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A Piratocracy
After Blackbeard's miraculously successful fuckery and the mess that followed, Chekov kept more-or-less to himself.
Some of it is lingering embarrassment over his outburst on the bridge. The rest is a result of his talk with Frenchie; that made it very clear to Chekov that he is in a place that he doesn't truly understand with no escape plan. The Enterprise isn't coming to his rescue because it is no longer under Captain Kirk's control. He can't contact Starfleet because he fled the scene of a murder and is now a criminal. Talking to his friends, currently scattered across the quadrant, is unsafe until he can set up a means of communication that Starfleet won't be able to track back to the Revenge. And, on top of that, the longer he stays with a pirate crew (are they officially pirates now that the infamous Blackbeard is in residence?), the more difficult it will be to go back to his former life.
It's a lot to think about.
Chekov occupies himself with projects that don't really need to be done. He still sees his crewmates often enough -- with common sleeping quarters and the galley, isolation is virtually impossible -- but he isn't seeking out socialization. Some of the things he said to Frenchie were quite stupid and he's afraid of tripping up around someone less forgiving.
Perhaps if he had been talking to his peers more regularly, he would have known about the elections sooner. As it is, Chekov is unaware until he sees the hand-drawn posters on the walls of the Revenge:
CAPTAIN ELECTION
TODAY!
Do your duty!
VOTE!
The penmanship is immaculate with many lovely flourishes.
And is that... a ballot box?
Chekov puzzles over the poster and the box, wondering if this is a pirate thing or a uniquely Stede Bonnet thing.
Some of it is lingering embarrassment over his outburst on the bridge. The rest is a result of his talk with Frenchie; that made it very clear to Chekov that he is in a place that he doesn't truly understand with no escape plan. The Enterprise isn't coming to his rescue because it is no longer under Captain Kirk's control. He can't contact Starfleet because he fled the scene of a murder and is now a criminal. Talking to his friends, currently scattered across the quadrant, is unsafe until he can set up a means of communication that Starfleet won't be able to track back to the Revenge. And, on top of that, the longer he stays with a pirate crew (are they officially pirates now that the infamous Blackbeard is in residence?), the more difficult it will be to go back to his former life.
It's a lot to think about.
Chekov occupies himself with projects that don't really need to be done. He still sees his crewmates often enough -- with common sleeping quarters and the galley, isolation is virtually impossible -- but he isn't seeking out socialization. Some of the things he said to Frenchie were quite stupid and he's afraid of tripping up around someone less forgiving.
Perhaps if he had been talking to his peers more regularly, he would have known about the elections sooner. As it is, Chekov is unaware until he sees the hand-drawn posters on the walls of the Revenge:
CAPTAIN ELECTION
TODAY!
Do your duty!
VOTE!
The penmanship is immaculate with many lovely flourishes.
And is that... a ballot box?
Chekov puzzles over the poster and the box, wondering if this is a pirate thing or a uniquely Stede Bonnet thing.
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Instead of sitting around fretting, Chekov uses his nervous energy to finish establishing a secure connection to the Federation message network. It's probably unnecessarily complicated -- surely no one wants to find any of them enough to trace signals between a dozen different relay stations throughout Federation space -- but over-complicated is better than all of them being caught just because Chekov wanted to send messages to his friends. Even though he might not mind being caught all that much, Stede and Blackbeard might look less kindly on it.
As soon as he connects, his pad is flooded with messages from the former crew of the Enterprise. Most of the subject lines are full of capital letters and exclamation points, so it seems that they've managed to learn about Chekov's current status as a criminal. The messages are about what he expected: Sulu and Kirk congratulating him on falling in with actual pirates and asking for details (and an autograph from Blackbeard on Hikaru's part -- of course Hikaru knows about the specific pirates out here), Uhura and McCoy worrying and asking him to turn himself in, Spock letting him know that the Revenge has officially been entered into Starfleet's records as a pirate vessel. Scotty's messages are all about the specifications of the Revenge's deck, but that's to be expected. He wouldn't be Scotty if he wasn't hung up on an engineering issue.
There's a message from Andrei Chekov as well. Chekov doesn't think he'll be able to read that one for a while.
He composes a quick, vague message to all of them letting them know that he's fine. It seems best to say too little for now. Izzy and possibly Blackbeard still don't entirely trust Chekov to not sell them all out; he doesn't want to give them any reason to doubt him more.]
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Don't tell me you're turning us in already. [They grin to let him know it's a joke, though there's a note of suspicion in there as well. Not that Pavel would turn them in to Starfleet -- the kid is easier to read than a picture book -- but that he'll do something stupid that will get them all caught.]
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Jim, hello! [It takes him a moment to confirm that yes, Jim is joking. Mostly, at least.] No, no... I won't send any messages that contain compromising information. I just... [He fiddles with his pad's stylus, feeling very foolish and young. That's happening a lot lately.] There are people that I need to talk to.
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Your old shipmates. [Pavel doesn't talk much about the Enterprise crew, but it's obvious how much he misses them. Jim knows it must be agony; it hurts just imagining something separating them from Olu.]
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[He so badly wants Jim to believe him. Yes, the former Enterprise crew is his family, but he wants the crew of the Revenge to be family too.]
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[They give a moment for that to sink in before continuing.]
I'm not judging you. Life's just one risk after another until something finally fucking kills you.
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You have a bleak and unflinchingly realistic view of life, Jim.
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How they holding up out there?
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Well enough. All of their assignments are much less dangerous than the Enterprise.
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[Everybody knows the Enterprise crew. Only Starfleet Command thinks that splitting them up will put an end to all their shenanigans.]
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[It was very stupid of Starfleet to station Kirk, Sulu, and Uhura relatively close to each other.]
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I hope that you don't mind me being here for a while longer.
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It’s good to be patient. Just make sure you’re waiting for the right moment to strike. Don’t wait for someone to rescue you.
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I won't wait for that. Thank you, Jim.
[Jim is mysterious and intimidating and one of Chekov's favorite people. He's going to miss them when he finds his moment.]
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[And that’s enough human interaction for now. Talking to Pavel has reminded them too much of their own stalled mission. Time to go throw knives on the space deck until their thoughts are empty.]
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I hear you've got a problem with Stede's management style.
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No, sir. [He winces. Blackbeard did tell him to stop with the sirs.] Er, Captain Blackbeard.
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[Chekov means it, even if he doesn't entirely agree that Stede is the best captain he could hope for. He could definitely hope for a captain who doesn't turn control over to someone who has little to no concern for the crew of his ship.]
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So what's that on your pad there? You've got some new messages.
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[The captain doesn't look satisfied.]
All messages in and out will be bounced between several different relay stations. Someone would need to connect each part of the chain to find us.
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[Ed eases up and pats the kid's shoulder. Gotta keep him off-balance.]
But remember what happens if you give us up, accidentally or on purpose.
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[The kid looks sufficiently intimidated. Ed's work here is done.]