You said WHAT?

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OOC: Thanks, Andy. :) Nika seriously needed this laugh. Takes place not too long after liftoff with the cargo back to Whitehall.



The bridge. Her haven. Arden insisted that she required the bandages over her eyes for more time, so even though Nika sits in the pilot's seat monitoring the sensors there is gauze wrapped around her head blindfold-style. It is a constant reminder to her of the fact that the eyes she now wears are not hers. The hop to Whitehall wasn't nearly long enough to let her stew in her own worries for too long. And Joshua's companionship, silent as it was, gave no real room for strong emotions. She was holding very carefully to her reactions, cautiously optimistic about the chances of seeing again and carefully keeping the more terrifying and personal aspects and thoughts locked away.

The silence was peaceful. For the first time since their escape from Potemkin, Nika was finding the kind of ease in Joshua's presence that she had come to expect. No pressure, no unspoken hurts. Just... the two of them. Sitting in the quiet of the bridge. Home.

---

When Joshua looked at the results of the events on Athens logically, they clearly indicated success. Nika had come back, surgery complete, hopefully with her eyes working. They had gotten Rina back from the bounty hunters, with no bloodshed or violence involved. Heck, they had even managed to get a paying cargo on the way out.

So why did he feel like he had done so poorly?

He sat in the quiet of the bridge and thought about it for a little while. If it wasn't the result, then it had to have been the execution. Then suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, it struck him and the disbelief in his voice was evident as Joshua blurted his conclusion out into the surrounding silence.

"I told them to use their best judgment!"

---

The sound of his voice startled her slightly and Nika jumped just a bit. "Who?" she asked him in surprise. It really was entirely apropos of nothing that she had been thinking about.

---

"Sorry," he apologized as he lowered his voice again. "Kiera and Arden while you were surgery. There was some chance we were going to need to know where Hannibal was afterwards in order to get Rina back. And I sent the two of them to look for clues or a trail from where his ship was about to take off."

He sighed. "I guess I should just be thankful that it didn't go any worse."

---

"Erm....." Nika was ... speechless. "Okay," she said slowly. "So.... you sent.... Kiera. And Arden." She paused at that. "To... " She's getting a mental image here that is ... She cleared her throat, looking back toward the front of the bridge. Were there words? The blonde wasn't entirely sure. And her response shocks her. As she opened her mouth to //try// to respond, what erupted was a fit of the giggles. Nika brought her hand up to her mouth to try to stifle it, but the giggling just kept getting worse.

---

"Go ahead, let it go, Captain," Joshua said with another sigh. He deserved that, to be sure. While waiting for Nika to get it out of her system, he repeated his safety net in his head over and over.

Just remember, everyone came out alive with no gunfights.

Everyone came out alive.

Alive.

---

It's perhaps the first time she's truly //laughed// since waking up in a room full of toxic waste. Weeks. Literally //months// ago now. Nika's giggles leave her breathless, and she retorted on another giggle. "Their best judgement?" Another snort of laughter accompanied it. "//Those// two? Who don't have a blessed iota of common sense between 'em?" She slumped sideways, propping her head on her hand. "Oh.... oh my." Clearly the amusement factor is quite high. "Joshua.... you never cease to amaze me, darlin'."

---

Joshua shook his head in half amusement, unable to keep a bit of a smile off his face. "I'm glad I can be of some use at something."

He gave some thought to defending Kiera's common sense, then decided better of it. Instead, he just sat back in his chair and watched his captain laugh herself silly. At least the "Being a Captain" lesson on this one was pretty straightforward.

---

Nika reached out and patted his arm awkwardly. It wasn't the same distance as it used to be in the old ship so she almost missed, but ultimately she squeezed his forearm gently. Mirth lightened the entirety of her face beneath the blindfold of gauze. "I needed that. Thanks, Joshua." She smiled at him and then patted his arm before releasing it to slump back in her seat. "You did good. Real good."

---

That provoked his own set of chuckles, although not anywhere near as long or as intense as Nika's reaction. He smiled and replied, "I was going to ask whether you meant at amusing you or playing captain, but I think I'll just let it go and just say thank you for either."

Saying thank you reminded him of the thank you they had given the Athens browncoats for their help. That, in turn, reminded him ofthe other piece of information that the Captain of the vessel should have that Nika didn't know. "To blatantly change the subject, I don't think I ever told you that this ship is famous."

---

That brought her up short, and Nika immediately went wary. "Famous how?" she asked. Because she wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing.

Famous in some circles might assuredly mean a target in others.

---

"This was the Exeter, well known for running the blockade for the Independents during the war. I gathered it was portrayed on a lot of independent propoganda for recruiting and such." He looked over to her for her reaction. "Do you recognize the name?"

---

There was a long silence. Blockade runners from all over would recognize that name. "She.... she was taken at Serenity," Nika replied quietly.

There was a bit of concern to her voice as she said it. "How the gorram hell did Potemkin get his hands on the Exeter?" she demanded. And then to be clear that it was not a rhetorical query, she said more quietly, "We need to follow a paper trail on this. If she belongs to someone in particular, keepin' her could be a huge problem."

---

"I have more, Nika." He didn't have any physical notes - he didn't need them. His memory served him better and wasn't reliant of having material possesions, which seemed to be hard to hold on to. "After the War, there's a gap in the records. About 5 years worth of gap. I think it was owned by Jing Jing Bei, a private security firm that worked mostly on pro-Independence worlds after the war."

He pictured his Cortex research in his head. "After that, as the ION, it ran cargo from Georgia to Blue Sun. Always power turbines or fertilizer. And they always flew passengers from Georgia to Blue Sun, but never any back." And he remembered the unusual thing about those passenger lists. "It was the same 20 names showing up all the time."

---

Nika listens carefully. A five-year gap back when the war first ended wasn't really that big a deal. But when he brought up the name Ion, the blonde shoved upright a little. Thinking through what she remembers hearing over the grapevine through the years, she slowly drags out of her memory, "The Ion was pretty low-key. Rumor had it she was a ferry, though. And as I recall, the guy who ran her was a bit of a bleeding heart. Best guess would be he ran short of money because he was taking too many free fares and couldn't keep her flying. If you can track him down and verify that he sold the ship to Potemkin, that would go a ways toward easing my mind on us keepin' her, truth be told. Like with the Gift, I dont' want to be takin' a ship that rightfully belongs to someone else, but if he sold her to pay his debts, that isn't our problem. His name was Emerson or... something like that, as best I can remember."

---

"There were sales records. We own the ship as much as anyone can own one." Joshua looked around the bridge. "A ship with a dogooder history falling into the hands of a bunch of dogooders. How appropriate, no?"

---

Leaning back in her chair, Nika smiles a bit. "Well.... if we're gonna run about flyin' a do-gooder ship, I guess we better live up to that legacy right smartly, don'tcha agree?" she asks. And she falls silent for a long moment. Out of nowhere, she snickers. "Still wanna be the captain of this intrepid band of rabid cats?"

---

"Not while you want to be," Joshua said with a smile. Then he grew a little serious. "I'm not really ready to be a captain anyway. Maybe someday." It was clear he could do it, if the situation arose. But could do it and do it well did not necessarily equal one another.

---

As she sat there, Nika paid attention to his tone. For the first time since they got on board to leave Boros, she didn't feel that they were.... strained. Reaching out briefly to squeeze his arm, she turned her bandaged eyes back to the viewport in front of them. "Not sure anyone's ever really ready," she admits softly. "I sure wasn't. And then one day I kinda realized.... whether I was ready or not, it was time. Doesn't mean it's easy to grow up, though." She rests both her hands on her belly as she slouches in the seat. Idly, she murmurs, "And it gorram sure ain't a piece of cake dealin' with //our// group of rabid cats, that's for certain." She grins.

---

"I can't say I'm a whole lot better at times," Joshua admitted. "I'm going to apologize now in advance for the trouble I'm sure I will cause you in the future."

---

Nika laughs! "And I am?" she asks in amusement. "Just as much as you may rely on me to keep you people in check, I rely on you to keep me in check," she admits to him candidly. "After all.... look at what happened at the resort!" Blind women running for a shuttle anyone??

---

Joshua chuckled at the thought and nodded in Nika's direction. "Yeah, we pull in all directions in this group." To put it mildly.

"Thanks, Nika, for understanding." He had not been himself with her...with anyone, really. Nika didn't hold it against him, though, and that was always worth a thanks.

---

Leaning her head back against the chair's headrest, Nika has a smile playing about her lips. "Anytime," she murmurs sincerely.


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