Across the Expanse: Day 2
*Start transmission*
Lee: Lieutenant?
Havardy: Yeah?
Lee: There is something strange going on with the
sensors.
Havardy: What do you mean?
Lee: I'm getting readings that are telling me there
are three ships nearby, but it's sporadic. One moment they're there and another
they're gone.
Havardy: Are the ships moving?
Lee: No, they just show up on the radar, then
disappear.
Havardy: No visual confirmation?
Lee: Negative.
Havardy: Must be the sensors acting up again, they get
like that whenever Deletros starts to flare.
Lee: But these are military grade, shouldn't they be
resistant to radiation from solar flares?
Havardy: Psh, maybe ten years ago they were top of the
line, but it's not like the Coalition will come out and upgrade some mine out
in the Fringes.
Lee: Did Lieutenant Gomez not request new sensors?
Havardy: Oh he did. It took them about three months to
get here and they were fried as soon as the first flare hit.
Lee: You mean the newer models?
Havardy: Like I said, there's no way they were gonna send
that high tech equipment out here. I suspect that they spent most of the three
months just digging around for a spare.
Lee: That's…
Havardy: Cheap? Uncaring? Lazy? Yeah sounds about right.
Lee: You don't seem to have a good opinion of the
Coalition.
Havardy: That's putting it lightly.
Lee: But why?
Havardy: I don't feel like getting into it. I'll be
clear, I don't mind the people, well, most of them. I just don't like the
government itself.
Lee: But… you're a lieutenant.
Havardy: I graduated from the Academy too, what’s your
point? You think I’m here because I volunteered for the spot?
Lee: I guess not.
Havardy: Anyways, the most I can suggest is that you put
some markers up where the sensors are going wonky so you know which are fake.
Lee: Understood.
Havardy: Good now- shit.
Lee: Something wrong Lieutenant?
Havardy: Stop calling me that, and it’s nothing, just dropped
my book.
Lee: Book Lieu- ma’am?
Havardy: That’s not gonna cut it either, and yes, book.
Paper and all.
Lee: You aren’t using a PA?
Havardy: Let me tell you something, they can make
holograms as close to the real thing as possible, but nothing will ever beat
the feeling of a solid book in your hand. That being said, these things are
hard to find, so yeah I use my PA most of the time.
Lee: If I may ask, what book are you reading?
Havardy: The Eternal Spiral, Tales and Accounts of a Space-time Explorer by one Steven Henry.
Lee: Ah, “Though I have been broken, twisted, and
torn apart by the ravages of The Eternal Spiral, my spirit stands strong to the
adversity to come.”
Havardy: Ooooooooh, a fan huh?
Lee: When I was a child, yes.
Havardy: Right, well I’d take cheesy autobiography of a
dead astronaut over looking at monitors any day. Not all of us get to enjoy a
view you know.
Lee: If it bothers you that mu-
Havardy: I’m just giving you shit Lee, no need to take it
seriously.
Lee: Ah, sorry.
Havardy: *sigh* We’ve got a lot of work to do on your
personality.
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