trans_9 | Out of credits, Game Over. [Open

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Out of credits, Game Over. [Open - During Shore Leave]

The Shodan incident had left more than a foul memory, in fact, it was so bad that the details were hazy.

But he knew he'd gone rogue, and he knew that he caused a lot of damage... and hurt people he cared about. There was no excuse, this was were he belonged. That however didn't make it any more depressing. He'd missed the new crew members, and he would miss much of the going ons but Splicer was used to being alone...

He had his team back after all, even if they were back at home. For now, he'd simply sit there, slumped against the cell wall and think of the thing's he'd done.

Man... this is the shit that the other Spectres got killed for... way to lose it cowboy...

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"Let's see," Trudy said, scrolling through her omnicomm. "You distributed several explosives throughout the City, nearly putting Zouichi and Tim in traction... mind telling me exactly what happened out there?"

She had a vested interest in making sure that kind of bugnuts didn't happen while he was in a cockpit.

"Oh, well, when you put it that way..."

He sighed and slumped back against the wall.

"From what I've been told, some OTHER psycho AI decided to pull the plug on our powers..." He paused for a moment and looked almost warily at her.

"If I lose my psionics.... I can't handle my mental dampeners... and that leaves my head completely open to the already... extensive damage... And anything can trigger a berserk reaction at that point. Almost like overloading myself on Stims."

He hated talking about that stuff. He never did. But the way he was trained, a commanding officer was above else, and she was one of the few he followed.

Trudy rubbed her temple with one hand, looking like she was about to come down with a migrane-sized headache.

"So SHODAN knocked out your psionics and you tweaked out because you no longer had your mental discipline. Is that about the size and shape of it?" Why couldn't her pilots be normal?

Because they were pilots, of course, and when are fighter jockeys ever normal even when they didn't have crazy psychic bullshit going on?

Splicer frowned, "For the most part. I didn't just freak out from the get go... I..."

He stopped and gathered his thoughts before continuing.

"I was led to believe that the AI had killed my team... And at that time I believed that involved Stacy and the crew..."

"I see," Trudy said.

He didn't want to talk about it, that much was clear. She didn't really want to push him - she had most of the information she needed, but there were still some details she had to know before she decided what to do going forward.

"In the security report detailing the incident, it seems like at least one person was able to talk to you without you immediately attacking them. So there was an internal logic to the whole thing." She sighed. "I hope you see how this puts me in a difficult position. We can't have this happening during a scramble."

"Well... I'll be honest. I can tell you that this shit right here was the first time I've gotten my powers shut off completely like that. Err pardon language ma'am. But I understand where it puts you and I'm more than willing to reluctantly step down and out of the team if needed."

That didn't mean that he couldn't fly and have their back in the skies....

"Oh hell no, you do not get out of it that easily," Trudy said. "I need you in the squadron and I'm not letting you go. I just need to know the specifics so that I know how to handle you if this happens again. Since you're saying it'll only happen in the case that your powers get switched off, I'm instating a standing Ensign Splicer policy. If something dampens the ship again I'm sending a security detail to immediately apprehend and detain you until it's over."

He probably wouldn't like that much, but it was necessary if she was going to keep him in her military. She offered him a taught smile. "Half the people in Command have done something at some point that would have gotten them discharged from any other military, myself included. I'm not going to kick you out because SHODAN was messing around with your head."

Well damn, color him surprised, as if the dumbfounded look on his face and the slow creeping smile followed by an actual, okay - somewhat lax, salute afterwards.

"I can live with that commander, but I think I'm getting the best out of this deal. That is, you still have to deal with me being around then." he grinned, as if at least one of the many things on his shoulders had been shoved off.

Trudy crossed her arms at him. Even on her bomber jacket, it was clear she had more stripes than that. "I'll let you get away with that salute if you'll remember to call me General," she said.

"One more thing - we've seen the Ohm use some psionic something before, and they've seen us using it too. It's not inconceivable they might target us with weapons meant to knock it out. Is your ship equipped to defend against that?"

"I think Commander flows better General, but I'll keep that in mind." he replied with a smile before nodding on a more serious note.

"Yeah, Dominion ships are fully capable of withstanding psionic assaults, specially those designed for Ghosts or Spectres. Had to keep them Toss from knowing we were coming whenever we had to go on infiltration missions."

And the Zerg, they had pretty damn powerful psionics too.

Trudy relaxed, some of the tension going out of her shoulders. With people in and out of pods, new pilots added to the squadron all the time and her people being constantly appropriated for missions, she needed to be able to rely on her pilots when they were on board.

"Good. Now if you're back to yourself, I want to see you back on duty. I'll talk to Security and get you out of here."

"Slowly getting back there. Just gotta clear this massive migraine and I'll be sure to be back on full duty. And, for all it's worth, thanks. Like a lot ma'am."

Oh, what was that? That was a full salute from Splicer. Those were rather rare.

That finally made Trudy give him a real smile. "Good to have you back, ensign," she said. "Just don't mention it to the rest of the troops, we can't have them think I'm going soft."

To tell the truth, it still gave her a warm fuzzy feeling that her pilots felt like saluting her at all. They all probably knew she was a giant mama bear about her pilots, too. As long as they kept up appearances, that was fine.

"Don't worry ma'am, this stays within' these walls." was his reply. Odd, how it was his commanding officer that made him feel better in comparison to his other superiors back in the Dominion... Sometimes he wondered if this was a step up from life as one of Mengsks shadows.

"Then I'll see you at PT." She paused for a second before she started to walk away. "Ensign, if you need a day or two for... personal reasons, the fleet is helping rebuild the City for a little while anyway."

She was all but extending him leave. If he needed to take it, now was the time to say so.

Splicer thought on it for a bit. Usually, he didn't like taking extended leaves. He like being in service as much as possible, but considering the situation....

"You know. I think I'll take you up on that offer. If anything to make sure m' head's on straight."

Trudy nodded sharply. After reading the report, if he hadn't taken that extra time she would order him to get a psych evaluation. "Get yourself together - and take your time about it. I'll see you when you feel like you're ready to come back."

She returned the salute he'd given her earlier - not quite as crisp, but she was the general. She could get away with that. Then she left him to his own thoughts.

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Out of credits, Game Over. [Open - During Shore Leave]

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