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The Bajoran leaned back his head against the cave wall.  She had a point, and it wasn't something that he liked to hear.

"It probably depends on that chip.  I don't think the shuttle was the target, I think it was a means of disposal.  Destroy a shuttle, and there would be no question as to the chip itself.. it would just be one of many fragments.  Speculations won't do any good, though.  Its out of our hands.  Hold on." he said, standing up and walking over to Sukal at the head of the cave.  Nevir was almost instantly soaked, but he was looking for characteristics in the sky and the ground.  The mountain was in full eruption mode, with constant and small explosions.  The sky, however, was starting to look as if the main portion of the storm was over them.  Nevir walked back to Jiseth.

"I think the eye should be over us momentarily... its moving a bit faster than I expected.  That eye is our best bet if we want to try to get a signal out.  Though I don't envy the pilot who is crazy enough to try to run through it."

"It's either Wu or Ferris flying down. They're good, I'll just owe them drinks after this."

She offered a slight smirk, but her attention focused to the buggy. A transmitter was just, in simplest terms, a battery and antenna. Given their rather dire lack of sunlight to use the solar panels again compounded with the torrential downpour, Jiseth was hesitant to start burning through volts. However, their tracks would have surely been washed away by now and sending out a signal would be their only method with a decent probability of working.

Briskly heading to Sukal and the buggy, she took the device he had been working on and placed it in the passenger seat. Hopping into the driver position and backing up the vehicle was an easy matter of heading towards the bright light along a small corridor of green glow sticks. Stopping just short of the streams coming down like small waterfalls off the top of the cavern mouth, the Romulan crawled back to the rear seat.

"Might be a good idea to grab the flash lights and try to get their attention that way once they get low enough!"

Taking one of the power lines that went to a solar panel, she plugged it into the access panel to the active fuel cell on the buggy. The other end went to the transmitter. Sukal had been kind enough to not close the circuit and two wires stuck out from it. Contact between them would be what was needed to send out a signal which was not dissimilar from ancient telegraphs. Aiming the dish upward, she made sure to run through the Morse alphabet in her head before setting about tapping the wires together.

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[SOS SOS SOS DAMN IT SOS]

Jiseth's eyes went down and up, giving Gavin a brief inspection. It was fine he did not trust her just yet. She would have been worried if they suddenly started holding hands while tiptoeing through the tulips after bitter stalemates and trench warfare between them. To peal back the veil and see someone that she not only could tolerate, but actually like, it left an unpleasant taste in her mouth having spent so much time as enemies. Wasted time.

"I look forward to it and Callion will love to see her uncles again."

From her pocket she tossed several slips of latinum onto the bar with a flick of her wrist and slid off her stool. After turning away, she held onto the counter for a moment making sure she was okay to walk before heading towards the door.

"Good night, Gavin."

[End]

"Nothing wrong with adoption. Especially when the child would have such wonderful fathers as you and Thelos."

The Romulan could in fact give a sincere, heartfelt compliment from time to time. There was sarcasm or facetiousness to it. Part of having a rival came a grudging respect even amid blinding hatred. Though as time went on, perhaps induced by alcohol, she seemed to be at a loss for why they were at each other's throats in the first place.

Oh right, because you're a psychotic adrenaline junky and everyone thinks you abandoned Zero.

Calmly and quietly she took a long sip from her glass of water that had been thoughtfully refilled.

"...I'm a decent cook, although I'm sure the replicators would do just fine. When I was in secondary school, I'd take my bicycle to the bay and fish. Sometimes catch something, sometimes go after crab instead. Something always calming about the beach, though... I think watching thunderstorms is my favorite. Just taking in the sheer power of it all. No one at the helm. You ever feel something like that?"

It still made little sense. A cascading failure from a part so deep in systems and subsystems that no one would notice a problem until it went. Like an aneurysm for a machine. Her brown furrowed as she placed her gloves into her helmet which she held upside down by the brim in one hand.

"Alright... So it's not a fine example of local gentry out to get the scary imperialists. It means it was one of us. Not here, but a member of the crew. Except... Why now? Why a shuttle? Unless... Unless they needed to test whatever they were doing. If they could get to an Argo, they could probably get to somewhere more vital. Take out the whole damn ship."

"Unfortunately the shuttle's computer would have the only records of any alterations between then and now.  There is no way they would have missed a defective chip.  Prophets, if there was any question about the chips we would have never even been given clearance to run preflight on it.  I don't think any one of the flight crew knew about this.  Its... its just oddly convenient." he said, shaking his head.

"I really don't think this was us.  Even the backup systems fried.  That's not negligence on our part or the maintenance crew.  That's downright sabotage.  If it wasn't for your manual flying, we might have ended up a crater on the planet.  If anything, JAG would find that you saved us, and possibly the shuttle too."

She looked up at him briefly, testing to see if he was genuine in his words or just trying to make her feel better. Luckily for her, Bajorans were notoriously bad at lying. Or maybe it was the Romulan paranoia not finding any fault in his demeanor. Either way, she nodded and slowly stood, using the cavern wall to brace up against until she got her balance.

"I worry that Mr. Ferris is going to try to come down in a shuttle himself and get caught in the same mess. Such a security breach... The thing that doesn't make sense is we're not exactly top tier of the command structure. Stranding us doesn't really do anything aside from create a distraction or... Or there's something here someone didn't want us finding while we poke around the planet."

back to you

Sukal seemed to just be completely off in his own little world, as the storm raged outside.  The sudden temperature difference between the outside of the volcano and the inside fractured the cap, as the mountain began a slow eruption, especially with its molten rock melting and hardening its way down the slope.

Nevir was silent about the differences in the colonies, and he only shook his head.  "I'm more concerned about Hrafn... and my career.  But I guess I'll have to face the Prophets someday.." he said, letting the words drift off until she brought up a good question.  Nevir went to the atv, grabbing the small case out and going back over to Jiseth.  He opened it, and sure enough, there was a good sized blackened hole in the center.  There were scorches around the edges, but they seemed more consistent with an overload than the middle of the chip.

"Its from the chip itself.  Look at the differences between the middle and the end.  I would almost argue that the overload was a secondary event.  The burns just aren't consistent.  Who did the last maintenance check on this?"

[Planet - Cave]

There was a slight hesitation as the Romulan shook her head slightly back and forth.

"...The last time it went through a full system check was about a week ago. I don't recall who specifically performed the task, just that Ops did their routine stuff and Ferris signed off that the work was complete. The maintenance log went down with the Theseus, but several individuals should have copies on the Discovery."

Her head lowered as a pit grew in her stomach. Suddenly the food she had just finished was not sitting well and for good reason. What if she was found negligent? Ultimately she was responsible for all preflight inspections. If it were found that Jiseth missed a critical problem and failed to take any action because she was too busy joyriding in the buggy, they would pull her wings for sure.

"...It could have been something with the firmware of the chip. I guess we'll have to take it apart to be sure. At this rate it might be the only evidence that'll keep us out of a firing line of JAG officers."

Jiseth's lips puckered slightly. If there was one persistent annoyance, it was the absence. No matter how many times she went through the motions of rationalizing how far beyond her control the circumstances were, it never seemed to quite counter the weight of her sins. Not to Gavin and least of all to herself.

Slowly she started to nod her head in agreement.

"I would like that. Very much so, actually. It's kinda funny... Zero used to hate all the pictures I took. Not the prints themselves, but the act of taking my random candid shots when we were together. I guess I never really stopped to think why I was doing it or at least make the link between trying to preserve that moment and the very real likelihood of ending up in a crash I wouldn't walk away from. I seemed so familiar to Callion when we first saw each other in person... Like a missing puzzle piece finally put in place."

Raising her cold glass to her cheek opposite Gavin, her lips knotted again. If they were going to have a meal, it would be a shame if this tentative progress being made were suddenly set ablaze by differing culinary tastes. Jiseth was relieved however, to find she had no desire to poison the man's food which for a Romulan was incredibly generous.

"So... Italian suit your fancy? Plenty of wine with those dishes."

Outstanding. Well done on the backhanded observation of his drinking habits when you're supposed to be nice to him, you idiot.

"Well that's a pity. I was hoping for a good laugh."

She chuckled a bit as she sipped on her bubbly, red drink. Far too vibrant to be the color of blood, but it was as well have been given her reputation. And perhaps on the eve of the Apocalypse since she was sharing said drink with her sworn mortal enemy.

"And eh, we probably won't do anything like that for many months if not longer. Medical's done a number on her while I was gone. Guess I'm stuck with battery-powered nether region naughtiness for a whiiiiiile okay I think I'm... Yeah, I think I'm drunk. Can you feel your face? I promise I won't smack it."

For perhaps the first time since coming on the Discovery, outside of the company of Zero or Callion, Jiseth found herself genuinely smiling. Laughing even.

"They've going to think we've lost our damn minds."

From a slightly concerned bartender curious if the woman was really such a lightweight, she ordered a simple Shirley Temple. It was one of the few nonalcoholic Earth drinks she liked even though it was abhorrently sweet. He was even kind enough to put out several extra cherries in it. She never really could the stems to tie up using just her tongue and here again she failed, pulling one from between her lips and setting it on a napkin.

"...There was this one time, she memorized several books on the subject of sex because none of her colleagues in sickbay were too helpful on what to do. Camel Sutra or something, some old Human thing, I don't remember. What I do is what she was wearing then and how hilariously awkward her attempts were at well... everything. Her idea of talking dirty was to um..."

She leaned over to Gavin's ear and whispered.

"...Are you ready to engage in sexual fantisization, followed by erotic epidermal contact, followed by intense rhythmic muscular contractions in your pelvic region?"

There was a slight snort that accompanied her smirk. At the very least they could come to terms with how unpleasant a future it would be if peace was made between them. Not dissimilar from the worries of a century prior after Praxis popped, thus forcing the Klingons and Humans to put aside their differences in order to glare at each other and twiddle their thumbs another day.

Though in the case of Jiseth and Gavin, it was more accurately like getting the Borg and Species 8472 on amicable terms.

"It would be one less thing for her to feel stressed about... Plus, I'm trying to not be the absolute worst role model in Callion's life... Then the hormones will hit and if she was anything like me as a teenager, I may have to go on the reserve shift. You, I'm sure, have a much clearer memory of puberty since it happened for you like, what... Maybe a year ago?"

Her tongue playfully poked out briefly as she wiped the sweat off her forehead with a small napkin. It was incredibly warm in the room still to her. Like being on the cusp of the volcano's mouth rather than dunked in it.

"And by the way... I turn 28 in about 6 weeks. Halfway to being a cougar..."

Just keep breathing... Just keep breathing... You can kill him later...

"N-No..."

On one hand, she would never have to deal with the pains of carrying a child or giving birth. On the other, pretty much every woman she knew did not have to deal with the sensation of being slowly dipped into boiling magma. A sight that would surely please the dirty blond bastard next to her. She had to let out a slow exhale as her eyes closed tightly shut. She wanted to scream at some points as her heartbeats seemed to send out waves of fiery pain.

Very slowly she began taking rather concentrated breaths. Her eyes now focused on both her fists.

"...Life is like a... giant, crazy marathon... Everyone is going at it... Different strides... Different paths to take... You see someone struggling, you help them along even though they're competition... Oh to Hell with this analogy... Point is... Negative reinforcement is pleasantly refreshing at times... You insipid little nutless monkey... And for the record... They called on my brains, not yours, for that project... I guess that doesn't really mean crap for dick though considering, well..."

Jiseth's lips knotted as she gently clunked her legs together.

"Maybe... Maybe I think I need a friend like you... There. It's out of the closet..."

"You're not defective. Hey..."

Jiseth shook her head and tilted it to her right, trying to get a slightly better look of her counter part. Aside from this, she stayed perfectly still. It was a double balancing act between her legs and what Zero might reflexively jump away from. She could not blame her for those reactions though. She remembered quite well pulling the pale Augment from a small box they had cramped her in.

"You've never been defective. Of all the things they've done to you, you're still here. You're still breathing. You're still the one Ghost thinks is leader of the pack. You're still a practicing medical officer. Best one on this damn ship. That's gotta mean something. The people that came before you were adept at taking life and you do the opposite. You've saved people how many times? Brought people into this world even. No one can take that away from you."

She had to look away as she bit her lower lip. Jiseth tried to inhale slowly, but it still very much sounded like a sniffle.

"And... And when you look at me... It feels like I'm the luckiest girl in the galaxy." 

"A sense of security is a touch more important than sex, is it not? More than seeing Callion, I was curious to know where we stood. Like this, it isn't so bad for first being back. I keenly recall the loneliness in Medical, but even prior to that there were the moments like in the photographs. It's not so much about what was, I like to remind myself what could be. Probably one of the few things I'm genuinely optimistic about."

Her eyes drifted down to their arms together. The usual fire for perfection and completeness could not muster even a smoldering ember. It was a longer path than the wild night they first met and like incense was meant to be savored.

"I know plenty of cultures use some form of jewelry to display togetherness, but I think our daughter is more than enough evidence. She'll shine brighter than any gem and everyone will know who her mothers are. All things considered, I can't really imagine a better life than what we have."

The Romulan's fists closed slowing and quite tightly. It was not to be an over show of hostility. More like biting down on a bit of leather before someone sawed a limb off which was pretty much what she was feeling on hers which were already gone. As the alcohol sent off confusing signals throughout her body, the normal buzz was being shouted over by the pain along the joining of circuits to nerves. The enjoyment was almost entirely gone from the practice of consumption and sadly she was not nearly masochistic enough to savor the knot forming in her stomach. Perhaps she would end up drinking prune juice after all, at least it was respectable to her Klingon friend. Speaking of...

"He didn't goad me, just helped make sure I made the right decision... And for the right reason. If I shared your affinity for the male sex, I probably wouldn't mind running off with him into the pale moonlight to never be heard from again which would please a great number of parties. The problem is he's a friend. He wants to be supportive in anyway he can, but that's only a part of what I need. A rival, a counterweight to the pleasantries and smiles. Someone who will take every good thing I can muster and tear it all to shreds to make sure I see things for what they really are..."

Her eyes shifted back to him like turrets for disruptor cannons.

"...That's where you come in."