Looking For Clarity

<SNIP>
"He didn't kill anyone!" Eve said after a long pause in the sunshine.
"He was a major factor in the deaths of all of those miners. He enabled their deaths as surely as if he'd done it himself endangering all of us in the process. The way he went after Jacky... He's have killed us all to save you." Jade explained to Eve, who was looking more and more in denial as it went on.
"No... no... It's not that!" She wailed, sinking into the sand in shade of the palm tree.
"Did you know that one of the people he knocked out, the one that was shot in the gut and slowly died was called Eve? She had kids back in her own time. They'll never know what happened to their mum now. I spoke to her that morning. She was sharing a cell with the one that Jaxx used his whips on to hold still whilst the machines tore her limbs off. I think her name was Mary..." Jade recalled the bloodbath at the mine and shuddered.

"He wouldn't have hurt the crew... He wouldn't have.. He was jsut..." Eve said, quieter now.
"But he did. He did it all for you. All of those people, dead just so he could save you. And his actions would have killed us all if not for lady luck." Jade said, sitting down and placing an arm around Eve. "I know you love him. I know he means a lot to you, but he has hurt you too." Jade said slowly.
"Never!" She gasped in horror.
"Maybe not physically, but before you got together with him, you were a strong, independent woman. Remember how you tackled the obstacle course to try and help us all when Justin had his small psychopathic episode?... Back after Fernando's?" Jade said. "Love changes us all I know, but you need to be that strong woman again. Not this, limp seductress trying to flirt Jaxx free. It's not who you are. It's not what he needs right now."
Eve went quiet.
"Look. I know it's hard, but what Jaxx needs now is someone who can help him to understand what it means to be part of a team. Part of the crew, for all of us without violence. What he also needs, is someone who can tell us what his actions really mean, he lashes out at us all so often that we come to expect it. He needs someone there to step in and say 'Hold on. Look at it this way.' In a logical, calm and concise way. Do you understand?" Jade said, moving her arm away and standing up.
"I... I think so." Eve said, sniffing again, trying to hold back tears.
"Think about it. Try and see it from our point of view. I'll do what I can so get Cass and Jay to see it from yours, but they've seen much more of his behaviour in the past than you or I... It will all be sorted in the end. Stay strong." Jade said, smiling sympathetically at the girl.
<SNIP>

Evelina walked away from the Starbug as she fought back her tears. Eve thought about what Jade had told her as she walked back to where she put her stuff down. Did Jaxx really make her weak? Was she really stronger before or was she just used to being used by others? Evelina was very confused right now. After putting on her coverall, shades, sandals and wrap skirt she picked up her bag and looked around. Eve wondered if she just made things worse trying to charm the others.

FLASHBACK:
She remembered that tactic always worked when she needed something in the past. Back when she first started in the JMC she was scarred of being sent back to the Modeling Agency. Eve tried to just do her job and lay low so she wouldn’t attract any attention. Unfortunately she was noticed by some of the other female officers. At first the other females befriended Eve, but after noticing Evelina getting all the attention from the male officers their friendship turned into jealousy. They began spreading vicious rumors that Eve was “Easy” and a home wrecker. Then next six months were hell for Evelina as she was constantly harassed by the jealous females and hit on by the horny guys.

After one of many sleepless nights Evelina reported to the Captain for help only to have to wait behind some very rough looking tattooed women. Evelina was now very afraid as one of the tattooed women approached her. Evelina kept looking at the door hoping the Captain would open it soon to save her from the scary women who seemed to be sizing her up. As the tattooed woman stood before Evelina she smiled and reached out to Evelina who was crouching in fear. As Evelina awaited her beating she was surprised to hear the woman say,”Hello the name's Ruby. Whatcha in fer mate?” Evelina was confused at first as she lowered her hands to see Ruby wanted to shake her hand and introduce herself. Evelina muttered, “Ummmm…..reassignment request.” Ruby helped Evelina stand up again as she asked, “Wut fer?” Evelina replied, “I guess I don’t fit in here.” Ruby looked at the other women and began laughing.” Evelina was confused by the Rowdy bunch of women laughing at her response. Evelina asked, “What is so funny?” Ruby turned to reply, “Sorry luv we say that all the time.” Evelina listened as Ruby and the other women told her they were all unpopular with the regular crew and they found each other by chance. Over time they became a large group of friends because they didn’t fit in with the other crowds. They were nick named the "Rowdy Girls" by the crew since they got into trouble a lot.

After that day Evelina looked forward to being on the ship since had a group she belonged to. Among Eve’s new best friends were: Ruby who was a bit of a tomboy and a great mechanic, Stacy was a pretty communications ensign who loved tattoos and body piercings, Rhonda was a very masculine woman and a great pilot and of course Tammy the practical joker who was a JMC scientist. Every time the other women would harass Evelina her friends would scare them off. Then of course being part of a group of scary women kept most undesirable guys away from her as well. Evelina felt like her life was now better now that she fit in. Each day after work she would hang out with her friends and stir things up. As a group they had received several warning, reprimands and small punishments by the Captain. They were a tight group for a long time and spent a lot of time together, but that all came to an end when the Blue Dwarf was attacking the Hymenoptera. Tammy and Evelina were sent to pick up some supplies in an old unused section of the ship when they were attacked. The last thing Evelina remembered was Tammy pushing her into a stasis chamber before the hull was breached. As Evelina was frozen in time she never saw her friend Tammy get sucked out into space. Since no one ever came down to that area again Evelina missed most of the war and the Cadmium leak. Three million years later after that day Evelina never saw her friends again. Eve woke up alone and in danger on the Blue Dwarf and had to escape to the planet below. It was there she met Jaxx and the other crew members.

PRESENT TIME:
Evelina missed the “Rowdy Girls” very much and wished she knew what happened to them. With all the excitement she experienced after waking up she didn’t have much time to think about her friends from the past. Now Evelina felt alone again she lost her friends and now she lost her Jaxx. As Evelina thought about what Jade said she wondered if she was right. Perhaps Jay and Cass were still seeing Jaxx as the same monster before he lost his memory. As she remembered from Planet Fernandos Jay and Cass were not close to Jaxx by any standard. However as Evelina remembered Jaxx’s actions at the prison it could be seen as dangerous to everyone else. Perhaps the others didn’t know the mechs, ships and satellites were covered in cameras. Like Victoria pointed out, Lindstrom really could see everything they were doing. Eve wondered if Victoria and or Lindstrom were manipulating Jaxx to attacking the others. Now that Evelina thought about it Jaxx was not to smart and it would be easy to trick him into doing something violent to protect her. However that meant that Jaxx chose to use the other miner’s lives as a distraction for Lindstrom till he accidentally ran into Jacky. As Evelina played all the events over again in her head she came to realize that Jaxx had to make a hard choice. It was obvious that Jaxx could easily kill Jacky if he wanted to, but he just chased him off the battlefield instead.

It was then that Evelina realized Jaxx never explained his actions to anyone and always accepted the blame. Evelina thought to herself, “No wonder the others never understood him. Jaxx was trying to shoulder all the pain on his own.“ As Evelina imagined Jaxx, she realized he always acted tough in front of the others but was very timid when alone with her. Since he was not close to anyone they never saw him drop his guard around them. So now the real problem was how could she help Jaxx see a better way to do things and at the same time get the others to see the real him. This was going to be a big challenge for her and Jaxx as she thought of several scenarios in her head. After racking her brain for a few minutes Evelina decided to rest her mind and go help Jamie work on his hut. Maybe some manual labor would help give her some inspiration. As Evelina approached Jamie she put her bag down and watched what Jamie was doing before he noticed she was standing there. Jamie looked at Evelina in her stunning outfit before he replied, “If you’re bored I could use a hand again.” Evelina smiled as she replied, “Sure I was getting bored with nothing to do.” Then Evelina began helping Jamie with his projects hoping to get her mind off her personal problems.

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