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in the void, they dwell
chapter two

Written by Ted Spector

Cassian headed off to find Adair in his half an hour of free time. He walked in the general direction of mission control and stopped by the hangar bay as his father had suggested, approaching a large shuttle craft -- Adair's natural habitat. Poking his head inside, he called out a drawn out “Hellooo?” and watched as a pair of boots climbed down a ladder on the other side of the ship. Adair stopped in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest. He didn’t need to be told what that meant, knew what she was waiting for with a glance alone.

“Adair,” Cassian breathed out, then cleared his throat before he spoke. “I’m sorry,” he started, noticing the subtle quirk in her brow that urged him to continue. “I didn’t like that you took the blame for me. The trip was my idea. You could have been fired, could have lost your job. I wouldn’t have faced any major consequence, I have connections, I-” His expression was one of shame.

“You are my connection,” Adair interrupted, causing Cassian to fall into a dumbfounded silence. “I don’t care if I get fired, if I face consequences, I’m only here because of you, only here for you,” she sighed out and leaned her back against the ship. She removed her gloves, stained with engine oil and tossed them onto a nearby bench. “You said we’d leave together one day. I was willing to take the blame to protect you, but also I figured it could be a way out. Thought if I left, maybe you’d follow me. But now there’s another job Dyson Enterprises needs done and I’m an asset again. There’s always one more job.”

She hung her head in a dejected manner. before her chin was tilted up to meet the gaze of her boyfriend.

“One more job that we get to do together,” Cassian reminded her. “I don’t want to work for Dyson forever. I just want to be with you. When we're done with this? We can talk about moving on to something else, maybe go off to work in a shitty bar on some other planet, huh?” he suggested, a soft grin crossing his features. Adair tried to keep her own expression neutral but nodded her head slowly with a smile of her own.

“Yeah,” she murmured in agreement. The moment fell into a comfortable but short-lived silence, broken when Cassian turned his head to the ship and nodded towards it. “She ready?” he asked and slapped his hand against the hull.

“As she can be,” Adair confirmed. They made their way out of the hangar bay. Adair didn’t have to look over her shoulder to see if Cassian was following her, she knew he would be. They walked together to mission control, close but not touching and upon entering the meeting room were faced with three figures.

To the left side of the long table in the center of the room was a younger man wearing a lab coat, on the right was an individual with a cybernetic implant covering one eye -- and at the very front of the room was one of the company's droids, standing in front of a screen.

The droid turned to face the direction of the newcomers and a voice spoke up from within the machine.

“Cassian and Adair. Welcome. Now that everyone is here, allow me to begin the mission briefing,” it greeted, beginning what sounded like a pre-recorded audio from a speaker within it’s chest. “Welcome, wayfarers! You have all been individually selected for your skills to aid our Entropy IV investigation and rescue mission.”

Adair turned to Cassian with a surprised look. “Rescue mission?” she mouthed, words transitioning from inaudible to a low whisper and expression turning amused. “And they asked you?”

Cassian’s brow furred in irritation, as he scoffed and jabbed her side gently with an elbow, causing her to snort in amusement.

“Entropy IV is a deep space research station located in the Kepler-974 solar system, comprised of 42 decks, with 1,652 crew members. Two weeks ago, Dyson Enterprises lost contact with the Entropy IV team. Due to the nature of their research on Project Wayfarer, periods of no communication are not unheard of -- but this was unscheduled. Their project is classified, as is your involvement in their rescue. You will leave immediately." the droid finished, slides on the screen behind it switching to show the space station, dark gray metal hallways, a glowing blue reactor core, members of the Entropy IV crew. The group remained silent themselves, shared looks of discomfort and uncertainty at the vagueness of it all and then turned their attention back to the drone.

“The company is putting their faith in you and believes you can bring the Project Wayfarer team back home safely,” the droid turned stiffly to each of them. “Cassian, Adair, Florian and Bruno, we thank you for taking on such an important task.”

It made a motion, almost a bow of respect and Adair huffed quietly, whispering once more to Cassian. “Not like we had much of a choice, huh?” she asked and Cassian hummed in agreement, eyes fixed on the droid.

“While we make our final preparations, please feel free to get better acquainted with one another and then meet us at the hangar bay,” it said.

And with that, it made its way out of the room, the doors hissing shut behind it. Cassian glanced down at Adair now and then his gaze drifted to the two strangers in the room. Standing to the left, the young man in the lab coat : Bruno. Standing to the right, the stranger with the cybernetic eye : Florian.

“I guess we should get better acquainted.” Cassian echoed the droid's words quietly, with a curious eye.

“You think so?” Adair asked with a tilt of her head.

Art by M4gney