Opalina Outpost

Epilogue: High Flying

Ravi burst out of his last meeting of the morning, a myriad of Huseda's instructions still wheeling through his head. He had the territory's longest checklist on his slate, an overflowing schedule, and one thousand decisions to make. And he felt lighter than air. He soared on Yorune-level energy.

Striding through the halls of the ziggurat, he did his best to ignore the wide-eyed stares and fluttering whispers all around him on his way to the elevator. It was weird being recognized by strangers in the week that had followed the announcements. But it had been undeniably awesome to call his mother after his formal commission and listen to her triumphant and very incoherent shouting at having seen the broadcast. She'd visit soon, and he'd get to show her the lightship. And more importantly, she'd meet Lio.

Anticipation and nerves spilled into his stomach like twinkling foam. Goddess, she was going to fucking love Lio. He couldn't keep from bounding out of the elevator as soon as the doors retracted, skidding across the marble of the ziggurat's main floor. People opened the doors for him like he was a Commissioner. The Fennec region heat pelted him as soon as he was outside, but three more strides carried him to his waiting hov and the cool embrace of air conditioning.

The ride back out of Raffaret and up into the mountains was long, but nowhere near long enough for all the tasks he needed to accomplish. He bent over his slate, fingers flying, only pausing to review an occasional update missive from Jossen. The crew was hard at work on the site that was to be their new home. And apparently, taking too many snack breaks for Jossen's liking.

A flurry of construction had extended the old mag lane directly up to the ridge where Opalina had once been hidden in the mountain. Their new home base was closer to Wrath's Mirror, and Yorune had started blueprints for an extensive complex of labs and residences. For the time being, they were staying in a set of spacious and slightly overdecorated trailers sent directly from the capital. As Duhar liked to say, they were fancy people now.

Clambering out of the hov and down to the site where the crew was at work, Ravi was pleased to see that his fancy people had made progress. He took a dirt ramp down into a deep pit and followed the line of a sturdy sandbag wall. Nearly ran into Teres hauling a pair of fresh bags.

"Com, welcome back!" She slung the bags down and wedged them into their place in the row. "How was your meeting?"

"Which one?" Ravi gave her a wry smile. "I've got plenty to fill everyone in on. But it looks like you've all been productive without me." They walked together, turning a corner to see Orvaska and his sister each slapping a sandbag into place. An arm's length beyond them, a sloppy pile of bags devoured where the rest of where the wall should have been.

Ravi's eyebrows lifted. "What happened with this part?"

Teres rolled her eyes. "That's Lio and Aziri's section, and they've spent all their time arguing about how to move sandbags faster instead of actually, y'know, moving sandbags."

"You should not stand there, Com," Onfenka said, leaning around Teres.

Ravi stepped out of the area she indicated. "Why n—"

"Incoming!" Lio's distant screech provided a nanosecond's alert before a sandbag sailed out of the blue overhead and thudded down where he'd been standing. "

"Got it," Ravi said, eying the sandbag at his feet. He barreled back toward the nearest ramp and up out of the pit, just in time to see Lio and Aziri wrestling another sandbag into what looked like a catapult.

"Hey, assholes!" he bellowed, before they killed someone.

Lio straightened and shaded his eyes with one hand, grinning like a fool. And in spite of himself, an answering expression lit up Ravi's face and his tingling limbs and his aching heart as he closed in on Lio. At least until he remembered he had to start a lecture on the safety hazards of sandbag projectiles.