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WEYLAND-YUTANI CORP // NETWORK TERMINAL v.5.6.8
ORIGIN: Weyland Yutani / MAIN HQ
LOCATION: San Francisco, California / Earth
DATE: Wednesday. February 25th. 2280
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Incoming message: Michigan Coordinates
You're a long way from home and you're doing fine. But don't think that stops me from sending my girl birthday wishes.
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The monitor glowed in the already highly fluorescent lab interior. An added layer of realism among microscopes, data points and the disinfectant that always managed to cling to her clothes no matter how much they're laundered. Jade read the digitized text like scouring a new star system. Something that she knew was out there in the vast universe but felt so very far away. That's how she feels about any corresponded from back home. Her mother's on time every week. This was an extra comm even if it's not a verbal communication.
She smiled despite herself. Right. It's her birthday. Funny how she nearly forgot. With the current workload she's not had much time to think outside of the proverbial box of Weyland. She typed a message back to send to Laurel. Keep her updated. That her daughter is still very much a leading scientist in the making. All due to the director of the main hub here. Doctor Claiborne breathes Weyland Yutani like the only source of oxygen in the world. He also breathes her in as if she's a sacred piece of data known only to him through sheer luck of the draw.
It's a strange, complicated sort of relationship. The mentor and the protege. He was the one who saw her potential. He snatched her up too quickly some might say. Those who pay attention in Weyland never seem to cross the line of speaking up. Not if they know any better. Most do. They let things go. She just saw an opportunity graced to her by a man who actually saw her. That's the twisted tangle of the complication. Even if this dance is professional, she can't but feel this is somehow more.
Jade's no longer a student. She's trained. She's put in the work that stretches brain and sometimes muscle. Working in this type of field required a resistance to problems. She's from Earth. Not some distant colony no matter how much they expand up there in space. She's born with the grit of earth under he feet, translating it to this is no different. The sudden hiss of a door drew her head around. Turning slightly from her work station, her space was laid out solely for one. Especially with the biocontaminant they have under lock down. She's been pulling her hair out along with the DNA sequence. Yet she didn't anticipate the company. Not yet.
"I thought the corporate shills were still meeting," she commented casually as if that's a predictable thing from her lips. Mainly it is. Even as a science officer for Weyland-Yutani, Jade's got her opinions.
Emeric paused near the lab door at her assessment of the corporate overlords. The men in suits who bark order and operations. While they are the ones in the thick of the reality of this place. The essence of evolution. Ah, the smell of disinfectant and wildflowers. He knows it well from her. She keeps a plethora of plants, grows her own flowers in a refined self contained garden. One to fit right into her quarters. An efficient way of bringing life into a sterile environment.
"The corporate chaos is a footnote in my daily activity." Confidently spoken and for good reason. Considering his access to high security levels all over the facility, he held up his credential card in that moment. One flick against the door scanner and the lab sealed shut behind him. "I find privacy is better under the circumstances."
Those circumstances, he noted, brought immediate curiosity across her face. He's not one to stare at a person. Or memorize much else other than sequences of genetics, fundamental points to endear growth in the structures of science they are enlisted to study. Yet that always became an easy observation. In four years he has cultivated a striking collection of Jade Winthrope's facial expressions. Her nuance is on par for the course of her skills. That is why she is here. Everyone who wants to be something in Weyland-Yutani strives for the best. She hardly had to try. Emeric's mentorship is the catalyst of her position. Oh but she earned it with her brain.
"What circumstances are those?" Jade lifted an eyebrow at his choice of words. Always the analytical sort this man. Although his type his a bit more charming than dry. "Besides the biohazard we're cataloging?"
"Oh, it is more potent I am afraid." Emeric stepped over to her work station. One hand remained behind his back the entire time until he stood by her chair. "I took the liberty of digging." He placed an acrylic display gently to her desk. The square plaque housed a pressed flower. A cherry blossom. Currently extinct. Such is the way of life and this is symbolic. "A gift for your birthday."
Jade stared at the glass sitting on a small metal stand. The blossom captured eternally inside, preserved in its vibrancy left her stunned. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Only thing she could do was pick up the little display. Her green eyes reflected in the glass. Super imposed on life still existing in artificial containment. Still, her breath seemed to hasten slightly. "You remembered." A simple thing to say as she looked up at her mentor. The man who saw something in her and never shut her down when she questioned.
His smile reflected satisfaction in her response. Partially pleased with himself, Emeric placed a hand on her shoulder. "Data is my specialty. As is preservation. How could I bypass the opportunity to gift a cherry blossom to the woman who lives in her horticulture?"
Something about that made her laugh. Living in plants is ironic. Knowing where she is now. That she left real nature to be here. She set the gift down and rose to her boots. Her head tilted as she studied his face. "I think your specialty may be questionable, Dr. Claiborne. Almost unsettling how well you know me."
Emeric's hand rose towards her head. His fingertips hovered near her hair without touch. "It is my job to know people here. But you? I believe you are the only exception to my clinical approach."
Whatever might have happened... Whatever he meant when he leaned his head closer to hers? She wouldn't know.
[SYSTEM ALERT] ... Biocontainment breached
Jade pulled back at the sound of alarms. Cascading in a hue of red, the lighting dipped into that warning siren of color instantly. She moved to her computer, fingers flying over the keyboard. "...there's a leak. On sub level one."
"That's directly below us." He moved to the lab door. Raising his key card to the scanner, Emeric's lips pressed into a thin line as the door negated his credentials. "Shit."
She pulled up the system database on her console. "I need access. To the override."
Moving her aside with a gentle nudge, Emeric typed in his security access code. Something that he left visible for Jade to observe over his shoulder. The sound of people yelling outside the lab grew louder. This level of leak will cause sectors to shut down. "Protocols are in lock. Doors are sealing four sub levels below and five above breach."
"That'll lock us in." She realized the obvious here. They'll be stuck with potential exposure. They're only one level above that sub level. That means contamination is imminent. "Emeric..." Jade had no chance to say more. He took her by the arm to pull her back to the door. Instinctively her free hand snatched at the acrylic encased flower to bring with her. Unnecessary but -
Override codes worked. Finally the door to the lab decompressed and shuttered open under his key card. He pulled her out into the chaos of moving bodies. Staff, security and the like were moving towards any exist they could find. A throng of people were banging against one of the steel doors. Already shut in the security lock down. "This way," he instructed, turning down an annex corridor.
Jade looked back to those people. "Emeric, the others..."
"Let them fall over themselves." He snapped, dragging her down to a high security panel. With his clearance he was able to open it. Pushing her ahead of himself, the director of this facility had no immediate concern for the others in his employ. Focusing on getting her away from the contamination, his shoulder lodged against a secure panel. Shoving it open for her to go through he followed into a darker hollow of the level.
Jade's boots landed on metal grating, vibrating up through her legs as she dropped a short distance from a ladder. This area was a complex she's never seen before. Equipment and machinery working to filter air and other natural systems through the facility itself. Yet it was the containment tube at the far end that caught her attention. "What is this place?"
"The underbelly." A simple answer as there was no time. He guided her across the grate, only stopping when a secondary alarm began to blare overhead. The biochemical is bleeding into this room. "Go! Now!"
The shove was hard against her back. Forcing her to fall face first inside the containment sphere. Catching her breath, she twisted around in the small enclosed space, already sealing her inside. Tight and claustrophobic. Her hand pressed to the glass, eyes wide as she looked out at Emeric at the control console. "Emeric, what are you doing?"
His head rose from the panel. A small smile curled the corner of his mouth. "You will be safe inside."
But there's only one. Only one that can fit a single person. With dawning horror, lights flashing from alarms filling her safe cage with red light, Jade shoved against the casing. "No! No! Emeric!"
"Don't worry," his voice is a soothing calm amid the chaos. "All big things have small beginnings, my love." With a press of a button he engaged the outer seal, covering up the tube itself.
Darkness flooded her confined space. Forcing her eyes to adjust to nothingness. As if she had been thrown into a void, safely breathing oxygen fed into the container from Weyland's backup filtration system. While he breathed in that chemical... "Emeric? Emeric!"
"Winthrope, rise and shine!"
Her hand slammed down atop her comm link. Swiping it off the table beside her bed, she turned over, holding up the device with a roll of her eyes. "Seriously, Ryan? Why the hell are you waking me up this early?"
"Cause we have a ship to catch. Priority one."
Jade's eyes fell shut, pressing the comm to her chest. The racing of her heart drummed a constant reminder of the dreams that plague her still. Seven months since that catastrophe. Seven and she's still a drip of sweat some nights. Not even being able to go to the infirmary complex had left her with terrible nightmares. One ways she feels responsible. even if it wasn't her doing. Weyland fucked up. Big time but who paid for it? While she, a lowly science officer, maintained and grew a step up due to Emeric's absence.
With a huff, she forced the blankets aside and pushed up out of her bunk. Shower and clothes are in order. Then it's off to do a mission she hardly felt was appropriate. At least for her state of mental health. Absorbing the fact they don't give a damn what happened at HQ only solidified her growing aversion of Weyland's bullshit.
"It's about time," Cameron greeted her in the hangar bay. Tugging his dark jacket on, he thumbed behind him where their science class hunk of junk was being prepped. The amount of people hovering in and out was a sign of how big Weyland-Yutani is. Even now years and years after crazy accidents. "Guess we're the next big ticket to outer space. Here's hoping the Strata Nova doesn't go missing like that one rig. What was it called?"
He turned when she moved past, following beside to keep up with her pace. "The Nostra...something?"
"The Nostromo." Jade answered, looking over to him. "Everyone knows that story." Or the version they're told. It's been years and years. Too in the past for a lot to recall outside of this.
Cam stopped when she did. Seeing those dark circles under her eyes made him drop the funny shit. For once he's not trying to pull her leg. "Hey, you know that biocontaminent leak wasn't your fault. You had nothing to do with that, Jai."
She felt that lingering tightness in her chest. Where her heart might burst through her rib cage like an alien presence. Right before the stress induced migraine set in. "Yeah, well, the science tech chosen over the actual director is still a thing." Even if she didn't make that choice.
Okay so she's still upset about it all. Understandable. He can't blame her and he also can't make her feel better. He tries. "Well, maybe this whole mission will clear your head. Distract you with that big brain of yours. I'm the grunt soldier type. The mechanical dude. You're..." Cameron motioned at her as he struggled to find the right word. "The Amidala of Yutani."
Jade snorted. Her lips formed a small smile for once. "Wow. That's so nerdy." She shook her head, crossing arms as she shifted to look back to the ship. Her smile waned.
And Cam saw that too. Her eyes locked onto the gritty old time near the cargo hatch. Okay so not old really. Just around the block or in this case the stratosphere. But Cameron knew Rhett Lawson to embody that space cowboy vibe that he's given Jade the side eye for in the past. Not their first rodeo working together. "Oh, yeah," he drawled, nodding at the man. "There's that too."