Rec Room

[hellsbel]

The wardroom, or rec room, is a place to connect.

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thisavrou IC Inbox

[A sharp, ambiguous face appears on the directory screen; the voice is a curt, ironic alto.]

You've reached Bel Thorne. Leave me a vidcall or message here and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

[note: Bel is in cryo from May 9 to May 23, and messages received during that span will be answered after it.]

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Please state the nature of the communication (video, audio, text, etc) in the subject line. Non-electronic communications can be directed to Bel's quarters (Nomo Deck, room #005), or left in Bel's shipboard mailbox. If responding to a Spacebook post, please indicate which one.

Comments

[forwardmomentum]

[ of course he'll see you home after, bel, he's a perfect gentleman. mostly.

this whole horseshit train with lieutenant lord vorkosigan vs admiral naismith is really starting to give him a headache. he's starting to feel like a man being pulled in two directions. admiral naismith has always been a temptation, but lately, it's becoming an urgent one. all the more so for the fact that it'd be so much more useful to have that to draw on.

but he can't be both. he knows he can't be both. if he can't keep them straight -- if he can't separate them when all of this is over -- he'll lose everything. ]

No, Bel, Naismith is exactly what this ship doesn't need. This isn't an interminable blockade in the middle of a stalemate. There's no war, no extraction, no personnel exchanges. This is a civilian ship on a straight course. It doesn't need a mutiny, no grand takeover. It needs a cohesive command structure, I'll give you that -- but Naismith is a mercenary commander. He'd only throw the whole place into chaos.

[ he's not even sure he believes that, but he has to. it's the only way this'll work.

naismith can be more than that, murmurs a voice in his mind. naismith can be anything he wants. ]

[hellsbel]

[one of the many things Bel loves about him. and that includes the 'mostly'.<3]

Miles... this is a slave ship on an unknown course. If we ran into any or all of the above, a grand takeover is exactly what we'd get, except it'd probably be a hostile one. And I've started to like some of these people.....

[didn't miss that second-person, though. poor Miles. sighs, unhappily wondering how he can live like this all the time back home.....]

How's the weather out there?

[forwardmomentum]

Bel, if you think this is slavery, what do you call what I did in Tau Verde? There's a difference between conscription and slavery, and they wouldn't stop us if we wanted to stay on any planet we stop at. It's just that that isn't the ideal course of action for anyone who wants to get home. We're stuck here like you were stuck with me back during that blockade. We have been in bad situations, don't get me wrong, but this isn't this ship's mission.

[ like, say, that time miles got kidnapped by aliens looking for a blood sacrifice, or the absolute shitshow that was caducus primary... ]

Much better, since last week. Would you believe I can actually feel my toes now? Morale's warming up, too. I think we'll be filling more seats in the bar this week.

[hellsbel]

[laughing] No, that was piracy.~ ...But rules are different in a war zone or a survival situation, and this isn't one, it's just a ship without a crew. You didn't drag us all into the war, back then. We were already there and you honored the contracts of anyone who wanted to leave after the crisis. The captains could have chosen to destroy this ghost ship and settle down wherever they made first planetfall; instead, they're allowing us to be pulled through at the whim of the Ingress and asking for months or years of service in return for freedom. You didn't conscript kids at Tau Verde, Miles, but the Ingress would. This is wrong.

That's welcome news! [would offer a second opinion on how your toes feel, but~] I'd better hurry and beat the rush. See you soon.

[forwardmomentum]

The captains want to get home just as badly as we do, Bel, and they aren't pulling us here on purpose. The damn thing is broken. I might not like the way they're running the ship, and I might not be thrilled about the situation, but we're all in the same boat, here, figuratively as well as literally. And if we're all stuck on a ship with a skeleton crew, we all might as well pitch in. Sitting around not contributing sure as hell isn't going to get us there any faster.

I know how it sounds, Bel, but don't mistake my cooperation for complacency. I'm doing everything I can to learn the details of the situation. I just don't see any real alternative that'll get us where we want to go any faster, not just yet, and the captains are pretty lax with their discipline. Part of the problem, actually, I think.

Whenever you want to come down, I'll be around. I owe Jacky a few makeup shifts, anyway -- she pulls double duty too, and she had to man the bar herself while I was in the morgue. I'll keep the maple mead on tap for you.

[ he grins to himself in the dark. oh, that'll be fun to watch. ]