CHAPTER 56 – COALESCENCE

DATE POINT: JUNE 9th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, OUTER ASTEROID BELT,

ABOARD UTRN FIST OF THE ARGONAUTS

LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER OLIVIA SEYDOUX

Olivia’s mag boots clicked against the deck as she marched down the hall towards the armory. The scowl she wore on her face deepened as she could feel his eyes on her behind.

“One dinner with me is all I ask, I know it’s too late now, but maybe when I get back? I’m a pretty skilled cook, we can fire up a vid, maybe open that bottle of wine I’ve been saving. C’mon, you can’t tell me you aren’t even a little tempted. What if I don’t make it back from one of these missions? We gotta define what this tension between us is now, or you’ll risk living in bitter regret for the rest of your life. Even a short window of good memories is better than that.”

The NERVE of this prick! When will he just give it up already?!

“Lieutenant Karst, I am your commanding officer, you will speak to me with the respect that my station is due, or you and I are gonna have some REAL problems. I have made my feelings on this topic crystal clear to you several times now! You can forget whatever fantasy you've imagined, and you can take care of that tension in your own private time. Whatever you do, I don’t want to know about it.” Olivia said with an intentional shudder.

“How can you honestly say there’s nothing between us when you’re clearly getting all flustered over it? We’re both Lieutenants, Olivia, it’s not like we’re fraternizing with the enlisted. I don’t care about the power dynamics with you technically as my superior officer, either. I can happily play the good boy in front of the men, and the bad boy when we’re alone.” Paul said as he grabbed for her hand, but she swatted it away.

He is cute, smart, tall, and it’s flattering to be desired and all…. but… No, no matter what honeyed words he says, this would be wrong; I need to shut this down.

“There are still rules among officers, even if the penalties are less strict. I know you know this; you can’t blow smoke up my ass here, Karst. What’s with the last night before deployment act, anyway? Was that just another line, or are you turning all defeatist on me here?”

Olivia smirked and gave Paul a playful punch on the shoulder. He squared up and bounced on his heels like a boxer for a second with a puppy-dog smile on his face before he dropped his hands. She found herself smiling back at his antics, in spite of herself.

“Never. I think there’s something you’ll come to recognize about me, Olivia. Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out already. When I see what I want, I pursue it with a single minded determination, even in the face of resistance.” Paul said as he sprang into motion.

In a smooth action that was almost too fast for her to track, he grabbed her hand and took her up in a spin like they were dancing. Before she could protest, he placed one hand gently on her back in support as he bent her backwards, leaving their faces mere inches from each other. Her breath grew shallow, and her heart began to beat wildly as a strange warmth built up inside of her core.

“Sometimes you just know when you have something or someone worthy of that extra effort. How could I possibly give up on the idea of something like that without a fight?” He said with his best smile.

No… We can’t do this.

Olivia stared at him with narrowed eyes as she pulled herself away from his hold then turned her back to him. She clenched her teeth as she willed her heart to slow down its insane tempo.

What is wrong with me today? Settle down girl, remember what dad used to say. Attraction is just a chemical reaction and is unrelated to compatibility.

Instinctively, she pivoted to another phrase of his that may as well have been her personal mantra. I am the master of my mind and my destiny; I must control the path of my life, or it will control me.

Feeling centered and much more at peace, she finally responded in the most even but firm tone she could muster.

“You’ll be waiting a long time, Karst. Let it go. I’ve come too far and cultivated my reputation far too carefully to just throw it all away on some tryst. I’m not some prize to be won if you can just wear me down long enough. I’m going to make this clear one last time; I’m going to choose my career every time over being the next notch on your bedpost. Now can we please return our focus to the task at hand?”

“Some tryst? Notched bedpost? You wound me that you should think so low of me and my intentions. Look, I’m confident in my chances but I’m not desperate; I’ll drop it for now. It’s a real shame though, we have some serious compatibilities. As career focused officers, we could be quite the power couple if you’d just open yourself up enough to give it a shot. Take all the time you need, but if you don’t eventually take a chance and let someone in, you’ll have nobody else to blame if you end up alone. You don’t exactly have an endless supply of quality men willing to take this kind of flack just for asking you out.”

Who the hell does he think he is?!

“Real smooth, asshole. This conversation is over; that’s an order.” Olivia hissed. Paul at least had the good grace and sense to look sheepish as he walked an extra step ahead of her towards the armory door and peeked inside.

“Yes ma’am. Looks like both Lance and your WEPS are here and ready for us anyway.” Paul said as he strode into the armory and gestured grandly for her to follow.

Olivia rolled her eyes and stepped through the doorway herself. Harry, their weapons officer, took one look at the expression on her face before he stood ramrod straight and snapped off a salute.

“Ma’am! Everything is ready for you to add Paul as an authorized backup user of the nuke. If you all would follow me, we can get started.” Harry said as he led them through the locked door to the secure section in the back.

“Alright, please enter your keys so we can unlock the package. After that, we can key in Lieutenant Karst here in case Lieutenant-Commander Blackford is unable to arm and detonate it.”

One by one, they entered their keycards into the slots in the wall next to the locked cradle that secured the tac nuke. The lock beeped and released its deadly package from its cradle and into their hands. Their WEPS immediately began typing into the keypad on the side of the bomb casing before he turned to Paul.

“Alright, we’re ready. You’ve got your key right, LT?” Harry asked.

“Yup, right here.” Paul said as he pulled his keycard out from around his neck.

“Good, enter it in here and when the interface lights up, it will ask for your code to enter you as an authorized user. You will need to re-enter that code later to arm it.” Harry explained.

“Yeah, I know how this all works. Now let’s hope that you don’t botch your mission so bad that I have to come bail you all out...” Paul said before he inserted his key and typed in his code.

Olivia noticed Lance clench his jaw, though he wisely seemed to otherwise ignore the jab. Good on him.

“Alright, you’re officially a registered user.” Harry said before he handed off the package to Lance. “It’s under your care now.”

“Thank you, the rest of my team is ready to depart on the first Shadowhawk within the hour. Just gotta lock this bad boy down in the secure arms locker.” Lance said as he turned to exit the armory.

“I’ll go with you, at least until its on lockdown again.” Olivia said before she turned to Paul. “Time for you to round up your team and make sure they’re ready to depart as well.”

Together they moved down the hall towards the quick lift. Her attention was drawn by movement directly in front of them as the ambassador emerged sweaty from the gym with a towel wrapped around her neck. Ariana followed immediately behind her in full BDU’s. What's she doing up here? Olivia thought as she looked down at the nuke then back up at the ambassador.

“Yes ma’am, I’ll get right… on that.” Paul replied with a slight gap as Gardner turned to look at them, down at the nuke, and then back up into Olivia’s eyes with a mix of concern and confusion.

“A bit close to mission time for a workout isn’t it? You going to be ready in time?” Paul asked.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be ready. A light workout before a mission always helps my nerves." Gardner said in a flat tone as she looked back down at the nuke.

Shit. She wasn’t supposed to find out about that. We were so damn close, too…

"Let’s get back to the Patriot bay and make sure you and Anubis are ready in time.” Ariana said with a pat on the ambassador’s shoulder.

“Right. We’ve got a lot to do. A lot to talk about, too.” Gardner said as she stared this time into Paul’s eyes.

Paul and Olivia shared a look before she nodded towards the lift with a slight raise of her eyebrows. Paul gave her a small, confident smile and a wink as if to say he would take care of the matter from there.

“Alright, ladies. Let’s get going then. Lots to do!” Paul strode forward with a cheerful tone to his voice.

“Lots to talk about, too.” Gardner reiterated in a flat tone as she reached out for one of the loops on the quick lift.

“Gladly.” Paul replied in a cheerful tone.

The moment they disappeared up the quick lift, Lance turned to her with a grimace.

“Well… that’s not good.” Lance said.

“Karst knows the stakes, the personalities, and why we’ve kept the nuke secret from Gardner and Anubis. If anyone can settle this before it becomes an issue, its him.” Olivia replied.

“You seem to place a lot of faith in the Lieutenant.” Lance noted.

Olivia stared at the lift for a long moment before she replied.

“Yeah, I do... Or at least in his ability to spin a reasonably convincing line of bullshit. He knows the cover story; I believe he’ll be able to sell it."

“Well… can’t say I dispute you on that one. Let’s hope it’ll be enough. On another note… what do you think the odds are that she didn’t recognize the nuke as a nuke?” Lance asked.

“I read her file when she was transferred. She’s got all the certifications and passed all the tests needed to be promoted up to a weapons officer. The only thing that was holding her back was time served and the opportunity to open up for a promotion. Unfortunately, she knows exactly what that is.” Olivia said.

“Son of a bitch. This is exactly why I was against this part of the plan. There is no way Anubis is going to sit idly by while we blow up any chance of one day reviving his god-boss.”

“Probably true, but there is far greater risk in allowing any chance of Rah escaping imprisonment to regain control of Nii’Baruu. The Indomitable Will barely fought off Horus and his Ur-Uatchti at full strength. What the hell are we going to do against a mobile battle station five-hundred times its size!? Rah is the weak link. Their paranoia at keeping Nii’Baruu from falling into the hands of their enemies has given us an opportunity to end the threat before it arises.” Olivia fired back as the hair rose on the back of her neck at the implications.

“Yeah, and then we can locate and reprogram it at our leisure with the help of the Alderei once we control the solar system. I was there in the room when Roh Thaad’at briefed us, remember?” Lance replied in a bitter tone.

“I know you were. We’d better speak with Commander Cutter and the Captain. They need to know about this development. Maybe we can tweak the plan somehow.” Olivia said.

“What else can we do? We already have Karst and his squad heading to Set’s Ur-Uatchti to disable or capture it. That was supposed to keep them out our way and prevent Anubis from being able to interfere with my team setting off the nuke.”

“Maybe we just need to trust in the Captain’s wisdom, then. It is a good plan, and Anubis will be Paul’s problem and not yours. What could he realistically do to stop you? The worst outcome I can see would be having a harder time convincing them we had no other choice but to blow up the facility.” Olivia said, as she worked to calm her inner doubts.

“Well… he could slaughter the Shadowhawk crew and hijack it to intervene personally. He could kill Paul and seize the Ur-Uatchti for himself to join forces with Horus. Hell, what’s to stop him from going on a rampage before we even leave this ship? There are a lot of ways this can go horrifyingly wrong.” Lance pointed out rather drily.

Paul wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. He’ll convince them the nuke is a mere precaution; he has to. Olivia thought, refusing to even entertain the possibility of Paul being killed, or worse, her crew here aboard the ship.

“We’d better go brief the Captains before we lock down that nuke then. We definitely can’t let that out of your sight for even a second until you are safely away.” Olivia said with a sigh.

“They’re not going to like this, but you’re right. Maybe after we secure this nuke and depart you can check in on our guests, just to be sure all is well. We’re just a tight beam away if something does go horribly wrong. Hopefully, Paul can prevent a massacre, but we need to be ready to complete this mission, just in case.”

“Alright, we’d better hurry then. Paul knows what to say. He’ll convince them, or at least buy us some time to pivot.” He has to. We can’t lose him, especially not like this.

Lance simply replied with a grunt and a small, near imperceptible sigh as they each grabbed a loop of the quick lift and descended down a level towards the CIC. Together they rushed down the hall and through the heavy bulkhead door. The clatter of their boots alerted the Captain, who looked up at them with puzzlement.

“What in God’s name are you two doing here? What is that thing doing here?!” Commander Cutter asked after seeing the nuke that Lance carried.

“What happened? Tell me everything.” He said after a moment’s pause he used to collect himself.

“We absolutely will, sir, but first we’re going to need to raise the Indomitable Will on the Q-Comm. The Captain is going to want to be in on this one, too.” Olivia said in a grim tone after taking a second to catch her breath after their mad dash to the CIC.

Commander Cutter sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Comms, raise the Captain on the Q-Comm and route the channel to my console.” He said after turning to his crew.

“Yes, sir!”

The Commander turned his gaze back onto Olivia with narrowed eyes.

“Alright, we’ve got a minute or two while that’s being set up, now tell me everything.”

Lance and Olivia shared a quick look before she sighed and collected her thoughts.

“So, we were on our way out of the armory…”

MEANWHILE…

DATE POINT: JUNE 9th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, OUTER ASTEROID BELT,

ABOARD UTRN FIST OF THE ARGONAUTS

LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST

There’s still a small chance that she didn’t recognize the nuke. Better to let her bring it up. It sure as hell sounded like she was hinting at it though.

Her aura radiates both anger and uncertainty… She knows the truth… but not the right words to say…

Paul turned and looked over his shoulder to make sure that both of the girls had set foot on the deck after their exit from the quick lift.

Well, if she’s tongue tied over it, I doubt that will last long. Better redirect the conversation for now.

“Once we get to the Patriot bay I’m going to need you and Anubis to immediately suit up and get ready. We don’t have all that much time before our team is scheduled to leave.” Paul said as they began to walk.

“I know what needs to be done, Paul. Our armor doesn’t take very long to equip, anyway, we'll be fine.” Gardner said in an icy tone.

Yeap… she’s pissed.

“I know you do, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. How are you feeling about the mission ahead? You sure you’re going to be able to do this?” Paul asked.

“I know I can. I’m in the war body of Isis herself, and she out-ranks Set in their hierarchy. If we can get to the bridge undetected, that should ensure Set and his crew remain in temporal stasis. We’ll be able to seize command of the ship right out from under him. My sense of her memories are still fairly discordant, but at least of that much I am certain.” Gardner said.

Seems like she’s thawing out a bit. I think this might be working, is she actually calming down?

Her emotional state has solidified… the anger and confusion are lessened… you seem to be on the right path…. Tread carefully.

Noted.

“Good, That will remove one major threat off our back if we can pull that off. As confident as I am in you and the plan, we need to be ready to fight if something goes wrong and the crew starts to wake up. It’s always best to be prepared for all contingencies.” Paul replied.

“Is that what the nuke is for then? A contingency!? What else are you hiding? If you have made plans that threaten to complicate our alliance, I need to know about them. Don’t even try and bullshit me, Paul.” Gardner hissed.

Fuck. I walked right into that one, didn’t I?

We warned you to tread carefully…

Real helpful, smartass.

Stay as close to the truth as possible… That is the best way forward now.

Paul turned to the ambassador and took a deep breath while his mind whirred and he formulated the best explanation he could muster. A spike of anger flared inside of him as he realized the fuller implications of her borderline insubordinate words and tone. Got it.

“You’re damn right it’s a contingency! If Rah escapes to command Nii’Baruu, then the war is lost, and we have to flee the system or die. You may have a new job and title, but you still answer to humanity and our chain of command! You’re still human, even if you’re trapped in an alien hybrid body. Have you so easily forgotten where your loyalties lie?!” Paul shouted while using every centimeter of his imposing size to tower over even her.

Gardner shrunk back slightly at the sudden reversal before she looked away bitterly.

“I haven’t forgotten. How could I?! I still have nightmares of my own death! This body might be mine, for now, but it still feels… wrong… alien. None of you understand what I am going through, I get that. I half expected this kind of shit from the other crew, but not from you.” Gardner replied with narrowed eyes.

“You can be a real asshole sometimes, Paul.” Ariana chimed in.

Paul shot her a look of betrayal and anger to which she simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Look. Nobody wants to nuke the facility. If that bomb does go off, its because the situation has gone so badly to shit that its impossible to salvage. It means that Rah is at serious risk of being freed and some of our people are dead. Lighting that thing off is likely a death sentence to that whole team. Do you want to see that?! I sure as hell don’t, and I know Lance doesn’t either.” Paul sidestepped Gardner and his own sister's comments, even though they felt like a knife to his guts.

A single tear rolled down Gardner’s cheek and she stood silently for a long moment. Ariana placed her hand on the ambassador’s arm in a show of support while she glared at Paul.

She’s breaking… push her harder… such delicious negative emotions...

Thanks for the update,I guess, but I got this.

“Fine… I understand. I won’t be a problem, but Anubis very well might be one if that nuke does go off. He understands fully the need for Rah to stay imprisoned, Osiris made it clear to him that it must remain so, that Rah would wish to alter our deal or even abolish it altogether. I will always be firmly and completely on humanity’s side, but I cannot do my job if you insist on keeping me in the dark on important things like this. You need to trust me, us, more.” Gardner said after a heavy sigh.

“Look, I’ll talk to the captain about this when the mission is over. I thought it was a mistake to leave you in the dark, but those were the orders.” Paul replied in a conciliatory tone.

“Thank you, Paul, I appreciate you being willing to do that for me. Now I just need to find a way to tell Anubis…” She replied.

“That’s the thing… you can’t. He’s too much of a wild card to be trusted with something this big just yet. We can work our way up to trusting him more, but this is not the time to test his loyalties. I’m going to need you to give me your word that you will keep this secret from him. If he turns on us before the mission even starts… I don’t think I need to spell it out for you how bad that could get.” Paul said.

“Damnit, Paul…” Vanessa began, “I don’t like it, but I get it. You can count on me. Just promise me that we will explain it to him together when… if… that bomb does go off.”

Paul gave her a slight smile with the corner of his mouth and nodded.

“I promise.” He replied.

You aren’t going to tell her about your other orders?

No, and let’s hope that I’ll never have to. If she reacted like this to the nuke, how would she react to me having to kill Anubis?

We see your point… let us hope the moment shows her the clear necessity… you will need all the help you can get… you play a dangerous game, mortal…

You scared, creepy?

No… we are… exhilarated… this union has already proven its worth… though we do not wish it to end… so much fear to extract… so much power yet to claim...

Well, then buckle up, creepy. This adventure is just getting started.