Sean slammed his fist into the table.
"Why, damn it?!? Why?"
He looked around the conference room. The kids, packed in around the table, on the floor or against the walls, mostly avoided his eyes. They were crammed into a space designed for less than half their number, a meeting place for bridge officers. Why the hell had fearless leader Don made them meet here, instead of down in one of the large rooms in the heart of the ship? Sean's eyes slid over to the fool in question, sitting at the head of the table. Maybe he figured that by crowding them together they'd look like a larger force. Or, it would be harder to pull a weapon.
"I told you before," Don replied, calmly. "They were going to get a missile lock on us. It was either take them out or face the same fate as Garon." His eyes focused solely on Sean, but Sean noticed Kine, leaning against the wall behind Don, eyeing the mood of the room. Must be nice to have a giant like that at your beck and call. Sean was starting to get pissed.
"Not good enough, damn it!" He pounded the table, and rose up. "Not good enough!" The kids on either side of him, around two years his junior, flinched back, as it seemed did many in the room. He noticed the two girls sitting across from him didn't. Lessa seemed to be leaning forward in an interested manor, which couldn't be good, and the dark haired slut next to her was openly smirking at him. Sean turned back to Don, taking a breath to calm down.
"Look… I left the Guard…" That was the wrong thing to say. Sean could practically feel the hate now focused at him. Those in old Federation uniforms had daggers in their eyes. Those in Rebel garb looked away, ashamed. Kine's hand was now on his side arm. Sean started again.
"I left the Guard because I was tired of the killing. Tired of following orders I didn't believe in. I do not want to start my new life drenched in blood." He looked around. "We can't accept this!"
"HA!" The smirking girl stood. "WE," she pointed around at everyone, "killed six people to take this ship."
Sean's hand whipped out to point at Don.
"And he killed dozens, maybe hundreds in our name!"
"No, I killed them in my name."
Don once again had all eyes on him, motioning Sean and Shelly to sit. He rose, Kine pushing himself off the wall to step forward behind him. Don barely came up to his shoulders.
"Look," Don told them, sounding to Sean's ears as if forcing himself to at least sound reasonable, "we are free. We are responsible to no one except ourselves. My actions and sins rest no more on your head than yours do on mine." His eyes focused first on Lessa, who returned it challengingly, then on Sean. The dark skinned teen met his eyes for a moment then dropped them. "Hell," Don continued, "we've probably all sinned enough to have built up some sort of immunity."
He looked around the room. His right hand, as it tended to do when not otherwise busy, lightly touched the gold locket hanging from a chain around his neck.
"From now on, 'Do what you will shall be the whole of the Law'. So, unless someone else has a problem with my having saved all your butts, we'll move on to other business."
****
Kine was the second to last to leave the conference room. Don was still in his chair, playing with that damned necklace again. Shrugging, Kine turned and followed the walking and bouncing crew onto the bridge.
Crew… well, he guessed that's what they were now. A crew. Better than a mob, certainly, and probably better than an army. Harder to leave, to be sure, and Kine had a feeling at least a couple would want to jump ship the first chance they got. He for sure wouldn't stop them. Don was right about that, everyone should be free to do what they wanted.
Too bad options were rather limited.
Kine saw Amanda down on the second level manning the helm. She had stayed to keep an eye on things, trusting he'd let her know if anything important happened. Meetings were boring boy things. In a way, he was glad she had, of yet, no interest in the things of boys.
Laughing at his own silly joke, Kine bounced down to her. They were keeping the artificial gravity at about half normal, high enough to let them drink and piss normally but low enough to keep power consumption down. This ship drank energy like a mother fucker. Trust the military to not worry all too much about that while his old village had been starving.
"Yo Bro." The twelve year old didn't turn as he landed behind her, and he gave her blonde head a light bop on the top with a closed fist. She responded with a quick no look attack on his groin with her swinging left arm, but his body was slightly turned so it just whacked his thigh.
"Hey, 'manda. Anything happen out here in the real world?"
She shook her head.
"Naw. Not that we'd know. I don't think we have the sensors fully up yet. I think Villa was going to look at it."
"Flying blind in a stolen ship with a war going on. Ah, good times…"
"Have fun at your meeting?" Amanda leaned back against the high backed chair, playing with the ends of her braids. Kine thought she might be the only one of their group with braids, most of the older girls going with pony tails if they didn't just cut their hair short. Well, there was that cute half bald one...
"Oh, yes. Lots of yelling and kicking. I only had to toss a few out of the airlock." Amanda giggled at this. "Oh, we picked our cabins and jobs. Bridge detail was divided into three shifts, and you're with me on shift 2."
"I don't know if I WANT to be with you. You're a big meanie." She turned as she said this and stuck her tongue out at him. Kine, laughing, responded by lightly cuffing the back of her head with an open hand. His smile faded, however, hands moving to massage her shoulders.
"There's something else, though. I can't explain it, but I just have the feeling something is… wrong."
He felt Amanda stiffen. Her voice came out low, with a hint of desperation... even madness.
"Wrong? Wrong?? Something was 'wrong' when Mom and Dad died. Something was 'wrong' when the Guard raped Jimmy. We're together, and safe. Nothing. Is. Wrong."
Kine looked down at his little sister. The love of his life. His bright star, keeping him alive and sane. Leaning down, he kissed her cheek.
"You're right, of course. Everything is fine."
"Damned straight."
She moved her hands up to her shoulders, placing them on top of his. They stayed like that, looking out over the now empty bridge. All was right with the universe.
****
Lessa was getting a LITTLE pissed at her companion Shelly. Walking down the central corridor of the ship towards their cabin, the girl was much too bouncy. In more ways than one. While her pants were long, form fitting, and ALMOST regulation, somewhere she had found a loose short sleeve shirt with an open neck. Her breasts were bouncing freely, even dangerously, in the low gravity. Shelly seemed to be experimenting, figuring out what movement created what reaction, not just with regard to her breasts but also the various males (and females) they passed. She was also keeping up a stream of conversation about the meeting, and that probably was the most annoying to the quiet Lessa.
"I mean, come ON, Lessa!" the black haired sultry beauty said as they reached their cabin. "You? A MEDIC?"
"What? Think I'm not good enough?" Lessa moved to her bed and sat down, as Shelly closed the door. It was your standard one person bed, one of four in the room. Incredibly comfortable compared to what she was used to, she poked the mattress to double check that in fact it wasn't really a rock.
"No, no, that's not it. I mean, you patched me up great that one time, and nobody else in this sorry group seems to have experience. It's just…" Shelly plopped herself into a chair facing her, her breasts flopping down a moment later. "I mean, you're… well, I would have thought Storm Trooper would have been more up your alley."
Lessa gave her a dangerous look.
"I mean," Shelly continued, not worried, "medic is so… BORING!"
"What's wrong with boring? I could use some boring."
Lessa started taking her shoes off, wiggling her toes happily once they were free of their prison. Happy feet made a happy person. That had been learned early in life. She looked over at her companion. They'd known each other for almost a year, Lessa having come across the broken body of Shelly in a ditch while trying to catch up with her unit. Normally, she'd have just left her there, but for some reason Lessa decided to check if the girl was alive. Most of what had at first seemed to be blood turned out to be the local wet clay, and a low moan confirmed life was still holding on. Lessa had dragged the girl with her that night, and Shelly had been tagging along with her ever since. Hell, she stayed so close many were ready to assume the two shared a bed… if it wasn't for the fact Shelly was sharing so many of theirs. Well, that and not believing Lessa could be with someone.
"What about YOU? You don't have to stay with me, Shelly. There are enough cabins for everyone to have their own. Hell," she said, arching an eyebrow, "you could even share one with Rich."
Shelly looked away from her, grabbing a pillow and hugging it.
"There's nothing between Rich and I."
"Really? I do agree that there couldn't have been ROOM for much between you two the other night by the lake. Or were you two doing nothing for two hours?"
Shelly looked back, grinning.
"Ok, it was fun nothing!" Her smile faded. "But, nothing all the same. To be honest, right now I need a friend more than a fuck."
"I don't know if I should be relieved or offended."
Shelly looked over at the now grinning Lessa, and growled. With a quick motion she tossed her pillow at the lean brown haired girl.
The reaction was instantaneous. Lessa launched herself off the bed, away from the attacking pillow. Her gun was in her hand before she even knew it, aimed at the head of her only friend.
She almost hung in the air, the two sixteen year olds staring into each other's eyes. Lessa's momentum carried her onto the floor, where with a natural grace she rolled and came up in a crouch, gun back in its holster. Shelly just looked at her, in frightened awe.
"You're right… we could use some boring..."
****
Ger loved this ship.
He loved all ships. Hell, all machines and most computers. But this... this was a fine piece of spacecraft. It was new, that was clear. After decades of war you honestly didn't expect to see new pieces of war equipment, but thinking about it, he realized the way the stuff was being blown up they still had to be making things somewhere. Maybe the rest of the system WAS in better shape than Faranth.
It couldn't be worse.
But, this ship! You had two crew levels running its length, connecting to the first two bridge levels in the front and the engine room at the back of level two. On the third level, behind the bridge, was the captain's quarters and meeting room, as well as cargo space running all the way back. And, here on the bottom of the ship, the shuttle bay. There was so much to learn about it! Weapons system, flight systems… where the bathroom was. Ger took a look around. Not seeing a sign, he decided he could hold it. This was too interesting to interrupt.
He was sitting at the moment in the cockpit of one of the two shuttles. There were bays for four of the craft, but he suspected they were lucky to have these. They were older, having seen plenty of service, but were still in good shape.
"Look at this!" Mel looked over, and Ger once again marveled at that haircut. Bald on one side, a long red haired braid on the other. Maybe she was compensating for having almost no tits. "Laser turret, two missile batteries, one per side… it even has a gatling gun!"
Mel smiled, almost looking pretty.
"You think that's bad ass, you should see the mission specific add-ons. Ken there almost wet himself." A head popped out of the back passenger compartment.
"You're not exactly dry yourself, my love."
"The day you get my love is the day you're rotting in a ditch!" Mel whipped her head around, glaring at Ken. Ger sighed. She no longer looked pretty.
"Well, if that's your kink, honey bunny…" Ken's smirk looked like it was about to get cut off with a large dull knife. Ger quickly interrupted.
"You know, I really wish we had something like this at NuHavon. Could have made all the difference."
Silence.
Ger turned. Mel and Ken were staring at him, faces expressionless. Ken moved up next to Mel, one hand going to her shoulder. It was then that Ger realized they were both wearing battered Rebel uniforms. His own Federation one suddenly seemed to be glowing neon.
"You," said Mel, slowly, "were at NuHavon."
Ger swallowed, trying to keep both of them in his line of sight while both organizing his thoughts and figuring out the best defensive plan.
"Um, yeah. 457th Fed reserve."
More silence. Ken spoke.
"15th Home Front. We were defending our homes in the south."
Ger closed his eyes. He hadn't seen it. The rumor had been the Guard recruited from that part of the city. When his side had broken through into the civilian areas…
"I… I wasn't there. I… we were in the north, and were over run in the breakout. I'm …" His eyes were wet, tears streaming down. Their expressions didn't change. Finally, Ken just turned and exited the shuttle. Mel looked at him for a moment longer.
"Don't give a fuck if you're sorry. Don't give a fuck if you were saving all the babies on my mom's side of the family. You don't mention that city's name, and you don't cry like a bitch. We can forgive those we respect." She got out of the seat, then stopped in the hatchway without looking back.
"You're not forgiven."
Mel then turned, dropping her gaze between his legs.
"And find a fucking bathroom."
****
So, thought Kine, this is the captain's cabin. Sweet. Had a nice double sized bed, to better sexually harass the crew, it's own little kitchen so you don't have to mingle with lesser beings, a nice desk which he was now sitting in front of… and Don sitting behind said desk, playing with a small stuffed tiger. OK, he wasn't really… playing with it. More like petting it. Scratching it behind the ears. Not something you really wanted your leader to be doing.
If nothing else, it would make Amanda want to bring that bear she sleeps with everywhere.
"You do see the problem, right Don?" Please, god, let him not have gone insane. That was all they needed, their first day in space.
Don sighed, removing his hand from the fluffy pet. Ken let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. Thank you, whichever god or daemon answered.
"So, we have… nothing."
Kine took another look at the inventory on his tablet screen.
"We have food for maybe a week at normal rations, but we've all gone hungry so we can double that. We're running on only one power cell instead of three, so assuming we do no fighting we can travel for as long as we have food at current speed. Turning off the gravity gets us another two days. No life support gets us a third day." He tossed that one in there to see if he was paying attention. Don gave him another look, chuckled, and closed his eyes. His hand went back to the tiger, crushing its head.
Silence.
"Soooo…." Kine finally said, leaning back in his chair.
"So."
Don opened his eyes. They had that hard look in them again, the one that Kine had come to count on to get things done.
"We stay on our present course and speed."
Kine blinked.
"That's it?"
"For now." Don's eyes… didn't so much as challenge Kine, but told him he'd better leave. Standing, he did just that.
****
Once the door closed, Don leaned back in his chair and let his arms fall limp. Why him. Why was he the one that had to deal with all this shit. Because, he heard Tiggy the Tiger tell him, everyone else is an idiot and you don't trust them. Right you are, Tiggy. Thank you. I can always count on you to state the obvious.
Don's hand once again went to his locket. It was plain, golden, oval... worn. Don ran his fingers over the smooth surface, trying to find comfort in it. With a mind of their own, and years of practice, his fingers found the catch and sprung it open. A photo of a young nine year old girl greeted him. Her dirty blond hair was in one long braid, falling over her shoulder, down the right side of her flat chest. His thumb brushed over her face... suddenly, he saw it as she had last been. Right eye and cheekbone missing, burned jaw open in a soundless scream. His thumb reversed the motion. Once again she was beautiful. Why did his mind keep showing him that picture. Why…
He closed his eyes and was there. He could smell the mud,. The fire. He could see little Cynthia next to him, laughing. Confident her eleven year old brother would protect her. Her golden necklace and locket, a mirror to his, flashed in the setting sun. Her favorite lucky toy was in her belt pouch, striped tiger fur just visible. Some adult officer down the line was yelling, the drum of explosions was all around. Cynthia laughed at him, turned to look over the stone wall…
****
Cynthia laughed at him, turned to look over the stone wall…
****
Cynthia laughed at him, turned to look over the stone wall…
****
An hour later, the ending still hadn't changed.