LSDF Akahar, Bridge
♫ Final Fantasy X - Seymour's Theme ♫
Keib looked down at the furry little ninja of his. He hadn't seen her in a while - she had been on sick leave, after the... incident - and he was running short on friendly faces he could trust. "Good to see you walking again, Four. Has Vithr been taking care of you?" he asked.
"Yes." A prompt answer. The grey eyes wavered for a moment, her expression changing just slightly to hesitation before she looked back to the bridge 'at large', an unfocused attention. "Mister Vithr did. Was."
"Yes. I'm expecting my Away Team back, and I fear something's come over them. He's setting up a quarantine," Keib said as the door to the Hangar slid open - and he confronted another door, turning a small stretch of corridor into a valve as a rudimentary medical scan examined the two and identified them as 'Mar'zhaz Keib' and 'Four Six', both healthy and clean. The door to the hangar opened up. They entered, the larger officer and smaller soldier, at a brisk pace.
LSDF Akahar, Primary Hangar
Every exit in the hangar seemed to have been sealed - each door was turned into an examination valve, each vent was covered shut, and the only way out without authorisation seemed to be directly into space. Some rudimentary foodstuffs and basic entertainment had been set up for anyone unfortunate enough to be found infected with ... whatever was eating the Mok'ro.
Seven hours... Keib remembered, running his tongue along the inside of his mouth. This is just another quarantine. With any luck, this Sourcian thing is manageable. Four-Six unshouldered and checked her rifle, the sound somehow isolated and foreign from the rest of his thoughts. Somehow, after what he had been watching on the viewscreen, that seemed comforting. The little white Helashio, as mysterious as her origin had been when she had come to him, could at least be competant.
"Vithr, sitrep." Keib called from the balcony that overlooked the Hangar.
Vithr was standing next to the smaller Lmanel construct with a datapad in his hands. The two were coordinating something before Keib showed up. "...move structol materials away, got it," he said back to Aiesu. "Yeah Keib. Just wrapping up here. Aiesu's get everything planned to the minutae."
"Good," Keib replied. "The Away Team should be here soon. Talked to Bes'linn at all?"
"Yeah she's been moving things around, keeping the place clear. We're storing some of the more sensitive stuff in space."
"Like what?" Keib asked. "Why would you need to do that?"
Vithr's eyes glanced down to Aiesu, who crossed her arms at the two men. "Her orders."
Keib could hear the tiny, incredulous sniff from the relative height of his left elbow but that seemed to be the only opinion Four-Six would give. A glance showed him her impassivity. Keib knew Aiesu's disdain of Helashio, but maybe she was brought up orthodox or something. "Very good," Keib said as he started looking for a stairwell down, and stepped onto the hangar floor with the Helashio shadowing him close.
He stood beside Vithr and looked out into space, at the Mok'ro floating there, a weird being rather than just a bombed out hulk of a ship, possibly even alive based on the reports and visuals Keib had been seeing. Aiesu was right, nothing prepared the Away Team for such visuals. Perhaps getting mad at his team was wrong but what else could he vent frustration at? Maybe he could pitch stones at the Mok'ro through space.
Keib scowled at the thing, eyes narrow and knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists beneath his gloves.
"Mister Keib?" The quiet voice, low enough not to disturb the crew moving around the bay, gently intruded.
Keib looked down after contemplating the Mok'ro's gripping Madness. She looked at him with concern, but did not speak immediately. "Hm?" he mumbled while he looked at Four's white hair, face screwed up and brow low. Of course, she would not speak unless he asked her to. Had that been the collar, or had she always been like this?
"Are you alright, Mister Keib?"
He shook his head gently. "I'd be lying if I said yes."
-
Vithr looked over at his captain with some worry - but he could understand. He hadn't seen anything direct of what was taking place on the Mok'ro, but everything he'd heard from Aiesu as part of the quarantine prep was making his gut churn. "So, like you were saying..." he walked off with Aiesu to put the icing on the cake.
-
The ship wouldn't move, even if they stared at it. Even if they stared at it for a long time, which they did end up doing. Breaths seemed an inprecise marker of time; it might have been shorter. From Four-Six's perspective, she couldn't fathom how far away the ship was, or how powerful that it might be, or how relatively dangerous.
All she knew came from a few moments on the bridge and a general whispering among the ship's skeleton crew as she'd passed - but she hadn't listened very closely. Even though she did not have to instinctively fear that in a few hours she would have a pain in her neck and then the blissful forgetfulness, she had braced for it and mentally clenched. When it did not come, she felt... disappointed? Frightened?
She still ached. And, she couldn't be sure whether with all the drugs she was on whether the pain was fully mental or not, whether the pain in her gut would be her imagination or not. She'd dismissed it because something in the back of her mind knew it would be gone by the time she woke up the next morning, but it had stayed with her inside her eyelids all night.
The last few days had been hard.
At her side, fully half her height taller than she, the ship's Executive officer - her savior, of sorts - seemed troubled, and, even though she curled her tail very hard to think about it, she did not particularly know what to say or do. Some base urge made her want to comfort him somehow.
Would they be alright? Would it be lying to say so?
And why did she have to think about it?
Keib was still looking at her. She swallowed, and slumped, unsure. "Mister Keib, do you know what to do?"
"Trust my crew, trust Aiesu. That's all I can do for now," he said as he looked over to Aiesu and Vithr from across the hangar, in the process of moving more boxes - recently delivered ones away into a very secure place. "The rest is in their hands I think."
Four-Six followed his gaze, and found herself scrunching her nose a bit.
Aiesu.
"Do you trust her, Mister Keib?"
"Yes and no," he replied curtly. He didn't care to elaborate why. Four Six warred with herself over whether or not to ask him why. From her interactions with Aiesu, Four knew that the construct took pleasure in other peoples' misery, and Four's especially.
Nervously curling her tail the other way, she looked back to the doctors, then up at Keib, studying his expression for a clue as to what she should do or say or whether it would be appropriate or not.
"Mister Keib?" Small voice, again.
"Yes?"
"May I say something, Mister Keib?"
"You shouldn't have to ask," he replied.
Four looked down at the deck, uncertain if she should be commenting, even with permission. "I do not like her, Mister Keib."
Gee, can't imagine why. Keib thought as he looked over to Aiesu and saw some of the more bitter aspects of her personality on the surface to most onlookers - but she did want to make sure Keib's brain came out of this ordeal intact, whatever happened. Aiesu knew he cared about his crew because he knew no other family in the last couple of decades. Keib responded to Four Six with a simple "Mmmhm," in some degree of agreement. "I've seen enough. Let's move somewhere safer," he announced before heading back the way he came, en route to the skybox that overlooked the hangar and followed by the wet-nosed Helashio.
♫ Final Fantasy X - Seymour's Theme ♫
Four Six said:
Keib looked down at the furry little ninja of his. He hadn't seen her in a while - she had been on sick leave, after the... incident - and he was running short on friendly faces he could trust. "Good to see you walking again, Four. Has Vithr been taking care of you?" he asked.
"Yes." A prompt answer. The grey eyes wavered for a moment, her expression changing just slightly to hesitation before she looked back to the bridge 'at large', an unfocused attention. "Mister Vithr did. Was."
"Yes. I'm expecting my Away Team back, and I fear something's come over them. He's setting up a quarantine," Keib said as the door to the Hangar slid open - and he confronted another door, turning a small stretch of corridor into a valve as a rudimentary medical scan examined the two and identified them as 'Mar'zhaz Keib' and 'Four Six', both healthy and clean. The door to the hangar opened up. They entered, the larger officer and smaller soldier, at a brisk pace.
LSDF Akahar, Primary Hangar
Every exit in the hangar seemed to have been sealed - each door was turned into an examination valve, each vent was covered shut, and the only way out without authorisation seemed to be directly into space. Some rudimentary foodstuffs and basic entertainment had been set up for anyone unfortunate enough to be found infected with ... whatever was eating the Mok'ro.
Seven hours... Keib remembered, running his tongue along the inside of his mouth. This is just another quarantine. With any luck, this Sourcian thing is manageable. Four-Six unshouldered and checked her rifle, the sound somehow isolated and foreign from the rest of his thoughts. Somehow, after what he had been watching on the viewscreen, that seemed comforting. The little white Helashio, as mysterious as her origin had been when she had come to him, could at least be competant.
"Vithr, sitrep." Keib called from the balcony that overlooked the Hangar.
Vithr was standing next to the smaller Lmanel construct with a datapad in his hands. The two were coordinating something before Keib showed up. "...move structol materials away, got it," he said back to Aiesu. "Yeah Keib. Just wrapping up here. Aiesu's get everything planned to the minutae."
"Good," Keib replied. "The Away Team should be here soon. Talked to Bes'linn at all?"
"Yeah she's been moving things around, keeping the place clear. We're storing some of the more sensitive stuff in space."
"Like what?" Keib asked. "Why would you need to do that?"
Vithr's eyes glanced down to Aiesu, who crossed her arms at the two men. "Her orders."
Keib could hear the tiny, incredulous sniff from the relative height of his left elbow but that seemed to be the only opinion Four-Six would give. A glance showed him her impassivity. Keib knew Aiesu's disdain of Helashio, but maybe she was brought up orthodox or something. "Very good," Keib said as he started looking for a stairwell down, and stepped onto the hangar floor with the Helashio shadowing him close.
He stood beside Vithr and looked out into space, at the Mok'ro floating there, a weird being rather than just a bombed out hulk of a ship, possibly even alive based on the reports and visuals Keib had been seeing. Aiesu was right, nothing prepared the Away Team for such visuals. Perhaps getting mad at his team was wrong but what else could he vent frustration at? Maybe he could pitch stones at the Mok'ro through space.
Keib scowled at the thing, eyes narrow and knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists beneath his gloves.
"Mister Keib?" The quiet voice, low enough not to disturb the crew moving around the bay, gently intruded.
Keib looked down after contemplating the Mok'ro's gripping Madness. She looked at him with concern, but did not speak immediately. "Hm?" he mumbled while he looked at Four's white hair, face screwed up and brow low. Of course, she would not speak unless he asked her to. Had that been the collar, or had she always been like this?
"Are you alright, Mister Keib?"
He shook his head gently. "I'd be lying if I said yes."
-
Vithr looked over at his captain with some worry - but he could understand. He hadn't seen anything direct of what was taking place on the Mok'ro, but everything he'd heard from Aiesu as part of the quarantine prep was making his gut churn. "So, like you were saying..." he walked off with Aiesu to put the icing on the cake.
-
The ship wouldn't move, even if they stared at it. Even if they stared at it for a long time, which they did end up doing. Breaths seemed an inprecise marker of time; it might have been shorter. From Four-Six's perspective, she couldn't fathom how far away the ship was, or how powerful that it might be, or how relatively dangerous.
All she knew came from a few moments on the bridge and a general whispering among the ship's skeleton crew as she'd passed - but she hadn't listened very closely. Even though she did not have to instinctively fear that in a few hours she would have a pain in her neck and then the blissful forgetfulness, she had braced for it and mentally clenched. When it did not come, she felt... disappointed? Frightened?
She still ached. And, she couldn't be sure whether with all the drugs she was on whether the pain was fully mental or not, whether the pain in her gut would be her imagination or not. She'd dismissed it because something in the back of her mind knew it would be gone by the time she woke up the next morning, but it had stayed with her inside her eyelids all night.
The last few days had been hard.
At her side, fully half her height taller than she, the ship's Executive officer - her savior, of sorts - seemed troubled, and, even though she curled her tail very hard to think about it, she did not particularly know what to say or do. Some base urge made her want to comfort him somehow.
Would they be alright? Would it be lying to say so?
And why did she have to think about it?
Keib was still looking at her. She swallowed, and slumped, unsure. "Mister Keib, do you know what to do?"
"Trust my crew, trust Aiesu. That's all I can do for now," he said as he looked over to Aiesu and Vithr from across the hangar, in the process of moving more boxes - recently delivered ones away into a very secure place. "The rest is in their hands I think."
Four-Six followed his gaze, and found herself scrunching her nose a bit.
Aiesu.
"Do you trust her, Mister Keib?"
"Yes and no," he replied curtly. He didn't care to elaborate why. Four Six warred with herself over whether or not to ask him why. From her interactions with Aiesu, Four knew that the construct took pleasure in other peoples' misery, and Four's especially.
Nervously curling her tail the other way, she looked back to the doctors, then up at Keib, studying his expression for a clue as to what she should do or say or whether it would be appropriate or not.
"Mister Keib?" Small voice, again.
"Yes?"
"May I say something, Mister Keib?"
"You shouldn't have to ask," he replied.
Four looked down at the deck, uncertain if she should be commenting, even with permission. "I do not like her, Mister Keib."
Gee, can't imagine why. Keib thought as he looked over to Aiesu and saw some of the more bitter aspects of her personality on the surface to most onlookers - but she did want to make sure Keib's brain came out of this ordeal intact, whatever happened. Aiesu knew he cared about his crew because he knew no other family in the last couple of decades. Keib responded to Four Six with a simple "Mmmhm," in some degree of agreement. "I've seen enough. Let's move somewhere safer," he announced before heading back the way he came, en route to the skybox that overlooked the hangar and followed by the wet-nosed Helashio.
