Curiosity Killed the Cat, but We Ain't Cats

[Marcus O'Terra]

Hawkeye

Two hours after Annexation Pt 2
Hawkeye headed into the galley, and sat himself down in front of the cortex screen there, he was determined to know what the little man was doing in his cockpit, who was he having a private cortex conference with, what was his secret, Hawkeye was curious, and it didn't help that he'd been forced to clean blood so that Marcus could use the bridge. Hawkeye turned on the screen, but after a bit, he was no closer to accessing the transmissions from the bridge, maybe this ship was built so that each cortex screen had complete privacy from the others unless directly linked, and only the bridge comm center had complete access to the other cortex screens. A thought hit Hawkeye, maybe he just wasn't proficient enough with machines to access the bridge comm, but maybe Ilana was. Switching on internal comms to the cargo bay, engine room, and crew quarters Hawkeye called, "Ilana can you come to the galley at your earliest convenience?"

[Jay Fuller]

Jay walked into the galley and went to the sink. He washed the blood off his hands from cleaning. The smell and feel of it on his arms made him want to puke. That or never eat again. He looked around the new ship. So far, he liked it better. The layout was a bit less confusing. As he looked around, he saw Hawkeye logging onto the Cortex.

"Whatcha doing?" he asked casually. Normally he wasn't one to strike up conversation, but he was tired of the silence that floated around the ship.

[Ilana Logan]

Ilana stormed into the galley, pissed off and covered in blood.  It felt like déjà vu really.  It definitely wasn't the first time she'd found herself pissed off and covered in blood. Although, admittedly, it had usually been her own blood.  She rarely got close enough to another bleeding person for it to be theirs.  In this case, she had been dragging bodies.  Bullet riddled bodies.  Dragging them through the ship.  She wasn't what you would call squeamish, but seeing one of the men sitting there clean just pissed her off.  Even the medic was bloody.  Her mood had really started to fall when she rolled one of the dead men and he fell on her, which smeared blood all over her shirts and pants.

"Gorram it Hawkeye! What the hell do you want?" She shouted. 

She wasn't angry at Hawkeye really, her mood wasn't his fault.  She was taking it out on him because he was a convenient target who had called attention to himself and his unbloodied self.

"What was so gorram important that you felt the need to drag me away from scrubbing blood off the walls?" She asked, fuming.

She crossed her arms, which left disgusting smears of blood on her shirt and arms.  She glared across the galley at Hawkeye, where he was seated at the cortex screen and mostly clean.  She hated him a bit right then for being clean.  She wanted to punch him in his face just because there weren't streaks of blood across it.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Hawkeye

Ilana was furious it was actually quite intimidating, especially with her dripping with blood and guts. How had she gotten so filthy, she'd only been cleaning an hour longer than Hawkeye, where had she acquired so much filth, she must have been hauling bodies. Jay was there too, he wasn't as filthy. Ilana was angry and Hawk wasn't sure why, could it be that she was angry about the mess, or angry that Hawk had called her up here, maybe she was angry because he was less messy, and therefore appeared to do less work, but Hawkeye had gotten the gorram ship into it's orbit, and in the meantime had begun to clean out the mess left behind by the previous pilot, and though Hawkeye wasn't bloody, he was definitely grimy. "Ilana sorry to disturb you, I just have a simple favor to ask you, I don't trust Marcus, and he's just taken over my cockpit to make some very secret calls, and I want to know whats going on..." Hawkeye was cut off as the cortex screen flicked on, guess he didn't need Ilana's help after all, apparently the galley cortex screen was just a bit slow on the connection. Pressing a finger to his lips he silenced the group, apparently he wasn't capable enough to silence the mic on this end, at least he'd shut down the camera, so any sound would betray them. Hawkeye heard Marcus say something about a man named Burt's bounty, who was Burt, had Marcus been working with him and turned him in when it became convenient, would he do the same to them, if he found out about their bounties? 

Hawkeye could tell Ilana wouldn't keep silent for much longer, so he disconnected the call, damn Hawkeye had hopped to gain more information.  

[Ilana Logan]

"If you don't trust the Captain, that's your problem.  Don't you ever drag me into this lāshǐ again.  You want to get yourself killed, or stranded on some random backwater planet, fine, but if you ever put me in the middle of your petty trust issues again, I'll kill you myself." Ilana said quietly, but firmly.  "I don't mind being asked for help, which you clearly didn't need anyway, but this wasn't help you needed.  It was an accomplice.  If you have a problem with him, say so or at least leave me the hell out of it.  I want NO part of this; I'd like to NOT be killed in my sleep, understand?"

She hadn't started off angry at Hawkeye, he had been a convenient target.  Now, however, she was.  Truthfully, she didn't know if she could trust the Captain or not either, but that doesn't mean she was going to get stupid about it.  If they were lucky, he didn't know about the tap, if they weren't however, things could go south fast.  All she knew for sure now was that she didn't know about the Captain, Fuller couldn't lie to save his life, and she now thought she could actually throw Hawkeye further than she could trust him.  Hawkeye had just shown her exactly how much he knew about being part of a crew.  Trust issues are one thing, going so far as to spy on the other members of the crew.... That was a bit more than an issue.

Note to self, get security for your own cortex panel.  And disable the camera, one way or another.

She didn't have anything to hide, but the thought of someone spying on her was creepy.  She stood there, staring him down, hands on her hips, waiting for his answer.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Hawkeye

Don't trust probably wasn't Hawkeye's best choice of words, he wasn't sure he didn't trust Marcus, it was more that he didn't know Marcus, only a day ago he'd met Marcus at the scene of a raid where he had been the only member to survive, Hawkeye didn't trust Marcus, not because he was petty or had trust issues, but because he simply didn't know the guy and he had things to hide. Also it was a bit of a pride thing, Marcus had came into Hawk's area and taken his cockpit right out from under him, sure Marcus was the captain, but in Hawkeye's opinion Marcus was only captain because he had seniority, Marcus hadn't done anything to earn Hawkeye's allegiance, he hadn't shown any leadership qualities, but he was captain in name, and Hawkeye couldn't count him out either, Marcus hadn't had his opportunity. "I don't have petty trust Issues, I've only known each of you for a few days, I have no connection to you, so why should I trust any of you at all? I won't go down without a fight, so if you want to threaten my life feel free, but remember I'll fight back." Hawkeye took two deep breaths, "Lastly, when I called for your assistance, the com wasn't linking to the cortex at all, and I thought maybe you'd have an Idea of how to fix it." 

Hawkeye had said his point, now the ball was in Ilana's court. Hawkeye placed his hand in prime position to grab his revolver should the need arise, curiosity may have killed the cat, but Hawkeye wasn't a cat and he wasn't dying here today. Hawkeye looked from one crew member to the other, spying on Marcus wasn't his brightest move.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus had been leaning in the stairwell for the later half of Ilana's roaring. He was chalking points and marks with his new crew. Judging from the running water, Jay was in there too. He didn't expect the young medic to speak up. He was young and seemed a bit meek. 

Hawks spying on him was a mix feeling. On the one side, it was relatively harmless. Nothing said was really confidential. However it showed an insecurity. 'My Cockpit' that cut into Marcus's ego a little bit. But more than that it said something about the man. He needed to be put in line, or at least realize the shape of things.

There was also the fact that the Chainless's comms could be viewed from consoles other than the main bridge. He'd ask Dare about fixing that sort of thing. The ship certainly had the hardware for it. 


"I'm glad. Hamlin. You waited to finish your duties before embarking on this little venture." He walked into the room, to the left of Ilana, along the port side of the room. It formed a square with each of the crew members at a point.  "Though you really should have let Ilana finish up. You WILL help her after this conversation."

"Let's start at the base of it all. Hamlin. You don't trust me? We've known all of each other less than half a day. I do not expect anyone to trust anyone else. Clearly that needs seeing too. You're curious on my call? Ask. now." His words were stern. His stance was ready. He had a pistol at his hip, and he marked Hamlin's revolver.

[Jay Fuller]

Jay looked over at Hawkeye and smirked a bit when Ilana yelled at him. It was apparent that she was not someone you wanted to get on the bad side of. He shut off the water now that he was finished. As he looked around, he saw Marcus, the new captain, enter the room. "Busted," he said jokingly, looking at Hawkeye. He figured he should try to speak up a bit more, since he'd be with this crew for a while. Granted, that was probably not the best thing to say, but whatever.

[Ilana Logan]

Hawkeye


Marcus was here, shit he'd heard that conversation, Hawkeye's first response was panic, but then Hawkeye realized, this would be a good chance for the little one to show his leadership skills, if he handled this well maybe he would have some potential. Marcus started off sarcastic which helped, show Hawk that !arc us was keeping his cool and was keeping an aire of control over the situation. Then Marcus got to the punishment, helping Ilana, punishment fit that part of the crime good. Hawk distracted Ilana from her work, though in truth he had said at her convenience, not come now. Then Marcus got stern and, brought the trust issue to light, at least the little man didn't expect them to trust him without reason. Marcus' next action was perfect, he handled Hawkeye would have done, he gave Hawkeye the chance to ask questions, so that the root of the issue could be reached. "I have only three questions for you Captain, one who were you calling, two why, and three; you mentioned a ransom for a man named Burt, did you work with him and then betray him for the money, or did you just capture him for the money." How Marcus answered the last question would show Hawkeye what kind of dirtbag Marcus was, the kind that hunted people for money, or the kind that betrayed his shipmates for money. Hawkeye kept his eyes focused on Ilana and Marcus, not taking his eyes off their faces and their respective weapons, Hawkeye didn't want either of them to pull a gun on him.

Hawkeye barely even noticed Jay or his comment, and he definitely didn't even take a moment to pay him any heed.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus sent a look toward Jay after his comment that was half chastising and half amusement. Which made it look rather odd and contradicting. Like when a dad scolded his son for scaring of rustlers when he shouldn't be holding a gun.

Fond memories. How few they are.

Marcus took note of the questions Hamlin asked and nodded. They were fair. Direct, but when he asked about Burt's Marcus almost laughed.

"In order of your asking. The man I called was Dare. He's an old contact of mine. Good with the cortext and sifting out jobs and bounties and the like. We've got a ship now, which means we need to feed IT and keep it healthy just as much as we need to keep ourselves the same. Lucky our Doctor seems to double as a Cook." 

He nodded at Jay, but kept his eye on Hamlin. "Which answers your second question with the first."

He stepped forward his hand away from his gun.  "As for Burts? He was a slaver. Feds put a bounty on him, Dead or Alive. Longstreet put a bigger bounty on him, Dead or Alive. I collected the bounty for DEAD, and some closure as a bonus." He rolled his left wrist and flexed his hand. "Dare is owed a finder's fee. So We'll be heading to Persephone to give it to him." The branding scar ached under the browncoat tattoo. Part of him wanted to punch Hawk right there.

"Don't forget, the three of us did just kill half a dozen men, IN COLD BLOOD, because a guy we barely knew told us too."

[Ilana Logan]

"Hawkeye, I can't exactly speak for Marcus here, but I'm not going to shoot you solely for being an idiot on your first offense.  And I doubt the captain would shoot the pilot for it, he'd at least let you land us first, I'm sure.  But I will say this: you will not bring me into a mess like this again.  I don't care how understanding he is about it this time.  Yeah, we don't know each other, and we can't exactly trust each other yet, but that isn't the point.  The point is, you didn't know how he would react to this when he found out, and yet you were willing to risk both Fuller and myself just to sneak a peek at something that wasn't any of your gorram business.  Trust is earned, and you've given us all ample reason not to trust you so far.  I suggest you remedy that." Ilana said.  She was still livid, but calming down a bit because true fury can only be sustained for so long.

She turned to Marcus and said, "As far as the rest of the mess goes, there isn't much left.  All that's left is about half of the cargo bay.  The rest is done.  I've been cleaning for the past two hours, working my arse off to get it done fast, I might add.  For the last half of that time, he's been sitting around doing nothing, unless you count being a moron as working.  As far as I'm concerned, he can do the rest himself.  I'm going to clean myself up, because blood is so not my color, and then I'm going to check on the engine room.  I want to make sure its in good condition before we go too far on it."

She folded her arms across her chest and waited to see if anyone had any problems with her plans for the next few hours.

[Jay Fuller]

Jay gave a thumbs-up to Marcus. He smirked, feeling somewhat useful, as he jumped up and sat on the counter. He silently sat around and watched the conversation unfold. Great, he thought as Marcus explained the plan, Persephone again. He had just come from Persephone before Beaumonde.


"I have to agree with Ilana here," Jay piped up, "But mainly because I'm about as good in a combat situation as a turtle is in a race." He shrugged innocently.

[Ilana Logan]

Hawkeye


Hawkeye now knew, at least Marcus wasn't a backstaber, well at least Hawkeye had no evidence to the contrary as of yet. Now Hawkeye knew where they were going and why, that made him feel a bit better, but he wasn't ready to trust anyone here, and they didn't need to trust Hawk. Ilana was being a bit of a pain though, acting like he'd been doing nothing all this time, in fact Hawk had been doing his own share of work, he'd cleaned part of the cargo bay, flown the ship into orbit, ran fundamental scans of the ship, checked the ships logs to see when was the last time the ship made port for supplies, Hawk had not been idle. "Ilana, don't you dare insinuate that I haven't done any work, I just flew this ship into an orbit, worked with Jay in the cargo bay, and began fixing all the crap in the cockpit. I've been cleaning up after the most disgusting predecessor I've ever had. Lastly I just restored the factory defaults to the crew quarters lock system, the comm systems, and disabled all the security cameras the previous captain had installed in each and every one of the crew quarters, directly linked to his room. I have not done nothing. Why isn't your work done, Jay is done his, were you given more work to do, or are you just less efficient? And by the way when I called you down here, this comm screen wasn't working and I thought you could have helped." Hawkeye realised that if he had explained the situatioon to Ilana that way, not opening with I dont trust Marcus, things might have happened differiently.Jay had the balls to sleek up, but what he said was completely useless, and Hawk thought that if it had been him and Marcus against Ilana Jay would have sided with Hawk, so he didn't pay Jay any heed. "Marcus, you can plot a course to Persephone on your own, I'll bein the cargo bay finishing Ilana's work for her."

[Ilana Logan]

Ilana wanted to punch Hawkeye in the face, but she knew that would probably end badly.  He's an idiot, she thought.  She straightened her back, not to look tall, because without stilts that just wasn't happening, she did it because she was pissed.  She looked right at Hawkeye when she spoke.

"First of all, I never said you didn't do any work, I said for the last hour you haven't done any work.  I wasn't insinuating that, I believe I said it pretty clearly.  For the last hour, you've been trying your damnedest to spy on the captain and his private conversation.  Second of all, no, I didn't have more work, I just actually finished my assigned task, aside from the very small amount left behind in the cargo bay.  I cleaned the crew quarters, the hallways, the galley, and half of the cargo bay.  Of course Fuller helped with some of that.  I'm not saying you didn't help at all.  You disabled the cameras, yes.  I could have done that much faster. When I manage to get to my quarters, I plan to make your work, in my room at least, wasted time, because I'm ripping the camera off the gorram wall.  I don't want a camera anywhere near my quarters with you on board.  I think you've given me ample reason for that."  She paused for a second then added, "Last thing, you're not finishing my work for me, you're finishing the small amount left in the cargo bay, which was where you were working in the first place, you know before you decided to play spy."

She wanted to stomp out of the room, but she knew that was childish.  She looked at Hawkeye a moment longer and turned away in disgust.  She had never met anyone who was able to push every button she had without even knowing her.  She took a deep breath and calmed herself visibly, and waited.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus watched and became more and more agitated at what he was seeing. No that wasn't the word. Pissed off? Not quite. Disappointed? Hardly had the expectations to back that up. Upset? No. Just no. 

Pissed off was fine.

One of them was in the middle of contradicting the other one when he bellowed out into the room.

"CAN IT, LADIES!" The echo of a drill sergeant in his mind.

"ILANA. HAMLIN. You will BOTH go down to the cargo bay. You will BOTH finish up cleaning the cargo bay. THEN. Ilana, you'll take residence in the single room on the port side. Hamlin. You will reside in the double on starboard. Jay get's the single on starboard cause that's right next to the infirmary. Both of you will wash up. No sense keeping him away from it." 

He looked to see if that registered before continuing. 

"We fly smart, this thing'll get us to Persephone in just over two weeks. In that time. I want everyone to get to know their corner of the ship AND we will have more than one pow-wow to sort out this bitch fest that seems you both seem to think passes for conversation."

He pointed at the pilot, the finger bearing all the wrath of an angry, short, god.

"Hamlin, that means sorting out what needs fixing in the bridge. I've scrapped more than one of these so I know what's vital and what's superfluous. Let's be glad Border Shipyards didn't like sparkly Bull-parts."

He turn the finger to Ilana, who looked like she was going to pop her face was so red. "Ilana, check out the engine room, sort out what's wearing down and what's sturdy. Root around in her guts if you have to, but TELL me if your going to shut anything down." 

He then turn the finger to Jay, and it had less of the fury it had before. "Fuller. I'll want an inventory on the Infirmary and the Pantry. You're Mess Sergeant now. Which, until the aforementioned discourse is sorted out, makes you second in command. Congrats."

He looked them over and his face darkened. "GET THE LEAD OUT."