Luca looked up as the kid in the hoodie stood first.
"Captain Rossi." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Mark. This is my team."
Luca shook his hand.
He looked at Emily, who was already settling into the chair beside him, notebook out. She caught his eye and smiled.
Be nice, that smile said.
"Have a seat," Luca said. "Tell about yourselves."
They introduced themselves one by one. Mark, eighteen, Logistics Coordinator. Jason, seventeen, Communications Specialist. Sarah, eighteen, Recreational Coordinator. Alex, eighteen, Facilities Manager. And Lucy, seventeen, dical Support.
Level sixty. All of them. The youngest couldn't have been leveling for more than a year and a half.
Luca watched them as they talked. They looked so young. Mark had acne. Jason's voice cracked once mid-sentence, and his face went red. Lucy kept tucking her hair behind her ear, fidgeting. Sarah was wearing a sweater that was at least two sizes too big, and Alex had what looked like dried toothpaste on his collar.
Eighteen. Two years ago, Luca had been eighteen.
It felt like a different person entirely. Had he looked this young? This... small?
Beside him, Emily leaned forward, her green eyes bright. "So you all ca up together in Marquette?"
"Since we were kids," Mark said. "We started leveling together as soon as we hit sixteen, and we all hit level sixty about four months ago. So, yeah. We've been doing this for a while."
"That's impressive," Emily said. Luca caught the warmth in her voice. She was smiling at them like they were stray cats she wanted to take ho. Her eyes flickered to her notebook. "Jason, Lucy, you're both seventeen. When do you turn eighteen? We can't bring anyone under eighteen on the mission."
Jason's face went pink. "Next month. March twelfth."
"Four months," Lucy said, her cheeks turning bright pink. "June third."
Emily nodded, making a note. "That's cutting it close. Departure window is June."
"We'll make it," Mark said quickly. "Both of them."
Emily smiled. "I'm sure you will." She looked back at the group. "What made you choose support roles?"
Mark's jaw tightened. "My older brother joined the UER military. Infantry." He didn't ntion his parents, and Luca noticed. "The rest of us figured we'd stick together, do our own thing. Marquette needed people who could keep things running, you know? Logistics and communications and dical stuff. The boring stuff that everyone forgets about until it falls apart."
"Not boring," Emily said. "Essential."
Luca looked at Zoe. She had that familiar amused look, watching Lucy with obvious entertainnt.
"They're adorable," Zoe said, quiet enough that only Luca could hear.
He wanted to argue, but she wasn't wrong. They were painfully earnest. Leaning in when Emily spoke, looking at Luca with wide eyes, expecting answers he didn't have. Mark was sitting up so straight it looked uncomfortable.
God, was I like this?
He probably was. Emily would say he still was, sotis.
"How'd you end up here?" Luca asked. "You could join any crew."
Mark exchanged a look with his team. "We got a call from an IFC recruiter about a week ago. Said they were looking for support teams, asked if we'd be interested in coming out for interviews." He shrugged. "We figured it was so corporate gig, maybe a mining operation or sothing. Didn't know it was you until we walked in the door."
His face split into a grin. "I an, the Triumph Initiative? Captain Rossi? We almost lost it in the lobby."
The others were nodding along, barely containing themselves. Luca could see Jason practically vibrating in his chair.
"We're looking for scientists and engineers," Luca said. "Support staff isn't our biggest gap."
"Yeah, but every crew needs people who keep things running, right?" Mark didn't flinch, but Luca saw him swallow. "We're not trying to be sothing we're not. We just... we show up, and we work hard, and we don't complain. That's got to be worth sothing."
Emily's pen moved faster across her notebook. Luca could practically see her slotting them into positions, imagining where they'd fit.
Luca looked at the Iron Timbers again. Five kids from Marquette with nothing but each other and a desperate need to prove themselves.
They reminded him of soone.
"We'll be in touch," he said.
Luca watched Mark's face light up. The others were barely holding it together. Emily gave them a warm smile, and sothing eased in their shoulders. Jason was grinning so hard it looked painful.
He watched them file out, bumping into each other in their excitent. They started whispering the mont they thought they stepped out of the diner.
Luca leaned back and scrubbed a hand over his face.
"They're barely eighteen," he said.
Emily turned and squinted at him. "So were you."
Luca shook his head. "Yeah. Matteo's eighteen too, and he's not even level fifty yet."
He stared at the empty benches. Those kids didn't screw around. They had pushed themselves, delved again and again until they hit sixty.
Three days of interviews, but at least this greasy diner was a change from the hotel conference room. The vinyl booths stuck to his jeans, but the eggs were decent, it slled like bacon, and the coffee was fresh instead of Ryan's nightmare-inducing tar.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
But sothing about the Iron Timbers stuck with him.
"Adorable," Emily whispered. "So cute." She hugged her notebook to her chest. "They're mine. I'm keeping them."
Zoe's face fell into a pout. "You can't just call dibs on an entire team."
"I just did."
Luca looked between them, scratching the back of his head. He wanted nothing to do with these galomaniacs.
They walked back to the hotel, the February air biting through Luca's jacket. The lobby wasn't much warr. Marble floors and high ceilings, the AC cranked up like they were trying to preserve at.
An hour later, Luca spotted Sabine crossing toward them, tablet in hand.
"How are you feeling about the Iron Timbers?" Sabine asked, settling into the chair across from him.
Luca shrugged. "They're young. Support roles. Not exactly what we asked for."
"You asked for young teams." Sabine's tone was patient, matter-of-fact. "They're young."
"They're eighteen."
Sabine set her tablet down and looked at him. Really looked at him. "Captain Rossi, how old were you when you cleared your first portal?"
Fifteen, Luca almost said, but kept quiet, because she already knew.
"I spent twenty years in military intelligence," she said. "You know what I learned? Age is a terrible predictor of performance. I've seen fifty-year-old officers freeze under fire and nineteen-year-old privates hold their ground when everything went sideways." She leaned back. "What matters is adaptability and the willingness to learn and follow orders even when you don't understand why."
Luca frowned. "You've been sending us older teams all week. Scientists, engineers, the professional classes we asked for. They match the skill set."
"They do."
"And they're all level sixty. They've done sothing right to get there."
"They have."
"So why do I feel like you've been testing us? First them, then these kids."
Sabine's expression didn't change, but sothing flickered behind her eyes.
"The older teams have experience," she said. "Professional credentials. Technical expertise you'll need." She paused. "But most of them have spent years building lives they're not sure they want to leave. And so of them..." She tilted her head slightly. "So of them are going to struggle taking orders from a twenty-year-old captain."
There it was.
"Will they follow you?" Sabine continued. "That's not a question I can answer. That's on you. That's leadership." She glanced toward the conference room where they'd been doing interviews. "Whether they perform under pressure, whether they hold together when things go sideways; that's unknowable until it happens. But whether they respect you? Whether they trust you?" She t his eyes. "That's sothing you build. Every day. Every decision."
Great. Leadership. As if he didn't have enough to figure out.
"Was this Karen's idea?" he asked. "Mixing in the older teams?"
Sabine's smile was small, almost imperceptible. "Karen wanted you to have options. I wanted you to understand what those options ant." She shrugged. "Consider it part of your education."
"So of the older teams did have interesting classes," Danny said from his spot on the couch. He'd been quiet through most of the conversation, flipping through his tablet. "That exoplanetary ecologist from the Milwaukee group? She was departnt chair at UW-Madison before the System even arrived."
Luca pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We could make it work," Joey added. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. At twenty-two, he was the oldest of them, and Luca caught sothing defensive in his tone. "Age isn't everything. People adapt."
"Sure," Ryan said, grinning. "And that engineering team from Gary? The ones who spent forty minutes explaining why our thruster configuration was 'suboptimal'?" He made air quotes. "I'm sure they'd love taking suggestions from the guy who learned engine repair by blowing things up."
Chris snorted from his chair but didn't look up from his phone. He'd checked out of the conversation ten minutes ago.
Luca thought about the Iron Timbers. The way Mark's eyes had lit up. The way they'd practically jumped at the chance to join them with barely contained excitent. Then he thought about Amari and her team from Englewood. The way she'd sized him up. The calculation behind her eyes.
Both had sothing to offer. Both ca with challenges he'd have to earn his way through.
Hungry and adaptable. Nothing holding them back.
That described the Iron Timbers. But it also described what he needed to beco.
"Speaking of learning," Sabine said. Her tone shifted, just slightly. "Have you started your courses yet?"
And there it was. The one thing he'd been trying not to think about.
Luca's silence was answer enough. Emily looked away from him. Zoe suddenly found sothing fascinating on her phone. Neither of them was going to help him out of this one.
"We've been busy," Luca said. It sounded weak even to him. "The interviews, the travel, all of it."
"Make sure you go through them, as a team." Sabine spoke gently, but there was no room for argunt. "Karen has asked to help build your crew. I'm doing that. But the crew is only half of what makes a mission succeed." She tapped her tablet. "You have responsibilities too."
Here was this woman, probably from so three-letter agency, doing exactly what Karen asked. And he hadn't even opened his howork.
God.
"You're right," he said quietly. "We'll start tonight."
Sabine nodded. She looked satisfied. "Good. Because after Chicago, you've got more stops. Texas, California, Seattle. More teams that fit your criteria." She reached into her coat and pulled out a plain white envelope. "But first, a detour."
Luca took the envelope.
"An old friend of your father's," Sabine said. "Angelo Ferraro. He's in Detroit."
Luca looked up sharply. "My dad sent this?"
"He sent his recomndation." Sabine stood, smoothing her coat. "Angelo's a machinist. Runs his own shop in Detroit, sends apprentices to work on the Genesis Platform. Your father thought he could help with onboard security and workshop equipnt for the Triumph."
Luca watched her head toward the elevator. She paused at the doors and looked back.
"Good luck with Angelo," she said. "And watch yourselves in Houston. Texas is... different."
Her heels clicked on the marble as she stepped inside.
Emily leaned in close. "Detroit?"
Luca turned the envelope over in his hands. His father hadn't reached out since they'd left for their world tour. No calls, no ssages. Just silence.
And now this. Typical. His father couldn't just fly down to Earth from the Asteroid Belt like a normal person.
But Angelo Ferraro. Luca rembered the na from his childhood. One of his dad's old friends from Brooklyn, back in New York. A talworker. The guy used to send Christmas cards with pictures of custom machining projects that looked more like sculpture than engineering.
"Change of plans," said Luca. "We're heading to Detroit before Texas. My dad's got a contact there. He works in heavy tals."
Ryan's head snapped up from his phone. "A machine shop? For the Triumph?"
"Onboard security, workshop equipnt, custom builds." Luca watched Ryan's face light up. "The kind of stuff we can't just order from a catalog."
"Oh, hell yes." Ryan was already on his feet. "Chris, you hear that? Custom machine shop."
Chris finally looked up from his tablet, and Luca caught the first real spark of interest he'd seen from him all day. "Custom modifications?"
"That's what she said."
"I'm in." Chris pocketed his phone. "When do we leave?"
Luca looked at the envelope in his hands, then at his crew. Three days of interviews and fluorescent lights. They all looked as tired as he felt. But there was energy in the room now, sothing that hadn't been there five minutes ago.
"Tonight," he said. "Pack your bags. We'll take the Granite Hawk."
The crew scattered, and Luca watched them go. Joey stretched and cracked his neck. Zoe grabbed Danny by the arm and steered him toward the elevator, an evil glint in her eye. Danny blinked, confused, but let himself be led like a lamb to the slaughter.
For a mont, Luca just stood there. Three days of nervous faces and tough questions, and sohow they'd made it through. The Iron Timbers and the older teams, all those people looking at him like he had answers.
Maybe he didn't. But he had his crew and his ship, and apparently, a machine shop in Detroit.
Emily caught his eye from across the lobby and smiled. She tilted her head toward the elevators.
They rode up together, watching the numbers climb. The others had already gone up to pack. Just the two of them now, and the soft hum of the elevator.
Luca stepped closer, slipping his arms around her from behind. She leaned back into him, warm and familiar, and he pressed his face into the curve of her neck.
"You know," he murmured against her skin, "we have at least two hours before the shuttle's prepped."
"Mhmm."
"We could..." He let the suggestion hang there, his hands settling on where the denim t her skin.
Emily tilted her head back, her green eyes bright with amusent. "Study?"
Luca groaned. "You're the worst."
"Sabine's right. We haven't even opened the coursework." She turned in his arms, grinning up at him. "Co on, Captain. Ti to do your howork."
The elevator doors slid open. Emily took his hand and pulled him toward their room, and Luca followed, shaking his head.
Three days of interviews and a machine shop in Detroit, and now, apparently, howork.
At least he had good company.
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