“I know it’s a blow that we don’t have the Pathfinder scout ships,” Addison continued, “but I’ve been thinking. We can send shuttles, scout the nearest worlds. They could return with air and water, even food. We might even find help. Chances of that are low, I’ll admit, but non-zero.”
“Shit, Addison, we can’t do that either.” Sloane scowled, locking her hands under her chin—a posture, Tann noted, that let her put her fatigued weight on her elbows, braced on her knees. She glowered at them both. “Saying no to you two puts me in the position of bad guy here, but fine. I’ll be the bad guy. You heard Kandros. We’re out of ships. If another event occurs, or life support takes a turn for the worse, we’re going to need those shuttles to evacuate the Nexus.”
“What are the odds?” Addison queried, her brow furrowed.
“Evacuation is still a very real possibility,” Sloane replied. “Especially since we still don’t know what caused the breach. If we should be talking about anything, it’s how we’re going to get thousands of stasis pods off this station in a hurry, and where we’d even send them if we could.”
“We are aware of habitable planets—”
“We don’t,” Sloane cut in grimly, “have the manpower to fight hostile native species.”
Addison’s expression clouded. “We’re not here to fight, Sloane. Negotiations can be—”
“Yeah, yeah, I remember the speech,” she retorted. “But unless we have a copy to forward whatever life forms exist in this galaxy, I’m not willing to bank on a peaceful welcoming committee.”
Addison’s jaw set. Shoulders tight.
Tann saw fit to intercede before it culminated into something much… louder. Granted, he hadn’t thought of the evacuation issue, but it wasn’t an insurmountable obstacle. “You raise a valid concern,” he began, only to pause pointedly when Sloane muttered something he thought sounded like, “Gee, thanks.”
If sarcasm could be a weapon, the woman would be an assassin with no concept of collateral damage. Meanwhile, his validation of a legitimate concern seemed to have frayed Foster Addison’s trust in him. At least enough that she was now glaring at him, rather than her temporary opponent. He bit back a sigh.
Mentally, he added at least one psychologist to the list of those who needed to be brought up from stasis. Perhaps a whole team, of diverse species, to help the crew deal with the shock. Yes, a good idea.
Tann clasped his hands behind his back. “If there is no room for compromise, then we are at an impasse.” He started to pace. “The dilemma is that we do not have the staff to make repairs to the Nexus in any reasonable time frame. Our current skeleton crew can, at best, keep the station limping along, however I think we can all agree that such a scenario does not present a very bright future for us or our mission?”
Addison nodded emphatically.
Grudgingly, Sloane did too.
Tann went on, still pacing. “Also, we cannot send our shuttles, because they are needed here in the event of station-wide system failure—a very real possibility, as Director Kelly—”
“Sloane.”
“—Sloane,” he amended, “has pointed out.” More nods. This time, though, it was Addison who hesitated and Sloane the strong affirmative.
They all knew where they stood. Good.
“Then,” he said firmly, “my original proposal is still best. We wake the crew needed to make repairs, instruct them to work quickly and efficiently within severe resource concerns. Addison’s ships will remain ready to evacuate all personnel, awake or otherwise, at a moment’s notice.”
Sloane Kelly, to Tann’s surprise, was no longer frowning. Something had caused her mouth to stretch into a broad smile.
He didn’t know what to make of that. “What is it?” he asked cautiously. “Have I accidentally made a joke?”
“No,” Sloane replied. “It’s just that the crew we’ll need to pull off all these repairs are mostly from the labor force.” Her smile deepened. The bite, he realized too late, came with it. “Kesh’s people.” A beat. “You know. Krogan.”
Tann stopped pacing.
“We should make a list,” she continued, too brightly for the environment, “of all the krogan workers we’re going to need.”
“I—” Tann swallowed, his mind painting pictures of a Nexus full of krogan. He shuddered at the thought. Too late now. All he could do was try to keep it in check. “I have some ideas on who we will need. Perhaps some additional security staff would be wise…”
Sloane’s grin only widened. Clearly the difficult human woman found joy in his discomfort.
“There’s a few people I will need, too,” Addison said. “My assistant, William Spender, for starters, plus a select few members of the colonial team to inspect the surviving shuttles. For all we know, they were also damaged in this calamity.”
“Like I said, make a list. I’ll review it for security concerns.” Sloane glanced at each of them in turn, making sure they were paying attention. “What happens, by the way, if we wake a bunch of people and find we can’t support them?”
“They return to their stasis pods,” Tann said simply. The obvious answer, yet Sloane looked dubious. This time, though, she didn’t press. Instead she stood and moved past him, headed for the door. As she went by she clapped him on the back.
Hard.
Tann swayed, wincing in mingled annoyance and surprise.
“We’re all in agreement,” she said briskly. “I’ll let Kesh know. Meeting adjourned.” Just like her arrival, she left at her own cognizance. His shoulder still stung when the doors closed behind her.
Even so, Tann felt a smile creep over his face, and it felt surprisingly good. He’d accomplished something here. Not much, granted, but it was a start.
An if was so much more likely to become a when with a start.
In the hall outside, Sloane went to the nearest comm panel and punched in her first officer’s ID. Thank all hell they’d managed to lock down the comm systems while she’d worked her ass off with Kesh. She didn’t want this one blared over every speaker. Then thrown in her face when the salarian wanted something later.
“Kandros here,” his reply came, a minute later.
“It’s Sloane,” she said. “Can you talk?”
A shuffling sound, then the click of a door closing. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
She considered her words carefully, and made doubly sure Tann and Addison had not joined her in the hall. Satisfied, she angled herself to the best possible surveillance vantage and kept her voice low. “Put together a team of officers, led by Talini. Trustworthy people.”
“How many?”
“Enough to guard the supply rooms that are actually accessible.” Supplies were cached all over the Nexus, but the bulk of the station remained cold and airless, inaccessible due to damage. Sloane saw no need to put soldiers in front of those doors. Not yet, at least.
“Have we got a problem?” Kandros asked.
“Negative,” she said, “but it’s only Tuesday, if you follow.”
“Heh. Yeah. I follow.”
“Good. Sloane, out.” She killed the link, and went off in search of Nakmor Kesh.
Her path wound through one debris-strewn hall after another. She passed a series of apartments that overlooked one of the great arms. Their doors, less robust than those on the cryostasis rooms, had all torn off and now lay in an oddly neat row on the opposite side of the hallway, as if a construction crew had placed them there in preparation for installation.
On a whim she paused at one room and stepped inside. One of the smaller layouts, barely more than a bed, table and chair. No personal belongings; those would all be in deep storage until whoever had been assigned this room came to get them.