EVENT: SPACE PIRATES ▒ THE EMERGENCY SHUTTLE BAY & THE SCYLLA

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: The emergency shuttle bay & The Scylla
WARNINGS: Potential disturbing themes.
SUMMARY: Exploration and salvage of the Scylla and the emergency shuttle bay it's docked onto.
NOTES: April 28 onwards.

An emergency shuttle bay is found tucked away above the 50th passenger floor; holding only two transport shuttles and a network console, it contains the final evidence of the pirates' work. Here, large amounts of the equipment and items they looted from the Tranquility are piled up: some waiting, some already packed up into storage crates for transport onto the Scylla— and some, though not much, already stored away on board. How they came aboard is made clear now by the two holes cut through the metal of the hull-side wall— the openings connect to docking tubes, which provide an easy route onto the Scylla herself. On the wall above is a message left in red: MAKE IT QUICK... And with the jump fast approaching, it might be best to take heed...

Comments

[goldshirt]

[he feels like something unsaid is going on behind Sulu's words, something that should be a promise and that Kirk will believe in the front of his mind and fear in the back of it. their line of work didn't really allow for those kinds of promises, George Kirk's death had set that up for Jim long before he'd gone into Starfleet, defiantly disregarding the rules of not just the Federation but of the universe. but Jim remembers some of what those two said when they came out of the ship, about not being able to leave if you give too much up.

his grip tightens, just a fraction on Sulu's shoulder. Sulu might say I'm not going to leave you here, but Jim knows there wasn't a chance he'd be able to leave this universe if he didn't take his crew with him. if they got to the end, and for some reason Sulu or Spock or Bones or any of them couldn't make it back—

well, Jim knows what his decision would be.]

Damn right. [he agrees, and he pushes the smile onto his mouth, urges confidence into his tone because as a captain, that's what he does. he knows he's as much the root of his team as they are the root of him. Sulu isn't okay, Jim is aware of it even if he doesn't know how, and for that reason he needs to be stronger.]

[leaps]

[ it should be a promise but it feels like a lie. sulu doesn't have that kind of hope anymore. he has a brief, desperate need to lay out what happened at kirk's feet like that will fix it, like telling kirk everything that happened will bring with it some sort of--

but kirk has enough burdens on his shoulders. kirk doesn't deserve to be saddled with the things sulu's got weighing him down. he needs kirk to believe they can get out of here, even if sulu doesn't. so he lies just to hear kirk agree.

they're in public and it's important maybe to be professional, to show that whatever sulu did it wasn't indicative of a divide. this was the moment to comport himself as an officer, but he reaches up and grabs kirk's wrist, hangs on tightly. it hurts, sharp jagged spikes of pain with every flex of his fingers, but sulu ignores it. ]

[goldshirt]

[he feels something unwind in his core when Sulu's palm closes around his wrist. it reflects in the softening of tension from Kirk's shoulders, something he'd been holding on to without really realizing it was there. this was Sulu reaching back, even if he's locked everything else down on high alert, even if he was tight lipped about everything that happened, and he wasn't telling the whole story.

the tightness in his fingers is the most telling, because it's the same way Kirk finds himself holding on to people when they get close enough.

he's hit with the desire to shift his hold, grab Sulu's hand and hoist him up and walk out of the shuttle bay. abandon this post and all of their duties until further notice and fall back on the handful of reprieves they'd found in one another: standing in the kitchen and sharing a meal, or falling asleep over the schematics of the shuttles. simple things, that were easy and safe. things that weren't loaded with words unsaid and a darkness that chipped away from the inside.

it's right there, in his gaze, when Sulu grabs him and Jim meets his eyes. they were the only two in this particular situation; humans from the Enterprise who have been railroaded by this ship, who'd been compromised in a way that Spock wouldn't let himself be compromised. it had been clear as day, when Spock had mediated them when Sulu came back.

Jim digs his thumb into the helmsman's collar, rubbing the bone, and this would normally be when he'd clap his shoulder and nod and dismiss the conversation. instead, he speaks without breaking eye contact:]

I'll come see you later.

[leaps]

[ it's desperate, almost. sulu knows that. it's clutching for a lifeline, but the lifeline doesn't exist. it's like being down a deep, dark pit and trying to claw his way out, except he can't get any leverage, keeps sliding back down. he's been changed to his foundations. there's not a way to get back. there were already cracks. he spent a month in the dark and the cracks shattered under the pressure.

and sulu can't articulate this. he can't speak about it, can't admit it. that makes it real. everyone must be able to see that something's wrong, but sulu's childish enough to think that denial keeps it from being tangible and permanent. ]

Make sure I'm sleeping, sir?

[ he wishes his voice didn't sound so flat. sulu misses the days when forgetting to sleep was his main concern. these days it's just wreckage as far as the eye can see, and it's almost laughable, how quickly that escalated. ]

[goldshirt]

You bet.

[his agreement should be lighter, but there's a weight to it, as though to fill the places where Sulu's voice has fallen flat. while the guise had always been to make sure Sulu was sleeping, or make sure Kirk was eating, it was as much companionship as anything else. he doesn't know what it will mean, now. what changes, exactly, have happened to Sulu.

but whatever it was, Kirk didn't plan on giving up on him. if their positions were reversed, Sulu wouldn't give up on Kirk, either.]