Archives Under Felton Street, London, Friday Evening

[on_her_korhal]

Getting to the building had been the easy part. Getting into the building had been slightly harder, but not impossible. Offices. They were all the same, really, after a while.

The true test was coming up just ahead, though, and Kerrigan's pulse was racing in ways she'd be loathe to admit were comfortably familiar. Adrenaline. Anticipation. The whole damn nine yards that had kept her existence going back in the days when she had orders, not friends.

The lock would be a piece of cake with the aid of their guest.

The rest-- well. Her hand hovered over the stealth button on her suit. Her armor pulsed like it had a life of its own. "It's your turn. This once. And then it's on me."

Whether she was referring to the politician or the cowering mess was left, mostly, in the middle.

Comments

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan shook her head once. "Great. Now I'm a research monkey."

And then she was after Harriet, climbing the stairs with nimble grace. She got to work.

Grouchingly so.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Three hours later, Harriet was feeling grouchy herself. And sore, her knees aching from their earlier brief introduction to the ground.

"Right," she muttered, "What's next. Item 96-ATX-a1. They couldn't have given it a name?"

It was on the bottom shelf on the lower floor, and she surrendered dignity completely and sat on the floor to struggle with the box. "Hartdegen Dossier, dated 1906. That does not sound promising."

But she opened it and began to read. And kept reading. And finally called out, "Lieutenant?" in a voice that shook only a little.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?"

A few floors up, Kerrigan was about to put her own head through one of the shelves. She figured it wouldn't just make her feel better, it'd be more effective, to--

But at that, she was down a few flights of stairs and at Harriet's side, the picture of professionalism. "Did you find it?" Whatever 'it' was.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I think I might have." Her voice sounded odd, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was reading. "It turns out this Alexander Hartdegen built a time machine, back in the end of the nineteenth century. He destroyed it, but--"

She looked up and fumbled in the box, drawing out several rolls of thin paper, which resembled parchment more than they did modern paper.

"--Apparently he did so with the intention of turning into something else. Of turning it into...I have no idea. There isn't enough detail here."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I know those calculations."

Kerrigan was squatting before Harriet could as much as give a response. "It's crude," she continued. "Very, very crude. Christ. It's a miracle anyone could work with anything in this time period..."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Harriet unrolled the plans, for such was what the paper proved to be, frowning down at them, then at Kerrigan. "Tell me."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Interstellar travel never goes as smoothly as the old sci-fi films would like you to believe," Kerrigan explained, sitting back on her haunches. "The longer the distance, the more likely it is you're going to have to put yourself on pause. Earth to Koprulu, for one, that's big..."

She glanced at the plans. "You need something that puts you on pause. A stasis machine. Like that."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"Dear god. A stasis machine." Harriet's mind was going a million miles a second. "Would it work? Could it work? Would it last to get them safely home?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Like I said, it's crude," Kerrigan continued, but she was shooting Harriet looks all the while. That kind of thinking just made her head hurt. "Theoretically, though-- yeah, it should work."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

A decision had to be made. there could be something more useful here in the archives.

But they could spend the rest of their lives, looking for the slightly better option.

This should work. This would work. And she had a lot of practice making the hard decision.

"We're taking these," she said as she got awkwardly to her feet. "The dossier and the plans and we're going back to Fandom. Now."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a plan."

And like that, Kerrigan was back in Ghost mode, visor up to her eyes and sliding smoothly back down to the door.

It wouldn't take them long to break out of the facility.

Not long at all.