Day 5.5: The Boats The Beacon Builders Built

[KendleRJ]

Gary gave Talia a winning grin, "Let's go with your first statement. You've never pulled punches with me before. Don't start now. I've got enough to consider without you withholding your observations."

Gary always believed that you could tell something about a person by the way they made love. Talia was direct, too the point and enthusiastic. She also kept to herself. She had few friends on board but those she had, she kept and kept close. "Out with it before the doors open."

Fiery eyes looked up at him squarely. "What the hell is up the doctor's ass?" she nearly hissed. "Could he be any more blatant about questioning and countering you at every decision, every breath, everyTHING?" She understood Russians, hell, she even had an inkling about Martians, but to be quite so isolationist in so many ways, it seemed more than just a little much. He was determined to find fault with the Captain, regardless, and Talia realised that there would be a great deal of danger even discussing such a thing in a seemingly isolated place. She lowered her voice further. "There's something far darker going on than meets the eye, Captain..."

How could she explain something that she had been studying her entire life? Human nature... rarely changed. And invariably reared its ugly head when survival was on the line.

Tags

[Amanda Rose]

[Amanda Rose]

[Ciara Mei]

Ciara gave up on being alone. She could to this same work from the bridge. Tweaking the schedules, she put one of the quiet ensigns in her place and headed to the bridge.

She felt the hole away mission that things didn’t feel right. Seemed she should have trusted her gut. What difference did it make now? They had ‘locals’ on board. That was the best word for them, right? They were an interesting pair. However, Ci wasn’t sure she trusted them completely.

Stepping onto the bridge, she went to the science station and sent the officer that was there on their way. Taking the seat, she stared blankly at the controls before looking back to see that the captain wasn’t back yet. That struck her as odd, but knowing his...habits...she didn’t question it.

She was still a little irritated with him and how he acted anyways. Her nerves were on edge, and she’d have to find a way to calm herself later. Right now was time to work.

Tags: bridge

[KendleRJ]

"The Doctor has always functioned by another set of rules. If he were not the best doctor out there, he might not be on this ship. But he is as creative and manipulative as he is competent. Who anticipated a situation like this? And there will be those who will resist it and it will speak to them." Gary sighed. "We need hope and I need you to get everything you can from this quadrant, Talia. So tell me these darker things that you see and be quick about it."

Talia looked at the Captain, up, then down and even went so far as to check behind the controls. One could never be too careful where paranoia was concerned. "The attempt on the Commander's life, for one," she said in low tones, hissing in his ear when she could get no closer. "Who would have tried to kill her? Why? How organised is that part of the ship? We were already getting a bit odd from the length of time in space, but now? There's no respite of making it home. That's enough to push some of the weaker minded people closer to the edge." She blinked a bit for a moment, pushing an errant hair behind her ear before finishing her thought. "And who has access to the inner workings of everyone's mind, Captain?"

She was about to continue when the turbolift doors slid open. "My floor," she announced abruptly and rushed out as though Satan himself was on her heels. And in some alternate reality, he very well may have been.

Tags

[Sjet]

Sickbay, After The Meeting

“I live to fight another day.”

He looked down at his bare abdomen as the pray mantis like arms of the AutoDoc folded back into their housing. The bio staples that kept the small incision closed were livid now, but the top shelf pain meds had pushed the wound to the back of his mind. Not many doctors could say they had performed some what major abdominal surgery on themselves, but 22nd century living had its benefits.

Left fractured rib sealed and fused, and the minor laceration of his pancreas had been dealt with. The grand standing before the senior staff had run the risk of necrosis setting in, possibly septicemia, but all in all he had suffered worst beatings. The Land Shark of the Beacon World had a thing or two to learn from the mine overseers and their knotted ropes.

“You could have been killed.” Svetlana said, Arkady’s assistant and head nurse muttered as she brought over a bottle from a storage cabinet.

“We could all have been killed a dozen times or more, with ‘him’ still guiding us.” The physician muttered darkly, taking the bottle and removing its stopper with his teeth. The fluid within was a Horizon home brew concocted by some of the Engineers, proving once and for all that you could ferment anything with the right set of pipes. Arkady had long ago given up wanting to know what was ferment to make this fire water, as its taste was a reminder of the cruder brews of his native Mars.

“No.” He said resolutely as he took a swig from the bottle, allowing the burning sensation to warm its way down his gullet. “Was necessary risk. My supporters needed to see Gary risking my life, placing it in utmost danger. An unknown planet with only scant minutes of sensor data to prove its safety? I cannot be excused if I do not allow this fool to play into my hands. I would be as inept as he, were I not to take the advantage.”

He offered her the bottle, which she took after a seconds thought.

“A strange thing to be doing to the man who saved your life, to a friend.”

Arkady pondered that for a moment, and leaned back into the padding of the surgical couch.

“He did save my life. This is fact resolute. And what I am doing, is same thing: I am saving his. Right now he is living his wildest fantasy: strange new worlds, and new civilisations. He joined Starfleet for the wonder the stars held. He looks out of the port hole every morning, and see’s the next horizon, the next adventure.” Arkady said wistfully, a genuine smile on his face. It had been that Gary who had convinced him to come on this mission, to do something with his life that did not revolve around a bottle or regrets.

“But sooner than he thinks reality will begin to assert itself. Survival will demand he act against his nature, and do things most unpleasant. He will not do these things at first, he will convince himself his principals are more important than his crew. He will make lean men and women of us all, starve us our compassion and empathy with each new excuse. He will make us cruel. He is a good man, who can do no wrong. He is an example of our best intentions. And he must remain this. He must not be tarnished by our sinning.” Arkady took the bottle again, and took a long draining pull.

“I am not a good man. I am a man furious at the world, a man who has known the predations of those who seek power and control. I am a man who has felt a boot on his neck crushing the air from his lungs. On Mars we would riots for better food, for more water, for cleaner air: and the Leg Breakers would be sent in to ‘restore order’ with their guns and picks. To prune us back, and away from the fences that separated us from true civilisation. There were no ‘good men’ to save me then. And there can be no question that one can not save us now.”

He put the bottle down beside his table, and looked at Svetlana.

“When I do what is required, I will do so knowing my reign will be short lived. Gary is a fool, but he is not without some basic idea of cunning. But when he pulls my corpse from the bridge, it will be too late to change anything. But he can blame me, hold me up as the example of villainy I will have become. But he will remain untarnished. He will remain blameless of the deeds I will have committed for our own survival. That is my goal, to save his soul. To give you all your sainted captain, your vessel of hope.” He smiled, and leaned back into the pillow as the pain meds began to really kick in. “It is all I have ever wanted in my life, to save a life as mine was saved. What more could I have asked for, than to save the soul of my brother?”

And with that Arkady fell into unconsciousness. Svetlana stood by his side and mulled the words she had heard. She then reached into a pocket of her over alls and took out the audio recorder she had placed there. The others who felt like her, in regards to the current management of the USS Horizon, would find these words interesting. Perhaps even motivational, with a minimum of editing.

“Rest.” she whispered to the sleeping Russian, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We will prepare the way..”

TAG-No one. Just throwing a few bottles of eye liner around for foreshadowing purposes.

Arkady Sjet
Ships Physician
USS Horizon

[Amanda Rose]

[Ciara Mei]

[Amanda Rose]

[Ciara Mei]