Kaiden had been a deck officer for most of his career, keeping the technical duties to his crew after making certain he had gained an understanding of their primary and secondary responsibilities in case anything had gone wrong. But this still was not his first jaunt in the void along the rigging. In fact his first exposure to open space had been aiding a bosun back during his cadet days, mere months before he had begun dating Sabatine, if memory served. He saw two figures out along the rigging and even after all these years, he recognized the way she moved just as easily as he had back then. 

He recognized that tone too when her helmet pressed to his. He chose to ignore it, though he knew one of these days he would lose his temper if she kept it up. [i]Oh and you're so mature, are you?[/i] He thought to himself. He'd seen her working on the rigging and thawing the frozen material from liftoff, and behind her Herculaneum was fast receding into the blackness of space. He did his best not to clear his throat, knowing how pompous he might sound. 

"There's no problem unless you inform me there is." He relayed, knowing how testy it appeared coming out of his mouth. Jogging on, he continued. "Captain Micha informed me to come out here and help anyway I can, because Higgs is my man. I'm not here to step on toes, Sabbie." He almost hesitated before speaking, realizing he used his pet name for her he hadn't said aloud in years. The awkwardness was palpable. "I see you're about to insert the rigging and I'll follow your lead." Before adding. "That's an order." 

At that moment, Higgs approached from the portside. He stepped like a professional, and Kaiden knew he had the skills to back it up. As the fellow pressed his helmet to theirs, Kaiden could see his broad face and once broken nose curled from his friendly smile.

"Good to have you here, Lieutenant." Higgs voice said, though of course he had heard none of the two officer's exchange previously. Even in such close contact with Sabatine, Kaiden couldn't help but give a sly grin. Higgs had always been one of his favorite subordinates. "With your permission, you two can get the rigging done. I still need to check the fore for secondary radiation. Herculaneum has a damn lot of shortwave radiation from the big red." Referring to the system's star, though of course that was just a nickname. It was still a healthy sun not yet formed into a giant. It had another two billion years before it became truly dangerous to anyone on the surface of the planet.

"Good man Higgs. The lieutenant and I were just about to suggest the same thing." He told him. After Higgs responded with an 'aye', the man treaded off to the fore of the ship. Kaiden looked Sabatine in the eye. "Lead me from where you left off and let's get this over with." He said.