Kara entered her settings into the elliptical nearby. She had been awake for a while, now; after she got back from the mission, she was still active for a few hours until she met Cain in the pilot lounge, but once he had left, she fell asleep on that couch and woke up in the afternoon. Most of the time she spent since then was in the hangar to help, so when the workout reminder rang, she figured she would only go for a light session today. Once the screen confirmed the machine’s readiness, she got on and started her workout.
“So, what happened in that fight? Did that white machine do that to yours?”
“Without an ounce of effort,” Sean answered as he lifted the bar back into position. He took a moment to steady his breath. “The
Highlander already wore a few bruises from a fight with an enemy ace, but that strange machine did all the real legwork. It was over within the blink of an eye. And that isn’t just an expression– there was no way I could maintain visual contact at those speeds. Not sure if my cameras faltered or if it was just an optical illusion, but I’m
certain that it left afterimages behind it.”
“Hm. Even if it’s just the cameras’ fault, that’s still pretty fast. I assume it attacked you by surprise then?”
“Ye would assume correctly. Barely had the chance to look up before it knocked over a skyscraper and used it as the world’s biggest boogie board.”
“A… boogie board?” Kara squinted slightly. “I’m… not sure I know what that is.”
“It’s like a surfboard, but instead of standing on it ye lay with yer belly down. Useful if ye don’t have the patience to learn how to surf.” He shook his head, clearly straying off-topic. “Point being that it made one hell of a dramatic entrance.”
“Oh, those-- honestly, yeah. That sounds very dramatic and incredibly irresponsible. When I see or hear about that kind of thing, I can’t help but wonder if that was carried out from an order, of if that was the decision of an individual. It really puts into perspective…. er… hang on.” She realized she had digressed from the direction she had planned this conversation to go. “I’ll come back to that later; I wanted to ask a question about that machine, first.”
“Shoot.”
“From my understanding, and, mind you I haven’t gotten to read any report yet, but-- after your initial encounter with enemy aces, you all witnessed this machine display an incredible show of power, then attempted to bring it down. Once it had proven to be outmatching your team, you retreated the best you could to the ship.” She waited a second to let it sink in. “Have I gotten that whole situation correctly?”
“More or less,” Sean answered. He brought a finger up as if he had to think about how he wanted to continue. “Only thing I should clarify is that the two of us were separated from Linnea the moment the machine entered the battlefield. Asked her for a dance– his words, not mine– and she was able to hold him off for several minutes before I looped back around to engage. I only planned to cover her retreat, but he didn’t give me much of a chance. Cain took off for the
Menaulion and returned with enough firepower to knock him back long enough for us to make our grand escape.”
“I see…” She mulled over what Sean said to match her conversation with Cain from the day before. It matched well, except maybe on one bit. She continued. “Did Cain ask you to follow him for resupplying?”
“Aye,” he confessed. There was no reason to be anything but honest about the situation. “Didn’t make much sense to leave her high and dry while the two of us made our escape. I decided to stay behind and attempt to provide support while Merlin made his way back to the
Menaulion. Hoped he would pick up Fawn on his way back, but he must have thought the situation too dangerous.”
“Hmmm.” She hesitated on her reply.
You were just out of a fight against aces and you saw what that machine was capable of. Were you really that confident?, she thought. Yet, she was also understanding. “Sometimes it’s hard to say whether a choice we’ve made was the right one or not at the moment, innit?”
“Not always easier in retrospect,” Sean remarked. He took a long gulp from his water bottle. “Hard to know what would have happened otherwise. All I
do know is that we all made it back alive and in one piece. If that means I had to sacrifice the
Highlander, then so be it. I’ve made my peace with my decision.”
He sighed, placing his bottle back onto the ground. “Doesn’t mean I don’t wish it had gone better.”
Kara nodded. “You know, that’s… you have more critical thinking skills than you let most people think.”
“Try not to heap on too much praise,” Sean teased. “I have an image to maintain, after all.”
“...heh.” Kara chuckled softly. She opened her mouth to say something, but preferred not to, this time.
He might just become a great leader in the end if he manages to live through whatever he throws himself into, she thought.