MD #150: Understanding is a Three Edged Sword
MD #150: Understanding is a Three Edged Sword
Summary: The resident Lines of Orion investigate the Resurrection Hub, but they are not alone.
Date: 05/09/2017 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: A Gift Horse
Ambrose Diaz Knox Inez Rance Randy 
Aboard the Lines' Resurrection Hub
The whole dodecahedron.
Fri Mar 23 (MD #150)

Getting to the hub and resurrection ship meant flying a Raptor to the Heavy Cruiser. The HC worm-jumped them to the site and after checking out the ships on sensors, cleared the Raptor to launch. Rance is flying with his minimal abilities. Plenty safe as long as nobody shoots at them. But for this mission its Lines Only heading over to check out the Hub and check its functional status. Still operating under the orders from Petra to not waken anything up, this is purely security and function-testing.

Leaving the Heavy Cruiser, they can all look at the Hub on approach. The ship is massive, almost the size of a basestar. The double-decked spires are all heavily armored and focused around a thick central section. Approaching the heavy spires, Rance flies them up between them, heading for an open boarding dock, he takes his sweet time since this isn't his normal bag of tricks. Once the Raptor is settled, the airlock begins closing up and cycling in breathable atmosphere.

Rance powers down the Raptor and grabs his rifle from between the seats. He's in his normal civilian shooter attire just in case. Coop is in jeans and a t-shirt wearing his own gear and armed similarly. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's go fire this baby up and see what's what."

Dressed in navy fatigues and some light body armor (because Diaz, while being a hopeless romantic at times, is also practical and utterly spooked about this entire mission), she has one hand resting on the sidearm at her side and the other nervously working some stress putty with her other hand. "And by fire, he doesn't mean open fire or set anything on fire, he means the vernacular of testing the operating systems and making sure everything is processing within established parameters," Adura self-translates as she moves along in Rance and Coop's wake, glancing casually over her shoulder and around as she does so.

Wearing a hoodie with black regulation cargo pants and boots, Inez has pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail, letting wisps flow at her temples. She signed out a sidearm, even though she barely knows how to use it. She watches Rance pilot the Raptor, her fingers twitching on her knees at times, but otherwise quiet and chewing over ideas in her own mind. The rambling of the Ten raises her eyes curiously, but she merely smiles and stands to wait for the Raptor to open.

Ambrose is out of his scrubs for once, wearing his duty blues and carrying a field medical kit over his shoulder. He is armed only with his datapad — there are far more capable combatants along, and he hasn't checked his sidearm out of the small arms stores since he first arrived aboard Orion, anyway. "Hello," he greets the other members of the mission as they board, then settles in for the ride. Quiet and contemplative, the Two studies what he can see of the station through the front view screen, then rises once they're down and clear. "It's going to take us quite a while for us to search /that/." The hub is huge and they are few.

Once out of the Raptor, Coop and Rance are on security and Knox leads the way. He has no idea where he's going anymore than anyone else would, so he's point man. Glove off, he places his hand to a wallpad at the door and his hand sinks into the soft material. He blinks a few times, almost stepping back. "Whoa. Power at the fingertips. That's cool." The door opens and he lifts the rifle to low-ready and moves through while Rance brings up the tailgunner position.

Stale air and minimal lighting, though at least there's a low hum like the air recirculation is kicking on. The hallway is a straight shot for fifty feet before doglegging right and they are looking at an unmanned defensive position with a steel-reinforced firing post with a mount in the steel for a heavy machinegun. The wall inside the covered position has another handplate, presumedly to access a weapons locker. "It would appear that we don't screw around," Rance mutters as they pass. Another defensive position on another dogleg and they come to another plate. This second door opens and it leaves them looking at a choice of left or right. The placard on the wall says, 'Left, 1-3, Control Room' 'Right, 4-6' 'Lower Level, 7-12, Engineering'. Coop aims them left and moves them further down the hall as it moves in a long circle, passing the access hatch for One - the room looking like its been welded shut and the pressurization light on the door blinking Red… The whole section for One has been vented to space even if some bodies may still be protected in storage. "Got what he deserves," Coop mutters, mostly to himself.

Carefully keeping her hands to herself as she follows Coop out of the Raptor onto the ship, Diaz takes a moment to turn slowly in a circle, eyeing the air lock and then - as they all move forward - the defensive positions. The wallpad that Coop touches makes her brows draw together in a fine line over her eyes, eyes that are narrowed subtly. She chews on her lower lip for a moment, walking in that pensive silence before she ventures: "Why don't we just ask the ship computer to identify any other moving life forms, heat sources or movement in general?" She shifts the stress putty from her left hand to her right hand then back again. "If.. it's operational, I mean. After all, the air began to recirculate as soon as we stepped onto the ship, so some of the core systems have to still be operational. Or not. Maybe everything is dormant," and as she passes the welded shut hatch she pauses to aim a classic human gesture at the door and scuffs at it with the toe of one boot, for emphasis.

Once her boots are on deck, Inez aims a grin back over her shoulder at Ambrose. She watches Rance touch the pad, and walks forward to peer closely at it. She lifts her own hand and looks at it, at the hand plate, but then Coop is approaching as everyone's gone past, so she hop skips to catch up and continue on. Her jaw tenses a little an she exhales a long, controlled breath at One's hatch. Then she resolutely focuses onwards and away from the subject.

Ambrose answers Inez's smile with an amiable one of his own. Then he joins the back of the group with Rance, observing and using his datapad to make a record of their mission. He narrates a few bits for the benefit of anyone watching it later, but otherwise has little to say. And while Ambrose is careful, he doesn't seem overly cautious or concerned. He pauses as they pass Ones' door, studying it as if seeking some answers from the lifeless metal plate. Then he sighs and moves quickly to catch up with the group. "That seems like a good idea," the Two responds to Diaz, and he tries to access some the central control or on-board sensors at the next opportunity, touching his hand to one of the plates. "Let's find out."

Rance mentions to Diaz's comment while they move, "Th'air is stale. If there was anyone else aboard, they'd probably have started up life support." Coop keeps them moving and keeps his rifle up as they make their way down the corridor and then reach the heavy doubledoors to control. "Alright, once we are inside," Knox says, "Rance and I are on security. You three suss out the rest." Hand goes to plate and the heavy doors rumble and begin sliding back into the thick walls.

Rance and Coop move in first, clearing it with rifle up, "Colonial Marines!" they call to the empty room, loud words echoing around the steel. But there's not a soul or machine here except for the installed systems.

The room has a defensive position set up at the doors and once past the firing barricades, the room is set up with a very long circle of lifted control panels out of the floor, divided into four sections to allow access between them. Each one is unlabeled and looks identical. The lights inside begin to flicker up and the whole room begins to hum as systems power up. On each of the control sections are a dozen handplates.

Touching one of the plates here is an experience in and of itself. It seems to work directly with the natural ability to project for the Lines. In the minds eye, anyone who touches a plate in here is suddenly seeing a graphical interface in their minds eye. Security, Engineering, Defenses, Damage Control, Line Generation, Navigation, Resurrection Archives, Communications, the list goes on. Each system has a sub-menu with more options. Its a lot to take on and the interface is breathtakingly simple. Only actively think to move into a system and the interface moves their mind through it, presenting deeper options.

"Or they could be Centurions, and atmospheric conditions are moot," Diaz comments as she glances sidelong toward Inez and Ambrose, offering up a sort of half curve of a smile before waiting a solid ten count after Rance and Coop offer the traditional marine greeting to an empty room that could possibly not be empty. But in case it wasn't, the marines are here. She puffs out a breath, moves the putty from hand to hand again then slowly moves forward to study the handplates that are just waiting for someone to ante up a palm print. She makes that sound again, the exhale of air, and scrubs the palm of her left hand against her uniform pants before reaching out toward the Resurrection Archives plate. Half way there she hesitates, palm almost touching the plate, then seems to nerve herself up to it and rests her hand on the plate itself.

There are dozens of handplates to choose from, now that she's past the barriers, and Inez hardly knows which one to choose. She walks over to one set, then another, until she finds 'the one' that just looks right and puts her hand to it. At the first touch her eyes light up, her smile brightens before her teeth catch her lower lip for a moment. She looks, for all the world, like a kid in a candy store that can't decide which to try first. after a pause, her smile settles and her eyes lose focus as she begins down the menus.

Ambrose relays that he can't access anything significant from the wall plate in the corridor, but once they get a look inside the control center it's clear there's a lot more to be learned here. "Perhaps they're waiting until we get further into the ship," he replies to Diaz, offering a small smile on his part too. After Knox and Rance have declared the compartment 'clear,' the Two follows inside and spends a moment panning his datapad around to record the interior. "I'll focus on the bio-medical aspects," he volunteers, "and see how many of us are on board." He corrects himself as he takes up position to place his hand on an access point. "Or potentially on board. Perhaps one of you could check navigation or engineering?" The pilots are going to have more background than the medical doctor there. Inez is already at work, so Ambrose reaches out to get started.

Once her hand rests on the panel, Diaz exhales a sigh of sound and some of the visible tension eases from her face, even more ebbing away from her body language as she waits through the boot-up sequence. She idly works the stress putty with her free hand, though instead of crumpling it she begins shaping it into random geometric patterns. "Accessing Resurrection Archives," even her tone of voice is markedly calmer, "slow boot-up sequence," which is more in the line of assessment than complaint, "System.. functional," there's a tone of marked surprise in her voice as well. She hums a little, eyes moving, her head tipping subtly to the side, "Last power down cycle was done properly without any critical errors logged, passive intercept system was left running. Oh my," her tone of voice is one of shock and a measure of awe all blended into one. "Forty one thousand.. two hundred eight five," and she blinks rapidly, not quite allowing herself the luxury of the emotion that attempts to escape. "That is the sum of the intercept system for the lines that are stored in the system, every downloaded and 'dead' person within reach," she shakes her head. "Oh my," and carefully navigates her way along the data to pluck out particular downloads and line information, seemingly random skimming, the frown forming on her face again.

Inez's natural curiosity is towards the Lines themselves, but as Diaz gets the jump on her I. that particular area, she shifts focus. "Where's a ECO when you need one?" she jokes, one corner of her mouth remaining in a quirked position as she scrolls through. "Well, this bird is about 99 percent ready to fly if we want to take her anywhere. Plenty of fuel and maneuverability, just have to wait for the computer to pinpoint itself in space." She shifts her attention to Rance. "Not that I'm saying we should move it today. Just that we can." Then she blinks at Diaz, and lets out a low whistle

"Life support is fully operational," Ambrose relays to the others in a business-like tone. Then he makes a thoughtful frown. "Interesting. Last update was by the Cylons, who replaced a backup air recirculation controller." Checking further into this, he adds, "It doesn't seem to be anything that could be dangerous — it can't interface with the rest of the ship's systems." A few seconds more investigation and he relays more useful info. "The ship can sustain a small crew long term, but it's designed for awakening only, not for housing large numbers. It looks like we could transport three hundred or so in a pinch." All very useful, as is the data Inez's discovers. "Can you tell where the ship has been, Lieutenant?" he asks the Eleven. But none of that is as interesting as Diaz's find. "Were those downloads during the Skath invasion, or prior?" Ambrose asks her. "I don't suppose Lieutenant Piers is in there?"

Unbeknownst to the Lines on board, but somehow the tiniest Marine managed to squeeze her way into a cargo compartment of the Raptor and not alert anyone as to her presence. Crafty Randy waited long enough till she was sure the coast must be clear and unfolded herself out, only taking a moment to stretch her legs. That sensitive hearing allows her to sneak along way behind in the skinjob party's wake, and she stops to listen at the juncture at One's room like some kind of woodland creature before she tiptoes along to try and find the Three's resurrection compartment, or what she assumes to be. Once there, she spends some time trying to figure out the access panel. She's seen Clara work one of these before on the Twin Rocks facility, but it was so long ago, that she knows she's going to have to try various methods and pray to whatever gods will answer. She didn't come empty handed though. The one thing she was sure she'd have to do was mess with wires and access panels. She's got an electronic pry tool, some wire cutters, and a voltmeter. That's it. So she examines the best way to access the wires and gets to work prying open somewhere /near/ the main panel so she can hopefully access the cables leading up to it indirectly instead of setting off security alarms.

<FS3> Randy rolls Body+Body: Good Success.

Randy spends 1 luck points on Because OH HOLY CRAP.

<FS3> Randy rolls Repair: Good Success.

Rance is hanging out by the door, Coop closer to the others, hovering while he looks to the vents and anything else where some kind of disturbing Cylon Monstrosity might come exploding out of. "Yeah, I wonder how many of those forty-one thousand are still considered corrupt from the war. No way to know, even by date of download, if there is one," Cooper says quietly.

Rance doesn't take his eye off the door, standing at the firing position. "Yeah I don't think we are taking this baby for a spin anytime soon, Inez. Sorry to burst that bubble." He does glance over at the mention of Piers. As does Cooper.

Diaz continues sifting data, and it's no surprise that she's looking through the names of her own sisters, the expression on her face continues to be one of sorrow and awe at the same time. "So many," she murmurs before she wipes the back of one hand against her face and focuses instead on what Inez and Ambrose are saying. "I think we can sort them from download date, yes. But how to determine which ones were corrupt and which ones aren't? I have no idea," she confesses before she does that subtle head tip thing again then nods. "She is," she confirms. "Mostly. How the ship managed to snag her datastream download is .. just amazing," she gives that slow shake of her head again then puffs out a breath and narrows the field of search. "She's here. The download appears to be viable, but some of it is corrupted or maybe just missing, I can't tell from the diagnostic. What's didn't make the download might be filled in with baseline personality."

Again she brushes the back of her free hand against her face, the deeply sentimental Ten isn't embarrassed to be crying, only a little annoyed at having to clear her eyes so often. "Well. On that, then. We have a chance to bring her back, then. There's enough of Lt. Piers in here that we could get her back, or enough of her back to run the probability and come up with Clara-like," she flexes her left hand slightly and stares intently at the datastream before glancing over at Coop and Rance. "We don't leave our people behind. And Lt. Piers sacrificed herself to help save as many lives as she could on Piraeus. This isn't just a scouting mission, this is a rescue op. And we owe it to her, and to the rest of our lines, our brothers and sisters, to prove that our lives are just as important. We can save Lt Piers, or enough of her that maybe she can fill in the blanks."

"Negative, El Tee," Inez responds after a moment. "All previous jumps were wiped before the ship was taken by the Cylons to its current location." There's no surprise in her tone, as if it's pretty much what she expected. Her hand drops from the hand plate, and she turns to look at Diaz. Her brows furrow together with concern. "But… what about that corrupted part? is it corrupted or just missing? Can you be sure it's enough her and not something…" she blows out a breath. "Is it really a rescue? it might be harder on people to have an almost Lt. Peirs than no Lt. Piers at all." She bites hard on her lip, but even in her gentlest tone, the words may not be welcome.

"Unknown. Perhaps we can communicate with them while they're in storage?" Ambrose speculates after hearing Rance and Knox. It's something he has had zero experience with himself. "I suppose that was the Cylons being thorough?" he says in answer to Inez, sounding a tad disappointed. Oh well. The Two finishes his own investigation and removes his hand from the panel, turning to listen as Diaz narrates her findings. His brows arch in surprise to find that Clara's signal was indeed captured, but it's surprisingly good news, for once. Still the Two is cautious. "Just a moment. We did agree not to awaken anyone on this visit. I think it's important that we keep our word, even if Command is likely to agree. And then there's Lieutenant Piers' personal preference — does anyone know if she wanted to be resurrected?"

Randy is able to get one of the panels open without tripping up some uber secure alarm. She knows it's only a matter of chance and she gets lucky, but what she's faced with are a bunch of wires that all look the same. "Frak," she breathes to herself and looks this way and that, making sure the coast is still clear. She took the long way around so as to not pass by the Control Room, but when being sneaky, one can never be too paranoid. The EOD has steady hands, very steady hands, and she needs them for this next part. She whips out her wire cutters and painstakingly begins to strip a small portion of insulation on every single damn wire she can see, careful to stagger in a way so that the exposed bits do not touch. Then she takes her voltmeter and begins caaarefully testing each one. Even after she finds one with some power running through it, she doesn't stop. She tries to identify which one would be the most likely she needs and which one would most likely /need/ the power to open the door. Without cutting any wires (like the clever cat she thinks she is…bc she's totally learned that lesson in the field before the hard way) she holds her breath and maneuvers the wires to conduct electricity from one to the other. "If this doesn't work, I can always try pressing my ear to the plate. Maybe it'll think I'm a skinjob," she whispers as she lines them up. Just a breath…a breath held and a tap of two bits of metal annnd…

"No way to talk to them. Storage is meant to be death," Coop says, thinking. "If she were boxed, that would probably be a different story, but that's trapping her in basically hell." He then looks from Ambrose to Inez, "Doctor has a point. We were specifically ordered not to wake anyone up without talking to command. Not to mention the ramifications for the Lines. When we gave up resurrection, we started having kids. If we plug it back in…?"

"Coop, come off it. We know," Rance interjects. "Some things are bigger than us. Bigger than that. Now I'm not saying we violate orders, hell we can't even wake anyone up because the system is unplugged for resurrection, but what's more human than sacrificing yourself to save a life of a friend? She's one of us, man. Granted, Doc has a point, too. Maybe she's lived her life."

"And what if she's become one of the ghosts that seem to watch over us, and we wake her up?" Cooper is about to say more when a buzzer begins sounding. A loud, angry one. Anyone who puts their hands onto a plate suddenly knows, there's an attempt to bypass security on access to the Three's.

The moment the alarm goes off Diaz's expression takes on a look that manages to convey guilt and determination and a fine measure of resignation. "I know. All of the arguments. For. Against. The thing is, no one makes a list about whether or not we should save a human that's trapped behind in a combat zone. We just.. go do it. I'm not saying that we toss our humanity into the wind. Or that we don't have to seriously think this through. I'm saying that Lt. Piers deserves the same chance to be saved, and I promised I'd help, and that's what I'm doing. I'm sorry," she even IS genuinely sorry.

Inez smirks. "No bubbles burst here, sir. I fly Raptors, not capital ships." There's a brief pause to Diaz, then she shakes her heads . "She does deserve every chance to be saved. From Piraeus if we can ever go back. But this isn't saving her, this is… trying to replicate her. It's different." There's a nod to the others, as well before she puts her hand to the plate. "Looks like someone …" she raises her eyebrows to Diaz's guilty look.

"As I understand it, Lieutenant Piers had a child before the Second Cylon War," Ambrose muses, "resurrected to revive her Line, and then had several more children after the war. I don't claim to understand her intentions and I can see interpretations both ways." Then the alarm sounds, and the Two slips his hand back onto the access point. He frowns and shares a look with everyone else who has done so. "… is trying to access the Threes," he finishes Inez's sentence. "It seems like our discussion will have to wait." He's already disconnected from the interface and, even though unarmed, is starting toward the hatch.

"Open sesa-" Nothing happens. Randy tries to make sure that she it wasn't just a bad connection and mashes the wire bits together again more forcefully. Nope. "Damn." This is when she starts trying to get manual. First she puts her thumb to the access plate. Then her palm. Finally, by the time people have arrived, she's got her ear pressed to the damn thing hoping her projection nerves will trick the plate somehow into thinking she's a skinjob and not thinking about how it might screw with her mind if it doesn't respond benignly.

Coop listens more to Inez and looks down while the buzzer is going off. There's a helluva conflict on his face, just thinking. "GodsDAMNIT."

Rance steps closer to him, "Coop, step outside the box and think about this. She trusted you and you looked after her and I know you give a big shit about her. You can't park on this and sit on the sidelines. She is YOUR sister, bud, not some face in the Lines. She's a person and a Marine." He looks like he wants to physically shove Coop, but the words might be punishing enough. "And what the hell is that sound.. Diaz, what did you do??"

Coop stands off and looks angry, but its unclear what he's angry about. He ends up grabbing Rance and hauling through the door. With no idea about what's going on, both of them lift their rifles and take off at a dead run. "Stay close!!" Coop calls over his shoulder. When they come up on Randy, they only see her ass out and head against the handplate. "COLONIAL MARINES!! ON THE GROUND NOW!!"

"I promised to help someone try to save someone that she obviously cares about strongly enough to risk everything for," Diaz says a she takes off at a run, following after Rance, Coop, Ambrose like the slow one in the tall people race. "It's Lt. Flynn, don't hurt her!" she calls before she even gets into the room with everyone else. "Stand down, it's Lt. Flynn, she's trying to save Lt. Piers, don't hurt her."

Ambrose follows in the wake of the heavily armed pair, jogging along and using his datapad to keep recording events. It's about the most useful thing he can think to do until the situation clarifies. He comes to halt a bit back from Rance and Knox, not wanting to get in the way if things get violent. And then he catches what Diaz is shouting and looks at the figure crouching by the door more closely. His surprise is only momentary. "Ah. Yes." The Two gives a resigned shake of his head as information clicks into place. "Of course it is." He considers briefly, then taps his data pad, shutting off the recording.

Randy can hear the footsteps as she's trying to make a good connection with her ear. She knows what will likely happen if she doesn't comply and by all accounts, with that foreknowledge, she /should/ have been hitting the ground /way/ before Knox and Rance ever had to announce themselves or give orders…but she doesn't. Heart pounding wildly in her own ears, she tries to hang on as long as she can. "I'm not frakking doing that you dumbasses," she says full of determination and a bit of piss and vinegar. "You can debate all you want," she says as she straightens up with all intents and purposes to keep trying to access the door. There's /no/ way she could have heard their discussion. "But I want to give Clara a choice. You're going to have to shoot me to stop me." She looks over at Rance and Knox as if daring them to do it. It's clear she means /every word/.

Rance and Coop hear it through the shouting and slow, lowering their rifles as they see who it is. They still run up on her. Coop looks back at Diaz with a look of betrayal. "You helped her? What the everliving frak is wrong with you! We were ordered here, just Lines! We had no idea this ship was anywhere even nearby enough to get Clara. You don't know what could have happened if she could get this door open. What if its wired to prevent tampering and vented the compartment? Doctor," he looks to Ambrose, "would it even be possible to get her back? Shits unplugged, right?"

Rance, meanwhile, approaches close to Randy and looks at her. "Flynn. You're in deep shit and we've got every reason to detain you. And we can. And Coop or either of the others can take you into custody and hand you off to the MP's. Step away from the door. You have no idea what you're doing or what we've even been talking about. Now step away from the hatch, now, sir."

"I helped her because she was going to do this anyway, come hell or high water. And doing something," and Diaz cuts a glance toward Randy then back to Coop, "out of love is not the worst thing I'll ever do. Helping meant that I was at least part of what ever idea she came up with on the fly. Not helping would have meant she'd be flying blind entirely. And it's the right thing to do, just to say that again," she adds as she retrieves the stress putty and moves it from hand to hand again. "And why would the centurions keep this ship safe all these years only to wire a door to kill us, or anyone else? That doesn't make sense. You know it doesn't make sense, as well. We have to help her."

"I know what I'm risking, and if you think that threatening me with MPs is going to make me back down when I just told you you'd have to shoot me, I stand by my statement that you're acting like an idiot. What's important is her data," Randy says with her eyes /completely/ off of Rance and Coop. She's looking at the wires again, but she's not messing with them just yet. She's wondering if it was that /other/ power line that she chose to not use given the one she did obviously set off an alarm. Diaz's words cause her attention to be taken for a split second. She looks back to the pilot and nods in solidarity. "She's right. That'd be a really stupid design to vent your bodies. Instead it would likely wake them up and alert them of the intruder to pummel them with numbers." Ignoring jarheads commences. "But you're right. I don't know what you've been talking about. All I know is I /saw/ Clara die. I heard her last words to me, and if she really didn't want another chance at life? She would have told me. But she didn't say not to resurrect her and Kelsey didn't say she was a ghost. So if there's a piece of her here…if there's anything..leaving her in some cache or whatever is like keeping her in prison. It's taking away her right to move on one way or another."

Ambrose doesn't look angry, or really even irritated. The look he gives Diaz is not accusatory, but it is profoundly disappointed. The Two does not appear to be much swayed by her argument, impassioned though it may be. Then he slowly shakes his head in answer to Knox. "No. I confirmed when the alarm went off — the system is physically disconnected." The doctor slips his datapad away and then puts a hand to his forehead for a moment before looking Randy's way. "Lieutenant Flynn … Mr. Hood is right." Yep, the Two is agreeing with the Seven. "And as much as you want to see Lieutenat Piers again, this is not the way. You're only making things worse for all of us. Please. Come quietly. I think it's best if we all return to Orion to sort this out."

Coop looks angry all over again. "And maybe deciding for all of us that giving up families for all the lines in the future was the right thing to do?" He growls in frustration, looking like he wants to kick something. Or rip a hatch door off. "Not the Centurions, Diaz. Have you noticed all the purpose built firing positions on this ship? We don't know what sort of passive defenses were installed." He just shakes his head and looks back at Randy.

Rance steps in close to Randy. "And you also accused me of some pretty heinous shit, Flynn, but I'm also talking to you. We can physically remove you if you don't step back. But if you frak up this door by prying shit off or frakking with the wires and it breaks the door, or worse, then its only going to slow down the process. The resurrection tech on this ship is physically disconnected and does not work unless we plug it back in. Step back and talk things over. Or you can probably break the hatch and we detain you." He glances over his shoulder, "We were already debatin' the merits of getting her back and it wasn't going poorly until that alarm went off. So please step back and we can continue and nobody has to know that the Doctor agreed with me on something."

Diaz moves forward, giving Coop and Rance a healthy amount of space to walk around and joins Randy, not just putting herself on Randy's side but actively backing her up at this point. "No one is taking away your family or the option you have for more family in the future. Unless you suddenly stop thinking of yourself as a real person? Are you saying that saving one marine is going to change everything for you, for everyone else? I think you're wrong," she folds her arms across her chest, still gripping the stress putty in one hand. "And leaving Lt. Piers locked in stasis, memory wise, is prison. And maybe you don't recall what it's like to wake up and find that years and years and -years- have slipped by while you were in cold storage. But I remember. And I'm not going to stand down either. We can save this one marine. Anything else is saying that Lines are second class citizens, that when we get left behind we just get left behind, as expendable." She cautiously reaches out a hand to rest on Randy's shoulder, looking past (slightly over) the tiny Marine. "Every life has value, or none has value. What kind of people are we?"

"Stop thinking about just yourselves. You think this is just about me? You think it's because I want to see Clara again? Of course I do. But if I can give her the chance to live, to /decide/ for herself, even if it means I'm not around to see her? You better believe I'll do it." It seems, Randy can't be deterred, but the conversation and her inexorable passion about it is enough to distract her from acting on anything for the moment. When Rance stands up close, Randy turns to look up at him with narrowed eyes. "You can /help/ me. You can open it /right now/. You can stop anything bad from happening with force or with cooperation. It's /your/ choice. I won't sit around while people debate whether they /should/ give their sister her rights. Whether they /should/ give her a way to live or pass on." Again, Rance and company are doing a fine fine job of keeping Randy distracted. When Diaz steps to her side, Randy straightens up. "You gave up resurrection before. And you took on resurrection before even if you didn't know it. There's already /proof/ that it's reversible."

Ambrose is sticking with Knox and Rance on this one, even if he is much less forceful and argumentative. "Lieutenant Piers isn't boxed," he says to Diaz. "She is /dead/." And then he shakes his head to Randy. "You're wrong Flynn," he tells her, not unkindly even if his patience is running thin, "and you know you're wrong. Or you wouldn't have lied to us and tried to do this behind our backs." He sets his medkit down on the deck and cracks it open, sorting through it as he continues to talk. "Arguing about this here isn't going to accomplish anything. I will not agree to a resurrection under these circumstances. If I cannot prevent it then I can at least refuse to be party to it." He unwraps a hypodermic and picks up a bottle of some medication, filling the syringe. "Gunnery Sergeant. Mister Hood. Are we in agreement?"

While Diaz speaks Coop and Rance look at her. Rance backs away from Randy and Diaz can watch the effects of her words on them. It had the exact opposite of the desired effect on both. Rance speaks first, "Frak this shitshow. I'm done with this op. If that's your position, that you alone had the right to decide the future for all the Lines an you believe that? …That we're just delusional for thinking we'd be giving up having kids? I would never say what you just said. Gods damn, this bullshit are why I will not put another uniform on. See you kids on the Raptor." He turns and starts walking off. "Whatever, Doc."

Coop's response to Diaz is a little shorter, "I cannot believe you just said that. Unreal." He then looks to Randy, "Sir, your actions have forced me to make a decision I should never have had to make. You, too, Diaz." He aims a finger at Diaz, "Step away from Lieutenant Flynn, D. I've got your back, Doctor."

Diaz keeps her hand on Randy's shoulder and shifts her focus to Ambrose, "The last time I stood up for what I believe in, in defiance of what my orders were, I got shot in the back of the head by One. You'll have to sedate me to. I'm not always right, and I'm wrong often enough to know it when I see it. I'm not wrong, this time."

"Are you frakking kidding me? You're such a judgemental piece of shite." Pot calling the kettle black, but Randy actually starts to laugh at Ambrose bitterly. "And you wonder why I didn't come to you? Oh wait, you don't wonder at all. You've already written me off and won't take me at my word. Why would I sit here and lie to you? Why would I risk my life for this if I thought I was wrong? Being successful has no bearing on what I'm doing you frakking jerk. I'm doing this because I /know/ it's the right thing to do. You're wrong. In that at least, and if you can't pull your head out of your arse to see that I wholly believe in what I'm doing? Why I might need to do this behind your backs? Well…" Randy raises her hand to indicate the needle, the guns. "Case and point. Sedate me. But you'll notice I haven't touched /anything/ after being told to stand down and you would have sedated someone who is just having a lively discussion and is a bit of an arse." She doesn't respond directly to Rance. Instead, she looks up at Diaz and takes a step closer to her.

Randy actually goes so far as to hold out her arm so Ambrose can find a vein if he wishes to go through with it.

"If that's what you want," Ambrose concedes to Diaz. It's not that he's pleased with her demand, but he's not going to balk at doing it if necessary. He might have been about to say more, but Randy's words demand his attention more immediately. "You may be right about me," says the Two. "Perhaps I am a judgmental piece of shit. But I believe the way you're acting is wrong and you're not going to be able to convince me otherwise with name calling or repeating the same argument more loudly." He nods to Knox, offering a grateful murmur for the Six's support. "Thank you, Gunnery Sergeant." Then he holds the hypo upright and taps out any air bubbles. "I don't want to sedate you, Lieutenant Flynn. I asked you to leave with us so we can discuss this elsewhere and you've refused. I'm genuinely sorry that it's come to this." He steps forward, and since Randy is offering her arm, he makes an attempt to gently and accurately insert the needle into her vein. It's a gesture that would be easy to avoid, and probably even to resist, if she chose.

"Flynn, you don't get to make the decisions about which directives to follow and when and what's legal about them. You are here illegally. You were told to step away from the door and you did not and even told us we would have to shoot you to make you stop. That implies lethal potential to this situation. You are being chemically detained for your own safety." Cooper then looks to Diaz, "Yeah? I'm sure your squadron commander will completely agree," he deadpans the sarcasm. "Lieutenant Diaz, last chance, will you follow my instructions?"

Diaz shares a look with Flynn then casually braces her hand on the tiny marine's shoulder to help keep Flynn upright when the drugs kick in. "With all my heart, no. She asked for my help, and I'm with her to the end. Clara and I don't even remotely get along, but she still deserves to be rescued. And standing down is saying that she doesn't." She doesn't often get muleheaded or dig her heels in, but when she does, she's set.

Coop looks Diaz in the eyes, "Nobody said we weren't going to save Clara."

"You need to do what you need to do, and so do I. I know you don't think this is honorable, but I'm not looking for your approval. My sense of honor and rightness does not come from you," Randy says a bit more gently Knox's way. To Ambrose, she says nothing. Not all of her anger has receded and she gives no indication whether she believes his words or not, unless silence is any indication. She might very well be slightly touched in the head, but she knows she's surrounded by skinjobs, and the one that has stuck by her really can't take on two to three if Rance were to come back around. That's just math. She looks up to Diaz to say, "You don't have to do this. Thank yo-" but the chemicals hit Randy's bloodstream quick. She never flinched when the needle entered her arm or tried to pull it away. Like that, the tiny Marine is put under and her body quickly starts to collapse.

Diaz eases Randy to the floor and calmly sits down at the same time, staring up at Coop once she's seated. "I believe in you, Coop," she says quietly after glancing down to make sure Flynn is breathing ok and stuff. Humans. Even marines are breakable and all that.

For all the conflict that has been in the air, Ambrose is a medical doctor and he's as gentle as he can be with the injection. Thankfully Randy is compliant, and the man is genuinely grateful for that. "Thank you for not resisting. I am sorry." And since Diaz is ready to support the Marine as she goes limp, Ambrose goes to prepare another sedative, this time with a dosage for Diaz. "Gunnery Sergeant Knox is correct. No one said we weren't going to resurrect Lieutenant Piers. But not like this." He returns with the second hypo, ready to administer it if necessary. And since she remains resolute, so does he. "I respect your conviction, Lieutenant. I'm sorry that I can't agree." Poke.

Cooper doesn't say anything to Randy, he just lets her slip off, then he looks to Diaz. There's no reaction to what she says, either. Once they're out, Cooper sighs and shakes his head. "Thank you for following your own convictions, Doctor. You probably hate it as much as I do right now," he says, looking down at the two women. "Frakking unreal. Petra's going to lose his shit." He moves down and disarms both of them, tucking any weapons away into his own gear. "I'll grab Diaz and Randy's toolkit if you wanna grab the Wee One. You want to tell Petra or should I?" he asks, reaching to roll up Diaz into a fireman's carry.

The doctor takes a moment to clean up and pack away his medkit, then slings it over his shoulder. "I don't hate my convictions. But what we've done feels like a failure." The Two sounds resigned, if still philosophical after all of that back and forth. "I have to accept responsibility for that, and try to learn from it." He nods agreement to Knox's plan and goes to collect Randy. For all that he's not very forceful, he's still a skinjob, and carrying several Randys wouldn't be much of a challenge. "I'll speak with the Commander. If you'd like to be present, I'd welcome that. If not, I understand."

Coop fidgets his gear a bit. "Nah, we were both here. I'll go with you."

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