Leona has been at a retreat for the last five days since she was forced to
accidentally kill Solomon Powers, the star of the hit talk show, Balance of
Power. She didn’t technically have to kill him, but she lost control, and
hit him too hard against the side of the head during their fight, and that
was that. Now she’s in control of a broadcast program that she doesn’t want.
They have reportedly been running repeats until she comes back out the
woodwork, and gives them direction, which she’s not interested in doing. She
certainly doesn’t want to host it. She just wants to go back to the way
things were before, whatever that means. Winona has her tucked away on a
special patch of land that serves both as the training grounds for
intelligence department recruits, and a safe haven for furloughed and
retired operatives, officers, and agents.
It’s been nice, but it’s time to leave. Her people need her, especially
Mateo and Ramses, who will be returning from the Facsimile dimension in a
couple of days. “Wait,” Winona says after Leona explains as much.
“Wait for what?” Leona asks.
“Ugh, I was hoping you would stay at least one more day, so we could clean
it up for you. It’s ready to fly, though, and I suppose that’s what counts.”
“What’s ready to fly?”
“Come with me.” Winona leads her across the ranch, into one of the hangars.
There’s only one aircraft there at the moment. It looks strikingly similar
to The Olimpia.
A man is looking it over, and tapping on his tablet. “Oh, I thought we had
until tomorrow. I’m so sorry, sir, I must have screwed up somewhere.”
“You didn’t,” Winona assures him. “She’s decided to leave early. I had to
move up the presentation. Agent Matic, this is yours. We heard what happened
to your last one.”
The engineer nods. “Same overall dimensions as your old model, but it sports
a more streamlined and accommodating interior. More private lofts, no
cubbies. Less room in the cockpit to leave more space for everything else,
but that’s okay, because more systems are automated than ever before.” He
pauses while Leona takes a quick look at the inside. “It’s also vacuum
compliant.”
“It can launch into space?” Leona questions.
“It can self-propel from a fusion reactor,” the engineer clarifies. “It has
to be launched as a payload on something else, though. Apparently you have
your own special engine too? Mr. Abdulrashid left us in the dark for that
part of the design.”
“Ramses knows about this?”
“He asked for an upgrade,” Winona reveals. “He’s been planning this for a
while.
He always has a lot of irons in the fire. Leona nods at it. All she can
think is how much Heath would like this. She didn’t kill him, but she is
responsible for it. She feels responsible for everything. Being the captain
is great until you count up all the pain it’s caused. She should step down
and disappear. Wouldn’t everyone be happier?
“What do you think?” the engineer asks, proud of his work. “We still need to
clean it, but it’s sky-worthy, and space-worthy. And subaquatic-worthy,
and—”
“I love it. Thank you.”
“What are you gonna name it?” Winona asks. “Not the Olimpia again, right?”
“That’s not my call. My team needs to become more of a democracy.”
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