Spread your wings(open)

[Michael Clarke]

Michael fiddled with his belt, managing to get it to the sixth hole before securing the clothing accessory across his waist. His eyes shifted from his belt to his stomach..or lack thereof. Over the past month, he had lost at least twenty pounds due to the flurry of activity that had spawned from out of nowhere. Rifts were beginning to cause major havoc along the Polyama system, one of the most populous systems in the galaxy, so he was obligated to send some of his crew out to investigate. Not only were these rifts causing havoc, but he had to worry about his daughter's recovery from the Tyron disaster, evaluate reports from Engineering that were telling him about some new confounded weapon that a bunch of screwballs were toying around with, and one of his best tactical agents was in a mess of trouble on Earth with the Black Suns...again.

A day in the life of Michael Clarke.

Of course, all these opportunities meant that Michael had more and more of an obligation to pass some of his duties onto Luke, who he was pushing forward in terms of responsibilities so that the Alliance would consider him for Captain of their new baby, Helios. And Ethan, while just an observer, has volunteered on more than one occasion to help Luke if Michael was out on administrative leave.

Which was just about to happen.

Just twenty or so hours ago, Michael was informed that the Alliance was holding a trial for one of his old squadmates, Rex Uganda. Rex, according to the court notes Michael had been sent, was being accused of disobeying orders, rogue behavior, and the murder of two hundred innocents in a flash bombing of a small colony planet. Problem was, Michael KNEW Rex wouldn't do something like that. Another problem? The captain was being called to testify in court as someone who could aid in constructing an "accurate personality profile" on his old buddy. In essence, they expected him to tell the court how much of a psychopathic killer Rex had been.

Well that wasn't happening.

As Michael donned a blue short sleeved polo shirt, he had the idea of taking Jen or Hollie with him. After all, the trial was going to be on New Earth, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to remove one or both away from the ship for a day or so, just to unwind. He would have to che...

The door to his quarters slid open without his A.I. telling him. Who...?

[Hollie Clarke]

Being trapped in a cavern with a team of hysterical people, and being one of the only four to make it out of alive, did something to a person. Nothing that Hollie was aware of right now, of course, after spending a week in and out of the infirmary, she thought she was perfectly fine, back to her old self. She was even back at work, getting used to sharing her office with the new computer specialist, Katherine. She was an odd one, didn't talk much, in fact she spent most of her time with her earphones on, so Hollie couldn't talk to her even if she wanted to. But with her Dad, Mom, and her other friends on board, it wasn't like she didn't have anyone to talk to, or spend time with.

Sitting in her office, Hollie let out a long sigh. "So bored." ... Katherine didn't even quirk an eyebrow. Hollie was probably being drowned out by some Daft Punk or something. She'd had enough, having worked from the early hours of the morning, so decided to go see what her Dad was doing, probably keeping tabs on another team out collecting data about the rifts, or trying to find out how Gordon was doing - he was the only tactical officer she knew that was always, and she meant always, getting himself into trouble.

It had got to the point now where Hollie didn't even have to knock when she entered the office, the AI knew who she was and that, generally, she was welcome in the office at any time. She very rarely walked in on anything she didn't want to see. "Hey..." she began, stopping mid-step, "are you going somewhere?" He was dressed casually, which was unusual, and she hadn't heard about anything that would take him off the ship, unless... "oh, have you got something planned with Mom?" Oops.

((Hope it's okay that I jumped in here.))

[Michael Clarke]

(Secretly, I was hoping you would join, seeing as I have some plans that would require Hollie's presence. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Well, he should have known it would have been one of his two women. He gave his daughter a small smile before telling her:
"Not at the moment. Mom's been busy wi...here, help me adjust the collar on this thing." He was trying to get it flat, but apparently it wasn't cooperating. Blasted polo shirts.
"Anyway, she's been busy. Starting some kind of new project...behavioral analysis, I think. Over my head." He gave Hollie a smile of thanks as the collar rounded out into form before continuing:
"And yes, I'm headed to New Earth. Alliance wants me to testify against an old friend." Michael walked over to his desk as yet another message came onto his terminal, this one alerting him that the ship was running low on plasma charges. Making a mental note of that, he looked up at Hollie and told her:
"I'm not exactly thrilled about going by myself. And with Ethan and Luke running things around here for the next two or three days, I think that I have the ability to say...take someone around New Earth? Show her some things that maybe he hadn't before?" Jen and Michael had been spending a whole lot of time together sans their daughter, seeing as they both had been working on Helios presentations that they would be giving in a little less than a month or so. Hollie, nor any of the others, could pop in and see what they were doing, seeing as Helios was level A classified. Jen was granted a boon due to the nature of her work(they didn't want crazies on the Helios).

In essence, Michael had missed his baby. A lot.

"You don't have to go, baby. Not that your old man would be disappointed or anything."

[Hollie Clarke]

"Oh, oh," she said, relieved as she realised she hadn't interrupted anything... particularly. Both he and her Mom had been spending a lot of time together lately, she had noticed. And while she understood that they wanted to make up for lost time, all twenty-odd years of it, she had felt maybe the tiniest bit left out... wait, that wasn't the right way to describe it. She did not need to be a part of whatever they were spending hours locked in a room doing. But still, she'd wanted her real family together all her life, so, it made sense that she wanted to spend time with them too.

Smoothing down it collar so it was in a more agreeable position, a smile crept onto her face as she figured it was her that he was referring to. The last time she'd been on New Earth was for her operation, and she'd spent most of her time then in a hospital bed, in a medically induced coma. The idea of going back made her smile wider, also, it sounded like he needed moral support. Testifying against an old friend? Yeeeeesh.

"Of course I have to go," she said, "heaven forbid you should be made to go anywhere alone. Besides, I think you're going to need me with you, to keep you grounded, out of trouble, and all that jazz," she said with a definitive nod.

Throwing some clothes in a bag didn't take too long, and soon enough they were in a shuttle on the way to New Earth. It was around a couple of hours flight away from the ship, so she had time to sit back and gaze out the window in wonder at everything they passed; it never got old, not to her. She'd stopped all the silly things that had lingered from her lack of sight, like being cautious when moving around, also, her hand eye co-ordination was improving. She'd actually managed to catch an apple the other day when Sam tossed it to her. The previous one had conked her on the head, much to his initial horror, then both of their amusement when she assured him he hadn't done any damage.

"So," she tore her gaze away from the window and back to her father, "what is this old friend supposed to have done? Or can't you discuss it as it's an open case?"

[Michael Clarke]

Michael had been quietly staring at the back of the seat in front of him, oddly quiet. Yes, he was prone to spells of thinking, but Hollie could probably tell that he was out of it when after she asked a question, it took him a few moments to realize that she had actually spoken. He shook his head slightly as if to clear mental cobwebs that had formed over the last hour or so before he responded:
"It's public knowledge, so there's no harm in talking about it. Rex was a friend, a good friend and one of the best pilots I knew. Most compassionate guy in the world. Took in two orphans as his own children, gets involved with Alliance charity functions, the list went on. Apparently, he went nuts a few months ago on a routine fly-by and decided to flash-bomb a planet." A flash-bombing was the act of releasing high-density explosives over an area of a planet that was populated. All the deaths happened "in a flash", hence the name.
"Problem is, I don't think he did it. I want to see the evidence before I testify against someone like him." He leaned back in his seat, rubbing his hands over his face before he muttered:
"Good people get humiliated in this galaxy."

As the shuttle touched down on New Earth and the Captain emerged from the vehicle, he could see a few people in suits coming towards him with miniature cameras that hovered around them. Reporters. Just. Great.
"C'mon. We're giving these people the side-step." Just as Michael walked the other way, another contingent of reporters seemed to ambush the duo, questions being launched his way that ranged from his status on the Venia to what he thought about Alonzo Spears divorcing his wife.

Don't. Care.

Michael took Hollie's arm and guided her through the crowd, the Captain overhearing something that made him stop. It was a question...
"Captain, is it true that your daughter is illegitimate?" Michael turned on his heel and found the reporter who was asking, a surly looked thirty something that wanted a scoop. The captain grabbed the man by his shirt collar and quietly told him:
"You can ask me all the questions you want, son. But you leave my family out of it. You got that?"
"Just doing my job, Captain."
"I know you are. That's why I'm warning you right now. You bother me or my daughter about personal affairs and I'll see you flown out on a one way ticket to the Terminus systems."
"OK, ok! Point made!"
"Good." Michael walked away, shaking his head at both the reporter and the break from his usually cool demeanor. It was obvious something was bothering him...he would never snap like that.

After guiding Hollie to her room on the eleventh floor of the Hotel Commodore, Michael ushered her inside, closing the door before telling her:
"I can already tell this is going to get ugly. Hollie, I'm not kidding when I tell you not to leave this room unless you have me or an Alliance escort with you." He ran a hand through his hair, thinking something over before continuing:
"I'll get an Alliance escort up here as soon as I can. Until then, stay. Here." Michael turned to leave, but then hesitated a moment, as if he wanted to say something more. Should he tell her about...

Yes. She had a right to know.

"Venia crew aren't very welcome around here, Hollie. They...they're blaming us for a lot of what's happened over the past year." He turned to face her as he continued:
"There have been mumblings about scrapping the Venia altogether. That...that worries me."

[Hollie Clarke]

Hollie had almost felt like she was blind again, she might as well have been with the speed they had been weaving in every which direction to avoid the reporters, she could barely get a grip on anything, just a blur of faces and noises. The one that had stood out though was when her Dad had stopped the reporter who asked about their relationship; she'd never seen him so angry, ever. It had startled her a little, if she was honest. She didn't know why, but she hadn't expected that question to pierce his otherwise seemingly strong armour. Maybe she needed a better concept of just how much she actually meant to some people.

Her first response to his order was to merely nod her head, her eyes a little wide after the kerfuffle outside.
"Scrapping... the Venia?" she echoed, swallowing hard. When had things got so bad that they were going to toss in the old hat and give up. "But that doesn't make any sense, what the hell are they supposed to do about the rifts then? They can't just leave them to get worse." Unless they were going to be replaced... no, they couldn't do that, could they? That wasn't what the Helios was for, was it?

Taking a couple of steps backwards, she sank down onto the bed, letting her hands fall into her lap. "I can't believe how bad things have got," she said, "I thought things were going to get better after R4 were gone, not worse."

((My next one will be longer, will probably have her interacting with the Alliance escort xD))

[Michael Clarke]

"People want results and they want them fast. They were in love with us for a month or two after we took out R four, but that wasn't enough. We're the Alliance's face, Hollie. We represent everything that they supposedly stand for, one of those things being quick and efficient handling of anything that could remotely threaten human life." Michael walked over to a full pane viewport, able to watch the bustling traffic beneath them. They lived out their lives in such a controlled biosphere...didn't know the half of what it was like to fight for the RIGHT of living like they did. If only they could see.

But they could...if Michael went through with his testimony tomorrow the way he wanted to. He could set things straight...

He chuckled, knowing that Jen would scold him for being too idealistic. People are a balanced creed she would say. Michael then walked over to his daughter, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders, telling her quietly:
"Things may be bad right now, but they're gonna get better. I just know it. You just keep your pretty rear out of trouble while we're here and we'll forget all the mess going around us. Just have fun, you know?" Michael gave Hollie a kiss on the cheek before rising, walking towards the door.

Rex looked tired as he was brought into the visitors room, his once vibrant green eyes dull with exhaust and his muscled frame that stood so proud now slumped forward.
"Rex, old buddy...how you holdin up?"
"Mike. It's good to see you." A little of the old Rex flared up in his voice as the two sat down across from each other at a small table in the center of the room. Before Michael could say a word, Rex asked:
"You think I did it, huh?"
"Quite the opposite."
"Oh yeah? Whispers around here were that they brought you down here so that they could get the final nail in my coffin, send me to a mining colony on Tirranus for the rest of my life."
"I know you wouldn't do something like that, Rex. You're a good man, better than I ever was."
"That wasn't what I saw in the fleet. You were the best man I served under...best..." Rex paused, choked up on emotions that he probably had been suppressing the entire trial. And this was the man they thought had the heart to murder civilians in cold blood?

Ha.

"Why did they get you on this?"
"It's the Alliance."
"What?"
"Yeah, the Alliance. Haven't you heard about Cavaneux?"
"Been out of sync for a while, Rex."
"Well let me fill you in, then."

Corporal Paul Banks was not looking forward to this assignment. At all. Babysitting assignments were always a drag, especially with V.I.P's like the Venia crew. They usually stayed in their room and only came out when they needed to go eat. Never any action. The twenty two year old put his hand on the identification device next to the room's door, which would give the girl inside a quick overview of who was at the door along with advice to open.

Girl. He was watching a girl.

Was she cute?

[Hollie Clarke]

Keeping her pretty rear out of trouble was easier said than done.
At least he hadn't told her not to leave the room, at all. If he'd said that, then she probably would have found herself tying the bed sheets together and climbing out the window after a couple of hours alone. But, here, all she had to do was wait for the Alliance escort. Escort, funny word, especially when she was staying in a hotel room. By herself. It would probably be some guy who would rather be anywhere else than making sure she didn't get into trouble. Which was inevitable.

There was a beep to let her know that someone was at the door, so she hopped up off the bed, sliding her shoes back on before checking the computer terminal. A tall, slightly geeky looking red head was standing on the opposite door, a Corporal, two years younger than her. Don't judge yet, Hollie. Don't judge. Who was she to judge? She'd been blind for over two decades, after all.
Pressing the accept button, the door slid open, and Hollie offered him a smile.
"So, you're the escort, huh?" The smile threatened to turn into a smirk, "Hollie. Clarke." She offered him a hand.

"Come on in."

[Michael Clarke]

Paul didn't hide his surprise(or delight) when he saw a gorgeous blonde answer the door, her smile practically lighting up the room around her. That delight disappeared rather quickly when she mentioned her last name. Clarke...there was only one Clarke that he had known of.

Michael Clarke, one of the best pilots in the Alliance and current Captain of the Venia. So this must have been his...wife? No, she looked too young. Then he remembered the news highlight he had seen a few minutes before he had come up here showing a rather terse interview with Michael about a daughter.

Oh, spacedust.

This was his daughter.

As Paul walked into the room, he could feel his palms already beginning to sweat. Calm down, Banks! This was a routine assignment, nothing too big. Just make sure the girl didn't get into trouble and you would be fine...and if she did get into some big trouble, Clarke could have you suspended from the ranks...or dismissed. Or even...

Just. Calm. Down.

Paul then realized he hadn't introduced himself:
"Paul Banks, ma'am. I'll be posted outside your door if you need me." Paul walked back outside and faithfully stood to the right of the door, hands behind his back, chest out. Yeah, he was playing the moment up slightly and probably trying to make sure Hollie took him seriously, but it couldn't hurt...

Imagine what he could tell his friends if...

"He did it."
"That wouldn't make any sense, Rex."
"I know it wouldn't. That's why he put it out there. To confuse everyone." Michael leaned back in his chair, hand rubbing over his face as he realized that if Rex was telling the truth...well, to put it bluntly: heads would roll. He would have to talk to the Council about all this.
A voice came over the comm system(quite nasally) that warned the Captain he had ten minutes left with Rex.
"So, you do know that they probably heard all that right?"
"Not a chance." Rex grinned.

[Hollie Clarke]

Hollie could practically see his brain flailing as soon as his brown eyes finished their long winding route up and down her body. Also, the name Clarke didn't help.

The door was wide open, so she could see him puffing out his chest, trying to impress her. She rolled her eyes, retreating back to the bed, flopping down on it. Well, this wasn't fun. She should have given him a fake name or something, anything that would have made him loosen up a little. Instead, he was dutifully doing his job, probably afraid of getting into trouble with her Dad. Grrrrreat.

After a silence which felt like it lasted forever, she gave up. She was going to go explore, and he could either go with her, or be left here to explain why he didn't follow her.
Walking past him down the corridor, the door sliding shut behind him, she simply called back, "you coming?"

Down in the lobby, instead of taking the front way out of the building, which she knew would be swarming with journalists, she cut through the kitchen, a couple of the young chefs there grinning at her appreciatively, exiting through the loading bay door. From there, she cut out onto a relatively quietly street, and waited for Paul to catch up before she turned to him.
"All right, what is there to do in this city that's fun, and that's far away from this place."

[Michael Clarke]

This girl was NUTS!

Paul followed her, all the while making sure to appear that he was really in control of the situation and that he was only following her because it was safer for him to trail behind so he could take an energy bolt for her. Of course, it was quite different from the truth: he had no idea where she was going or why she just abruptly left the room. Paul finally caught up with her and heard her question, to which his face expressed surprise. She wanted to have...fun?

"You know, I thought all you Venia people didn't know how to have fun...thought you were all uptight and focused on work." That was what some of the crew projected on television anyway. Always talking about freedom, always discussing universal peace and how the Venia would enforce that across this and that. It all seemed so unreal, so fake...but this girl. She was different. Way different.

And he knew a place to take her.
"Well, if you reaaally want to have fun, come on and follow me. Just don't do anything stupid."

Paul knew not to bring Hollie anywhere NEAR his usual hangouts, but he did know a place he could take her: the VR simulator.

The place was large, flashy, and had a whole lot of people their age wandering from body sized tube to body sized tube, experiencing all kinds of scenarios.
"So...what do you fee like being?"

My girlfriend, perhaps? Maybe?

[Hollie Clarke]

"Pffft," she raised her eyebrows at him, what sort of things had he been watching. The media never painted an accurate view of anything, the only way to know what something was like was to experience it yourself. If people actually came on board the ship, they would see the hard work they were doing, the family that they had become. Some people had even started families on board, Izzie and Gordon were married now, and Will and Natalie had Jeremy, their son. Then there was her, her Dad and her Mom.
Her thoughts were segwaying.

Looking at each of the pods in turn, she stared in awe. Wait, wait, this was like what she and Ollie had experienced back in that dream, where they'd painted Ollie's boat which he'd built, and sailed out into the sea. That had been the most amazing thing she'd ever seen, one of the first things she had ever seen. There had been a lot more stuff since then, nothing really compared to the wonders of space. But hey, she said she'd wanted to have fun, and he had actually obliged.

"I have..." she breathed, "no idea." What did she feel like doing right now? She hadn't sung in forever, or played the piano or guitar, and she missed it. She should really get a guitar for on the ship, as long as people didn't complain about the noise, but for now...

Stepping into one of the pods, she closed her eyes, and within seconds, she found herself standing in a large, completely white space. As her mind came to life with ideas, the room began populating itself with people, sofas, chairs, a bar, and a whole myriad of instruments dotted around the room. Okay, this scenario was probably sedate in comparison to what other people were imagining right now. But by the Gods, when she saw the Les Paul propped in the corner, she went running towards it with grabby hands. Childish, but whatever. How she'd recognised it, she didn't really know, it must have been her imagination, what she'd felt, linking up with her eyes. Sure enough, as soon as she had the thing in her hands, she knew she was right.

"I've been dying to buy one of these for years," she told Paul, who was probably a bit confused as to why the hell she chose this place to come to, "the sound is just," she strummed a G chord with her fingers, grinning. "Know anything about music?"

[Michael Clarke]

Paul was indeed confused beyond belief at the girl's choice. He would have thought they would have been at some wild club with alcohol all over the place(his personal choice). Boy was he a bad judge of character. He strode over to the standing bass, sitting behind it on a very comfy chair before finding the bow located on the floor.
"Yeah...yeah I know how to play this puppy right here. Gave it up when I joined the Alliance though. Didn't have time or the space to store this thing, you know?" He played a few notes before the young man paused, asking Hollie:
"What's it like up there, being with all those legends? I mean, it isn't every day that Ethan Concetto and Anna McAdams are put on the same ship, you know? Those are people we love down here..or used to love anyway. Things have been tense around here."

Michael emerged from the elevator, a bag of food in his hand. Rex had told him so much information...maybe too much. It just didn't compute within his brain. The Alliance had been clean for decades and now they would turn away from that for...well, he wouldn't think about it until he testified. He needed to focus on the trial. As he walked towards Hollie's room to check on her, he saw that the door was slightly ajar.
"Hollie?" Michael knocked on the door gently, the door sliding open to reveal an empty room. No escort, no Hollie.

"Glad to see you're alone."
That voice...

[Hollie Clarke]

"McAdam," she corrected him, before strumming a few more chords, the all too familiar sound of the guitar resonating in her ears. Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she said, "they're just my friends. Well, not just, that's a bad word to use. When we all got lumped together, I'm not sure most of us knew one another, or had even heard of each other before. We all started with a blank slate, and well, began to get to know each other. We're not all amazing, or perfect, or even admirable all the time, we're just doing our jobs." It sounded so modest, but was honest, and Hollie was nothing if not honest, sometimes quite bluntly.
"We're all people," she said, looking up at him, "just like you. We just have a lot riding on our shoulders."

She had imagined this place so that she could sing, but she couldn't think of any songs that had a bass accompanying a guitar. So, she put the Les Paul down delicately, and went over to the piano instead, thinking of what to play. There were so many old classics to choose from, and she quite liked taking songs that weren't meant for the piano, and playing them anyway. She'd stick with something easy, the question was, would Paul be able to keep up?

"There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark,

Finally, I can see you crystal clear,
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your sheet bare,
See how I'll leave with every piece of you,
Don't underestimate the things that I will do."

[Michael Clarke]

Paul barely managed to keep up in the beginning, but eventually the duo was in sync, the music flowing through Paul's body once again. It was like something was slowly being given back to him...a sort of peace that could only be unlocked through stroking an instrument. Once the song was over, Paul leaned back in the chair and let out a contented sigh, looking over at Hollie and telling her:
"Thanks. I really...really needed that." This girl was different, much better than all the other girls that he was introduced to(or had the unfortunate pleasure of dating). She seemed so comfortable with herself, not allowing her status to get in the way of being...well, human. He liked that. A lot. Didn't hurt that she was hot, either.
"So what's your story anyway? I mean, everyone has one, right? You didn't just wind up on the best ship in the fleet by being pretty and having a nice voice. Not that I don't respect those things..."

"At all." Michael leaned up against one of the full sized windows, shaking his head as he just explained what had happened with Rex to the other person in the room.
"I know it doesn't make sense. But think about it, Michael. The Alliance needs to do what's necessary. And if that means cutting a few corners to do so, then let it be."
"This coming from you?"
"I've learned a lot, Michael. A whole lot since we last met."
"Like that you had a niece?" His brother chuckled, taking another sip from the martini he had ordered from the downstairs bar.
"More than that. So much that I can't talk to you about, but I CAN.."
"Oh no. You're not sucking me into a legal mess. I've got enough worries with the Venia."
"You have power, Michael. I can cover your tracks. If you can just..."
"No. Not doing it."