MdJG Jovenan – You will hear from me again
Jovenan
((Corridor, CIC Desdemona))
Jovenan had got herself into a pickle.
She had done the right thing and attempted to warn the Artemis, and now she was going to pay the price for that. The sanctity of her own mind had been violated and her life and health had been threatened, as was the one of the person she had come to care about. Walked down the corridor by her escorts and the rest of the team, Jovenan had little to do but to submissively comply with their orders.
Jovenan: My… my counterpart was studying the prismagons. They probably have them in a lab or something. You need all three and a lot of very specific type of energy to trigger the dimensional crossing.
MacKenzie: ::to Adea:: Nothing like giving us the answers we need so we don’t need to bother keeping her around…
The whole crew disgusted and pained her. Her whole life she had been taught to hate crime and all criminals, and while Rubicun wasn’t anymore the peaceful utopia it was in this universe, she had hardly ever witnessed even the pettiest of offends. Here, these people didn’t even bother to hide their evil nature and criminal intents. She didn’t know what had happened to them after they had crossed the universes, but these people had turned from merely ill-tempered soldiers to monsters.
J/Yellir/Kuva: Response
Jovenan knew she was likely to die during this mission or right after it. Even if they succeeded, the Commonwealth monsters were showing their willingness to kill her afterwards. She was afraid of dying, but she was ready to accept it. But she had the legal obligation to minimize the risk to outsiders. She couldn’t put the Starfleeters or civilians aboard the Artemis to any greater risk by agitating the monsters further. It was better to comply and help them get the Artemis to the other universe. But…
Jovenan: What… What will you do to the Artemis crew? Send them off in shuttles, take them with you? Or… k… k…
She couldn’t finish. She didn’t want to picture Sil’s body, riddled with gun wounds, breathless in the cold space, shred to the atoms by an energy weapon or transporter…
Adea: ::mocking:: C-c-catapult them out the nearest airlock ::he shot Addison a wink:: You bet. And we’ll do the same to you if you’re not careful… or even if you are.
MacKenzie: Quite right. (beat) Except maybe their captain…
The word “monster” didn’t do justice to these people. Their utter disregard of other people’s lives made Jovenan want to vomit. They were seeking to commit a mass murder of innocent people, and they weren’t hiding it, no, they were boasting with their cruelty that knew no bounds.
Jovenan: I feel sick…
J/Yellir/Kuva: Response
Adea: Oh come on, you’re not going to pass up the opportunity to throw yourself out an airlock, Colonel, are you?
MacKenzie: ::deadpan:: Masochism was never my thing, Colonel.
But as soon as her initial shock began to fade, Jovenan thought again what the Colonels had said. They were going to kill her, regardless of what she did, she knew that already. But they were going to kill most of the Artemis people as well. Whatever she did, people would die.
J/Yellir/Kuva: Response
Whatever she did, people would die.
If she complied, these monsters would kill her and the Artemis crew. If she didn’t comply and failed, these monsters would kill her and the Artemis crew. But if she succeeded…
They reached the transporter room, and the team took their places on the pads. The mindreader and the robot left her to join the others, but Jovenan wasn’t left without a guard. Whimpering a little, she felt the Colonel grasp her arm tightly and pull her closer. The warm breath touched her ear as the Colonel came very close to her and whispered.
MacKenzie: Don’t think I won’t kill you if you so much as breathe out of line over there.
The threats scared her, but they were losing their power. The Colonel released her grasp, patted Jovenan to the shoulder and escorted her to the transporter pad.
MacKenzie: Everyone smile and make nice…
As the dematerialization cycle began to disintegrate them and the blue shimmering surrounded them, Jovenan complied one more time and grinned. The monsters had driven her to a corner she couldn’t escape without a fight. Whenever one was in that corner, one would either submit to their doom, or fight.
Innocent people would die if she submitted. Innocent people would die if she fought and failed. Her only option was to fight and win.
She wasn’t going down as the damsel in distress.
She had nothing to lose except her chains.
TAG/End act 2 for Jovenan
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Mediator JG Jovenan
Science officer (secondment)
CIC Desdemona
E239911J11