TSD: 3049-10-07 — Local: 08:09
Galatea, Galatea System — Galaport City (Bay Ring 3 / Harrow Unit Mech Bay)
The Zeus never looked ready.
It looked inevitable.
Even half-open on scaffolds with panels off, even with its hip actuator exposed like a wound you could see into, it still felt like a thing built to end arguments.
Tessa had Rina Vale up on the platform with her now, both of them leaned over the actuator housing. Rina's movements were careful—slow like Tessa demanded—hands steady, eyes hungry for every detail.
"Seal's seated," Rina said, voice quiet with concentration.
Tessa grunted. "Don't tell me. Show me."
Rina angled the coupler gauge. The reading held steady.
Tessa's shoulder brushed Kel's as she leaned down from the platform to glance at his diagnostic slate—an accidental contact that lasted half a beat longer than it needed to. Her coveralls smelled faintly of solvent and bay heat. She didn't apologize. She didn't step away quickly, either.
Kel kept his voice calm. "If it holds under a full-weight pivot, I'm satisfied."
Tessa looked up at him from under her lashes—eyes sharp, tired, and for a moment… softened.
"You're always satisfied with 'good enough,'" she muttered.
Kel's mouth barely shifted. "I'm satisfied with 'reliable.'"
Tessa huffed like she disagreed, but her hand—grease-streaked knuckles and all—briefly pressed against his forearm as she stepped around him to reach a tool tray. Not a grab. Not a cling.
Just a small, unthinking contact, like her body had decided he belonged in her orbit.
Rina watched it and immediately looked away like she'd caught something private.
Kel pretended he hadn't noticed. He had.
---
Mara called them over to the bay-side workstation. She didn't raise her voice; she never needed to.
Kel walked to her. Tessa followed a step behind. The rest of the crew drifted closer—Avery and Nadia on one side, Sienna lounging but listening, Jori standing straight like she'd been issued posture with her flak vest, Elin checking med packs and straps.
Mara turned the tablet so Kel could see the numbers.
Her scent was clean—soap and cold air. Her hair was pinned tight again, but a few strands had come loose near her ear. She kept tucking them back like it bothered her.
"We're repairing what we can," Mara said. "But we're not touching the sixty."
Kel nodded. "Good."
Mara tapped the ledger line with her stylus. "We do the actuator service, a controlled armor replacement stock, preventative on the Valkyrie, and vehicle spares. No weapons swaps. No fancy."
She leaned in closer as she spoke—close enough that their shoulders touched lightly when she angled the tablet.
Mara didn't pull away.
She just kept talking, voice steady and professional while her posture quietly admitted she was more comfortable near him than she was a week ago.
Tessa noticed. Her eyes narrowed slightly—then she looked away and pretended she hadn't.
Mara continued, "We leave Galatea today. Contract staging is in the Summer system."
Sienna's eyebrows lifted. "That's close."
Mara nodded once. "Close enough to be one jump."
Kel's gaze stayed on the route block. "Why Summer?"
"Because it's near enough to Galatea to be a natural corridor hop," Mara said. "And because the consortium wants eyes on traffic moving rimward from there."
Tessa's jaw tightened. "Meaning pirates."
Mara didn't argue. "Meaning disciplined unknowns can hide behind pirate noise."
Kel's voice stayed calm. "We stage at Summer. We keep moving."
Mara's finger hovered over a line item, then she hesitated—just a fraction.
"Kel," she said quietly, "the MRB annex… they killed people trying to get to us."
Kel met her eyes.
Mara usually didn't hold eye contact long.
This time she did.
"I know," Kel said.
Mara's throat moved. She looked down at the tablet again—but her hand, when she shifted the slate back toward him, brushed his knuckles lightly.
Accidental.
Not rushed.
A tiny contact that said I'm here without her ever speaking it.
Kel didn't react outwardly.
He simply nodded once. "We don't give them another clean shot."
Mara's lips parted slightly, like she might say something softer.
She didn't.
She just stood closer.
---
Tessa went back up to the platform with Rina.
"Torque sequence," Tessa ordered.
Rina repeated it quietly, breath fogging faintly in the bay's cooler air currents. "Cross-tight, quarter turn, cross-tight, quarter turn—"
"Good," Tessa said, and the word came out rougher than praise usually did from her.
Rina froze like the approval physically hit her.
Her cheeks went pink. She blinked too fast. "Thank you."
Tessa scoffed. "Stop doing that."
Rina swallowed. "Yes—sorry."
Tessa sighed—then, almost against her own instincts, she softened by a millimeter. "Just… keep being careful."
Rina nodded hard, gripping the wrench like it was a lifeline.
Down below, Avery watched the actuator repair with a soldier's interest. Nadia kept hovering near the supply crates, trying to be useful without getting in anyone's way.
Jori Kade approached Mara cautiously. "Ma'am—Mara—where do you want me on convoy rotation?"
Mara looked up, then down at Jori's hands. They were steady, but the tension was visible in her knuckles.
"You're second driver," Mara said. "Nadia takes first watch. You take second. When we stop, you're perimeter checks with Avery."
Jori nodded. "Understood."
Mara paused—then added, flat but not unkind, "You asked instead of guessing. Good."
Jori went still.
Her face warmed a little like she didn't know what to do with the praise. "Yes," she said, too fast. "Thank you—"
Mara's eyes flicked away. "Don't thank me. Just keep doing it."
Kel caught the pattern—every one of them awkward with approval, every one of them trying not to show how much it mattered.
He understood it more than he let on.
---
The last hours on Galatea
By mid-morning the Zeus actuator housing was sealed and re-tested.
They ran the pivot test in the bay—controlled, careful.
The Zeus's left hip held.
Tessa didn't smile, but her shoulders loosened for the first time in days.
"Reliable," she said grudgingly, as if the word tasted like surrender.
Kel nodded. "Good work."
Tessa's eyes flicked to him—sharp again—then away. She stepped past him to grab the diagnostic slate, and her hip brushed his thigh in the tight aisle between tool carts.
It was the kind of contact that could be nothing.
It was also the kind of contact that made the air feel slightly different afterward.
Tessa didn't apologize.
She didn't move faster either.
Rina watched from the ladder, cheeks pink again, then abruptly pretended to be fascinated by a bolt.
Mara's gaze tracked Tessa's path once—quiet, unreadable.
Then Mara looked back down at the tablet and said, "Loadout is finalized. We lift in four hours."
Kel: "All right."
Elin tightened the straps on the med crate. "If we get hit en route to the port, people die. Everyone keeps their helmets close."
Avery nodded. Nadia swallowed hard. Jori nodded too quickly. Sienna's grin didn't show this time.
And Mara—Mara stood just a little closer to Kel while she spoke, shoulder nearly touching his again, like she'd decided proximity was a kind of safety she could allow herself.
Kel didn't comment.
He simply let her.
Because he didn't need them to rush.
He needed them to stay alive long enough to become something real.
---
Travel plan locked for continuity
Destination (staging): Summer system — Summer I (merchant traffic hub)
Route: Galatea → (single JumpShip jump) → Summer
Estimated travel time (Galatea surface to Summer I orbit/port): ~12–15 days, assuming standard 1G transit to Galatea's jump point, immediate jump on a booked berth, then Summer's in-system run.
---
Unit Ledger — Iron Inheritance (Running C-Bill Log)
(Maintained by Mara Saito; updated end of TSD 3049-10-07, 08:09)
Starting liquid (from earlier this morning)
Liquid on hand: 146,450
Restricted/held (MRB): 25,000 (not spendable)
Hard reserve floor (DO NOT SPEND BELOW): 60,000
Repairs executed (what they can afford without violating the 60k rule)
Zeus left hip actuator service + calibration cycles: −28,000
Armor replacement stock (2 tons standard): −20,000
Weapons feed / fire-control preventative + small parts: −6,500
Valkyrie preventative maintenance + patch kit: −5,500
Vehicle maintenance pack (filters, belts, comm hardening): −7,000
Total repairs today: −67,000
Current balances
Current liquid on hand: 79,450 C-bills ✅ (above 60,000 reserve)
Operating liquid above reserve: 19,450 C-bills
Restricted/held: 25,000 C-bills (not accessible)