She wasn’t alone in the dark, less now than almost ever. A shape manifested imperceptibly across from her, glinting off of light that wasn’t there before the shadows claimed it again, and left it hardly more than a smudge against the black. 

But Quinn could feel it. Could feel [color=black]her[/color] there. Fingers raked gently through her brain, picking at the thoughts submerged so deeply therein that she wouldn’t be able to tell if they were truly hers or nor—only that she felt them. 

“[color=black]Now we feel real,[/color]” she said, excitement shaking her voice. “[color=black]Now we show them why.[/color]”

Besca’s voice piped up in her ear. “[color=gray]You girls in?[/color]”

“[color=skyblue]We’re ready,[/color]” Dahlia answered. Quinn might have seen that little shape grin at the sound of their sister’s voice. 

“[color=gray]Good. Listen, CSC’s all occupied, so you both are gonna have to handle one of the singularities each. Deelie you’ve got the northern one, we’re lining up…now. Get into position, you’re shock-dropping in. There’ll be a town about four miles south of you, but north past the singularity there’s nothing, you’re free-range that direction.[/color]”

“[color=skyblue]Got it.[/color]”

There was a shaking outside, a heavy thumping Quinn could feel even through the cockpit as [i]Dragon[/i] got into position. Shortly, a siren blared—the lift hatch opening, followed by the sharp hiss of the hard-light barrier keeping everything from being sucked out into the void of space.

“[color=gray]And…go, go, go![/color]” A scraping sound, another blaring as the hatch resealed moments later. Besca’s voice came again, this time over the speakers. “[color=gray]Brace for redirection.[/color]” Again the Aerie shifted, though inside the Savior it was nowhere near as jarring. 

“[color=gray]Quinn,[/color]” Besca said, back in her ear again on the pilots’ comms. The ways he sounded, it seemed like she’d wanted to say [i]hun’[/i]. “[color=gray]We’ve got two Modir coming out of a singularity in the west, heading towards a city about thirty miles south. It’s farmland out there, lot of flat ground, not a lot of cover. You’re gonna have to shock-drop, alright? You’ve gotta get yourself through the hatch, then disconnect—don’t reconnect until you’re through the atmosphere, got it? Try to cushion your fall if you can, but if you [i]can’t[/i], then ball up, disconnect and lock yourself into the seat. [i]Ablaze[/i] can take the impact, just reconnect once you’ve actually landed.[/color]”

The siren blared again.

“[color=gray]We’re lining up…and…good to go. On you, Quinn.[/color]”