[ He takes the PADD from her – what else is there to do? – and turns it in his hand, frowning harder as he looks at the screen, at the name on it. Infamous, she'd said, when he was teasing her about her name, and now, as he scrolls through the text and images, as his brows draw ever more tightly together, he can see why.
Thirty million dead. Earth ravaged by war. In some ways, it's not so different from the history he knows so well... it's just that the perpetrators are different.
There's too much here to read, to take in all at once, but even a cursory skim makes it clear why she'd reacted the way she had to that name at the black site, why she'd been so surprised and gratified when he had no idea who her ancestor was. Jim looks up at her, the bemused frown still tucked between his brows, and takes in the tension in her shoulders, the way she's holding herself like she expects to have to take a hit. ]
La'an...
[ He's never not known what to say, but then, he's never been presented with anything quite like this before, either. The best he can manage, as he latches onto his gut instinct is: ]
I'm sorry. But –
[ He shakes his head, grimacing as he tries to find the words for the what he's certain of, deep in his gut. ]
no subject
Thirty million dead. Earth ravaged by war. In some ways, it's not so different from the history he knows so well... it's just that the perpetrators are different.
There's too much here to read, to take in all at once, but even a cursory skim makes it clear why she'd reacted the way she had to that name at the black site, why she'd been so surprised and gratified when he had no idea who her ancestor was. Jim looks up at her, the bemused frown still tucked between his brows, and takes in the tension in her shoulders, the way she's holding herself like she expects to have to take a hit. ]
La'an...
[ He's never not known what to say, but then, he's never been presented with anything quite like this before, either. The best he can manage, as he latches onto his gut instinct is: ]
I'm sorry. But –
[ He shakes his head, grimacing as he tries to find the words for the what he's certain of, deep in his gut. ]
– you know this isn't you, right? You're not him.