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((Space)) ::Within the eternal silence of the all encompassing vacuum, there was only death. Where life erupted outwards from the violent conflagration of a million tiny points of light, darkness remained ever patient for the moment of ambuscade; where atomic motion and cellular mechanisms coalesced to contrive creations never before imagined, the inveterate Cimmerian shade began its inevitable encroachment on life's sojourn. Life, despite its ignorant declarations, did not endure. Only annihilation endured as the darkness of the universe closed in and suffocated everything it surrounded.:: ::And in time, all that existed sought absolution.:: ::The Terran beings had a saying; nothing lasts forever. But they too were shortsighted even in this. Going about their inconsequential routines, seeking out meaning, matriculating upon new paths, and evolving, the tiny, complex combinations of pieces that were at one time stars, rode furiously straight into oblivion. Reaching out into the heart of caliginosity had only prolonged the inexorable truth that the end was just around the corner.:: ::But the Terrans, and their allies, were inconversant with the very universe they traversed and professed to understand. Though they could see into the inky blackness, they did not know her. They did not recognize the persistent tightening of the noose, nor, in their self-proclaimed enlightenment, did they comprehend the nefarious malignance that was inherent within the very absence of all. Nothing was intrinsically auspicious as the creatures believed. And it would be that belief that would guide them all to a potentially premature eradication.:: ::Contrary to the purported cogitations of those same creatures, who, in reality, knew far less than their egotistical minds asserted, space was far from the vacuous vacuity it was postulated to be. No, it was saturated with things and concepts that the fracturable beings could never hope to comprehend. Waves of information traversed vast distances in ways yet to be discovered by the simple minds housed within the metallic structure, against which those very swells broke as if they had found their way to some cosmic beach. With the compounded force of the universe's lackadaisical stance and the pernicious tendencies of the dark nonexistence, it reverberated through the so-called marvel of Terran engineering at incomprehensible speeds.:: ::What was not known, or understood by those that resided within, was that the constricting tendrils of suffocation, made of the timeless endurance of nothing, had allies. If there was an inherent malevolence all around that simply waited out life as it came, and went, there was an even more inherent defect in life itself. Where the nothing remained apathetic and patient, life was filled with the whims of loathsome indifference, obscene greed, vile lust, and an overwhelming need to create pain while tearing the good asunder. Life, as it were, took care of its own annihilation, leaving the [...]able nonentity to snuff out only the dying embers of it all.:: ::In time, the war whose existence made itself known on the trails of subspace waves and informative streams the Terran's were unable to detect would also pass, but not before oblivion laid claim to souls too numerous to count. Klingons, Romulans, Terrans and many others would be caught up in the righteous event, each seeking something that even the bulk of spinning metal in space knew to be only a weak dream of mildly sentient life. Altruism was a laughable ideal; love did not exist outside the minds of the most fragile of all species in the universe. And yet, they fought. They simply did not know what they truly fought against.:: ::The wispy fingertips of asphyxiation reached now for the structure that seemed so huge to the creatures that inhabited it, but which, it knew, was really barely an afterthought within the context of the enormity of the universe. They grew ever closer as a prodigious shadow fell across two empires and began to devour it all.:: -- 'Starbase 118's Perspective' Simmed by Captain Kalianna Nicholotti Commanding Officer Starbase 118 / USS Victory

Voting closes Sunday, September 16th, 2012. This round of voting only qualifies one sim to move on to the next round of judging. REMEMBER: This is NOT a popularity contest. Vote based on MERIT, not the fact that someone is your crewmate. Any crews found “stuffing the ballots” or ratings, will be disqualified PERMANENTLY. Yes, that means the whole crew!

(( Space battle )) :: With the two marines, Valentino and Hunt, flying in sync, the Klingons couldn't keep up with their movement. With Angelo using his guile and experience and Mike Hunt using his exceptional piloting and sharpshooting skills, it already led to the destruction of a B'Rel cruiser and a K'Peck corvette. Commander Vess chimed in. :: Vess: ::Smiling.:: =/\= If yeh two keep flyin' like that, we'll be all out o' targets before long.=/\= Valentino: =/\= Just get that Klingon ship off our tails and we'll do the rest. =/\= Vess: =/\= We're on it. Vess out.=/\= ::To everyone on the Bridge.:: Yeh heard him. Let's take care o' tail. :: The Rodimus Prime aptly drew the Klingon's attention and fire away from Valentino and Hunt. :: Valentino: =/\= Ok Mikey, let's do this. Follow my lead to the next on. Evasive pattern Beta 2. =/\= Hunt: =/\= On your mark Tino man. =/\= :: The two ships were flying is extremely close sync, evading Klingon fire. The approached another Klingon K'Peck corvetter. They split the Klingon's attention and viciously destroyed the Klingon ship with impressively accurate firing. :: Valentino: =/\= Let's send these Klingon's running back home! =/\= Hunt: Yeeeeeee Hawwwwww! :: Angelo checked his console and saw another B'Rel class ship. Angelo led the line, with Hunt following closely. Impressive flying by the marine pair. :: Valentino: =/\= Approach the stern of the ship on the starboard side. =/\= Hunt: =/\= Why the rear man? =/\= oO What is he thinking Oo Valentino: =/\= Because the weapons on that side are damaged. Fire everything you have at that side. I'll draw their attention from the front. =/\= Hunt: =/\= I'll tear it up like a tin can! =/\= :: With the Klingon ship firing at Valentino, who approached from the bow side, he kept the damage to his fighter to a minimum by using sharp evasive techniques. With Hunt rapidly firing at the damaged vessel, it's shield on that side was destroyed also. A couple of fighters would have no chance against a B'Rel class ship, but luckily, this one was very damaged. :: Valentino: =/\= Nice shooting Hunt! =/\= :: Valentino performed an impressive manoeuvre taking his ship sharply under the Klingon ship, continuing to fire at its underbelly and positioning himself next to Hunt. :: Valentino: =/\= Fire at will mate! =/\= Hunt: oO Just like when I was a kid on the Hun tOo =/\= I'll give em everything but the sink =/\= :: The two small ships continued firing until the rear end of the Klingon ship exploded and broke off.So far, the two marines had led to the destruction of a K'Pek corvette, and 2 B'Rel cruisers. :: Valentino and Hunt: =/\= Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! Oo (OOC: Just like Maverick and Goose say! Lol) Hunt: =/\= So where you born this good or did you need to practice? =/\= Valentino: =/\= Hahaha, thanks buddy! You know I was born this good! But seriously, couldn't do this without you, you're making me look good mate! =/\= :: Valentino noted what looked like a heavily armed B'Rel class bird of prey. It was firing heavily on Federation ships and taking little damage. :: Valentino: oO OK, let'd do something no one ever has. Oo =/\= Hunt, make your way to that B'Rel class bird of prey, the R'Ver. Make your approach erratic and from the port/bow side. Be careful and don't get hit! =/\= :: Angelo has thought about the construction of the R'Ver. The necelle type features at the back of the ship didn't have much rotational weaponery and the shields were weakest there. Cue Valentino's imaginative ideas! As Hunt's ship approach the front of the B'Rel. :: Valentino: =/\= Valentino to Rodimus Prime =/\= Vess: ::Alucard tapped his console.:: =/\= Rodimus here, what do you need, Valentino? =/\= Valentino: =/\= Commander, I need your firepower! Vess: =/\= We have that in spades. What do yeh need? =/\= Valentino: =/\= I need Lt. Sharpe to focus all his fire at the R'Ver. I have an idea. =/\= :: The Commander patched Sharpe, who was working tactical. The comm system was open and Hunt was able to listen and pitch in. :: Valentino: =/\= Lt Sharpe, approach the R'Ver from the stern side and focus all fired at the rear end of the ship. =/\= Sharpe: =/\= Targeting required location, that's the weakest area if I am not mistaken =/\= Valentino: =/\= Yes Lt. The shield is weakest there at the moment. I am approaching the R'ver from underneath. =/\= Vess: =/\= What's yer plan, Captain? =/\= Valentino: =/\= My Plan? I'm going to rely on Lt. Sharpe's sharpshooting skills and disable the shield to the back/bottom of the R'vek. Hunt: =/\= That all sounds good Tino, but then What? Why the bottom of the ship? =/\= Vess: =/\= Antimatter. =/\= Valentino: =/\= Exactly sir, you took the words from my mouth, that's where the antimatter and impulse engines are stored. A recipe for a BIG explosion! =/\= Hunt: =/\= But you don't have enough firepower to affect that area, even with the shields down. If you remain there to fire, the R'vek will just destroy you. =/\= Valentino: =/\= Well...I'm going to slam my fighter into the underside and back of the R'ver. =/\= Hunt: =/\= TINO! MAN THAT'S CRAZY. Commmander Vess? Tell him he's crazy! He has a death wish! Stop being a hero, Tino =/\= Vess: =/\= He's right. Are yeh tryin' t' get killed?! =/\= Valentino: =/\= Well, that's where I'm going to place my life in your hands Commander. =/\= Vess: =/\= How so? =/\= Valentino: =/\= Just before I make it slams into the R'Ver, you'll have to beam me out. =/\= Hunt: =/\= See you soon Tino...I hope it not on the otherside. Hunt out. =/\= :: With Hunt firing at the R'Ver from the bow and the Rodimus Prime from the stern, Angelo's ship was left unoticed. :: Valentino: ::To himself:: You always have to be the hero! I better not die! :: There remained a couple of K'Peck corvettes and a single B'Rel crusier. The B'Rel class ship waas soon to be no more. Valentino timed his approach and concentrated on the console and the status of the R'Ver's shields. 75%....51%...35%...12%...0%. Lt. Sharpe screamed through the comm system to inform the whole fleet, it seemed, that the sheilds were down! Hunt's fighter pulled away and sped as far as possible. The Rodimus prime also turned. :: Sharpe: =/\= You okay out there? =/\= ::Sharpe asked.:: Valentino: =/\= Thanks Sharpe! Nice shooting! I feel the need...the need for speed! =/\= (OOC: Another Top Gun tribute) :: Valentino increased speed to maximum and targetted the underside of the B'Rel class ship. The computer voiced the decreasing distance: 200km....150km....80km....10km....2km... Valentino's fighter slammed at maximum speed into the underside of the B'Rel ship. The explosion was immense. :: TBC. A joint post by; Marine Captain Angelo Valentino Duronis II Embassy USS Thunder NCC-70605 & 2nd Lt. Mike Hunt Duronis II Embassy USS Thunder NCC-70605.

((Breeman's Quarters - Starbase 118)) ::The night had worn on a long time and when it was finally over Kevin felt rejuvanated and yet also tired. He knew he would sleep tonight and that he would be much more alert tomorrow morning than he had been today.:: ::When he lay down he went over the peculiar discussion with the Orion woman earlier today. She'd been angry, demanded to know what had happened to Michael Ryan Kelly. He stared up into the darkness, trying to replay events from one year prior in his mind. He remembered the man materializing nearby. He'd felt a sense of relief. He'd seemed healthy, gone about his business. The transport had been fine.:: Mbeki: You know Kevin, just because you can see it doesn't mean it's working. ::Where had that come from? Her voice echoed through his mind from all those years ago. He again felt himself huddled beside her in the navigator's chair of the escape pod as they hurtled from Jupiter to Mars at some fraction of the speed of light he didn't care to remember.:: ((Flashback : Escape Pod near Jupiter)) ::The world outside the window was black now, save for a single brilliant mass directly in front of them. The stars were invisible, obscured by the oncoming glare of the slightly blue-tinged sun. He knew they still had weeks to go before they'd reach the gravity well of Mars. And once they reached that they'd need to wait another week to drift into a long-range orbit.:: Mbeki: So you're saying that because you can see the droplets outside the waste extraction system is working? ::He sighed and said,:: Breeman: Look, this is the forty-ninth time today you've asked me for the full checklist of items. You didn't care the other forty-eight times what the status of that system was but now you're suddenly interested? ::He was angry. He was tired. He vaguely remembered weeks ago finding Mbeki an attractive and fun-to-be around young woman. That had ended when she'd mentioned having a boyfriend. And in any case she had become more of a nuisance, calling back to him whenever he'd feel like he had just relaxed and alleviated his anxiety. He had hoped that she too would understand what had happened only a week ago, when they'd been set to perform a standard landing procedure on Europa when something went wrong.:: ::Around them the computer aboard the Epimetheus had reported rapid decompression on all decks and then an imminent warp core breach. He remembered running toward the nearest escape pod and then following Mbeki into one of the few remaining open hatches. Looking back it had been a stupid decision. They'd run headlong into a long-range survival pod designed for interplanetary trips. If only they'd ducked into one of the smaller pods. That was the first horrible truth he'd come to grasp when he'd understood what was really happening.:: ::This was the Academy survival practicum. He'd realized this when the impulse drive controller aboard their pod exploded almost the moment they'd ejected. But Mbeki still seemed to believe there really had been an accident and that that was the reason they were now adrift with nothing but their maneuvering thrusters combined with the momentum from the Epimetheus's ejection cycle to send them on their way toward the nearest Federation outpost. Mars. The second horrible truth had been that Mbeki still refused to believe that this was a survival practicum, and that no one was going to rescue them until they made their way themselves. She had been, subtly at first, refusing to acknowledge that their escape pod's gravity was a short-term luxury and not something she could take advantage of throughout the rest of their trip. And now he was dreading her vomiting, accompanied by more angry tirades, when the gravity net finally did give out.:: Mbeki: If that system fails, Cadet, we'll be more screwed than just having to deal with the smell of each other's [...]. ::Kevin shot her an angry glare and said,:: Breeman: Yes, thank you. I'm aware of that, Cadet. ::He wanted desperately to go to the back of the pod and look at Jupiter again, to watch its receding swirling face for a while.:: Mbeki: Now please. What is the status of the waste extraction system? Breeman: Functional. ::He said it with emphasis on the first syllable.:: ((Present - Breeman's Quarters)) ::In the darkness of his quarters he felt almost as alone now as he had then. Had he made the right decisions? Was it necessary for him to re-check his work on the off-chance that something somewhere might have failed? And inevitably systems did fail.:: ((Flashback: Escape Pod near Jupiter, Two Weeks Later)) ::He scratched at his growing beard, opening his mouth and bearing his lower teeth as he watched the readout. They had only three weeks of water left.:: ::They weren't going to get through this. He could feel it in every fibre of his being. It had been three weeks. They still had at least eight before they would reach Mars.:: ::He thought of the last few conversations he'd had with his father, when the man had grown ever more skeptical of his decision to join Starfleet as the date of his departure neared. Perhaps he had been right. At this moment Kevin could have been sitting in a comfortable chair sipping a coffee while debugging code in some animation studio or at an engineering firm. He could have been sitting in a meeting room where there would have been so much space he could look out for meters without his eyes making contact with a single object. But instead everywhere he looked the spaces were cramped and more often than not his eyes fell on Mbeki, her round curves and dark skin at once visually appealing and yet also forbidding. She was an annoyance. She whined and complained about everything he did. He had grown to hate her every gesture and movement. He hated her because he knew that if he allowed himself to feel any more deeply than tangentially what he was now feeling she would see him cry and she would judge him for it exactly the way everyone else would.:: ::”Crying won't solve anything!” he envisioned her saying, and thereby scoring another point for the Mbeki side of their on-going spats.:: ::That brushed up against the real memories of conversations he really had been in, when he'd slammed his bedroom door in his father's face, screaming, “I'm joining Starfleet whether you like it or not!,” or when he'd solemnly declared during one dinner table spat, “I will not prostitute my mind before your working class ideals!”:: ::The words hung there in space, the context surrounding them now all but gone so that they arranged themselves around him like constellations on a zodiac of his past mistakes.:: :: “You have to take responsibiliti for yourself!”:: The words had rung muffled through his bedroom door just over three years ago. “You can't keep looking for people to do it for you!” ::His lips quivered and he barely suppressed a tear and then said, nearly growling to keep the emotion at bay,:: Breeman: Listen... Bathing. We can't keep sponge bathing with that much water any more. ::Mbeki crawled over toward him and stared at the readout as well.:: Mbeki: Great. Three weeks. That's just goram great. And what about the gravity situation-- ::The topic of the escape pod's gravity came back again as it always did whenever he'd discuss their current power situation with her. And, as he'd taken to doing over the past week, he cut her off and pretended to ignore the question.:: Breeman: And that's not the worst of it. Valve two on the transfer pump is failing. I'm going to have to use power to do an EVA to fix it. ::She nodded now and the river of relief that gushed through him threatened to cause him to faint. He would be able to spend some time outside this accursed pod and away from her.:: Mbeki: Oh wait. Why don't I do it? I need you to work the latches on my way out. ::He didn't bother to suppress his disappointment, which by now was turning to rage again. He rolled his eyes and said,:: Breeman: Oh anyone can work the latches! Come on! Mbeki: It's delicate work out there, okay? Frack! And we've only got two people in here, not a whole crew! ::Kevin sighed.:: Breeman: ::Barely under his breath:: And it's a good thing too. ((Present - Breeman's Quarters)) ::In the end he had been glad to have a bit of time to himself, even if he spent it opening and closing a bunch of latches. He'd gone over a thousand different versions of the things he'd say to his father when he returned. He'd thought to apologize, to break down crying, to let himself go and crumble. He'd sobbed there in the dim lighting of the aft control panels whenever it looked like she was out of view. The clank of the airlock had been signal enough for him to regain his composure, and when she finally had returned he'd thought to try to get on more friendly terms with her by asking how the view had been.:: ((Flashback: Escape Pod near Jupiter)) Mbeki: I don't know! I just fixed the [...]ed transfer pump and got back inside! ::He glared angrily at her. He was stuck with this shrew and there was nothing he could do about it, save fling himself out the nearest airlock and asphyxiate to death. He'd heard about suicidal ideation during prolonged survival situations in his psychology courses last semester.:: ::Unfortunately that had not prepared him for the survival practicum. He knew there was a very real possibility that they had dropped completely off the grid and were not traceable on anyone's sensors. To be sure, if a rescue ship were dispatched they might be able to find them. And he knew that located in the back of this pod was probably an emergency distress beacon that he could press, indicating he wanted out of the practicum. And then he could go back home in spite of the protests of people like David Owens or Mbeki, if she finally did catch on that this was an exercise.:: ::They were within one thousandth of a lightyear of Earth, their home. And yet right now the space around them in this local neighbourhood of planets called the Sol System was the most inhospitable place he had ever known.:: Mbeki: Well? Are you going to put this away? ::He nodded, taking the tool kit and setting it back down in the provisions trunk below the floor. Soon their gravity net would fail. He didn't want to tell her.:: Mbeki: I'm going to take a nap. ::Without thinking he said,:: Breeman: Mbeki. Mbeki: What? Breeman: The uh... gravity won't last for more than 24 hours. Mbeki: How could you know-- Breeman: Because it's not designed to. Mbeki: What? Breeman: This is an emergency escape pod. It has one purpose. To keep us alive. And it's designed to do that no matter what the cost. Mbeki: Are you saying we'll be weightless? Breeman: I'm afraid so. ::She looked at him as though he'd told her he'd killed her family.:: Mbeki: No. ::Her voice shook with anger.:: We are not going to live like that for eight weeks! ::Kevin's frustration and exasperation consumed him as he glared at her angrily.:: Mbeki: I didn't join Starfleet just so I could float around in space! ::She swallowed and spoke evenly,:: Fix it! ::His father again. He shoved the memory from his mind, forcing down another sob.:: Breeman: I can't. Mbeki: Fix it, [...] you! Fix it! ::He shook his head briskly, terrified at the horrible place he was now. He couldn't keep them alive while maintaining gravity. He could go nowhere where Mbeki wouldn't be just around the corner or just behind the door.:: Mbeki: God [...] you! ::He wanted to let the words tumble over him. But here he was. Kevin. Alone, cut off from the family he'd done everything to reject during those final days just before he went off to the academy.:: Mbeki: We'll be just floating. Our bones will atrophy and we won't ever be able to walk again. We'll be just falling! ::He ignored the first comment about the atrophied bones. He suspected it wasn't true.:: Breeman: We are falling! Look outside. Look around you! ::There was a brief flicker as one of the lighting panels switched off.:: Mbeki: What was that? Breeman: It's the power redistributing itself, Mbeki. Now do you want to be able to see or do you want gravity? We can't have both. And don't think the sun will give us enough light. Those front windows are polarized. And I can't turn that off. We'll go blind. ::There was a brief grinding sound as one of the air filtration units began to give out. And then another light switched off, plunging them into total darkness. The grinding stopped and soon he heard a whir. He could hear Mbeki breathing unevenly in front of him. Nevertheless he felt relieved. The escape pod had made the correct decision.:: ::But now his decision not to deactivate the gravity grid for Mbeki's sake was costing the escape pod dearly. Its onboard computer was having to make ever more drastic decisions. Lighting or air filtration? Transfer pumps or water rations? He looked at her in the dark, hoping she would come to the decision herself and ask him to turn off the gravity. Inwardly he sighed. There was no chance of that happening.:: ::Instead she walked briskly toward the makeshift bedroom she'd made for herself inside the utility closet, yanking at the door so it clanked as it slid closed behind her.:: ::Kevin sat down on the floor in the dark, and heaved a sigh. Finally he stood and turned around.:: ::Opening the power systems panel he accessed the gravity control. Replicator rations were the most tempting place for the extra power to go. He flicked the switch beside the gravity net and suddenly he felt himself falling while the world around him remained stationary as it had been before. He resisted the temptation to reach out and grab hold of the nearest object, while his stomach tightened up as his core tried to regain his body's stability. In a few moments he calmed that impulse as well and moved his concentration around to different parts of his body in order to acclimate himself.:: ::He felt the bones in his legs and arms drift apart ever so slightly, now held in place only by the tendons that connected them. He let his body remain frozen while the fluid in the semicircular canals inside his ears drifted around freely, brushing up against random combinations of nerve endings as his brain demanded to know just what direction up was. Finally it was time to let Isaac Newton have his way. He tapped lightly on the console to move the power into replicators and illumination, knowing that this would be his last act standing on any kind of surface. As the lights came back on he gently drifted away from the panel, his torso tumbling backward, his hips and legs finally following. Briefly the world around him started to spin again as he let himself register the end of the last visual clues as to which direction was up, while the fluid in his inner ears sloshed around some more. Now at his feet, the panel closed with a mechanical whir. Moments later he heard the sounds of several latches around him clicking open. Hand grips now protruded from all the walls.:: ::He could hear a soft sobbing from behind the door to the utility closet. He wanted to call out to her. “I'm sorry,” he wanted to say. But if he did would she come flying out, a flailing mass of hair and arms and legs, and hurt herself or Kevin, or worse yet do damage to the escape pod? If he tried knocking on the door and comforting her would she interpret that as his being improper? Instead he settled on simply floating there a while, condemning himself for having been so angry with her now that she was crying. He had taken matters into his own hands and frightened someone, a woman no less. He knew what David Owens would have said, were he still teaching at the Academy. But now both David Owens and his father were millions of kilometres away. Somewhere his father would be hard at work cutting branches off an old tree, or repainting the living room. His mother would be slaving in the study, working on her next book. His father might even now be dwelling on something he had said, doubting his ability to be a father. Or worse yet maybe he was crying somewhere, ruminating on the hurtful things the two had said to one another, confiding in his mother or his brother things Kevin now remembered with horror. His brother would be somewhere painting, or perhaps working with his father as he often did. Would he still be angry at Kevin? This was where his exodus had brought him, to a desert where up and down no longer existed, and he had lost the ability to walk and let off so much of the 'thought energy' that always built up inside him, demanding he release it by flapping his hands or walking. He clambered his way back up to the flight controls and pressed himself into the chair, securing every last strap he could find around himself. Then he wrapped his arms around his face and cried until his midsection hurt.:: ((Present - Breeman's Quarters)) ::Looking back that had been the first time he'd made a decision without anyone else's input. It felt good to know that. Owens had told him he couldn't keep retreating into himself the way he always had, expecting others to make the decisions for him. Soon he would have to face people and even tell them what to do.:: ::He'd done a horrible job during their survival exercise aboard the escape pod. Mbeki had eventually calmed down, after several long sessions of crying in the utility closet. He hadn't bothered to try to talk to her. Instead he'd spent the first three weeks afraid he'd provoke her anger. And he had been ashamed of himself as well. Why hadn't he been more adamant about telling her this was really all an exercise?:: ((Flashback: Escape Pod Between Jupiter and Mars, One Week Later)) Mbeki: I closed the air shunt vent down in the water control section. ::He had to smile at that. He turned to see a wispy-haired Mbeki drifting slowly toward him. He had to marvel at the way she had adapted to zero-G life so quickly. She now looked like an orangutan as she clawed her way, hand over hand up along the grips, from the rear of the pod.:: Breeman: Good idea. I think we should be okay for now. Mbeki: I want to apologize for my outbursts earlier. ::She spoke with a professional-sounding tone. He wanted to ask which outbursts in particular she meant but thought better of it.:: Breeman: It's okay. This is new for both of us. Mbeki: Yeah... ::Kevin turned back toward the front window and they were silent for a while. He focused on the blue-white sun, but when he saw Mbeki's reflection in the window he looked down at the controls, to the mechanical comfort they gave him.:: Mbeki: Are you scared? ::He nodded before he realized he was doing so and then turned to face her. He thought for a moment about saying no, but realized that would create dishonesty in an environment where the two of them needed to work as a team.:: Breeman: Kinda. Yeah. ::Then she said the unthinkable.:: Mbeki: Why? ::He let his hands hover near his ribs, allowing his shoulders to float more freely. It wasn't like he could let them slump.:: Breeman: Because I don't know if we'll overshoot Mars' gravity. I'm scared we let Jupiter's gravity well alter our course, maybe by drifting too close to Io. And I guess because... We're going to have to cross the Asteroid belt. ::Mbeki laughed loudly and said,:: Mbeki: Yeah but the asteroids are so loosely packed that we probably won't even notice we're there much less see an asteroid. ::He nodded. She was right. Indeed the objects would whiz by them so quickly that even a close flyby would be unnoticeable.:: Mbeki: Believe me Kevin. I re-checked the calculations a hundred times. I've looked at the gyros. We're fine. ::He knew she had but that the readings wouldn't be accurate enough because they didn't have gravitic sensors on board. All she had was the on-board computer's last known trajectories of all objects in the Sol System about which the Epimetheus had bothered to concern herself.:: ::And yet he had to use that. He couldn't allow this fear that they would drift on forever to eat away at him.:: Mbeki: We'll get there. And maybe.... ::She waited a moment, her eyes falling on Kevin's. He felt a surge of anxiety, as though she was expecting him to do or say something but he didn't know what. He looked away and at the instrument panel to her left.:: Mbeki: I'm scared too. ::He nodded, watching her.:: Mbeki: I've done the math a thousand times but I can't tell we're moving. It's like we're just hanging here. ::He smiled.:: Breeman: I know. I never thought it would be like this. ::And then he decided he might now be able to share with her what he'd been using to reassure himself that they were in fact moving..:: Breeman: You see the sun? ::She looked toward the front window.:: Mbeki: Yes. Breeman: See how it's sort of blue-white? Mbeki: Uh huh. Breeman: That's because we're flying toward it to reach Mars. You can tell we're moving by looking at the visible light. Mbeki: Oh yeah! The Doppler effect! The wavelength is bunching up because we're moving toward the source. ::Kevin was relieved. That same blue-white mass of light in front of them seemed to stay in only one place, gently bathing the surrounding blackness in contorting waves of light as the corona shed energy. Nothing anywhere around them seemed to be moving.:: Breeman: It's too bad we don't have any telescopes because then we could look at the contracting visual field in front of us and do some experiments with relativity-- ::CLUNK. He stopped a moment and Mbeki spun her body until she was facing the diagnostics panel.:: Mbeki: Frack! Water distillation system is gone. Oh God. ::He froze. Without water they would survive only for another two days.:: Mbeki: Wait. What about the heat exchangers? They're fine right? Breeman: Yeah but what does that have to do with-- Mbeki: Well we could rig something up with one of the air filters and boil-- Breeman: What air filters? We've only got one left! Mbeki: I don't know! Help me here! Breeman: I.. well... Mbeki: Okay hold on. I'm sorry. Calm down! ::He did his best to do so, as he looked helplessly toward her fearing another tongue lashing. He could still feel the knot in his stomach as parts of him continued to register just what had happened.:: Mbeki: It's not the air filtration system itself. It's the biofilter we'd need. We've still got one extra site to site transport. Now it's a gamble but if we used the biofiltering from that and tied it into the heat exchangers we could boil our water and then pass the steam through that filter as it condensed. ::His anxiety melted away and he felt himself smiling. He reasoned aloud,:: Breeman: We'd lose our last site to site. But that's nothing compared to going without water. Mbeki: We'll need to conserve our subspace beacon power. If we get too close to Mars or risk overshooting we'll need to call for help. That's allowed right? ::Kevin smiled broadly. She really did understand that this was an exercise.:: Breeman: Right. Let's get on it. ::He felt more happy now than he had ever felt in his entire lifetime, he decided. They were a team if only for this brief moment.:: ((Present - Breeman's Quarters)) ::The feeling of the bed beneath him came back with a jolt. Inside his legs his joints again registered gravity. He could tell that his face was pointing up, that down was beneath his back and buttocks. He imagined a pool of fluid inside his semicircular canals touching all the right nerve endings for his brain to form the picture of how he was oriented in space. He smiled now. These simple sensations always reminded him that he'd made it. In the darkness he remembered the last bout of three days' isolation in the regravitation tank.:: ((Flashback - Carl Sagan Memorial Hospital, Mars, 3 Hours After Landing)) ::He still couldn't stand. Whenever he attempted to do so his knees would protest, shooting pain out from his joints. He envisioned his femur and tibia sliding up against each other if he put too much weight on them. How did the nurse manage to stand like that?:: “Our bones will atrophy and we won't ever be able to walk again.” The words stung him every time he tried to sit up and felt his spine protesting as his head threatened to droop behind his pitifully arching back.:: ::And yet he felt contentment. He'd never longed for people in quite the same way. And when he'd think back on Mbeki he'd reach for his communicator and contact her again.:: Breeman: =^= Mbeki, how are you feeling? Mbeki: =^= Stiff. Like lead. God! But my boyfriend's here now! ::He smiled at that, feeling horribly guilty for every time he'd eyed her a little too long as she'd floated there in space over the course of the past eight weeks.:: Breeman: =^= That's good. Glad to hear it. ((Present - Breeman's Quarters)) ::The first night he'd felt like a rock pressed into the warm blankets as he'd slept. He'd dreamt in zero gravity, always beginning with numerous and painful hypnagogic jolts as his dream self switched off the gravity again. And he'd awake a few hours later and see vestigial images of floating padds and tissue papers drifting past his bed as the covers began to float up and fade away, only to reveal the real covers over his now awake body.:: One day his father and mother had visited the ward to see him. His mind had raced around with the things he'd thought to say, but every time he'd wanted to speak the words had seemed as foreign to him as utterances he might make to the native speakers of a new language he was learning. His father had hugged him and his mother had done much the same. They'd talked and laughed about stupid things, but everything had remained unspoken.:: ::He'd learned over the years to speak more openly. He'd even managed to express his love for a woman. What if he became a father? Would he end up having children as opinionated as he? Would he show his more opinionated side one of these days to Savannah and thus risk hurting her?:: ::But maybe his father had already helped him get over those tendencies. He'd shown no disgust when Kevin finally had apologized to him for all the things he'd said to him. His last thought as he drifted to sleep was an observation that he could no longer count the number of times he'd found himself in situations where so many barriers he'd put up for himself throughout his childhood and young adult years had been destroyed.:: Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Breeman Chief Engineer Starbase 118