(no subject)
"Leaving the cradle in five, four..."
"And a lot of good it's done for ME." Kevin Riley's voice broke silence as the other prisoners turned to stare. Was the man serious? Hard to tell, Sterren decided, watching the angry Irishman raise a fist as the Earth disappeared behind them through the portview windows even the brig area contained. "Say we give her a bit of a song." Riley continued, geniunely looking forward to the trip, instead of resigned, as many of the other lifers here. Ten Years Hard labor and then exile on Mars Colony didn't beat out prison on Earth for very many of them but for him, for Sterren too, maybe, it meant a chance at something more.
"I'm thinking you don't want the Holy Ground!" she shouted to him, laughing as she ducked the intended swat in her direction.
"Was no Holy Ground for me." Riley assured her. "You neither from what I hear, always trying to leave it behind you in one way or another. Any of the rest of you? Actually WANT to be staying here?" He laughed then and Sterren, for all that she hated the indignity of this situation, having been marched here in antigrav cuffs and ferried far away from home had to laugh and applaud the enthusiasm. It was nice, at least, to see someone who didn't look at crewing Icarus as any sort of punishment.
Then, for Riley, maybe, the deal he'd gotten in the end of this was better than her own. He was leaving behind a murder sentence, probable death if his last appeal had been found same as the others and there wasn't anything wrongful about the accusations. He'd done what he had had to do, the Irishman had told her, countless times when they discussed it, and for the most part, she'd believed it. Her own crime, blowing up a vessel, ruining the outcome of a war should have netted her the same, but based on who she'd been on Earth, they'd let it slide to life in prison, militarily speaking and then had even turned that one aside when it came to needing seasoned spacers to make their way to Mars, Volunteering hadn't taken much of her pride, not much of Riley's either, though he'd later confessed he'd lied about his expertise and nobody had cared, but being forced into it as most of the others were...well, none of them looked all too happy. No matter who they'd once been on the Earth, mostly members of Armada didn't matter now, and along with the lost ranks, lost pride and lost reputations, they hadn't gained much from the new prison outreach of Exploratory Corps, or had hoped for Luna as the more civilized place to be banished away from Earth. More civilized, more populated, and less far away from everything they'd ever known.
Personally, for Sterren, far away was the far better option, furthest she could get it, and, much as she wasn't looking forward to the reported freezing temperatures on Mars while tetraforming took effect and slowly shifted over towards something normal, starting over, as something other than Admiral Allett's daughter, the other Admiral Alletts' granddaughter and great granddaughter, who had once hoped to be Admiral herself, was not all that bad as far as deals went. Not all that bad and yet, not what she'd wanted. Still, you didn't get something for nothing, now did you? A new life for her old reputation. Well, it was better than nothing.
"You leaving anything behind?" Riley asked her, leaning over and resting his chin on her shoulder, the only person she let do it, after she had decked him for it the first time he'd tried, just to make it clear she didn't tolerate it from just anyone. "Young man, young woman? You never mentioned anything beyond Armada before. You'll know all about my Matt by now, how that panned out and got me here. Any stories like that? Lost loves, or was your own love a good ship and a star to sail her by?"
"Something like that last one." Sterren told him with a little frown. "But that's all past me now, like yours is long past you. Hell, Riley, there's no time for dreaming now. We're going to work remember. I was too intense for Earth, and you gained nothing on it that you didn't have to sell your soul for. Everybody here..." she waved a hand. "Stupid enough to think they're going to gain it back. You and I...all we've got is our next chance. I don't think that we're fools enough to not take it, do you?"
"Probably not." Riley shot her a grin. "Somebody should tell them the score."
"Won't do much good for the likes of them, but hell you two are so cheerful about this, it looks like you're the ones I'm going to be pounding sense into." The foreman, who had taken over once they'd loaded here into the brig gave both of them a little smirk. "Cadet Lieutenant Allett. Mr. Riley. Timothy Hill and you don't want to sound enthusiastic in front of me. I'm supposed to make this miserable for all of us, see that you suffer just as much as I do. You're either going to hate it, or if you're really masochistic, you'll get into it. Personally, I'm hoping for the first one. People who eat up my shit bore me by now."
"So we're allowed to argue with you?" Riley grinned a little, pointed teeth showing just a little as he did it. "Fun. You know, the old warden always said I had a big mouth and my mind works like a...what was it again? Something weasely..."
"A conniving ferret in a bright shiny steel trap with hints of crack still coursing through its system." Hill supplied, crossing his arms a little. "Wouldn't last a day out in the real world either but you've got some kind of crazy will to survive out on you. Good. Initiative." He nodded once and then his gaze turned back to Sterren and she felt the urge to flinch but held it tightly anyway. "And you..." Hill shook his head. "Well I'm going to have my work cut out for me."
"Sir?" she asked, unable to stop herself from straightening a little and very nearly came to parade pose right there in front of him. "I mean to do my best here, sir, if Mars is going to be my chance again and Icarus the last ship I'll be crewing for, sir." Did that do? At all? Hill still looked unimpressed and Sterren fought to keep from sighing. In charge as he was, he only merited the proper respect, didn't he?
"You've been in the system how many years now Allett and you still think you're Armada's brightest and her best." Hill muttered with a little scowl. "Or you want to be. Entered Training School at sixteen, flew up to the top ranks, convinced you'd somehow be the youngest Admiral possible but then..." He drew a hand across his throat and mimicked a few explosions. "Tragic accident for Armada, they said. One missing flagship, trickery by the enemy but that didn't let you keep a thing when you couldn't follow orders when they mattered. Too impulsive and too quick to jump. Sent you to prison for life but you're still brilliant so they transported you here. I'm not doubting the last one, or any of those impulses but I've got to say, you keep being Armada's lapdog and no one's going to like you much. You know how many of my crew died here on Mars last year? It's not just the ice that does it, or the air. Sometimes it's all the convicts too. Between the both of us, you'd best not piss them off."
Sterren blinked when he seemed to be finished and decided that, this time at least, she could omit the 'sir' from her vocabulary. Difficult after being trained to snap to attention with that, but new chances were new chances, weren't they and she may well take them...
"You've got your work cut out for you if that's what you're aiming for." Riley informed Hill, shaking his head at Sterren until she wanted to hit him. "Seems there's only one thing that she's ever loved and that'd be neither man nor woman. Nor her father or her mother. Anybody else you ever had?" he wondered absently. "I didn't get them mentioned to me in the last few years we've known each other but...a dog even? Best friend? See there's my point." he said to Hill, when Sterren didn't rise to his bait. "Armada's her first love, screwed up as all that is. God only help me if I ever get like that."
"God ever help you if you close your mouth." Hill seemed amused though, Sterren thought, and wondered at the sound of that. Amused at what exactly? Here they were both criminals that he was stuck with and...
"I've got my reasons." Hill announced, reaching out to give Sterren's tight braid a little tweak. "If you were any good in history, you might guess in the end. Until then, well my job's to keep you guessing. Up to gathering your fellow convicts for a tour? Or do you want to be more popular than you've ever been on Earth? It's up to you." he added, snickering a little as he watched and Sterren did her level best to understand the man. So far, she reasoned, nothing came.
"And a lot of good it's done for ME." Kevin Riley's voice broke silence as the other prisoners turned to stare. Was the man serious? Hard to tell, Sterren decided, watching the angry Irishman raise a fist as the Earth disappeared behind them through the portview windows even the brig area contained. "Say we give her a bit of a song." Riley continued, geniunely looking forward to the trip, instead of resigned, as many of the other lifers here. Ten Years Hard labor and then exile on Mars Colony didn't beat out prison on Earth for very many of them but for him, for Sterren too, maybe, it meant a chance at something more.
"I'm thinking you don't want the Holy Ground!" she shouted to him, laughing as she ducked the intended swat in her direction.
"Was no Holy Ground for me." Riley assured her. "You neither from what I hear, always trying to leave it behind you in one way or another. Any of the rest of you? Actually WANT to be staying here?" He laughed then and Sterren, for all that she hated the indignity of this situation, having been marched here in antigrav cuffs and ferried far away from home had to laugh and applaud the enthusiasm. It was nice, at least, to see someone who didn't look at crewing Icarus as any sort of punishment.
Then, for Riley, maybe, the deal he'd gotten in the end of this was better than her own. He was leaving behind a murder sentence, probable death if his last appeal had been found same as the others and there wasn't anything wrongful about the accusations. He'd done what he had had to do, the Irishman had told her, countless times when they discussed it, and for the most part, she'd believed it. Her own crime, blowing up a vessel, ruining the outcome of a war should have netted her the same, but based on who she'd been on Earth, they'd let it slide to life in prison, militarily speaking and then had even turned that one aside when it came to needing seasoned spacers to make their way to Mars, Volunteering hadn't taken much of her pride, not much of Riley's either, though he'd later confessed he'd lied about his expertise and nobody had cared, but being forced into it as most of the others were...well, none of them looked all too happy. No matter who they'd once been on the Earth, mostly members of Armada didn't matter now, and along with the lost ranks, lost pride and lost reputations, they hadn't gained much from the new prison outreach of Exploratory Corps, or had hoped for Luna as the more civilized place to be banished away from Earth. More civilized, more populated, and less far away from everything they'd ever known.
Personally, for Sterren, far away was the far better option, furthest she could get it, and, much as she wasn't looking forward to the reported freezing temperatures on Mars while tetraforming took effect and slowly shifted over towards something normal, starting over, as something other than Admiral Allett's daughter, the other Admiral Alletts' granddaughter and great granddaughter, who had once hoped to be Admiral herself, was not all that bad as far as deals went. Not all that bad and yet, not what she'd wanted. Still, you didn't get something for nothing, now did you? A new life for her old reputation. Well, it was better than nothing.
"You leaving anything behind?" Riley asked her, leaning over and resting his chin on her shoulder, the only person she let do it, after she had decked him for it the first time he'd tried, just to make it clear she didn't tolerate it from just anyone. "Young man, young woman? You never mentioned anything beyond Armada before. You'll know all about my Matt by now, how that panned out and got me here. Any stories like that? Lost loves, or was your own love a good ship and a star to sail her by?"
"Something like that last one." Sterren told him with a little frown. "But that's all past me now, like yours is long past you. Hell, Riley, there's no time for dreaming now. We're going to work remember. I was too intense for Earth, and you gained nothing on it that you didn't have to sell your soul for. Everybody here..." she waved a hand. "Stupid enough to think they're going to gain it back. You and I...all we've got is our next chance. I don't think that we're fools enough to not take it, do you?"
"Probably not." Riley shot her a grin. "Somebody should tell them the score."
"Won't do much good for the likes of them, but hell you two are so cheerful about this, it looks like you're the ones I'm going to be pounding sense into." The foreman, who had taken over once they'd loaded here into the brig gave both of them a little smirk. "Cadet Lieutenant Allett. Mr. Riley. Timothy Hill and you don't want to sound enthusiastic in front of me. I'm supposed to make this miserable for all of us, see that you suffer just as much as I do. You're either going to hate it, or if you're really masochistic, you'll get into it. Personally, I'm hoping for the first one. People who eat up my shit bore me by now."
"So we're allowed to argue with you?" Riley grinned a little, pointed teeth showing just a little as he did it. "Fun. You know, the old warden always said I had a big mouth and my mind works like a...what was it again? Something weasely..."
"A conniving ferret in a bright shiny steel trap with hints of crack still coursing through its system." Hill supplied, crossing his arms a little. "Wouldn't last a day out in the real world either but you've got some kind of crazy will to survive out on you. Good. Initiative." He nodded once and then his gaze turned back to Sterren and she felt the urge to flinch but held it tightly anyway. "And you..." Hill shook his head. "Well I'm going to have my work cut out for me."
"Sir?" she asked, unable to stop herself from straightening a little and very nearly came to parade pose right there in front of him. "I mean to do my best here, sir, if Mars is going to be my chance again and Icarus the last ship I'll be crewing for, sir." Did that do? At all? Hill still looked unimpressed and Sterren fought to keep from sighing. In charge as he was, he only merited the proper respect, didn't he?
"You've been in the system how many years now Allett and you still think you're Armada's brightest and her best." Hill muttered with a little scowl. "Or you want to be. Entered Training School at sixteen, flew up to the top ranks, convinced you'd somehow be the youngest Admiral possible but then..." He drew a hand across his throat and mimicked a few explosions. "Tragic accident for Armada, they said. One missing flagship, trickery by the enemy but that didn't let you keep a thing when you couldn't follow orders when they mattered. Too impulsive and too quick to jump. Sent you to prison for life but you're still brilliant so they transported you here. I'm not doubting the last one, or any of those impulses but I've got to say, you keep being Armada's lapdog and no one's going to like you much. You know how many of my crew died here on Mars last year? It's not just the ice that does it, or the air. Sometimes it's all the convicts too. Between the both of us, you'd best not piss them off."
Sterren blinked when he seemed to be finished and decided that, this time at least, she could omit the 'sir' from her vocabulary. Difficult after being trained to snap to attention with that, but new chances were new chances, weren't they and she may well take them...
"You've got your work cut out for you if that's what you're aiming for." Riley informed Hill, shaking his head at Sterren until she wanted to hit him. "Seems there's only one thing that she's ever loved and that'd be neither man nor woman. Nor her father or her mother. Anybody else you ever had?" he wondered absently. "I didn't get them mentioned to me in the last few years we've known each other but...a dog even? Best friend? See there's my point." he said to Hill, when Sterren didn't rise to his bait. "Armada's her first love, screwed up as all that is. God only help me if I ever get like that."
"God ever help you if you close your mouth." Hill seemed amused though, Sterren thought, and wondered at the sound of that. Amused at what exactly? Here they were both criminals that he was stuck with and...
"I've got my reasons." Hill announced, reaching out to give Sterren's tight braid a little tweak. "If you were any good in history, you might guess in the end. Until then, well my job's to keep you guessing. Up to gathering your fellow convicts for a tour? Or do you want to be more popular than you've ever been on Earth? It's up to you." he added, snickering a little as he watched and Sterren did her level best to understand the man. So far, she reasoned, nothing came.