nexus_crossings | Scorched Earth Policies

Scorched Earth Policies

Blaze tends to treat the Plaza as one stop on her patrol route through the Nexus - and usually the last stop, at that. Today, however, she’s not going anywhere else. She didn’t even stop to repair the burns and blade-marks that mar her white armor before she showed up, and she doesn’t sit now. When her boots hit the paving stones she strides a little way further in and just stands there, metal face locked in a frown. Her tiny silver Ghost materializes beside her shoulder, shell spinning as he studies his troubled Guardian.

"If you found out someone erased part of your history from the records, how would you deal with that?” she blurts out, never one to hold back on her thoughts. Her helm’s gripped in her left hand, and she taps it against her leg uneasily. “You think there are any stories that just shouldn't be remembered?"

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Jim's not very used to being saluted. It's not something commonly done in Starfleet, and while it could very well be a part of her culture - whatever that is - it does give him pause for a second, unsure of what the polite response would be. He errs on the side of not saluting back, nodding in acknowledgement instead.

Still, he's paying attention for behavior that would hint she's familiar with him, or thinks she is. Can never be too careful in this place, now that he knows there's another one of him running around. And it seems bad form to start every conversation with a disclaimer before he even knows whether there's a need to clarify in the first place.

Jim frowns a little at her answer, considering that. "What kind of group? Military, political, scientific? Were they doing anything that someone would wanna keep buried?"

Edited (Typos urgh) 2017-09-17 14:24 (UTC)

Saluting hasn't been standard practice for her Earth's military in centuries, either. Blaze just goes back a long way. The programming is hard to shake, even if it's become a more general respectful greeting these days. They don't really do ranks any more, either.

"Military. They were- are, Guardians, like me. An order of heavy troopers using techniques the rest of us can't. Seems like they used to be pretty important in the City, too. They had some kind of falling out with my commander, ended with them severing ties. He won't share the details, but he called them mercenaries. That doesn't sound good, but it's not enough to explain erasing them."

Well, that does sound... kinda fishy. "Sounds like maybe they went rogue? Or it's cover for some kinda black ops thing." Jim has rather uncomfortable firsthand experience with the dark underbelly of Starfleet now, something that hadn't even occurred to him might exist before. Doesn't mean he agrees with any of it, of course. Getting tangled up in that almost got his whole crew killed, all to keep it a secret.

Although... the public doesn't really know what happened with Admiral Marcus, either. And as much as Jim absolutely hates having to keep his mouth shut about it all, classified is not the same thing as erased, at least. And information like that has a habit of leaking eventually.

"Could be someone's trying to cover up criminal activity, too," he adds, crossing his arms over his chest as he thinks on that. "What do, uh, Guardians usually do?"

"I can't buy that the commander would cover for criminals." She wouldn't have thought he'd countenance editing their history like that, either, but. "Protecting the City is his life. All our lives..."

Sssspeaking of which. Both machines are giving him a definitively surprised look. Blaze laughs then. "Hold up a second. Have we met?"

Hmm. Well, he doesn't know this commander person like she does. So if she thinks it's not likely, scratch that answer.

The surprised looks hint - rather strongly - that they're probably familiar with the, uh, other Jim. It's not really a big surprise, but better to remove any doubt as soon as possible. "I don't think so," he says, although he doesn't offer his hand to shake just yet - a lot of species don't do that, so it's usually better to wait and see if they've got some different kind of greeting gesture first. "I'm Captain James T. Kirk. I'm guessing you've met the other one of me before."

"Crossed paths a few times," she confirms with amusement. She's already given him a salute, but the little bot beside her spins mid-air when she introduces him. "I'm Blaze-37, and this is Ghost. We fought alongside your counterpart once. Has someone already briefed you about Khan's invasion?"

He nods politely when she introduces herself and her... companion? And his expression sobers fast when she asks that question. He's only freshly out of the initial conflict with Khan in his own universe, only a few months back, and the thought of running into him here of all places is a rightly horrifying one, even before he heard about the extent of the invasion. "Bits and pieces. I'm told he disabled the anti-violence field somehow with some kind of magic artifact and brought his crew into the Nexus, and that there were... casualties."

"That about covers it, yeah. Took the whole Nexus working together to bring him down in the end. I got to hit him a couple of times and Ghost- heh. Turns out he programs a pretty good decoy of you!"

Oh no Blaze why did you bring that up? The little bot shoots her a surprised look and then gives a little embarrassed laugh. "Oh, that... well, it didn't last very long."

"Long enough to lure Khan in."

As awful as it sounds that any of that was necessary... at least they were able to take Khan down, in the end. As far as Jim knows, anyway.

"When you say decoy, what exactly do you mean?" he asks, since it seems like that might be relevant information to know.

"Just a reprogrammed hologram projector," Ghost assures him. "

You know, a new visual mode, a few synthesized speech files... installing a power unit for portability... I thought it wasn't too bad! I mean, until Khan blasted it.

"Must've been pretty good to fool him long enough to do its job," Jim says, a little impressed despite his animosity towards the enemy in question. Khan was one frighteningly crafty son of a bitch, and spending three hundred years as a popsicle didn't seem to have slowed him down any.

"As soon as I found out about the invasion, I made sure the Khan in my universe didn't stand a chance in hell of repeating it. Might've pissed some people off in the process, but that's worth it. He ever does get out, I've got some choice four letter words for the admiralty."

"It just had to lure him into the right place. Steve Rogers took care of the hard part, really." And paid the price, judging from the way Ghost's voice softens toward the end there.

Blaze nods approval at this Kirk's proactive approach... although she cocks her head at his wording. "What'd you do with him, exactly?"

Jim isn't familiar with Steve Rogers, but there's no mistaking that tone. He's heard it more than once in reference to his own father, for one. And he has an up close and personal idea of what kind of sacrifice it can take to stop an augment.

He suppresses the shiver that wants to come along with that thought, turning his attention away from that awful part of his recent past and onto the question at hand. "Uh, exact details are classified," he says, a little apologetic. "He's back in cryosleep though, and only a handful of people know where he and his people are. He doesn't know about this place either; only a handful of my crew do, and I'm the only one with a PINpoint or any other way to access this place besides the door."

They should really point out that Steve got better (and stronger... faster...) but Blaze's mind is already elsewhere and Ghost isn't going to interrupt. Besides, Jim will likely run into Steve himself one of these days.

The Exo is paying close attention to the captain's answer - not just his words, but his expression and body language. She's not the best person for ferreting out prevarications, but she feels fairly certain he's speaking the truth. She gives a synthesized grunt of understanding.

"They're not being held under any threat, then? If one gets out, there won't be retaliation against the others?"

"God no. I know what he does when his people's lives are at stake." Jim has often been accused of being flippant or irreverent, but none of that applies right now. The Enterprise had far, far too many casualties for him to take this lightly, not to mention the officers lost at the attack on headquarters. Especially since his own mistakes contributed to the body count.

"Were they before?" Ghost speaks up. "He was deeply concerned about them the first time we spoke, but I'm not sure about the accuracy of his risk assessments."

"Heh, he thought picking a fight with the Nexus would make his position better, didn't he?"

"I was thinking more 'murderous egomaniacal warlords don't make good character witnesses'. But that, too."

"He thought they were, yeah." This whole thing is weird to Jim. The truth about what happened, at least for him, is so deeply classified that having people discuss it so openly here is just plain bizarre, and he's not sure how much he can even say about it. Or should say. Or wants to. But these people were subject to Khan's wrath, same as him, just presumably with less stupid fuckups along the way. Don't they deserve to at least know why?

"It's a long story and I'm not supposed to talk about it, but it kinda sounds like some of the cats are out of the bag already."

"Heh. I get it. Hell, I bet Exos like me were a military secret once. Context changes, though. The old rules couldn't hold up against dark magic and catastrophe. And in a place like this, ignorance isn't going to protect any of us. Your people or mine." Blaze's easygoing tone has faded by that last. "Politics mean nothing here, and I'm not asking how to make another Khan. Genetic enhancement's never been our style anyhow. But I want to know where he came from, captain."

"Besides, he was flying around the Nexus vomiting plasma at people," Ghost points out. "It's kind of... late to try and hide him."

"I get it," Jim says, and he's certainly not taking this lightly either. "It's not really the Nexus I'm worried about though. Khan's proved that problems from my universe, or one like it, can have one hell of an impact here. I can't see a reason why the reverse can't be true too. If I say or do something here that gets back to my universe, I have to be ready to face the consequences, and I don't mean just court martial or political fallout, I mean people's lives. Possibly interstellar war."

"That said," he adds, "I'm not interested in hiding Khan or the things that he did. And the last thing I want is to leave anyone here unprepared if he, or somebody like him, shows up and gives a repeat performance. The cover story's already blown to hell as it is, so it's not like I'm going to try to feed you the same bullshit Command came up with." His tone makes it pretty clear that he doesn't approve of having to spout lies as it is. If he had his way, he'd just never talk about any of that clusterfuck ever again. But he can't get away from it, any more than he can get away from being George Kirk's son.

"I don't plan on censoring any of the strategically important stuff or anything. I just can't give every detail."

Edited 2017-10-21 18:48 (UTC)

Blaze gives him a good look, and nods. "Seems we understand each other, then. Just remember that next time something like Khan comes through, the people here are the first line standing between him and your world."

It's a more robust line of defense than it looks, and Blaze has learned to respect what the 'civilians' here are capable of. They're still civilians by her metric, and if they're going to be in harm's way they damned well deserve all the intel they can get.

"So what's the truth of the story? Who engineered him? How'd he get from there to here?" It's a fascinating question and she'd like to put it to rest already.

Jim just nods, more than willing to accept that. It's part of the reason he's not just doing the time honored 'no comment' and running off before she can press him further on the matter. That, and he's already been worked over by an expert some months back, and that hasn't come back to haunt him. Yet. That he knows about.

He scrubs a hand through his hair, trying to figure how to even answer that. "Some of the details are lost to history, but what we do know is three hundred years ago, scientists were trying to improve the human race through genetic engineering. Popular theory is that they wanted everyone to be as equal as possible so old prejudices would die out. There's another theory that says the old Earth governments wanted supersoldiers. Khan and his people were the result, and for whatever reason, they decided that physical superiority meant they should be in charge. Millions died, cities were destroyed, lots of records were lost. By the time the Eugenics Wars were over, Earth was a different place."

"I don't know if Khan and his people just escaped, or if they got shot out into space as punishment instead of executed, but they ended up on a sleeper ship and didn't get discovered until about two years ago."

"Maybe I'm biased, but I know which theory I'd put money on," Blaze notes. The lights of the Exo's eyes are dim and narrow as she listens. "Those Augments were soldiers. Critically flawed, sure, but you can see the kind of logic that designed them. I guess it's not that strange, considering what humanity was like in the old days. Just disappointing. Hnnh. If I'd known Khan was so far gone I'd have been faster on the draw with him." It's a regret, but not one she'll dwell on.

"So... did your people wake them by accident, then?" Ghost sounds concerned, but he wants to hear the end of the story.

Jim just nods, not disputing her conclusion. The equality theory is popular because that's what the Federation is founded on, and people often want to take the more optimistic view of their ancestors. But humanity can also be ugly and brutal and savage, and especially in the days before First Contact, it often was. He has no trouble whatsoever believing that the old governments would use genetic engineering as a power grab, or that it backfired on them so horribly.

This is the part of the story where he has to be careful. Can't give so much as a hint that part of Starfleet was responsible, that Admiral Marcus was behind it all, no matter how much Jim hates having to bury that small detail. The consequences could be steep, if word ever got out. "The faction that found their ship woke Khan up, yeah. I don't know if they knew who he was before they did or not, but it seems pretty damn likely, considering he's the only one they revived. They kept his crew in cryosleep as hostages to his good behavior and tried to get him to work for them. Making weapons and stuff like that. It... didn't go well." He looks away, remembering just how many casualties came from one man's warmongering. Civilians. Starfleet officers. Beloved friends. Himself. The wounds run deep, and even months later, it still haunts him.

"The man who made all those decisions is dead," he adds, since that is probably tactically relevant. No reason to have them prepare to face a threat that won't be coming, not from that corner, anyway. "Khan killed him too."

Starfleet's involvement is less a secret than he might think, since Khan himself was quite vocal about blaming them for his treatment. The two bots can draw some immediate conclusions about the faction Jim describes, although both more-or-less just think it's clear enough not to be worth commenting on. They listen closely, Blaze nodding now and then.

"Doesn't surprise me," she says to his last remark. She doesn't sound sorry to hear the man's dead, either. She's no cunning reader of hearts, but it's clearly hard for the captain to talk about what happened, in a way that goes far beyond concern for clearance levels. It's not too hard to extrapolate the kind of damage Khan would do on his way out, if he started with access to a weapons lab.

"Thank you for telling us all this," she says, voice a little gentler. "It's more than just intel, you know. To me anyway. Puts things in context."

It's nowhere near as secret as Jim thinks, or hopes, that it is. Most people here have been understandably hesitant to discuss the events in detail, and after his own recent encounter with Khan and Section 31, Jim has not remotely wanted to pry. His imagination can fill in most of the gaps just fine.

He's not sorry that Marcus is dead either, only sorry that the man's daughter had to watch. The rogue admiral had every intention of destroying the Enterprise and killing her entire crew to keep the secret from getting out. Had succeeded in killing over twenty percent of them, nearly one hundred souls. Without knowing who else might be a part of Section 31, who else might be willing to go to those lengths to keep the shadowy branch of Starfleet out of the public eye, Jim is adamantly keeping his mouth shut about those details until it's clear to him that they're already out there. The last thing he wants is for that to be traced back to him, and put his people - and everyone else who knows - back in the crosshairs. He might be jumping at shadows, but he'll take that over being blindsided any day.

"You're welcome," he says, looking back up at her, and at Ghost. "I kinda know how it feels to be stuck outta the loop when bad shit happens."

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Scorched Earth Policies

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I'm very sorry for the slowness, RL has been crazy!

No need to apologize! :) RL stuff always comes first

:3

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