Editing A Sea Change

<span style="color:#800000"> ''Terri and I realized we had to talk.  This was the result.  Thanks, Terri!''</span>




'''Sunday, 25 May 2521'''<br>
'''Peña Spaceport, Kerry'''<br>
'''Georgia (Huang Long) system'''<br>
'''0540hrs, local time'''<br><br>

Joshua had prepped the brewer to start the first pot of the day automatically and upon exiting my quarters after waking, I followed the aroma to the galley.  I gauged the liquid in the carafe and judged mine would be the first cup poured.  I grabbed two mugs and filled them both and took them to the bridge.  This time of day, Nika tended to grab a few moments of peace and quiet before starting her day and if I had to piss off, the least I could do was caffeinate her first.  I got myself over there and stuck my head in.

“Got a minute?  I brought coffee.”

'''***'''

Nika was not entirely awake yet. She'd gone to bed too late to be happy to be up this early. But she'd been waiting for this approach since they had their little bombshell. "Sure," she grunted to Rina, making an attempt not to growl. She took the coffee gratefully and remained sitting in the pilot's chair, waiting for Rina to bring up her thoughts.

'''***'''

I took the copilot's chair and propped my feet up, sipped my coffee as I watched the day brighten outside.  I knew what I wanted to ask would be a sore point.  I didn't have much hope of getting the answer I wanted.  I let the caffeine do its job and after a few minutes I said to the general air, "Any word back from Boros?"

'''***'''

"No, nothing," Nika replied quietly. The coffee was at least making her feel a little more human. And it wasn't like Rina to beat around the bush unless she was trying to avoid a fight. The woman generally had all the subtlety of a tank. Nika sipped from the coffee, trying to figure out how to say what needed saying.

"You know we don't have anywhere near enough intel on the situation to even try to make sense of it, right?" she finally asks the engineer. Her tone is gentle, but there's an edge to it that perhaps gives away she's expecting an argument.

'''***'''


"I know. Figured that.  And that report is over two months old."  I closed my eyes and said what I'd refused to acknowledge the second I’d read the date.  "For all I know, Mike's already been executed." 
 
And there it was.  With the Cortex down and news travelling only at the speed of any ship able to carry it, there was no verifying his continued existence, not without going to Blue Sun itself.  I knew the answer to that before I stepped foot on the bridge.  Even so, I had to ask.
 
"Is there any way we can check it out?"

'''***'''

Nika pursed her lips. She'd been kicking around the idea herself.  "I don't know," she finally replied. "We'd have to go in person to find out what's going on." She looked at her friend and said quietly, "It means finding a cargo up to Blue Sun and hoping that we can get a message through to Shyla or Harry that we're inbound and want to catch lunch, and hoping that they're somewhere that's even doable. Nothing we'd get over comms is going to be of any use at all." There was another pause. "I would //like// to think that if he were really in deep shit, they'd find a way to get word to us."

And therein lay the crux of the matter. They had no word. Whether it was because Carter didn't actually need their help or there was a plan in motion or he was already dead.... there were no messages.

'''***'''

“I know,” I sighed.  Three years ago, the situation had been different.  Back then, we’d been on the ground with Mike when he'd been captured, we’d been between cargoes, and the Cortex was still operational.  Everything then was immediate. That gave us options we didn’t now have and it had the effect of tempering my response.  As much as I wanted to take off to Blue Sun to save him, the reality of the situation held me back.  Three years ago, I’d been completely prepared to cut and run had I not been able to talk the crew into it, desperate to save him but convinced it was possible.  Now I felt only a smothering dread.  Despair waited at the edges of it, looking to swallow me whole.  One thing kept me from letting it take me and I spoke it aloud.

“The comm delay works both ways. He escaped custody after the Highgate job by faking his death.  For all we know, he’s done it again.  And the Feds’re in the same boat as we are in terms of getting the word out if he did.  There’s room for Mike to maneuver in that.” Slim hope, but even slim was better than none.  Dread and despair stirred and I shoved them back.  I stared unseeing out the windows and continued.  “I’ll believe he’s dead when they show me his body.  And even then, I’d keep an eye on his corpse. With Mike, it’s the only way to be sure.”

'''***'''

"There is that too," Nika agreed quietly. She rested her head back against the headrest. "The best I can offer you is the attempt to go to Blue Sun. I will not, under any circumstances, take action that will force us into conflict with Kramer and her people." They will be her family. Always. Her tone was very soft and very firm, but she turned her head to look at Rina. "That's not to say I won't help you, Rina. But I think we need a lot more information before we make that choice this time. Going in blind based on our own ... whatever you want to call it, gut, intuition, hope?.... I won't burn my bridges with the rest of my family over this."

'''***'''

"If you recall, we didn't exactly go in blind the last time, either.  But I agree.  We need more data.  If only to claim his body and take him home to his family." I slid a look across the aisle at her.  "I'm hoping it won't come to that.  But after two months in custody?  For a high-profile crime?  I'm... not holding out that much hope of getting him back alive.  Not from the authorities, anyway."
 
I wondered how I was able to say it without breaking down.  As I'd come to realize last night on the hull, I wasn't the same woman as I'd been on Beaumonde.  Neither was Mike the same man. To my shame, I couldn't anticipate what would happen between us when we met again.  I only knew it would be different. 
 
"On the other hand, if he's somehow at large, I wouldn't mind some sort of sign that he's still alive."

'''***'''

Nika took a deep breath and nodded slightly. "Yeah... just knowing one way or the other whether he's still in custody or not would be good," she replied softly. And then she moved to set her coffee cup down on the console. Her blue eyes held sympathy as she faced Rina fully. "No matter what the outcome... I'm sorry, Rina." She knew the agony that her friend was feeling, and there was literally nothing she could do to alleviate it. Except reach out and hug her tightly, which is what Nika did. Silently, because there were no words for the hurt. Nika's own heart ached for Mike Carter -- the man had given her hope at a moment in time when she needed it most, and though she didn't understand what was going on, a part of her was hoping that she wouldn't be pushed into a corner and forced to refuse to help him. The rest of her was simply hoping he wasn't beyond help.

'''***'''


Three years ago Nika had offered me comfort when Mike had been taken. I’d refused it.  I did not make the same mistake again.  Unlike with Joshua, who must have had conflicting feelings with regard to Mike, Nika and I had no such problem and as wrapped up as I was in my misery, I wasn’t blind to hers.  So she held me and I held her, and if our faces came away a little damp afterward, I made no mention of it.

'''***'''


'''Go back to: ''[[Mutineers Timeline Season Four | Timeline Season Four, April 2521 to Dec 2521]]'''''<br>

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