so, with advice of the dead, and a halo over my head (part LXXVII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part LXXVI.)

Emilly arrived on Tannhäuser Station, happy with the state of construction, and turned to the right, stopping as a security field shimmered over the opening, where the pod was exposed to space. Slowly, slowly, a linking pod rotated, slid into place, automatically. She blinked, turning around, and nearly ran into Justine behind her.

"Is that--whoa," she started, seeing another pod float by outside. "Are we putting in a new command center?"

Justine shrugged. "I am not sure. He hasn't said a word to me yet. He's focused and working really fast."

Emilly grinned, and Justine shrugged again.

"I'm not gonna bother him."

The two women walked down the new connecting bridge, Emilly glancing out the windows occasionally, searching for the relative position of the Tannhäuser Rift, from the new Station.

"He put furniture in the war room, so we can use that if we have to," Justine said. She turned the corner, Emilly following.

"I think this is the arrivals terminal," she said to Emilly, just as Zack arrived, walking from the shuttle bay.

"Duchesse, Countess," Zack said, bowing. Both women grinned.

"Mmm," Justine said.

"Doctor," Emilly commented, then was distracted by a swirling pattern of blue energy outside. "Oh, dear...We're having a flare."

Justine looked. "[Sh*t] yes, we are."

Zack darted his eyes from each face, to the blue outside, and back to them. "What does it mean?"

Emilly frowned. "Usually, that something's gone wrong in the containment around the Rift. But it seems to have stabilized." She watched the energy fade, returning to the normal starfield, only to sputter another tongue of winding blue. "She says..."

"I'll go check the rift controls. Those are up and running," Justine said. "Might need adjusting."

Emilly nodded. "Because that's definitely not good."

Justine set off briskly. Zack looked concerned.

"Be careful, Justine!" He whispered after, "I do not want to have to reskin her again..."

Emilly figured he hadn't wanted that to be heard, so she just watched for additional flares. When she looked up, though, he was staring at her.

"I really hope you don't have to," she murmured. He nodded. "Let's see where everyone else is, though. It looks stable now..."

She set off down another corridor, trying to remember the layout in her head. Rusty walked through another connecting tube.

"Hello!"

The bard smiled. "Hello, Emilly!"

"We're trying to find the council chambers, things have shifted a tad."

"Good day, Rusty Didi," Zack said.

"Hi, Zack!"

Emilly walked into the next room and stopped, seeing Justine.

"Now, this isn't the room he meant, right, this is just monitoring?"

Justine nodded. "This is the monitoring and control panel for the rift." She looked down at the panel, shaking her head. "Parameters are all [f*cked' up. I'll just be a minute." She looked up pointing through the open door, across the hall.

"The meeting room is opposite here," she said.

Emilly nodded, distracted. "Have we found Beta-El yet?"

"No," Justine murmured.

"Hmm..." She peered at the panel Justine was inputting figures into. "Gravity fluctuations as well?" She signed. "Right, then."

She made her way to a main elevator hub, and turned. "Wait, she said opposite, but...that way still lies open space..." She turned 45 degrees and tapped the iris door. It opened on the war room. Hiro looked up.

"Hello Doctor, Duchess.."

Zack chuckled. "She meant the one beside."

Emilly nodded. "Right. She apparently meant kitty-corner."

"Greetings Duke," Zack said.

"How was the rest of the party?"

Emilly sat down at one of the chairs around the table, pulling up the rift readings on the terminal. She thought.

"Odd, but fun?" she finally said.

Zack sighed. "I could not attend to it; some other business took hold of me."

"Party wound down, ended up with just the Dowayne and Daniel," Emilly said.

Hiro nodded. "Same here, Zack." He turned to the Duchess. "Was that the odd part?"

Emilly shook her head. "Daniel asked to dance. The Dowayne decided this was a perfect opportunity to vamp madly."

Zack mused, smiling. "That dance with the Countess was...quite pleasant," he said, and then watched as Justine walked in. "Hello, Countess."

Emilly continued. "Dancing with someone who's not flirting so much...or speaking so much...while someone across the room is flirting with you? That was the odd part."

"Ah," the Duke said.

Zack just facepalmed.

Hiro nodded. "So, I thought since we are growing so fast, a quick huddle...might be in order."

Justine found a seat, smiling at Zack. "It was a good party," she said, sitting down. "Zack? Rusty? Please, have a seat." She focused her attention on the Duke.

Zack nodded, smiling, finding a seat. "I was just waiting for the invitation."

Justine focused her attention on the Duke. "Zack? Rusty? please have a seat."

Zack nodded and smiled. "I was just waiting for the invitation."

Rusty made short work of finding a seat as well.

Emilly looked around, looked down at her figures on the rift flare, glancing over the meeting agenda. Right. Table that discussion for now.

"All right," Hiro said. "Let's begin."

(Continued in part LXXVIII.)