Page 14 of Every Almost

Reyna blinked slowly. "You heard about that, did you?"

Orion nodded. "News travels fast on a ship like Ember, here." Reyna chuckled softly at that. "Anything I can help with in the meantime? Is the plan going to work?"

"The plan is still... theoretical, as of now," Reyna explained. "Tavi's working on the transition problem."

"Ah." Orion nodded. The nod was unhurried. "He'll figure it out. He always does."

"That's what Vondra said, too," Reyna replied, taking a deep, calming breath.

"Then it must be true." A small smile. "The Admiral and I rarely agree, but when we do, the universe tends to comply."

Reyna felt her shoulders relax. It happened every time she came to the Library, this particular unwinding that Orion's presence seemed to generate without trying. Kess was the friend who saw through her walls. Orion was the friend who made the walls feel less necessary.

He'd been aboard the Emberkind for twenty-five years. Hired under Elena, when the ship was younger and the mission was still finding its shape. He'd watched Elena, Jere, and Reyna work together in their prime. He'd been there when Elena was lost and Jere left, when Reyna inherited a command she never wanted so soon, if at all. He'd sat with her in those first terrible weeks and hadn't tried to fix anything. He'd just stayed, and listened, and that had been enough.

Twenty-five years later, he was still here. Still listening.

"Anything you need from me, Orion?"

"Not today, Captain." He picked up his tea. "But if the Aetherfin rescue goes well, I'd appreciate access to any observational data. Their migratory behavior is poorly documented in Coalition records."

"I'll make sure you get it."

"Thank you." He took a sip of his tea and looked at her over the rim with those amber eyes. "And, Reyna?"

She paused at the door.

"You're doing fine."

Reyna held his gaze. Then she nodded.

"Thanks, Orion."

He returned to his datapad, and Reyna turned toward the door. Torvax was already there, holding it open, his datapad tucked under one arm. He'd completed his notes, organized them by department, and was ready to move before Reyna had finished saying goodbye.

"How do you do that?" Reyna asked as they stepped into the corridor.

"Do what, Captain?"

"Be finished before I am. Every single time."

"Efficiency is not a skill, Captain. It is a disposition."

Reyna shook her head, her lips twitching to hide the smile threatening to show. "There's more to you than efficiency, Torvax." Torvax said nothing, and instead kept walking.

From the Library, they continued the rounds. After thirteen years, Reyna could read his silences just as well as she could read star charts.

"Status," Reyna said as they walked the corridor toward the bridge.

"All departments nominal. Engineering maintenance queue at standard capacity, though several items remain past their assigned completion dates." This was Torvax's way of saying that Cael Rask, her Chief Engineer, was behind on his work without saying his name. She had a sense of this after the few conversations she'd already had with Cael today.

"Navigation has also confirmed the Aetherfin coordinates from Admiral Vondra. Transit time: fourteen hours at standard speed."

"Which gives us about two days on-site for the actual rescue."

"Correct. Tavi has begun preliminary simulations for the zero-G transition problem. He's requested access to the corridor gravity controls between the shuttle bay and the central atrium."

"Grant it."