The Bitter Morning After Pill - Part 2
Posted on Sun Mar 26th, 2023 @ 10:41am by Captain Akiva ben-Avram & Lieutenant JG Jaya Maera Garlake & Ensign Nandi Chakma & Lieutenant Colonel Storr Garlake & Commander Arianna Frost & Lieutenant Calderon Jarsdel & Lieutenant Commander Leonora Wolf MD & Lieutenant Teejay
6,364 words; about a 32 minute read
Mission:
Season 1 Interlude II (E5.5)
Location: Villa 17 | Temtibi Lagoon, Risa
Timeline: ID 5
Once everyone assembled into a rough circle, Akiva crossed his arms. "Everyone's here; breakfast is served. Let's get on with the fairy tale."
Arianna nodded and reached into her pocket, and pressed a button on a little device. A high-pitched sound permeated the room for a few seconds.
Leah winced. "Hate that sound." She grumbled from her seat next to Teejay.
Eyes closed tight, hands at his ears, Teejay nodded his heartfelt agreement with Wolf. A necessary evil but unpleasant nonetheless.
"Sorry about that, everyone," Arianna said with a sigh. "We can now talk freely. Keep eating and try to look relaxed. We are supposed to look like we're at least semi-enjoying this."
"No problem there." Jaya was shamelessly shoveling food into her mouth with a fork from a plate she held right below her chin.
Noise levels back to more acceptable levels, Teejay took a moment to briefly look around the table and note each facial expression and partnership. Interesting, he considered, but not weird enough to prevent him from enjoying a breakfast that someone else had taken the time to prepare and lay out. He gave Leah's hand a gentle squeeze and dug into the plates of food with happy enthusiasm.
Cal held back a moment, picking up a mug of tea and sipping it quietly as he allowed his mind to adjust to the new baseline and intriguing sense of community within this space. It was strange to feel part of a perceived inner circle, but interesting times were the new normal these days.
Far too much bacon balanced between two warm waffles, Teejay regarded Cal with interest. He knew enough about the man to be curious to hear more, but trusted those with all the information to make the right decisions for now. Until, he told himself internally, he heard what Frost had to say. She was... complicated... and he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, or her close connection to Leah. Not that there was much he could do about it besides decide where to place himself in relation to them both.
"Now, before I continue, I need to explain Cal and Laena's presence. Laena, well, it goes without saying that she would be informed of what's transpired because of her close relationship with the Captain." Ari said with a raised glass towards the two.
Just like that. Ari was really going to stand there and toast the two of them, pretending all the while like she hadn't shared an ill begotten kiss with him. He had enjoyed his time with Laena, but... pretenses were against his character. To make matters worse, he chided himself, he should be paying attention to whatever the point of this meeting was instead of internally wrestling with matters of the heart. Man up, Kiv.
There was more to it than that, Cal had a sense, but it was one whose details remained obscured for the moment. Curiosity piqued, he sat back and allowed himself the luxury of taking his time to wonder if more information would be forthcoming. Teejay, meanwhile, raised and waggled both eyebrows at Leah.
Jaya arched an eyebrow but said nothing.
Laena smiled with a nod towards the Commander.
And Teejay glanced from each woman to regarded Frost with concerned intrigue. Romantic entanglements, eh? Always making things interesting. Seemed most of them were here because of some, one way or another.
"Cal is here as much by accident as it is by design." Ari continued as she looked over at the Human/Betazoid hybrid. "I've been wanting to invite you into the fold for two reasons. Your skill, and your experience with what we are potentially facing. Agents of the Black Nagus who work for us, Intelligence in particular." Frost continued on with recounting the events of the discovery of the Borg drones and who was behind them and a brief recount of Project Castermer.
"In short, Cal. While I might not know you well at all, I know what you did in the DS9 attack and I trust you, and I trust in the fact that you wouldn't mind paying those fuckers back for what they did to you." She raised a glass to Cal and then took a sip.
Designed Accident, Cal thought to himself. Yeah, been a lot of those lately. He returned Frost's look with one of intrigued interest and chided himself internally for his skepticism. Had she truly wished to invite him into this particular fold? Perhaps he had misjudged her, or maybe her own standoffish nature (or his perception of such) was for other reasons - valid ones considering his past and her... well, whatever she was up to. And then she mentioned the Black Nagus and his blood chilled in memory of what had been done in that name. Cool expression, direct gaze and frownlines told a story that remained unspoken as Arianna recounted the Tale of the Borg Drones. The emotional spike in Teejay didn't go unnoticed by the telepath either, despite the fact nothing whatsoever showed in the scientist's stance or face.
"Thank you, Commander Frost," Cal replied, sincerely as he raised his mug in solidarity. "Here's to mutual trust and payback," he added, a grim smile gracing his features and enduring. "Just point me in the right direction when you can, and if you can't, I'll happily find my own way." Vengeance, no matter how hot or cold it might be, was something best served with a fine plan and good company, after all.
Teejay meanwhile had busied himself with more bacon, waffles and syrup, casually taking all of this new information on board without the luxury of knowing what anyone else might be thinking. Collected, externally, and calm, he pushed away any echo of thoughts of Miton, casting them into the emotional vault that had remained locked tightly since arriving on Risa. Vulcan rules were rarely something he cared to entertain, but the gift of lockdown was helpful on occasion, conscious or otherwise.
Storr continued to give the situation and his compatriots his cool attention. While he understood the need for bringing in the others, and while he was no spook in the slightest, the adage "two men can keep a secret only if one of them is dead" kept rattling around in his mind. He would much rather his attention be on frying some beskuit.
Giving her husband a squeeze, Jaya quietly thanked the Universe that he kept his misgivings to himself for the time being. She would happily hear him out later and help him organize his thoughts into a plan of action, but for now, it was time to listen.
For Nandi, though, she could not understand how everyone seemed to be taking this news in stride. Starfleet was supposed to be transparently noble, yet there was no nobility to skulking in the shadows and reliving the most horrific thing she had ever witnessed. She did her best to hold back a grimace.
Feeling the chill mental breeze from the Marine, Cal took note and stayed clear of any glances in Storr's direction as he picked up a plate loaded with some bacon, toast and eggs and then sat back down. He couldn't fault the man's reticence or concerns, but Jaya was close in more ways than one. She had this. Meanwhile, alongside him as he retook his seat, Nandi's barely contained disgust brushed roughly against the telepath's mind enough for him to reach for her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze as his fingers interlocked with hers.
Ari plated herself an egg and some bacon. "Now that everyone is caught up, I'll get back to the reason for this meeting." She picked up a bacon strip and bit off a piece. "We have a name, or at the very least an alias, possibly two, and a project that Taskmaster was tied to that appears to be of import."
Leah who had set herself up with a portion of shakshuka swallowed her bite and spoke up. "Someone's been busy."
Ari shrugged, "so a confirmed alias for Taskmaster that we now have, going to at the very least 2375, is Omri Updike. He assumed service on the USS Taniwha in 2375 just after the signing of the Treaty Of Bajor, under Commander Xanthe Rahal."
Leah leaned forward, a glass of juice in her hand. "We have a name."
Arianna nodded as she cut into her egg, "and a rough starting point within Starfleet." She was glad at least someone was willing to discuss this further.
"We can track that." Leah continued and then took a sip, "how old are we talking about?"
"He's roughly my age, give or take five years let's say." Ari offered and took a bite.
"So we make the starting point say '73. Late teens, early twenties and we spread out from that." Leah added, "we'll need a cover story as to why the Taniwha is suddenly being looked into, of course."
Frost nodded, "well let's start with this.." she looked over at everyone, "anyone know anyone who's served on the Taniwha '75 onward?"
While Teejay had nothing, Cal was quietly working his way through mental archives from two different directions and so far coming up short. His free hand slowly tightened deeper into an uncomfortable fist at his side, and below the table.
Omri Updike. Xanthe Rahal. USS Taniwha. Akiva scowled at the names and all the feelings they evoked. "Didn't you say before that Commodore Rahal was the flag officer in command of Operation Castermer?" he asked Ari. "If this Taskmaster has been under her command all this time, I would call that rather damning on her part. But I will also add this to the pile..." He paused for a moment, chewed his tongue, and cast suspicious glances from wall to wall. "Admiral Tau also served aboard the USS Taniwha. I believe he was a commander at the time and his service jacket reflects time spent with R&D, but the rumor mill says he served significant time aboard that ship as a science officer in addition to a mission advisor and R&D observer, as the Taniwha which was a test bed for an early refit for the entire Akira class." He took a deep breath and sighed. "If this Mr. Updike, whatever his real name is, has connections to two flag officers who are looking out for him, then it's little wonder he is a ghost in the machine."
Connections, mused Cal, always the difference between failure and success. More so than blind luck and better by design. Complicated indeed then, this proverbial web folks had been weaving. He let his mind listen, picking up on any tells, spikes and underlying emotions that might give some message or highlight some sign otherwise unseen.
While she did her best to ignore Ari's earlier theory out of mind, Jaya couldn't help but think of it now. She felt an unconscious ping from Akiva when he heard the name "Omri," but it didn't seem to draw any special attention. What caused much more alarm was the notion that Admiral Tau had a connection with this Taskmaster. "This is getting really complicated," Jaya said. "I feel like we need to break it down into smaller pieces and assign basic tasks for each person to focus on. There's too much for all of us to try and hold together all at once." She glanced at Ari. "That's assuming, of course, there aren't any other bombshells you're about to drop..."
Arianna sighed, giving Akiva a measuring look before looking over at Jaya, her expression saying 'oh I wish there weren't any.' She took another bite of bacon before she continued, "I'll finish off this train of thought first, we can consider this the first chunk and give it to whoever wants it, but yes, there is more. Last night when I went to intercept Rahal and her wife, Captain Rasahni - I forced an encounter on Evora. Primarily to catch them out of their element. People have a harder time lying when they are not in their home turf or on assignment. They were returning for holiday so I judged chances of deception to be in the acceptably low margins."
Leah could see the minute signals of tension in her friend. "That's why you walked away when we arrived."
"Yeah, my tracker notified me that they would be in the vicinity last night." Arianna replied. "We had nothing to go with. No avenues to pursue. We had to shake a tree and see what fell out. Whilst yes, Rahal could be playing me - her wife certainly didn't and I don't believe, based on what I know of Rahal and her service record, I don't believe that she knew of the double play Taskmaster is doing. She will also be sending us more information via a trusted courier, as I caught them with their proverbial pants down and they had no files on them." Whilst Frost tried to keep her composure, a subconscious thought circled in her mind, "I have to believe I'm not the only one left who hasn't fallen or turned."
That last raised Cal's eyebrow, but neither his voice or his expression revealed any sign of the reason. He paid particular and specific attention to Frost, Akiva and the apparently closely linked Laena as the conversation continued.
"If he's the operational lead, and Rahal is the head of the project, slipping things under the radar is feasible. Distance and time, she wouldn't be in the field with you every time." Leah offered.
Arianna nodded again, forcing a smile on her face. "Okay, first chunk," she said as a thought and throat clearing measure, in an attempt to project a casual aura she didn't feel. "We have Admiral Tau as a clue to follow. Anyone want to take that one on?"
This was it. Her time to shine. If Laena had any chance of proving to Akiva that she was worthy of the trust he put into her by bringing her into the fold, she had to be proactive and not a wallflower letting everyone else do the work. Anxiety tied her stomach into knots but she pushed it aside, clearing her throat. "I would be happy to take that task on," she said, trying hard not to glance at Akiva even though she knew he was probably looking at her with shock and surprise.
"You will?" Akiva asked before he could keep the words from coming out. It wasn't that he didn't have respect for her abilities. The passion and attention to detail she displayed in stellar cartography were among the things that first drew his appreciation beyond superficial appearances--he was attracted to her for those very reasons. But investigating an admiral was not among the things Akiva had ever seen her do, and the situation could not be more dangerous. Even so, she had urged him not to think of her as a delicate flower. Now would be the time to honor that. "Then I'll see your clearance gets raised to include ship logs and route charts from the Dominion War and Reconstruction periods."
These two were more interesting than the others by far in this moment, emotions all over the place, bright colours and dark shadows forming clear imagery in Cal's mind's eye. There was real feeling there, mutually intriguing, but he didn't know them well enough to pontificate on their individual value towards the matter in hand. Akiva was quick to shift from worried to supportive, and Laena's... fear? Apprehension.... was deliciously sharp and honest.
Jaya cleared her throat as an excuse to turn away and indulge an amused grin with Storr. Her appreciation for the fact that interpersonal fumbling between friends, colleagues, and "more" didn't take a break even for intrigue surrounding a dangerous criminal conspiracy was too delicious to suppress completely. Briefly she mused whether this was how motherhood would feel but then quickly turned her thoughts and her face back to the matter at hand.
Arianna leaned forward, observing the interaction. Of all the people she'd expected to volunteer, Laena wasn't one of them. However, upon reflection, she was exactly the person to do it. "That is actually perfect." Frost had to admit. "Of all of us, he'd expect you the least. I'll be your handler - we'll go over a cover story and a plan once we get back to Overwatch."
Frost could hardly believe what had just happened. Things were going to get a hell of a lot more complicated going forward. Their problem, however, was a lot more important than any personal issues. At least in Ari's mind. So, she would take all the punches she was sure would come and roll with them.
Leah kept her peace but watched the interaction with increased interest.
Intriguing in the extreme then, considered Cal as he collated all the information gleaned from words and minds. Who was this Laena anyway, besides the Captain's squeeze? Someone who clearly had earned Frost's trust enough to vouch for her swiftly and without discussion. Curious indeed. He looked to Nandi, quiet at his side, then skimmed his gaze across each person present, to end on the Leah-Teejay combo, the latter fully absorbed in his food and seemingly uninterested in the clandestine scheming, but for the internal activity the scientist couldn't hide from a telepath, emotions bouncing around like fireflies in the darkness.
"Well that's one fortunate turn for sure," Leah said as she had another bite of shakshuka, then looked up again. "You said there was more?"
Arianna nodded, leaning back in her chair, "yeah, I just don't know how it's all connected yet, Rahal couldn't give me details."
"You said there was a project?" Leah nudged verbally.
Arianna took a sip, "yeah. Project Lazarus...whatever that is."
"Project Lazarus! Project Lazarus! Project Lazarus!" Words rung in Leonora's head, memories of an encounter coming back with a vengeance. After all these years...
"Say that again?" Leah said finally, her voice hitching up. She leaned forward, looking over at Arianna.
Arianna leaned forward, staring back at Leah. "Project Lazarus. You know what it is..." It wasn't a question as much as it was a realization.
Leonora nodded, looking over at Teejay for a moment before looking over at the rest, "it was a project run by Doctor Whitaker Hoid of Starfleet Medical. Classified, obviously. The term Lazarus as most of us know, I'm sure is referring to resurrection, or restoration to life from death."
Arianna found herself devoid of breath at that moment as Leah went into detail. It couldn't be. It couldn't! Could it? Could her gut instinct be right?
"Go on..." Ari nudged, hoping her voice didn't give her shock away.
"I was part of Federation Health Organization at the time Hoid approached me, because of my specialization in pathology and virology. He was actively researching how to bring the dead back to life," Leah continued, curious at the sudden blanching of Arianna's complexion. "I said no, because I dealt with the dead, not the restoration of the dead to life."
"Frosty, what do you know?" She couldn't help but silently wonder at her friend's expression.
Eyes darting between Ari and Leah, it was all Jaya could do to hold her tongue. Ari's theory was preposterous on the face of it, but... what if?
"What does a failed Starfleet Medical project have to do with our adversary?" Akiva pressed. Of course it failed. Had it not, then clinical immortality would be as commonplace as tricorders.
Arianna looked over at Akiva, "I don't know. That's what we need to find out. It could be something, it could be nothing. But we can't ignore anything, no matter how unlikely it is." She hated admitting that she didn't know something when it was her job and her at the core of her personality to know things.
Leah nodded, "for all we know Lazarus could be getting reactivated, and maybe that's why he needs the butlers. There are too many variables on the table to just ignore this thread. We need to investigate everything and remove threads as we identify them if they are not connected to our problem."
Frost looked over at Leah, "do you know where Hoit is? If he's even alive? Anyone else who worked on the project?"
Wolf shrugged, "no, I don't know and I know of someone who may have accepted the job. A fellow pathologist in the FHO, Doctor Vince Kanizhay. I haven't spoken to Vince in years though."
Ari nodded, "do you want that thread?"
Leah nodded and took a sip of her drink, "I'll need help but yeah, I can definitely dig into it more."
His voice was low, direct and not so much quiet as reserved. "I'll help," said Teejay, his eyes a little less bright, but his committment obvious as he held Wolf's gaze.
Storr continued to simply listen as he held his bride close. All of these threads went nowhere near his, or Jaya's, past so with no reference, the Afrikaner waited...a moment for clarity or volunteerism may or may not come.
Leah held Teejay's eyes for a moment and squeezed his hand under the table. "Thank you." A soft reply before turning back to the table. There was one more thing to go over.
"What's number three?" Leah said as she went about finishing her plate.
Arianna sighed, "that's the rub. This could be a dud. I have no way of confirming this particular alias."
"Buut?" Leah pressed, determined not to let Arianna get away with whatever she seemed determined not to say.
Frost leaned back in her chair, "there is another possible alias. Omri Shaw. If we can confirm this one, we have a high probability that Taskmaster's name is Omri."
Wolf pondered for a bit. There was something about that name. Something that was escaping her.
"Do we have a visual of any kind?" She decided to ask.
Arianna shook her head, "nothing that I've been able to find that I don't think would be tagged with a trigger alarm."
She then set about describing Taskmaster in as many words as she could, though she knew a description could only go so far. They needed an image, rather than words.
"Does this Taskmaster make personal calls or does he hide behind his network of... whatever you call them... informants?" Jaya asked. "Is he likely to pay any of us a visit face to face?"
Arianna's face grew serious looked over at everyone, before settling her eyes at Jaya. "Me? At some point for sure. He sent me here as punishment for assisting you on Deep Space Nine and he will want reports, which I obviously adjust to hide what we are doing. Whether those will be in writing or in person remains to be seen. The leash around my neck only has so much give." She finished her drink. "As for the rest of you? The longer we can keep up the charade, the higher the chance of that not happening. But it's not impossible. If he starts suspecting us...then anything is possible. Whether he will come personally or send someone else...hard to tell. Depends on the severity of your...infraction. He is extremely good at making people disappear and he is ruthless."
Silent in the background of all the to and fro, Cal was weaving a mental tapestry. His eyes closed, unnecessary in this vision, he watched colors, shapes, and sound play out within the confines of Frost's mind. Permission was a complicated simplicity that he currently ignored, allowing her thoughts and imagery to flow into his mind's eye. Impatience. Frustration. Concern. Anger. All served up with lashings of guilt. Guilt? He recognised it well enough, even if he didn't understand its presence at first. Ah... yeah, okay. Now it made more sense. Shame. And her open conversation with Wolf answered some of his side questions even as he singled Frost out from the other noise, the other minds in the room. Then, unexpected, into this soupy mix of feelings, a face began to form. A male face.
"Go on, Cal," whispered Jaya. She did not possess the raw telepathic ability that he did, but she was as experienced in her Deltan empathy as any in her species. The psionic maelstrom forming around Cal's mind would have been hard to miss even while unconscious. "The Universe brought you here. Do what you were made for." Latent within her words was the subtext that the onslaught of death and killing were not the gifts he brought to the whole, but connection. Whatever it was that Ari needed to convey could be done so through Cal's unifying force of will. It may have seemed odd or uncomfortable to others, but for Jaya and her emotionally and physically communal upbringing among Deltans, it felt only natural.
In Teejay's head the landscape was far more simple. Bringing the dead back to life just repeated unkindly. Over and over.
Arianna looked over at Cal as Jaya spoke to him. "Go on with what?" He was a telepath, quite a powerful one too. Could he help them see? Without conscious prodding, her mind conjured up as clear of an image of Taskmaster as she could.
It took him a moment to multi-task the input of visual information from Frost and verbal from Jaya, but the Deltan's voice was familiar and welcome enough for Cal to allow her words to wash over his brain and be processed without difficulty or complaint despite his deeper focus on another mind. He opened his eyes and regarded the pregnant woman, gifted her a small flash of a grin and then blinked back into internal reverie. It wasn't that he needed to close his eyes in order to completely focus, the Lethean gift was forceful enough to work either way, but Cal had swiftly learned that a blankly staring gaze unnerved others and he wished to - not fit in as a primary focus - but to compliment the skills of this wider team while becoming a useful part of it.
Swiftly from that point, the face Frost had conjured now instantly dropped into every mind present, quietly and effectively, as if each individual present was simply recalling an image they had decided to recall from their own memory.
Jaya gasped at the unexpected clarity of image, but she did not block it. There were enough faces embedded into her subconscious id that tried to haunt her dreams. What was one more? Moreover, she could not ignore the theory that Ari had already shared with her. Perhaps this was the Omri which Akiva had discussed with her at length in their past sessions.
For Akiva's part, he let out a sigh and let the image form. It looked familiar in a manner of sorts, but there were tons of faces he had encountered throughout his life and career. If this was someone he had met before, it was in passing back when Akiva had the luxury of ignoring people as an Operations officer before his transfer into Command.
And it was then that Nandi let out a terse scream. "Sorry..." she mumbled through grit teeth and burning cheeks. "I thought he was someone I saw on my senior cadet cruise, but I was mistaken."
Leah, however, remained frozen in place as the image permeated her mind. For the second time today, she felt like she'd been gut punched. "You have got to be kidding!" She said in a strained tone.
Arianna wondered at the tone. "Leah?"
Leah's eyes were open, however, wide. "I've seen this guy before. When you said Omri Shaw," she said, looking over at Teejay, then over at Ari. "It sounded vaguely familiar. But now that I have a face...it's definitely him. It's Shaw."
Well, that was rude, was Teejay's initial reaction to the pictoral mental override. He shot a dark glare at the main suspect - Jarsdel - and held it while the others reacted, but now, as Leah spoke, all the science-guy's attention focused on her. She'd seen him before. Heard his name. Put the two together. Knew him somehow. Well, that was disconcerting. Teejay's gaze remained on Wolf, emotions roaming freely across his face as he considered the potential depths of this reveal.
What, was everyone hallucinating together?
Arianna wasn't sure how many more blows she could take. He did do it. Part of her was relieved and part of her was disturbed at the invasion. The rational mind argued that they had no other way at present of seeing what their foe looked like. The wounded, often tied down emotional part of her felt shaken at the mental invasion. The rational mind argued again that he was merely trying to help. The desperate part of her mind latched onto that and refused to let the other parts voice their opinion.
Instead she took a deep breath, steeled her spine, put her big girl pants back on and turned to business. "Now you all know what he looks like. I need to add that anything else you guys may have seen and felt...is classified and I apologize if you've caught anything else that may have disturbed you." She took a deep breath, "at least now we have a visual and a highly likely name. Omri...something to go on, something to track. I'll keep going with that thread as I have a few CI's whom he doesn't know about who could possibly dig further for me. "
As Arianna said it she dared not look at Akiva or Jaya or Storr. She didn't trust herself with the storm that bucked within her right now than she had trust issues with others.
Akiva didn't move or speak, but his face began to tremble. There were feelings and then there were feelings. What right did this monster have to carry his dead brother's name? As far as coincidences went, it was a cruel one. At least now he had a face. "You know..." he muttered at length. "I feel as though I've seen him before. There was..." He shook his head and chuckled wryly at himself. "You know, it's probably nothing. Just wishing for a connection where there is none."
"You've seen him before, haven't you?" Teejay asked outright, deep brown eyes staring into her blue as he took a physical 'step' back from her, involuntarily putting a little distance between them even as they sat there. "Where do you know him from? What do you know about him?" There was a personal edge of concern wrapped around all three questions, worry for the depth of potential involvement as well as connection, and that concern was coloured brightly with barely held back fear. If Leah knew this guy, if she - like Frost - was connected directly to these people who wanted to bring the dead back to life... who had created some travesty of life after death in his brother.... what unpleasant levels of hell were they linked to?
Leah placed a hand on Teejay's and clasped it, a subconscious move of reassurance. "He was part of an Security Council Operation I was part of at the time," she said, returning her focus on Teejay. "An IA investigation into leaking information from the Orion Section. He was part of the team, like me. I hadn't met him before that - in any case, he came into the investigation in mid 2384, but was quickly and suddenly pulled out and we never heard from him again."
"When was this?" Arianna asked, looking at the tense interaction.
"He disappeared early '85." Leah said, not looking over at Ari.
A sigh from Frost, "right when Castermer began. We were all suddenly pulled from our assignments."
"Great..." murmured Teejay, his attention focused on Wolf for now, but his awareness pulling in the mood of the room easily enough. His physical attention stayed with Leah, but his gaze strayed towards the other quiet person with anxious vibes in the room - Nandi. While everyone else seemed to be on point, focused and rational, the two of them felt slightly askew from the mainstream conversation, caught up in their own worlds. Or maybe he was projecting unfairly onto the only other quiet person.
Meanwhile Cal was caught in the complicated maelstrom of everyone's reactions, his mind wide open now, soaking in the detail that leaked as freely into the communal space as their facial expressions and physical reactions to this new information. Teejay was aglow with pained emotions, Frost was all shades of aural purple and orange, caught up in her past as well as her present and oversharing on multiple mental levels from the telepath's perspective. She was hurt, irritated and locking down some even as he read those deeper thoughts, clinging to that forbidden fruit with a keen interest now that no one had ordered him otherwise. This might be his one chance to read things she either knew and hadn't shared, or barely knew she was feeling herself. They needed to talk, he decided, and he might explain his reasons for this violation. But for now, he read Frost like a book, 'looking' away only as Akiva broadcast on many complex levels. There was a connection there too? Cal backed off, and pinged Jaya's mind. Need to talk Then, out loud, he added.
"Perhaps digging deeper would help?" Cal asked the room. "I can do that, but I'd need consent."
Akiva gave a shrug. "Maybe later? Let's finish up here first."
Frost had to agree. "We can pick up digging further later. I, for one, need sleep because I have been up over twenty four hours and I think everyone else needs a bit of time to process. Is there anything else we need to discuss before we disperse?
Cal leant back in his chair and raised both his palms in casual surrender. "Later it is then," he agreed without complaint. "If that's all, then we can maybe head out, enjoy the day some," he suggested, reaching out to hold Nandi's hand and link his fingers around hers. He hadn't stretched himself to exhaustion, and he didn't plan to, his mind not nudging the ensign's own, but letting her make up her own mind.
Jumping up from the cozy nook she had burrowed into Storr's side, Jaya rushed for the food. "In that case, let's eat! I'm starving."
Storr's laughter boomed like a welcome thundercloud on the horizon of a hot, dry summer day. Always leave it to his pregnant, voracious wife to help break the tension and give him an escape vector from the uncomfortable and heavy conversation that he had no desire to be a part of.
"I'll man the kitchen and keep the Deltan away from sharp objects until I can serve something up." His smile was infectious and as he started grabbing ingredients for curry vetkoek, his stomach growled as well. Sympathetic starvation, he was sure...
Peeking out the window, Nandi let out an alert. "I see people out and about in the central area. Anybody not bunking here probably should get scarce out the back way."
Following Nandi to the window, Cal reconnected their hand-hold and scooched a little closer to her. "C'mon, let's head out first, Nandi. It's clear." He confirmed, sensing no immediate danger and more than able to obfuscate others' minds a little if such was needed to protect them.
Arianna stood up, picking up her plate. "Alright everyone, scrambler going off in three, two, one..." The high pitched sound re-emerged again for a moment before disappearing. "Thanks everyone for a lovely breakfast, I've got to go re-charge my batteries, that Risan gave his money's worth for sure." She chuckled imagining a horrified reaction or two. "I'll see you lot later!" With that said, the space-aussie sauntered over back to her room.
Leonora watched after her friend for a moment before re-focusing on the others. She had things to do this morning before she could devour Teejay further. She'd talk to Ari later. Right now though...
"I'll go check on Reggie, Captain, get a sit rep and I'll let you know how he is." She said to Akiva before returning her attention to Teejay. "Do you want to come with or do you want some time and I'll find you later?" She asked in a softer tone.
Teejay ignored all the mixed vibes from the room for a second and considered the narrow options in his immediate future. Frost still gave him chills, but Leah was talking and her question pulled him from those specifically jangled thoughts of unwanted interaction. "I'll come with," he confirmed, decisively and then stood to follow Leah, quiet and introspective as he jinked his pathway a little away from Arianna on the way out.
Leah grabbed his hand unashamedly as they walked out, her mind though traversing to Reggie, and recalling the events of the previous day when she'd gone to see the man in question as per captain ben-Avram's request.
As simple as that, as quickly as it had begun, the impromptu meeting was over and everyone discreetly melted away as if they had never been. For Akiva, there was no small conflict over what had been discussed. When he looked at Laena, it only added fuel to the fire. She was supposed to investigate an admiral? This entire situation was getting out of control, which only compounded the interpersonal struggles they were feeling. "I suppose I'd better get dressed for the day."
"What about breakfast?" Laena asked. He had, in fact, originally cooked it for her.
"You eat," Akiva said. "I don't have much of an appetite."
Jaya and Laena exchanged baffled glances. For Laena, it was a matter of worrying about where she stood with the man. For Jaya, it was concern over an already complex and dangerous situation becoming even more complicated.
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