Hazard Pay

Date/Timing: 4 January 2019, between "On Notice" and "Strong and Holding"
Setting: corridors, The Shed; Vaucluse, NSW, Australia
As he and Chantell walk to the simulator, Nguyen runs through possible outcomes and tries not to cringe. 
Chantell snaps her gum. 
Nguyen digs a tissue from his pocket, holds it out. 
Chantell rolls her eyes, grudgingly spits it out. 
Nguyen drops the tissue in a bin at the intersection. 
"It was only from dinner," grumbles Chantell. 
"Decorum, Officer." 
Chantell slouches. "I'm pretty sure decorum is the least of our problems." 
Nguyen winces.
Chantell smugs—winces. "Yea, this isn't good." 
"A fifteen-year-old who ...." Nguyen stops that thought. "And a father of two." 
"Connecting their brains together with mostly experimental technology." 
Nguyen whines a teeny tiny bit.
"He could scramble his brain and wind up with temporary aphasia ...."
Nguyen scrubs his mind of that scenario, though—
"I wonder how aphasia affects people who can't talk." 
"He /can talk, Telly, and does so with a three-dimensional, unvoiced language." 
"Then it'll affect him the same way as it does anyone else and he'll have an even harder time communicating." 
Nguyen tries not thinking about the possibility. 
"Let's see, two people suffered vertigo—Medical finally tried acupuncture and the second can stand without throwing up—"
"Doctor Lightcap keeps me in the loop on their progress. On all of their progresses."
"Oh, right." 
They turn at another intersection.
Chantell chews her lip. "Do we have to risk—"
Nguyen keeps his voice level. "Command wants to give him the Mark V, so we need to find him a copilot."
"But, Dad—"
"This /is war, Telly."
"Juliet got off easy compared to the others—compared to—" Swallows. "I don't want to lose Pietr, too."
Nguyen rubs her back. 
Chantell leans against his side, says softly, "He's such a sweetheart; I really don't want him getting hurt."
Nguyen forces the mental parade of faces to stop, says gently, "No one does."
"Maybe he'll be the one?"
"Hansen ... and Vos." Nguyen sighs.
"You can say that again," mutters Chantell.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Nguyen
Category:Nguyen (ficlet)
Category:Chantell
Category:Chantell (ficlet)
Category:Pietr (mention)
Category:Chuck H (mention)
Category:Chuck H's Drift partners
Category:Caitlin (mention)
Category:Sydney Shatterdome (setting)
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Category:Skeleton Key
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