The short route was starting to look like the short route to purgatory, but the Captain brought up an interesting point. Stealth ship, you say? She recalled hearing brief mentions of such systems early in the war, back when they were either theoretical concepts or first prototypes to see if it was feasible at all. [color=#FF2E00]“How long can the Xuang- No, fuck it, it needs a nickname, how long can the [i]ship[/i] stay hidden like this? Because I think there’s something we could do to make detection even harder… a little. Maybe.”[/color] Avelyn piped up a little uncertainly. [color=#FF2E00]“Among the extras I mentioned earlier is the ability to heat things up and cool things down. We could bundle up some scrap metal, heat it up to a few hundred degrees and chuck it out the door when we enter the system. A hot, fast moving and unidentified object ought to get them looking in its direction. And if we could manage to arrive undetected, we could even choose the release point so they can’t catch us when we’re doing it.”[/color] She looked to the Captain for her professional opinion, [color=#FF2E00]“Unless they happen to look out a window, but then we’re stuffed regardless.”[/color]

Sam raised some good points, but Avelyn also thought that those who cited friendlies already on the ground as good enough reason to take the long route were forgetting something. [color=#FF2E00]“OK, so we’ve got friendlies on site. So what? Show of hands, how many of you have heard [i]‘Ah, they have some of those mage freaks over there, they’ve got it, we can take our time.’[/i] during the war?”[/color] She asked and raised her hand, subconsciously defaulting to her wartime squad leader for the ‘asshole who is wrong’ voice. [color=#FF2E00]“It’s not fun when it happens. Just because they’re there doesn’t mean they can get to Realist in time and get it out. The Circle could have splashed down in a hard-to-reach area. It could be so badly screwed up that before our lads can cut their way into the wreck, Ascendancy’s goons will arrive, wipe the floor with them and take Realist since the hard part of the job will be mostly done. The presence of friendlies should be considered exactly that: an advantage. One that we’d do well to capitalize upon. Not an excuse to slack off and potentially lose that advantage. And by ‘losing that advantage’ I mean ‘A bunch of dead rebels’.”[/color] She took great care to sound polite and not like her usual flippant self. [color=#FF2E00]“Doubly so if the other route is longer than the week before payday. What’s the difference between ideal travel times, anyway?”[/color]

Then she noticed Narvia crying on the other side of the room. [i]‘Come on, put a lid on it, new boss is watching.’[/i] Was it hypocritical to think that not even a minute after having her own little episode? A little, probably. All things considered though, they were doing great. At least most of them were managing to keep what sort of damaged goods they all were concealed, even if it had to be obvious to anyone with a brain. And it was definitely better they got it out now than in the field.

Then the one with the cybernetic enhancements - Laurey, if her ears weren’t deceiving her, and they rarely did - moved closer to the Captain, right into her field of view. But with the surprise no longer a factor, she was just another person. [i]‘Don’t think about it, she’s dead. Has been for a year. Nothing to be done now, and there are worse ways to go. You’re still thinking about it, stop!’[/i] She gave laurey a friendly wave. Best to start damage control early.