Navarch Garrick Talvin smiled into the silent darkness of his office. "Hello, old friend."

There was a sigh over his desk speaker, promptly followed by the voice of Minder Shane Lawrence. "How do you do that?"

Garrick shrugged, an imperceptible movement in the dark. "I just know things."

"One of these days I'm going to find out the answer."

"When you do, let me know. That's about the only thing I haven't figured out." Garrick frowned. "But that's not why you're here."

There was a pause on the other end as Shane gathered his thoughts. "It's about Mind Doana. She needs... a distraction."

Garrick leaned back in his chair, biting his lip as he rubbed his chin stubble in thought. "She's the best applied mathematician we have."

"And she feels underutilized. We haven't had need to challenge her since she joined MORTAC." The Minder's voice donned the air of authority, a remnant of his days at the helm of the Mordena. "I want you to change that."

The head of the Mordena Security Council closed his eyes in thought. "We could send her to interface with Baden. We don't need anything from them, but I know they've been having some trouble with efficiency in their shipyards."

"I know my homeworld. They'll never agree to the help." Shane paused. "Unless something major has changed since I died?"

Garrick grinned. "So we ask them for help."

"Ask to study their assembly methods? To see if we can learn from them?"

"Exactly." Garrick sat up in his chair. "She knows how to word a good question. I give it a week, they'll be begging her to calculate a better line balance."

Garrick grinned even wider at his friend's snort over the speaker. "A week? I don't think they'll last the day."

∼∼∼

Shane's voice sobered. "Seriously, though, how do you always know when I'm listening? I know you can't use magic."

Garrick paused thoughtfully. "I suppose we have too much in common for me to not know?"

"But your cosmic burnout..."

"Is a secret," Garrick finished. "You never had that luxury." Garrick thought back to his days as a Void Mage. The rush of power, the feel of the life of the Universe itself flowing through him... And how empty he always felt afterwards. He shook his head. "Besides. My gifts were always stronger in other areas."

Shane grunted agreement. "You'd do well in MORTAC."

"I'm not dead yet." He chuckled softly. "At least, not again."

"Well, just think about it." Shane's voice felt distant. "Thanks for the help, old friend. I've got to go. It's movie night."

Garrick's brows furrowed. "You? Watch movies?"

The emergency line lit up on his desk then, interrupting the conversation. The Navarch hastily answered, poised to provide a rapid response team, but relaxed upon receiving the caller's complaint. "Me and the guys made plans to watch Babes in Space tonight, but now we're locked in and the screen won't play nothing but those dumb safety training videos! You need to-"

"Movie night," Shane repeated, disconnecting the call. "Someone needed to make sure they took their safety training, and I promised the Commander I'd help her out. Nothing else I tried worked."

Garrick bent double in an effort to restrain his laughter. "Goodnight, Shane" he weezed between breaths. "Enjoy your entertainment for this evening."

"Get some rest, old friend," Shane answered with amusement. "I'll have one of MORTAC's new teams keep watch tonight. See how they work together. We'll finish planning Doana's mission once you've slept."