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1. A Brown Repose, and a Golden Encirclement
At Hull Maintenance — the repair shop and salvage-parts dealer tucked into Subaru Station — the air carried the comfortable smell of machine oil and metal. Behind the counter, Sati, the shop's pride and best advertisement, was chatting with Ledea, her brown ponytail bouncing with characteristic energy.
Under normal circumstances, Shutia would have inserted herself by now with some variation of "Sis, you look so brilliantly clever and adorable today!" But today, for reasons she couldn't quite account for, she was quiet. Her gaze had drifted to Sati's ponytail — the way it flicked left and right every time Sati laughed — and stayed there, unfocused, tracking it without particular intention.
In the middle of this peaceful drift, Sati set down her tools with the expression of someone who had just remembered something wonderful.
"Oh — actually, I should mention: Hull Maintenance just got Alnilam Heavy Industries as a regular client!"
"«What?»"
The Mace sisters said it in perfect unison.
Alnilam Heavy Industries was the largest conglomerate on Subaru Station, a company whose reach extended across the galaxy — not the kind of organization that ordinarily dealt with individual work ships or small repair shops. Sati, apparently delighted by their reaction, continued with increasing enthusiasm.
"So Miss Lumie — the company president's daughter herself — came by in person, completely out of nowhere. She said 'I do hope we'll be good friends from now on' and introduced herself so graciously... I was genuinely moved. Someone at the top of a major corporation going out of her way to personally patronize a little shop like this!"
"Wha — wha — whaaaaat—?!"
Shutia's voice cracked on the way out. She froze, unable to conceal the bewilderment spreading across her face. The image of that particular young lady — impeccably mannered, perpetually close, perpetually unsettling — surfaced in her mind with perfect clarity.
"Shutia — what is the matter with you? You're alarming Sati."
Ledea regarded her sister with the half-lidded expression of someone who had given up on understanding what they were looking at.
Shutia's internal processing had already moved well past the point of being reachable by normal conversation. A cold sweat ran down her spine.
(Miss Lumie... she's actually reached all the way to Sati's shop. The place we rely on more than anywhere. Which means — while I wasn't looking — she's been steadily filling in the outer moat, hasn't she—?!)
The sensation of a net being drawn slowly closed around her was producing a sweat that showed no sign of stopping. The thought that the overwhelming capital and momentum of a major corporation was being deployed at full capacity purely to encircle her personal social landscape — Shutia stood alone inside this realization, and felt a very specific kind of dread.
"That's wonderful news, Sati. Alnilam Heavy Industries has been doing more for us as well, recently. If a company of that scale establishes a relationship with Hull Maintenance, it can only improve our own access to parts and maintenance resources. A very good development for everyone."
"Isn't it! I'm hoping we can get even closer from here!"
Standing before Ledea — who registered zero threat in any of this — and Sati — who was simply, genuinely happy about a new business connection — Shutia managed a strained smile and prayed, internally and urgently, that Miss Lumie would please refrain from driving any further anchors into her personal perimeter.
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2. An Evening Kitchen and a High-Handed Call
The two of them returned to the Silver Anchor after concluding their business at Hull Maintenance.
In the kitchen adjoining the living area, Ledea was at the stove — which was unusual enough — and in unusually good spirits, a quiet hum escaping her as she worked the pan with practiced efficiency. Today's market visit had turned up a rare find: frontier premium ingredients that almost never circulated on the open market — Star-Honey Tomatoes and a breast cut of luminous free-range chicken — acquired at a price that shouldn't have been possible. She was, consequently, in an excellent mood.
From the living area sofa, Shutia was recording all of this on her personal terminal.
The small figure in the apron. The silver twin-tails bobbing gently with each movement over the stove. Every angle constituted definitive evidence of the most adorable person in the universe going about her evening, and Shutia's face had gone completely soft — the expression of someone who had stopped pretending to function normally.
Then Ledea reached for a spoon to taste the sauce, and turned around.
The camera lens and Ledea's eyes made contact simultaneously.
"Shutia. What exactly have you been doing over there. That is not appropriate. Stop recording."
"Ahaha, sorry sis. But you're even more radiant than usual today — I just had to archive it for the record—!"
"...You really are thorough in the strangest places."
Ledea exhaled — not quite a sigh — and turned back to the stove. She didn't pursue it further; the good mood had the majority vote today. The back of her neck had gone slightly pink. Shutia's finger pressed the record button harder.
A peaceful moment. A private one, belonging only to the two of them.
Then the main console in the cockpit announced an incoming transmission, and the moment was interrupted.
"A call? At this hour?"
"...I have a bad feeling about this."
Shutia reluctantly paused the recording and put the call through to the main monitor. The screen switched. Shutia saw who it was. Her expression did not improve.
"Ugh — it's the old lady..."
"How extraordinarily rude of you at first sight, you aberrant little stalker! Who are you calling an old lady?! I am a lady, in the most precise sense of the word, and you have apparently needed reminding of this since the day we first met—!"
On screen, Katrine was fanning herself with considerable feeling. She was currently taking more jobs from Alnilam Heavy Industries than before, though like the Mace sisters she remained an independent contractor — unaffiliated, self-directed, and entirely in her own orbit.
Ledea set down the cooking and came to stand before the screen.
"Katrine. What brings you to call at this hour?"
"...Mm." Katrine closed her fan, composed herself, and lifted her chin in the manner of someone about to deliver a gift. "I'll forgive the preceding rudeness, Ledea. The matter is this: a job has come in for your crew. A security commission — somewhat larger in scale than the usual — from the management office at Comet Center."
She paused. For effect.
"Truthfully, I alone would be more than sufficient for work of this nature. However, there is no harm in having additional hands available. And so — against my better instincts — I am directing this toward you, on the premise that I happen to be short-staffed."
"...So what you mean is, you can't manage it alone and you want our help. You could simply say that."
"Silence! This is an act of generosity on my part!"
The two of them resumed their usual rhythm without missing a beat. Behind them, the sauce on the stove was still warm. And Ledea, her attention already beginning to move toward the details of a commission from Comet Center's management office, let something brighten in her eyes.