the ways of tea and failure (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomweekly2016-07-19 04:35 pm
hokuton_punch) wrote in fandomweekly2016-07-19 04:35 pm
Entry tags:
[#016] Need to Know (Marathon)
Theme Prompt: #016 - Little White Lies
Title: Need to Know
Fandom: Marathon
Rating/Warnings: T (mentions of violence, a little swearing)
Bonus: No
Word Count: ~700
Need to Know
As circuit-numbingly dull as it was, Durandal kept a few active audio receptors on the grumbling of the BoBs, both aboard his ship and in the citadel they were fortifying on the planet below. None of them were likely to cause trouble in their current situation, but with so much at stake, he'd rather be careful. Even if it meant listening to hours of boring idle whining about boots that didn't fit right and blisters on the hands of people who'd never held a pistol in their lives.
At least most of them were smart enough not to insult him directly where they thought he could hear, though the ones who weren't were more amusing or pathetic than annoying. And occasionally he did pick up something of interest...
"Blake's sending me out with squad two again," complained Darvesh, down in the Lh'owon citadel with a small cadre of fellow fighters as they restocked on ammunition. "And I just got back from a shift helping that maniac - I need a break!"
"Don't we all," said Frain, who currently ruled the makeshift stores as quartermaster, "but who are you calling a maniac?"
"Who do you think?"
"You surely don't mean our big damn hero," Powell drawled, and the click of her slotting a new clip into her gun echoed over the audio feeds. "Mind, she don't seem so heroic when she's cussing out one of You-Know-Who's messages from above. Saved my ass a time or two, though."
"I'm telling you people, there's something wrong with her." Darvesh's voice trembled with nerves; maybe Durandal should tell Blake to take him off active duty for a few hours. "He made her run through lava to flood that power station and she didn't die! I saw her jump out of a window two flights of stairs up to go after some bugs and she didn't even flinch!"
"Well, she's a security officer, isn't she?" Frain said. "She's trained to do that kind of thing."
"So's Chief Kent, and you don't see her trying any of those stunts. It's inhuman - she's not human."
Durandal had been wondering when, if ever, any of the BoBs would get a clue about the true nature of their so-called Hero of Tau Ceti. He'd even been thinking of dropping a hint or two if they didn't start catching on, though he hadn't decided yet whether he would confirm or deny their suspicions. Something about Darvesh's words and tone was oddly irritating, however. And then Frain had to chime in with, "I guess she does seem a bit odd. With all the things she's done - it rather strains credulity..."
"That a fancy way of saying you reckon she's one of those cyborgs?"
"She's got to be," Darvesh insisted, his voice cracking. "She doesn't even look at us half the time, she doesn't do anything but shoot the bugs and blow things up! She's going to snap like they always do and start shooting us and I can't, I just can't go back out there with her again and watch her -"
All right, time to settle the matter. "As hilarious as it is to listen to you gossip about the only useful person in this entire system," Durandal said through the terminal on one side of the room, and Darvesh actually yelped in surprise, "I'm sure you all have more important things to do. So why don't you concentrate on that and leave your completely human hero to me?"
After all, it was barely even a lie, Durandal decided, as the three BoBs hurried to finish their resupplying and he sent a note to Blake about pulling Darvesh out of the action. The majority of the security officer's modifications had an organic base; the mechanical remainder was less than twenty percent of her impressive body mass, which was hardly enough to disqualify her from the ranks of humanity. And Strauss's programming had remained stable, despite the stress of first the Pfhor stasis chambers and then the truly excellent carnage the security officer had been leaving all over Lh'owon. Really, thinking about it, most of the BoBs had no need to know such personal details about the woman currently occupied on a mission that would keep them all alive.
And people like Darvesh, ungrateful and unappreciative of her skills - they didn't even deserve to know.
Title: Need to Know
Fandom: Marathon
Rating/Warnings: T (mentions of violence, a little swearing)
Bonus: No
Word Count: ~700
As circuit-numbingly dull as it was, Durandal kept a few active audio receptors on the grumbling of the BoBs, both aboard his ship and in the citadel they were fortifying on the planet below. None of them were likely to cause trouble in their current situation, but with so much at stake, he'd rather be careful. Even if it meant listening to hours of boring idle whining about boots that didn't fit right and blisters on the hands of people who'd never held a pistol in their lives.
At least most of them were smart enough not to insult him directly where they thought he could hear, though the ones who weren't were more amusing or pathetic than annoying. And occasionally he did pick up something of interest...
"Blake's sending me out with squad two again," complained Darvesh, down in the Lh'owon citadel with a small cadre of fellow fighters as they restocked on ammunition. "And I just got back from a shift helping that maniac - I need a break!"
"Don't we all," said Frain, who currently ruled the makeshift stores as quartermaster, "but who are you calling a maniac?"
"Who do you think?"
"You surely don't mean our big damn hero," Powell drawled, and the click of her slotting a new clip into her gun echoed over the audio feeds. "Mind, she don't seem so heroic when she's cussing out one of You-Know-Who's messages from above. Saved my ass a time or two, though."
"I'm telling you people, there's something wrong with her." Darvesh's voice trembled with nerves; maybe Durandal should tell Blake to take him off active duty for a few hours. "He made her run through lava to flood that power station and she didn't die! I saw her jump out of a window two flights of stairs up to go after some bugs and she didn't even flinch!"
"Well, she's a security officer, isn't she?" Frain said. "She's trained to do that kind of thing."
"So's Chief Kent, and you don't see her trying any of those stunts. It's inhuman - she's not human."
Durandal had been wondering when, if ever, any of the BoBs would get a clue about the true nature of their so-called Hero of Tau Ceti. He'd even been thinking of dropping a hint or two if they didn't start catching on, though he hadn't decided yet whether he would confirm or deny their suspicions. Something about Darvesh's words and tone was oddly irritating, however. And then Frain had to chime in with, "I guess she does seem a bit odd. With all the things she's done - it rather strains credulity..."
"That a fancy way of saying you reckon she's one of those cyborgs?"
"She's got to be," Darvesh insisted, his voice cracking. "She doesn't even look at us half the time, she doesn't do anything but shoot the bugs and blow things up! She's going to snap like they always do and start shooting us and I can't, I just can't go back out there with her again and watch her -"
All right, time to settle the matter. "As hilarious as it is to listen to you gossip about the only useful person in this entire system," Durandal said through the terminal on one side of the room, and Darvesh actually yelped in surprise, "I'm sure you all have more important things to do. So why don't you concentrate on that and leave your completely human hero to me?"
After all, it was barely even a lie, Durandal decided, as the three BoBs hurried to finish their resupplying and he sent a note to Blake about pulling Darvesh out of the action. The majority of the security officer's modifications had an organic base; the mechanical remainder was less than twenty percent of her impressive body mass, which was hardly enough to disqualify her from the ranks of humanity. And Strauss's programming had remained stable, despite the stress of first the Pfhor stasis chambers and then the truly excellent carnage the security officer had been leaving all over Lh'owon. Really, thinking about it, most of the BoBs had no need to know such personal details about the woman currently occupied on a mission that would keep them all alive.
And people like Darvesh, ungrateful and unappreciative of her skills - they didn't even deserve to know.