[hr][center][h1][color=#4dff4d]Benji Baker[/color] & [color=009496]Tahlia Spade[/color][/h1][/center][center]Collab between [@beyond visions] and [@TheMadAsshatter][hr][/center]
[indent]Tahlia entered the kitchen, still fuming. No matter how she saw it, she couldn't reconcile Benji's behavior. Had he simply explained the situation from the get-go, the argument with Owen could very well have been avoided. Regardless, she realized that there were bigger fish to fry. If Rend was loose, he could very well be a threat to the crew not only physically, but politically. The damned Principality could turn this against the crew, saying it's their fault. Corporal punishment certainly was part of their MO.

She stopped that thought process, realizing that conjecture wouldn't get anyone anywhere. She closed her eyes, still standing in the doorway between the hall and the kitchen. She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out an exasperated sigh. Hopefully things would come to light soon. Everything had been madness, soothed only by brief moments of relative peace, from the moment that they were captured. Getting pissed off and contributing to the pandemonium would do no good. She was still angry, but she tried to calm herself. One more deep breath, followed by a sigh, then she finally opened her eyes.

Immediately, any vestige of reason that she had managed to collect since the argument with Benji had shattered once more as she saw Owen, his face battered and beaten, resting against the far wall, barely conscious. [color=009496]"Shit!"[/color] She ran over to him and checked him over. [color=009496]"Fuck. Owen, can you hear me? Say something!"[/color] He was at least responsive, if slow and barely comprehensible. She thought she could make out a dumb joke about there being a doctor onboard, before consciousness slipped away from him.

[color=009496]"God dammit!"[/color] She felt his pulse and checked his breathing. Slightly accelerated, but that was to be expected. He was, most likely, concussed. Her instincts kicked in and she picked him up by the shoulders and began dragging him to the med bay, when she saw Benji appear in the doorway they had just come from.

Initially, Benji could not fathom the outcome of his actions. Even as Tahlia glared at him, all focus, all attention was on Owen. It was not until Tahlia was a step in front of Benji hauling Owen away, did he all of a sudden realize that he could not let Tahlia tend to Owen herself. If there was anything that Benji could do right, if there was anything that he took pride in, it was being a doctor. Even when Rend, of all people, was transferred to the med-bay after his altercation with Tahlia, there was the open opportunity for Benji to either shut down the man's ventilator or to lie to the crew and mislead them into believing that there was no chance in his survival. But he didn't. 

[color=#4dff4d]"Stop,"[/color] the sharp tone sounded from his lips as he gripped her shoulder. [color=#4dff4d]"I'm [i]the[/i] doctor. I've got it from here."[/color]

[color=009496]"You goddamn well better fix this shit!"[/color] was all she could muster.  She was exercising every fiber of her being to restrain herself from doing or saying anything more.  Her blood was boiling, and were the circumstances different, she would likely have beat the shit out of Benji right then.  But he was, after all, the only doctor that she knew of onboard the ship, and he wouldn't be able to help Owen if he himself was battered and bruised.

She stormed off again, past Yaz and back to her room.  She went immediately to the drawer where she kept the pieces of Rend's gun that she held on to.  She was surprised when they were still there; expecting the aliens to have taken it.  Maybe they didn't have enough information to know that they were weapon parts.  Regardless, she was glad.  If ever there were a time to arm up, now was it.  Of course, there was still the matter of ammunition and getting the other pieces; especially from Echo, seeing as she was still in her room.

As soon as Tahlia made her sudden exit, Benji hooked his arms underneath Owen's underarms, slightly lifting the concussed man off the floor. Before, truding towards the med-bay, Benji angled his head and attention at the Britheian guard posted near by,  [color=#4dff4d]"Afli trettalt Piecimtue gnaq Echo dudrerd Yaz aphysse ..."[/color] With haste before Yaz could become suspicious about what he just said, Benji translated his words in a paraphase, [color=#4dff4d]"Yaz, Echo's door should be open for you now, I simply told the Britheian to have Pseudo open the door for you. That's all I said, I swear nothing else. You should be able to speak with Echo now... Tahlia can go with you if you want."[/color] It was apparent in his voice that Benji struggled in hesitation to say Tahlia could accompany Yaz, because what if Echo did admit to helping Rend? Only Benji knew why she would possibly do a thing like that. He felt her strange attachment towards Rend, the man who is her husband, but only in an alternate reality.

Benji believed that the kitchen would be the place where he would explain all that he could in the limited time that Pseudo gave him to question Echo. But it slipped from his mind at the time of what would happen to Owen, if Benji gave more thought to his rash decision Owen would not be lying in the med bay drenched with blood spewing from the nasal cavities. [/indent]