Argentum Cygnus: Act IV
Diana inhaled deeply as she strode down the corridor to sickbay. Her armor and bracelets hugged her like a second skin, supporting her and urging her forward. The diadem that had once belonged to Antiope glinted in the ship's lighting as she crossed the length of the ship to reach the center of the great beast.
More than one crewmember gaped as she passed, dark curls framing her face and somehow making her fierce battle readiness all the more comforting to them.
The circumstances were dire. If Vanessa reached out to the Borg, it would become nearly impossible to keep her out of their clutches.
But, Diana was made of the impossible. And she would fight gods and monsters to save her sister. Even from herself.
Upon reaching the sickbay doors, Diana found that the doors wouldn't open. She flipped the door control, but heard an unpleasant beep as it refused to allow her entry. She considered reaching out to the captain, but knocked on the door instead. If Doctor McCoy's words had been true, then it was entirely possible he had been left alone, but that Vanessa was locking anyone out that could stop her.
"Door's locked! The moment she got access to the console, she locked us in and locked you out, Diana." The doctor's voice was muffled and irritated, but otherwise sounded fine. "Sorry, sweetheart, but you're not gettin' in that way."
Diana ran her hands along the door, looking for a seam. When her fingers brushed the line and caught the barest hint of an edge, Diana smiled. She took a step back, grabbing her sword off of her back. "Don't worry, Doctor. I'll be there in just a moment. "
"What the hell are you - "
Metal struck metal with a harsh clang as Diana dug the tip of her sword into the door seam with Amazonian precision and skill. She drove in further, planting her feet and using the sword as leverage to get herself an inch of space between the doors. Once she had a gap, she replaced her sword with her fingers. The vice grip that had crushed pipes and countless metal edges held fast, forcing the door to stay open just that much while it desperately tried to force the hydraulics back in place.
The sword clattered to the ground, startling McCoy within. It didn't seem to call any attention to Vanessa, though. As Diana braced herself for what came next, she spotted Vanessa in the back of the sickbay. Her hand, the one that had not expelled the metal veins, had a matching pair directly interfaced into the computer console. She was so focused on executing the programming of that hive mind, she most likely would not assess Diana a threat until she truly entered the room.
Diana began to pull the doors apart, then moved to pushing them further away. She groaned with the effort, fighting the technological power of the Enterprise as she forced the metal back. If it would not adhere to her commands, she would bend it to her will.
Sparks erupted from the corners of the doors as systems failed, but she continued to press on until finally, the doors remained forced open. Once she felt them give, she crouched down to pick up her discarded weapon, twirling it in her hand as she marched forward.
Doctor McCoy and a handful of his medical staff were sequestered near his office. The pattern enhancers that had once sustained a force field to stop Vanessa from leaving were shorted out on the other side of the room. "Has she attempted to harm you?" She asked as she sheathed her weapon. If she could avoid bloodshed, she would certainly do so.
"No. Like I said, she's ignoring us. Probably on account of the fact that we didn't try to stop her. She walked through that thing and just started shutting us out of systems. The security team didn't make it." McCoy was clearly addressing her, but his eyes were on the broken sickbay doors. "I guess there's a lot we don't know about you…" When he finally managed to look at her, his gaze was focused on the eagle on her chest. Polished and glinting in the harsh light of sickbay, she could tell he was momentarily in awe. "History doesn't do you justice, darlin'."
Diana rested her hand on his shoulder to fully have his attention. "I promise you, Doctor, if there is anything you wish to know of me, we can speak of it later. But for now, I suggest you stay back." A console beeped behind them and the lights flickered once more. Arching an eyebrow, Diana turned to face her sister once more. "This could get messy…"
WARNING. PRIMARY SYSTEMS COMPROMISED.
The deck shuddered and rolled again. If she was going to save the crew, she had to act quickly.
"Unit attempting to access communications array…" Vanessa intoned, oblivious to the others around her.
Diana made her way over to her fellow Amazon. "Vanessa, listen to me. It's Diana. You can stop this. You do not have to return to them. The Borg do not seek to help you. They only wish to strip you of your identity."
Vanessa continued on, undeterred. It was impossible to tell if she had even heard the words. "Communications access has been locked by command codes… attempting to override. This technology will be assimilated…" The woman tilted her head, exposing her skull to Diana. In the time since they had sedated her before, the implants had continued to be rejected. The cranial tubes looked even worse. If she could subdue her, then they could help her. She wanted to fight the Borg. She only needed the tools.
"Vanessa, I beg of you, sister, hear me. We will save you. I don't wish to fight you, but if I must, I will stop you from hurting anyone else."
"Life support access granted - " Diana heard the red alert klaxons sound again as the life support of the ship was compromised. Her heart wished that she could have stopped this before she threatened the crew once more, but the time for talk was momentarily over. Until they could break through the conditioning, she could not be reasoned with.
"I am sorry, Vanessa." She breathed, ashamed that she had not given Jim the tools to help her before now. Her hand reached out, gripping Vanessa's cybernetic wrist tightly. "But, you will stop."
Diana pulled the implants free of the console to an eruption of sparks.
As the ship rattled from the abuse, Diana had no time to think about whether or not the bridge could get command back. She was more concerned with the way Vanessa's other arm had swung around to strike out at her attacker. With a strangled grunt, Diana was thrown back as the Amazon's punch hit her square in the solar plexus.
Diana slammed into the sickbay wall, feeling the bulkhead dent and give for her shape. Vanessa was stronger than the typical Amazon. It felt like fighting Kal in his prime. The Borg had enhanced her somehow.
Diana shoved off of the wall and clenched her hands into fists, smirking. It would be a real fight.
She had expected that the Borg would have taken all of Vanessa's Themysciran training from her, that she would only know how to fight in the staccato movements of brute force that she had used in killing Nurse Yetron. Instead, she found herself blocking blows that she had been taught from Menalippe, Artemis, and even Antiope herself.
Diana's feet moved in the old ways, and her arms followed as she braced herself and took each blow as steady as a tree. She was immutable as Mt. Etna, forcing her to exhaust her brute strength over and over again while Diana could gain an understanding of how Vanessa was fighting.
There was no discipline. It was rote memorization, calculated in its playback. Diana could see each form as it came to fruition. She knew the counter to the dance, and waited until Vanessa had exhausted many of those combinations before she finally took action.
From McCoy's perspective, she probably looked to be taking a beating. With her hands up to defend, never striking, never lashing out as she gauged all of the intelligence she needed in a minute.
"You will be assimilated." Vanessa's voice had so much more warmth and life left in it. This was not Vanessa.
Diana finally made her move. As the Borg moved to strike overhead, Diana caught her wrist and pivoted.
Vanessa hit the bulkhead with another crunch. The metallic implants around her hand sparked and ceased in their constant idle movement. Diana had disabled them. She had also disabled others: the spiderweb implants that had burned off in the heat of her lasso. Perhaps I can disable more… As long as I'm prepared for the mental toll...
Diana braced herself for another attack as she was assaulted with another calculated series of maneuvers. Her bracelets clashed against the metal of the cybernetic augmentation, but she never ceased. She pivoted and kicked low, sweeping her off her feet.
She landed hard. The Borg technology did not seem to allow for great lower flexibility.
"Unit is damaged." Vanessa's voice sounded more harsh than before. Sitting up abruptly, she rose the metallic arm once more and pointed it at Diana. She expected the metal veins as before.
Instead, she barely had time to get her hands up to take a disruptor bolt unlike she had seen from the Romulans or Federation weapons. The resulting flash left spots in her eyes and suddenly, Diana wasn't sure what she was seeing. She backpedaled, blinking rapidly to try to clear the obstruction.
"Additional data access point identified." The bolt fired again, this time at Diana's feet. She was thrown back, skidding against the ground on her back until she finally managed to grab hold of a console. Lifting herself up, the flash-blindness spots had disappeared before her eyes. But, so had Vanessa.
Instead, a raw and smoldering hole now occupied the space where Diana had once stood. From the expression on McCoy's face, it was easy to assume what had happened. She'd jumped from one deck to the other.
Scrambling to her feet, Diana pulled her shield and ran for the hole. "Doctor, tell the captain that she is on the move! Make sure the area is evacuated!"
Diana pulled her knees up to her chest as she leapt, using the shield to avoid drifting ash and molten flecks of metal before she finally landed with a thud. She felt bulkhead shudder in response. With a quick glance over the lip of her shield, she caught sight of several cargo containers. They had dropped into a cargo bay. From the length of the fall, she assumed it had been two decks below. Most likely, Vanessa had found the schematics of the ship while raiding the computer. That was unfortunate; Diana did not have the benefit of that knowledge.
Another disruptor bolt flashed out of the corner of her eye, and Diana rolled out of the way. On instinct, she watched the shadows on the wall and hurled her shield with a grunt. It ricocheted off of a cargo container before knocking Vanessa in the back. It bought her just enough time to whip around another stack of containers and out of sight, using her god-like speed and agility to her advantage. The shield slid to a halt, spinning like a top until she could reach it. She leapt up and over a row of containers just as a quick volley of disruptor bolts scorched the wall behind her and a step behind.
It had been too long since she had pushed herself to move so quickly. As Kal had slowed down, so had she. She lamented her complacency. It wouldn't help her now. He had told her to push harder, and she had listened. But, she had tempered herself for two hundred years for the sake of her Amazons. To be the queen.
She should have recalled how her mother fought as fiercely as them all.
For such an old god by Man's World, Diana had forgotten how young she truly felt. And how naive she could still be.
Scrambling for cover, she stilled her feet on the cold bulkhead. Her boots were not as silent as she wished them to be, and now, she needed to think ahead of Vanessa's next move.
"Bridge to Cargo Bay 1!" Jim's voice echoed through the cavernous room and its maze of storage containers. "Diana, if you can hear me, we're reading inner hull breaches on three decks. If you can't get her under control, the computer's going to start sealing and opening the bay to vacuum. The ship can't take much more abuse until Scotty can get back into the main computer."
For an idle moment, she reached for what she expected to be her communicator. She took the realization that it must have been in her jacket in stride, but it meant her options had grown more limited. She could not afford to tire her opponent. She needed to de-escalate the conflict, and now there was the more pressing danger to the ship urging her forward.
"Diana!" Jim received no response as she could not give one. Something told her, he would not take that well.
Clutching her shield tightly, Diana's other hand reached for her lasso.
Vanessa's footsteps were coming down another row of containers, presumably on her way to the main computer console. Her implants were sparking and whirring as they attempted - and failed - to resume their normal functionality.
Diana closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. Time slowed to a crawl as she considered how each footstep echoed, how close it was, how even or impaired the gait was…
She stepped out of her point of cover and hurled her shield again. She targeted her center of gravity, forcing her mechanically-impaired body to stumble and crash into more of the containers.
In the blink of an eye, Diana unfurled the Lasso of Hestia and roped it around Vanessa's shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides. The sacred relic shone, brilliant and pure. Its radiance had been one of few gifts to prove to Diana that some of the gods had truly loved this world they had orchestrated. And Hestia, whether she was myth, long-dead, or somewhere beyond her reach, would help her now.
Her sister tried to tug away from the lasso. It only gripped her tighter. The metal implants on her arms turned to molten droplets, dripping down her skin and onto the ground below. Yet, she never cried out. She stopped speaking altogether. Her eyes seemed trained on Diana, but the expression was completely… dead.
No. This could not be.
"The Lasso of Hestia compels you to know the truth within yourself, sister. You are not these Borg." Diana said, tightening her grip on the lasso.
The doors to the cargo bay opened and Kirk sprinted in, phaser trained on the woman that had threatened his ship.
"No, Jim!" Diana held her hand up to stop him, looping the lasso around her other hand one more time. She never took her gaze off of her sister, the way her body was slowly becoming more human, less machine. "Please. I can save her."
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him lower the phaser in his hand.
She had nearly lost Vanessa in her wish to protect Jim from the truth. She would do so no longer. She believed in truth, in all of its glory and horror. She had only needed to be reminded of that.
Diana reached out with her mind as Vanessa's body began to buckle from the heat of the lasso. "You are Vanessa of house Katalepis. You are an Amazon of Themyscira. You were first among the daughters of Euboea, she who lost her life in the first battle against Man's World in the War to End All Wars. You were a scholar, a seeker of truth in the laws that governed the stars, the earth and the sea." She recalled their meetings when she was a child, the few times they had interacted on the island. "You are my sister. You are not a machine. You left Themyscira to show Man's World the best of us. You took refugees into your home. You encouraged us to greet men with open arms when you could have held your mother's death against them." She had spent so little time with her sister, but Diana could remember them now as plain as day. The lasso had revealed to both of them the truth. And Diana loved her sister's open heart.
Her diadem began to gleam a brilliant white, and the lasso in turn began to shift from a dark golden hue to a lighter one. Across the room from her, Diana could see Vanessa's face slowly shift to awareness. She smiled as Vanessa blinked. "Sister, I shall take you home. I promise."
"Diana..." Vanessa breathed, blinking quickly as her body buckled under her. "Please… help me... "
The voice grew more insistent. Diana could send the outreach through the lasso and closed her eyes.
The two of them stood at Themyscira's shores. Not the red star-tinted ones, but the brilliant blues of Earth.
This was the landscape of Vanessa's mind. In seeing Diana, she had called them back to this place and this time. The woman who stood before her was not the machine, but the woman that she had seen upon leaving for the NASA program.
"Diana…" The voice was tinged with youth. Even though Vanessa had been so much older than Diana, she seemed to have lost many of those years in the abuse from the Borg. "You found me."
"If I had known, I would have come sooner." Diana breathed. She meant every word, and even now, wished she had never left Man's World.
"I just want to go home." Vanessa smiled, her dark hair playing in the wind that she had conjured. "I thought that space was all I ever wanted to see. But, it is as dark as the night. And they have so many secrets… I can still hear them calling…"
"The voices will fade." Diana stepped closer. "But, you must let us help you. You must fight, like the Amazon I know you to be. And know this… I love you, sister. And I will see that you reach the shores of Themyscira."
"I love you as well… And I trust you, my Princess."
Diana felt the lasso in her hand go slack, and she opened her eyes to the physical world. To the Enterprise, to the cargo bay and the sterile bulkheads. It took her a half a moment to recognize that Vanessa was falling.
With enough speed to rattle the containers, she reached her sister and caught her. The two of them went down to the floor together, and she cradled her in her arms. Gently, she took Vanessa's prone figure into her lap. Finally, her sister seemed to be at peace. Whether it had been in the melee or the ensuing telepathic connection…
The cranial tubes had finally been rejected by her body.
Footsteps approached her, and Diana looked up as Jim Kirk holstered his phaser. He crouched down, resting his elbows on his knees as he, too, took in the situation. "I don't get it. The two of you stood there, the implants just started melting off, and then you just went silent. And you were… glowing. How did you do this?"
Diana looked up at him, relief glistening in her eyes as she smiled. "I love, Jim. And that is enough."
"This looks like a damn good plan, son." McCoy patted Chief Engineer Scott on the back as the two of them poured over one of the computer consoles in sickbay. "We might actually be able to get these damn things off this poor girl before we even have to report back."
Diana smiled as the two men discussed Vanessa's condition. Half of Sickbay was cordoned off with a force field, but Vanessa had been successfully sedated. The duo had spent the better half of the hour going through the events of the fight with Diana and the captain, then set their minds to how they would remove the cybernetic implants. The ones that remained, at any rate.
"The trick's gonna be makin' sure we don't trip any failsafes, and I'm sure there are many." Scotty remarked, smiling up at Diana for a second before going back to his work. It was clear that they would remain in such deep conversation for the rest of the day, if not beginning their delicate work at the same time.
She would be asked to leave at any moment, and for that, she was grateful. While she felt the urge to be at her side during the surgery, she knew enough about medicine to know she would be in the way.
Instead, she quietly dismissed herself and made her way to the first console she passed in the corridor. It took very little time to find that Captain Kirk was in the same observation lounge they had shared drinks in before.
Very well. It seemed all roads led there. It had been her first opportunity to be honest that she had not taken. She would not pass up the next.
When she reached the lounge, he had a glass in hand and was staring out the viewport at the phenomenon that had been explained to her as warp distortion. They were both stars, and yet were not. The Enterprise folded space around them and the visual effect was… intriguing, to say the least.
He turned to face her, presumably to see who had disturbed his time alone. For for the first time, she found another difference between Captain James Kirk and Captain Steve Trevor. If it had been Steve, he would have been thinking of the next point in the mission. And if there was not a mission, he would have been worrying about how to get to that next mission.
Jim had none of that weight. He had another smile and immediately leaned forward to grab another glass and started to pour. "Ambassador, please come in. I just cracked open this bottle, I'd be happy to have some company."
Diana rose an eyebrow, amused in spite of herself. "Am I Ambassador again? Are you on duty? Because…" She pointed to the drink in his hand.
Jim laughed and shrugged. "Habit. I assumed you were here on official business regarding your wayward citizen who has now found herself in Federation custody."
She smiled, although there was less joy in it than he had probably hoped to see. She slid into the stool beside him and took the offered glass of liquor, setting it in front of her. Staring into the amber liquid as it swirled around, Diana found herself thinking of the last time they had sat here. Their positions had been swapped, but the experience had been unique for her. To speak with someone that was so much like what she knew to be mankind while simultaneously new and unknown….
Diana frowned. She had jeopardized this newfound friendship by assuming she was still Queen and that her word was law. She had never enjoyed that authority, nor did she wish it now. "Yes, but… also, no." She finally tore her eyes away from the glass to face Jim. "You asked me to be honest, to share my burdens with you."
Jim nodded, his expression a little more serious. "I did. And I meant it. What's on your mind?"
She took a deep breath and leaned against the bar as she took a sip and set her tumbler back down. "When I told you of Vanessa, I thought I hardly remembered her. But, the truth is… the lasso doesn't just force someone to tell me the truth. It also forces me to face truths that otherwise I would not."
Jim swirled his glass as he considered her words. "And you had to face some of those when you were… in that telepathic connection."
Nodding, she continued. "I have not told you of how Themyscira came to be a home to refugees, both men and women. As you might have guessed, my island was a land of only women until we were forced to confront Man's World. While I left, my sisters stayed behind. Vanessa and I knew each other in passing circles, but I knew her mother very well. She trained me."
She didn't know how he had time to commit the name to memory, but nevertheless he muttered, "Euboea."
"Yes. Vanessa studied the stars, I studied battle. I read voraciously, but I'll admit mathematical formulas were not my greatest enthusiasm." As she spoke, Diana could recall times that the lasso had revealed to her; Vanessa had been there in passing. "When I returned from Man's World in the 2010s, I begged my mother to help us fight Darkseid. After the battle, we lost many on both Themyscira and in Man's World, many countries were quite devastated." She could recall the heated argument in the Senate chambers, how she pled with her mother to accept outsiders or fear that their culture would disappear entirely. "I asked my mother to take in victims, to open our arms to Man's World and make good on the dreams she had for my sisters. But, the Senate would not let them hold positions. For them, it was important to lead men above them until they could prove they would not throw us into slavery again."
She held up the bracelet in front of him, then rested her arm on the bar between them. Diana didn't pull away when his fingers reached out to trace the unique pattern on the edges. He was reverent, yet she could tell he was taking in all she told him. His curiosity of all life was now solely focused on her again. This time, she had no one else she could deflect attention to. "The warrior Heracles sold us to men. As such, we wore these gauntlets in that time - the other Amazons, not me. But, once my mother and aunt freed their sisters, it became a symbol that we had broken those chains and reclaimed these… bracelets of submission."
"So, to take them in would have been seen as a big risk." Jim's eyes lingered on the golden crest on her bracelets before his fingers finally stopped their caress. When he looked back up at her, she nearly forgot what she was talking about. He kept speaking, though, and in that moment, she had time to clear her mind. "They had had a way of life, justifiably worried about what men would do if they suddenly were in a position where they were not in charge. It's hard to look past that kind of innate fear, especially when it's justified to some extent. "
She slowly pulled her hand away. She was sure she would find herself thinking about the way his fingers achingly passed over the tip of the crest, as if he could imprint it into his memory. "There were many who wished for my mother to order me to silence. They understood what I wanted, but they simply could not justify the risk. In fact…" Diana cleared her throat and sat up a bit more. "Menalippe was among them. I know that you met her briefly."
Jim chuckled. "Yeah, she didn't seem to happy to see me."
She smiled a bit in return. "She eventually came around to see my side. But, it was not my words. It was Vanessa's. When I returned to help with cleanup efforts in Gotham and Metropolis, she made the case for us to change our ways. She had studied the stars all her life, and I had told her of Watchtower space station, of the United Nations space program. She wanted to see how mankind had excelled past the Amazons in this discipline. She wanted to be a part of the stars. And she did not want her mother's death to be the reason so many Amazons simply denied us on principle." Diana sighed, then motioned to the room around them. "All of this? Vanessa wanted that for all of us. It was because of her that we took men into Themyscira, that I fought to ensure they could have a place in the Senate. My mother insisted they take the sacred vows of the Amazons, and Vanessa, in turn, asked that I see her leave aboard the Argentum Cygnus. Without her, so much would be different." That smile she'd had for the past faded as she considered the reality of the situation. "She deserves to see what good came from her words and deeds, Jim."
Those blue eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement, crow's feet teasing her as a grin spread across his features. He nodded. "I completely agree. Which is why I asked Starfleet if we can complete her rehabilitation here and provide her quarters near yours."
Her jaw went slack. "Wait… you did? When did you have time for that?" Disbelief colored every word of that statement, but it was all she could do to keep her seat on the stool.
Jim laughed and drained his glass before continuing. "I sent in my report while you were working with Bones and Scotty to get her settled. I explained that since you can't go back to Themyscira yet, then we can't send Vanessa back yet, either. But, seeing as how you're not part of the Federation, we should be treating her like a refugee and as such, you are the only person in the whole galaxy she knows right now. That's the only way to ensure she'll recover. Seems stupid not to let you be there for your sister - "
Diana had hugged many people in her lifetime, but none that recently. And more importantly, she hadn't hugged anyone who looked and felt so much like Steve. And especially not when, in that moment, she wasn't thinking about Steve at all. She was utterly, completely and unabashedly grateful to Jim Kirk for what he had said.
Jim laughed and nearly toppled off the stool, but caught himself with one hand on the bar and the other hand on her back. "Woah! Hey, oh… okay…"
Before she could consider what she had done too much, she pulled back and clapped her hands on his shoulders. "Thank you, Jim! I would never have asked that of you, but thank you. It will mean so much to her."
Jim looked as though he'd never been thanked for anything in his life with that grin. "I figured you wouldn't have asked. That's why I did."
Diana's hands shifted to his arms, and at some point, that hand around her back had shifted lower, but not too far. It was enough that the two of them were companionable, but bordering on almost too companionable. For a moment, she considered pulling away. She couldn't trust that what she was feeling wasn't simply a reminder of Steve dancing with her, or the way he'd draped his coat over her shoulders in the cold. He made no effort to move closer or further, either. The two of them were trapped in limbo, it seemed.
"Bridge to Captain Kirk. We've received a message from the Starfleet Command, priority one."
Lieutenant Uhura had inadvertently made the decision for them instead. As if nothing had happened, the two of them both slipped off of the stools and stepped away.
Jim cleared his throat, his hand against the back of his neck for some reason. "Put it through, Uhura. Thanks."
"Captain Kirk. This is Admiral Hackett. We've received your report regarding the lifeform you found and the associated sphere. You are hereby ordered to bring the lifeform to the U.S.S. Yorktown. She will immediately be surrendered to Starfleet Intelligence and Starfleet Medical for a full examination and treatment protocol." Diana's heart sank, then swelled again with newfound, hot anger. Jim seemed to be feeling much the same, as he immediately stood straight, eyes sharp.
"With all due respect, Admiral, we have the medical staff on hand to perform the necessary procedures, and we have no idea what kind of tracking devices might be on her. If the Borg, uh, collective hivemind come for her, we'd be leading them back to a highly populated Federation starbase."
"Let us worry about that, Captain. I just need you to follow the orders given to you by the Admiralty Board. Understood?"
Jim swore under his breath, then shook his head. "No, sir, I do not. I do not advise that we attempt any sort of medical operation anywhere near a Federation station or sector. That tech is world's - centuries - more advanced than we have - "
"Your objection is duly noted, Captain. You have your orders. Hackett out."
In just the span of a few words, the room had filled with mutual anger and frustration. Jim growled, then knocked the tumbler he'd had across the room. It shattered with an almost anti-climatic little crash.
Diana made a move towards the pacing man. "They cannot take her, Jim. They cannot - "
"I know, Diana. And like hell am I just gonna let them take her without a damn good explanation." Jim's voice had grown dark. He had slipped from friend to captain again.
"I have to make the case that she belongs in my custody. Let me speak with them." Diana could feel her tenuous grip on the situation was being ripped from her, and that scared her almost as much as the idea of any culture gaining access to Vanessa's implants. The Apokoliptian technology, the cybernetic components… any of it could devastate a civilization in the wrong hands.
Jim had gone silent, staring out the viewport. His shoulders had gone tense, but by the time he turned to face her again, he had clearly gone through some sort of mental process. He had a plan.
"You're gonna get your meeting."