Snip

With a breath of motion Jen slid the phaser from her hand and set it down on the table, still within reach of her if she wanted it back but himself staying away from it to not be seen as a threat. It was given to her. It was not for him to take away.

Jessa did not make a move or fight to get the phaser back. Instead, her face bore a confused expression as she looked at the weapon on the table. “You can check that. I did not use any of your projectiles or energy pellets. It is fully loaded.” Pausing she added, “I chose not to use it. Remember that.” Secretly Jessa had no idea how to use the weapon. Obviously, the buttons on the weapon fired it but past that logical assumption, she had no idea how the weapon worked. This wasn’t the only reason Jessa didn’t use it but it was a factor of why she did not keep it. With her suit, she had weapons at the touch of her fingertips so returning it might be seen as an act of good faith or the end of the deal Jessa had made when she accepted it.

Walking away from the table, Jessa moved to the couch and took a seat without being asked or invited. Her action was not to assert authority but more the youthful mentality that she and the XO were equals. Sitting down, she slipped off her shoes before tucking her feet under her. The action was fluid and natural indicating Jessa was not some child left to be raised alone but taught basic manners on some level. The room was much colder than most of the other rooms on the Atlantis. Jessa wasn’t sure if this was intentional or just a malfunction in climate controls. Sitting down, however, she was able to pull her sweatshirt over her knees and take the slight chill off she was experiencing.

=^= Computer raise cabin temperature to Earth room temperature standard =^= There was no sense in her not being comfortable.

“You don’t have to do that,” Jessa stated raising her chin slightly. She could not look weak or show a weakness. “I could activate my armor but Ian said that if I did your light slide…I mean transport would send me to the brig.” As the XO, Jen would have been privy to an order like this. Since Kelly hadn’t mentioned it to him, it could have been an oversight or a tactical move to see how much control they actually had over Jessa. As if contemplating her own words, Jessa changed her tone and demeanor. “Thank you Clonal,” she used the rank Jen had stated instead of the one she had been told. Something did not sit right in her belly with the man in the room with her. While he seemed to look familiar and sound familiar, his demeanor was polar opposite from the other times she met him. It could be an act or maybe he was telling the truth.

“Hospitality is a strong custom on Andor,” he said. “Guests are treated with honor.” He was likely more accustomed to the warmth than she to the cold after the years of more temperate acclimation anyway. That said, guests were held in honor on Andor, a tradition grown out of their martial society and a way to curb unnecessary duels over slights. Jen hadn’t heard of that failsafe and wondered if it had been something said just to moderate her behavior and keep her out of her shell per se.

“I say Da Mu was my truth,” Jessa turned the conversation back to one where she could control the flow of information, “because Da Mu was gifted with the rare divination of utter truth. He could comprehend the truth, facts, and the mechanics by which people hid behind lines no matter how hidden or complex that lie was. He was able to know when someone was lying and find the truth under the falsehood. He was important to the quad because he told us who we could trust and believe in.” Her comment reinforced the senior staff joke about drinking the kool-aid. Jessa freely admitted that whatever Da Mu stated she would accept. Reaching up she scratched at the corner of her eye before letting her emotions show.

“He was a rare individual,” Jen said quietly. Da Mu would make a poor diplomat in Jen’s estimation. Diplomacy seemed to dance around truth rather than seeking it. Though he would be priceless for an advisor. Jen could also see how his gift would be seen as dangerous. Nobody who lived in the shadows wanted to be brought into the light. And he could see how important such a person would be to her, to bask in the light and not dance in the shadows. For a child that would be very comforting.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “His divination was uncommon among our ranks. To have the ability to touch someone and know everything…it was very different from Rogan who could only read your past actions. Da Mu could read your soul.” It was evident how in awe Jessa was with the fallen Elder. Jen would have seen the same reverence in the troops he led into battle. With nothing to believe in, soldiers often threw all their faith into their leader following their orders almost without thought was how generals mustered their troops to do things most people would never consider. Jessa held this same reverence in her words and expression.

Ahhh .. a touch telepath. They must be a telepathic society, at least in part and with different strengths. Da Mu must have been one of unusual power among their people. “I imagine that people like that are honored in your society,” he said. He wanted to ask whether there were more among them or whether it was present in everyone to a certain degree. Did she have it?

“He used to read to me when I was little. Epic story tales about Ungar the Just and how he freed the people of Coreain from the lies of their King or how Xulanata the Wise imparted truth to billions in the Siglais Galaxy. ” Pressing the cuffs of her sleeves into her eyes, Jessa took a second to get her emotions in check.

Jessa Novar

And reading to her. Add a father figure to this too. He remained quiet and slowly settled into a chair opposite her to wait for her to regain her composure. As much as she was a child she had a responsibility cast upon her. And he still didn’t know what it was that his alter ego wanted from her and what was the point of the phaser. Keeping a secret of a gift of that phaser could coax her into feeling a part of some secret conspiracy but then what? “You are a noble people. How did you come across the Federation?” he asked.
- Jen, XO

“If you mean how did we get here, it was by the celestial labyrinth. I think your officer Chris Robbins said you call it the cosmic web. It is a series of tunnels we take to travel from one area to another. My home,” Jessa felt a knot forming in her throat. It was not the sharing of information that was upsetting her. It was speaking about the reality that was slowly sinking in. “Is really far away. So far in fact we weren’t sure we could get here. It took us a month to travel almost a billion and a half light years.” Pausing she silently added And I am not sure how I am going to get us home. “We were not looking specifically for your Federation. You are just a speck of dust in the universe.” Jessa wanted to end the conversation but knew it would not stop here and Rinker probably told this man everything already. “We found the coordinates for this backwater splotch of space through the Undevot.” The flash of shock passing over her face could not be missed by someone as seasoned as Jen. It was evident that something Jessa stated was not meant to be shared.

Jessa Novar

A slip. Undevot. That could be anything however. The way she spoke they were a people who were ceremonial and almost religious in nature ruled it seemed by caste and position. Were the Undevot whom she spoke of the ‘undevoted’ or an outcast group of theirs? Or aliens like the Federation whom they didn’t see as equals. A curious thing to tuck away. He didn’t change his expression when she made her slip of her expression. Yet that was significant travel they had made. Celestial labyrinth. Cosmic web? Perhaps transwarp corridors? Certainly wormholes would be more rare than what she was describing. He lifted a brow at her mention of the Federation as a speck of dust, but then the very mention of 1.5 billion light years. There would be a dozen galaxies between them and here at that distance - the nearest galaxies less than 20,000 light years away. A span they had not yet attempted by any standard by normal warp speeds. “Aren’t we all just a speck compared to the universe,” Jen said while thinking of the technology that it must have taken to span that distance in that little time. But why. Why this far? If the Federation was so insignificant they couldn’t have traveled just to annex the Federation. Something else was afoot here.

“Tell me Guardian Novar,” he said quietly. “Do you have this gift of discerning truth by touch?” The easiest way of getting past her barriers was to prove by her own skills that he was not his evil twin.
- Jen, XO