Chocolate and Confrontation
[With thanks to Terri and Jay for RPing this conversation with me--Maer]
Wednesday, 07 Sep 2518
Kuiper II Class, Summer's Gift
En Route to Blue Sun System
22:30hrs, ship's time
Christian settled at the table, a mug of hot chocolate in hand. Two more sat on the table, ready for the pilot and engineer. “Last of my chocolate,” he said.
Nika glanced up at the steward and offered a small smile. “Thank you…It’s nice of you to share it.” She wrapped her hands around the mug in front of her. “When my sister pulls out the chocolate, it’s time for deep talks. You of the same bent?”
Rina wrapped her fingers around the mug and sipped, saying nothing.
Christian smiled, vaguely, glancing down into his mug. He took a sip and closed his eyes, letting the taste of the chocolate warm his tongue. “I think…” he said, after a long moment. “You need to decide if this ship is part of a rebellion against the government, or if it is a cargo ship owned by four people.”
“I take it you’ve got an issue with where we’re going, and why?” Rina said as she drew her knees up and hunched over her cup.
Nika sat quiet a moment and looked at him. “I think that decision is one that has to be made by all of us, when Arden’s feeling better. For myself? I was intending to run the more lucrative cargoes without getting involved in their games,” she allowed. “But given this particular situation and the crap that comes now that we’ve drawn their attention? It’s a good time to talk it over.”
Christian shook his head. “I don’t know if I have an issue with where we’re going. I don’t know why we’re going there.” He leaned back in his chair, mug cradled in both hands. “Nika, you made a decision to take us to a very, very dangerous place, by yourself. That bothers me.”
With a nod to him, Nika replies easily, “I made the choice for several reasons that I didn’t feel I had time to articulate, Christian. 1) The guy we just picked up? He needs a safe haven, and Harbinger’s as safe as it gets for him. Shyla will get him where he needs to go. 2) Though I didn’t mention it you guys, I contacted Brian twice before we ever landed to see if he could meet us there, hoping we’d have some backup when we went in. Though you think the timing convenient, doubting the Harbinger’s crew is just never going to happen for me. You guys want out, that’s fine. You can let me off at the edge of the system, and I’ll make my way where I gotta go."
“Wait a minute.” At the mention of Mike leaving, Rina put her boots on the deck. “You didn’t say a damn word about putting him off on Harbinger.”
Christian glanced up at Rina. He frowned, then looked back to Nika. “You just articulated your reasons in less than a minute. How did you not have time to say them then? Does this ship have medical facilities? Chemistry and medical experts? For that matter, are you sure the message came from there?” He paused, then said, “We need to be cautious, here.”
“Guess it depends on whether he wants to go, whether he’s capable of making the choice.” Nika glanced at Rina. “But we definitely don’t have the facilities to care for him, and when he wakes… chances are damn good he’s not going to stay on a cargo vessel anyway.” Certain Rina understood, Nika left that topic and said to Christian, “I told you I’d contacted them, I also told you before that I trusted them. You wanted to debate about it right then, and frankly, I didn’t feel that we had the time at that moment while we were still getting off the planet. There’s a time and a place for committee decisions, Christian. Whether to respond to Harbinger or not while we were still in atmo wasn’t it. Now that we’re in the Black, I’m happy to sit and talk about whether we stay on this course or not.”
“You said before you’d trust Harbinger’s crew with your life,” Rina said, her voice low. “Fine. That’s your life and it’s your choice. I’m not disputing that. What I am disputing is Mike trusting them. He doesn’t know them, does he? And aside from my stupidity earlier today, I know Mike. I know things about him no one else knows, things that might trigger his recovery. Can you say the same for Harbinger’s crew?” Rina put her cup on the table. “If you can’t, I want to keep him here. Where I can keep an eye on him.”
Christian rose and took his cup to the sink. He washed and dried it, put it back in the cupboard. “We have a fuel stop ahead, before we get to Blue Sun, right? I think we all need to do some serious thinking about where we want to be and who we want to be with.” He turned around, looking from one face to the other. “I don’t think this is working out.”
Sipping her chocolate, Nika said quietly, “Carter will trust them, Rina. Assuming he’s able to trust anyone. I know we can’t help him in any way except with time. I don’t know if Harbinger can help him, but they’ll be able to get him to people who can. Which I think is a plus.” She looked at Christian, and set her cup aside. “That’s fine, Christian. When we make refuel, I’ll find someone to draw up the legal paperwork to get my name off the ship. You can hire on a pilot at the refuel stop; we’ll just make a point to stop somewhere that has a port instead of a station.”
“Dammit, you two!” Rina shot to her feet, furious. “Is that your answer to everything? Run away? Be a coward? Quit? So, we’ve got a dilemma here. Fine. We’ll fix it. Breaking up the crew isn’t going to mend anything. We have a good gig here, no matter how it looks, and I can’t believe the two of you are ditching it.”
“How many innocent people died in that warehouse, Rina?” Christian’s eyes flashed, showing actual anger for the first time. “These people led us straight into murdering them and now we’re going to them for help. How do we know this poor man will even survive? Anyone fanatical enough to commit an act of terrorism is fanatical enough to kill a potential security risk.” He turned his gaze on Nika. “You trust them with your life. Wonderful. But you’re trusting them with our lives and with his.” He paused, drawing a deep breath. “You stay. I’ll go. You’ll need this ship in your crusade more than I will.” He walked away, heading for the back of the ship.
Nika remained sitting in her seat and slanted Rina a look. One of those ‘get over it’ looks. “It’s not quitting when you choose to let the most people who have a vested interest keep the ship. I can make a living anywhere.” She shook her head and called to Christian, “I’m not on a crusade, you know. I just wanna fly cargo and make the most money we can. To survive. For what it’s worth to you, yes, I’ll trust them with your lives, too. If you stick with the ship long enough to get there, you can decide for yourself then. I can offload on the Harbinger, if you decide you don’t like where we go from there."
Christian said nothing in reply, but opened and shut his door with a loud clack.
“You’ll strand us in the Black if you leave on Harbinger,” Rina said, hard on the echo from Christian’s door. “How do you propose we get another pilot?”
Nika sighed and pushed away from the table. “Let’s just drop it for now, Rina. Christian’s decided that Nguyen and the rest are just terrorist-wannabes. Not sure I think he’s far wrong. But I’ll get you folks where you need to be.” She looked at the engineer. “And make no mistake that I’ll also get Carter where he needs to be before I walk. If Christian can’t take the chance on us, that’s his right.”
“And if Mike recovers enough before we get there? What then?”
“Then I guess he makes his own gorram decisions.” Nika scowled. “Think I’m gonna stand in his way? Forget it, I know better.”
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