Celeste

It was Celeste’s first day at her new job. She fidgeted with her uniform, tugged at her hair, tried to look appealing because she was in a new environment with new people. She wanted people to like her. She hoped that they wouldn’t be frightened.

Even in this day and age, there were those who fit the long standing stereotype of their occupation.

Celeste didn’t.

Someone like her as smart as she was? It was crazy to some people. Yes, she was tough, she was a fighter, she could kick everyone’s ass. She’s hot, too. But Celeste was the biggest nerd and no one could debate that fact the second they hear her spew out a bunch of math and science.

She could fit in anywhere, but still she could be a little self conscious. As much as she didn’t care what people thought about her, there will always be that lingering need to be liked. She can settle anyone’s dislike afterwards.

She had to make a good impression, right?

She felt like she was going to school all over again. There was this wave of anxiety that loomed over her and she was uneasy. She didn’t think she’d feel like this. She was too old to feel like this.

She avoided everything that made her feel like she was going to pass out.

But this was it.

Hariette walked with her, showing her around and telling her about protocols of the main center. There were different bases like it, but wherever Hariette was, that was the main center. Celeste was quiet while walking with Hariette. Usually she would have something to say, but right now she didn’t.

“Why do you look like that?” Hariette saw her expression. Celeste almost wanted to hide in a corner.

“I have avoided doing absolutely anything stressful for six years. Now look at me.” Celeste didn’t like it.

“You’re nervous?” Hariette smiled.

“More like stressed.” Celeste clarified.

“You’ll get to nerd out with all the others.” She’s seen Celeste do it before. Now she can be surrounded with other people who would take appreciation for the same things. That sounded great, well it sounded great to Hariette. “I don’t see the problem-”

“Can I do projects alone?-”

“No.” Hariette didn’t think about that one. “Everyone has to work as a team. You know, for the greater good and all that.”

Celeste didn’t like that at all.

Hariette could tell she was a little nervous though. After all, this was the first time Celeste decided to work in her field full time. She’d be surrounded by other engineers in the department.

“Tell you what.” Hariette said. “There’s a few teams that go up to space periodically to work on the Mother Ship. You can join them.” She said. Celeste stared at her. “It’s not going to just stay up there, Celeste. Someone has to keep it running and functioning.”

“Okay, can I do that today?”

“No.” Hariette said.

Celeste frowned miserably. She got a great opportunity but couldn’t act on it. That was cruel of Hariette.

“I want to know what you’re up to.” Hariette said and stopped walking, holding her cane with both hands in front of her. “Clearly it must be good if you think you can stop a war without fighting in it.”

“I could definitely kick ass while fighting.” Celeste didn’t think that would be a problem. “But, I’ve chosen to threaten our way to a win.”

“Threaten?”

“They’re not going to just let us have a weapon that could kill anyone with the implant.” Celeste said plainly as she moved her hands behind her back.

Hariette’s smile faded on her face. “What did you do?” She needed to know, not for curiosity but for the sake of the planet.

Did Celeste make a nuclear weapon? She doesn’t have access to that kind of power, so Hariette shouldn’t be worried, but Celeste has kept her plan from everyone and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. If Celeste didn’t make a nuclear weapon, which she is clearly capable of, she probably made something far worse.

“I can’t go telling people what I’m doing.” Celeste was serious. She had to keep it to herself. “Last time I explained anything to someone, this stupid war started.” She said.

Hariette heard what happened.

She wasn’t sure what to tell Celeste at this point. Hariette knew she went through a lot, and she was going through much more. The pending charges on her profile weren’t hidden. Everyone knew what she could be prosecuted with if the Department of Justice got her.

“You okay?” Hariette asked her. She did care about Celeste. She’s known her since she was a child.

She cared for her just as much.

She figured Celeste was tired and stressed out, and being here doesn’t make her feel better.

“I’m fine,” Celeste looked away and played with her hands. “I just...a lot happened.”

Her ex-girlfriend was in prison. Her father was trapped in a position for the rest of his life. There was a war going on that forced her to over exert herself to come up with a counter device to her own blue print.

She may have been sleeping, but it wasn’t enough. She’d get four hours at most. Her anxiety was keeping her up at night, forcing her to work more because she’s still been at seventy-percent functionality.

She needed to be at a hundred percent.

That’s the only way it will work.

“Don’t go all panicking on me.” Hariette said, turning away to continue walking.

Celeste tagged along beside her, going at her pace instead. Hariette still had her limp after all these years. No one teased her about it. It was easier to walk at her pace, too, especially when she was the one giving orders.

“Have you ever been in love?” Celeste asked.

“God, no.” Hariette didn’t have to think about that answer. “I never stayed in a relationship that long.” She said. “I think the best one I’ve had was with this one official from Spain. She was...” Hariette began to smile.

She remembered that summer.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well...” Celeste needed advice. “I’m not a...romantic person.”

Hariette scoffed. “Clearly.” she knew that.

“I mean...I want to be...I think.” Celeste wasn’t sure. Dri declared his love for her, and she wanted to do something special, but she never really did things like that before. “I just...Dri’s great, and he’s into all he whole ‘chivalry’ shit and what not, but I can’t follow up on that.”

“If he knows you, then he knows that.” Hariette said.

“Yeah,” Celeste wasn’t so sure about that either. “He has a soft heart.”

“Are you sure? Sirus wouldn’t pick him if he has a soft heart.” Hariette knew about Dri, and she’s heard that he was a good leader, tough, too. But soft heart wasn’t in the description.

“He’s soft for me.” Celeste clarified. And she wanted to add a comment, but it would’ve been a little much despite knowing Hariette loves the details. “I wouldn’t be asking if I knew what to do.”

“Do you love him?” Hariette asked.

“Yes, b-”

“Great.” Hariette didn’t think it was that hard.

She continued walking.

Celeste wanted to be persistent because she didn’t know who to ask. There was no way she could ask one of her aunts. She figured Hariette was the one to keep things casual and Celeste was right about that. She couldn’t ask her parents. It’s not like they were the romantic types. Of course to them, actions speak louder than words, but Celeste didn’t know what actions to take.

She’s been in multiple relationships before, but this was much different.

She hasn’t gotten this far before.

She was distracted.

Hariette could tell that Celeste was as lost as anyone who was trying to get their life together. She didn’t want to get in Celeste’s way or steer her in the wrong direction. Maybe a little nudge might help.

“Work with Taurus for a few weeks. Then I’ll let you up to space.” Hariette said, being generous.

Celeste was happy about that so she wasn’t going to complain. She liked Taurus, too.

And she was going to ask for help.

“Have you picked someone to replace you?” Celeste asked she walked along side Hariette. “I know you have a year, but that doesn’t seem like a long time to train someone.”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Hariette glanced at her. “Interested?” She asked.

Celeste didn’t answer that question.

She wasn’t interested but she didn’t want to break Hariette’s heart by saying no out loud.

Hariette was already aware Celeste wasn’t interested. She smiled. “There’s another commander position open.”

“I’m not doing that.” Celeste had to put that out there.

She figured that they would’ve chosen another Head of Defense by now but the position was still vacant. Well, it was the Adviser's job to set that in motion, but it was clear he wasn't going to do anything because he could. The department was scrambling to pick up the extra work. It was an abrupt change in leader ship. Hariette was missing her other half.

“Good luck finding someone.” Celeste didn’t want to have that conversation. She abruptly left Hariette’s side to avoid saying anything else about the subject.

She didn’t need to follow in her parents’ footsteps or whatever Hariette was going to tease her with. She’s already stressed out, she didn’t need to add more to it.

Celeste got her tour, she knew where things were. She knew who her immediate leader was, who she was working with, what she was supposed to be working on. But she had another issue to settle.

She doesn’t often see Taurus.

But she knew Taurus was an engineer, a smart one, too. She keeps up with the updates. She was really good at her job, too. Celeste had good intentions. If she could ask for help from anyone without having to give details, it would be her.

Celeste was holding on to a large sheet as she scurried over to Taurus who was checking off a few of the new model satellites.

“Hey, Taurus...” Celeste said as she moved things off the table. “I know it’s my first day.” She said because Taurus was surprised she was moving everything. “I need help.”

“What’s this?”

“A carbon copy of a project I’m working on.” Celeste flattened her printed version of her blue print.

It was finished, but wasn’t functioning at a hundred percent.

Taurus tilted her head as she looked at the model and dimensions. That was already completed, she didn’t know what Celeste needed help with. Taurus had a confused expression on her face as she looked at her.

“What’s wrong with it?” Taurus asked.

“I can’t get it up to one hundred percent.” Celeste realized Taurus was only paying attention to the physical aspect which didn’t matter to her. “Don’t focus on the actual model.” She said. “I need it to function.”

“Well, you have a lot of parameters limiting it.” She pointed to the coding. “There’s a small margin for the frequency, too, but you want it to function over a huge radius it looks like.” She only skimmed the important parts. “Of course it’s not going to function high with all the limitations.”

Celeste couldn’t change her parameters much more. She bit the inside of her lip as she looked for something to change, but everything was set up to what it needed it to be. But theoretically it wasn’t perfect.

“What’s it for?” Taurus asked, curious. “Looks complicated. There’s some biomedical numbers in there...” She didn’t know that much but she could pick out a few things.

“It’s just a side project.” Celeste wanted to avoid the question. “I don’t know what to do, I’ve changed so much but can’t get it to work the way I want it.” She complained.

“Did you ask Aurora?” Taurus looked at her. “I’m more of a physical model type of engineer. He used to love all that theoretical stuff.” She said.

Celeste mashed her lips tightly as she took her blue print and rolled it up. She figured Aurora was into that kind of thing, working on theoretical projects and making them real. After everything he’s done, he has to be good at testing everything with the system first.

“I don’t really...I’d prefer to not consult my father on everything I do.” Her comment came out cold though she didn’t mean it like that. “But it’s also...not a public project so he can’t know.” She said to Taurus to make up for her rude demeanor a second ago.

Taurus sighed. Celeste was up to no good and she knew that. But then she paused. “Actually...” She looked away for a second. “I think I can help lift the margins a little.” She held her hand out so Celeste would give her the blue print.

Celeste was hesitant.

“If it’s a secret, I won’t tell anyone.” Taurus smiled at her.

Celeste could use the help. She practically hit a wall and needed someone to help her get over it. Taurus didn’t seem like the type to tell secrets.

But she was best friends with Aurora.

“Please don’t tell him.” Celeste said, almost begging, as she handed Taurus the carbon copy.

“Is it that serious?” She asked.

“Its a long story.” Celeste sighed quietly.

“I won’t tell him.” Taurus agreed. “But I know a few people who might be able to help. The numbers are a little...out of my scope.”

Celeste could feel her heart racing. Taurus was going to add more people to this and she wasn’t sure if that was okay. A few engineers won’t say anything if they figure out what’s going on...right? Celeste wasn’t so sure what to say to that.

She needs help.

“Come on.” Taurus gestured for her to follow. Celeste tagged along quietly, trying to settle her nervousness.

Taurus was holding everything she was working on.

She didn’t know what was going to happen.

The two of them walked into a room, but there were already a few people inside working on something. Celeste looked to see the multiple holograms that showed different satellite systems.

Taurus turned them all off.

“Hey!” One of the men turned around quickly as Taurus brought the lights up. The group was younger than she was, but it was clear they respected her. They learned a lot from her

But they had work to do and she was the one that gave it to them.

“Taurus what’s-”

“I have a minor project I need to have finished.” She said.

“Hariette will kill us if we don’t fix the satellites.”

“That’s true.” Taurus acknowledged that. “But I have something more fun.” She said as she moved their things that was on the table and put the blue print down.

Just as she opened it up, the group of four got up on the table to look.

“Holy fuck.” One of them said. “Look at all the restrictions on this.” He said in awe.

"Yikes, this looks tough.” Another said. “What’s with all the biomedical numbers in this?” He pointed to a few numbers. But it turns out it was just more than a few numbers.

“Taurus, this would be a great puzzle, but these satellites though-”

“I know.” Taurus said. “I’ll work on them for now. I’m just not good with things other than mechanics and dimensions, and this is incredibly theoretical so...” She was asking for a favor. “Help me and I help you.”

“Who’s is this?”

“It’s mine.” Celeste said behind Taurus. She saw the group of young men staring at her work, and she wasn’t sure if she was excited or not. They clearly thought she was crazy. “It’s a side project I’m working on.”

"By yourself?” One of them was shocked. “This must’ve taken weeks. My goodness.”

All of them were gawking at the blueprint.

“I don’t understand, it looks done.”

“It only functions up to seventy percent. I won’t use it unless it’s up to one hundred.” Celeste said.

“Like that’s going to happen with these limitations.”

Well, Celeste needed to prove a point, a strong point and that will only happen if she knows for sure that her final product will function without fail. That’s how everything she creates is.

“That’s where you boys come in-”

“Taurus, come on.” One groaned, tilting back in his chair. He didn't like how she called them boys. Clearly they had their lives together, some more than others.

“Boys? Really?" Another didn't like it either. He was the oldest of the group, around his late thirties. He's gone through more of life than the others. If any deserved to not be called a boy, it was him. "I’m literally about to have my second child-”

Taurus just smiled as they continued to beg and plead that they finished their blue print. She was such an endearing person. She liked to joke around with people too. She made a promise, that she would handle the rest of the satellites as long as they help Celeste who desperately needed it. She turned to walk away, leaving Celeste with a group of men who were surprised by the work she did.

“What’s it for?” One of them asked. He pushed his glasses up on his nose as he looked at her, his brown eyes bright.

“It’s just a side project.” Celeste made herself clear again. She couldn’t go into details about it, and she hoped that they wouldn’t ask.

But all four of them were nosy.

“Looks like it’s counteracting something.” Another said as he took a seat. He had a pen in his hand and he wrote over the numbers, crossing them out and changing them. “This will increase productivity, since the margins are so small-”

“Yeah but that will be affected by the dimensions of the thing.” Another pointed to a set of numbers. “Look, it’s supposed to function like a tablet-”

“No, it has one function, it just appears like that-”

“It’s supposed to be done like this-”

They began arguing and bickering about the changes to make. It seemed like one simple alteration would cause a problem. They tried to figure it out but they couldn’t get that much more out of it.

Celeste was staring at them.

They were arguing about her work.

Maybe she did all she could and there were no more changes she could make.

One of them went up to her. She was standing there, thinking to herself, and she didn’t notice he was in front of her. He tried to make himself look appealing. He smiled at her eagerly, hoping she liked him.

Though she doesn’t know him.

He liked her eyes. They were a deep maroon but they shined. He could look into her eyes for eternity.

He was the youngest, the freshest, and certainly not a parent.

“I’m Neptune.” He held out his hand to shake hers.

She could see the way he was looking at her. She didn’t care for his expression or that sly look in his eyes like he was trying to pick her up. She shook his hand, but her grip was strong.

She leaned closer to him. “You don’t have to stare at me like that.” She said quietly, more to intimidate him and it worked.

He blushed.

His dark hair wasn’t enough to cover his expression. He thought he was staring at the girl of his dreams. But she could crush his hand if she wanted to.

“Is it your first day?” The other asked, hoping to give his coworker time to recover.

“Here, yes. As an engineer, no.” She answered. “I’ve been doing this for six years, just didn’t work for NASA.”

“Oh? What made you come here?”

“I...owe Hariette.” She was careful with her choice or words. But she did owe Hariette, that was the truth.

They were curious. They leaned in closely because she had a secret to tell. But they will never know.

“Did you work for Medicine? You got a lot of biomedical science in this thing.” Another gestured to the blue print.

“Actually, no.” Celeste said as she walked around Neptune, and sitting down at the other side of the table. “A friend of mine is a doctor, he helped me with this. I have a background in chemical science but it only helps so much...” She felt like there was more to accomplish but she couldn’t get there.

That’s why Taurus let them see her project.

A fresh set of eyes might help.

“Wow, a dual background-”

“Triple.” Celeste corrected him. “Mechanical engineering is another.”

“Shit-”

“I can’t believe Hariette just now got you. How the hell did you not want to come here after school?”

“I-” Celeste stopped herself abruptly and looked away. She didn’t want to tell her story.

She couldn’t say she didn’t have an interest being here.

She couldn’t say she didn’t like being in her father’s shadow.

She didn’t want people to be disappointed if she couldn’t live up to the expectations.

“Like I said, I owe Hariette now.” Celeste cut it short. She didn’t want to go into it. She moved her hair behind her ears and put her hands down on the blue print. “I desperately need this completed.” She stressed.

“It’s counter acting something.” Neptune said beside her. “If we don’t know what that something is, we can’t make the proper changes.”

Celeste didn’t know what to do now.

If they didn’t know what they were dealing with, how were they going to help? She knew she had to show them everything.

What were they going to do?

Betray her and run off to another country to give away her work?

She thought that wouldn’t happen the first time.

But Taurus wouldn’t have brought her to random people. She thought she could trust them. They were just engineers that were excited about what she was working on. If they were able to make it function properly, they’d reach the pinnacle of their career.

“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone." Celeste said as she took out her tablet. “I’m about to rock your world.” she brought up all the holograms of her work.

All of her blue prints filled the room and they stared at it in shock.

For her first day, she did pretty well. And she was making new friends.

The day wasn’t quiet.

A group of engineers were arguing and complaining, and working hard on a project they weren’t getting marks by the System for working on. This was the hardest they've worked because they wanted to solve an unsolvable puzzle.

Celeste hasn’t been surrounded by people like her in a long time. She could go off on so many tangents about how her theoretical work was just as important as what she does mechanically.

She could talk about physics all day.

The problems all five of them tried to solve was already beyond their understanding, but they were getting there.

Celeste couldn’t wait to tell Dri about her day.

She didn’t hate her job.

She was actually excited to be here.

Celeste was sitting in a quiet space. It was time for her to go home. After a long twelve hours, she felt like she belonged here. Her tablet was resting on her lap, a small hologram of Dri projecting as she talked to him. She leaned her head on to her hand, her silver hair draped over her left shoulder and arm.

“You haven’t smiled like that in a while.” Dri said to her. He figured things were going well. She looked happy.

With everything that’s been happening, he felt better to see her smile. She wasn’t miserable like she was before, but now she was handling her stress better.

“I know you don’t care about all my science talk, but I found people that do.” She was happy to be surrounded by people who get excited about the same thing she does.

“You’re actually going to go to work consistently now?” He asked.

“We’ll see.” She hasn’t decided if this was the life for her yet. “I liked my side projects.”

“I’m sure those private companies did, too.” He’s heard about them. Celeste was sought after for years.

The news that she’s on NASA’s team was going to make others jealous.

“You won’t believe what happened today.” She smiled again. “I finally got my secret project up to ninety percent.”

“That’s progress.” Dri still didn’t know what it was about. “The commanders are pestering me about what you’re doing.”

It was his first day back as well. He was immediately thrown in to all his work he needed to finish but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He was the only new sector leader in control. The others still had some time left. The department was scrambling to pick itself up, but it was getting better.

Then again, there was a war going on.

“Let them know they don’t have to worry.” She said. “And neither do you.” She added because she could tell when he was worried about her.

She had a good day today.

That’s a good thing.

“I leave for Latin America tonight.” Dri said. The work begins. “We’re merging sectors so I have to meet the others.”

“I would love to ask how’s the war but...” She’d tune it out immediately.

“I mean...it’s war.” Dri wasn’t that surprised. He’s been handling situations like this for a while now. “The bigger sectors are at the borders. The smaller sectors are in the waters. And the first five are about to go to Europe.” He said.

The defense was more massive than he was making it seem. If Britain gets other countries involved, then it will be a serious fight.

It seems like it might happen.

Celeste had other questions. “But since you’re going to Latin America first, you should take me with you.”

“Right, because this is a field trip.”

“I need to brush up on my Portuguese.”

Dri didn’t know she could speak Portuguese, too. Now he was interested. He was about to say they could plan a vacation there one day, but Celeste never works. How would that be a vacation?

“Come over.” Celeste said.

“Aren’t you still at work?”

“I’m done. I just haven’t left yet.” She chose to stay in a quiet room by herself to review her work.

It was just her. But she was suggesting that it wouldn’t be.

“If you leave tonight, I don’t know when I’ll see you again.” She didn’t think he’d be going anywhere so soon.

This wasn’t a romantic gesture. She wasn’t asking for them to sit down together and talk face to face. Like usual, Celeste was never shy about her sexuality or her intentions. She knows what she wants. At this point with Dri, she never really had to explicitly say she wanted to fuck before he goes off on an adventure for his job.

“Give me fifteen minutes.” He said to her and the call ended.

It really did take him exactly fifteen minutes to get to her. He didn’t tell her he was busy often. He wanted to see her before he had to leave, and if it meant they hide in a quiet room for an hour or two, he didn’t care.

Neither did she.

Two hours seemed about the right time for them. Celeste knew how to keep him wanting more. He wasn’t sure how he was going to leave without taking her with him.

That was the frustrating part about being with her, it’s hard to be without her.

Dri figured that would be the hardest part of his job, being gone for days, weeks at a time and he couldn’t be with her. Celeste never worried about him coming back, he always does.

“How long will you be gone?” Celeste asked. She had just put her jacket back on but she was still hot and flustered.

“I don’t think it will be long. A week at the most.” Dri said as he got dressed. “If there’s no surprises at least.” He added.

Celeste tied her hair up since it was frizzing. She moved the strands out of her face and took a breath. She still had her mind on before, the fun they had. She definitely enjoyed it.

He did, too.

They both needed fresh air.

They smiled at each other, still in the heat of the moment.

“Please actually go to work.” He said to her, almost begging her.

“Oh my God, I will, okay.” She groaned. “It’s not bad so I’ll give it two weeks.”

“Celeste-”

“A month.”

Dri sighed.

Celeste wasn’t lazy, but she didn’t like doing things unless she wanted to. If she puts her heart into this job, who knows what she could accomplish.

She owed Hariette so she had to stay. Hariette vouched for her, and the other commanders were waiting until Celeste was ready. They got the officials attention, but they held off on making their threats because Celeste said they could depend on her.

Patience was key, for them at least.

Celeste was working fast to alleviate the pressure, but she also felt the stress on her shoulders as well.

With how things were looking now, it seemed like she might finish soon. She would need to put days of work to close the ten percent gap. If she could close it. If she couldn't she wouldn't be able to use it and that's not the option she has right now.

She said she would end everything, and she will.

She wanted to settle for ninety-eight percent. But having something that worked perfectly would make her threats so much better.

Britain’s surrender was coming soon.

But all of it was depending on her.