Page 143 of Every Almost

"Your decision is wrong," Tavi said. Flat. Simple.

"We're running out of time," Cael said, his voice hardening. He turned to Tavi and his posture shifted into something Charlie recognized. Authority, pulled on like a coat. "Start the deployment sequence. That's an order."

Tavi didn't move. His amber eyes held Cael's and didn't blink.

"Chief Engineer Rask."

The voice came from behind them. Charlie turned, and every muscle in her body went still, but not from fear. She hadn't known Reyna was there. She didn't know when she'd arrived or how long she'd been listening. But she was there now, standing in the doorway of the Engineering Bay, and her voice was something Charlie had never heard before.

It was quiet. Controlled. But if Charlie was being honest, it was scary as all hell.

Cael turned to face her. "Captain, I was just?—"

"I heard what you were doing." Reyna stepped into the room. She didn't raise her voice. She didn't need to. "You were overriding the engineer who designed this system, dismissing a member of your own team who correctly identified why that was a mistake, and ordering the deployment of a process you don't fully understand because your title says you can."

The room was silent. Charlie saw Maren go still while Tavi hadn't even moved so much as an eyelash.

"Tavi is your Lead Software Engineer," Reyna continued, each word deliberate. "When he tells you anything regarding a system or procedure that has to do with his field, especially when it is something that is better suited for an operation, the correct response is to listen. Not to pull rank."

"Captain, with respect?—"

"I'm not finished." Reyna's eyes held Cael in place. "Charlie Wickett designed this gradient. She also solved a fieldemergency on that research station in real time that would have killed three Aetherfin if she hadn't caught a frequency shift through the wall of a containment housing. If something goes wrong during this transfer, she is the person in this room most qualified to fix it. You can't argue with logic, Rask."

The silence that followed would have made it possible to hear a pin drop..

"Charlie will operate the gradient transfer with Tavi," Reyna said. "You will observe. Are we clear, Rask?"

A beat. Two. Cael's jaw worked while his posture straightened.

"Yes, Captain."

Reyna held his gaze for one more moment. Then she turned to Charlie.

"Whenever you're ready."

Charlie's handswere steady on the console, which surprised her, because the rest of her was not.

She pushed it down. Three Aetherfin needed to get to the zero-G sphere, and the only way there was through six zones of decreasing gravity that she had designed.

"Deploying gradient," she said. "Tavi, start the calibration sequence."

"Starting now," Tavi responded. The hum filled the corridor as the first zone activated. Zone one: 80%. Zone two: 60%. Zone three: 40%. The sequence cascaded down the corridor.

"All six zones online and stable," Maren reported. "Gradient holding."

"Selowen, are you ready?" Charlie asked through the comms.

From the sphere, Selowen's voice arrived with its unhurried patience. "The sphere is prepared, Charlie. They'll be comfortable."

The containment housing had been guided through the gradient corridor and positioned at the sphere's threshold. When the seal was released, the housing's zero-G field merged seamlessly with the sphere's, and the first Aetherfin drifted out. Charlie watched her numbers. The transition was smooth. The creature passed through zone after zone, gravity decreasing around it in invisible steps, and entered the sphere without a tremor.

The second followed. Same grace. Same clean numbers.

The third Aetherfin was the largest, and as it entered zone three, Charlie noticed something on her console. A flicker. Not a failure. A trend.

The zone was holding at 40%. But the power draw had ticked up. The Emberkind's gravity systems were compensating for the sustained gradient deployment, and the compensation was pulling slightly more than projected.

"Zone three is showing drift," Charlie said.