Just a quick drink...

[Fey]

Helena had given Jerilyn the grand tour and showed the new comer to her room.  At this point she had found a bottle of whiskey in the galley and made her way to Vega's room to finally get a moment with him.  She wanted to catch up, see how he was doing, it had been a life time since they had been on the same boat together.  They had always worked well together but it was something more than that,  Helena felt a different connection with him. Though it wasn't something she was going to admit, at least not sober.

She came upon Vega's door and knocked on the doorway and raised the bottle and two glasses, "Ready for that drink? I never got a chance to have one at the bar with the commotion, seemed like you could use one as well." She gave him a quick smile, her hair falling slightly into her face.

[Vega Barnet]

Vega had been laying down, not trying to sleep, just relaxing for a few minutes. When Helena knocked he smiled and sat up. He was lucky enough to have one of the single rooms. Although smaller than the double rooms, it still had a decent amount of space, plus a desk and two chairs. And you couldn't put a price on privacy. "Definitely ready for that drink. Come on in, make yourself at home." He gestured in the direction of the desk and chairs.

He was a relatively tidy man. His things were all more or less put away, leaving the chairs and desk free, for the moment.

[Fey]

Helena grinned and made her way into the room and placed the glasses on the table.  She poured two fingers worth of whiskey into each glass and handed one to Vega. Helena took a seat in the chair across form him in the cozy room.  It wasn't as big has hers but at least he had privacy.  It was hard to find a place to breathe on a boat, just take a moment, especially when it always seemed like something was going on.

She took a sip and looked up at him, he looked tired, he had looked tired since she had first seen him when she first joined the boat. "So what the hell happened on this boat? I mean you weren't exactly the most happy go luck guy on Horizon either, really who would be after being shot, but Ronin's different.  It's like you guys went through some kind of war here.."

[Vega Barnet]

Vega gave a snort of laughter. "Straight to the point eh?" He took a long sip from his glass. The liquid burned down his throat in a pleasant way.

"A war... ain't an inaccurate comparison." He said slowly, his voice going lower in pitch. His lopsided smile took on a kind of stiffness, like it was simply a mask held in place. Which it was.

If it had been anyone else on the boat asking he probably would have shrugged off the question, or given an edited cliff notes version of events. But he knew Helena, she was a hard woman, she'd been around the block a couple times. Not that she'd ever told him anything about her past, but he'd gotten to a point where damage could recognize damage.

So in a spur of the moment choice, he decided he'd tell her. He'd open up, maybe not fully, but a little. He stood and closed the door before returning to his seat.

"Well, its a bit of a tale really. But I guess we've got the time. And the whiskey."

He started with getting out of the hospital and looking for work. How he hadn't really heard of the Ronin before, but once he was aboard and heard what their mission was he been perfectly happy staying on. He'd spent most of his life taking down some of the worst people in the Verse, and Nikola Kang certainly fit that description.

He told her about his first job with the Ronin, knocking over a privately owned bank where Nikola kept a very large amount of money, taking what they could carry and torching the rest. How the op had gone pear shaped almost immediately, turning what they'd hoped to be a quick and quiet in and out into a drawn out firefight with a roof extraction. How he'd saved Luke, their punk mechanic, when the man had fallin from the hovering ship onto the roof.

He told her how he and Luke had become friends, and how he'd seen many elements of his younger self in the man. Young, hot headed, and with a taste for bounty hunting. How he'd thought about offering to take Luke under his wing, to train him in the finer points of the profession.

He told her about how the Ronin had gone to ground after the bank heist. How after a few weeks a ship had shown up in orbit broadcasting a reward for any information on them on a forged Alliance security feed. How the mystery ship had followed them when the Ronin had tried to run, and about the 10 hour chase at hard burn that had followed. How their fuel reserves were more or less depleted, and about the landing on Jiangyin that would better have been described as a somewhat elegant crash.

He told her about their pursuers attack. About the breaching ram that had punched a 10 foot hole in the ceiling of the Ronin's operations room. About the 2 explosive charges that had blown holes in the cargo bay. The attackers in matching black riot plate, and their weapons loaded with paralytic delivering flechette rounds, a grab team. The battle that followed and how they'd managed to kill or drive off the attackers.

He told her about the smugglers outpost nearby that had answered their call for medical assistance, thereby sealing their own fate. How the Mercs, who they assumed were sent by Nikola, slaughtered every last person at the outpost during the following night.

He told her how after no second attack had come they decided to move the ship to the output to attempt repairs. About the the stress of waiting for the other shoe to drop, and his wondering why they hadn't come back to finish the job with the Ronin basically stranded and not space worthy.

He told her about how Luke had died. How Luke had gone out into the outpost to clear his head. How Vega had heard the explosion. With how the scene looked when Vega arrived it seemed Luke had found a body, one that had a grenade underneath it with its pin already pulled, but the safety clip still held in place. How it looked like Luke had rolled the dead man over, releasing the safety clip and allowing the grenade to detonate.

Over the course of his story, aided by a refill or two of his glass, the mask had slipped away bit by bit. By the end a fair amount of his sorrow and bitterness at losing a friend was evident on his face. He finished the last sip of amber liquid and sighed.

"And that's about it. Fast forward a little bit and you and the rest of the new crew showed up and here we are."

[Fey]

Helena and quietly listened to Vega's story, refilling his drink and hers as he spoke. She chose not to interrupt him during his story, it seemed disrespectful. From the way he told it, Luke was one of his better, if not his best friend. More like a brother than anything. Her heart twisted and pulled in pain, because she knew his sorrow.  She had been there, after her parents had died, after Billy was taken. Her eyes were watering thinking about the ghosts of her own past.

Vega had finished speaking and she wasn't quite sure what to say at that point.  She cleared her throat, a tear or two escaping their prison in the corner of her eye.  Helena poured her self and  Vega another drink, the bottle was at about half way and she felt the warmth roll through her. Unfortunately it also prevented her from showing anything but what she felt.

"I am so sorry Vega." She reached out and put a hand on his, an uncommon trait for her but she felt it was necessary. The action caused an uncertain stir in her, but maybe that was just because she was thinking of Billy,and her parents. She pulled her hand away, placing it back on her own knee, not sure if what she had done was okay.

I'm honestly not sure what to say. That haunting feeling never goes away, but them, Luke, being gone, just makes you live harder, and to try harder.  At least that's what it did for me." Helena took another sip of the whiskey, looking down at her glass. It was only fair she told him about her story, Vega wasn't the type of man to usually divulge that information. He'd probably just try to sleep and work through it until the pain went away or he found away to ignore or numb it. She was the same way and she understood that, and she couldn't leave him out there on the proverbial edge, with everything he just told her.

"You know, I was born into this life. My parents, they were the thieving sort....bank robbery was a bit of a family tradition." She smirked, another tear rolled down her face and she brushed it away as if it never happened. Helena cleared her throat again,

"Any who, the government folk tend not to take kindly to our type and, well, Ma was shot and died.  And daddy well, he just about broke as a person and left.... For the war, I tried searching for him for years, but I was young, didn't have the resources I have today...And needless to say, I'm pretty sure he's dead."

Helena swallowed, and looked down at her glass taking another sip, as if trying to form the courage to tell her story.
"Took me some time to really gather my life back together after that, but uh, then I met, Billy."   She smiled into her cup and look back up at Vega with tears still threatening to spill out.  She blamed the whisky.

"You know my maiden name is Murdoff, I just couldn't go back after marrying that SOB." She laughed, at the tragedy more than anything. She never realized how much she missed them all.

"Long story short, I've never been able to give up a life of crime and neither was Billy, not like we tried anyway.  We ran a job, it went wrong...The alliance showed up, and I got a way.  We split up....he got caught.  And you know to this day I'm still pissed at him for making me leave him behind.  I could've broken him out....Or I should've died trying...I was always the one that was right..." She finished her whiskey and poured another glass looking back at Vega, "He's dead I think, or will be soon, in some god forsaken work camp....I never tried to find him....And I hope every day he was just executed, because I can't bear the thought of another man in my life rotting away some where, thinking I forgot about them.  I just can't live like that." She was angry with herself she had forgotten them, the threat of tears spilling out grew stronger, her face becoming warm

"Basically...Vega...You can't let your ghosts run your life, you've gotta just move on as quick as you can and life like you know they would've.  If it were my choice I would be deep in a bottle every day, in some kind of fog that I just can't feel anything.  But I do feel it, every moment of every day.   And I do that, because it reminds me that I'm alive and there's something to live for, something to try harder for.  Someone you've got to survive for because...." She stopped herself suddenly aware of the emotion coming out during in her speech, "All I'm saying is, you've got people here. You've got me...or whatever, I care. Just live like he would've wanted you to live. Otherwise what's the point." Helena reeled her self back in gripping tightly on to her glass a lump forming her throat. And she did care, she cared a lot, probably too much. She felt exposed aware of everything she had just divulged. Like a 10 year weight had just been lifted off her chest that had prevented her from feeling everything that had come her way.  What had she done?

[Vega Barnet]

At first it seemed like Helena didn't really know what to say. He didn't blame her. He'd just unloaded quite a lot of baggage on her. He was surprised when she put her hand on his. It wasn't a gesture he'd expected, though it was far from unwelcome. She retracted her hand, and it was his turn to listen and not interrupt. He pretended not to notice the occasional tears that rolled down her face.

As her life's story unfolded he was surprised at how much they both actually had in common. They had both been born into the professions of their parents. Both lost their parents. Both lost people they'd loved romantically. Both broken souls trying to stay alive in the Verse.

"Basically...Vega...You can't let your ghosts run your life, you've gotta just move on as quick as you can and life like you know they would've.  If it were my choice I would be deep in a bottle every day, in some kind of fog that I just can't feel anything.  But I do feel it, every moment of every day.   And I do that, because it reminds me that I'm alive and there's something to live for, something to try harder for.  Someone you've got to survive for because...." She stopped herself for a moment, "All I'm saying is, you've got people here. You've got me...or whatever, I care. Just live like he would've wanted you to live. Otherwise what's the point."

Vega smiled sadly. "You've had a real rough go of it. And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Got no plans to quit living either." His mind kept going back to the way she'd said "You've got me... I care", there'd been something different there he thought, or maybe he was imagining it with some help from the whiskey.

"I'm a real hard man. Something in me broke a long time ago." He said, looking down at his glass. He wasn't exactly sure why he was opening up so much to her, but there was no stopping it now. "Which sounds silly when I say it out loud, but its true. Got trouble trustin people. Trouble gettin... close to people. Been called paranoid more times than I can remember. Lost my mom to a disease you'd think they'd have cured by now. Lost my dad to the war. Spent 19 years hunting the worst people in the Verse. People hell would spit back out because it didn't like the taste. It was never really a choice for me, I was born into it. Made a lot of friends in the business. Lost just about all of them too."

He paused long enough to take another drink of whiskey, eyes still looking down. Maybe he just wanted her to understand him... it had been so long since someone had really understood him, understood what he was.

"You lose enough and you start to close off from people, at least I did. Stopped really making friends. Stopped really... caring about people. Defense mechanism I guess you'd call it. Still knew right from wrong, still did the right thing. Just hurt less when I lost someone. Luke was the first friend I'd made in... years probably. I'm not exactly sure. Rest of the crew? I'd take a bullet for any one of them. Cause that's what you do. Do your best to protect them, die from em if it comes to that. Cause that's whats right. But friends? I think Lin is the closest, but even then its more just that hes the captain. You know?"

Somewhere deep inside him he felt something long unused slowly clicked into place. He drained the last of his glass again in one gulp, and finally looked up at Helena again. His smile was still sad and a little apologetic, but a bit hopeful too. "Then there's you." He said, his head tilting a little to the side. "I don't know if I thought of you as a friend back on The Horizon... to be honest I probably didn't. Which I am eternally sorry for. But, I hope its clear that I think of you as a friend now. Wouldn't have made you listen to all-" He gestured vaguely at himself. "-this if I didn't."

He really hadn't intended to say so much. It just sort of happened.

[Fey]

They had a lot in common, much more than she realized.  Helena hadn't intended to unload her life's story onto her friend, she blamed the whiskey at this point, her face feeling a little warm and fuzzy.

"Then there's you." He said, his head tilting a little to the side. "I don't know if I thought of you as a friend back on The Horizon... to be honest I probably didn't. Which I am eternally sorry for. But, I hope its clear that I think of you as a friend now. Wouldn't have made you listen to all-" He gestured vaguely at himself. "-this if I didn't."

She smiled back at him, a feeling of relief came over her, as she felt a little less lonely on Ronin after opening up to him.  Though Helena's heart felt a small tug as he said friend, as if that word just didn't feel right.  She stared at him for a moment, and as if there was no control over her body, she reached out to grab his free hand, "Yea I guess we could be friends." She grinned, feeling uncomfortable by the display of affection but was unable to stop it. 

Helena poured herself and Vega another glass attempting to ease the situation. "And I'm also, sorry, for unloading on you there, not sure where it all came from." She pulled her hand back and tried to make it seem as if she was just putting her hair behind her ear. Christ, why am I still drinking. She was starting to feel a little over exposed at this point,  taking a full swig of the liquid to douse the embarrassment and emotion. "But I'm glad we're finally....friends." She smiled but even the word was hard for her to get out, she just didn't know why.

[Vega Barnet]

He was again surprised when Helena reached out and grabbed his free hand, and again it was definitely not unwelcome.

"Yea I guess we could be friends."

She said, grinning. His smile turned to a grin as well and he returned her grip. He gave a soft chuckle. She refilled their glasses and continued, apologizing for unloading her lifes story on him. He shook his head, still smiling, and waved his glass hand dismissively. She let go of his hand and and reached up to slide a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and then took a big swig from her glass.

"But I'm glad we're finally....friends."

There was something about the way she said it, a slight hesitation maybe, but he wasn't sure what it meant. "Yeah, I'm glad too." He said, taking a drink from his glass as well. By now he had quite a healthy buzz going, and they had been talking for much longer than probably either of them had expected. "And hey, if anyone should be apologizing for unloading it should be me-" He was interrupted by loud beep from his cortex pad, informing him of the time. "Oh, wow. That late already? Time flies when you're recounting history I guess." He said sheepishly.

[Helena Cain]

Vega's PDA startled Helena slightly, probably because of the booze, or she was caught up in whatever was going on , either way, he was right it was late. She wanted to stay but what else was there to hash out,

"Yea you're right." She looked down at her own PDA and stood up, the buzz quickly rushing to her head, she held on to the chair momentarily and grinned slightly, "Guess we drank a bit much eh?" She laughed lightly and grabbed the glasses and the bottle to bring back to the kitchen.  She stared at him momentarily and smiled, "Thanks for this, it was....nice." Helena stood a moment and hesitantly left, stopping and turned back, "We should do this more often...though maybe with less alcohol next time." She raised the now nearly empty bottle of brown liquor, tomorrow was going to hurt. 

Helena nodded back towards Vega and left his room, wandering, wavering, back towards the kitchen to return the items. Then eventually to her room where she found rest on her pillow.  It was a good night, a really good night.  Though it stirred up some old ghosts she hadn't though about in some time.  It was good that someone else knew her past, someone else cared....he cared.  Whatever that meant. Closing her eyes, Helena took a deep sigh and eventually drifted off, thoughts of Billy, her parents, and Vega, into her dreams.