#kat tag

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Coffee cup in hand, Kat drops down on the couch beside Gabriel.

"So what, we're playing taxi service for the fucking Militia now?" Mika complains, sitting across from them, her feet on the table. "Don't they have like… so many ships?"

Ah, their new little mission. Gabriel had mentioned it in passing earlier.

"Sometimes a freelancer is a bit more… inconspicuous," Kat remarks, carefully sipping at her coffee.

Mika puts her hand in front of her mouth in an exaggerated way, pretending to be shocked. "You're not saying the holy Militia is involved in any shady stuff? Illegal, even? No way."

Gabriel just chuckles and rolls his eyes at her.

"So, who's our passenger?" Kat asks. Gabriel wordlessly hands her a data pad, and she frowns when she glances at it. Huh. "Seriously?"

"What?" Mika butts in, leaning over to snag the pad out of Kat's hand. "Helena Voloshin… Why is that name so familiar?"

"You ever been to Torus IV?"

Mika snorts. "Well, not since…" Then it dawns on her, and she looks at Gabriel, flabbergasted. "You're kidding, right? The fucking Plaguebringer? What, we're doing prisoner transport now? How did they even grab her?"

"They didn't 'grab her'," Gabriel explains, "she defected."

Still in awe, Mika stares at the pad. "About fucking time she paid for all her crimes…"

Kat is pretty sure that 'serving justice' isn't the end goal of this whole operation. "They hired her, didn't they?"

"Of course they did," Gabriel shrugs.

Mika looks back and forth between them before she puts it all together. "You can't be serious."

"Wouldn't be the first high-ranking Empire official switching sides."

"Do you know how many people this woman has killed? How many whole fucking colonies?!" Mika, getting agitated now, tosses the pad back at him. "And like, she doesn't even have the decency to just bomb them from orbit like a normal person, no, she threw a bunch of carefully crafted diseases at them to really make them suffer, in the most backstabbing, sneaky-ass way! Have you seen some of that shit?!"

"I am very much aware of her… track record," Gabriel acknowledges, being his usual calm self.

"So now we're casually ferrying some fucking mass murderer war criminal scientist maniac to her cozy new home, provided by Milita command, so she can tell them a few juicy little secrets, and everyone is happy?! Unbelievable!" she huffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Besides, what makes you so sure she's not just going to poison our asses as soon as she sets foot on this ship?"

"Doubtful. Why would she?"

"Because she's a fucking maniac! And maybe we're the next little experiment!" she scoffs. "Also, why do we have to be the ones doing this shit, anyway?"

"Because Admiral Orland asked me to."

Mika puts on a mocking tone. "Oh well, if the Admiral asked you to, then of course you just have to, like the good little soldier you are. You know you're not working for him anymore, right? So why are you still kissing his ass?"

"Are you finished?" Gabriel sighs.

"No, I'm not finished! Doesn't this whole thing bother you?!"

"Somewhat," he agrees. "But I completely understand why they're doing it. I mean, see it from their point of view - she has an incredible amount of valuable intel. And in the long run, that intel will help us fight the Empire a lot more than simply killing her ever would."

"Yeah, it's the smarter choice," Kat concedes. Everything else would be a waste.

Mika clearly still isn't convinced. "Well, if you see it from my point of view, the good doctor might have a little accident while she graces us with her presence."

Gabriel had kept his calm the whole time, very much used to Mika's little outbursts, but now he finally loses his patience and bangs a fist on the table. "Mika, you will stay away from that woman! You will not threaten her, or antagonize her, or stab her, or anything like that. Don't even talk to her. Are we clear?"

"Oh, don't come at me like that!" She glares at him. "Asshole."

"That's still Captain Asshole to you," he retorts deadpan.

Mika stares at him, flabbergasted for a second, then she starts laughing. The tension immediately dissolves, and both Kat and Gabriel also crack up a little. He is still the one person on the ship with a unique talent for diffusing her, somehow.

Gabriel gets serious again and looks at her intently. "Mika, I mean it. Don't do anything stupid. Please. Our list of enemies is long enough, and right now, we really don't need to add Militia command to that, just because you felt like vigilante justice. I'm sure Voloshin will get what's coming to her, one day."