Chess Moves and Lack of Sleep

Posted on Thu May 2nd, 2024 @ 10:04am by Commander Benjamin Jamesson & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz

Mission: Contagion
Location: Communication center
Timeline: Late Day 366
2250 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Benjamin looked at the screen confused as he saw a sub-space message. He knew that everyone over on the alien base had been given the chance on calling back to the ship but he had not expected Calanthe to want to speak to him. He made his way to the Communications Center still confused but happy at the same time that she wanted to speak to him. "Hey, Ensign..." He greeted Lexi as he saw her.

"Oh yeah, Cal wanted to speak to you." She said, trying to work out why he was there. Benjamin nodded. Ensign O'Connery smiled as she passed the earpiece over to him and then left the room to grab some coffee as it had been a long day.

It was difficult to trust the infrastructure of the station. Ever since her nauseating experience with its attempt to appease her expectations, Calanthe had become increasingly unwilling to think much about anything in terms of comfortable facilities lest the eerily-omnipresent walls start trying to fashion her a jacuzzi shaped like a literal kidney. The communication centre they'd rigged up had become her responsibility, which was fair enough except for the complete lack of intuition when it came to figuring out how to augment the station's systems with their own. She was the last of the group to make their allotted call home, primarily because she'd spent most of the day making sure the others actually stayed connected to where they intended. In typical Calanthe style, this left her with very limited patience for idle pleasantries.

"This place is a nightmare, you'd love it."

If there'd ever been much tangible difference between the woman he'd lost and her parallel version, it seemed very minimal with only the capacity of subspace to convey her tone. At the very least, her mood was instantly recognisable, and perhaps with it came the sudden understanding of why she'd called him; there wasn't a soul on board who could build her back up again quite as proficiently, not when the stress was threatening to launch her towards literal outburst.

The man inclined his head and shrugged. He was sure he would enjoy something other than the ship as he was finding himself needing something other than working out what was going to happen with his newly commissioned department to think about. "Not sure I would from the sound of your voice." He commented leaning back to get comfortable as he thought this might be a deeper conversation than had expected. "So what's up? Why did you want to speak to me?" He ventured.

It was a simple enough question and yet the silence immediately after it turned the situation immediately complex. If she was going to be honest, there hadn't been anyone else Calanthe had even considered talking to, outside of Lexi who she'd been in communication with all day. There had been an assumption, she supposed, that he would just understand and perhaps even that he would have wanted to hear from her. Now, as she chewed her bottom lip, Cal felt the pressure to come up with a reason that wasn't just 'because I wanted to hear your voice.' "Nothing much," was all she managed, which wasn't going to work on him, especially when she'd already lowered her gaze. "I should probably have just sent through these updated reports Gerhard wanted. I can do that now."

The man raised an eyebrow as he watched her on the screen before it turned into a frown. “Calanthe, what is wrong?” He asked more pointedly. “I have never seen you quite make that face before but I am glad to see your face. Wanna hear about my day?.” He offered taking the pressure off of her and giving her a few moments to think better.

"You bet, it'd be nice to be reminded what normal is." The agreement was made initially without eye contact as Calanthe made good with her declaration and set up the data transfer. Had it been earlier in that day, that alone would have warranted a prolonged focus but, with it done in seconds, she wound up with no choice but to sit back in her chair and look up at him again. It was more control than she could ever claim to avoid broadcasting an obvious amount of agitation but she focused and her tone softened. "Tell me."

The man paused as he saw her focused else where for a moment before she returned and he allowed himself a smile as he saw she had calmed down. “Well I am no longer Chief Engineer.” He declared. It had been a long road to getting from there to where he had wanted to move onto. The engines were not his and it pained him with how odd it felt to feel like about machinery but he did.

As was easily predictable, it was enough of an immediate distraction to crease Calanthe's brow into a frown, more puzzled than annoyed. Though they'd never explicitly spoken about it, she was astute enough to recognise that he had been uncomfortable in the role, which was possibly understandable given he was working alongside the teammates who had already buried him once. "What happened?"

"Leroux listened to me and made a new department to split the load of Engineering and put me in charge of what we are going operations. So engineering will have engine stuff and I will have the technical stuff outside of the parts that make us go fast." He explained sounding a little more confident with what he had going on going forward. It was a weight lifted off his shoulder for him.

It shouldn't have been a surprise by now that Ben had an uncanny knack for knowing how to stop her moods in their tracks but Calanthe still found herself inwardly retreating from whatever trash heap she'd been about to climb and sit atop to sulk. "A new department? I'm gone a day and you're already taking over the place." A soft huff of tired laughter was a breakthrough though and, this time, Cal's smile managed an appearance. "You sound relieved."

“I would not call it taking over but Leroux listened and advised on something she had been considering for awhile and gave me the option of which one I wanted.” Benjamin had practically snapped her hands off in an attempt to find a new path on the familiar but different ship. “I am. I have been struggling with being chief engineer. I had been okay with being night watch officer but with Sloan gone there was no other choice until now.”

It hadn't been difficult to tell that stepping back into his dead counterpart's shoes had been rough on Ben, whose own reality had already sent him down a different path. Being overcome with a desire to hug him didn't help Cal's sense of isolation but the sentiment that sat behind it gave her motivation enough to try and keep the mood positive. "We'll have to plan celebratory drinks once I'm back."

Her gaze lowered momentarily.

"Which could be who-knows-when at this point." With a quiet sigh, the brunette looked off to the side with an unusual amount of trepidation for a woman not normally spooked or intimidated by much. "Not much point risking the entire crew, at least until we know how transmissible this is." Her brow flickered, still preoccupied, and then Cal returned her attention to the screen. "This place gives me the creeps though."

“Well I do have access to the still. Seems that is still my job so we do not lose McManus nearly again.” He commented trying to sound positive but he could see the fear on her face. He did not at all like the look on her face at all. “How so?” He wondered quietly.

'It's hard to explain."

The Communication Chief drifted for a moment then, lost in her own thoughts and the mounting need for vigilance that encouraged her to sit in silence so that nothing caught her unawares. That level of paranoia wasn't really Calanthe's style, but the compulsion was difficult to shake. Slowly, she returned her attention to the conversation, though she hunched further into the chair as if to hide from anything that might come looking for her. "At first, it was just Nate mouthing off like usual, joyful bundle of cynicism that he is. But this place, the architecture of it, the way it keeps...changing. It should be impressive but it's not, it's just unnerving." Her dark eyes drifted towards the ceiling. "I can't shake the feeling that it's somehow listening to me."

It sounded like Cusack’s paranoia but the woman was nothing like him to let it continue to get to her. “And what has everyone else said?” He wondered quickly alarmed slightly at the fact the base had the potential to listen to her and the others still over there.

Calanthe hunched a reluctant shoulder. "I don't think anyone's a fan. It doesn't make sense though," she continued, leaning into the familiarity of using the engineer as a sounding board even though that was arguably more a stolen memory than a feature of her own experience. "These people are sick, and have already suffered quite a few losses. It would make more sense to be worried about that but nothing about this situation feels right. It's like they're not telling us something."

“Most likely they are not, maybe they are as afraid of discussing things with you because of their sick people. If I was in their shoes I’d be similarly scared and evasive about things.” Benjamin would definitely be catching up with Duncan as soon as possible the man was so laid back he was horizontal sometimes, if he felt like it was off it would be.

The slightly incredulous look Calanthe shot him was more reminiscent of her usual feistiness. "There comes a point where desperation sets in and they're certainly well past that. It makes no sense to broadcast for help and then fail to disclose enough information for those responding to be able to render aid." A moment passed before she added, "Of course, Nate is sceptical that they actually meant to call for help at all and they have been kind of acting...surprised to see us."

"If they are surprised maybe they did not set it." Benjamin tapped his fingers thoughtfully. "Maybe it was not them... have you tried comparing the vocals from the distress call and how they talk to you?" He wondered thoughtfully. It would make sense from what he knew now from this conversation.

"I started on it, and then got dragged away to try set up a more stable data stream." Wriggling a little, the brunette sat up in her chair and frowned at the alien instrumentation in front of her. "I suppose I could try again, since I have zero expectations that I'll be getting any sleep tonight."

"Do try and get some sleep." He advised. He knew it was hard but he at least had to advise her to get some rest to recoup but she was her own person so she could take or leave his advice. It was completely her choice but he gathered she was going to do what she wanted.

Though she'd had a recent, rather understandable, brush with insomnia, they both knew that sleeping was not something Calanthe usually had much difficulty with. Waking up, on the other hand, was a constant battle, especially in this reality where Ben wasn't present to yank the covers off her and threaten to carry her to breakfast over his shoulder. Despite this, she couldn't see herself relaxing long enough to drift off, though instead of arguing, the Communication Chief just hunched a shoulder and changed the subject. "This has got to be eating into your downtime anyway, I should let you go."

“Like I have downtime, Calanthe, and if you think I am going to get much sleep when you are over there you are sorely mistaken.” He said before he frowned. “Just be safe.” He said trying to not go there when they had promised to take things slow and see how it felt as they were two different people now.

It was a promise that was difficult to abide by when he had these stray moments of tenderness. Navigating the ebb and flow had got easier since leaving Realia, since the general approach was a far more open one and if there was one thing that suited Cal better than anything else, it was a permission to speak freely. Situations like this, however, did provoke a sense of longing, if only because she'd already grown accustomed to having his level-headedness to rely on in the midst of calamity. She hesitated over a response and then, inspired, sat forward to instigate a secondary data transfer that resulted in a chess board appearing as a shared overlay.

"There's time enough for another practise match then." He'd been attempting to teach her the game as part of their carefully constructed time together, and so far, Calanthe's tendency to distract herself with conversation had proven to be her biggest challenge.

“Okay then.” He adjusted his bulk in the chair and offered a shy smile. He could do this if she was not going to sleep he could at least keep her company for a bit until O’Connery kicked him out.