| abstract
| - Landing Pad - Greenville Perched scenically on the edge of a cliff overlooking the choppy blue Independence Harbor, this solid-looking, plascrete landing pad is extremely expansive, larger than a small city. Neon green lines divide the pad into several landing strips, two capital ship landing sites, and hundreds of individual taxi spots. A tall control tower directs traffic onto and through the pad, and a wide, plascrete path leads into the city proper. Ruin has just emerged from the shuttle docks, looking around with interest. Jantine is just coming up from the harbor, hands in his pockets. He looks mildly stressed. Ruin offers Jan a wave, calling his name. "Jan! Made it - what's been *happening* here?" Jantine looks up "A lot of stuff...a lot of bad stuff" he says, shaking his head as he approaches. "I gathered that part," Ruin replies with dry worry. "Lawsuits? Acts of war?" He turns, looking up at the Faux. "You have ...really got to be kidding me. I hope you are. In a war with Demaria you can kiss your jungles goodbye." Jantine sighs "I have no idea what the fuck Norton thinks he's doing" he says, looking over at the Faux. Ruin and Jantine are not far from the shuttle pads, talking. "Well, given the potential consequences, don't you think it would be a good idea to find out fast?" asks Ruin, perhaps too mildly. Pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh, he says, "Okay, start at the beginning? Why was the Faux searched?" Jantine shrugs "Personal reasons probably, Nort's mad at the Faux, so he's taking it out by searching them." Dirionis enters from the DIC, his gaze mostly staring at the Faux, with a glance over to Ruin and Jan. Ruin makes a face. "Personal reasons?" he asks. "You mean no charges were read, no reason given?" Dirionis takes a deep breath before he heads over to the two, looking as if he were to say something, but waiting till he could get in the conversation. Jan reaches up to scratch the back of his neck "They gave a reason, some brick or something. But there's no way that was the reason Nort /did/ it, you know that, if someone pisses him off he'll do whatever he can to piss them off." Jan manages to spot Diri once he draws near "What now!?" Jan asks, shooting a glare at Diri. Ruin reaches out automatically to grab Jan's shoulder, gripping hard. "Calm. DOWN," he growls. "I want to know what's going on, and nothing's going to be solved by people losing their heads. I'm aware Norton's an ass, I do believe I was the one to explain that to *you*. Now tell me what happened. You came down, pretext being finding some brick, then what?" Nixkamich walks down the ramp, not looking happy at all, a disgruntled scowl carved onto his stone like face. He takes a drag from his pipe and takes a long look around before standing at the foot of the ramp, arms crossed. Dirionis replies with a, "I just wanted to apologize, for last night...Wasn't thinkin' what I was sayin', all stressed out, i'm sorry." He turns to Ruin, " You've got questions? I've got answers, I was enforcing some of the search." Diri, Ruin and Jan are on the landing pad, talking. "Sure Diri, that's why you're siding with Norton. I'll get the fucking medication, on my own time, not Norton's." Jan spits, brushing Ruins hand off his shoulder, but not violently. Ruin turns his attention to Diri, then. "Right," he says. "Tell me what happened, then. Because this," and he indicates the Faux, "could be a *lot* of trouble for New Luna if the right tempers go off, and I don't care if they were transporting BDSM Specialists in hot sauce." Eyeing the two soldier's from yesterday, Nix starts over toward them, his footsteps stepping down with purpose as he comes over. Half-way over his knocks the ash out of his pipe and puts it away, not paying any attention to Ruin at the moment, looking daggers at the two soldiers. Dirionis looks at Jan a second, before giving a quick shake of his head, saying to Ruin, "Officially, we're supposedly covered. Bringing the little ones onto New Luna is gonna be fines, land lock, seizing the equipment, and the warrant was signed by a judge, reason, the stolen brick." Jantine shakes his head "What the fuck, it was all Norton's own personal reasons" he turns away from the group. "Fuck it" Ruin sighs, hands in his pockets. "Well, however it started, you've got a right big mess *now*," he replies, and looks over to see the aggravated Qua approaching. "Guessing that's part of the mess now?" Nixkamich stops in front of Ruin and Diri. Glances at Ruin for a brife moment, but gives a good long look at Diri. "So...did your 'search', if you even want to call it such, prove useful? For your sake, I hope this 'incident' does not get any worse than it already has." Nix says folding his arms, not looking too hostile, but the look on his face is still angry. Dirionis gives a long sigh, " Yes, it did, for all the trouble its caused." He pauses a moment, turning to look at the Qua man. "Was that a threat?" Diri says, eyeing Nixkamich a moment. "This sure was a big help Ruin, thanks" Jan says sarcasticly, before stalking off towards the harbor. Ruin shakes his head. "Wonderful," he sighs. "Hot tempers all around." To the Qua, he says, "Hello. Free advice. Don't start trouble unless your Kapitan is fine with starting a *lot* of it. Diri - no, I don't think it was a threat. And Jan, get back here. I can't do a single useful thing until I know what's already happened, you *know* that. Are you telling me you're leaving the militia?" "No, if I wanted to give you a threat, I would've struck you already. I am in no mood to make anything worse than what it already is. I will not take action until the Kaptain has told me otherwise." Nix says, obviously not in the mood to exchange tempers and turns back to his ship. "Now that I know who is out here, I can go back to my ship. Good day." Norton is smoking a cigarette as he steps out of the DIC. Catching Dirionis's and Jantine's comments, he says, "Hero, there some reason you is discussing an ongoing investigation." He points a meaty finger at Jantine, "What the fuck is right, you cock kissing, cum guzzler. A, come with me. B, you don't cuss when you say my name. C, you don't talk about ongoing investigations either." He tells Nix, "If your kapitan tells you to do anything illegal, like striking a marine in carrying out his lawfully assigned duties, I suggest you put in your resignation." Dirionis nods to Norton, " Sorry, Captain." He says before he glances at the Faux, and then to Jan. " Hey, Captain, we're all just in a bad mood, tempers are flarin'." Jantine stops, looking to Nort, then to Ruin "If this keeps up I just might" before slowly walking over to Nort, he doesn't look to happy about it, either. Ruin sighs, catching Jan's shoulder to whisper to him before letting him go. "Ongoing investigation," he says flatly. "Yes, of course." Ruin whispers: We're on Ungstir. If you need to run - send us word and we'll go to Deepcrest, or meet us on ungstir. Beckoning Jantine towards the DIC, Norton continues to smoke his cigarette, "Let's go talk, flyboy." Dirionis frowns as he watches Jan and Norton, turning back to Ruin. "Hell, I'M just doin' my job." Jantine gives Ruin a slight nod, before following after Norton wordlessly. Ruin nods, frowning. "I know you are, Diri," he says quietly. "And I think my coming here's just made it worse for Jan and maybe you. If that's the case, I'm sorry. But I can't imagine taking over a Demarian military vessel will go over too well." Decon/Inuration Corridor A cheery, pinkstone-floored building, manned by weathered-skinned Lunites and a variety of scanning machines, it features a glass ceiling, a scattering of hammock-like chairs, and a small snack bar. A broad alcove to one side houses a mercantile booth of some sort. "Dupe, dah, dupe," says Norton as he steps all the way to the greenville barracks. Military Passageway This is a three mile long corridor made of featureless rock, save for the utility lights running along the walls every twenty feet. Two loudly-clacking conveyors run here, each going quickly in opposite directions. There is a ten foot wide strip in the center of basic stone. To the south is the Governmental Cavern of Greenville, and to the north is the New Luna Militia base. "So," says Norton as he enters the passageway and steps off to the side. Jantine looks at Norton blankly "What?" he asks simply. "Seemed to me you had some sort of beef. This is your chance, and probably your only chance, to air whatever dirty laundry you got, hurt feelings, etc," says Norton as he folds his arms behind his back and smokes his cigarette. "What difference would it make?" Jan says somewhat bitterly. "Try me," says Norton. Jantine sighs, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck "You want me to be completely honest?" he says, looking down. "I'm taking off my rank," says Norton as he removes his hat. Jantine quirks his eyebrow, before looking up "Then what the fuck Norton? You have any idea how much you've fucked up my life? /Forcing/ me to get medication when there's other, probably better options, what the hell!?" his eyes begin to moisten "And then there's Scheur, who I'm not going to see until she gives birth, and probably not till after that cause you're such an ass to the Vollistans. And because of that I barely get to see /any/ of my friends on the Haste. It's almost like you have it out for me and my friends" Jan finishes with his last sentance being softer than the rest, and a tear begining to run down his cheek. "I did not realize you thought I was persecuting you or your erst while friends on the Haste," says Norton. "Are you taking your medication?" "No, because there's probably better options for it, like having Scheur help me" Jan says back, turning to look away from Norton, tears still coming. "So," says Norton. "What makes you think that?" "I don't /want/ to be on medication for the rest of my life." Jan replies, choking on a few words. "And you believe that you will be?" asks Norton. "Why wouldn't I be?" Jan says, bitter again. "Look, buddy, what you got going on here is a vicious circle. Let me tell you a story. Back in the day I knew some guys in an elite unit. They suffered mass casualties almost every mission just because their life sucked. Right? These guys started reporting they were going blind. The docs thought it was some line of bull. So, to test it, they lined them up against the wall and threw bricks at their faces. Not one of these guys flinched. The docks were like, wow, these jokers are really blind. They pulled them off the line. After a few days or weeks or months depending on the person, they got their sight back. Most volunteered to go back to the line," says Norton. "You understand where I'm going with this? The mind is a powerful thing and its hangups aren't permanent. You want to know why I'm telling you med and not voodoo? Because voodoo will get you pulled off the line. We can't out source mental manipulation. They aren't affiliated with the militia. It's meds or it's time off or it's in house therapy." Jantine looks incredulously at Norton "They had Voliast do mental manipulation all the time, I...have had some done" he still has tears coming down, but a bit more infrequently. "Yeah, that was when he was in house," says Norton. "He's gone and left the house for reasons that I'm not going to get into." "So what's the difference?" Jan asks. "The difference is the reasons leading up to his departure," says Norton. "The reasons are his non-affiliation with the militia. The reasons are you got security clearances he doesn't need to know." Jantine immediately looks crest fallen, he suddenly turns to the wall, slaming his fists into it "Fuck!" he yells, before breaking down into fresh tears and collapsing against the wall. Norton doesn't even move. He just says, "If you can clear it with your chain of command, there's nothing I can do, but I'm going to go on record against it. You really thing a bunch of glowbulbs have more experience with traumatic stress disorder than Lunite doctors?" Jantine seems to busy crying to really answer Norton. Norton seems to be pretty patient. Jan does calm down, but it takes a while "Yes..." he finally chokes out "Because I trust my friends" he's choking over most of his words. "That's fine, but what you don't seem to understand is that the government can't afford to have that same trust," says Norton. "It's not like you're going to them for a bandaid." Jantine keeps sobbing "Fuck the government" he chokes out. "Uh huh," says Norton. "They can be your friends, but that doesn't mean they know what your best interests are." "And the government does!?" Jan asks, choking over a few words. "No, you do," says Norton. "File a report saying you want to seek outside medical treatment for your mental situation. I'll file, for the record, my own report saying it's a bad idea. We'll see which way the wind blows. I'd advise you to try the medication. To at least talk to a doctor prior to making this into a fuss." Some more sobbing "I don't /want/ your advice, you've messed my life up enough, already." Jan says eventually. "Fair enough," says Norton. "But you tell me how it isn't decent advise before you tell me you're refusing to take it." "Doesn't matter" Jan says, clearing up slightly, and looking more mad than sad now "I don't want your advice, or your help." "That's fine," says Norton. "But if you're being unreasonable and unable to prevent it, it's not going to get you very far." "Are we done here?" Jan asks, seeming to regain control of himself for the moment, although he still has the occasional tear coming down a sob once in a while. "I'm not. You can be if you want. The rank's off. Remember?" says Norton calmly. Jantine rolls his eyes "What's to stop you from putting it back on as soon as I try to leave?" "Nothing," says Norton. "But, I'm not." "And why should I trust that?" Jan says under his breath, doesn't seem to care if Nort hears him or not, because he probably does. Norton shrugs and maintains a bland expression, "You can leave or we can keep talking." Jantine bites his lip "Look, you want me to get better, maybe stop fucking with me and my friends, a lot of my problems seem to have grown since you started doing that." he says bitterly. "What have I done to you and your friends that constitues fucking?" asks Norton. "Intentionally hurting them? What the hell Nort, it's not like its even fucking legal to wear a psiblocker around Vollistans." Jan spits. "That's right," says Norton. "Why haven't they pressed charges, then?" "Because they're scared to come back, because of you." Jan says through his tears, pointing an accusing finger at Norton. "No, they're not scared because of me," says Norton. "They're scared because of what they did to me." "What they did to you, what the fuck are you talking about?" Jan says, shaking his head. "You ask them," says Norton. Jantine curls up against the wall, pressing his hands against the sides of his head and closing his eyes "What the hell is going on!?" he whimpers, fresh tears begining to start. "What's going on from your perspective, I couldn't tell you," says Norton. Jantine still sits there, curled up, sobbing "Tell me what they did, tell me what they did." he says slowly, although not at all evenly. "They're your friends. If they want you to know, they'll tell you," says Norton. "All I got to tell you, is that I have reasons for what I do. Whether you want to believe me or not, I don't know, but I rarely do anything just for kicks and giggles." "Then you'll have to choose." Jan says after a long pause, still from his curled up position "Your reasons, or this pilot, because I'm not going to put up with this much longer. You want me better, stop fucking with them" "All you got to do to find out the reasons for me not trusting the lightbulbs is ask them," says Norton. "If they don't tell you, I might just to keep things honest. What else you got beef with?" "Don't care what they did to you, wouldn't change a thing." Jan says bitterly "The Faux, invading a ship for your own personal reasons?" he adds. "That's fine. Just keep in mind they did something that allows me to wear a psi blocker around them without flak coming from above me or from the legal system," says Norton. "No, my personal reasons have nothing to do with the Faux. I've taken worse blows to the jaw than hers. You know anything about politics?" "Why does it matter?" Jan asks, glaring at Norton. "You remember when Sivad came to play in our little arm of the universe?" asks Norton. "You remember who stuck up for us?" "No" Jan says flatly. "Well, I'll give you a hint. They have gills," says Norton. "What does the G'hanlo have to do with the Faux?" Jan asks after a moment. "What was the reason for the search?" asks Norton. Jantine narrows his eyes "You said we had tapes back from Semptember, why the hell didn't we search the Faux then?" "Tapes from September that didn't get reported until December 19th when they were reviewed," says Norton. "So why didn't we search it in Decemeber instead of waiting until /after/ you were pissed at the Faux?" Jan asks. "She punched me in November," says Norton. "So why didn't you file assault?" Jan questions, he's still glaring at Nort. "I did," says Norton. "Then? Why am I just hearing about all this punching stuff now, then?" Jan asks. "Because reports go up the chain of command, not down it," says Norton. Jantine closes his eyes again "Damn it...what's going on?" he curls up a bit tighter. "Again, I couldn't tell you," says Norton. "Why do I bother staying here...?" Jan asks, the question seems to be directed at himself. And Norton doesn't bother to voice an answer. Jan keeps repeating that phrase, squeezing his eyes shut. Norton is a pretty patient guy or fakes it well. Jantine eventually stops repeating the phrase, he remains silent after that, sobs making his body shudder repeatedly. More silence from Norton. Jantine seems to calm down eventually, lifting his head from his curled position, he looks at Norton, before it turns into a glare, he begins to stand up, wordlessly, turning away from Norton. Still, the marine captain makes no comment. "Just...stop fucking with my friends" Jan says bitterly, before turning to go, away from the Greenville base. Still silence from the Zen like Norton. And with that, Jan leaves.
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