Huzzah, we have reached the end of our tale, gentle traveler!
Only...not? It's more the end of the beginning than the end. I feel like this is a post credits title card. Brody and Libby will return in... And I don't know when, but it's pretty safe to say they will.
Zephyr means a gentle breeze.
And one last time, you can go back to A here.
Only...not? It's more the end of the beginning than the end. I feel like this is a post credits title card. Brody and Libby will return in... And I don't know when, but it's pretty safe to say they will.
Zephyr means a gentle breeze.
And one last time, you can go back to A here.
Brody stood at the display in his kitchen, half a stalk of celery hanging out of his mouth, and swiped another job offer into the ‘read it later’ file. The number next to the file icon flashed to a bold, aggravated twenty-six, and warned him the file was reaching its size limit.
In the six months since he’d shown up on PacIC to do an interview for a job he didn’t want, he’d gotten twenty-six more job offers. Not all of them were from connections from his service days, he didn’t even know what all of them were.
In the beginning he’d let them sit because…because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, and hanging out on PacIC with Libby seemed as good an idea as any. Even when her trouble was over he hadn’t been entirely sure it was over. He still wasn’t entirely sure it was over. Her survey gig was over though, she was closing up this week, turning in her final work and getting ready to take her next assignment.
Apparently Matt had been a little annoyingly vague about what that was going to be.
It was going to be decision making time though, soon. Once Libby left he was going to have to find something to do with himself. And on some level he knew what he wanted to do, but he wasn’t going to do it.
And staying on PacIC didn’t hold a lot more interest than anything else did.
He grabbed a couple of eggs out of the fridge, and turned the electric cooker on. He raised an egg, shifting his hold so it would break perfectly the way his grandmother taught him--
“You have a visitor, Captain Halliday,” the voice control system for the apartment interrupted.
“Did they say what they wanted?” He turned around to find a vaguely familiar man, wearing an expensive suit and holding a cane taking up the door camera on the display.
“No, sir. Should I send them away?”
“Captain Halliday, it’s Matt Perthins.” He shifted, and cleared his throat. “Could I have a moment of your time?”
Brody walked over and manually opened the door. “Mr. Perthins.” He frowned. “I wasn’t aware you were here.”
He had the grace to look bashfull. “I haven’t spoken to Ms. Wade yet. Do you have a moment?”
“Of course, come in.” He walked back into the kitchen and put the eggs back in the crate, turning the cooker off. “Is something wrong?”
Matt Perthins was staring around his sterile, temporary apartment and clearly adding two and two to make fifty-seven, but when he caught Brody watching him he flushed, and stopped. “You haven’t returned my messages.”
“Messages?” He was pretty sure he hadn’t missed a call.
“Emails. About the job offer?”
Brody blinked. “Oh.” There probably wasn’t a tactful way to say he hadn’t bothered to read any of them. “I…I didn’t realize any of them were from you.”
Perthins pulled out a tablet and handed it over. “It’s nothing…fancy, more a general security position, and the pay is…less than what you could probably get other places.”
Brody took it, glancing at the information. It wasn’t bad pay, and all it said was ‘field and asset security’ and he avoided those types of jobs because talk about crap he didn’t want to wind up in the middle of… “But?”
The other man smiled, and squared his shoulders. “But I promise you’ll like your co-workers. Well…co-worker.”
“Libby.” It wasn’t particularly a shock. Except that he was suddenly, intensely sure he didn’t want to be around for that portion of this conversation.
Her boss nodded. “There are…contracts I cannot avoid any longer, and my last attempt ended with being told point blank I was allowed to hire security if I wanted to. And I know they said it with the understanding that I would never get Libby to agree.”
“And you think she might if it’s me?” Brody wasn’t sure about that.
Matt looked at him for a long minute, and sighed. “Captain Halliday—”
“Brody.”
“Brody.” Matt nodded, smiling. “My boss, and his boss both, have a somewhat…skewed picture of not only Libby, but our relationship. However argumentative she’s been with other people, that’s never applied to me. I could tell her the next survey and she would not balk. I could tell her I’d hired security and she may not be happy about it, but I’m confident she’d fall in.”
“She trusts you.”
“She does,” Matt agreed. “Because I’m not stupid enough to attribute any extra weight to that, or take it for granted. They’ve assumed I balked at the contract because she wouldn’t do it.”
“Instead you balked at the contract because you didn’t think she’d come back.”
“However she likes to downplay what happened in the Black Sea, I spent hours attached to my desk, somewhat sure I was going to be planning a funeral.” Matt swallowed. “And this situation before this survey even started would have been equally as bad…”
“Only I was here.”
Matt nodded. “So yes, she’d agree to protection, and yes, she’d take the job. She might even be fine. But I thought perhaps if you had no firm plans you might like to assist GIG in making the world a better place.”
Brody looked at the employment package, and thought about it. Did he want to stick with Libby? Absolutely. Was it all wrapped up in the fear her increasingly dangerous job was going to get her killed? He should say yes, shouldn’t he? Because he was sure that was true, or at least closer to true than anyone would like.
Except that wasn’t why he wanted to do it. “Okay.” He handed Matt his tablet back. “But you’re telling her.”
At least know he knew what to do with all the unanswered job offers.
In the six months since he’d shown up on PacIC to do an interview for a job he didn’t want, he’d gotten twenty-six more job offers. Not all of them were from connections from his service days, he didn’t even know what all of them were.
In the beginning he’d let them sit because…because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, and hanging out on PacIC with Libby seemed as good an idea as any. Even when her trouble was over he hadn’t been entirely sure it was over. He still wasn’t entirely sure it was over. Her survey gig was over though, she was closing up this week, turning in her final work and getting ready to take her next assignment.
Apparently Matt had been a little annoyingly vague about what that was going to be.
It was going to be decision making time though, soon. Once Libby left he was going to have to find something to do with himself. And on some level he knew what he wanted to do, but he wasn’t going to do it.
And staying on PacIC didn’t hold a lot more interest than anything else did.
He grabbed a couple of eggs out of the fridge, and turned the electric cooker on. He raised an egg, shifting his hold so it would break perfectly the way his grandmother taught him--
“You have a visitor, Captain Halliday,” the voice control system for the apartment interrupted.
“Did they say what they wanted?” He turned around to find a vaguely familiar man, wearing an expensive suit and holding a cane taking up the door camera on the display.
“No, sir. Should I send them away?”
“Captain Halliday, it’s Matt Perthins.” He shifted, and cleared his throat. “Could I have a moment of your time?”
Brody walked over and manually opened the door. “Mr. Perthins.” He frowned. “I wasn’t aware you were here.”
He had the grace to look bashfull. “I haven’t spoken to Ms. Wade yet. Do you have a moment?”
“Of course, come in.” He walked back into the kitchen and put the eggs back in the crate, turning the cooker off. “Is something wrong?”
Matt Perthins was staring around his sterile, temporary apartment and clearly adding two and two to make fifty-seven, but when he caught Brody watching him he flushed, and stopped. “You haven’t returned my messages.”
“Messages?” He was pretty sure he hadn’t missed a call.
“Emails. About the job offer?”
Brody blinked. “Oh.” There probably wasn’t a tactful way to say he hadn’t bothered to read any of them. “I…I didn’t realize any of them were from you.”
Perthins pulled out a tablet and handed it over. “It’s nothing…fancy, more a general security position, and the pay is…less than what you could probably get other places.”
Brody took it, glancing at the information. It wasn’t bad pay, and all it said was ‘field and asset security’ and he avoided those types of jobs because talk about crap he didn’t want to wind up in the middle of… “But?”
The other man smiled, and squared his shoulders. “But I promise you’ll like your co-workers. Well…co-worker.”
“Libby.” It wasn’t particularly a shock. Except that he was suddenly, intensely sure he didn’t want to be around for that portion of this conversation.
Her boss nodded. “There are…contracts I cannot avoid any longer, and my last attempt ended with being told point blank I was allowed to hire security if I wanted to. And I know they said it with the understanding that I would never get Libby to agree.”
“And you think she might if it’s me?” Brody wasn’t sure about that.
Matt looked at him for a long minute, and sighed. “Captain Halliday—”
“Brody.”
“Brody.” Matt nodded, smiling. “My boss, and his boss both, have a somewhat…skewed picture of not only Libby, but our relationship. However argumentative she’s been with other people, that’s never applied to me. I could tell her the next survey and she would not balk. I could tell her I’d hired security and she may not be happy about it, but I’m confident she’d fall in.”
“She trusts you.”
“She does,” Matt agreed. “Because I’m not stupid enough to attribute any extra weight to that, or take it for granted. They’ve assumed I balked at the contract because she wouldn’t do it.”
“Instead you balked at the contract because you didn’t think she’d come back.”
“However she likes to downplay what happened in the Black Sea, I spent hours attached to my desk, somewhat sure I was going to be planning a funeral.” Matt swallowed. “And this situation before this survey even started would have been equally as bad…”
“Only I was here.”
Matt nodded. “So yes, she’d agree to protection, and yes, she’d take the job. She might even be fine. But I thought perhaps if you had no firm plans you might like to assist GIG in making the world a better place.”
Brody looked at the employment package, and thought about it. Did he want to stick with Libby? Absolutely. Was it all wrapped up in the fear her increasingly dangerous job was going to get her killed? He should say yes, shouldn’t he? Because he was sure that was true, or at least closer to true than anyone would like.
Except that wasn’t why he wanted to do it. “Okay.” He handed Matt his tablet back. “But you’re telling her.”
At least know he knew what to do with all the unanswered job offers.
The End! Well, sort of, like I said up there.
Anyway, come back next week and I'll have some kind of coherent breakdown of the April of All Shows (mostly RavenCon).
Anyway, come back next week and I'll have some kind of coherent breakdown of the April of All Shows (mostly RavenCon).
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