Unpleasant Updates [for Adia]

[smartass_captain]

Since Felix disappeared Jim has taken to staying out of his quarters as much as possible.

His favorite table in the observation deck has become his new hideout and on more than one occasion the place he sleeps. Though more and more frequently sleep is something that happens out of sheer necessity. Everyone who knows about the Nexus knows what's going on, so Jim's also found that he's rarely afforded time alone lately.

So when Adia texts Jim he's awake and halfway through his fifth mug of replicated coffee while he slogs through another set of inventory reports he has to sign off on before they reach the next Starbase for resupplying. Spock makes no qualm about Jim dropping everything to fumble for the device, merely catching the PADD the captain had set aside before it falls off of the table. If Jim is reacting in such a way, it is clearly his Nexus device, and possibly a message from one Mr. Caelus.

That does not seem to be the case.

Let me know when you're free so I can get all the details. I'll meet you in the Plaza and we can come back here, if that's alright?

Comments

[chiron_survivor]

Sure thing.

Her reply is quick, although it will take her a little bit of time to extricate herself from her conversation with Freddy. It feels rude to abandon him, especially after he listened to her troubles.

I'm free now, sorry. I'm by the tentacle fountain statue.

Jim will find her sitting on a stone bench and staring into space, looking like the kind of tired that no amount of coffee can fix.

[smartass_captain]

They can be raccoon eyed twins in the commiserating contest no one ever actually wins and everyone loses including losing more sleep. The captain is in his ever present uniform when he PINpoints to the Nexus, but his hair's a bit of a mess and he's as pale as a man awake for thirty-six hours and counting will find himself.

Spock had offered to come with but had just been waved off. He needs to clean up because they're going to have a guest, shortly.

"Adia...? Hey." Confusion colors his voice, makes his words unsteady and slow. He knows how much like hot garbage he looks, but Adia looks tired down to her bones too. Did something happen while he's been off freaking out for the last several days?

"Are...are you okay?"

[chiron_survivor]

It takes her a moment to focus on Jim, even though she had been expecting him. She stands up quickly, as if trying to bring some energy back into her body. "Hi, Jim. I'm fine. It's, um... there was some bad news back home..."

'Bad news' being an obvious understatement, but she's reluctant to share. Isn't Jim going through enough already? She doesn't want to trouble him further. Shifting the weight of her messenger bag, she finally reveals, "We found Earth, but it wasn't good. The thirteenth tribe had a nuclear war of their own two thousand years ago. Nothing survived."

This time, her eyes stay dry, but it's impossible for her to hide the deep sadness in her eyes. It's going to be some time before she can build back up hope for the Fleet and an end to the war.

[smartass_captain]

Whatever news Jim was expecting, that certainly wasn't it. The captain stops in his tracks, mouth open and staring at her for several long moments. Jim nearly startles himself when he swears under his breath and closes the distance again, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Adia that's." Are there even words of condolence grand enough to cover what she must be feeling right now? And he seriously was going to bother her over news about Felix? Right now?

"Come back to the ship with me. I might have something that can be of help to you and yours. At the very least, I can offer you a hot meal and a safe comfortable place to sit for a little while."

He knows better than to tell her it will be okay. Some wounds can't be buried away. Some you have to ride out and live with.

[chiron_survivor]

"Okay." She manages a small, grateful smile. Anything bigger would be forcing it. "Thank you."

Would that they were visiting Jim's ship under other circumstances. She had long imagined the chance to see the Enterprise in all its technological glory, but now the experience will be tempered by the bad news at home, and the unpleasant information she has to share about Felix.

[smartass_captain]

When they PINpoint to the ship they're in Jim's private quarters. There's a faint hum underfoot from the engines and the air scrubbers have the place smelling clean. The room is fairly neat and orderly as though the captain hasn't spent much time there. The only real thing that stands out is a wooden carving of a dragon that flickers with the faintest flame enchantments that sits on the captain's coffee table.

There's usually a lot more sign of Felix staying here than that, but no longer.

"Come on. Let me take you somewhere we can talk." Jim doesn't want to linger in this room. He'd rather take Adia back through the bright hallways to the turbo lifts and up to the observation deck where he'd been working before Adia's message.

[chiron_survivor]

Adia fortunately does not ever suffer the nausea that can sometimes be a side effect of PINpoint usage, but she does need a moment to orient herself. She notices the cleanness right away. The faint hum of the engines is oddly soothing, a sound that she has grown used to on her own ship.

That's a very pretty dragon statue. It doesn't take much for her to assume who it's from. "Oh... oh, sure." She'll follow him out the door, the automatically opening doors only startling her a little.

[smartass_captain]

The halls of the Enterprise are bright and well lit. Adia can immediately see that having a hangover here would just be every kind of painful to anyone sensitive to the light. A faint swish announces the turbolift as it slides open. Jim leads Adia inside and takes them up several decks. He's quiet during the ride, expression despondent but not very readable besides.

It's much less bright on the observation deck. The lights are often kept down to minimal percents to allow for a better view of space. At the moment there isn't terribly much to see as the galaxy flashes by at a placid warp four.

"I didn't know." Jim sighs and looks back at Adia finally once he's pulls a chair out for her to sit at the table he'd been working it.

"I've been so caught up here I didn't even realize...Adia I'm sorry."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia looks even more washed out in the bright light of the hallways, but her expression brightens just a touch as she is led to the observation deck. Everything is so clean. The elevator is so quiet and runs so smoothly.

Jim's ship is beautiful. She almost says something, but it feels disrespectful to break the silence. Her compliment can wait for a better time.

The observation deck reminds her of the one on her ship, except that the stars move far more slowly. "How...?" she asks, before noticing that Jim has pulled out a chair for her. Tearing her gaze away from the view, she shrugs off her messenger bag and sets it down on the table before taking the seat.

"It's okay, Jim. It happened after I saw you last. This was my first visit to the Nexus since finding out about Earth." She appreciates his condolences, regardless.

[smartass_captain]

"And you still agreed to meet me here?"

Even after everything she's suffered? She'd be well within her rights to worry first and foremost about her people and their plight right now. And it makes Jim's chest tighten to realize he's holding back from asking her the questions he wants to.

He's selfish and single minded, but he's trying so hard.

"Do you prefer coffee or tea Miss Costas?" A second voice echoes slightly in the large and mostly barren room. Jim's first officer is a tall humanoid with a slightly palid hue to his skin and pointed ears. He is carrying a tray with coffee and a spiced Vulcan tea on it.

"Ah, shit. Sorry Spock. Spock this is Adia Costas, the woman I mentioned. Adia, this is my first officer. Spock's been helping me try to plow though all this work so I can keep looking for Felix."

"I had inferred. It is a pleasure, Miss Costas, though I gather rather inauspicious circumstances that facilitate our meeting."

[chiron_survivor]

The question surprises her; why wouldn't she agree to meet with her friend on his nice, clean ship to give him information that might actually help, as opposed to floundering about uselessly with no goal in sight? "My work's been suspended until the Fleet plots a new course," she replies, wondering if he's concerned about the logistics. "I can spare the time."

She looks over at the voice. She's never met a Vulcan before, and would have assumed that he was human were it not for the pointed ears. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Spock." She smiles, charmed a little by his vocabulary. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. I have some news about Felix for Jim."

Turning her attention to the tray, she almost asks for the coffee out of habit, but what she needs right now is something to warm her spirit as well as her bones. "Tea, please. And thank you."

[smartass_captain]

"Of course."

Spock sets the tea down in front of Adia and hands Jim the coffee before excusing himself to replicate another tea for himself. He's only gone for a moment before he's coming back and taking a seat at the table as well, on the opposite side from Adia. Jim's chair is between the two of them so he can see each equally well.

"The captain has brought us up to speed, as you would say, with the situation regarding one Mr. Caelus." His gaze flits over to the captain, nostrils flaring ever so slightly before he sets his own mug on the table.

"Captain, you can just come out and say you mean to help Ms. Costas and her crew."

Jim startles slightly, blue eyes wide as he leans back in his seat. Is he that obvious? Or has Spock merely been with him long enough to know better by now?

"Okay, I...yeah. Obviuosly I still need to focus on finding Felix, but if there's any way we can help you and yours Adia, I'd like to do that too."

[chiron_survivor]

The tea is fragrant and brings a bit of color to her face as she blows gently on the surface before taking a small sip. It keeps her occupied while Spock settles himself. She's a little surprised that he's joining them, but she supposes it's good form to keep one's first officer in the loop, especially on delicate Nexus matters.

Preparing herself to share what she learned about Felix, she is not expecting Jim's offer for help. She looks at him, wide-eyed, silent while she sets her mug back on the table. "I... um. That's very generous of you, Jim."

What sort of help could she ask for? What would even be a practical request? Even if Jim could somehow lend his ship's firepower or diplomatic leverage, it would only solve the problem of the enemy Cylons. The Fleet would still be adrift without a planet to call home.

"I'm... I'm thinking it's time that I tell someone in charge about the Nexus. Without Earth, we don't have much reason to stay in our universe. Is, uh... is there room in your Federation for refugees?"

[smartass_captain]

"Someone you trust," Jim presses. He knows Adia is well aware of the dangers that could face all of them. Khan was more than enough of a reminder and an example of how fragile the peace in the Nexus really is. Even having someone dangerous gain access to another world where the anti-violence field doesn't exist is beyond potentially devastating.

He can see the gears working in her head though. Adia's well aware of the risks. But her people need saving too. And Jim's never been able to turn away from something like that.

"There is indeed, Miss Costas." Spock sets his cup of tea down and gives her a shallow nod of his head. "And plenty of undiscovered reaches and colonies we could just so 'happen' to find you stranded on and request aid from the Federation."

Ever since the debacle with Nero, Spock is certain timespace anomalies are a pretty good loophole that can be abused in explaining away the existence of people when and where they should not be. Not to mention the Captain's personal project he's been working on of cobbling together the very same background to give in order to explain Felix Caelus' existence to Starfleet, before all of this came up.

"The captain is well aware of the regulations and protocols for aiding others operating on distress frequencies." Like his other emotions, Spock's smile is slight but very much present. Jim catches on to what he's implying, his blue eyes sharp as he shifts his gaze from his first officer to Adia.

"Spock's right. We're studying uncharted space here. There's plenty of temperate planets or moons you and yours could have found yourself 'stranded' on and in need of rescue. You'd have to deal with a lot of red tape and bureaucracy and paperwork, but we'd be able to call in for assistance from the Federation."

[chiron_survivor]

"Someone I trust," she agrees quickly, although that doesn't seem to settle her thoughts much. She knows how important it is that information about the Nexus doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Ones' hands, specifically -- that particular model of Cylons has revealed itself to be far more monstrous than anyone had previously assumed.

She also knows that her track record for trusting others isn't that great. She has to hope that whomever she tells can handle the news of the Nexus as delicately as she has.

Spock's suggestion and Jim's subsequent offer are nearly too good to be true. What's a lot of red tape and paperwork if it means finding a new home? She gives them a look of profound gratitude. "That would be nothing short of a miracle for us. Thank you."

Of course, there's the matter of logistics. "There are 40,000 of us. And... well, I'm sure everyone would be amenable to living somewhere new, with other humans, but it might become obvious that we aren't from your universe. All human life originated on Earth in your universe, right? I've been assuming that we're genetically human, but I don't know for sure..."

And then there's the matter of their new allies who aren't even human at all. "The, um... the Cylons are in the middle of a civil war, currently, and the rebels defected to our side. So we have about a hundred of them, as well. They're essentially human, although there are some physiological differences. Technically, they're artificial life forms."

[smartass_captain]

"The Federation has had to deal with people not from our universe before. Like I said, it's not going to be easy to creatively explain how you and yours came to be in our galaxy and time, but it won't be impossible."

Knowing there's something he can do. Knowing he can make a difference here. It's helping the tremble leave his hands. Straightening his posture. He feels more like himself as he sits next to Adia and sets his cup of coffee on the table.

"We'll help you get through this, Adia. All of you."

It's hard not to believe in Jim when he sounds so sure of himself. In the moment, it's nearly impossible to think he's as run down and ragged as he is. This sort of problem is one he's more capable of dealing with. He knows Spock is already mentally preparing logs and trying to consider which forms they will need to send in.

"It's a promise."

[chiron_survivor]

"Really?" she asks before shaking her head. That's not important. Jim is offering her a real solution. She fights back a sudden wave of emotion, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of his stoic first officer. "Th-thanks." She wipes at her eyes hurriedly. "I'll, um... I'll start thinking of how to break the news. And look into how our jump drive works a little more. If there's a way it can communicate with my PINpoint, maybe that'll be enough to teleport the whole Fleet. Without the enemy Cylons finding out, of course."

Another sip of tea and she even manages a smile. Jim's confidence must be rubbing off on her. Too bad the good news can't last. She clears her throat and says, "Um. Did you want me to tell you I heard about Felix?"

[smartass_captain]

"That would be possible in theory. If jumping akin to the warp capabilities that our ship has."

Spock folds his hands on top of the table while regarding Adia. She has gone through quite a lot. Having your home planet destroyed is a pain he knows only too well. He's as determined as Jim is on helping Adia to the best of their capabilities.

Jim looks up at the clearing of her throat again and fights valiantly not to let the pain and fatigue break right through the bravado he's got going on here. It only kind of works.

"Yeah. Of course I do. Stratos and I have been looking all over for him."

[chiron_survivor]

It's impossible for her to know that she and Spock have such a tragic event in common, but she appreciates his assistance all the same. Some might find a Vulcan's impassiveness off-putting, but she finds it rather soothing to have someone so calm and collected at the table.

"That I'm not so sure," she admits, briefly turning her gaze to the view outside. "When we jump, we teleport from one place to the next. It's instantaneous. We travel over a series of jumps... to jump into unknown space is to risk getting caught in an asteroid field or something worse. How does --" She stops herself. She's hear to talk about Felix, asking how their warp engines work can wait until later.

Oh, she hates to see that look on Jim's face. "It's, um... it's not a lot, but maybe it will make sense to you or Stratos... I was talking to Freddy, he's a newcomer to the Nexus. He's a nice guy, he used to be a cop... um, when he showed up in the Nexus, he thought he had died. He might have, actually, he was covered in his own blood... that's how I met him. I lent him my clothes from when I was cursed by that mirror, in fact..."

Okay, getting off topic. She takes a quick sip of tea before continuing. "Anyway, he told me later that he met Felix before he met me, when he was still all bloodied. He said that Felix was super intense and really interested in the idea of him dying and then coming back to life. He seemed --" She pauses a moment. "Stressed and agitated. Those were the words Freddy used. That he was working on a way to travel to another realm..."

The last bit of information, she seems reluctant to impart, but it may be the most important. "He told Freddy that he was doing it to be of better service. And... to protect you."

[smartass_captain]

Interested in a guy dying and coming back to life? Jim knows without looking that Spock has tensed considerably and is staring hard at the captain now. But what he's thinking is altogether different than what Jim is. His first officer is thinking of Jim's own death fixing the warp core. Time has eased the pain somewhat, but he knows it's a sore topic for all of them.

Especially Bones, Spock, and himself. Obviously.

But there's something else that is bothering Jim. Felix never, ever asked Jim how he was saved. It wasn't important to him. Only that he was alive now. So Felix wouldn't be asking because of Jim. Of this the captain is fairly certain. But there is a way of returning the dead to life--or at least motion-- in Tamriel.

Jim's eyes narrow.

"If he's so keen on trying to protect me, why would he try to kill me?"

To see if he could bring Jim back? But that's...

"I need to find Stratos." That's necromancy. And that is not something Felix has ever spoken about with anything more than disdain or wariness.

"Captain--"
"It's to do with magic, Spock. We're not going to solve this on our own. But Stratos will want to hear. Think you can take the con for me?"
"Of course, Captain." Spock flexes his hands into a fist and relaxes them a few times before getting to his feet. He turns to Adia and gives her a polite nod of his head before excusing himself.

"Shit." Jim scrubs a hand down his face. "I really hope I'm wrong about this..."

[chiron_survivor]

It struck a chord with Adia, too, for her own personal reasons. She wonders silently at the look that Spock is giving his captain, but Jim is already musing out loud Felix's motivations.

It's a rhetorical question, but she wouldn't have an answer for him, anyway. The closest thing she can come up with is that sometimes an overwhelming desire to protect a loved one can backfire horribly. Especially if you go about it in an underhanded way...

Oh, Felix. What did you do?

She doesn't know what conclusion Jim has come to, but she knows it's not good. She returns Spock's polite nod, then worriedly watches her friend. Did her information help? It doesn't really feel like helping, if it's only made Jim more upset.

"What do you think he's done?" she asks softly.

[smartass_captain]

"I don't know what he's done, but I think what he's trying to do is research a magical way to bring the dead back to life."

The words are heavy on his tongue. Accusatory. Jim wishes there was another way to read what's been going on. Hopes he's wrong. From everything he's heard about, there's no way this is going to end well.

"If something with that kind of skill has taken control of him..." Jim shakes his head. "I have to stop him before he does something there's no coming back from."

[chiron_survivor]

She blinks, but now that Jim's spelled it out for her, it does make an awful lot of sense. And although she knows little of the intricacies of magical ethics, it's obvious that bringing the dead to life is not a good thing in Felix's world.

And not a good thing for Felix, either. "Is that how magic works, where he's from? You think it's taken control of --"

No, no. Not magic. "Do you think a daedra could have possessed him?" she asks, remembering her conversation with the elder Caelus brother. "Stratos told me that Felix has always been interested in them, and some of them are very bad. They can fixate on the virtues of their victims." Which would explain Felix's obsession to protect Jim, and how it turned into a strangling.

Gently, she nudges Jim's arm. "You should call Stratos. I can talk to him, too, if you want me to pass on what Freddy said directly to him. It might give him a better idea of where Felix is."

[smartass_captain]

"That'd be my guess, too."

A deadra getting under Felix's skin. Into his head and taking control of him. The captain has seen the way the conjurer gets when he's trying to impart orders on his familiar or an Atronach. He lends his mind to other wills every time he summons. Is that why the school of magic is so frowned upon? Because of the fine line walked between a mage's mind and that which he's summoned?

Jim doesn't know. Philosophy can come later when he's not worried over Felix's life.

"I'm going to, yes. I'm also going to ask Harrowheart what he thinks. If anyone would know that sort of magic, it would be him."

[chiron_survivor]

Oh, that's right. Harrowheart is a necromancer of sorts. She has yet to witness his minion-creating abilities firsthand, but she heard about it from Blaze. None of it pleasant, fortunately. But Harrowheart is a good friend; she knows that he'll help Jim in whatever way he can.

"That's a good idea. I don't know anyone else with those kind of abilities." Never mind that Naugus tried to imply that Reynard dabbled in the necromantic arts. Ugh.

She wishes she knew more on the subject, if only so she can continue to help. At least she can empathize. Having someone you're in love with act suddenly erratic and then disappear? Been there, done that. "You know now that it wasn't him who tried to kill you," she says kindly, hoping for a silver lining. "Right? He still loves you very much. It's this daedra that's causing all the trouble."

[smartass_captain]

Jim nods, and it's now that the control bleeds out of his posture. The captain is a sleep deprived mess and more tired and full of emotional strife than anything else at this point.

"I really hope you're right."

[chiron_survivor]

Taking a slow sip of tea, she wishes that she had better words to comfort Jim. The trouble is, it doesn't matter if she's right about Felix. He's still missing, still in danger. She's been told on more than one occasion that Caspar loved her, it was his Cylon nature that pushed her away. It doesn't take away the pain of what happened, and the fear of what's yet to come.

But it feels awkward to sit there silently, drinking tea in a lovely, clean room on a lovely, clean ship, with Jim an exhausted mess and her not far behind. "Should I go?" she asks him in a tone that suggests that she'd be happy to do so, if that's what he wants. "You can try to get a little rest."

[smartass_captain]

Jim's gaze jerks up again, fighting to keep himself in control and losing the battle with his exhaustion and emotional boilover.

"We're gonna help you and yours, Adia. That's a promise. You can tell someone you trust and get started working on logistics on your end. Even if I spend most of my time looking for Felix, know that Spock and my crew are going to be focused on you."

It's unimaginable that Jim would do anything other than run off to hunt down Felix, anyway. He should feel guilty about that. Instead, he sighs again.

"I should go and try to find Stratos. I can rest after that."

[chiron_survivor]

The reiteration of Jim's generosity leaves her speechless for a moment. "Thank you," she says finally, repeating herself from earlier. She could repeat herself a thousand times and it wouldn't be enough, so far as she's concerned. "I'll try my hardest to make sure things go smoothly on my end."

Starting with picking someone to tell. But she already knows the answer to that. If she can't trust Captain Agathon, she can't trust anyone. It's only a matter of how to tell him.

But worrying over that can wait. Right now, she's only concerned about Jim. "There's always someone staffing the Legion desk. I'm sure you'll get ahold of him soon. Or you could text him. Does his phone work when he's on his world?"

[smartass_captain]

"Yeah. I'll head up that way now, and if he's not at the desk I'll ask to summon him. With Felix missing for a week before this all happened and since he was..."

Beat.

"And even longer since he was with me, I'm sure they'll give me priority if I tell them I've information about him for Stratos' ears."

[chiron_survivor]

If Stratos is not at the desk, she hopes for Jim's sake that whomever is there is speedy with his request. She doubts that Jim is ever in the mood for bureaucracy, but especially not now.

Not with Felix missing... that long? Really? Grieving over the lost thirteenth tribe has really messed with her sense of time.

"Good luck, Jim." She gives him what she hopes is an encouraging smile. "I'll, um... I'll finish up my tea, if that's all right? Can I PINpoint back to my ship from here?"

[smartass_captain]

"You too."

Jim's smile is brief and strained, but it's there all the same for her. It takes him a moment to gather himself when he stands. Rearrange the pieces again until he looks more or less like the in control captain he knows he should be rather than the broken man who's been talking to Adia.

"Please do. I promise I'll be better company and offer a better tour next time. You should be able to PINpoint right back to your ship with no trouble. Text me if you need anything, okay?"

Jim's hand pats Adia's shoulder as he walks by her side of the table before he pulls out his own PINpoint and is gone a moment later and a tiny bip. The observation deck grows silent save for the ever present hum of the engines.

[chiron_survivor]

She watches the transformation and feels a secret amount of relief that she doesn't have to do the same. Jim has a very visible responsibility to his crew. And though Adia has willingly taken the fate of her Fleet on her own shoulders, to her friends and colleagues, she's a quiet microbiologist who is suffering as much as anybody else.

"Don't worry about it," she says sincerely. With all the planning that will likely have to happen to get the Fleet situated in Jim's universe, she has a feeling she'll be seeing a lot more of his ship. "I'll let you know, sure."

Her gaze returns to the view outside after Jim departs. A different space with foreign stars, but potentially her new home.

She savors the last of the tea before leaving herself.