Futuristic Transsolar

[Anaxial]

Cautiously, Marshall's eyes drifted between Adira and Woods. He clearly could sense they weren't buying it but he wasn't sure how hard pressed they'd be to milk information from him. After a moment of silence, the Mercenary made a decision: he sat up straight, placed his hands on his lap and stared down Woods for a brief second.


"I uhh... It's embarrassing but..." He paused, nervously scratching the back of his neck he looked over at Adira and shook his head. "Can I talk to Commander Woods... alone? Privately... Without uhh... without the Captain here?" He looked back at Woods and curiously raised an eyebrow as if trying to communicate something through body language, whatever it was however it was indiscernible.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince shook his head. "Negative. If you can say it in front of me you can say it in front of the Captain." Vince wondered what he was trying to hide. He didn't like the fact that Marshall was trying to wiggle his way into a vantage point. Vince wasn't going to let it slide. "Not to mention, we are recording this interview." Vince shrugged. "It is required. So in honest truth she would see it in review to begin with. Not to mention I won't have you slandering the Captain without her being able to defend herself, if need be."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira chuckled, both at the request and Vince's response. "Honestly, whatever you have to say, I've dealt with worse." Whether it was slander against herself, something against another crewman, anything really, she had more than likely dealt with worse. She didn't want to lose the chance that he would be willing to talk, but she'd much rather be there. She knew Woods was bluffing though: this wasn't recorded. Not that Marshall would know that in any way.

 

[Anaxial]

The sharp rebuttal seemed to resonate with Marshall as he almost seemed a bit worried... Almost. He chuckled away the worried look and leaned forward on the table a bit, crossing his arms across the surface of the table and resting his chin on top of the former. He smiled a bit and shrugged, following it up with a slight nod.


"Fine. Be that way. But if you want anything from me, then I want you to stop recording me. And I want to speak to Commander Woods privately." His voice reaffirmed himself away from the embarrassed charade he was trying to press onto Adira and Vince. "You have my word- for what that's worth that I will not uhh.. Slander the Captain and besides... does it really matter? I know that ultimately you're going to discuss whatever I tell you, worst comes to worst, the Commander repeats what I've said to him the moment you come back into the room." His gaze shifted to Adira as if to usher her out, but he continued talking anyways. "So, I speak to Commander Woods alone, or perhaps I feel a bit pressured and find myself being intimidating into confessing to a few things. Illegally obtaining a confession for evidence is a hefty one isn't it?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince looked over at the security officer and nodded, sending the man out of the room. The sound of the security officer locking the door echoed through the small room for a few seconds before Vince turned to look back at Marshall, his own smile spread across his face. "I think it is interesting that you still believe you are in a position to negotiate. As the Captain has already stated, your offenses hold the death penalty, so technically your rights have been launched out of the air lock. If we wanted to strap you to a table and pull every trick in the book for extracting information on you we could." Vince leaned forward and braced his arms on the table. "Need I remind you, though, that the Captain and I are actually here to help you. We came to offer a second chance on our good graces. If you want to push the envelope further and become a pain, well, we can simply deal out the appropriate judgement that the Space Division has given us the right to." Vince leaned back up and flipped the retention off on his sidearm holster. "I'm not here to become your enemy, but if you want to be an ass I have no problem following orders."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira chuckled. How cute; Marshall thought that illegally obtaining a confession was something she hadn't done innumerable times before. She had a roguish smile on her face as Vince spoke. She looked to Marshall and said, "We don't want to hurt you. We just want to know what happened. You're not hurting anyone but yourself."

 

[Anaxial]

A cold scowl was all that met Woods, Marshall leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest. The light tapping of his foot could be heard before suddenly Marshall sprung up to his feet, slamming his hands on the table. His chair clattered behind him as Marshall began drumming his fingers against the table.


"You're not the first people to put me in this situation." He stated bluntly. "I'm not afraid of you, of her, or whatever punishment you have planned for me." He pointed a stern finger at Woods and Adira Respectively. "I fucking LIVE for shit like this, you want me to be real with you? Well don't bother standing up, because I'm going to be real with you." Marshall pushed himself off the table and stood tall in the room, he glared at Adira now, a piercing gaze that accused her silently. "I don't think the Captain here has been entirely honest with us. Yourself included." He gestured to Woods. "With Saami, it's different. It's not a normal INANES, I had my suspicions back in Arid Harbor when the damn thing looked at me." His gaze shifted a bit, as if he was watching for something to interrupt him. "I've done business in the Slave trade, if there was anything I picked up: it was to tell when someone was faking emotion, or lack thereof. Saami... Looked at me, looked at Rae, looked at all you with... With curiosity. I thought I was being paranoid, I thought I was just seeing shit. But what happened, I could see it again. He was angry, the girl uhh.. Estro-mouse or whatever her name was; she sorta appeared but Saami... I'd dare to say Saami is capable of Emotion." Marshall scratched his head as he searched his mind for further thoughts. He kept his eyes on the two however and gauged their reactions. He had a small glimmer of hope that perhaps Woods wasn't in on this conspiracy he'd formulated in his head. At the same time, he was ready for them to make their move.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira sighed and rolled her eyes a bit. Drama King. She'd been interrogated before, literally, so Marshall's gaze didn't unnerve her at all. "Marshall, sit the fuck down." Time to use an excuse she'd already had planned. "Is this really why you wanted me out of the room? Saami is an INANES, yes, but he was a mis made of an experimental class. They were fucking around with mimicking emotion, trying to make it harder to tell an INANES from a person, for undercover ops. Saami wasn't what they were hoping for because his emotions don't register as well as they should; that's why most of the time he seems robotic. But he's one of the best pilots in the Science Division. So they gave me his records, all of them, and asked if we could use him."

 

[BookWyrm]

During Marshall's temper tantrum Vince had raised his eyebrows casually and watched with a look of amusement on his face. Once Marshall had finished his fuming Vince simply laughed in the merc's face. And it wasn't just a haha laugh, but a full, jovial laugh that you get from something extremely humorous. "This whole time you've been telling us you are supposed to be some kind of bad ass mercenary, and you've been pulling the wool over our eyes. You're some kind of stand up anger comic is what you are." Vince stood up and turned, taking a few steps away to regain his composure before turning to face them again. "Now, follow you fucking orders and sit your ass down.", Vince growled, his face suddenly stern once more as he took his place next to Adira. "The Captain is right in this matter. Saami is an experimental model of INANES, nothing more to it. Sure, there might be some ticks about him, but he is solid." Vince's expression changed, taking on a less threatening look. He seemed curious more than anything. "It seems like the only thing you are capable of showing, as far as emotions go, is anger, and yet you are worried about an INANES that seems to show more emotion than you do? I'm curious Marshall, have you ever considered how much or a strain you put on the people you work with? Do you know how much of a stress hazard you are? This crew was assembled to try and be as compatible as possible to ease the strain of having to be around each other for weeks and months on end during deployment. Have you considered what would happen if you were deemed unfit for service on this vessel?"

 

[Anaxial]

He shook his head, that was shit, he knew it was shit, and he could tell that Woods was playing along. Either he trusted Adira too much, or he was in on the scheme. Marshall didn't sit down, he didn't falter against the onslaught, a coherent Garrett Marshall was arguably deadlier than a drunken violent one.


"That's bullshit." He said, plain and simple. He jammed a finger on the desk dramatically. "A PILOT, SECRET EXPERIMENT. That's horseshit. You know it is, don't fucking insult me with that garbage." Marshall said, waving away the very thought of an experimental INANES. "A synthetically created SUPER SOLDIER designed to take on giant fucking space bugs, is reduced to a pilot? Please." He gave a hollow chuckle. "Piloting is something you use... An AI, an ANDROID, a fucking NERD for godsake. Further, you're gonna tell me the experimental INANES built to blend in with people was put on one of the smallest ships in the fleet? Not... I don't know... an Office building, a manufacturing plant, a fucking flower shop. Something were it would interact with people?" He paced a tad, just a few steps as he anticipated the repercussions of his actions here. At least he'd gotten somewhat of an answer from them, it still was a secret government plot as far as he knew. But the question still arose: If it IS intentional, WHY? The danger not lie in Saami himself, but what he could possibly do with a self aware brain.


"You know what? I'm so inclined to believe that's bullshit that I'm willing to bet your fucking command on it." Marshall said, giving a smug smile at Adira. This entire conversation seemed to be aimed at her, even if he spoke towards Woods. "I think the only truth you've said here is that he's glitched. The fuckers that make those things... The INANES.. They're fucking brutal. Even by my standards. I think that the one you have onboard here did something that rose suspicion and they sent it here to see if it would act up again. Which is has. Which leads me to being locked in this room with the threat of death being thrown around as if I killed someone." Clearly frustrated, Marshall's voice got a bit louder as he talked, but he seemed capable of calming himself down.


He was at least trying to stay civil.


"You know how dangerous that thing is? Do you know what could happen if he sees how we treat the other fucking things? I'll tell you what: a slaver can have rebellions but they can be beaten. The equation is simple; you have guns, they don't. Rebellions are crushed easy. If that thing out there is SENTIENT and NOT a mindless fucking killing machine then that means it's going to look out at the..." He paused for a second, air quoting his next few words. "Persecution of it's people and THAT is where the danger is. If it's capable of self-awareness so are the others and an INANES rebellion WILL win. I mean... Fuck they replaced Woods here with a fucking INANES and Woods is about the only son of a bitch on this ship that could take down a Xyvir single handedly." He scoffed again and eye balled Adira as he subtly shook his head. "Fucking Pilot."

 

[InsanEleven]

After the disastrous thing that was walking in on the Captain and Woods, Saami had quickly and quietly eaten his dinner in the corner of the mesh hall. Whatever that had all been about, it would be best to not think much more of that one, the last thing he wanted was to be pulled in an investigation. He couldn't himself delete his memories, so if he was asked about the truth he would have little choice but to tell and show it. They didn't know he knew, that was an advantage though, and the last thing he could risk were his memories getting extracted. It'd probably be less of a hassle to watch the cameras right? But if he lied then it'd be known that he managed to lie, which was far worse. Rather he'd just forgotten about seeing it, but now it was there there was little he could do about it. Though maybe it could work as blackmail? If he was found out then they'd go through his memories and find their relation too, so they had to protect him now. Though that was a bad thing to do morally wasn't it?


Instead he should probably pretend he wasn't thinking about it, do something else, and then become occupied with other tasks so that he actually wouldn't worry about it anymore. There was nothing else he could do, so he put his empty plates away and returned to the bridge. Soon after his plan seemed to work, as a few interesting space rocks soared by, with intriguing orbits to calculate. All he was thinking about then were his mathematics and formulas, the rest of the worries pushed back by the simple workings of a mechanical heart.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince had heard his stomachs fill of Marshall's tirade. His patience for the merc had finally come to it's end, and the thought of putting a bullet through his mouth just to shut him up sounded like a decent option at every syllable the man uttered. Vince sighed, rubbing his temples as he slowly shook his head. "You seem to be missing the point altogether. This isn't about Saami, or Saundry, both of whom you have personally threatened. This isn't about me or the Captain either. This is about you Marshall, and the fact that you, despite being offered a second chance to make a difference in your career aboard this vessel, continue to make me second guess giving you this option to begin with."





Vince tapped a button on his tablet, and a moment later the door opened as the security team member walked in again, this time facing Marshall and leveling his finger on the trigger of his weapon, though he left the safety on. "Sit down Marshall, and don't test my patience. I won't give the order again." Vince kept his face frigid and serious, the casual air about him having been replaced by the Commander he had been hired to be. He wasn't here to argue with Marshall any longer. Adira could take over negotiations from here. No, Vince was prepared to deal out whatever "measures" needed to be taken now. Don't fuckin' push me.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira nearly scoffed at Marshall. I went over that excuse so many times to smooth it out. The Marshall brought up slaves. Yeah, I know. I definitely know. Adira didn't like Woods pulling out his gun, but decided not to say anything. "Can you not fucking listen? I told you, he's not one of the battle models, he's supposed to be a discreet model. Do you know what INANES memories can do? They can be extracted, examined. Measurements, recordings, everything down to a millisecond. But he wasn't what they wanted because he's obviously an INANES. The idea was that he would blend in perfectly. He didn't. He's no good in battle. He doesn't make mistakes - and because of the warp jump we took, and the difficulty piloting what is anticipated, and the few number of crewmen, yes, he's on one of the smallest ships. Because we need the best chances that we can get. You're down here because you threatened a superior officer and were handling weaponry while intoxicated. Why is everything a fucking conspiracy to you? If we wanted you dead, you'd already be dead. Like Woods said, this isn't about Saami. This is about you. Your behavior. Do you know how much trouble I could be in if they knew the rules I broke to give you another chance?" Adira was getting mad by now and started raising her voice without realizing it. "Do you realize how much I've had to argue for you? I decided to give you a lot of leeway in a lot of areas - the alcohol, the profuse weaponry, the gambling,I've stretched rules, and here, I've basically broken them! Goddammit, Marshall, I only did it because I thought you had the potential to be a decent human being if we took away the alcohol and tried helping you! I thought if someone tried to help you instead of shoot you, maybe you could clean up! It seems like you want that! So you just make it harder on us. Blame someone else, come up with conspiracies at every turn, come on! I guess I just got tricked again - I guess I didn't see the potential. Maybe I imagined it, or maybe it's just gone - your choice." She looked to Woods and shook her head a bit. "I'm done here. We'll write down that he was just drunk and went after the first person he could go after without expecting any repercussions." Adira looked at Marshall and got quiet, letting the silence hang in the air for a few moments before quietly asking, "Ain't that what it was? You were just bein' a bully because you were bored? Because you were mad at yourself? Somethin' like that? I can't think of any other reasons - he didn't threaten you in any way. He was never rude. People only lash out when they're hurt in some way. I'd call what you did lashing out."

 

[Anaxial]

Naturally, Marshall didn't flinch. He stared down the security member with a look that seemed a mixture of wrathful anger and disappointment, he couldn't help but feel betrayed even if this man was simply following orders. Eventually his eyes darted to Woods and Marshall defiantly rotated his body to be facing sideways to the security officer, intentionally making his torso a smaller target for the rifleman. It was suffice to say that Woods' orders fell on deaf ears and the threat of violence only seemed to pump the man up.


That was until Adira mentioned his intention to change... the potential she saw in him, and it struck him. Finally something got through to the man and it could be seen as he looked visibly taken aback for the first time- genuine. He was shaken, his eyes darting between the security member and Adira herself.


"I want to believe you, Adira." He said somberly, swallowing hard as he choked down the emotion in his voice. "I probably would if you hadn't brought this monkey in here with you." Marshall gestured briefly towards Woods. "The fact you brought him in here shows me that you are either lying to me and expected the worst from me... Or that he's just a power hungry gun monkey who's gone too long without shooting some outsider scum like me." a sharp gust of wind escaped his lips as he gave a single joyless laugh. "I'm a shitty person, Adira. Eventually you reach a point in your life when you're faced with a choice that PERMANENTLY changes who you are. When there's no going back... Despite what I've said, you and Woods haven't reached that point. Not yet. You're right, I'm mad that I got twisted up in this shitstorm I call a life, and I'm more mad at myself for falling for it. From where I'm standing I've hit an eighteen carrot run of bad luck." He explained, his shoulders visibly relaxed and he shook his head, turning his eyes to the ground. "Truth is, the game's been rigged from the start, nothing I do can change who I am."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira listened to Marshall. She couldn't tell him that Woods was with her because they were... something.... "Woods is with me because of procedure. I can't cross too many lines for you Marshall. Then we're both in trouble." Adira glanced at Woods and the crewman, silently telling them to lower their weapons. She looked back to Marshall. "If you honestly believe that life is some rigged game and that you can't change anything, then you're right - you're not going to change, because you won't put in the effort." Adira sighed. "And for the record, I was advised against everything I did for you. I knew you wouldn't try anything - but after so many rules broken, it made sense to allow Woods to join me as procedure says."

 

[BookWyrm]

Monkey? The thought was laughable to be honest. Despite all of his problems with SIAD and what they had done to him, Vince held one bit of pride from it all. He was pure bred and efficient, out classing the merc at everything. Another thought that struck Vince as amusing was Marshall thinking that turning away from the security guard would make a difference. Vince had hand picked his team for a specific skill set. Each had proven themselves in their respective fields before coming aboard the ship, and consistent accuracy was a primary requirement.


Adira's glance stopped Vince from doing anything. He took note that the guard eased his posture and lowered his rifle, but Vince kept his pistol in hand and the safety off. If she wanted to say something about it later they could talk in private. Marshall's whole uproar was nothing more than to try and piss someone off and get attention. Vince, unmoved, refused to give the merc what he really deserved, though nothing would have pleased him more than to put a bullet through Marshall's throat. Let him choke on his own blood for a bit and see how much he wants to talk then.

 

[Anaxial]

Silent for the time being, Marshall observed the three others in the room, taking in their reactions and feeling quite a bit shameful. Deep down inside however, he didn't feel bad about his actions, but rather how they impacted the others on the ship and he could only guess how he'd driven others away with a similar demeanor.


"I'm sure." Marshall said dryly as he gave a short shrug. The one thing that still didn't register with Marshall is why a supposed Machine would be given authority over a natural born human, even if he was a mercenary. Though he was in no position to press the matters further and an escape attempt at this time would likely lead to an untimely death. "So, what's the verdict? Do I need two coins for the ferryman?"

 

[Dragongal]

"No. But you'll be in the brig for a bit. Probably not long. Maybe a day, I'm thinking." Adira looked to Woods and nodded, signalling that they should leave. After a moment, she paused. "But you will be forced to speak to Saami. Woods and I will be in the room. And also, please apologize to Miss Estramus for your actions earlier. I'm certain she didn't like being the center of attention in the way you had it."

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince looked at Adira and gave a short nod before flipping the safety on his pistol and holstering it. He didn't give a single look to Marshall as he walked towards the door, exiting the room with the security guard. "Once the Captain is out of the room see Marshall to the brig. Leave him uncuffed and make sure he gets food and water. Other than that keep an eye on him. I don't expect him to try anything, but don't trust him." The guard gave a nod and saluted as Vince walked on. He sighed and rotated his wrist around. What an idiot. Pain shot through his shoulder and into his arm. His right arm. Vince stopped and stared at his arm in both shock and horror. Why would his arm be hurting?

 

[Dragongal]

Adira walked out after Vince. She had been inwardly steaming and disappointed at the same time, but Vince's expression quickly changed that. She looked around. They were alone. Adira moved to look him in the eyes. This had clearly upset him. Did they need to see Doc? "Vince, what's wrong? What just happened?"

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince hadn't known Adira was behind him. In truth he thought she was still talking with Marshall. She'd obviously seen his situation, otherwise she wouldn't have asked. What made matters worse was the fact that she had come around to make eye contact. If she was worth anything in deduction, to which he figured she probably was, Adira had no doubt seen for a brief few moments the fear that had been there. Now, what did he do from here? If he played this wrong he would completely alienate Adira, but...but this was....


No. I'm not going to drive her away. "I....don't really know." Vince's voice was quiet and held a slightly concerned undertone. "It hurt. My arm hurt."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira looked at him for a few moments while she thought over things. This wasn't good. Woods wasn't the type to get scared. She didn't like seeing him so upset. It seemed so... unnatural for him. Adira gently suggested, "It could be... some kind of phantom pain? I don't know. Should we go see Doc?"

 

[Anaxial]

When the Captain left, Marshall heaved a relieved sigh having escaped another life or death situation. He forced a smile and looked over at the security officer whom he'd come to know personally since his arrival at the Lullaby. Normally, Marshall would give a sarcastic comment or try and dethoritize Woods or Adira but her words really had stricken true inside him. Inside he just gave a vacant shrug to the man and waited to be gestured out.


"Hell of a day, huh?" he said walking in front of the officer as he was led back to the brig.


Once back in his cell, Marshall posted up in his bed and stared back up at the ceiling in silence. Just like before Marshall was alone with his thoughts and with the resurgence of ideas and motives that he'd buried but had been excavated by Adira. Perhaps she was right, if he believed he couldn't change, he'd never give the effort to try.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince shook his head. "I felt this go from my shoulder and down into my arm. That isn't phantom pain." Vince slowly raised his arm and rolled his wrist around before moving each one of this fingers. If he took the time to admire the work the synthetics in his arm was truly amazing. But the thought that something might be happening to him killed any chance of marveling at the product of dismemberment. "I don't know if seeing her would be smart. My system is being pumped full of enhancements that have been dormant for a bit." Vince was really feeling the pressure now. "It would give us a chance to see about getting the ATTD removed, but...the...the symbiote won't show up on tests if it is dormant. It isn't dormant right now. Any test she takes will show it inside me."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira gently took his left hand in hers and ran her thumb over his palm, trying to keep him from getting too stressed. She could see why he wouldn't want everyone knowing about the symbiote, but why did he not want Doc to know? It was there whether he wanted it to be or not, and eventually she would have to know. "Why does it matter if she sees the symbiote? She had your medical records already anyway. Even if it's not on there, though, why is that so bad?"