Voicemail

[goddamngrenades]

You have reached the voice mail system of FOXTROT 12.

When you are finished recording, just hang up or press pound for more options.

To request a locksmith, press one.

To hear these options in Spanish, press dos.

To send a verbal confirmation of a written command, press three.

To send a written confirmation of a verbal command, press four.

For delivery options, press five.

To page this person, press six.

To locate your nearest operator, press seven.

To leave a call back number, press eight.

To repeat this message, press nine.

Press zero for other options.

To mark this message as urgent, press eleven.

Thank you for calling, have a nice day.

BEEP


Comments

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

York takes the pad with a smile, something smaller, sweeter and far more sincere than the usual bs grins he's been tossing around lately. Mal's pleased- that's good. He hasn't fucked this up. "You're welcome."

Really.

And then he keeps talking and he's not- he is not getting choked up or anything. Shrugs it off like it's just what he does. Because it is, really. "It's important to you. The emblem, the uniform colors. Just because you're with us doesn't mean you're not from the 'Fleet too. It means something."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"A bit like dual citizenship," he jokes lightly. He's trying not to let how moved he is creep into his voice. But on the other hand, they're trying to be a little more open with each other, aren't they? "It does mean something, even if it only means something to me."

Strange to have something that is his and his alone that means so much. It's almost enough to beat back any remaining feelings of loneliness compared to the Freelancers.

"And now I won't have to borrow your suit anymore. You can have your own colours back. I'll stop masquerading as you." Maybe something as small as colour might be good enough to draw some more pleasant connections to home for York?

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"It means something to you, and that's why it's important." He also may have wired the house to sound the 'tactical alert' as designed by Malcolm awhile ago. Not that it's ever gone off. Still, small things. Home's important. Maybe he should try to be a little more optimistic about that, here.

"Also- got the rough sketches from Jim forever ago so I'll need you to confirm if this is right, but-" Phase rifles. THey're nowhere near ready for production but the design he pulls up is wholly fleet inspired, sleek, and more efficient than the current models on the market. "Look that over, see if we got it right? I don't know the tech and my guy's just guessing on some of the details."

A beat.

"Aw come on, you know you like look'n like me."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

They are most certainly fleet inspired, he can see it in the basic design. Better, though. More advanced. "I'll crunch out some numbers for you and get back to you on it. It won't be quite as accurate as what Jim could've provided, but if there's one thing I can bloody well figure out, it's weaponry."

This is work that he can do that means something. A long time coming in production doesn't matter. "To think I'm spending time playing a long con in modeling," Malcolm scoffs at himself. This might be the most normal he's felt in some time.

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"It's better than what I got. I'm not used to this format and my guy's kinda stumped." Seriously. It's bugging the hell out of both of them.

"It's a good con. Seriously. I'd be too twitchy to do it but they like you and you can handle not giving up the game easily. I couldn't." There's that other thing he'd said while being an absolute bastard. "...I shouldn't have- yeah. That was way out of line, what I said. About you and..."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"Bit out of line, yes," he agrees easily enough but with a casual smile. It's all forgiven. "Especially when you knew what I was doing. Pretty sure you don't want to put 'sneaky weapons dealer' on a resume."

Malcolm gives a little sigh, setting the schematics aside and patting York on the knee. "Look, I don't care that you called me a navy brat, because I am one through and through. It was the whole phrase. It hit close to home. I was going to be a naval officer, and, well, what kind of officer can't swim, either? It just...brought up some memories of things people have said to me. And things I thought of about myself. That's why it stuck, and that's one of the items that got me so...emotionally bent out of shape. Obviously the, ah, panic attack," might as well use the real name for it, with a bashful look down, "didn't help matters."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"People gave you shit because you 'react poorly'," Finger quotes included, he caught that earlier Malcolm. "to something that was directly connected to a traumatic event in your life. Seriously?"

He'd been incredulous but- that he was supposed to be in the navy and wasn't, and it was because of this? Made him feel five kinds of an asshole. Knowing they're good is good but- jesus. Who the hell was Mal thinking of when he heard it like that all over again? "Trauma's trauma, triggers are triggers. Technically- you can swim. You'd just really fucking rather not due to a shitty experience and that is completely valid."

York's hand drops to cover Malcolm's for a moment, giving it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"I had a relative, a great-uncle, who was terrified of drowning, too. He ended up saving his submarine crew." Malcolm gives a shrug, though is thankful for the contact York gives. Fingers curl, just a little, to keep the hand there. Just for now. "Compared to that, I didn't have an excuse."

And it's hard to talk about the truth, about himself, his personal life, but York deserves that. He deserves a lot. "Nothing's your fault. I just...want you to know where I'm coming from."

Re: Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"...Mal you realize that is a specific brand of crazy, right? Phobias may be irrational but fear in and of itself isn't. Putting yourself in that kind of position when you're supposed to be in charge is fucking stupid, I'm sorry. If he had it as bad as you did and decided to go down anyway? I wouldn't have wanted to serve under him. That is a shit choice for him and his crew." He squeezes Malcolm's hand just a bit tighter, trying to get him to look him in the eye.

"You made the right call. Obviously you made the right call, you make history according to Jim. Isn't that worth more?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"I know I did. I've had a good deal of time to realize that. Still, some things unexpectedly stick with us. Like phobias." His mouth twitches into a more sardonic smile. "I told that story to my captain once because he's chatty and really had had enough of not knowing much about me." That gets a laugh. "There's more to it than that. I was pinned to the hull by a live but damaged mine, he was trying to disarm it, we were...chatting about why I wasn't in the navy and this all came up."

Let him take a breath and shake it off. "Sorry, I'm...rambling a bit. Not very like me, is it, to ramble. The point is, I tried. I wanted to. I was going to be in the navy if it killed me, but I couldn't, and then I made a different choice for myself, and things, well...things happened as they did. It was the right call in the end. I'm glad I stuck with it."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"...I think we're going to have to double back a bit to the part where you were pinned to the hull by a space mine while chatting away with your captain." Because- what? What the FUCK even? "How- but. Space. Space ship. How were you pinned? Do I want to know?"

He's concerned. That sentence is concerning. Malcolm's being concerning. It's- wow. "No, you're not rambling. You're talking about yourself, which you don't really do and that's fine. I don't mind it. Ramble some more. I'd like to know about your life, your captain, your ship. A force for good. It's- nice to think that there's a place where humanity meets aliens and it goes well."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

He scoffs, looking up at York for once. "Not always. I can't even tell you how many times we got into fights with first contacts. Not the friendliest bunch out there. Or sometimes too friendly. Remind me to tell you about the time Trip got impregnated."

Good times.

But right, mines. "I was pinned because I went out to dislodge it, and one of the spikes it used to attach to the hull decided to do so straight through my leg. The captain had invited me to breakfast to get to know me--which was predictably a disaster--so when he came out to help, he wanted to continue the conversation. He said it helped to settle his nerves." Another scoff. "And it didn't calm mine, but what was I going to do about it, get up and walk away? Add to that was that the minefield was generally invisible and there was some kind of cloaked ship that wanted us out of the territory as soon as possible, and they didn't really care who was still out on the hull so long as we went to warp. Do you want to know what happens to a person if they're outside a ship and that ship goes to warp? You don't."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"....what." No, no, he'll come back to that later. For now? Mine. Mine with a spike through his LEG. That's both incredibly hardcore and horrifying because space obviously he lived but jesus christ.

And he's so nonchalant about it. 'Oh a spike through my leg, bit of a bother'. If anyone ever questions how much Mal would fit with them in the new group he'll just mention that. A casual disregard for personal safety in the midst of explosives is a requirement. Damn.

"How did you- I mean. You didn't die. Obviously. How?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

That's what space drugs are for. Delicious, tasty space drugs. "Well, after trying to disarm the mine failed spectacularly--it was too damaged, and we didn't have the time to go about it the right way, not with that angry ship looming. So the captain decided to detach the plating of hull the mine--and, subsequently I--was attached to, cut me loose to set the mine on the ten second countdown, grabbed some reinforced shuttlepod doors, and we used them to shield ourselves from the blast while being flung back toward the ship in time to get snatched up by the transporter and warp away."

There's a thoughtful pause. "If in the very unlikely event that Captain Archer ever shows up here, he's going to argue it was twenty seconds, and he is respectfully wrong."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"...that's insane." Suddenly he knows what everyone else who ever heard about the bullshit ops he and the other Freelancers ever ran felt like. That's insane. That doesn't make sense. There's no- the margin for error, he'd be panicked and checking Mal over if it weren't for the fact it apparently happened years ago, not just a little while ago.

"I. You. He. That's the point of contention. That's all you have to argue about?" The countdown. Not the batshit insanity of the rest of the plan.

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

Malcolm blinks innocently. A Freelancer thinks that's insane? "We certainly had other arguments during the mine disarming, but afterward, yes, that's more or less it. His casual command style does have its perks."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

Yes, Mal, a freelancer thinks that's insane. You don't fuck around with SPACE. Space is scary. Space is deadly. "What other arguments were there to have?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"About his casual command style, for one." Malcolm shrugs, trying not to look meek when he looks away again. "If he was the kind of captain I, at the time, thought he should be, he would've cut me loose without ever bothering to set foot on the hull himself. About chatting or sticking to business. About heroics We had quite the heart to heart in some ways."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"...so it's not just us that don't talk unless we hit emotional landmines?" Oh good. He thought maybe he was incredibly insensitive and unobservant or something. Knowing it's a pattern in Malcolm's life is kind of a relief. "Do you still think Captains should cut their losses?"

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"I'm not exactly very open about my feelings or...anything about me. I've been getting better through the years, of course, but I thought that was...abundantly clear by now." Where have you been, York? "And that day hit a few emotional landmines. It wasn't very pretty."

But that was then. Here and now is more important, at least to the immediate future. "No, no, I grew very fond of the command structure that he set up. He acted more like a supervisor sometimes than a captain. Sometimes. At the time I thought it was in his best interest to let me go, and I was more than willing to make that sacrifice. Stories of my great-uncle not helping matters much."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

He's been here, which is why he narrows his eyes at Malcolm for a moment, considers their respective mentalities, what's trained into both of them, weighs everything around for a moment and...

"Did you do anything to convince him it was in his best interest, or just argue the point?" Or did he do something stupid like attempt to achieve the objective without an extraction plan or considering how he was going to land. He's done that. It was dumb.

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"I," he starts, giving a half scoff, half laugh of surprise, "wasn't very convincing. Thankfully."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"Obviously." still peering at Malcolm for a moment more- but if he's not bringing it up? He's not bringing it up. "Sounds like you had a good captain."

Day 131 - evening - action

[tactical_alert]

"Not one that let me get away with forcing the issue by pulling my air hose." Might as well get it out. It's clear that York is curious, although he doesn't imagine the added information will help matters. "Like I said, not very convincing. He's a good man, one of the best. You'd like him. You'd like a good lot of my crew, I think."

Day 131 - evening - action

[goddamngrenades]

"...What?" Okay that- wow. He'd probably do the same thing in Malcolm's position. Suffocation vs exploding to death kind of- not a choice he'd want to make, normally. "Mal you are one hardcore motherfucker."