Chapter Text
The Towship is, in Ava's opinion, the most sturdy heap of scrap metal that was made. The same can be said about the crew. Somehow still standing even after all the crap it's been hit with. If things went to plan, the schedule was followed, if nothing fucked up, everything worked like clockwork. Keyword being if.
Roll call was the easiest part of the morning. Or what they called morning, kind of hard to tell when the sun is gone. Normally roll call was Ava assigning tasks to maintain upkeep on the ship so everything ran smooth. However today was the weekly expedition day also known as 'Ava is stressed for the next 6 hours don't look in her general direction because if they lose this ship she will jump in the blood ocean mutations be damned' day.
So a lot was riding on these expeditions.
Ava made it to the main deck where the personnel on shift were waiting for orders. Most already caught in their own conversations. Only main exception to this would be one of the crew members on the far left hand side trying to feed pieces of a nutri-bar to Simon through the mouth on his cheek. They must have been doing it successfully since the pieces were gone soon after, not that Simon was complaining. In fact, Ava swears she can see Simon trying not to laugh. When Ava arrived at her makeshift podium, data tablet in hand, staring at the hoard of crew mates until her Second-in-Command David noticed Ava had arrived and signaled everyone for silence. When the rooms volume went quiet Ava began her debrief.
"Greetings everyone, hope everyone slept well enough. Not much on the agenda today so I hope we can get this done and over with quickly"
Ava looked at her tablet for the agenda and relayed the information to her crew.
"Today is an expedition day however there's been a slight change in whose going down into the ocean. I received a last minute change from Council Member Marcus that we will be receiving a convict for realization." That caught the crews attention, they hadn't gotten a convict in over a month so it was assumed that there wasn't any one left to be sent for realization. Small murmurs from the crew could be heard but Ava continued her debriefing.
"The Convict being sent is from Eden so you all should know the drill by now. Try to keep them from Simon and any ex-eden crewmates and don't be a jackass towards them, about a third of you did your time too." Ava turned her attention to the small group of Ex-Edenites who nodded in agreement, then she turned her head to Simon, whose attention seemed to be looking elsewhere. Either he was daydreaming out of boredom or the blood ocean entity grabbed him for a pre-dive chat. Knowing Ava’s luck, she was ready for the latter.
"Simon," Ava said as a stern reminder to pay attention. Simon blinked and looked up front towards the podium to show he was paying attention but did a small glanced back at the floor quickly. A small wave of relief passed through knowing that there won't be any issues for the expedition for now. "Get prepped to dive before the convict arrives, David or I will call over the intercom when we're ready.” Ava swiped through her memo searching for her next point. "R&D, we need the reports from prior week's expedition sent up before the new expedition ends, see if anything new has been discovered, even if it’s small." The small group of researchers nodded.
“I need my engineers and welders to get SM-15 prepped for the dive and recovery. Make sure any leaks, dents, and faulty wiring are fixed before we send them down." Jack and his team of three all said yes ma’am, agreeing to Ava’s orders. “Everyone not assigned a task will be doing manual upkeep of the ship, including: cleaning, repairs, and general maintenance around the ship. I know its not the most exciting work but if the ship breaks we don’t get another one.”
Ava flipped through her notes again trying to find anything else to discuss. She was already on the final point of the agenda.
"And finally, tomorrow is the weekly meeting, so if anyone has any concerns or ideas please let me know so we can get through it as fast as possible. Any questions?"
So far no one spoke up. This was good, the crew understood their tasks, no issues, now all Ava needed to do was walk awa- God dammit Simon raised his hand.
"No Simon, you can't bring your spear with you."
"First of all, fuck you, second of all, has the new guy arrived yet?" Simon asked.
Ava sighed, frustrated because it was clear Simon wasn't actually paying attention. "No, they will arrive soon however. Any other questions?"
Simon’s raised his hand again. Once again, Ava sighed.
"Yes, Simon?" This time Ava was sure Simon was trying to be petty.
"Why is there dead body behind you?"
What.
Ava whipped around and sure enough, there was man face down on the floor. He looked around his mid 30s early 40s, short blondish hair. On his ears hung glasses that look well-worn, frames patched with self repairs.
The shocking part of his appearance was his clothes. It resembled neither typical C.O.I. or Eden attire. A wool jacket, a shirt with a decal on it and pants made of denim. They looked clean. Too clean. Like this man had been living in luxury wasting water while everyone else suffered.
The Towship crew began to walk towards where the man was laying and formed a circle, hovering over him to get a good look at their stowaway. All trying to figure out amongst themselves who he was.
"Who the fuck is this guy"
"Where did he get those clothes"
"Is he Eden?"
"No not Eden I can't see the tattoo."
"He just appeared out of nowhere"
It was chaos. Ava could see David's attempts to corral the herd back in line all the while Ava tried to wake the man up. Both efforts were futile since the crew were trying their best to see the man, and no matter how much yelling or shacking Ava did the mystery man stayed asleep. He wasn't dead thankfully, his chest was moving up and down, but it seems like the man continued to sleep.
After maybe 10 minutes of trying to maintain order Ava decided, fuck it, and hoisted the man up. Pulling his arm across her shoulder to support his body and pushed through the crowd to drag him to the medbay. Ignoring the rest of the crew who were still clustered together.
"Fuck this guy is heavy. David, tell the medics to set up a bed, grab a pair of cuffs because I sure as hell am not letting this guy run around. Simon, help me carry him."
Instead of helping Ava carry the dead weight, Simon didn't move. "Simon, fucking help me already!" She yelled. Once again, no response. Thoroughly pissed that nothing was going according to plan, Ava began to make a b-line to chew Simon out, expecting him to be somewhere in the crowd.
Instead, her navigator was singled out, away from the rest of the hoard crew mates. Staring blankly at nothing, not paying attention to a single thing happening. One of the crew noticed and went up to Simon trying to get his attention, but no matter how much hand waving, shaking, or yelling would get him to react. Simon kept still. Which usually meant one thing much to Ava’s aggravation.
"God dammit that entity picked the worst time for a science lesson we're gonna be so off schedule now," Ava was practically growling under her breath. If that thing hadn't saved her from certain death via blood eel, she would have went back in the ocean to cuss it out herself for taking her only navigator. "David can you walk him to med with me while I carry this guy over there."
David sighed and walked up behind Simon, put his hands on his shoulders and began to walk him towards medical along with Ava and their unauthorized stowaway. One small positive about Simon’s little trips to the void, his physical body was still capable of movement. Like he was sleep walking, except his dreams were actually chats with an eldritch horror.
On the walk to medical, Ava was having an internal dialogue to no one but her own thoughts regarding their mystery guest. Because his appearance made no god damn sense. ‘That man wasn't there before. I sure as hell didn't put him there. It would have been impossible for someone to walk behind me without knowing. There was no way for that man to have appear out of-’
Wait.
There is only one, one, thing capable of transporting things across space and time instantaneously. And it was current sitting at the bottom the blood ocean in a rip in reality. ‘You have got to be fucking kidding me right now.' She thought. Ava is going to kill that thing somehow, she doesn't care if it's immortal she will find a fucking way. But her deicide plans will have to wait, she has more important matters to attend to. Doesn't mean she can't be pissed at it still.
"David"
"Yes Captain?"
"Have I mentioned how much I hate the blood ocean entity recently?"
"Uh, yesterday I think, why?
"Because I'm going to say it again, I hate the fucking blood ocean prick so, so much."
The rest of the walk was silent after that.
-----
A familiar crimson red engulfed Simon’s vision. One moment Simon was on the ship, walking towards the man he saw pop into existence to make sure he was alive. The next he was knee deep in thick red blood with an enormous eye staring right at him. It probably has a name, Simon wouldn't doubt that the thing has tried to tell him what it was, but Simon is, self-admittedly, a bit of an asshole. Especially towards people who wronged him and hoo boy this thing wronged him. So he didn’t give a shit.
Anyone could argue with him that the thing did save his life therefore he shouldn't be mad at it, but Simon would then argue back that the fucker literally stole the universe. It's kind of hard to weigh one maybe two good deeds compared to the giant fuck up that was erasing all of existence because it had an ego.
Simon looked dead in the eye at, well, The Eye, with an expression of pure bitter resentment. The first time he got summoned by the prick, Simon will admit he panicked. He thought he was back in the SM-13, dying of hypoxia and CO2 buildup. Everything was a fucked up fever dream made by his dying brain from lack of oxygen, only to wake up in the infirmary with one of the medics and Ava giving his a psych evaluation to make sure he was "mostly" sane. By the 24th time it happened however, the horror died and instead annoyance grew in it's place.
"What the fuck do you want now!?" Simon yelled, pissed that he got summoned once again. "Are you still fucking confused by grass? I tried everything to explain that shit it's not my fault you don't listen."
"Simon."
"Yeah, that’s my name good job at remembering that, anything else you needed from me?"
"Grace."
Ok that was a new one. Usually it asks about things like flora or fauna. But grace? The concept? Is this thing really trying to play the benevolent god card right now?
"What grace? Are we few humans left now unworthy of your almighty power or something?"
The Ignorant God ignored Simon’s complaints, only responding with, "Seek Grace."
Before Simon could yell anymore at the entity, he was back on the ship. However, he wasn't on the main deck where he knew he last was, he was now standing in a corner facing a wall.
What the fuck was that about?
-----
Ava laid the mystery man on the medbay cot. David had put Simon's body in a corner while his mind was busy with his meeting with the entity. The small room consisted of 3 beds with privacy screens that were pulled open, a desk to where the medic could work and a couple locked cabinet with supplies. Aside from the bed housing the blond man, the beds were empty which, given the circumstances, was a good thing. No one injured, no waste of resources. David had went to the small receiver near the entrance and called for the medic over the intercom. Now all they could do was wait.
"David, can you keep an eye on the crew? Alert me when the convict arrives, I'll wait for the medic. If we're lucky Simon will wake up before the expedition."
"And if he doesn’t?"
"We'll improvise, now go."
David nodded then left the room.
Since Ava was busy with their new "guest", David had to assume temporary leadership. He’s a bit of an ass but he’s competent at the job. With David gone and no one awake to keep company, Ava was left to her thoughts. Hopefully the chat Simon was having with the entity wouldn't last too long.
It was sheer luck that the new convict hadn't arrived yet. Otherwise, she would have to decide either A. Letting the poor bastard go down blind or B. Delaying the expedition until Simon comes back. Wouldn't that be a fun conversation with the council. Ava could only imagine, 'Why did we complete an expedition 3 hours off schedule? Well sir, the thing that caused all of our universe to disappear likes to borrow our navigator from time to time to discuss plants. But it's all good, it swears it will try to fix everything.' Fuck now she was dreading telling the council about the stowaway. Would they even believe her about that? They still have a hard time believing half the shit the Towship reported. Ava rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. Not even an hour into the shift and shit already hit the metaphorical fan.
The lead medic on duty arrived and began a basic assessment of the stranger. Well not assessment, more of a glance over to make sure he wasn't on death's door. The medic removed the man's jacket and lifted his shirt checking for serious injuries. Put minor pressure on his body to check for breakage. After a few minutes, the medic had determined that the man had no breaks, fractures, or wounds that needed medical attention. The man was healthy enough based on their assessment, but they couldn’t tell much else until he fully woke up. The worst marks on his body were a scar on the man's arm that the medic believed was from a severe burn and a broken nose both many years old. They gave an all clear and left the room, probably to check on the other crew mates. Leaving Ava alone once again with Simon’s body and the person until they woke up. Ava brought the chair over from the medics desk and sat near the bed. She took out her tablet and began to do some digging, surely there was something she can find about the stowaway.
-----
Sometime later, a tired groan could be heard behind Ava. Ava closed her data pad and looked up to see Simon returning to reality. He turned away from the corner slowly, eyes looking in several directions trying to recollect where he was. After a couple minutes of him observing the area, Ava spoke. "So, what did it want now?"
"Fuck if I know, all it said was 'Seek Grace' whatever that meant." Simon said annoyed, rubbing his eyes with his one hand. "How's the guy doing?"
"Unharmed but still unconscious, I have a theory on how he made it on to the ship but you won't like it."
Simon raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"It involves our favorite blood god living in 'forbidden coordinates'."
"Fuuuucccck!" Simon whined, still holding lingering annoyance towards the entity's mini meeting. His ear fins folded down and a growl began to sound in his throat. He hated that it made too much sense. No wonder the thing pulled him into the void. It wasn't a check in, it was a delivery, and the poor guy was the package. "Why can't it bring something useful, like Mars, god I miss Mars."
"I'm still trying to figure out who this man is." Ava replied, attempting to change the subject. "I've checked the most recent censuses for C.O.I. and Eden as well as the prisoner database, he's not listed anywhere. The man is a ghost."
"He doesn't look like anyone from Eden I know that for sure."
"He sure as hell isn't from the Consolidation either." Ava countered. Her face no longer held any anger just frustration regarding her fruitless search.
Simon walked closer to the bed where the man rested, finally able to get a good look at him. The man was somewhat aesthetically attractive. Okay that was a lie, the man looked handsome. In Simon's defense, when you lived in a death cult and then prison for most of your life, the concept of attraction is so far out of mind you don't tend to imagine what your type is. So upon seeing the man, something just clicked in his mind. Even the small feral side of Simon’s brain wouldn't stop saying 'pretty pretty pretty mine mine mine mine'. A fun little side effect of being part whatever the fuck he was now. Part of his mind now has no filter for any thoughts. He quickly tried shut it up before he said something he’d regret Ava hearing.
The man's face held a softness that he hadn't seen in a long time. Not innocent but more so full. Wherever this guy was from he didn’t need to depend on rations to survive. It was rare to see a face not marred with significant damaged on it as well. Simon himself being a shining example of this. He hoped when the man woke up he wouldn't be afraid of his...unusual features, as the crew liked to call them. If Simon have a nutri-bar for every time a new crew member screamed in terror when they saw Simon, he'd have a 3 months worth of rations.
"Are you still able to dive today?" That snapped Simon out of his thoughts.
"I should be, don't want the council to get pissy about delays and shit."
Before the conversation could continue, the ship intercom buzzed to life and David's voice spoke. "Captain Ava to the loading dock, the convict has arrived."
"Shit, I thought we had more time. Go get prepped I'll try to delay the expedition a bit so they can't see you. Make sure you’re below the Towship so you're near the pilot when they touch down."
Simon nodded and left the medbay. Ava turned her attention back to the unconscious man that was laying next to her, he hadn't moved once since his arrival. Ava brought out her handcuffs and locked his wrist to the bed rail. Could never hurt to be too cautious nowadays. Though the man would probably freak out if he woke up stuck to a bed alone, she should at the very least leave him a message. Ava opened a text document on her data pad wrote the following note:
'Hi,
We found you unconscious, you're in the medbay, do not panic, be right back :).
-A
P.S. don't break the handcuffs'
There, the man should be able to see the note from where he was laying. Maybe. Hopefully. Ava didn't really have any time to care right now. She had a prisoner transfer to handle. She propped the tablet up on the chair next to the man’s bed and left the room soon after. Preparing to complete the newest Conviction Realization.