Title: Year 2509 I
Prompt: (03:00/3AM) "Determination, especially in matters that seem to hold you back."
There were a lot of helpful things Lexine expected to see scrolling on the bottom half of her computer screen; general navigation, file names, her schedule, private messages. Titan News in particular offered her valuable information on a day-to-day basis on the progression of the world outside her during her stay on the Sprawl. Without it, she felt it would be all too easy to disconnect from space that didn't orbit around Titan Station, a floating city in and of itself what with how it sustained its populace.
At three in the morning, when all of the station was at its quietest and the gentle hum of the desk and lamplights overhead, Lexine's instances of late night work hours were kept relatively stimulating with random news tidbits on the controlled temperatures and simulated sunrises and sunsets.
Of course, with all pleasant things, there must also be a bitter element. And she didn't see it coming. If anything could be said about the passage of time, it's that the most haunting things can be set aside for a kinder reality if allowed. Though it lurked almost every day when she remembered why she was standing where she was, Lexine managed to fall under the seductive lull of normal civilian life and was ready to put it behind her.
Until she saw the report announcing the recovery of the USG Ishimura from deep space after the destruction of Aegis VII. Two announcements made one, Lexine felt the acidic taste of her own bile tickle the back of her throat as her stomach heaved and her breath became constricted under the rate of her own heartbeat. Aegis was destroyed, blown across the expanse of space, only to be remembered as a victim of… a terrorist attack?
"What?" Lexine scanned across the article linked to the toolbar below once, then twice and three times for confirmation. "Earth Government officials report Doctor Isabel Cho of the USG O'Bannon confessed to the destruction of the Ishimura, O'Bannon and the Aegis VII for reasons as of yet revealed…" Lexine read and re-read the sentence again, her eyes shifting toward the professional photograph of a woman in a plain CEC quarantine uniform, her expression vacant and her mouth slightly agape. On the right, a comparison photograph of Cho smiling alongside her colleagues presented a stark contrast to the hollow figure she was now. "Damaged beyond repair, the remains of the O'Bannon were salvaged for evidence, while the derelict Ishimura is said to been recovered by Earth Defense Secretary David Chang's crew aboard the USM Victory via anonymous tip. …Ishimura is expected to dock at Titan Station in… three weeks' time." Oh, God. Lexine's fingers fell away from the screen, trembling.
The Ishimura was being brought to the Sprawl. They were bringing the ship here! "Lexie, what are you still doing up at this hour?" Her employer, a grade six surveyor named Miranda Lewis, startled her to attention. Turning in her chair, Lexine failed to close the window in time before the older woman saw it. Miranda took one look at the screen and frowned. "Can you believe one woman did all of that?" She shook her head. "It's terrible, all those people, her crew. I can't imagine what their families must be going through right now." In another show of sympathy, Miranda wiped her cheek of any potential tears that may have gotten past her defenses.
It was all Lexine wanted to grab her employer by the lapels and let the truth bubble forth her lips. This was all wrong. One look inside the Ishimura, just remembering its distorted interior - every surface painted with the gore of the slaughtered crew and anyone could tell no human was capable that kind of carnage. Rising from her desk she grabbed her backpack and straightened her Peng hoodie. "I'm sorry, Miss Miranda, I have to go," She said. Miranda took one look away from the computer screen to regard Lexine then nodded, "O-of course, Lexie, I'll see you tomorrow," She dismissed the girl, eyes watering. Lexine made a brief gesture of consolidation, her hand squeezing Miranda's shoulder, before she darted out of the office and to the nearest elevator.
The halls were vacant of CEC employees, it appeared that only herself and Miranda were still up working on their projects while everyone else had the sense to go home and sleep. A few security guards roamed the halls in sporadic shifts, some nodded to her when she entered their line of sight and she smiled back, maintaining a façade of calm. Like second nature her hand accessed the holographic panel on the elevator door and waited for the lift to reach her floor. She accessed her RIG and glanced over her contacts list for the sake of looking busy under the scrutinizing gaze of Sprawl security. Aside from a few work, takeout and retail store numbers, her only personal contacts there that of Gabe and Williams.
Both of them lived in the same apartment, she was bound to get lucky if she contacted either RIG, but the safer choice would be Gabe. She stepped inside the elevator and leaned against the wall, the doors closed as a security officer approached, gun in clear view. "Computer, contact RIG 681392," Using voice command versus holographic panel saved her a little time. The video screen appeared immediately, illuminating the darkness of a room she assumed was either Gabe's or someplace he left his RIG. "Gabe? Gabe are you there?" She asked.
There was a rustle somewhere in the room followed by the appearance of a shoulder as the body proceeded to turn on its back. Gabe's head appeared from out behind the pillow and glared at the wide-eyed expression on his friend's face. "There had better be a good reason for calling me at this hour," He barely sounded awake. "I've got work first thing this morning."
"There is. Check your link for Titan News," She said.
"What, the gossip show?" His gaze shifted to the right, presumably to check the navigation toolbar on his video screen. "The hell did this application come from?"
"Gabe, they're automatically added to every RIG on the station. And it's not a gossip show."
"The hell it isn't," He remarked pulling away from his RIG.
"Just check it, will you, please?" Lexine exclaimed. What followed was an agitated puff of breath and the weary grumbles of a man barely recovered from an overtime shift. She watched him reach over and pull a t-shirt over his head and proceed to open the Titan News application.
He disappeared from the screen for a moment; she was greeted by a super deformed carton image of a man in orange-gray patrol armor with his arms folded, tapping his foot. Lexine stepped out of the elevator and headed toward the Transport Hub, the area was a little busier than the surveying facility, occupied by those coming off a late shift or entering the early morning shift.
Traveling through the tunnel exit, Lexine found herself on the deck for the tram station. The tram entered the station in a timely fashion, she waited three minutes at best. Lexine boarded and sat in the seat closest to the exit. Checking her RIG she found the trooper was still tapping his foot, occasionally glancing toward her and shrugging his shoulders. Did Gabe loose the connection or was it the tram she was currently on?
"Gabe?"
"Still here," He said. The little patrol trooper disappeared and Gabe reappeared on the screen, looking just as a tired. He scrubbed his face wearily, the long and somnolent breath that escaped him said a thousand different things about his feelings on his the subject. "They're actually bringing the damn thing here?"
"I can't believe it myself," She said. "Should we-"
"I don't- no, no, that might - let's just see what happens first, okay?" Gabe suggested.
Lexine started to nod in the affirmative then paused just as quickly, remembering what happened when colony security was slow to respond to the growing threat on Aegis. "Are you sure? The last time we waited-"
"Positive. Just go home, get some sleep and we'll talk tomorrow." As Gabe started to deactivate their link, she raised her hand, fingers curled in the same cautious manner that reminded him of an out-of-sorts rookie. "What is it, Lex?" He asked.
"Is it alright if I could stay at yours and Gibson's?" Lexine inquired. "I don't feel like being on my own."
"Sure, sure. Just be quiet when you come in," Gabe obliged.
"Alright, thank you," The transmission ended, Lexine sat back in her chair with a sigh. The tram stopped a few times before eventually bringing her to Titan Heights. Disembarking, Lexine traveled through the transitional tube that would lead into the foyer of the Heights apartments. The environment was a mixture of warm colors illuminated by a golden chandelier light. Couches were placed strategically against the walls just a few feet away from the pillars that framed the reference desk. It was welcoming, the perfect picture of a picturesque home of their century.
Gibson Williams' apartment was located on the second floor of the complex at the very end of the hall. The man had a theory about the door on the farthest end of a hall. The closer you were to the exit, the better your chances of survival were come the End of Times. Entering the elevator, Lexine made the short trip up to the second floor and proceeded toward the apartment. The doorway was unlocked when she approached. She touched the holographic panel, entering when the door ascended.
Instead of finding a vacant living room, Lexine was greeted by Gabe sitting hunched over on the couch, cleaning with his pistol while the TV played softly in the background. "Gabe, what are you doing up?" She stopped when he jabbed his finger to the left. Gibson's snoring drifted out from the bedroom on the left, the door left slightly ajar. "Gibbs is being a bit loud to sleep through. I've only got an hour before my shift starts," He said by way of explanation, eyes wandering upward. "You look nice."
"Oh, this?" Lexine tugged at her Peng hoodie self-consciously, moving around the coffee table she sat down next to him on the couch. "Just something I got myself." Kicking off her flats she drew her legs underneath her and leant against the cushions.
"I actually meant-" He raised one hand and made a clawing gesture at his head. "Your haircut." Lexine sat a little more upright, her hand moving to check the sharp edges of her hair, cut short in the pixie style. In spite of how she was feeling, she blushed. "Thank you, I like yours too." Gabe quirked an eyebrow at her, unconvinced. As far as he was concerned, letting his hair grow out and keeping it relatively level just above his ears was nothing remarkably noteworthy like the complete decimation of long locks.
"You should get some sleep," Lexine said after a moment.
"I'll sleep during lunch, Bartlett won't mind," Gabe answered, disassembling the Divet a second time since getting up. Lexine's fingers tapped softly against her cheek, seemingly content with the silence and dimly lit atmosphere of the living room. "I can't believe Aegis is gone," She whispered absentmindedly, teeth pressing her teeth against the skin of her pinky finger. Gabe stopped messing with his gun long enough to regard her. Reaching over he removed her finger from between teeth and messaged the skin. "It was gone the moment we got off planet, Lex," He rebuked. "Anyone still there was a good as dead, you know that."
"No, I know, I know it was gone, but, to hear that it was destroyed…," Lexine trailed off, shutting her eyes. "It really means that my… my dad is really dead." Gabe watched as she started to cry, feeling uncomfortable and out of sorts. He wasn't an unfeeling man, but Nathan was so much better dealing with people quick to cry at the drop of a dime. Even after a year of dealing with his and Lexine's own respective breakdowns, there was something about the initial onset of tears that caused his mind to lock up and inhibit the empathetic side of him he tended to willingly neglect.
Placing the half completed gun on the table, he scooted closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lex, you're gonna wake Gibson up," He warned gently. Lexine's mascara, now running down her cheeks, brought to focus the incredulous expression on her face. "My family's dead and you're worried about waking your friend up?" She breathed, suckling on her lip as she inhaled. Well, shit, Gabe thought, he put his foot in his mouth that time. "Lex, you've known for a long time-"
"Well, this makes it permanent now, doesn't it?!" She nearly bellowed in the face of his raised hands. "I spent years thinking he got off the planet... thinking maybe he was hurt or just didn't reach me. God, Weller, why can't you- why are you such an arsehole!"
"Jesus, Lex, I'm sorry," He blurted. "I didn't mean it like that, I was just saying-"
"What? That I shouldn't cry over what I already know? Man up, be a soldier?" When Gabe's eyes shifted guiltily to the right, Lexine inhaled deeply, trying to prevent any further noises from bubbling to the surface. "Well, I'm sorry, I can't. He—he was my father and I loved him. He didn't deserve to die like that. None of them did." Her entire expression crumbled into series wrinkles as the blood rushed across her face and another sob escaped her.
In the face of his own grievous errors, Gabe wrapped one arm around her and pulled her against him, Lexine landed a slap on his side, causing him to jump back. "Arsehole," Lexine grabbed him by the arm and hugged him anyway, her sobs were reduced to hiccupping whimpers. It was odd feeling, the sensation of another body trembling against him. Lexine's need for physical familiarity with the people she knew was something that took getting used to. Personal space was a valued asset to Gabe. It's what kept him alive and it was what everyone else around him did, his environment often strictly professional.
Yet, with the tables turned and more than a few bizarre brushes with death, Gabe was reevaluating his trained emotional distance and was slowly, if not begrudgingly, realizing… this wasn't such an awful thing, rotten as the circumstances were. "It's alright, Lex, you'll be alright," He whispered, rubbing her back. Lexine heaved breath in and out of her lungs trying to keep her sobbing to minimal. Turning on her side she kept her arms fast around his waist. "I'm, okay."
"Are you?" He asked, a little confused by her mantra. It was one thing for him to say it, seeing as he was trying to comfort her. But for her to say it, it tended to convey another meaning entirely.
Lexine shook her head, tears still running down her cheeks. "Not, really, but if I keep telling myself that, it might be true," She coughed. He fell back against the couch and closed his eyes. He listened to Lexine's shaky breaths until they became even again. Glancing at the clock, he realized he would barely have enough time to sneak in a power nap.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, he was sleep and the official morning time of the station was fast approaching. Gibson was shaking him awake in no time flat, a wry grin on his thin lips. "Taken a shine to the "nice girl" have we, partner?" Feeling a bit like a criminal with his hand in the cookie jar, Gabe did not engage his friend's teasing.
Pulling himself from Lexine's arms, he went to freshen himself up and proceeded to rush to work, hoping to catch the tram before it left him behind. Lexine woke to the comfort of an empty couch and the smell of eggs. Pulling the blanket from off her shoulders she eyed the note propped up on the coffee table.
"See you after work, we'll talk more later :3
-Gabe"