Chapter 54: Security at the Hangar

"You did not. Tell me you didn't do that, Adora. Tell me."

Corynth stared slack-jawed at Adora from the pilot's seat, the hyperspace tunnel outside the cockpit reflecting against his face. Hours had passed since he'd first joined her there earlier, but they were hours that had passed quickly. Except for one break Adora had used to dispose of the mountain of snack wrappers she'd collected and make a trip to the kitchen to bring back more, they'd spent the entire time talking.

Adora snorted. "Every inch of my body burned, and I swear I thought my hair was going to fall out it was so caustic. I had never seen Mermista that angry before when she found out what he'd done. She looked ready to grab one of his ears and twist it off, like he was some unruly child and she was his extremely angry mother."

"Did it help, at least?"

"No! I couldn't even concentrate enough to tell if the tingling on my skin was because my powers might have been coming back, or if it was his salve I'd slathered on. My skin turned as red as Scorpias claws for a whole week after, too."

Corynth shook his head, incredulous. "I heard about that 'spiritual retreat' with Perfuma and what you did to that noble in her court—"

"I didn't do anything to them, it was totally a consensual thing."

"—And I'm pretty sure I was there when you tried to call She Ra by holding a wooden practice sword. But that? That is the craziest story by far. I heard everything else gossiped about back on Etheria, but how am I just now finding out about your experiments with caustic salve?"

"I swore any witnesses to secrecy," Adora said. "Like, really swore. If Sea Hawk looked scared of Mermista after what she did to him, it didn't compare to the way he looked at me when I told him what would happen if anyone found out. Even Mermista looked shocked."

"Makes sense."

Corynth nodded, but didn't say anything further. Just as Adora relaxed in the chair and got comfortable with the silence, he spoke again as if a new thought jumpstarted him to life.

"How would that even work? I mean…Adora." He sounded appalled in such a comical way Adora couldn't help the smile that broke across her face. "What in the world went through that head of yours when you agreed to try that?"

"I don't know! I was really that desperate to get in touch with She Ra again. I tried literally anything." She shot him a scandalized look when his shoulders started to shake. "Don't make fun of me! You promised you wouldn't when I agreed to tell you the story."

They bickered with each other laughing until Adora's sides hurt. She called for truce moments before the Dzivia dropped out of hyperspace within range of Phoenix Station.

"That's definitely not good," Corynth said, sitting forward and suddenly serious. A parade of ships blockading the station filled up the viewscreen. Adora couldn't count the number. "I know they put the station on lockdown, but this is excessive."

"Will this help at all?" Adora pulled out the IFF chip Ly had given her shortly before they parted ways.

"That's our ticket in," Corynth said. "Lysithea, what would I do without you?" He paused as if realizing he'd said that out loud without meaning to. "Don't tell her I said that, okay? I'll never hear the end of it."

"No promises," Adora slotted the device into the ship's dash and fake credentials for a 'Commodore Nerelay Hofstra' appeared on the screen. The blockade canvassed more of the viewscreen as they got closer, and soon the volume of ships and bulk of the station was all Adora could see instead of stars. The Dzivia's computers registered one of the ships locking onto them, and a request for communication chimed at them.

"You're up," Corynth said.

"What? Why me?"

"Nerelay is a feminine name, it won't work if I'm the one that talks. Just take the hail and pretend to be an extremely pissed-off officer. Try to intimidate them and don't take no for an answer. Steamroll them if you have to."

The hail chimed again, seemingly more insistent than before. Pretend to be an Imperial Naval Officer? And not only that, but do it while trying to intimidate the person on the other line? She was already out of her depth and they hadn't even docked yet.

The chime came again, and she pressed the button to accept the hail before it terrorized her any further. A gruff-looking man with heavy stubble and an undone uniform collar appeared on stream against the viewscreen.

"Station's closed," he said, speaking in a drawl that betrayed the fact he had likely said this a hundred times already during his shift and was irritated at having to say it once again. "No one allowed in, only out. Find somewhere else to dock, we can't take you."

Adora's first instinct was toward diplomacy, to acknowledge what the other person said, and then present something compelling to persuade them to her side. As uncomfortable as it was to do and as foolish as she felt doing so, she disregarded that instinct.

"Say that again?" she said, putting on a glower that felt forced.

The man hesitated. "I said we're closed. Regional Administrator's orders, we can't take people in. You'll have to go somewhere else."

"You'd think you'd be smart enough to at least ID who you're talking to before you start running your mouth like that." She primed the IFF and sent the credentials over the line. The man's face blanched when he looked down and saw.

"My apologies for speaking so casually, Commodore," he said. "Unfortunately, I'm still not able to grant you access to dock. This lockdown was put in place by the Regional Administrator himself and I can't just—"

"You can't just what?" Adora said, crossing her arms and praying that her nerves read as anger over the feed. "I am on a classified assignment to meet with someone on Phoenix. I don't care if the Regional Administrator is standing behind you pointing a blaster at your head and telling you not to let people dock, it will take either an act of God or of the emperor himself to deter me. Now, you either find me a bay to dock in or you will find yourself removed from that seat. The person to next inherit your job will be letting me onboard in your place with no arguments, I guarantee it."

The man gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing like a fish removed from water. "Yes ma'am," he said, head tilted down and eyes scanning frantically as he looked for a place to direct her. "Bay six is open for you. You are clear to proceed, and we'll have a team out to greet you on your arrival."

"That's more like it."

"My sincerest apologies, Commodore. Please enjoy your stay."

The line cut and Adora let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"You aren't used to bluffing your way through things, are you?" Corynth asked. He was smiling as he guided them through the blockade.

"No, I'm used to punching my way through things. I'm the punching guy, not the acting guy."

"That's okay. He was more shocked by the title that came through and saw your nerves as you just getting more and more annoyed with him. The real test is coming up."

"What? What real test?"

"Didn't you hear? They're sending a greeting party to meet us when we dock," he said. "You'll have to play the part a little longer." Adora balked and Corynth laughed. "It's just until we get through customs, then we'll have a good excuse to tell them to buzz off. Your line about having a confidential meeting was good."

Even though the station looked large enough already, it was still another twenty minutes of tense, anxiety-filled silence for Adora before she saw the guiding lights of their landing bay, blinking just beyond the atmospheric barrier. By then, Adora had already run through every memory she had of her previous failed attempts to bluff her way out of something—everything from her time trying to play the occasional pranks on Shadow Weaver before she'd learned better, to sneaking around Bright Moon castle before she had grown comfortable there and getting caught, to trying to play the 'tough guy' act in the Crimson Wastes before getting to know Huntara. Her anxiety had never been higher.

Like the maw of an ocean whale slowly hinging wider to swallow them, the hangar opening grew larger until it eclipsed everything else in the viewscreen. A worker in an orange vest and white hardhat was on the floor, gesturing in sweeping motions with lit batons as Corynth guided them in.

An industrial door at the back of the hangar slid open, making way for a cadre of station security to hustle in. They were dressed in white with the Horde Empire logo emblazoned on the chest, and a terrible moment passed where Adora imagined Catra being among them—the last she'd heard from Glimmer, this was what Catra was doing, right?

She scanned their faces trying to find her, only calming once she double and triple-checked that, no, Catra was not among them.

"Relax," Corynth said after touching the ship down, flipping several switches on the overhead board to down-cycle the engine and power it off. "You'll do great."

"I don't know why I'm so nervous," Adora said, gathering her hair by the fistful and braiding it in a way she hadn't since on Etheria. "I've done this before. I've gone and tried to bluff my way through things in the past."

"Has it ever worked?"

"Not once."

Corynth laughed through his nose. "Then that's probably why you're nervous."

He left the pilot's seat and headed to the workstation at the back of the cockpit with Adora following close behind. He opened a metal box holding the Eye of Shukra and stuffed it back into the small shoulder pack he had used to carry it around on Eden. His hands shook as he did, and Adora didn't miss the look of strained concentration on his face as he worked.

"How much longer do you need to wear those?" she asked, indicating the ignominite manacles he still wore as bracelets. "Having some of that godly Shaper magic might be helpful, just in case I screw things up and blow our cover. If you can manage it, that is," she said, hastily tacking on the last part when she realized that may have been insensitive.

"For a while, still."

"Using my powers never made me sick," she said. "Not even when I had full control over them. I don't know how I'd feel if She Ra left me drained like that whenever I called her."

"If only either of us had the luxury to never need our powers." Corynth inspected the manacles, turning them palm up, then down, then caressing one with light fingers. "Once I take these off, it will be for the last time."

His expression and voice changed, becoming graver than Adora had ever seen before. It was gone before she could commit it to memory and ask about it—Corynth turned a placid smile on her like he'd forgotten she was there and only just remembered.

"Here," he said, holding the bag with the Eye out for her to take. "Wearing the manacles right come in handy, actually. They'll want to scan us like they did on Eden and inspect the ship. Let them do both, but don't let them touch the bag. They see a huge apeiron like that and are bound to ask more questions."

"Scanning is okay, looking at the ship is okay, don't let them touch the bag," Adora said, committing the instructions to memory. "Alright. This is fine. Everything will be fine."

"Also, you aren't dressed at all like an Imperial Officer," he said, slipping on a pair of dark gloves that covered the manacles and reached up underneath his sleeve cuffs. "You cannot, under any circumstances, waver, no matter how they scrutinize you. You're on a classified mission and you won't be deterred."

She slung the bag over her shoulder and followed him out the cockpit to the cargo bay. The greeting party was already waiting for them when Corynth lowered the ramp. The agent at the front—the one with the most embellished patch on the sleeve of his uniform, denoting him as the senior-most official in charge—did a double take when he saw Adora.

"Greetings, Commodore Hofstra," he said, looking her up and down and speaking as if he were questioning every word that came out of his mouth. "Please stay aboard your craft until we have completed our inspection. We must at the very least follow standard lockdown procedure."

Adora stepped back inside the bay and Corynth followed, indicating without saying a word that she'd acquiesce.

"We were not expecting your arrival," the officer said. "In fact, there are no records of your transit manifest in the Imperial databases."

"You wouldn't find records were your pay grade tripled, dock officer," Adora said, forcing a sneer. "Did that agent who spoke so flippantly to me on my approach explain nothing to you? The emperor would not send me on a classified mission out here and have my flight path from the Heartlands recorded. Get in here and conduct your inspections, already. I'm on a schedule and you are standing in the way of it."

That seemed to do the trick. The officer paled, then turned and shouted at his men to get onboard. All but one of his team, including him, scrambled up the ramp to begin.

"I will oversee them personally, ma'am," the officer said as he passed her. "We will be done before you know it." He disappeared down the hallway and both Corynth and Adora watched him go. The sounds of the officer yelling at his men to move faster echoed from deep inside the Dzivia not long after.

"You've really never done this before?" Corynth asked, whispering from beside her. "Could have fooled me."

"I feel like I'm going to be sick."

Corynth laughed through his nose. "You're doing great. Keep it together just a little longer."

The last person from the group, the only one to not rush aboard the Dzivia to inspect it, carried a portable scanner—the same type the guards on Eden used on them to scan for the Beast.

"Begging your pardon, Commodore," she said as she ascended the ramp. "But I'll need to scan the both of you for infection before signing off for you."

Adora couldn't find it in her to actively try and be a jerk to this person. Judging by the fear in their eyes and sparse badging on their uniform, they were a bottom-rung enlistee. Adora figured they were probably close in age.

She crossed her arms and shrugged. "Do what you need to," she said, hoping they wouldn't pick up on her inward panic.

"It will only be a minute." They tapped at the controls on the scanner to calibrated it, then held up the device in front of Adora. It gave three short, high-pitched beeps, paused, then gave a long tone—Adora was clear. No surprise there.

When they turned to Corynth, Adora's heart was in her throat. The last time this happened, they were seconds away from getting shot. Corynth said it was fine to let them scan this time as long as they didn't touch the bag around her shoulder, but Adora had no idea why it would be fine. She hated this so, so much.

"You're both clear," the enlistee said after the device beeped for Corynth in the same way it did for Adora. Corynth cut her off with a stern look before she could let the surprise show on her face, and she managed to keep it together when the enlistee said, "We just have to wait for my supervisor. We'll authorize your boarding passes and be out of your hair as soon as he's back."

"I don't like to be made to wait," Adora said, leering at her and feeling horrible for it.

"I'm so sorry, Commodore. I promise we are almost done. Things on the station have been…challenging as of late. Your patience is greatly, greatly appreciated."

The effusive way she looked between her and Corynth caught Adora's attention. She considered ignoring her entirely for a moment, before sighing and giving in.

"Speak," Adora said.

"P-pardon, Commodore?" The enlistee might have been sprayed with boiling water judging by how she recoiled in surprise.

"You want to say something, I can tell by the way you're looking at me. So, speak."

They swallowed. "I don't mean to pry, Ma'am, but why are you not wearing a naval uniform?"

Damn it. She really should have just kept her mouth shut. How the heck was she supposed to answer that? Adora had pressed her lips into a thin line in panic, and the enlistee blanched, averting her eyes.

"S-sorry, Ma'am. I didn't mean to speak out of line, it's just…I've never seen an officer dress so casually before."

"You were ordered to speak," Corynth said, and Adora nearly deflated in obvious relief at him coming to rescue her. "But I wouldn't make a habit of being so obvious with your curiosity if it entails asking after classified information. I don't know how many senior officers you've dealt with, but most are not as willing to forgive a slip of the tongue as the commodore is."

"Yes, of course." The girl bowed low, first to Corynth and then again to Adora. "Truthfully, I haven't dealt with any officers personally, just seen them from far away. You're the first I've had the pleasure of speaking with like this."

Adora didn't know what to say to that, either. A commotion from those deep in the ship sounded from behind, but other than a narrowing of Corynth's eyes that made the enlistee hold her breath, he didn't react to it and neither did Adora.

"You said things have been challenging on the station," Corynth said, once the commotion died down. "What did you mean?"

"Have you not heard of what happened to Administrator Moriarty, sir?"

Corynth tilted his head as if appraising a malformed being and Adora shuddered—it was no wonder he blended in for three years on Etheria by how convincing he could step into roles like this.

"He was arrested a few days ago almost immediately after a rally he gave," the enlistee said, shifting her eyes back and forth between Adora and Corynth like she was grasping for anything she could glean from their reactions. Again, it made Adora sick. How were the junior military this afraid of their commanding officers, and what did that say about the Imperial Horde's wider culture?

"And?" Corynth said. "Go on."

"There is no official story out yet, although that doesn't stop speculation and opinions from running rampant in the media. The rumors are breathtaking. It is whispered that Consular Taline has taken on a new Sentinel, and this person infiltrated the Administrator's office on suspicion he'd been harboring dangerous narcotics and conspiring to commit treason against the emperor. Moriarty was arrested, alongside another System Governor that was with him. Consular Taline left almost immediately after on a mission of her own."

Corynth and Adora exchanged glances. Adora didn't know what to make of the news until she saw confusion mar Corynth's face, and suddenly she was unsure whether they should be concerned or not.

"Do you know who this new Sentinel is? Or where the Consular has gone?" he asked.

"Nothing aside from speculation that differs depending on who you ask, I'm afraid. We all assumed the emperor would send someone to help settle the matter, but"—she fixed them both with a look heavy with implication—"I must admit, you've arrived much sooner than anyone anticipated."

"Did I not just warn you?" Corynth's voice dipped so low it even startled Adora. "Our mission is confidential. You have no basis to assume our arrival stems from Moriarty and his transgressions."

"Truly sorry!" the woman said, casting her eyes away again and wringing her hands together. "I'm so sorry, I will not make assumptions again, I promise. It's just…there's been so much change recently, what with the influx of refugees, then the Angel suddenly leaving as soon after she'd returned, then this business with the Administrator, and now the Consular herself has gone and left the station for the first time since being assigned here."

She bowed low, even lower than before, and said, "Our station used to be so very quiet and now you are here, too. I forgot myself in my excitement. Please forgive me."

Adora exchanged more glances with Corynth. The Angel…? Was she talking about Glimmer? The last Adora had talked to her, she was on her way for weeks of downtime on Phoenix, and that wasn't even a month ago. Did Glimmer already leave? The enlistee admitted herself what was happening on the station was strange and sudden, and Adora hated feeling like she'd escaped one random grab-box of a situation only to land right in another.

A shuffle of feet stepping across metal grating came from behind.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting so long, Commodore," the supervisor said, returning with his crew from the innards of the Dzivia. "Our scans are complete and you should be clear to proceed, as long as you aren't hiding any contraband goods in some well-hidden compartment or the like?"

He cracked a grin, waggled his eyebrows, and Adora realized belatedly that he was trying to crack a joke. Corynth's warning about keeping the Eye away from them rang in her head, and the best idea she could come up with to head them off from asking about it was also the riskiest.

"Just this right here," she said, arching a brow as she lifted the bag to show him. "But you and everyone on your team will lose their hands if you try and take this from me."

The man glanced at the pack. Corynth gave no indication of his thoughts and Adora held her breath. Deliberately drawing attention to the thing was risky. Even if she pretended to answer the supervisor's joke with one of her own that could reasonably be construed as a threat, there was always the possibility that he'd still probe—Adora just felt more confident if she was proactive rather than reactive, and she was banking on that confidence being what carried them through.

The man looked up from the bag and gave Adora a weak smile: her gamble had paid off.

"Very well," he said, clearing his throat and waving around a few sheets of paper folded together in his hand. "We have your paperwork and passes right here. You shouldn't have any issues getting to where you need to go on most areas of the station with these, despite the lockdown. Once we confirm your identification, our work will be done."

"I'm sorry, did you say you want to confirm my identity before you hand my papers over to me?" Adora asked, hoping she sounded pissed off instead of nervous.

"Yes, I'm afraid this is a new security measure that the Consular has put into effect, now that Administrator Moriarty is…more or less indisposed. She has jurisdiction now, and she's ordered the station shut down along with these heightened security requirements."

One of the workers readied a bio reader for them. All the attention was on Adora instead of Corynth, but he gave her a subtle "absolutely not" gesture when she looked to him for guidance.

"I've already identified myself on approach to this station and I'm not inclined to do so again," Adora said, casting prayers in her head. "You've done your inspection and your subordinate has cleared us of any infection. I don't feel the need to allow more intrusions on my itinerary just because some second-in-command Enclave bureaucrat demands it."

"Ah, yes. Well…I wouldn't exactly call the Seraph some second-in-command bureaucrat. Consular Taline would have my head if she found out I let someone through without following her explicit orders."

"And I will have your head if you do not let us pass this instant." Adora forced the words out through gritted teeth. "I am an officer of the Imperial Navy on special assignment from the emperor himself."

"I wouldn't dream of hindering you from enacting the emperor's will," the supervisor said, growing emboldened. "But I must insist. The Consular is…" He shook his head, and Adora thought he looked paler than before. "I will not take my chances on her bad side. I'm sorry to say this, commodore, but between the two of you, it is the Seraph I will not risk angering." He took the scanner from his teammate and held it out for her. "I'm sorry. Please place your palm here."

Adora looked at the palm reader, then back at the supervisor, panicking, moments away from openly hyperventilating. What could she do? What could she say to get out of this? She looked to Corynth, whose steadfast gaze told her nothing; she was in the driver's seat.

Adora punched him in the face.

The supervisor reeled back, dropping the paperwork and the palm reader, both hands shooting up to cover his shattered nose. Adora let loose a squeak of surprise and held both hands up as if she'd dropped an antique in a shop. Everyone froze and traded shocked glances with one another, likely asking one another with nothing but a look whether they'd all just witnessed the same thing.

Corynth grabbed one of the crewmembers from behind in a chokehold and lowered him to the ground, unconscious a moment later. A brawl broke out, and by the time both of them had gotten every member of the greeting party bound by their arms and legs and stuffed unconscious inside the Dzivia, Adora had several bruises over her body, and Corynth had a cut across the side of his face that was dripping blood onto the shoulder of his shirt.

"That could have gone better," he said, far too calm as he stooped down to pick up the paperwork strewn about the cargo hold. "Are you okay?"

"Never…better." Adora was leaning over with both hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath. Aside from a few ribs she'd know would bruise in a handful of hours and a split lip she'd just noticed, she'd live. Corynth, on the other hand, wasn't even out of breath.

"That busted lip will draw attention if you aren't careful," Corynth said. "Let's try not to draw any more attention. We'll have to move quickly as it is before their friends realize they're missing and go looking."

"I never want to do that again," Adora said. "I think getting to punch people in the end was the only thing that stopped me from throwing up all over the floor. And I feel really bad about having to knock out that girl."

"You put on an impressive show, but I think your right," Corynth said. "You don't have the stomach for espionage and infiltration."

"I think that's the first time I've ever felt perfectly okay with being called inadequate at something." Adora wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and bumped shoulders with him as they walked to the exit at the far end of the hangar. "Thanks for having my back."

Corynth gave some noncommittal response and organized the mess of papers he'd picked up earlier. Adora watched how the leaves trembled in his hands, and this caused her to look him over again, closer this time.

She'd been wrong about her initial assessment. While she was pretty sure they hadn't managed to land a single blow on him during the fighting, he looked far from okay. Corynth's skin looked sallow and his eyes looked like they had sunken into his head. It was subtle, but she could tell; he just didn't look healthy. He caught her staring, and Adora quickly averted her eyes.

"That scanner didn't out you like what happened on Eden," she said.

"I still have the manacles on. The ignominite in them tamps down on the infection in my body, and it also prevents those scanners from picking up its presence, too."

Adora cursed under her breath. Something told her the effect of those things touching him was much more than just 'tamping down' on the infection. Maybe she should have tried harder to avoid a fight. He was just barely getting back on his feet after exerting so much of his power on Eden. They had to be careful.

"Whatever it is you're worrying about, stop it," Corynth said. They'd reached the exit. "Come on, we have to get to the Atrium as fast as possible. Someone will notice those hangar workers are missing, or they'll wake up on their own. they'll sound the alarm as soon as they wake up and we'll be in deep shit if we haven't gotten Pip working before then."

Adora followed him through the double-thick blast shield doors leading out the hangar, sparing only a single glance behind her back at the Dzivia.