CHAPTER 28 - FALLOUT

DATE POINT: APRIL 26th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

SERGEANT ARIANA SILVA

“On your right!” Ariana yelled out as she sped down the hallway past a flustered pair of firemen.

“Hey! Watch it!” She heard from behind her, but she didn’t spare them a second thought. Gotta get to the quick lift!

She skidded to a stop at the end of one corridor and turned to the right before blasting down its length with another TK field. They had to dodge another person absorbed in their thoughts who also got knocked to the ground as they passed. She had to turn left and came to an awkward stop before another burst of TK sent them flying down the hall. There it is!

Ariana peered up and down the shaft of the downward side of the quick lift. Good. It’s clear. She then took a deep breath and jumped, dragging Preston into the shaft with her. She then threw her free hand above her and formed a hasty TK field overhead to slow their fall.

THUMP!

Not her softest landing, but it would suffice; the end was in sight anyway. Up ahead of her a pair of hospitalmen emerged from around a corner. Perfect!

“I need a medic!” They turned to look at her, then one immediately turned and rushed off while the other ran up to them. She then helped Ariana set Preston down and began to feel for a pulse.

“What happened to him?”

“He was in a pretty nasty fight and collapsed afterwards, I’m not really sure what’s wrong to be honest. He’s sparred quite a bit and never had an issue like this. Always passes his physicals with flying colors. He didn’t take any serious blows or anything either as far as I can tell.”

“He has a split lip, so he clearly took at least one blow to the head. Pulse is a bit elevated, same with his breathing. Some bruising, rapid eye movement also, almost like he’s dreaming. Clearly took more of a beating than you implied.”

“You should see the other guy.” Ariana beamed, looking down at him with a smile while slowly stroking Preston’s hair.

“This other guy wouldn’t happen to be the one with three broken ribs that just came down the elevator on a stretcher would he?” She asked with her eyes narrowed and in a disapproving tone.

“That would be the one. Don’t give me that look either, Preston here was incredibly brave. He rather selflessly stood up to someone trying to bully him, even defended my honor in the process.” Ariana replied a little glummer. The memory of his friends threatening to kill them both as they had retreated returned unbidden.

“I see. Are you two an item or something?” The other girl asked. Ariana’s guts twisted themselves into a knot at the question. Just what are we?

“No! No, nothing like that, he’s just a good friend.” She replied, biting the inside of her lip while trying to keep an even face.

“Right, well he does sound very brave. We will figure out what’s wrong with him. You can relax, I’ll take good care of him.” She smiled down at Preston in a way that brought up a pang of jealousy, which Ariana squashed.

Just then, the other hospitalman returned with a hover stretcher. He hit a button on top and it lowered to the ground. Together, the two hospitalmen gently hefted Preston up onto the stretcher, strapped him in, and hit the button to levitate it again.

“Are his friends still in there with him?” Ariana asked.

“Yes they are, why?” She replied.

“You might want to have some MA’s on hand in case they try something stupid. I’d hate to have to hurt one of them, especially in the hospital. They tossed out a death threat to us before they left the gym.” Ariana replied.

“There are two MA’s on hand at all times down here, and I doubt they would be so stupid as to try anything. You’ll both be perfectly safe here, I promise.”

The hospitalman replied.

“I can take care of myself. I just doubt you’d appreciate having to peel them off the walls. Plus, I’m already in hot water with the captain as it is. These guys haven’t shown themselves to be paragons of virtue and self-control though, so it’s better that we be safe than sorry.” Ariana replied coolly.

“Noted, we will separate you into rooms on opposite sides of the hospital then.”

Knowing that was probably the best she could realistically hope for she mumbled a thanks. The hospitalman she had been speaking with waived her off and replied.

“Don’t thank me, just doing our jobs. Plus, we know how you handle conflict. There will be none of that in our hospital.” She said, arms folded and scowling.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ariana spat, getting more than a little fed up with the young woman’s uppity attitude.

“I was there that day when you murdered those men on the parade deck. I did have to scrape them off the walls, as you so indelicately put it. Here you are again threatening more violence, in a hospital! You should be ashamed of yourself! But it seems shame isn’t a part of your emotional toolkit. Makes me wonder what else is missing too.” The shorter woman fired back, staring defiantly into Ariana’s eyes.

“Those men were animals, trying to kill the Captain and seize the ship to play pirate! How can you possibly defend that!? I did what I had to in order to save the captain, and I don’t appreciate your veiled accusations. You don’t know me, or my story, so you don’t get to judge me!” Ariana forced herself to slow her breathing, to channel her anger rather than be consumed by it. It was an old survival technique, which had more than once proven its worth.

“I’m not defending their actions any more than I’m defending yours! You clearly see nothing hypocritical about what you have done, which just proves my point all the more.”

“Please… stop arguing!” Ariana felt a hand slowly close around hers, shaking her from her headspace. Preston was staring up at her with concern all over his face. Her heart broke for a moment seeing him in a different kind of pain than before.

“Preston! You’re awake!” A rush of relief filled her as he managed a weak smile. She squeezed his hand back.

“You were worried about me.” He said with a weak smile.

“I got you here as fast as I could,” she replied. “What in the world made you fight Brock like that? This isn’t like you, he’s dangerous and impulsive. You could have been hurt, badly.” Ariana chided, surprising herself at the words coming from her mouth. She fought a number of conflicting feelings as she spoke.

“Thank you, but that man is a bully. Somebody had to stand up to him. All my life I have avoided conflict, it felt good to challenge him. I finally have the strength to do so now. I never want to feel powerless again.” Preston replied, sitting up in his bed.

“Take it easy, Ensign. You were just passed out, and until we can determine why you shouldn’t be pushing yourself like this. How many fingers am I holding up?” The annoying hospitalman cut in.

“Three.”

“Good, now follow the pen with your eyes.” She turned to Ariana afterwards. “We can take it from here, the last thing he needs is the extra excitement right now when he needs to rest. Trust us, your boyfriend is in good hands.”

“I already told you, he’s not my boyfriend!” Ariana said just a bit more harshly than she had intended. Preston looked wounded for a second before his face took on a more stoic mask.

“Yeah… we’re just… friends.” Preston replied. Ariana felt oddly guilty over the way that he looked and sounded. The other woman stifled a self-satisfied smile. Ariana stuffed the complicated feelings down to review them later in blessed solitude.

“Oh? Well, that’s good then. You seem like far too good of a man for someone like her anyway.” Nurse smiley replied, with her hand not so subtly stroking his bicep. “Why don’t you tell me a bit more about what happened leading up to losing consciousness. You were standing up to a bully, you said? That’s a very brave thing, brave but a bit stupid. Tell me how you’re feeling, do you have any other pains? I’m here to make sure you feel all better.”

Ariana felt sick to her stomach watching as Preston blushed and fought to form words. Men. Unable to watch any longer, she turned and left.

“Ariana! Wait!” She pretended not to hear him. Unbidden, a lone tear rolled down her cheek. She sped up her pace of walking, as angry at herself as at him and nurse smiley. I have to find Chantal.

Lost in her thoughts, she moved with a purpose down the hallways leading to the quick lift. Distracted as she was in the storm of her own mind, she almost didn’t recognize the three human sized masses closing in on her with her mass senses. Her world went black as a hood was thrown over her head.

“Got you, bitch!” Dead man number one said.

“If you don’t struggle, you might just enjoy your final moments before we end you.” Dead man number two said as she felt him pawing at her. She was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was wearing her workout clothes.

Horrible memories and black emotions surfaced along with bile burning at the back of her throat. With her head covered, her mass senses were all she could rely upon. They would have to be enough. She snapped her right arm up behind her, striking dead man number two in the nose with a sickening crack using the back of her fist. She then stomped on the foot of dead man one, causing him to yelp out in pain. She felt the tight grip on the bag lessen, allowing her to breathe better as he released his grip in shock.

"Ghet herrr!" Dead man number two said from his position on the ground. Dead man number three grabbed her arms and twisted them painfully behind her back, shoving her into the wall, dazing her. She took several painful blows to her ribs before she focused enough through the pain to form a powerful TK field that threw dead man one into dead man two, sending them flying down the hallway. She then slammed her head backwards into dead man three’s face. He let go of her arms, allowing her to break free enough to push off the wall, knocking him back.

Wasting no time, she turned and landed several blows on the reeling man, knocking him to the ground. She then ripped the hood off her head and snarled. The three men got back to their feet warily, blood dripping from their faces as they watched her every move. She noted with satisfaction the fear in their eyes.

“You there! What is the meaning of this!? She whirled around to see Alvarez and two MA’s charging down the hallway towards her. The three dead men bolted at the sight, calling over their shoulders.

“This isn’t over, bitch!”

“It will be if I catch you assholes! I’ll make sure of it!” She called back defiantly.

“Sergeant Silva, explain yourself immediately.” Commander Alvarez hissed.

“What?! I was just attacked in this hallway by three men, they threw a hood over my head and threatened to kill me, or worse!” Ariana shouted, incredulous at the venom in the commander’s voice towards her.

“Find them, I want them in the brig for questioning immediately.” Both MA’s nodded and gave chase. He then turned to Ariana, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Good lord, woman, I get called down to investigate a fight that you apparently were at the center of just to find you embroiled in another one!? IN THE SAME DAY!? That sounded awfully personal, what the hell did you do this time?”

The emotional storm that she had been fighting back boiled over as she got in Alvarez’s face.

“Sure, blame the woman for getting attacked! Fuck! I should have expected this. That’s just like a goddamn chauvinist male. You shouldn’t have been wearing that skirt, you were asking for it. You shouldn’t walk alone at night without an escort. You shouldn’t have drunk so much at that party. Maybe you should have watched your drink better. I expected such foulness and victim blaming from the likes of them, but not from you, Sir.”

Alvarez looked away, ashamed for a moment, which helped cool her anger a bit.

“Look, your insubordinate attitude aside, you’re right. I apologize, I shouldn’t have jumped into blaming you like that. Can we start over? Tell me everything that happened from the start and leave nothing out.”

“Fine.” Ariana replied coldly. “It started when I walked into the gym earlier and saw Preston fighting Brock in the ring. Preston was winning while boxing but began to lose once Brock began to grapple him on the mat. Preston regained the upper hand and threw him. He then jumped and landed a blow on Brock that broke his ribs. Brock’s friends dragged him off while threatening both mine and Preston’s life. Preston passed out afterwards, so I took him to the hospital. Brock’s friends ambushed me in the hallway after I left.”

“What a shit show. Do we know what caused the fight? Preston isn’t known for being hotheaded like that.” Alvarez looked like he was fighting a headache.

“No, but you can ask him yourself, he was awake when I left. He did say that he was proud of himself for standing up to a bully though, which is one hundred percent in Brock’s character. Preston’s too, for that matter. I believe him.” Ariana replied.

“Fair enough, we will review camera footage and look for witnesses too. Now, why in the world would they come after you if you weren’t directly involved?”

“I… may have had a few run ins with Brock in the past. I stepped in the middle of him harassing some of the women on board… Taught him a lesson in consent, too. I imagine that landed me on their shit list, who knows how Brock twisted that story to his friends afterwards. The male ego is notoriously fragile, especially in cases like his. Both Paul and the captain already chewed me out over that one.” Ariana responded with her arms folded.

“We are about to need every soldier we can get; we cannot afford to sow division in the ranks any more than we can afford to injure our own people. I won’t harangue you over this any further but know that I will not tolerate you taking justice into your own hands from now on. If you see harassment or are being harassed you need to report it to your superior officer. We have a chain of command for a reason.” Alvarez said, refusing the let it go without having something to criticize.

“What makes you think I didn’t do that already? Nobody takes us women seriously when we report such things. Plus, what happens when I get attacked like just now? I need to be able to defend myself in the moment and I will not apologize for it to you or anyone for doing so.” Ariana snarled.

“I’ll look into why such reports weren’t acted upon, if you have specific events to relate to me. Of course, you are right to defend yourself. Just make sure that you at least try to de-escalate tensions, if the situation allows for it.”

“Yes, sure. I’m not going to hold my breath, but you go ahead and do your probe. Ask any of the women on board, incidents won’t be hard to find, I promise.”

“Yes, what?” Alvarez replied, his eyes boring into hers.

“Yes, Sir.” She replied between clenched teeth.

“Better. Try and remember that I’m not the enemy here. I’m just trying to sort this all out and prevent a reoccurrence.”

“There won’t be one, sir, at least not with me. I made sure of that just now. The only thing that men like that understand is the sharp end of the stick, and I carry a very sharp stick. It will be up to you now to make sure they can’t go off and victimize some other girl who is less capable of defending herself. My method would have been much more… permanent had you not arrived when you did.”

“What am I going to do with you? Do you even hear yourself?!” Alvarez shot back.

“They threw a fucking bag over my head and threatened to rape and kill me! Open your goddamn eyes, Sir!” Ariana hissed. “I’m done with this conversation. When they hurt someone else it will be on your hands if you don’t put a stop to this now. Men like that will continue to escalate until they are stopped. Do what you have to do, I’m leaving.”

“Ariana!” He called down the hallway after her. Rage and frustration made it easy to ignore him. Once she made it back to her quarters she collapsed into her bed and screamed into her pillow before she stripped and tried to scour the feeling of their disgusting hands off of her body with a scalding hot shower. It didn’t work.

MEANWHILE….

DATE POINT: APRIL 26th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

COMMANDER RICARDO ALVAREZ

Who the hell does she think she is!? I’m not just some chauvinist asshole, I‘ve taken such reports seriously whenever they made it to my desk. Alvarez thought as he ruminated over Ariana’s defiant attitude while he made his way down to med bay. The fact that she had made some damn good points only made the situation that much more irritating. He really did have a problem brewing. If he couldn’t get ahead of this, these men would likely just move onto an easier target in frustration. He would have to make sure to throw the book at them.

Soon enough, he arrived at the hospital doors. He took a deep breath and entered the hospital, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

“Officer on deck!” one of the MA’s assigned to the hospital called out.

“At ease.” Alvarez said before he motioned to one of the approaching hospitalmen. The rest returned to their tasks.

“Sir! How can I help you today? Are you here about the fight?” The young brunette girl asked him, getting right to the point.

“I am, I will want to visit Ensign Jenkins first to get some questions answered, and then I will need to see PFC Samson afterwards to check on his injuries.”

“Yes, sir! The ensign is right over here.” She beamed with a slight blush. “Please don’t tell me he’s going to get in trouble over this? He’s one of the good ones, he was just trying to defend himself and to stand up to a bully. I’d hate to see him get thrown in the brig over that.” She chattered on. Alvarez set his teeth and took a deep breath to center himself before he spoke with Jenkins.

“No promises, we still need to perform an investigation before we can clear him of any potential charges. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further on an active investigation, though I will take your perspective into consideration.” Alvarez replied much calmer as he turned the corner towards the wing of the hospital where Jenkins was being seen to.

“I understand, sir, just try and remember that this isn’t like his normal personality, and he didn’t ask for this. I’ve had run-ins with PFC Samson before, and the man is trouble. No respect for personal boundaries or the meaning of the word no. Ensign Jenkins showed real bravery standing up to him.” She replied eagerly.

“Why do you care so much? Just curious.”

“Oh! I ah… don’t.” She blushed. “I just want to make sure he gets judged fairly is all.”

“Rest assured, I know the Ensign quite well. I know the kind of man he is.” Alvarez replied.

“Oh, good! That makes me feel better then. Here we are!” She gestured at his doorway.

“Thank you, hospitalman, that will be enough. I need to speak with the ensign alone.” Alvarez waved her off.

“Sir! If you need me I will be outside and ready to assist.” Alvarez grunted and nodded in dismissal before he palmed the scanner on the door to open it. The door slid open to reveal the ensign sitting up to snap off a salute.

“Commander! I take it you are here about the fight?” Jenkins asked sheepishly.

“Yes. Ariana filled me in regarding most of the details after I interrupted her kicking the asses of a few of PFC Samson’s friends. I need to know how this all started, and I am giving you the first shot at giving your side.” The commander said with a nod.

“Wait, Ariana got attacked?! Those bastards are going to pay, I swear to God!” Jenkins snarled. “Is she alright?”

“Physically, yes, she was clearly winning the fight, against three of them no less. Psychologically? Much harder to say, she was clearly agitated about the whole situation.”

“It’s my fault, she should never have been dragged into this. I was spending too much time on each machine in the gym while trying to work out. I got so wrapped up in breaking personal records that I didn’t realize I had a line forming on the squat rack. Brock, PFC Samson, got tired of waiting and told me to get off the machine and to follow the rules. He then called me a freak and a xeno lover and shoved me. After that, my new neural supercomputer released combat stims and I saw red. I should have tried to stop the fight, but he just really pissed me off.”

“Did you give the order to release the combat stims or did that happen automatically?”

“Actually… It was automatic. Most of the operation of this damn thing seems to be based on intent. Do you think those combat stims had something to do with that fight or something?” Jenkins asked.

“Not sure, it just doesn’t seem like you to immediately jump straight into a fight is all.” Alvarez replied.

“There’s a big difference between Paul dragging me into the ring and what happened between me and Brock. He was being a bully, he shoved me, and I shoved back. He then suggested that we take it to the ring instead, I thought that it was a good idea. The whole reason we have that there in the gym is to help blow off steam and to practice, to keep our skills sharp. I hate bullies, always have, sir. You don’t know me as well as you think.” Jenkins replied, staring Alvarez in the eyes with a steel he hadn’t expected in the younger man.

“Do you think this computer influenced your decision making in any way? Be honest with me now, son. I need to know if you would have stepped into that ring either way. I think it’s pretty clear you were within regs at the beginning of hostilities, I should be able to cover for you there assuming the camera records back up your story. Putting another marine in the hospital sure as hell isn’t, however. Don’t bullshit me now, I need to know exactly what happened here.”

“He… aww… God damnit. He pissed me off, I don’t need an alien supercomputer to respond emotionally to that. Watch the security vids, you’ll see, he called me a xeno lover, threatened Ariana, called her a whore! I…” Jenkins trailed off, looking pensive.

“I think I have a pretty clear idea about the situation now. I’ll do my best to cover for you here, but I expect a cooler head from you from here on out. Don’t let anyone goad you like that, It’s a bad look, especially with that ET tech in your brain. I may not be able to protect you next time. You need to keep me in the loop if anything else happens related to that neural computer. I can’t believe the captain approved this, but here we are. We need to know if it is safe for others to use. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal, sir.” Jenkins replied smartly and with a salute.

Alvarez turned and left the room, he then looked over at the hospitalman that had been attending to Jenkins.

“He’s all yours.” He said.

“Good. Don’t worry, I’ll take great care of him. He’s in good hands.” She purred with a smile on her face. Alvarez rolled his eyes and made his way over to Brock’s room. What a shit show.