cortez stepped into the corridor. ‘I appreciate the warning. But speaking of exes and Airex and all that – how’s Jack?’

Kharth rolled her eyes so hard she might have fallen over, transparently seeing through the change in topic, but unable to counter Cortez’s heavy volley of a diversion. ‘Logan’s fine.’

‘You call him “Logan”? Tres romantique. We should get drinks. Together, the three of us. Maybe some others.’

For a moment, Kharth looked like she’d argue. When she said, ‘Alright. When we get a free night,’ before heading down the corridor towards her office, it was enough to take the wind out of Cortez’s sails, even though she’d technically won.

It was difficult to feel victorious when she could see the hint of appeasement. Of pity. Here she was, aboard her old ship, with her ex and her ex’s new whatever, and her friend Kharth didn’t want her to spend an evening alone stewing over it.

Despite herself, Cortez ground her teeth together as they reached the door to Kharth’s office. ‘Right. Good. Let’s look at the project plans, I guess? Make sure we don’t put a foot wrong with this thing in front of the damned press.’