Private Luxury, Lies, and Other Technical Failures

[Ana Rix]

Ana listened as Jack explained, her amusement gradually giving way to genuine interest. "So your experience with relationships formed under duress is less academic than you made it sound." Being trapped together during an attack was one thing. A rival attempting to drug them on Zeltros sounded like an entirely different category of political disaster, although apparently one that had ultimately worked out rather well for him. "I'm beginning to understand why you have studies readily available for this particular subject."

She stayed near Jack while Donovan continued securing the station, letting the officer handle the doors and rooms he knew far better than either of them. There was something oddly fascinating about hearing pieces of Jack's life as Chancellor in the middle of all this. Ana had known who he was before tonight, of course, but knowing someone's public history was very different from hearing that preserving the Chancellor's office had apparently involved getting stranded during attacks and surviving misadventures on Zeltros with the woman he'd eventually become involved with.

"Although I'm not sure your story is helping your argument about the thrill wearing off after a few weeks," Ana pointed out, glancing toward him with a small smile. "It sounds like yours survived considerably longer than the study predicted." She left the observation there rather than probing into something as personal as a past relationship, turning her attention back toward where Donovan was leading them.

Then Jack had to say it could always get worse.

Ana stopped for half a beat and stared at him. "You did not just say that." After everything that had happened, she had learned enough about tempting fate for one adventure. "I've recently been given a very thorough lecture about saying things like that aloud. Apparently the galaxy takes it as a personal challenge." She resumed walking beside him, shaking her head. "If something worse happens now, I'm assigning responsibility accordingly."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

He looked at her and offered a nod. "I was lucky for the most par. thing about political scandal it only lasts as long as there are people who want it to and most have the attention span of a gnat before they are moving onto the next thing that they can try and make drama with. I just merely adapted to them." He said it while Donovan was going and one of the last doors was secured as he had come around and had a view of the front area and the stairwell. Then he was double checking and moving into an alcove while there was a door there and he first checked it, then was using everything that he could to look out without opening it first. "Well it will help or hinder but I am not seeing anything yet."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana followed Donovan's progress from a short distance back, letting him handle the doors and the station he knew while she listened to Jack. "Adapted," she repeated with a faint smile. "That's a very diplomatic way of saying you learned to wait until everyone found something more interesting to be outraged about." She couldn't really fault the strategy. Attention was fleeting, particularly when scandal depended more upon spectacle than substance. "I suppose surviving politics requires knowing which problems actually need solving and which ones just need enough time to become yesterday's news."

Her attention shifted fully to Donovan when he reached the alcove, and Ana resisted the temptation to crowd closer while he checked outside. "Nothing is considerably better than something at the moment." She kept her voice low, looking toward what little of the exterior she could see from where she stood. The fact that they hadn't immediately found anyone waiting for them was reassuring, but after everything leading up to this point she wasn't prepared to translate that into safe. A small smile touched her lips as she glanced toward Jack. "And I'm not saying it could be worse this time. I've learned from your mistake."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

He didn't disagree or argue with her on that and was moving with Donovan as he remained there. Looking at the door and opening it only a little so that they could pull it closed and it wouldn't be something hands could go into easily. Fingers would be bad enough and Donovan closed it quickly. "It is a narrow field of view but nothing so far, we can make it if we hug the wall and move quickly. The wall and the windows will be what we want to see and be able to double check the outside as we move. The way between the buildings we want will be narrrow and if all of us are in there it will be a lot harder to move and turn around but it is meant to keep people out."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana stayed back while Donovan tested the door, watching the narrow opening disappear again almost as quickly as it had appeared. His description of the route didn't make what waited outside sound particularly inviting, but she understood the advantage. A confined approach meant fewer directions for someone to come at them from, even if it also meant considerably fewer options for getting away. "Hug the wall and move quickly," she repeated with a small nod. "That part I can manage." It certainly fell closer to her skill set than anything involving a blaster.

The windows interested her more. Ana glanced toward Jack before looking back at Donovan. "At least we'll have chances to see what's happening inside as we pass." She wasn't about to pretend she knew how to clear buildings or judge whether a narrow passage was tactically safe, so she was content to follow the two men and pay attention to what they pointed out. "I'll stay with you. If we reach the power system without discovering whoever arranged all this, then I can finally do the part I'm actually useful for." A faint smile appeared. "Until then, I'm trusting the two of you to know what you're doing considerably more than I do."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

Jack gave a nod of his head as he looked at Donovan. "You know the way and what to look for. We can't just all leave." There was a nod from the man and he was looking at it. "Yeah but at the same time, we totally could. We don't have to go out there." He said it but was having his equipment as Jack was at the door and gave him a look. "I know I know but that doesn't meant I am wrong." Jack only gave a nod but the door opened quickly as Donovan sliopped out of it and tapped the door. "Clear." He did it so that Ana would be able to get out and Jack could cover the door while keeping it closed. "We'll move quickly enough."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana couldn't help the small look she gave Donovan when he pointed out the extremely sensible alternative of simply not going outside. "For what it's worth, I think that's the best idea anyone has suggested in the last ten minutes." Unfortunately, staying inside wouldn't tell them who had activated the privacy grid or how, and waiting for the situation to resolve itself hadn't exactly inspired confidence either. She drew a slow breath as Donovan disappeared through the door, then waited for his call rather than crowding Jack or trying to see around him.

At "clear," Ana slipped through as quickly as she could, immediately moving toward the wall as Donovan had instructed. She kept herself close to it and out of Jack's way while he covered the door, resisting every instinct to stop and examine their surroundings more thoroughly. This wasn't her environment, and she knew it. Donovan knew where they were going, Jack was considerably better equipped for whatever might happen along the way, and Ana's contribution would come if they actually reached the power system.

"I'm starting to miss the suspicious datapad," she murmured once Jack was with them again, keeping her voice low as she followed Donovan. "It might have been dangerous, but at least it had the decency to be a computer." Her eyes moved toward the windows as they went, checking them as Donovan had suggested without slowing the group. "I'll keep up. Just point me at the electronics when we get there."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

Donovan was moving with a nod as he hugged the building and was leading her towards the gate. He looked around though and spoke. "It would be easier but the areas out here were largely for the investigators, private pads for their speeders. So there shouldn't be anything here and it isn't that far." He said it while he continued to move along the wall but was pointing towards the windows above and some of the areas where it went down to some of the basement offices. "It is like a maze if you only use the lower levels but it was made for getting around when and if there was rain being used that day."