The Captain's Grave

Adil sighs, looking sadly at Dante. Doesn't everybody know they don't want command? Is that the problem, that Lauchmair clearly intended it, and they turned it down? Lauchmair knew their reasons --not that the stopped him from asking-- but the rest don't understand what such a thing would mean to Adil, the trauma it would unscab. Anyway, they don't want it... but also can't picture the crew holding together under Dante's command.

Adil hopes Dante is not reacting to Areen's warning, but won't shift the cross-hair in her direction if she was not overheard.

"You will get no quarrel from me." Adil says, using their own words to mollify them. "If you do take charge," they continue very calmly --hoping to nudge Dante towards personal growth-- "I am sure you will put the crew's needs ahead of your own. All good leaders do... eventually."

Adil does not think they could serve under Dante, but then, they were only here as a favor to the captain, and without the captain: is there anything keeping them here? Their mind goes to Areen --with her recent warnings and the brash command in her voice. Would she get herself into trouble challenging Dante? And then to Cordell, who they can not leave to be corrupted by Dante, and whose voice they can hear from down the passage. The medic must be taking this hard, and Adil needs to have words with them, to reassure them and explain the captains's choices --if that is possible-- but both of them have work to do, and Dante's ambition is eating up valuable time.

"Good on you. I'll inform the others. Lauchmair was a good man, and I won't besmirch his memory, but no more lickspittle Empire loving is going on anymore, savvy?" He seems to be waiting for Adil's reply, expecting a certain reaction he's baited you for.

Areen turns around a little surprised, she hadn't seen Camus standing there. Right now she doesn't have the emotional capacity to offer support to the obviously shaken wright, but she does offer a sincere: "Camus, I'm sorry."

Then, satisfied with the answer Cordell provided, she trods off. She wonders if Jolly might have washed up somewhere. If the sharks haven't gotten to him, Areen might be able to provide a good estimate where he ended up based on the currents. But right now, she has to focus on the task at hand: threading the narrow channels of deep enough water between the islands they were currently in the midst of to get back to the open ocean and outrun the Cragworm. Areen doesn't expect them to have hung around but better safe than sorry. She'll get her payback another time...

"Yes, Dante. I understand." Adil says without inflection, fearing they understand all to well. "No love for the empire. Just as you say." And more true that you could possibly imagine.

For a while, now, Lauchmair had been voicing concerns that Dante was aware of their old affiliation with the Empire, and Adil had tried to deny it... or that it mattered. But Dante is making it clear that he 'knows' and that he thinks this gives him some advantage. This belief worries Adil more than what he thinks he knows.

"But why can't you say, now that .... well .... now that he is gone? I mean if it is something that affects us all, shouldn't we know?" Resalon didn't like secrets, at least the ones he knew about. "I mean it can't hurt him now."

He felt bad to keep reminding her about her dead brother but he was dead and she'd have to come to grips with that sooner or later. And what if the mystery box could help them escape their current predicaments in some way? He felt it was wise to push a little. He could ask Adil about his take on the matter later.

"I see. So there's someone already inside. OK. Thank you Camus. And again, I'm sorry. I was very fond of him and I owe him much." Resalon decides to head back to see Adil.

Cordell's eyes go wide. "What do you mean there is someone inside?!" He says, probably too loudly.

Getting Adil was probably a good idea - they were supposed to be the next in charge, right? But, all of the doctor's concern was directed at the fact that there was someone - dead or alive - on this ship without his knowledge. The young doctor felt himself getting frustrated at the lack of care some of his crewmates took when it came to the health of those on the ship. When he continued, it was with a low but harsh whisper, "Bodies carry diseases, you can't just pack them onto a ship without any precautions! Why didn't you tell me, so I could-?"

The nano's words trailed off, flinching back almost instinctively. There were probably many reasons why the captain, Jolly, and Camus didn't inform him of this - perhaps even good reasons - but, all of them inevitably lead to the conclusion that they didn't really trust him, even when it came to something that could directly affect the health of the ship.

Resalon fetches Adil, who no doubt looks thoughtful. When they are told about the cargo, they follow Resalon down.

All four of you are standing at the crate, and when you open it, you find an iridescent silver bag, roughly the size of a human body. It's closed at one end, with a metal, circular seal. Strange letters glow on the bag, changing slightly as you watch. At the foot of the crate is a small knapsack, emblazoned with the Empire insignia, and a pair of service boots, again, obviously Empire uniform issue to anyone who has seen them before. Whoever is in the bag, this is likely their clothes and gear. "This is all I've seen. But the Captain treated them with respect, for the brief moment the crate was open."

Cordell really wants to say that the fact that they're alive is even more dangerous (he honestly can't believe how recklessly people used Numenera despite the fact that most of them had no idea what they were doing).

He managed to stay quiet, though his posture became stiff and worried as he waited for Adil and Resalon to return.

Once the crate was opened, however, his doctor instincts kicked in again and he immediately reached out toward the body bag, and the circular metal seal at the end, hands hovering millimeters from the material, feeling out for the nanites in the material, looking for a way to determine if the person inside was truly alive and alright.

Sensing Cordell's anxiety, Resalon tried to figure out a reason why he was nervous. This being was in stasis and couldn't possibly be a threat, could they? He was glad to see him engage with the body and perhaps now they could get to the bottom of who was in the body bag, why they were in the bag and where were they going.

Smoothing his hair back, he leaned over the crate and realized that perhaps he was a little nervous too.

Cordell feels instantly the "magic" of the pod. As he holds his hand in place, the numenera adjusts to him, and he feels a growing connection to the pod. He senses that the person inside is alive -- sort of. They are suspended outside of time. When released they will be as they were exactly as when they were sealed inside, unaware that any time will have passed as for them, none will have. As to their state when they entered, they were alive is all that he can discern.

Areen, meanwhile, is completely unaware of what's going on below deck. She is standing on the bridge, carefully cleaning out the rest of the glass bits in her compass while keeping an eye on the course and occasionally shouting some commands to the sailors working the rigs

Cordell reluctantly withdraws his hands, "You're right, they are alive."

That he can't tell in what state they're in bothers him, but considering the kind of stasis they're under, he accepts that it is something that isn't immediately important. At least, not compared to everything else going on right now.

But, he can't help but feel a little curious, he looks at the wright, "Why are you showing this to us now, Camus?"

What were you up to Lauchmair? Adil ponders nervously as they are called in to look at the box with its body and, more importantly, Imperial uniform. Neither Lauchmair nor Adil talk (talked) about the Empire, and tried to keep any dealings low-key and deniable Shipping the uniform in the box is not subtle, and suggests there would be need for identification wherever they were destined.

Their implants automatically reach out to try to read any records the 'machine' has about who it is transporting... and why... and why like that.

"Did someone say 'suspended animation'?" They ask even though they weren't in the room at the time. "What reason would there be for that? And would that not suggest something bad would happen if they were ... reanimated?"

They are glad Camus brought up the 'respect' the 'body' is owed, obvious as it is to them, Adil would prefer not to have to derive this conclusion from what the uniform implies.

"I am showing it to you because someone needs to know. Dante would toss it over board, or at least whoever is inside. The Captain wouldn't want that. It's important. At least, it was important, to him."

"Who is then? Did he have a wife? A son or daughter perhaps?" Resalon was nothing if not direct and the sight of the uniform irked him and made him think of his mentor.

Cordell somewhat distantly thought that he should feel a certain way about that uniform. He knows for many of the crew any iconography of the Empire invokes a sense of anger, regret, and hopelessness in them. Cordell had certainly felt those things, years ago, when he was told that the Empire had taken out the Rebellion's healing center - and his mother along with it.

But, those feelings had been buried under years of study - of dedicating himself to the pursuit of medicine and healing, and upholding the oath of care his mother had taught him. Empire or no Empire, it was Cordell's duty to look after the infirm.

Which is precisely why the suggestion that Dante would toss them over board gets such a visceral reaction out of the nano. "He will not." He says aloud, before he even has the thought to speak, and realizes it came out much harsher than he intended. He backs up slightly.

As the conversation turns to who it could be in there, Cordell begins to feel more concerned about what state they're in. Who knew how a stasis like this could affect the body? And who knew what could have happened to make that risk acceptable?

"Can we move this into Sick Bay?" Cordell asks, a small gesture encompassing the whole of the conversation and the crate. "I'd feel better if I could check him over, and our Quartermaster never did like spending any more time in there than strictly necessary." Though whether that was due to an aversion to hospitals in general or a distain for Cordell himself was hard to tell.