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 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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