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[NOVA] Going to Church (K 1.8)
Ksenia, once the ship has moved far enough out to still the incessant noise in your head (which seemed to affect you less than most, from the look of things), Ezekiel Church finds you and asks if you will join him in his quarters. As he is your employer, I'm going to assume you comply.
CHURCH'S QUARTERS
Church is dressed simply and elegantly, as always, in shades of gray with a bright white shirt. His clothes are cut conservatively, but the fabric is obviously sumptuous, even to your eye. He crosses his legs in the chair across a small table from you, his tablet closed and lying on the table. The screen in his room is set to show the exterior view, cold space and stars and the brilliant smear of a nebula.
"Ms. Cribbage. I believe circumstances call for a frank risk assessment. I'm sure that you know I haven't been hiring you simply for your martial skills, impressive as they are. To me, your mind, your instincts and the experience hard-earned through training and the time you spent tempering in the forge of conflict, are by far the greater weapons. So tell me, in the face of this perplexing and unexpected change in circumstances, should we continue, and if so, what are the risks and how can we mitigate them? What we find may potentially be of exceptional value to Melzer-Togawa, but there are human lives involved here, and I am not merely a corporate drone."
He holds up a hand to politely forestall your answer. "One more fact you should possess, which the Captain is aware of, but hasn't been generally disseminated yet. The ansible relay providing supraluminal communication with Melzer-Togawa and the rest of occupied space is gone. Perhaps destroyed in the event that destroyed MV-589. We are out of contact and essentially alone."
He looks at you, awaiting your answer, with an intent focus that says "I'm listening" as clearly as words.
CHURCH'S QUARTERS
Church is dressed simply and elegantly, as always, in shades of gray with a bright white shirt. His clothes are cut conservatively, but the fabric is obviously sumptuous, even to your eye. He crosses his legs in the chair across a small table from you, his tablet closed and lying on the table. The screen in his room is set to show the exterior view, cold space and stars and the brilliant smear of a nebula.
"Ms. Cribbage. I believe circumstances call for a frank risk assessment. I'm sure that you know I haven't been hiring you simply for your martial skills, impressive as they are. To me, your mind, your instincts and the experience hard-earned through training and the time you spent tempering in the forge of conflict, are by far the greater weapons. So tell me, in the face of this perplexing and unexpected change in circumstances, should we continue, and if so, what are the risks and how can we mitigate them? What we find may potentially be of exceptional value to Melzer-Togawa, but there are human lives involved here, and I am not merely a corporate drone."
He holds up a hand to politely forestall your answer. "One more fact you should possess, which the Captain is aware of, but hasn't been generally disseminated yet. The ansible relay providing supraluminal communication with Melzer-Togawa and the rest of occupied space is gone. Perhaps destroyed in the event that destroyed MV-589. We are out of contact and essentially alone."
He looks at you, awaiting your answer, with an intent focus that says "I'm listening" as clearly as words.
Comments
[Ksenia Cribbage]
Church's compliments do not fall on deaf ears. I appreciate his observation of my talents. I also like that he doesn't lay it on thick. Any more and I'd feel "buttered up", which would annoy the piss out of me. Not that I piss anymore, but that's not the point.
We're alone out here? That's unexpected. I'm sure Gaumata would freak right the frak out to know that. It doesn't really faze me. We were in the same kind of situation on the Dauntless.
To the matter of his question. I stand at ease, asking him in a direct but neutral tone, "Mr. Church, to do a proper risk to reward assessment for the mission, it would help if I knew what M-T hopes to gain from this. Obviously, this emitter or psychic experience is unique, but how is it, for lack of a better term, potentially profitable?"
He actually steeples his fingers. It occurs to you that his "listening" look is far superior to that you saw from any of the headshrinkers during post-cyber therapy.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
"Nothing more than what they taught me in Basic and a few advanced classes when I did some need-to-know shit. So, really, not much." That look is creepy. I'm not avoiding it per se, but I find it unsettling.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
"Why is a megacorp interested in.... individuality?" I'm sort of stumped on that one.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
Ah. There. That I get. I nod along, feeling a tiny bit sheepish for the delay. "Alright. I get it. Thank you, Mr. Church." I try to sound sincere, not huffy. I'm not upset at him for being smart, just, you know, annoyed that it takes me a bit to catch up. With a crew of Gaumata, Church and Mei, it's easy to feel like a kid in the back of the class.
"I think our best shot is Mei- Ensign Mei." I correct myself. "If she can protect us from the emitter, then we're golden. If not, I think the risk to her, the doctor, and the others is significant. I think I could maintain longer inside the perimeter, but I don't know if I would be able to pinpoint the source. Or, if I did, what the hell I'd do with it."
[Ksenia Cribbage]
I give Church a look at the pillow talk thing. It's a mix of "that's my friend you're talking about" and "back the frak off, dude" and a little "damn, is it that obvious?"
"She hasn't said anything to me about this mission that she hasn't shared with the crew." I answer honestly.
The reason is clear immediately, and you realize it must be to Church as well. No identity faking would mean a serious degradation of the military's ability to run covert intelligence missions. Against rebels and separatists, internal threats, the few independent pockets of human-occupied space that haven't yet signed up for the Polity's enlightened vision.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
I consider this for a few moments. The idea of either side having this is a little scary. The Corps would shut it down for public use, but probably use it to weed out undesirables. I've seen it happen. The megacorps would use it to squeeze people out in other ways.
Isn't it just forcing people to be who they are? Sure, there's profit in it. Sure, there are nefarious goals that the Psi Corps might want to use. But this is simply another way to ferret out fakes.
In the end, all that doesn't matter to me. I realize I'm going to do this because it's Mei's mission. If she backs down, if she tucks tail, she may never get another chance like this.
Then again, if we're all alone out here... wouldn't she be free to do whatever she wants?
No, we're doing this.
"I've been in situations without comms. We all know what we need to do." I answer him confidently, putting on my sergeant face. "Let's evaluate Mei's barrier. If it holds, even a little, we should push forward."
Gaumata addresses Church directly. "Director, it turns out that there is no discrepancy between the timing of the event that destroyed MV-589 and the visits of the Chaplin and the survey vessel." Ze pauses, clearly uncomfortable about going on. "I'm afraid it's much more perplexing than that. We appear to have, ah, skipped ahead. It seems that it has been approximately 370 standard days since we entered FTL."
[Ksenia Cribbage]
Holy frakshit. We skipped ahead a year?!? Glad I don't pay rent somewhere. Except the storage unit. I hope to hell my account I set up for it isn't overdrawn. A year?
"We've been out for over a year." I finally say it out loud. "I wonder if another ship is already on its way."
Ksenia, you feel something in your mind that reminds you of the pop in your ears when air pressure changes, and the last hint of a whisper of words in your head is gone.
[Ksenia Cribbage]
"The words just went away for me. Entirely." I announce it when it happens, look to both of them. "You?"
--END SCENE--