themnemosyne | Log: Entering the 'find out' phase

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Log: Entering the 'find out' phase

CHARACTERS: It's a party, everyone's welcome!
TIME: 8/11/2524, immediately after the latest Status Report and for a few days after that
LOCATION: JAIL (the ship's brig, down at the very front of the ship) -- network text options also available!
WARNINGS: Talk of attempted murder, both past and potentially future

Given the ongoing operational crisis, there are three courses of action that may be considered; indefinite confinement (resource-intensive), re-initiation of cryo sleep (inefficient due to crew size), or psychological evaluation with restricted access and monitoring (most efficient course).

Final determination will be made by the Security Division.

From his cell, Wolfwood reads and rereads L3TH3's message over and over again. It's better than he'd been expecting, but he'd resigned himself to being put back into cold storage and only seeing daylight again at his court-martial. Now it's sounding like he's going to be allowed to remain part of the crew -- so long as those assholes in Security agree -- but with monitoring, and psychological evaluation.

Even clenching his hands into fists doesn't stop the shaking. He can't bring himself to regret what he did -- especially not after learning the miserable state the captain's in -- but if he'd known that the punishment for his actions would be a short leash at a doctor's whim? He might have made different choices.

Signing up for this mission might have been a mistake.

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[ Wolfwood's expression says everything that needs to be said on the topic of Rin. ]

That fucker wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire.

[ Which just means that Wolfwood shouldn't be the one to ask about the AI, right? It's still a good idea to get their Computers asshole working on the computer. ]

You need those logs, though. Where the ship's been, what actually happened when we were hit. Gotta make sure nothin' is tracking you.

Good thing we have fire extinguishers, then.

[ Yeah, Wolfwood doesn't need to ask about it. Vash will, even if he's not totally chummy with them, either. Rin just has a very stand-offish personality... not unlike someone else.

...also, shouldn't that be 'tracking them' rather than you? ]

I'll ask Rin about it, see how much they can find out. I'm sure they've been working on it since we woke up.

[ He is nothing like Rin! Don't even think that! ]

I doubt that.

[ This is nice though. They can shit talk Rin for awhile longer, he's good with that. ]

You know, I caught that bastard fucking around with the temperature controls on the very first night we all thawed out? Everyone else was running all over the ship trying to figure out what was going on and here's CompSci, brewing cocktails down in the lab, watchin' movies, and flippin' switches just for the hell of it.

[ Thinking it! ]

Really? Cocktails and playing with the systems?

[ He found Rin watching a detective movie not long ago, so he can picture that part... the cocktails were new. ]

Why were they messing with the temperature?

[ Well fucking stop thinking it!

To be honest, he's pretty sure they weren't cocktails. Rin doesn't seem the drinking type, but until he knows for sure what science was happening, he's sticking with his story. ]

'Cause they're an asshole.

[ Did they need another reason? ]

They like fuckin' with people. Who knows why.

[ Vash is pretty sure Rin's an asshole for a reason, which the way they had flinched and pulled away when he patted their back. The look in their eyes while not meeting Vash's was... well.

Everyone had their problems. ]

We all cope the best we can in this place, don't we? I drink terrible coffees, Rin is an asshole and you attempt murder.

[ And suddenly the conversation's not funny anymore. Wolfwood's face falls, that mocking grin fading into something more shuttered and resigned. Saverem's not wrong, though, is he? When faced with an emergency some one them worked hard, some of them goofed off, and he tried to kill a man in a particularly slow and painful way. Crisis shows you who you are, one of his instructors had said during training. Well, now they all knew themselves a little better, say hallelujah. ]

That's murders, plural. If we're bein' precise about shit.

[ He's not angry at Saverem for bringing it up, but he feels something. Something he doesn't like very much. Hurt? Betrayal? He doesn't have a name for it but it's making his stomach churn. ]

Pretty sure I tried to kill Rin too.

[ The way that face falls creates a hollow somewhere in the blonde's chest. Here he was, trying to lighten everything a bit, pass over the seriousness of the attempt... but it was kind of a shitty thing to joke about, in hindsight.

Vash just wishes he could help Wolfwood. ]

Hey. You didn't.

[ He turns a bit, leaning against the hard light screen to watch the man with those blue, blue eyes. ]

As wrong as I think you were, you're not some maniac out here wanting to kill people. You thought you'd save us.

[ Right? ]

[ It was a shitty thing to joke about, yeah. Somebody with better people skills might call Saverem out for the comment, or tell him to leave, or lighten the mood and tease him for making awful jokes.

Wolfwood doesn't know how to do any of those things. ]

I didn't because a bunch of people stopped me.

[ He's not meeting those bright blue eyes, sorry. In fact, he's turning his back, to lean against the barrier and address the rest of his comments into the empty space of his cell, where Vash can't see his face. ]

Don't get it twisted. I wanted to kill Drake. Still do, for the record.

[ Because it'd be a mercy. Because he's incubating something that could kill all of them. Because so long as the captain lives, they're stuck with a reduced crew and no help coming. ]

The why doesn't matter. Dead's dead.

[ He wouldn't be surprised if he was told to fuck off, honestly. Especially with the way Wolfwood turns from him. ]

I know he's a possible danger, but what about what he wants? What about finding a cure? Dr. Jiaoqiu and Dr. Hilbert seem like skilled people and aren't under duress while researching it like the former crew was.

[ Vash fiddles a bit with his coffee cup. ]

We're moving. The shields work. The quarantine hasn't been breached for 20 years. We have time to figure it all out.

[ What Saverem's saying makes good sense, but it's not enough to assuage Wolfwood's anxiety. ]

There haven't been people walkin' around the ship for the last twenty years either.

[ Drake's presence, and the disease living inside him, is a time bomb as far as Wolfwood's concerned. Somebody gets that bridge door open, somebody makes a mistake with the ventilation or the waste processing or any of the other systems that Drake's using to stay alive, and they're all dead. ]

It doesn't matter what he wants. We're talkin' about one life to save everyone else on this ship. It's worth it.

[ True, there hasn't been... but it's not like the ship is falling apart. The engine, yes, because that needed to be serviced, but the rest was fine. Whatever anyone may think of L3TH3 - Vash included - he's pretty sure the AI isn't going to let the mission fail.

That would include risking the life of the crew.

...besides, who is the one that has been closest to the Bridge? Who messed with the ventilation? In the need to save, Wolfwood could have doomed them all just as easily. ]

Nobody has the right to take a life, Wolfwood. They're all equally precious.

[ Vash sighs and runs his flesh hand over his face. ]

Doesn't he deserve better? He trained us, he started this whole mission. Isn't it better to find a way to help him?

[ Doesn't that just prove his point though? If Wolfwood could get that close to contamination while running on no sleep for a week and scared out of his mind, just think what somebody with the slightest bit of competence could do! It's too much of a risk to keep Drake alive. ]

Best help for him now is a quick death, and a legacy of tryin' to do the right thing.

[ Saverem really is soft-hearted, isn't he? It's too bad that the real world doesn't have much use for softness -- it's nice, even if it's a fantasy. ]

You really want to help him, get the damn AI to wake up some command crew.

[ Who would do such a thing? Aside from Wolfwood, everyone seemed mentally sound so far. Not that Vash doesn't understand that people can do completely irrational things when pushed - he's been in the middle of that several times - but messing with the Bridge would be more of a murder-suicide rather than 'fixing'. ]

The easiest thing isn't the right thing.

[ He says softly, and then steps away from the hard light barrier. ]

I will try to see how much access Rin has, though. Maybe it can help us with getting more crew.

[ Who would try to get on to the bridge? Scientists. Wolfwood's opinion of scientists is rock-bottom low. Those bastards will do anything, risk anything just to sate their curiosity, and fuck anyone who gets in their way.

Saverem steps back, and Wolfwood folds his arms tightly across his chest, refusing to let himself turn around. It's better if Vash leaves. There's nothing for him here but a reminder of how cruel the real world is. ]

Yeah. You do that.

[ Vash rubs the back of his neck slightly and then nods. ]

...stay safe in there, okay? I'll bring you more coffee tomorrow.

[ With that, he's going to slowly head for the door with a thousand thoughts in his head. Like how all of this felt so familiar. ]

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Log: Entering the 'find out' phase

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