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#Miner'sRespite – January 14, 2018
Priya gives a warm smile as the sentiment is passed around, nodding to herself as she stares deeply into her nearly-untouched mug of beer. As the table quiets down and the landscape changes from a funny story to a heartfelt moment, she looks up from her drink, glancing to Gage at her side. "I have a story." she says softly, warm smile remaining as her gaze then travels to the others. "About Jason." she's quick to clarify.
Gage continues to study Vasquez in silence until the woman at his side speaks up, drawing his attention her way. "That so?" he asks through a grin, "About what, Pree?"
Priya lowers her gaze, her warm smile widening as she recalls the situation. "...Faia? Do you...?" she begins, looking about at the others to see if they recall the story in question, "Anyone remember that...?"
Vasquez ' attention turns to Priya, her mind pulled away from thoughts of the current mission. She doesn't say anything, just furrowing her eyebrows slightly and taking a sip of water as she waits.
Cynthia is picking at the snacks, starting to learn which bits of food to avoid, as she waits for Priya to tell her story, not wanting to interrupt.
Gage's grin widens and he gives a single nod- indicating he knows where Priya is going with her story- before turning his attention back to Vasquez and Cynthia. "Suppose this one needs a bit of setup." he says, aware of Priya's curt nature and tendency to damage the nuance of a good story by skipping to the point. Priya doesn't seem to mind Gage taking over, falling silent for the moment. "Uhh-..." he stammers for a moment, gaze
lowering as he considers how to continue. "...So... So there's not much out there in the way of stop-gaps. Out in the Traverse, ya know?" he begins, looking back to the pair of guests. "The way things go is that-... I mean, we're looking for slavers, right? Pirates and slavers, but slavers are always the big worry. That close to-..." his grin turns a bit sheepish as he glances about the establishment, "...Well, here.
Uhh-... Terminus Systems? Plenty of slavers looking for an easy target. Now we-..." he leans back slightly, gesturing about the table, "...don't have much say in how things go. We pretty much just sit around. Run drills. Eat, sleep, and whatever-the-hell else we can do to keep ourselves occupied until we're called up for duty. But on the backend we've got folks keeping their ear to A-T's pulse. Talking to intelligence
officers. Keeping in communication with local colonies. Hailing other ships in the systems. They call it 'looking for actionable intelligence'. Anyway, the folks upstairs got word that a small settlement on Zorya was hit by some slavers. Just a-..." he shakes his head, realizing the details aren't that important, "...Small mining operation or something-... I don't really remember. Anyway, we patrolled the system and it's
not long before we were called up. Bunch of four-eyes with their cargo hold packed to the brim with our people." he says, not bothering to translate 'our people' to 'human'. It's just implied. "Big surprise."
Shane gives a humorless snort along with a roll of his eyes as if he expects nothing less from batarians.
Gage gives a brief nod. "Anyway, point is we don't have a lot of options for processing folks out there. We did what we could for them, but for the most part all we could offer is a warm bed, a few hot meals, and a good shower until we could get them back to an outpost equipped for dealing with that sort of thing or rendezvous with another ship able to transport them for us. So after something like that, the Beirut usually got a
bit cramped. We had accomidations for civvies, but-... yeah." As he trails off, he glances back to Priya.
Vasquez listens in silence, her expression largely unchanging aside from her frown deepening slightly, still holding onto her glass. Her gaze turns back to Priya as Gage's does.
Sam sets her mug back down after a long gulp before interupting Priya. "Delin." she recalls, "I think that was his name."
Priya gives an appreciative nod of her head to Sam. "Delin." she corrects. "He couldn't have been more than six or seven. Delin was-.... alone." she continues, her smile faltering as she glances about at the others, "We don't know for sure but-... but his parents were probably-..." She doesn't finish her sentence, assuming Vasquez and Cynthia can connect the dots. Slavers aren't known for their gentle nature. "Jason was the
first into the hold. As the rest of the civilians were escorted out, Delin remained behind. Directionless without his parents. So Jason just-..." her warm smile returns as she shrugs her shoulders, "...hoisted him up and carried him out. While Delin was on the ship, the two were inseparable."
Shane's big ear-to-ear smile returns as he listens to the story, nodding along. "Kid sat with us for chow. Jason was showing him how to play catch-... teaching the kid how to play cards-..." he lists before being interrupted by Sam.
Shane gives a nice, hearty laugh. "Delin was taking his credits by the time he left the Beirut." he jokes which gets a chuckle out of the others.
Priya nods a bunch of times, smile widening by the moment as the others speak. She waits for them to finish before she continues, her soft voice a stark contrast to the upbeat, energetic nature of Shane and Sam. "When Delin was gone, I remember talking to Jason about it. He said-... 'He just lost a lot. The least I can do is take a few hours out of my day to help him forget a little bit of that pain.' " Her gaze falls to the
table, seeming almost embarassed at having told a story that wasn't played up for laughs. Just something she cherished. "That's-... That's the story I'm always reminded of when I think of Jason." she settles on.
Vasquez ' expression changes, softening. Her gaze falls to the water still left in her mug, before looking back to Priya as she reaches the end of her story. She purses her lips, nodding a couple of times as her gaze darts out across the Respite. "Y-... yeah. That's Jason." she says, a short-lived smile crossing her face before she glances back at the trio across the table. She closes her eyes as the smile fades, a hint
of embarassment in her face as she lets out a drawn out sigh, leaning back in her seat and letting her head rest.
Shane passes a glance Priya's way. "Look at you getting all soft, Pree." he gives some good natured teasing, leaning to his side to softly nudge at Priya.
Priya's cheeks redden as she rolls her eyes at Shane's teasing and swats him away. "He's a good man." she says in response to Vasquez' comment.
Sam remains silent as Priya finishes her story, a subtle smile remaining on her face as she once again turns to her drink.
Gage's smile returns as he listen s to Priya finish her story. As Vasquez speaks up, he gives a small nod, leaning down to take a sip from his beer. "So-..." he begins, looking between Vasquez and Cynthia. "Served together." he repeats Cynthia's short explanation, hoping that turning the conversation away from Jason may help to distract Vasquez from her obvious concern, "How far back do the two of you go?"
Cynthia is quick to speak up. "It's... what, twelve years ago or something now?" she says, looking to Vasquez. When she doesn't get a response she sips her beer again and continues. "Served together for half of those." It seems like she has plenty more to say, but there's an obvious tension, and she finds herself falling quiet.
Cynthia finishes her beer and gestures towards the bathrooms with a thumb. "Gotta take a leak. Be right back." she says before slipping out of the booth.
Shane shifts his chair aside a bit to keep out of Cynthia's way as she exits the booth. He watches her for a moment before turning his attention back to Vasquez.
Sam shifts a bit more, pressing her back against the wall so she can pretty much fully face Vasquez. "Where did you two serve...?" she asks, awkwardly leaning over for the pitcher to top off her beer. "Don't think Jason mentioned..." she adds, glancing over to Gage.
Gage gives a shake of his head, confirming Sam's recollection. "Don't believe so. Just said you were ex-Alliance."
Vasquez nods faintly, not really looking at any of them. She stares at her mug for a bit before letting her gaze wander a bit. "Started out on garrison duty. Elysium. Not a lot of action, but I was just happy to be away from Sol, you know? See the colonies. Elysium was something special. Coming from Mars, it was beautiful. And so busy. Something was always happening. Plus it was my first time dealing with
aliens. Really felt like representing humanity. It, uh... yeah. I served there until the Blitz." There's a discomfort in the silence that follows the last word, and she finds herself looking down again as her finger taps repeatedly against the almost-empty mug.
Gage nods along, a small smile forming as Vasquez begins to speak. But the timeline given by Cynthia was enough to cushion the story as soon as Elysium is mentioned, causing his smile to fade away. When Vasquez confirms her presence during the Blitz, his gaze moves to his beer. "Shit..." he sighs, finally looking back to Vasquez as the uncomfortable silence settles in. "Hear you guys had a hell of a fight on your hands
Vasquez nods faintly, but there's a very obvious discomfort that lingers. She looks up briefly, her gaze falling on Gage and then Shane before she drinks the last of her water. "Couldn't stay after that." she says, not really acknowledging Gage directly. "They were pulling from the garrison for counter-ops anyway. Spent the next two years kicking down the doors to every hideout those fuckers had. All the way to Torfan."
She pulls back her right hand from the now-empty mug in a concentrated effort to stop the twitching, her gaze back on the table.
Gage's gaze settles on Vasquez' nervous twitch until she tears her hand away from the mug, his expression falling neutral. "Can't say I blame you..." he says in response to Vasquez noting her departure from Elysium, having- much like many other marines- heard the stories of what went down.
Shane furrows his brow, giving a stern nod to Vasquez' words. "Took the fight to them for once." he says. "I don't know how the Council let's them get away with that shit. If it was humanity that pulled some shit like that? You can bet your ass we'd still be getting our asses chewed out about it." he says.
Shane winces as he catches the glare from Gage. "Sir..." he says apologetically, lowering his head. "I know it's not all of 'em!" he reiterates, passing a glance Vasquez' way as he raises a hand defensively in an attempt to make it clear he's not a racist. "I'm not saying that. But what happened at Elysium? That shit was straight up government-financed terrorism. All I'm saying is-... If the Council isn't gonna look out for us,
Priya sighs, having heard her fair share of similar debates among her teammates. "The Council is forced into the unfortunate situation of having to appease everyone. I do not envy their position. Relying on them to look out for humanity's best interests in the first place is a mistake." she explains, "And I don't mean that to be insulting. It's simply the way it must be. The way politics demands it to be. Humanity- as much as
everyone else out there- must focus on our own problems rather than expecting others to fix them for us. The missing colonies, for example-..."
Priya seems to shrink slightly as she hears Samantha, bowing her head apologetically. "The Collectors." she repeats. "Our colonies have went missing. A clear threat has presented itself yet still the Alliance remains mostly silent. With all due respect-..." she glances Gage's way, as if apologizing for potentially insulting the Alliance and the way they handle things, "...that is where our focus should be. Not worrying about
what other species will do to assist us. What the Council will do. But demanding more of our own government."
Gage sighs, staring down into his drink for a moment before taking a long sip. "Humanity is resilient." he finally says, looking from Priya to Sam. "We've survived a lot. We'll continue to persevere. We'll survive these attacks just like we have in the past. And, just like Elysium after the Blitz-..." he nods Vasquez' way, "...We'll put the pieces back together. Just gotta have a little trust that the people behind the curtain
Vasquez listens in silence, her expression distant at first, but the conversation pulls her back in, her gaze shifting between Priya and Gage. Her attention turns to Sam and she seems about to say something when Cynthia comes back.
Cynthia returns just in time to catch the tail-end of the conversation. She seems to put together pretty quickly most of what she's missed. "Elysium's a hell of a world. Bounced back big time. I live in Illyria. Been quiet lately though. Not a lotta ships anymore. Everybody's worried about the Collectors."
Vasquez swallows, a deflated breath escaping her. "They-... they have to be stopped. Have to be." she says quietly, aimed at no one in particular.
Gage gives slow nod, shooting a sympathetic glance Sam's way. "And they will be." he says confidently as he looks back to Vasquez. "I'm not gonna pretend to be the Alliance's number one fan right now..." he continues, shooting a brief glance Priya's way as his hand idly slides down to his leg, "...But I don't doubt they're doing what they can."
Gage looks to Sam. "No." he shakes his head, "It isn't." he agrees plainly, making no attempt to argue the woman's statement. His gaze moves to the others at the table, "Which is why the rest of us need to do what we can to pitch in."
Shane gives a small roll of his shoulders, nodding to himself. "So then that's what we do." he says before looking to Gage, as if for confirmation.
Gage gives a nod. "Absolutely. Alliance is spread thin. Lots of outer colonies and ships out that way looking for protection. As soon as the paperwork is pushed through, we get out there and do our part." he says, perhaps slightly underestimating the threat the Collectors pose given the limited information available.
Vasquez frowns at the direction the conversation is taking, looking up at Gage. "It's not that simple." she says, perhaps more harshly than intended. "You can't win against something like that. You're luckier than most if you get away in one piece." She stares at Gage with a hard expression. Both her hands are back on her mug, gripping it tightly.
Cynthia frowns, looking to her side at Vasquez. "Chief..." she says quietly as she studies her, but she doesn't quite seem to find the right followup.
Shane's attention turns to Vasquez. He gives a glance between her and Gage, trying to gauge the tension brought on by her harsh response.
Gage doesn't seem too bothered by the response. As usual, he remains calm and collected. Unshaken. "Sounds like you've got some personal experience..." he says, briefly glancing down to his mug before taking a quick sip. As he sets his beer back against the table, he looks to Vasquez again. Taking a deep breath, he shrugs his shoulders. "I saw the Horizon footage." he admits, relenting a bit on his previous enthusiasm, "Even if
you're right, does that mean we shouldn't try? People are disappearing. Families torn apart." He briefly glances Sam's way before returning his attention to Vasquez. "We do what we can, right?" He gives a short look about the room. "Isn't that what you're out here for? Plenty of people think the Terminus is a lost cause. But here you are. Redrock. Doing what you can to help." With a shrug he continues, "Doesn't matter how
bad the fight is. If there's even the slightest chance that we might be able to help-..." he nods, looking from Shane to Priya. From Priya to Sam. From Sam to Vasquez. "...We're sure as hell gonna try and do our part."
Vasquez seems ready to respond, but as her thoughts go to Li, to Halisi, she deflates. There'd been victories. Small. Costly. But important. After a short moment of silence she nods, meeting Gage's gaze again. "Yeah..." she agrees quietly, nodding slightly. A small, subdued chuckle breaks her grim expression, smile tugging subtly at her lips. "Not hard to see where Jason gets it from..." she comments.
Cynthia remains silent, her gaze moving from person to person as they speak, a slight frown on her face.
Gage allows the tension to dissipate, giving a small snicker as he Vasquez speaks. "I'm gonna choose to take that as a compliment." he jokes.
Samantha however, only just now seems to pull herself away from her thoughts. "You've seen them." she says, as if having just decided it after contemplating Vasquez' words. The conviction behind them when she spoke of the Collectors and how dangerous they are. She lifts her gaze from her beer to Vasquez. "The Collectors? The way you talk about them..." she nods, shifting in place as if she's ready to hear what Vasquez knows.
"You've seen them." she repeats, "And not just the Horizon footage... We've all seen that but you-..."
Sam glares Gage's way. It's more than enough to cause Gage to back down. It's probably why he's a good leader. He knows when to push, but he knows when to back down. "What do you-..." she begins, suddenly seeming flustered as she focuses on Vasquez once more, "...Tell me about them. What do they do with-... with the people they take?"
Vasquez ' smile disappears before it has a chance to really mainfest, her attention turning fully to Sam. "No." she says, her expression dead serious now, all of the previous tension returned to her voice. "I haven't seen them." she says with a shake of her head. "I've seen what they do. Results of their experiments. Their-... their tech." Was it really theirs? Still so many questions. It didn't all add up. But it had to
be. Right...? She goes silent, her frown deepening and her gaze falling away briefly before she looks back to Sam with a shake of her head. "Nothing good." she says, seeming reluctant to elaborate. She pulls her mug a bit closer, leaning back in her seat and looking down at the bottom of the mug.
Sam furrows her brow as she listens. She shakes her head, seemingly unwilling to leave it at that. "No..." she says, "...No. Tell me exactly what you saw."
Sam snaps her attention towards Shane, jabbing a finger in his direction. "Shut the fuck up, Shane!" she insists before looking back to Vasquez. "What did you see?" she presses, "What isn't good? You have to-... I need to know." She swallows hard, her expression softening, her frustration replaced by a pleading look in her glassy eyes. "...Please."
Gage's attention remains fixed on Sam, concern crossing his face over what Vasquez might have to say.
Vasquez swallows hard. It's clear she's less than eager to speak of this, but her attention turns back to Sam, meeting her gaze. "You've seen the footage from Horizon? What about the geth invasion? You've seen the bodies? The husks? Riddled with cybernetics. Official line was a geth weapon, yeah?" She shakes her head. "Sure as shit don't know what, but it's something else. Old tech. Real old. I've seen it make good people
go mad, turn on each other. I've seen ships overrun with those fucking... monsters. Nowhere near geth space. I've seen people turn right in front of me. We've-... we've lost a lot of our own to those... things. Our doc... she thinks it's a bio-weapon of some sort." She goes quiet for just a moment, her gaze briefly darting away from Sam. "You ask me? The Collectors are building an army. Taking... taking our
people and turning them into those... husks." she trails off, sucking in her lips as she stares at Sam. "I can't make sense of half the shit we've seen. And I hope I never have to see another one of those things again. But it's connected. Just... don't know how."
Cynthia 's silence grows increasingly uncomfortable. She's heard all of this before, but the effect it has on Vasquez obviously concerns her.
Sam listens intently as Vasquez speaks. She has seen the footage. Many times. Over and over again, trying to make sense of whatever details she could. Trying to get ahold of whatever details offered by the horrific vid. As Vasquez speaks and she takes in what's being said, her eyes flutter. She blinks hard, a tear trailing down her cheek as Vasquez' explanation comes to an end. A brief, distant nod follows and her hand
momentarily balls into a fist as she clenches her teeth tightly together. "I-... I need some air..." she says, instantly scooting against Vasquez, urging her out of her way. It doesn't take long for Sam to lose her patience, however, and soon enough she mutters a pained: "Fuck it." and grips the backrest of the booth, planting her sneakers against the seat cushion and climbing over the back to make her escape through
the booth behind them. Thankfully, it's unoccupied. With heavy steps she starts towards the front door, not bothering with her jacket.
David at first, seems mostly concerned with how Sam is going to react to the inevitably bad news. But as Vasquez shares what she knows, his gaze slowly moves to her, hanging on to every word. Trying to process what she's saying. It's not until Sam begins to make her escape that he snaps back to her, already beginning to move out of the booth. Priya's presence keeps him blocked in, however.
Priya likewise, quickly has her interests shifted from concern over Sam to what's being revealed by Vasquez. So much so that it takes her a moment to realize Gage is trying to follow behind Sam. Her gaze remains fixed on the table just before Vasquez.
Shane grasps his beer in both hands, almost forgetting it's there as he listens, his only reaction a soft: "...Shit." But once Sam takes off, he's quick to set his beer down and climb from his seat. He shoots a quick look Gage's way. "I'm on it." he assures, gesturing for Gage to stay in his seat. He passes an apologetic glance to Vasquez and Cynthia before setting off after Sam in a hurry.
Gage's attention remains on the pair making their way to the exit before sucking in a deep breath. He only retakes his seat once the pair have disappeared through the front doors and back out into the cold. "...Fuck..." he mutters, bringing a hand to the bill of his cap and adjusting it, using the hat to rub at his forehead without taking it off. "Liz-..." he begins with a shake of his head as he looks back to Vasquez, "...Sam's
little sister. She was at Freedom's Progress..." he explains distantly. It's not that they hadn't assumed the worst, but having it confirmed removed all doubt. All hope.
Priya continues to stare at a spot on the table in front of Vasquez. "As well as her nephew and brother-in-law..." she adds softly, her spirits visibly dampened. She brings her other hand around the mug in front of her, just trying to keep her hands busy.
Vasquez starts to shift when Sam tries to make her way out, but she stops when she simply disappears over the backrest instead. She inevitably turns to look as she leaves, before turning back to Gage and Priya. A heavy sigh escapes her as she nods faintly. A quiet "Shit..." slips out, her eyes closing as she lowers her head, eventually glancing off towards the door again.
Cynthia is halfway out of her seat when Sam decides to bypass the two of them entirely. She looks after her and Shane as they leave, eventually turning back. "Damn..." she mumbles after Priya's addition.
As a new patron enters through the door, Shane and Sam can be seen just outside. Shane has Sam wrapped up in a hug, her head pressed tightly against his chest as she stares out towards the road.
Gage gives a few hollow nods, passing another glance towards the front door. "There's not a lot of information out there right now. I knew the chances were low that Liz was alright-..." he admits, glancing Priya's way, "...We all knew. But you just want to-..." he sighs, pinching at the bridge of his nose with a shake of his head. "...You want to hope for the best. Hope that we'll find a way. That the Alliance would bring her
home when this was all over..." He focuses on Vasquez once more, staring her straight in the eye before speaking. "...Are you sure?" he asks. But there's no doubt on his face. He doesn't know Vasquez very well, but he doesn't have any reason to doubt what she's saying. There's no reason for her to lie. Just because you don't want to hear it doesn't make it true.
Vasquez nods a couple of times as she listens, but when Gage asks his question she lets out another sigh, shaking her head slightly. "Sure? Of course not. But I've seen those things first-hand. And you've seen the Horizon vids. There's no doubt the Collectors are turning people into those... things. Figures that's what happened to the other colonies, doesn't it?" Another glance towards the door, and another shake of her
Gage sucks a deep breath in through his nose to calm himself, a few small nods his only reaction at first. "...Thank you." he says, and despite the sadness behind it, it's very clearly sincere. "She deserved to know."
Priya's eyes close as Vasquez finishes speaking, her final words hitting her like a sledgehammer. "They are turning our own people against us...?" she asks softly, disgust in her voice. It's not a question she expects to have answered. Just an observation based on Vasquez' explanation.
Gage glances to Priya, bringing a hand over to rest on her forearm and give it a small squeeze. "We-... We had thought-... hoped that maybe they were using our people for slave labor. That maybe-... Maybe once we put a stop to the Collectors we'd find Sam's sister. Bring her home." He swallows hard as he focuses on Priya. "Pree knew better."
Priya looks to Gage, her eyes reddened as a few tears slip free. "I didn't want to be right!" she exclaims, as if worried that her having said so may have made it come true, "But it-... It just didn't make sense to me. Everything we know about the Collectors? All of the myths? The rumors? The stories? Does that sound like someone just looking for slave labor?" Her shoulders slump. "We know slavers. They don't discriminate.
They select targets that are unlikely to defend themselves and then they take whatever they can get. Whoever they can get. The Collectors? Everything we know about them has been focused. Targeted..." Her gaze moves back to Vasquez, citing a word she used during her explanation. "They're experimenting on us."
Gage gives her arm another squeeze. "I know, Pree... I know." he interjects as she initially speaks up, but falls silent again as she continues. As she finishes, he gives another deep sigh, looking from the woman at his side to Vasquez. "So... what? We're just their guinea pigs?" he asks, "Subjects for these experiments of theirs...?"
Vasquez frowns deeply, her arms on the table as she leans forward, head low. "I don't have answers..." she says with a shake of her head. "Jason and I, we-... we spent years looking after our first encounter. Didn't find them. Just... more death. More misery. Came across these relics. Dangerous. Warped people's minds. Transformed them. Old too. Older than the geth. Knew it wasn't that simple then. Didn't know about the
Collector connection until Horizon." She looks back up at Gage and Priya. "Makes sense. Seems like rumors about the Collectors go back as far as Omega..." She sighs. "I don't know what the hell they want, or why they're doing this... but they're dangerous. Powerful. And... twisted. I'd-... I'd hoped it would be over after Horizon. Than none of us would ever see one of those monsters again. That the Alliance would
finally do something. But now-..." she trails off, pursing her lips and closing her eyes as she lets out a breath through her nose, her gaze turning out across the bar again when her eyes open, hands moving up and fingers interlocking under her chin, propping her head up on her knuckles.
Cynthia frowns, studying Vasquez as she listens. "Hey. Come on, Chief... Jace is gonna be fine." she says, hinting at what Vasquez left unsaid as she tries to reassure her.
Gage furrows his brow as he listens, looking increasingly uncomfortable the more Vasquez speaks. "Jason never said-..." he begins when his attention is pulled away by what Cynthia said, seemingly only having just now connected the dots. His gaze moves to her as he falls silent before quickly shooting back to Vasquez. "Is Jason-...?" he begins, suddenly leaning forward, resting his forearms against the table. "Linda, did Li's
abduction have something to do with the Collectors...?" he asks, putting two-and-two together and quickly figuring out what all of her cryptic concern was about during their previous discussion. The concern is heavy in his voice.
Priya looks to Vasquez upon hearing Gage's assertion, lacking the context he has but still looking every bit as concerned that her friend may be in real danger.
Vasquez bites down on her lower lip, not meeting Gage's gaze right away. She hadn't wanted to deal with this. Not now. But it was too late. "I... don't know." she says quietly, her voice uneven as she looks back to the two of them, letting her hands drop to the table. They quickly start to tense up. "Li, she..." Her gaze darts down to the table, and back up. "...we rescued her from this-... this cult. They were
worshipping one of these artifacts. Willingly turning themselves into..." she trails off, taking a few uneven breaths before making a concentrated effort to calm herself. Deep breath... and she releases her fists. "I don't have all the information... but the woman that kidnapped her claimed to be her mother. That-... that can only mean one thing. I... looked into her ship. It... came from the same planet where
we encountered the cult." Her gaze falls again, her hand twitching erratically until she presses it against the inside of her arm to stop it. "It never ends... it-... it never fucking ends..." she says distantly, just staring at the table.
Cynthia goes quiet, briefly studying Gage and Priya before looking out across the Respite briefly. She knows her assurances aren't going to help, and she was never very good at it in the first place.
Priya remains silent as Vasquez speaks aside from a disgusted scoff at her description of a cult that worshipped the technology of the very creatures who were taking their people. Ripping apart lives and tearing families apart. The creatures who took Sam's sister from her. Despite her obvious concern for Jason, it's the disgust that remains on her face. "Why would they-... Who would worship something like that...?" she asks
Gage watches Vasquez intently as she speaks. Collectors. Cults. Engineered monsters created by ancient relics. And Jason might be smack dab in the middle of it. It causes a pit in his stomach. His gaze drifts from Vasquez' face to her hand. To the returned twitch. The distant state she's reduced to. The growing pit in his stomach is joined by a sense of guilt over pushing her to this place. "...Linda..." he says softly, his gaze
drifting to Cynthia before settling back on his friend's wife as he falls silent again. A few moments pass as he struggles, searching for something to say. "Jason is-..." he finally says before pausing once again, nodding to himself, "...He's a fighter. I'm not gonna pretend to know what in the hell is going on. What he's gotten himself into. What any of this means..." he lists. "I don't have the same intel or experience
with this stuff that you do, that much is clear, Linda..." he continues, giving a humorless snort as he's still struggling to process the information Vasquez has thrust onto him, "But I know that Jason is one of mine. And mine don't give up. I don't allow it." He forces a small smile as he looks across to her, pushing back his own worry for now. "He'll make it home. And if there's anything we can do in the mean time-...
Anything. You just say the word, alright?" As he finishes, he passes a glance Priya's way, as if expecting her to speak up as well.
Priya seems to finally be distracted from her thoughts by Gage's statement and the look sent her way. "Of course..." she agrees, clearly still a bit distracted as she reaches across the table to rest her hand atop Vasquez' forearm. Just a gentle, comforting touch.