video/action: open

[universal_charm]

Who: Kirk + Anyone!
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Yes, on the Tourist and Iskaulit
When: Now!

[ Video ]
_{[ The video opens to Kirk's bedroom, his hair damp from what one would hope is a shower. A small curl has escaped against his forehead. He doesn't look particularly grim, but he doesn't seem overjoyed to be awake either. ]}

Good morning, everyone. Looks like I'm finally awake. For those who don't know me or possibly forgot I was here given how long I was alseep, I'm James Tiberius Kirk, captain of the Tourist - but just call me Jim.

According to my first mate, I've been asleep for a month. And I've missed quite a bit, as it turns out.

_{[ He took a breath, his voice sounding a touch guilty, even though going into a coma wasn't his choice. ]}

I would appreciate a check in with everyone, especially my crew - new and old members. And if anyone wants to talk, I'm here.

[ Action - Tourist ]
<sub>[ Awake and showered, now he needed coffee. Coffee and a real meal. There had been... distractions, before now. He made his way to the kitchen to see if he could coax the coffee maker into being kind and cooperating for once, and that done he took up a spot where he could look out at the stars gliding by - and hopefully catch anyone else coming and going.

Once he had finished the coffee, he would start a walk around the ship, looking to catch anyone he hadn't already and get a feel back for her. ]</sub>

[ Action - Iskaulit ]
<sub>[ More than anything else he craved exercise. Whatever Atroma did while they were in their comas had kept off any major atrophy, but his body still felt tight and unused. It was certainly uncomfortable, to say the least, and after being told of what had happened he didn't want to be caught in anything less than prime condition.

So the Iskaulit went to avail himself of the facilities, running long laps and then switching to weights and back again. If he saw anyone he would talk, of course. He might even slide into the bar at some point. Most professionals would say that going for a drink after waking up from a coma wasn't the best idea, but considering what he had been told? He thought it a necessary medicine. ]</sub>

Comments

[candothat]

Yes, of course. [Time passes and things change, but Chekov will always be happy to show off his work to his captain.] It's nothing as sophisticated as what I could create at home, so please keep your expectations moderately high instead of extremely high.

[universal_charm]

I'll do my best. But I think anything we can do here is sophisticated in its own way. What coordinate system have you developed? Or did you find one in the system somewhere we could use?

_{[ Science! The thing they both like and is comfortably non-feelings based! He will come back around to those, but for now he's happy to discuss something less depressing than a planet being blown to bits. ]}

[candothat]

[There has literally never been a time in Pavel's life when he wasn't more than happy to talk about science instead of feelings.]

A simple three-axis system. Not so impressive, but useful and simple enough to render at the communications station using the program I have written. I have been mapping all significant sources of electromagnetic radiation detectable by the Tourist's array... pulsars are the most useful, of course, and now there are enough of them on record for accurate trilateration. Everything else recorded--star systems, planets, other celestial bodies of interest--is mostly of academic interest only at this point. I hope to change that with enough time to refine my methods and maybe some improvements to our instruments.

And of course none of this is useful since we have little say in where we go. All that I can do is calculate our bearing in relation to our previous locations.

[universal_charm]

<sub>[ Literally? Goodness.

Kirk listens intently as Chekov explains, nodding in points. Because of course he understands even if the mod doesn't. A simple system was probably the best to hope for and the easiest to work with given their lack of other info otherwise. Perhaps on the next planet they might be able to find some proper star charts or other info to fill out what Chekov had, allow them to get a wider and deeper idea of what it was they were gliding through.

But, that wasn't to say what Chekov had done up to now was of no consequence. ]</sub>

I still think that's very important. When we eventually break free from Atroma, it would be good to have a bread crumb trail, so to speak. That, if nothing else, can serve as a guide post so we don't end up just wandering in unknown space.

[candothat]

[Literally.

All you need to know about interstellar cartography is this: it's hard. There are no fixed points of reference because everything is moving in relation to everything else, and the distances between things are so vast and moving bodies involved so numerous that calculating the location of anything with some degree of accuracy requires either an impressive computer or a math genius. And with the fleet drifting through unmapped space and no comprehensive star charts handy (the planets they've stopped at tend to map little more than the local system), Chekov essentially started with nothing. What he has is still rough since the Tourist's scanners aren't built to measure distances as finely as the survey ships at home, but it's still an accomplishment.]

A bread crumb trail will not lead us home. [That was melancholy, wasn't it? He makes an effort to brighten up a bit.] But following it would, of course, be wiser than going blindly forward. At least we know that there is food behind us.

[universal_charm]

It might not lead us all the way home, but it could point us in the right direction. We've worked miracles before on less.

_{[ He clapped Chekov's shoulder. ]}

Don't give up on it just yet. Trust me, this is helpful.

_{[ He cracked a jovial smile. ]}

I'll be sure to put you up for promotion when we get home, and a decoration.

[candothat]

[Pavel is not convinced that he believes in miracles anymore, but he does believe that finding a way home is possible. Neither of the other prisons he was in proved inescapable.

He smiles, pleased.] Thank you, but you will need to promote Sulu as well. He would be endlessly annoyed if I outranked him.

[And, with great sincerity:] I do trust you. I want you to know that.

[Kirk wasn't talking about trust of that magnitude, but it's worth saying. Chekov knows that he's a little too standoffish with his own crew--too worried that they're going to leave again, too afraid that they're going to notice that he's not quite who they want him to be. It's taken six months for him to really trust Kirk this time around.]

[universal_charm]

_{[ Kirk isn't sure in his own personal miracles, in the ones that might save his own life. He used that one up, the big one, and he was fine with that. He would prefer the miracles be spent on others anyways, on saving the lives of those that mattered. ]}

Well, I might let it go on for just a little bit. Only a little. You know, to motivate him.

_{[ He smirked, as if he had just come upon a wicked sort of plan. Oh dear. It faded when the other spoke again, and ever so slightly he nodded. He could hear the sincerity in Chekov's voice, the levity of them. ]}

I'm glad to have earned it again, Chekov, and I'm sorry for whatever I did to have degraded it in the first place.

[candothat]

[Excuse you Kirk, there happen to be a lot of people who think that your life matters.]

How cruel. [Not that it wouldn't be fun.

Chekov frowned at the unexpected apology.]

You didn't do anything, captain. Jim. You should have had it from the start, but I... [He trailed off, torn between making some true but brief excuse or being entirely honest. There was a time when he had always erred on the side of honesty.] I have been in these places away from home for three years now, maybe more. This is my third one, and each time... it becomes more difficult to trust anything, does that make sense? Nothing lasts, no one remembers, everything changes. This is the fourth time--fifth, technically--I have found you, and how many times can I tell you the same things with any hope that you will remember them? You could disappear tomorrow and return the next day with no memory of being here and it would begin again.

[universal_charm]

_{[ At first Kirk frowned, not quite understanding, and then it began to dawn on him. He knew Chekov had come from another world previously, not just their own home world, but a prison. Had Chekov been to other places too? Three years away from home in another world, and Kirk popping in and and out forgetting? He could see how that would be mentally exhausting, and it would be a natural defense to simply stop trusting those you knew, or thought you knew. He didn't blame Chekov for that at all. ]}

No, I understand. Well, not in the sense that it's happened to me all that much, but I understand what you're saying. I can't say I wouldn't have similar reactions after so many times too. I should have been more understanding of that from the start too.

[candothat]

[Having Kirk say that he understood was a relief. Just saying it was a relief--to a point where Chekov was tempted to tell him more. But no, it would be too much at once. At least he would feel more comfortable confiding in Kirk in the future.]

Thank you for understanding.

[That was a lot of seriousness all at once. Teasingly:] Yes, you should have known all of the things that I didn't tell you from the first moment I came here.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He chuckled and his mouth twerked up into a little smile back. ]}

It seems being away from you all has made me rusty. Usually I'm better at reading your minds.

[candothat]

I'm willing to forgive it since you are out of practice. Maybe I can try to talk to you more often when there are things to say... only until you regain your psychic abilities, of course.

[universal_charm]

Yes, only until then. If I get plenty of practice, I'm sure they'll come back soon.

_{[ AKA COME AND TALK TO HIM, GOSH CHEKOV ]}