The Agora wasn’t terribly busy at this hour. A few knots of people spread around the social space gave it a general buzz of activity. But the bar itself was the sole domain of Willow Beckman and Cat Saez, who had tracked Willow down and sat down next to her. Which had the unfortunate side effect of bringing Revin back down the bar.

And just like she had done when Willow had arrived, to wallow in pity alone but not in her quarters, Revin had shushed Cat before she could order, instead humming to herself as she surveyed the bar’s impressive collection of bottles and pulling random ones out for inspection. And while Revin’s baking had become a crew favourite whenever it graced the Agora, her drinks were still leaving much to be desired.

“Shouldn’t you be on duty?” Cat asked as she spun on her barstool, back to the bar and engaging in some people watching.

“Shouldn’t you?” Willow mumbled back. “Doc Pisani has pulled the medical card and yanked me from the duty roster for now.” And to emphasize the statement, she pulled back her hair to show the medical recorder sitting behind her left ear.

“Well, you’re still as prickly as normal,” Cat said with a casually thrown smile. “Here’s a question for you – did she yank you from the roster, or impose a flight restriction?”

“Oooh, a loophole,” Revin said from behind the bar, peering through a bottle of something violently blue. “Synthetic kali-fal.” The topper was opened, sniffed at and recoiled from in quick order. “No. No, no, no.”

“The duty roster,” Willow said, dragging out each word as she watched Revin go about hiding the offending bottle behind many others. “Why?”

“I’m looking for an accomplice for something reckless and figure why not ask the third-best pilot on the ship.”

“Third best?” Willow found herself spitting out in quick order. “Third best?”

“Well, there’s myself naturally. And I reckon Crash is right up there.”

“Crash? Give me a break.” Willow turned to face Cat, a hand still around her drink. “It’s in her bloody callsign.”

“Unlike either of us, she already has a lifetime’s experience in the cockpit of fighters.” Cat turned away from the Agora now. “And besides, she hasn’t crashed so much as a shuttle since we gave her that callsign.”

“Ladies,” Revin said quietly, “I will not have declarations of who is and who isn’t the best pilot in the Agora. Besides, it’s neither of you.”

That simple statement, combined with a slight smile, brought an end to a bubbling argument and drew both pilot’s attention onto Revin. Willow’s face said ‘give me a break’ while Cat leaned forward, elbow on bar and chin in hand, studying Revin briefly. “Care to explain that?” she asked.

“No, not really.” Revin finally set a glass down in front of Cat, the drink a gradient of green on the bottom to blue on the top, with two ice cubes and a little umbrella for style. “Give that a try.”

Cat experimentally sipped at the drink, holding out to examine the colours right after. Then sipped again with a satisfactory nod. “Okay, that’s not too bad. Bit sweet for my tastes, but not bad.”

Revin’s brow furrowed, she muttered something about sour, then sulked away to confer with a terminal behind the bar.

“Right, so, now that she’s gone-”

“She can still hear you,” Willow corrected.

“Whatever,” Cat continued. “Look, you’re not flight restricted, and I need a second pilot for something a little crazy. Figure you might be in for it if it means you get off the ship for a bit. And in a fighter too.”

“What is it?” Willow asked.

When Cat stood, she headed for the windows, looking down on Leytan III. She knew Willow would be at her side soon enough and continued when the other woman stopped at her side.

“There’s this interference field around the monolith down there,” Cat said, pointing at the planet with her glass. “Playing merry hell with sensors, scrambling transporters. General pain in the ass thing. We didn’t use the shuttles initially because no one knows just what it might do to a shuttle. But the rovers worked just fine, so reckon a shuttle or a starfighter should be fine as well.”

With no response or snarky comment, Cat kept going. “Flight of two, nip down into the atmosphere. One stays out of the bubble while the other takes a course that’ll cut a chord through it so if something does go wrong, should glide out of it and the other can then tractor to safety if need be. I’ll even let you be the daring one, if you want.”

When Willow didn’t respond, Cat finally turned to look at the other woman. The lack of a response was obvious now. Willow’s eyes were locked straight ahead, down at the planet. The laurel around her head was brighter than ever, casting a faint golden light across the entire Agora. And when Cat moved to block Willow’s gaze, she recoiled slightly at the golden sheen in Willow’s eyes.

“The roads were shrouded and broken for a reason, and not by Hermes’ hands. This is their territory, their fortress. We shouldn’t be here,” Willow said calmly, almost too calmly. “We need to leave right now.”

“Willow?” Cat asked, moving around slightly.

Willow’s gaze never shifted, as if looking straight through Cat.

“Willow?” Cat repeated.

And then the door to the Agora hissed open.

“Well, shit,” Commander Sadovu said immediately at the spectacle before her.

“Okay, this is going in the Strange Energies category,” Doctor Pisani said at Sadovu’s side. Then the doctor took another step forward and whistled loudly, grabbing everyone’s attention, save Willow. “Everyone out, right now!” Then she looked at Cat. “Except you.”