Deag noticed Samir look down at his wrist again, noting he’d been doing so quite a bit during the conversation. As he looked back up he spoke suddenly.
“I think perhaps I should go check on our Weilan guest. It’s been a little while, just going to make sure he hasn’t fallen in or anything.”
“I could-” Pen started.
“No, no. I’d be a poor host to make you. Relax, he’s probably just not used to a Terran bathroom. After all, they aren’t made to be universal. I’ll be right back.”
With that he stood and made his way to the door before anyone could protest.
---
Gareth watched as another cut in the video brought him to the building’s side exit. Pen was being escorted by two medics. Helmet in one hand, the two men supported her as they walked. She stopped them before they reached the double doors, however. He watched her extricate herself from their assistance, place her helmet back over her head, straighten her posture, and walk unassisted through the doors. She did her best to hide any sign of injury and cheers started up as the troops outside saw who was coming through.
“CERBERUS! CERBERUS! CER…” the cheers quickly dwindled.
Gareth could see the shocked expressions as Pen passed by followed by five black bags. Behind the line of body bags was a recovery team hauling the mangled remains of four Sentinels.
Whispers and eyes followed her as she walked but Pen kept her visored attention squarely on the drop ship that awaited her. She made her way up the ramp and sat seemingly stoic as her team was placed aboard as well. The sentinel recovery team boarded a second ship, and the medical team joined them. This left Pen alone.
As soon as the ship’s bay door closed, Gareth watched Pen begin to shake. She tore her helmet off and whipped it into the opposite wall. Then she stood and began tearing into anything close enough to break. After a few seconds the rage passed, and he watched her collapse in front of the five bags sitting at the back of the ship.
At this the video paused on its own and a few seconds later the door slid open.
Gareth jerked away from the console. How long had it been?
Samir walked into the room a few feet and, as the door slid shut behind him, he brought his finger across the watch on his wrist. The video on the console closed.
“So…”
“So?” Gareth examined the man’s face.
He quickly realized that his viewing was no accident.
“I-” Samir started but Gareth cut him off.
“Why?”
“… why…” Samir paused a moment and then continued, “… I wasn’t going to. In all honesty I only recently came into the unedited footage of what happened. Pen never spoke of it and of course it isn’t public. They picked and chose pieces for propaganda works but… well nothing that didn’t look good. As I said I wasn’t going to do this but then we got to talking earlier today. You all care for her, at least from what I’ve seen. Ton’et clearly does. Deag is shrewd but doesn’t try to hide it. And you…”
“It’s… only been a short time but she’s saved my life. That’s… and more than once actually. So… anyway you, what, show me this so-”
“I think you, any of you that is whichever asked to use the bathroom, deserve to know-”
“Know what you’ve done to her?”
Samir paused.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Yes, in short.”
“I see,” Gareth grimaced thinking of what he’d seen just now, “You know she wakes up screaming?”
Now it was Samir’s turn to grimace.
“I… I didn’t. How oft-”
“Often, and now I know why. Lumin preserve… is that really what she sees? She said humans have something called nightmares… does she really relive that every night?”
“I couldn’t say but…”
“I… I don’t understand you people you know that? I don’t understand how you can do that to yourselves… how you could do that to her.”
“Answer that and I think you’d be hailed as a prophet or the next Buddha or what have you.”
The translator didn’t work on expressions or gestures, but Samir could guess a sarcastic eye roll when he saw one. Samir continued, suddenly taking a very serious tone, even worrying the silver band around his other wrist.
“Can I ask you… I see that she’s found some good company and there’s no direct actions to take but… could I just ask that you be there for her? She deserves better than what she’s gotten and…”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
Gareth didn’t confirm verbally, lost in his own thoughts as he was, but he nodded in the way humans did.
“Thank you, it means a lot to me… anyway, shall we?” Samir motioned back to the group.
“Of course.”
Samir began walking and then paused once more.
“Oh, and I’m sure I needn’t say but don’t mention what you saw to just anyone. Strictly speaking the higherups really don’t like designated secret information leaking. NIA wouldn't do anything drastic but… best not to test things.”
“Right.”
With that the two rejoined the dinner party.
“So did he fall in?” O’Brian asked jokingly.
“Ah no, just uhhh...” Samir looked at Gareth.
“I, err, Weilan wasterooms work a little differently but I managed.”
The group chuckled and continued on. Conversation topics varied but generally the mood stayed quite positive. Everyone save O’Brian was very interested to hear about alien cultures. What would have been mundane explanations of simple unspoken knowledge became quite fascinating discussions due to the vast differences in even the underlying construction of the different species.
Gareth did well to slip back into a genial mood but did catch himself drifting off quite frequently. The horror of what he'd just seen would hit him in time, as a Weilan he took pride in his ability to process his emotions quietly, but right now all he could really think of was Penelope. He’d gotten used to Pen’s face up to that point but found it looked quite different to him now that he knew what was behind it.
---
In time the dinner came to a pleasant end and as people filtered out Samir grabbed Pen’s attention.
“Could I…”
“Yea,” Pen looked to her three companions, “you guys go on ahead. I'll meet you back on the ship.”
She stayed behind as the room emptied.
“What’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know I’ve taken the liberty of loading a little something on your ship. A present.”
“I don’t like surprises. What is it?”
“Something that might help you in a… tense situation or two.”
“Get it off the ship.”
“Pen I-”
“I don’t want you bringing an armory onto the Nebula. Absolutely not.”
“Not weapons.”
Pen paused, prompting him to continue.
“Not even a full set of armor. Just a light model of the real thing… just in case.”
Pen narrowed her eyes at him.
“This wasn’t even your idea, was it?”
“I… not entirely-”
“I am not doing NIA’s dirty work.”
“And I told them you would say that but they insisted and… look they have their reasons and I’ll tell them again but their reasons aren’t mine. With what’s happened already, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it right?”
“… fine, but you tell them that I’m not some asset and I’m certainly not some operative yes?”
“Vehemently uncooperative is what I’ll tell them.”
“Utterly.”
Samir chuckled.
“What?”
“Stubborn as always. Glad to see it.”
She smirked. He continued.
“It’s good to see you, Captain. It really is.”
“You’re the Captain now. It’s just Pen for me.”
“Feels wrong… but if you insist. Civilian Penelope Aste-”
“Alright, alright, no need to add the civilian part…”
They shared a laugh and a hug before Pen headed off to catch up to the nebula crew.
Samir lamented the short time he’d been able to catch up with Pen but it was nice. He set himself a reminder to send Admiral Achebe a gift in thanks for allowing the break in protocol.
---
\ Sir. It seems NIA is starting to take notice of your operations. \
/ Oh? /
\ Seems Scylla returned that delivery and talked. It won't take them long to track down the supplier. \
/ No worries. He served his purpose. Only had one more use for him anyway. /
\ No worries on this end either. I’ve made sure they won’t interfere in your business again. \
There was a noticeable lag before a response came.
/ … Elaborate. /
\ I took a little initiative is all. Ships malfunction all the time. Tragic… \
/ I did not order that. /
\ No, I thought I’d anticipate your order. She’s clearly only going to continue. \
Again, there was a noticeable lag in response time.
/ Splendid. In fact, perhaps we should meet face to face after all. Its hard to find… assistance of your caliber. Who knows, I may need someone working closer to me… /
\ I’d be honored sir. \
/ Excellent. /
The transmission cut off abruptly, but Martin was quite pleased with himself. Some upward mobility would suit him well.