Jaime didn't bother with further argument, just quietly nodding instead and grabbing the datapad as they left the cabin. He didn't speak up again until they were halfway to the shuttle bay.
"So assets," Jaime said, referring to the datapad. "There's a vibro-axe for each of us," he said. "A few vibro blades, Two laser pistols and a holdout needler we had stashed away. You have a preference?"
"Might be best to hold on deciding until we get to the launch bay, captain," Chief Watson suggested.
Jaime wasn't sure why that would be a good idea, but he was also pretty sure he was fresh out of good ideas at this point, so he let it lie. The Chief's real meaning quickly became clear, however, when they entered the shuttle bay.
"What the hell are you all doing here?" Jaime barked at the assembled crewmen, already dressed in vac suits and going over a pile of equipment.
"As it happens, Captain," Chief Watson said, "nobody needed you to ask. I chased off the ones we couldn't lose, though some seemed to have slunk back in..."
Jaime scanned the group and his eyes drifted over to one crewman towards the back of the bay. "Mister Watson, Mister Jennings," he barked. "Clear off my flight deck."
Jennings seemed to take the dismissal casually enough. "Can't win them all," he said. Mister Watson held his ground, however, pulling off the helmet he'd been trying to use to conceal himself.
"Sir," he said. "I'd like to..."
Jaime cut him off. "If things go bad, there's nobody on this ship who deserves the fate of explaining to your mom how we lost her boy." Besides, there were already way too many people doing stupid things out of guilt on this deck as there were.
"I couldn't help them," Mister Watson protested. "Please, give me a chance..."
This time it was Chief Watson who cut off his grandson. "Captain's orders, boy," he said simply.
"That's it?" the younger Watson said, his eyes stared daggers of anger and hurt at the chief.
"That's it," Chief Watson replied.
Jennings put his arm around the young pilot. "Come on kid," he said. "We're officially off shift. Let's go get hammered." Mister Watson was led away with only minimal resistance, though felt like the resentment coming off him was palpable.
"He'll get over it," Jaime said.
"Aye," Chief Watson said. "More importantly, he'll get the chance to."
Jaime turned his attention to the rest of the lot in the bay. From his own crew he saw astech Burns, and somewhere inside it felt revolting to think that the Astech was an acceptable choice. The other three people he didn't recognize. He moved over to them, and the two women smartly came to attention, while the third, unsure of what to do, gave a weird hand gesture which started as a salute but turned into some sort of half wave.
"What's your story?" he asked them.
"Abigail Tiernan," the first female said. "Able spacer."
"Gabriel Bulova," the second also said. "Able spacer."
Jaime looked the two of them over, sizing them up. He noted the single pierced ear on each girl, on opposite ears, with a half heart ear ring hanging from the ear. He saw identical tattoos peaking just out of the helmet ring that he recognized as the ship marks some spacers got in tribute of past boats. He also noticed how they held hands, with fingers interlaced.
"Abby and Gabby," he said. "You two are probably sickeningly cute together." He looked back to Chief Watson. "Seriously?"
"They insist they're a package deal," Chief Watson said. "And their skipper wasn't inclined to let anybody else go."
Jaime looked back to the girls. "Your boat's rated for a crew of eight?"
"Nine, sir," Gabby replied. "Worse comes to worse, three or four can keep her running, but the skipper insisted we have a safety margin."
"I thought your captain vetoed joining any rescue," Jaime said.
"Some of us volunteered," Abby said.
Jaime looked back at the chief again. "How many?"
"'bout half of ours and half of theirs," Chief Watson said. "Plus that big fella. Didn't ask them. They came to me."
Jaime glanced back at the third stranger, but for the moment kept his attention on the Chief. "When were you going to tell me?"
"Before it became a gentle mutiny," Chief Watson replied. "As it turns out my Captain turned it into an authorized mission."
"This isn't the mission I was authorizing," Jaime turned his attention back to the big fella. It was a good enough description. He was probably at the upper limit of what his vac suit could actually fit. "How about you? Who are you and What dumb terrible suicidal ideation made you volunteer?"
"Elliot Ameda," the big one said. "Umm.... research assistant?" He seemed to be struggling to find his words. "And... well... Professor Devareux. It feels like he just wants to abandon Professor Donovan. I guess I'm... not okay with that."
"Your confidence is inspiring," Jaime said, before moving over to the pile of equipment. Picking up a vibro-axe from the pile, he turned back towards the assembled volunteers. "This isn't a game. This isn't an adventure or a romantic getaway. And it's definitely not a heroic rescue. A couple of the people who board that shuttle may die. And the rest will definitely die." He fixed Gabby with a stare. "Are you ready to watch your girlfriend try to suck hard vacuum because a gang of robot bimbos ripped her helmet off?"
Both Gabby and Abby were visibly shaken at the image, and Jaime saw Abby give Gabby's hand a reassuring squeeze, but he knew it wasn't as effective as they wanted it to be.
Jaime turned his attention to astech Burns, who'd kept quiet this whole time. "We have no justifiable reason to believe any of our people are still alive," he said. He looked over at Elliot. "Or Professor Donovan. We've had no communications, no signs of life, not even someone crawling on the hull trying to scream into a communicator. They've had three hours in a shot up centuries old derelict they know nothing about crawling with murderous androids. The odds that any of them are still alive are basically zero."
He sighed. "There is no shame in being the ones who survived," he said. "And there is no cowardice in refusing to throw your life away for a lost cause. The people I sent to that derelict are almost certainly gone. And anybody who steps aboard that shuttle now will almost certainly join them. If you are not completely, suicidally willing to embrace that," he looked at Abby and Gabby, "if you aren't willing to watch your loved one die," he shifted his gaze to astech Burns and then Eliott, "if you aren't willing to die failing to scream for a pointless cause, then go. Make something of the life you didn't throw away today."
The launch bay went dead quiet for a moment. Abby and Gabby were the first to leave, Elliot following just a moment later. Astech Burns was the last to go, whispering a quiet apology as he passed his Captain.
Only when the bay was empty save for himself and Chief Watson did Jaime realize how much he was shaking, or notice the little globules of tears floating around his face in the microgravity.
"So was that your big plan?" Jaime asked. "Get me to rant at these dumb suicidal idiots so I'd realize how much of a dumb suicidal idiot I'm being?"
"We had a bit of a situation," Chief Watson said. "So I let my Captain defuse it."
"Your Captain caused it," Jaime said. "So openly trying to hold on to hope like that when I knew damn well it didn't exist. I set a bad example. But you didn't account for something, Chief."
Chief Watson raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"
"I'm responsible," Jaime said. "And I have to know."
The Chief's face visibly saddened. "Aye sir."
