[ 7 ] [ audio : 70% encrypted ] [ forward dated to the day of the next jump ]

[zooms]

[ Hotspur's never been brilliant at encryptions and, to be fair to the man, he's having to encyrpt and transmit the message whilst moving. Moving with a purpose, too; behind the stammered words of the transmission there's the sound of booted feet against metal as he strides his way along the corridors in the direction of the Tranquility's bridge. ]

AUDIO ( "MSG-RECIPIENT: WARD, RESNIK; MSG-ENCRYP: USER MAX;" )
Sir, ma'am - I've found something. [ And he doesn't sound particularly pleased about it, either. Behind his breathless words there's a world of worry and confusion; minor crises of faith aside, Hotspur isn't usually all that easily ruffled. ] I think - I think it's really important. Can we talk?

[ A pause as Hotspur's grip briefly tightens on what he carries in his hands: a blackbox device, salvaged from one of the shuttles. Despite his words he knows it isn't a matter of 'think'; he's convinced it's important. ]

Please?

Comments

so many headtilts, so little time (also: BE PREPAAAAAAARED)

[archimedeia]

Other than the disappearance? [ She looks at him steadily. ] No.

If there was an accident, it only applied to him. Like I said, he was... dangerous.

yeaheheh we'll be prepared........,. .. for what?

[zooms]

[ He tries to hold the steady gaze - he really does try because by the Gods he wants to believe everything she says... but then the words daubed in the mystery room in the corridor come to mind. Don't believe everything they say. The gaze is broken and Hotspur glances back at the screen. ]

Well, the disappearance didn't only apply to him. And he said 'our' fault. [ Then, more firmly: ] I mean, that sentence - it could have finished 'the crew are disappearing' for all we know...

well uh. ..... .... ............ thin...... g.... s......

[archimedeia]

For all we know. [ She sighs, and it sounds tired. But she's all sharp edges now, isn't quite hitting the level where she needs to be, not quite managing to act like someone Hotspur can trust and confide in. She knows he's the kind of man who wants that, because it's clear in his demeanor, but what he wants and what Resnik can give him are two very different things. ]

But we don't know.

[ She tries to soften her tone a little. This can't be easy for Hotspur, and it's sure as hell not easy for her (and if she knows Ward, and she does, he's more wound than a clock, ready to strike at any moment) so she— relaxes, forcefully. And tells the truth. ]

He didn't disappear.

woah there rezzer

[zooms]

[ I can't stay here, the transmission had said. I have to go. Gallagher had clearly had a plan. Hotspur forces his gaze back to Resnik with palpable unease. ]

He didn't?

[ There are many people who would openly refer to Hotspur as naive. Gullible, too. Maybe even a fool. If said to his face, Hotspur would shrug it off with a grin and not take the criticism to heart. He knows that it's not any of that; it's just another form of hope. And not only does he hope that the answer Resnik is going to give him is going to explain everything, he puts his last remaining scrap of trust in to it as well. They're military. They're officers. This is their ship now. They understand that he, Hotspur, is one of the only two people on this ship that can actually find it in themselves to dredge up this unfathomable trust - in the face of everything they've seen so far - and knows that Ward and Resnik can get them all through this. ]

Then where did he go?

gurl what are you doing. what, what, WHAT are you doing.

[tranquiliorem]

[ Ward abruptly glances over at Resnik as she finishes speaking, face showing what might almost be shock, closely followed by a cold fury, before he schools his expression back into its usual deadpan state. ]

Resnik.

[ It's not quite a command, not yet, but Ward's voice is definitely a warning. They're edging into dangerous territory here, and no one is going to like where this conversation leads. ]

shut up ward you're not the boss of her!!!!

[archimedeia]

Ward. [ Her eyes flick to the side, and she shifts stance ever-so-slightly. Shut up, her tone says, equally as cold. He deserves to know.

Then she says, quite evenly, to Hotspur: ]

Gallagher started attacking the crew. He was—rabid. We tried to subdue him, but he escaped. He was going to massacre us.

So I killed him.

good god this parachute is a backpack

[zooms]

[ Hotspur is still - stock still, with every fiber of his being fixed on rigidly staring at Resnik - and for a few wild moments he entertains the idea that no, okay, that's completely fair enough, what a logical explanation this is.

Except no, years of military logic and precedence kicks in. He shakes his head briefly. ]

He was your captain, he - you're an engineer. You said before that there was a known risk of madness, right? Wasn't there - I mean, there must have been a protocol to deal with it, surely? A doctor, military police, marines... an XO to relinquish him of duty... [ His eyes briefly snap to Ward, questioning. Ward's the captain now; what had he been before? Hotspur lifts his chin. ] And he doesn't seem that mad in the transmission. [ A pause. ] Sir.

is there something fundamentally unmarryable about me? well?????

[tranquiliorem]

He... turned on the bridge—and this wasn't a military vessel. What troops we had couldn't get mobilized in time, not when the entire civilian command was dead.

[ It's said with the unshakeable confidence of an incontrovertible fact. The sky is (generally, where Ward's from) blue, the Tranquility is sadly lacking in windows, and the entire civilian chain of command died on the bridge.

Ward doesn't sound particularly broken up about it, however. ]

your mother warned you there'd be days like these!!

[archimedeia]

[ You're an engineer. Oh, but she isn't just.

It's her turn to favor Ward with a look of barely concealed rage. Not shock, because she's not shocked, but—entire civilian command. You moron. ]

His psych eval was clean. [ Another glance at the transmission. ] The timestamp is five days after the jump. Routine check-ups happened monthly for crew. Passengers by appointment. Nobody could have predicted it. [ A muscle in her jaw tightens. ]

Madness isn't always the screaming kind, Hotspur. [ She says this as calmly and coolly as Ward had, but her eyes are dark. ] He didn't try and kill us immediately. Relieving him of duty wouldn't have stopped him.

this genuinely has not been their day, week, month or year

[zooms]

So you knew. [ The words are soft and simple but carry a confused brand of deep dismay. His words are addressed to both of them - a shared 'you' - but it's on Resnik that he levels his gaze. ] Not only did you know what had happened to... to the entire civilian command - [ A statement that had so many questions of it's own ] - but that they were murdered. And that this - this madness that caused it is a risk that comes with the jumps... [ He narrows his eyes as he gets to the real core of what hurt, more than the fear and the dread of Gallagher and the crew's fates: ] And you didn't tell us?

n o p e :c

[archimedeia]

It was one man out of thousands. [ Resnik holds his gaze, blank and sure. There's nothing there. ] It's been months, and nobody has experienced anything of the kind since. Telling you—telling everyone—wouldn't have been productive.

I'm sorry for keeping it from you. [ She sounds like she is. She isn't. ] And I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But we have problems here that are more important than what happened in the past.

[zooms]

Productive? [ Hotspur echoes the word under his breath with an acutely aghast expression as Resnik continues to explain. Only when she's finished does he speak up again, this time take a short step towards them both appealingly. ] Captain, Commander - for all you know the problems you have here are because of what's happened in the past!

[ He reigns himself in and he turns guarded, adding in less certain tones, ]

Unless... there's more you haven't told us?

[archimedeia]

[ It's almost sweet how willing he is to forgive them their trespasses. She shakes her head, uncrossing her arms, but her body language is far from calm. ]

We might have been able to pinpoint the catalyst, but those transmissions—what happened—

[ Of course there's more they haven't told you. ]

—we don't know. It's possible.

[ And there's bone-deep frustration there, and a heavy truth, because they don't know why. They might know more than they're letting on, but not why it had to be them. Why it had to happen at all. By all rights, this ship should be empty. It should be dead in the water, it should be a shell. The mission failed. But they're here. ]

We need to focus on what's happening now, and deal with it now. Can you handle that, Flight Lieutenant?

[zooms]

[ Had the question, phrased as it is, been asked after any other kind of conversation then Hotspur's answer would have been an instinctive yes, ma'am. But, no, he stares back at Resnik blankly, unable to formulate any reply that doesn't make him look like their enemy (in the case of 'no') or a liar (in the case of 'yes'). ]

What's happening now - [ Hotspur's voice is considerably steadier than how he feels. ] - Is that you've got an entire crew who doesn't trust you because they reckon you know more than you let on. This isn't 'dealing with it', ma'am.

[archimedeia]

I'm not asking anyone to trust me. [ She'd never asked that. Perhaps because she'd known, instinctively, that this would happen—sooner or later. ] The moment our crew and passengers vanished is the moment this stopped being about anything but survival. I'm asking you to stay alive, Hotspur.

You think that us telling you everything will help. [ It's a flat tone, non-accusatory, but frank. ] It won't. It didn't help us, and we were there.

None of you asked to be here. No matter how much we say, and no matter how heartfelt it is, there will always be someone who will think we're lying. We're fine with that—but we don't want anyone else to die. There's been enough of that already.