Date point: 4y 11m 2w 1d AV
Frank’s knees were killing him.
Wearing on his body and nerves, he shuffled along the floor, examining the ship’s systems.
So far, no person on the ship, human or otherwise had given even the slightest hint at betrayal.
But, complacency could spell death to all of them.
A patient adversary, one who didn’t mind waiting for his enemies guard to drop, was more dangerous than the most savage rampaging beast.
The blade that moves unseen cuts deepest.
So, Frank continued his unenviable task, earning himself some bruised knees, a sweaty brow and much muttering of swear words at the complicated wiring charts that were his guide.
Coming to the end of his inspection after an hour, he leaned against a wall, panting slightly and mopping sweat from his forehead.
Recovering, Frank stared into space, wondering at the ridiculous circumstances he now found himself in.
Ten years ago, the worst part of his day might have been telling some junkie, trying to score pain meds, to get lost and closing the heavy metal barrier between the pharmacy and the front desk.
Now, he sat, trying to catch his breath, after checking his space ship for sabotage.
It wasn’t like him to mistrust like this.
His whole life had been about helping others, in the small ways that a pharmacist could.
Making little children laugh so they wouldn’t notice him giving them a flu shot. Quietly switching a woman’s order from a name brand product to an identical generic, saving a poor single mother two hundred dollars for her son’s asthma medication. Even, one time, saving the life of a man half his age, who had mixed his prescriptions by mistake and overdosed in a grocery store.
Frank strove to see the good in people, trusting that their intentions were as pure as his own.
Skulking around the ship, examining every conversation and gauging intentions was simply too tiring for an old man.
He wanted it to end. But, that was not within his power.
At least not at the moment
The kid had agreed, after a heated argument with Jason, that he would get the implant removed when they reached the station, using their medical facilities.
Tricko and Ryst had been told that removal of their implants was now a condition of their employment, and hadn’t really taken it well. After arguing about the ridiculousness of the new terms they had grudgingly agreed, mentioning to each other that new implants wouldn’t be an enormous issue after finishing service aboard the human ship.
All implanted persons on the ship had demanded to know why the removal was necessary, but Jason had been a wall of iron on that front, giving nothing away.
Frank was glad the Captain trusted his word; relieved to have a solid ally.
Still, every once in a while, he felt eyes on the back of his head whenever he was in a room with one of them, but had shaken off the feeling, determined to keep his wits.
Until the implants were gone, he would have to remain on alert.
Grunting, Frank stood from the floor.
Moving out into the inhabited sections of the ship, he passed through the cargo bay and into the hallway lined with bedrooms, the medical bay and the flight deck.
Something like…singing was coming from one of the rooms, albeit very bad singing, as though the person had never done so before.
Recognizing the room as belonging to one of the Gaoians, he knocked, curious as the what was going on. The room went quiet and the door slid open, revealing Ryst, with Chanuck sitting on the bed and holding some earbud headphones.
“Hello, Frank. You knocked?” Ryst said, looking at him with what Frank assumed was a polite expression.
“Uhhh…yeah. What’s going on in here? I heard…singing.”
Chanuck chuckled, “You heard Ryst attempting to sing, in human English. I told him it was awful, and the fact that someone came to investigate proves that.”
Shooting Chanuck a dark glance, with a hint of amusement, Ryst replied, “Jason and Ted introduced us to some human music that was in your ship computer. We were enjoying it.”
Giving a bark of laughter, Frank asked, “Human music? I figured alien music would sound terrible to someone it wasn’t made for. You like it? What music is it?”
Moving back into the room, Ryst went to a wall that had a basic access terminal to the ship and pointed at a list of songs and artists.
Entering the room slightly to look at it, Frank began to read the titles, eyes widening with every new song.
Trying to keep a straight face, Frank glanced for a half second at Chanuck and Ryst before saying, “Oh, Christ. Ok, let me give you some better options. Write these down, alright?”
Tapping the screen of the access pad, Ryst eagerly prepared to copy down the information.
“Alright, Ryst. I’ll just give you names to look up, okay? Start with Cab Calloway, then Frank Sinatra, Freddie Mercury, Elton John, and Kurt Cobain.”
As the Gaoian copied the names down, Frank inwardly rolled his eyes, thinking of the music his son liked.
Muttering slightly, Frank said, “In fairness to other genres, copy down Marshall Mathers and Jay-Z. Also someone called Dead Rat or some nonsense.”
“Thank you for the suggestions, Frank!” said Chanuck, giving what Frank approximated as his version of a smile.
“No, problem.”
Walking backwards quickly out of the room, he shut the door, trying to master himself and not laugh out loud at the ridiculous exchange he’d just had.
After a few seconds, his mirth subsided and he walked to the flight deck, grinning widely.
On the flight deck, he found Jason sitting in his chair, going between several screens and watching the stars inch past the ship.
Hearing the doors open, he looked back and said, “Hey Frank. What’s going on?”
Fixing a stern look on Jason, Frank answered, “I shudder at the knowledge that you are an ambassador for the human race. I saw the music you were having Ryst and Chanuck listen to. You, sir, are going to hell.”
Jason snorted, laughing as he replied, “Oh, that! Well, I just wanted them to start experiencing some of our…culture.”
Sighing and forcing back his grin, Frank sat down in his own chair.
Going serious, he looked at Jason.
“How much longer until we get there? I’m getting antsy about them still having those things in their heads.”
Grimacing at the change of subject, Jason said, “We need to make at least one more stop to recharge the capacitors. Should be there by the end of today or in the middle of the night. Or whatever passes for night time in space.”
“You mentioned something about the robot in the medical bay, right? Are you sure we can’t use it?”
Jason sighed.
“Ted tells me that we actually could use the robot for that.”
Startled, Frank spluttered, “Then why the hell are we waiting, then?”
Glancing at the old man, and ignoring his work for a moment, Jason answered, “It won’t work on the Gaoians; only humans. But, Ted says that the robot we have is more than cutting edge. He looked into it and only a few hospitals in the world have tech that advanced, Frank. I think Byron knew we might need it.”
Frank glared at the Captain.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Haltingly, Jason mumbled, “Frank, even though it’s one of the most advanced medical devices in the world, alien tech is still better. We’re talking about brain surgery here. It’s my call to not have it taken out now. It would only deal with one issue and leave three others, and put Robert at risk. I want to wait until we’re at the station.”
Shaking his head, he replied, “I’m crawling all over the ship, making sure we aren’t murdered in our sleep, and we have a way to at least handle the serious problem, but you don’t want to use it? Robert is the real issue, kid. He could kick both of our asses. Did you hear the stories from Tricko?”
Becoming agitated at having his decision questioned, Jason stood, face going hard.
“I know what the kid can do. But, I have to think about his safety as well as ours. I told him that you’re going to be doing ship repairs until the implant is out, and I’ve been keeping an eye on him. Enough, Frank. I don’t want to hear about this again.”
Feeling anger flare in him, Frank’s expression became mutinous.
After a few tense seconds, he relented.
“Alright Jason, I’ll let it go. But, you keep an eye on that kid. I’d also recommend keeping your T.A.S.E.R. on you, the same as I do.” Frank muttered, turning to the front of the ship and staring at the slowly creeping starlight.
Giving a deep sigh, Jason turned back to the front of the ship as well.
“I’ll be relieved when this whole mess is over. After being given a secret mission and nearly dying several times, overthrowing a slave empire and reinstating another, I wouldn’t mind a simple cargo mission.” Jason grunted.
Not bothering to reply to Jason’s comment, Frank remained silent, still fuming.
Sensing the mood, the Captain tried to mend some of the damage to the conversation.
“So, Frank. You never really explained to me why you wanted to come out into space. No offense, but, you’re old as fuck.”
In spite of himself, the jab brought a smile to the old man’s face.
“Still young enough to kick some ass and keep the ship away from pirates.” he muttered.
“True. Still, why’d you take the job?”
In his mind’s eye, Frank saw an old man, standing in front of his wife’s grave, bent in with sorrow that his body felt and his mind was numb to.
Staring at Jasmine’s name, he spoke to her about not knowing what he was meant to do anymore.
After his retirement, his job had been to look after her, and hers was to look after him.
They were a team, and now that she was gone, his sense of purpose had abandoned him.
Coming back to himself, he said, “Kid, I was forced to see that the world isn’t done with me just yet. Before I die, I think I’ve got at least one more important thing to do. I don’t know what it is yet, but here I sit, waiting for it.”
Jason didn’t know what to say to that.
He was only twenty-eight, and still in his prime. The motivations of an old man to keep living for something, after outliving his wife and career, didn’t really apply to his experiences.
As he stared at the control panel and displays in front of him, Frank startled him out of his thoughts.
“How about you, kid? Why are you here?”
He didn’t look at the old man, instead staring into space.
Whispering quietly, Jason slowly answered, “I made a promise. A long time ago, to a friend.”
Frank didn’t answer immediately. He’d lost enough friends at his age to know that look.
“This friend. What was his name?”
Still staring into space, Jason mumbled, “Miguel Rivera. He died. Years ago.”
Silence filled the room, Frank being respectful of his suddenly vulnerable Captain.
After a short while passed, Frank said, “I’m sorry, kid. I’ve lost people too. I know how it is.”
Shaking it off, and wearing a smile he didn’t feel, Jason turned to Frank.
“It’s ancient history. Either way, I’m here in space now.”
At that moment, Ted opened the double doors of the flight deck, grinning widely.
Both turning quickly, the two men stared at him.
Ted’s grin widened as he raised a finger and said, “Listen. Quietly.”
Silently, the three men listened, hearing two small voices coming from down the hall.
“-the bad, you take them both and there you have, The Facts of Life, The Facts of Life!”
Beginning to laugh, Frank managed to choke out that all three of them were going to hell.
Robert sat in the mess hall, taking a lunch break from putting Frank’s suit back together, which was a complete mess.
Finding every screw had been a pain in the ass, as they’d scattered all around the room.
Eventually giving up on finding the last few, he simply replaced them with spares that fit well enough and began rebuilding the exo-suit from the legs up.
Tricko was at the table as well, eating his share of his meal, enjoying the Spaghetti he’d gotten.
They ate in silence.
Robert was debating on telling Tricko something that he’d not had the courage to before.
Still, Jason was right. Speaking to someone who had been through the same terrible things you had could only help in the long run, even if what you spoke about was horrible.
Besides, Tricko had a right to know.
“Uhhh…Tricko? There’s something I need to tell you. I should have told you about it sooner, but I didn’t know how to say it.”
Setting his meal down, Tricko looked at the human with curious eyes.
“Go ahead, Rob. I’m listening.”
Taking a shaky breath, Robert said, “It’s about how Bierst died. You remember telling me how they took him, around the time I fought Ryxus?”
Going very quiet, the Gaoian answered, “Yes, I remember. They brought his body down to the incineration room later that day.”
“It…It was my fault, Tricko. He died because of me.”
Surprised, he looked at the human, saying, “Nonsense. We were overheard talking about the rebellion. The second Ryxus heard him, Bierst was dead. There were no other alternatives.”
Speaking very quietly, unable to look his friend in the eye, Robert said, “Kingruta tried to make a deal with me. A deal in exchange for Bierst’s life. I refused.”
A long silence stretched between them.
Forcing back all emotion from his voice, Tricko haltingly replied, “Please explain, Rob.”
Staring at the metal of the mess hall table, the words slowly came forth.
Unbidden, thoughts of blood returned to him as he spoke.
“They wanted me to lose the fight. They knew that I’d kill Ryxus, so they tried to blackmail me the same way that they did with you. He was whipped and injured almost beyond recognition when they dragged him into the room…”
Tricko said nothing, listening intently and feeling his stomach contract in silent anger at Bierst’s mistreatment.
Continuing at his friend’s silence, Robert said, “I was going to take the deal, Tricko. I didn’t want to watch him die. But, he told me no. He wanted me to win. I think he gave his life for you three, knowing that you’d be able to start the revolt if Ryxus died.”
Again, Tricko sat in silence, no longer looking at the human, thinking of the Gaoian who’d barely made it past his cub years.
He didn’t even think Bierst had ever sired a cub.
Unsure of what to say, as Tricko was continued his silence, Robert mumbled, “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
“No, Rob. It’s not. None of it is your fault. It’s ours.”
Jerking his gaze up, Gaoian and human eyes locked together, and Robert was surprised to see such regret in Tricko’s eyes.
“How is it your fault?” he asked.
“Because.” Tricko snapped, becoming fierce. “We went to that moon to try to strike it rich, and cut corners that we shouldn’t have. We were begging for trouble when we didn’t get the mine approved. When the Chehnasho came for us, no one knew where we were. And because of that, my clan died.”
Anger burned on Tricko’s face.
“It was our fault that we died, Rob. Not yours. Don’t you dare try to take credit for it.”
Robert stared at Tricko, no words coming to mind.
He’d never seen Tricko so angry, and it showed him how deeply the memories of the mine affected him.
Tricko was still tortured by his enslavement, the same as he was; more so, judging by his expression.
“I…I just wanted you to know why Bierst died. I feel like he deserved for his sacrifice to be known. He deserved to be honored for it.”
Standing from the table, Robert threw the rest of his meal into the garbage and moved to walk out of the room.
As he made it to the door, Tricko spoke.
“Thank you, Rob. For telling me, and for being with him when he died.”
Freezing for a moment, Robert had no response.
Deciding that silence was best, he left the room without looking back.
It was night time, according to the clocks on the ship.
The autopilot was set to stop the ship in maybe ten minutes, in order to recharge near a particularly large red giant, and would then send the ship onto the last leg of the trip to the station.
Everyone was eating now, most of the work done for the day.
Robert had mostly finished on the suit in the cargo bay, only needing to reattach a few hydraulic motors and some cables.
Tricko and Ryst had been practicing using the ship controls, under supervision from Jason, while Chanuck was in his room, still listening to music.
Frank had been busy fixing a wiring issue with some lights in the hallway that had been flickering, which turned out to be a crossed wire that had rubbed off its insulation.
Ted was still trying to learn more about the stellar nursery they were going to next, but had hit a brick wall that would require them to actually go to the nebula to overcome.
Having already eaten, Frank was doing his ritualistic check of the ship, knowing that he would be unnoticed by the crew who was busy enjoying military stories told by Jason.
Switching between walking and crawling periodically, he checked to make sure all the cables were where they were supposed to be.
Everything was fine until he came to the supercapacitors.
He almost missed it.
A very long second passed as Frank stared at the cable that shouldn’t be there.
His heart leapt into his throat as he followed the cable that rose to the ceiling, branching off to the warp drive and life support room.
He followed the line, carefully tracking the cables to where they connected into the warp drive.
Frank’s insides turned to ice.
“COMPUTER, ACTIVATE EMERGENCY SUBROUTINE ONE! SHUT DOWN ALL SYSTEMS!”
The ship lurched terribly as they dropped out of FTL travel followed by all lights and gravity turning off, obeying the administrative order and ignoring many of the safety protocols.
“LIGHTS! GRAVITY! LIFE SUPPORT!” Frank roared, each of them turning on again as he spoke, giving the crew only the essentials.
Drawing his weapon, Frank ran as fast as he could to the mess hall.
Loud shouting could be heard within the room, all terrified that something terrible had happened to the ship.
Bursting into the room and bellowing at the top of his voice, he screamed, “None of you fucking move!”
His weapon was pointed directly at Robert’s face.
All noise in the ship stopped, everyone realizing what Frank was doing.
Jason’s tone was even and was forcibly calm as he spoke quietly.
“Frank. What’s going on?”
Trying to master his racing heart, Frank stumbled out, “It’s happened, Jason. I was right. It needs to come out immediately. No questions, please, Jason. We don’t have time.”
Jason’s eyes flew open wide, comprehending the old man’s words.
“Robert, come with me. Now. Walk in front of me and do not speak. Do you understand?”
All eyes turned to the kid, who looked entirely shocked at the treatment he was receiving.
“I..what?! What the fuck is going on?!”
Ignoring the kids words, Frank glanced at Ted, who was as wide eyed as everyone else.
“Ted, get to the flight deck. Run system diagnostics on the entire ship. Everything. Also, restore all data on the ship to the previous backup.”
Spluttering, Ted began to ask, “What the hel-”
Screaming, Frank roared, “DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS! DO AS I SAY!”
Dread shaded Ted’s expression as he went pale and ran out of the room.
Jason was pushing a protesting Robert out of the room, turning him towards the medical bay.
Speaking to the ship, Frank said, “Computer, restore power to the medical bay and flight deck.”
The computer obeyed, and sounds of monitors and sensors flickering back into life could be heard down the hallway.
Frank was now alone with the Gaoians, who, even without an implant, all appeared terrified at the irrational Deathworlder.
Tricko spoke placatingly, his hands raised in the face of Frank’s weapon.
“Human, please tell us what is going on. We have done nothing. Lower your weapon, please.”
Ignoring him entirely, Frank went to the door panel and activated the intercom to the flight deck, keeping his eyes and weapon on the Gaoians.
“Ted, I want you to look at the cameras in the supercapacitor and life support rooms. I want you to tell me who was the last person in both of those rooms doing maintenance. Send me the answer through a text message on the console. Do you understand?”
Answering after a tense second, Ted’s voice came over the room’s intercom.
“Uhhh, yeah Frank. I’ve got it. Give me a minute, please.”
Minutes passed in silence; the Gaoians wondering if they were about to die.
Ryst looked around the room, seeing the knife on the table that they used to open their meals.
It was a simple metal knife, as opposed to a fusion blade, and in his hands against an angry Deathworlder it would be tantamount to suicide to attack with it.
So he waited.
At last, a notification chimed from the console, alerting Frank to a message.
Doing his best to keep his eyes on the Gaoians, he glanced at what the message said, as well as a small video screen that showed the person in the life support room, rigging up several cables.
A shaky breath escaped Frank.
As the screen was too small to see clearly, Ryst, Chanuck and Tricko waited to hear their fate.
The old man pushed the intercom to the medical bay, saying, “Jason, it’s not him. You can relax. I still want it taken out though. The threat is confirmed now.”
Not listening to hear if Jason responded, Frank turned again to the Gaoians.
“Well, human? What do you accuse us of?” Chanuck demanded angrily.
Aiming his weapon at the saboteur, Frank said quietly, “I don’t accuse the three of you of anything.”
The Gaoians were silent.
Taking a deep breath, Frank continued, “Just you, Chanuck.”
Shocked silence rang throughout the room.
“Explain, human. Now.” growled Ryst.
Keeping his eyes and weapon on Chanuck, Frank replied, “Cables were run from the supercapacitor banks, from ports that route power from our charging systems, feeding into the life support systems and the warp drive. Those systems were never meant to be connected to the WiTChES. As soon as we’d stopped, and began charging the system, the warp drive and life support would have overloaded and fried. We would be stuck here with no air, and the damage would have been irreparable. Chanuck tried to kill all of us.”
Chanuck was silent, staring at the human, wide eyed.
Ryst came to his defense.
“That is arrant nonsense! Chanuck wouldn’t do that! You are wrong, human.”
Tricko was looking at the screen that showed the video of Chanuck rigging up the lines.
Moving towards it, he tapped the video to play it.
In silence, all four of them watched as the video expanded to fill the screen, showing Chanuck creeping into the back of the ship and pulling spare power cables from a locker.
Moving to the capacitor bank, he rigged it up and ran it through the ceiling into the other rooms.
Video from another camera angle showed him attaching the cables quickly and leaving the room, back into the inhabited sections of the ship.
“No…no, I don’t remember that! I didn’t do it!”
The two other Gaoians and Frank looked at Chanuck, still at the back of the room.
He pleaded with them, fear in his eyes, “I didn’t! I was in my room all day!”
A hint of disbelief colored Tricko’s tone as he said, “Chanuck…you’re on the video. You aren’t supposed to be doing anything back there. What were you doing?”
“NO! I didn’t do it! I-I…”
Chanuck’s eyes went wide for a second, then grew heavy, lids covering most of his eyes.
Ryst sounded scared, saying, “Chanuck? What’s going on?”
But, Chanuck didn’t seem to be listening.
He was swaying slightly, eyelids getting lower.
Chanuck fell heavily to the ground, limp and unmoving.
“Kid, I’m sorry about this. I’ll explain later. Right now, you need to get onto the operating table.” said Jason.
“Captain, what the fuck is going on? You said I could wait until we got to the station to do this.”
Guiding Robert into the medical bay, he pointed the kid to the table with the medical robot hanging from the ceiling, its many arms hanging down around the bed.
Robert halted in his tracks.
“Jason, I don’t want to fucking do this. I’m scared, man.”
Hating himself, Jason replied, “I don’t want to hear it kid. Something’s happened, and we don’t have time to discuss it. Now, do as I say, or I will make you obey.”
Fear gripping him, Robert glanced at the face of stone behind him.
Jason wasn’t joking.
Robert felt a boiling rage build within him, but he suppressed it, forcing himself to master his anger.
Something bad was going on, and he didn’t think Jason would put him in harm’s way without a good reason.
Trembling slightly, he laid down onto the padding of the foam hospital bed, staring tremulously at the menacing looking robot.
Jason turned the robot on with a switch on a console, causing it to make a terrifying buzzing noise as it booted up.
Using the controls, he navigated to the surgery the he wanted performed as Robert’s hands began shaking out of fear.
“Foreign object: Brain, Translator Implant Removal.” he muttered under his breath.
A list of instructions popped up that Jason read, eyes flicking occasionally to Robert, making sure he made no hostile movements.
Scalpels, bone saw, needle and thread, anesthetic and a whole litany of things were required to be set up by Jason before the procedure could begin.
His own hands shaking slightly, he began to open cabinets and rifle through drawers, pulling out the required items.
After several minutes he had a pile of medical equipment on a counter, and began to lay it out accordingly, as per the instructions of the robot.
A voice crackled into life over the intercom, becoming recognizable as belonging to Frank.
“Jason, it’s not him. You can relax. I still want it taken out though. The threat is confirmed now.”
Stopping in his tracks, he looked at Robert, giving a deep and shaky sigh of relief.
“What the hell is Frank talking about, Jason? What threat?” Robert asked, his eyes wide.
“No time, I’ll explain when you wake up.”
Continuing his work, relieved that he didn’t have to worry about Robert being the saboteur, Jason laid out the bone saw on a metal tray, alongside a series of syringes, needles and scalpels.
After a minute or so, the procedure was ready to begin.
As he entered in the last few commands, Jason said, “I’m really sorry about this kid. I promise it’ll make more sense when it’s over.”
The kid said nothing, staring at the robot.
Feeling terrible for how he was treating Robert, Jason focused on the screen of the robot’s control panel.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Robert make a slight movement.
Jason never saw the scalpel that slid underneath his jawline, jamming itself deep into his throat.