Shadows of the Ethereal - Part Two

       None of them realized that they were still carrying her bags until they made it to the ramp. They entered along side with Nyree, who told them to drop her luggage to the right of the ramp. Everyone’s eyes were on the amazing ship. Directly ahead of them was a small hall that lead to an elevator, and not the small ladder they had to use in their ship.
       There were four doors down the hall, and each was marked. Evan read them as they made their way to the elevator. The Engine room and crew quarters were the first two doors, then the cargo hold and captain’s quarters.
       “Welcome back, Commander Sakeri.” A friendly, feminine voice said. “You have several messages awaiting you.”
       “Thanks, Aisac.” Nyree said, as they stepped inside the spacious elevator.
       “That your co-pilot?” Main Frame asked.
       “You take any damage while I was away?” Nyree asked the question, ignoring Main Frame.
       “Shields are currently down to ninety nine percent due to blaster fire when Ensign Julka Manormi was trying to take cover within the ship.” Aisac responded, “Unfortunately without the proper codes, I was unable to open the cargo doors for her.”
       Nyree nodded her head as the elevator door opened, and they stepped out into the mapping room. Two hallways lead to the left and right. The left was to the kitchen and dining area, where the right was the medical bay. The GHMS was in the center of the room, and ahead of them was the hall that let to the control pit and navigations room.
       “I have an urgent message sent from a nearby pod.” Aisac said.
       “What is it?”
       “Playing message.” Aisac spoke the words, as it started to play.
       “You didn’t think you could get away that easily did you, Nyree?” Osrin deep voice said. “If I can’t convince you to come, I’ll take you by force. You are already pretty damaged, let’s see if you can survive another crash landing.”
       When it was done playing, Aisac reported that several fighter ships were approaching.
       “Fuck!” Nyree snapped, and then turned to the others. “You and you, come to the control pit with me.” She said to Evan and Dill. “Sparks get down to the engine room in case we have any problems, and anyone else find a torrent.”
       “I can’t fight.” Doc yelled.
       “Better learn.” Dirk told him, before heading back down the elevator, he thought he saw the entrance to the torrents down there.
       “What are we doing?” Dill asked when they entered the control pit.
       “Dill, you take navigations. Aisac can have trouble with that some times. Evan and I will try to get us out of here and into Liberation space. There will be a military there to protect us from them.” Nyree ordered, and Evan took the piloting seat. “Get out of my chair.”
       Standing up, he glared at her, before sitting back down in the co-pilots chair. The control pit was much larger then his own, and could comfortable hold the entire crew. His chair wasn’t at all hard like on his own ship, and for a moment he almost forgot what had brought them there.
       “Thought you said you couldn’t fly a spacecraft.” Evan asked, as they began to turn on the engines.
       “I said, what is to say I could fly one.” Nyree responded, “Aisac, we need all you got. Osrin already shot us down once, we need to get to Liberation space and near Station thirty five.”
       “Rerouting power from life support and climate control to engine core and shields.” Aisac told her.
       “Give us enough to stay alive.” Evan snapped.
       “We should be fine, until we get into Liberation space.” Nyree told him, as they began to leave the ground and point towards the sky.
       “Fighter ships have begun their assault.” Aisac’s voice said, “Shields are holding steady. Preparing final engine.”
       The ship began to move forward and the fighter ships kept up with them as they left the moon’s atmosphere. Nyree knew that Osrin was hoping to crash her again, in hope that he would find her body dead but brain intact. He wouldn’t try to destroy her ship, but could possibly attempt to shut down the engines.
       “Aisac watch where they fire, I have a suspicion that he will try to engage the engine blasters!” Nyree yelled, when they entered space. “Get us to Liberation space, now!”
       “Course is set.” Dill spoke through the comlink, and a screen appeared with him on it between them.
       “Keep an eye out for any approaching ships.” Nyree ordered.
       Evan was surprised that his crew was listening to this woman, they didn’t seem to have any difficulties in following her judgment. It had taken him a long time to get that type of obedience out of them. Of course, he too was following the woman’s orders.
       “Maximum power to engines in five... four... three... two... one...” As soon as Aisac said one, the ship lurched forward.
       “Are they still with us?” Nyree asked both Aisac and Dill.
       “Several ships are still on our tail.” Dill told her.
       “The larger fighter ships are keeping our speed, and will most likely follow us into Liberation space.” Aisac said.
       “Damage report?”
       “Shields are still holding.” Evan told her, and Aisac said the same after he finished. He rolled his eyes, wondering who and where this woman was. He had thought to find her in the control pit, but it was only Nyree and him.
       “Entering Liberation space.” Aisac warned, “Should I hail a warning to our the bounty hunter ships?
       “No, Aisac, do not open frequencies with them.” Nyree ordered, “Osrin could easily shut us down. How far are we from the space station?”
       “Eight minutes at full speed.” Dill told her.
       The sounds of the torrents being fired were suddenly heard by everyone.
       Dirk’s voice came over the speaker, “A few came too close, think we missed them though.”
       “Open a link with the space station.” Nyree ordered Evan to do so.
       “I don’t know the damn frequency!” He snapped.
       She sighed, and glared at him. “Aisac, open an emergency frequency to space station thirty five.”
       “Hailing, space station thirty five.”
       When the link was opened, it was full of static, but Nyree knew the closer they got the clearer it would become. She needed to warn them of her approach. “Space station thirty five, this is Commander Nyree Sakeri of the Ethereal. Identification code alpha, five, seven, three, nine. We are under attack by neutral spacecrafts that engaged us in neutral space, we request back up.”
       “Commander…not engage…back…” The man’s voice said.
       “You are not coming in clear, space station thirty five. I repeat, this is Commander Nyree Sakeri of the Ethereal. Identification code alpha, five, seven, three, nine. We are under attack by neutral spacecrafts that engaged us in neutral space, we request back up.”
       “Commander Sakeri, do not….until back….” There were at least more understandable words this time.
       “We have not engaged our attackers, please send back up. We are heading for the space station now.” The ship jerked as it was hit.
       “Commander Sakeri, can you hear me now?” The voice said.
       “Yes, I can hear you.”
       “This is Captain Wostin of space station thirty five, your identification is valid, and we are sending back up. We see you on our scanners, do not engage.”
       “Don’t fire anymore, Dirk!” Nyree yelled when she heard the sounds of the torrents firing. “We have stopped firing, Captain Wostin, my apologies.”
       “Approaching ships, this is Captain Wostin of the Liberation military, cease your attack. You have entered Liberation space. The ship you have engaged is under Liberation protection, cease your attack, or we will consider you hostile.” Wostin’s voice spoke over the broad link, that any nearby ships could pick up.
       “Negative, Captain, the vessel is harboring known fugitives. The guild has the right to continue our assault.” Osrin said using the broad link.
       “Commander, did you get that?” Wostin asked her.
       “My passengers are Liberation prisoners under my custody.” Nyree told him.
       “Guild ships halt your attack, the prisoners are in Liberation custody. You will be considered hostile if you do not comply to our demands.” Wostin spoke again over the broad link.
       “They have turned back to neutral space.” Dill told them, as the Liberation fighter crafts came into view.
       “The ships have disengaged.” Nyree told Wostin.
       “Have you taken much damage, Commander Sakeri? Do you need to dock?”
       “Damage report?” Nyree yelled.
       “Shields at seventy eight percent, haul at ninety six percent, returning power to life support and climate control.” Aisac said, “We should be able to make it home, Commander.”
       “We are fine, thank you for your help, Captain.” Nyree said, as the imagine of an older man finally appeared on her screen.
       “I’m going to send an escort with you, Commander. In case those ships return into our space, where are you going?”
       “Research Center eight twenty seven. Thank you, captain.” She saluted and he returned it. When the screen went black, she took a deep breath, “Dill set a course for the Research center, Aisac will help you.”
       “In the mapping room… everyone… now!” Evan barked and jumped out of his seat, heading out of the control pit.
       “Aisac take control of piloting.” Nyree said, as she stood up and headed out to meet with the man.

       After a few minutes, everyone was sitting around the GHMS. Evan had his arms crossed, as he glared at the woman sitting next to him.
       “Where is Aisac?” He asked, “I want everyone here!”
       “I’m here.” Aisac answered.
       Everyone except Nyree looked around the room trying to locate the woman.
       “No, I want to talk in person, none of this speaker crap!” Evan barked.
       “You know, yelling like that makes you really unlovable.” Nyree told him, as she cleaned out the dirt under her nails. Sparks grinned at her joke, but everyone else knew that Evan was at his limit.
       “In person?” Aisac asked.
       Nyree laughed, “He doesn’t understand, Aisac.”
       “Understand what?” Evan asked her.
       “You are in Aisac. She is basically the ship’s persona. Artificially Intelligent Spacecraft and Copilot. A-I-S-A-C, Aisac.”
       Main Frame’s jaw dropped, “Are you serious? She doesn’t sound like a program at all.” He looked like he was about to faint.
       Evan tried not to show his embarrassment, “I think we deserve some answers. Who are you? Where are we going? Why did you drag us into this?”
       “Who am I? I would think you would have pieced that together by now. After all you heard me identify myself to the space station captain several times.”
       He frowned and crossed his arms, “Your name doesn’t say who you are.”
       “I am Commander Nyree Sakeri of the Liberation military in the Special Operations Unit.” She answered as a matter of factly. “As to where we are going, we are going to my base, where everyone will be taken care of. And finally, I didn’t mean to drag you into anything. I needed to travel to Faluga and you were the only ship heading that way. So, you won out of pure luck.” Scratching her head, she put back into place some hair that had come loose from her braid.
       “You told them that we were your prisoners.” Dill said, he had heard her communications with the space station.
       “I didn’t have the time to explain the full extent of our situation to him. Besides, my mission is top secret, and he didn’t need to know. You are free to come and go as you please.” Nyree went back to cleaning her nails.
       “What’s going to happen to us when we reach your base?” Sparks asked.
       Nyree shrugged, “I’ll explain what has happened, since you won’t be allowed into Regime space anymore…”
       “What?” Evan snapped, “We have to… we owe… not going back isn’t an option.”
       “Don’t worry, we will remove your identification chips and call you deceased, most likely. You will be free to join one of the other governments…”
       “But my family lives in the Regime.” Main Frame told her.
       Nyree shrugged again, “I’m sorry, but that’s the best I can do. The Regime won’t listen to our explanation to your situation, they already have you marked as traitors. I am sure of that.”
       Evan slammed both his fists into the GHMS, and let out a slew of cuss words. Dirk seemed rather calm, his arms were crossed and he was leaning against the wall. Sparks and Doc looked more frightened then angry, while Main Frame had taken the sad approach.
       “At least, we will be free of Sahale.” Dirk said when Evan was done cussing.
       “See, there is a bright side.” Nyree smiled and stood from her stool. “Aisac, give me an estimated time of arrival.”
       “My power crystals were exerted during our escape, I can only go Min 4 until they recharge. I am estimating around three days to arrive at base, unless we have spare crystals, which I am not seeing on the manifest.” Aisac told her.
       “I’ll see if I can boost their power a bit.” Sparks told Nyree.
       “Are you a certified engineer?” Aisac asked. “I am not accustom to anyone but certified Liberation mechanics working…”
       “Aisac.” Nyree snapped, “She can work a ship, give her a chance. Besides, I would like to get home a lot sooner then your estimated time.” She turned to everyone who was sitting around the GHMS. “I need to send a report. Feel free to use the ship to your will. All rooms are available to you, except my quarters. The crew quarters is equipped with showers, and we have plenty of water.” With that she turned around, and headed into the control pit.
       “What do you think, Evan?” Dill asked.
       He shook his head, “Looks like we got no choice. I don’t like that she won’t tell us why, and I dislike it even more that it’s Sedition space. We are going to just have to make due until we can figure something out.”
       Aisac began to speak, “Excuse me for my interruption, but I need to speak with the one named Main Frame. Commander Sakeri wishes to know if you have any experience with cybernetic technologies?”
       “Not much, but I have read quite a bit on the subject.” He answered.
       “There seems to be a glitch in her arm, and she requests your services when you have a free moment.”
       “Alright, on my way.” Main Frame stood up and headed into the control pit with Nyree.
       Evan sighed, “When Sahale finds out what happened to his ship, we are all going to die.”
       Dill and Dirk nodded in agreement.
       Sparks sighed, “Well, I am going to the engine room.” She told them, and headed for the elevator.
       “Think I’ll inspect the medical bay.” Doc stood from his chair, and walked out of the mapping room.
       “I agree with them.” Dirk said, “We should all go on with our business like we are still on the Adumbrate. It’s the least we can do, she did get us off the planet.”
       “We wouldn’t of crashed had it not been for her.” Evan growled.
       “Yeah, well, she could have been a total bitch and left us there to die too. Or for Sahale to find, either way we would be running short on mornings.” Dirk stood up straight, “Now, I’m going to make sure there is no inner haul damage… and check to see what is in the mess hall. Anything is better then we mush we have been eating.”
       Aisac spoke, “The kitchen is fully stocked, and you are welcomed to prepare yourself anything. The commander wishes for you to feel at home.”
       “Are you going to listen in on all of our conversations?” Evan asked.
       “It is one of my tasks to ensure correct information is given. If I make you feel uncomfortable you may ask me to stop responding to commands not directed at me.” Aisac told him.
       He sighed loudly.
       “Would you like me to prepare the showers, Captain Braxton?”
       Evan’s eyes jerked up from his lap to Dill as he spoke to Aisac, “Did you just call me Braxton? How the hell would you know my last name?”
       “I did a full background scan on you and your crew for Commander Sakeri before she left on her assignment.” Aisac told him, Evan could of sworn he heard humor in her voice.
       “So, Bubbles knows everything about us?” Dirk asked.
       “Bubbles?”
       “The commander.” Dill clarified.
       “Commander Sakeri is informed of your names and background, yes. She planned to rendezvous with the Adumbrate after her mission was complete. Ensuring that it’s crew were capable of dealing with difficult situations was important.” Aisac seemed willing to give them any information that they asked for. It made Evan wonder if Nyree just didn’t care what they knew or if she didn’t know that the program was speaking out of turn.
       He bit his cheek, “That bitch.” Evan mumbled.
       Both Dill and Dirk turned their eyes to him.
       “She said she didn’t mean to drag us into this, but she knew their was a chance that we could be confronted by bounty hunters.” Evan explained.
       The door to the control pit opened and Main Frame stepped out into the mapping room. There was a large grin on his face, “Got to get some tools from downstairs. You should see her arm, it’s amazing. Really high tech stuff.” He told them as he passed by the GHMS, and jumped into the elevator.
       “What mission was she on?” Evan asked Aisac.
       “That information is classified.”
       “Was she preparing to bring back my crew?”
       “Negative, only Commander Sakeri and Ensign Manormi were scheduled for a return flight.”
       “Who is this Ensign Manormi?” Dill asked.
       “Julka Manormi is a trainee that was sent with the commander on her mission. She was captured by bounty hunters outside the Ethereal when she was unable to activate the correct codes to get the entry bay doors to open.”
       “A trainee for what?” Dirk asked.
       “For the Special Operations Unit that the commander works for.” Aisac responded.
       “That’s enough, Aisac.” Nyree said as she stepped out of the control pit, “No more giving away top secret information without getting something in return.” She said with a smile to Evan.
       She wasn’t able to contact the base from their location and had to wait. Without another word said, she walked into the dinning hall to find herself something to eat. Dirk was right behind her, ready to take a look at the goods offered to him.
       “Well, guess we just have to sit back and wait then.” Dill said, and Evan nodded.

       “That should do it.” Main Frame pulled the singe device out of the open panel in Nyree’s lower arm. He was kneeled in front of her, while she sat in her pilot’s chair.
       Holding up her arm, she began to bend it and check to make sure all her fingers were working. “Thank you, it is responding much better now.”
       “No problem.” He stood from the ground, and began putting his tools away. “Would you mind if I took a look at Aisac system?”
       Nyree turned her chair to face the control panel, “What for?”
       “ I would really like to see how it all works. I haven‘t heard of any AI being that self aware.”
       She nodded, “Sure, it’s in the navigations room.”
       “Commander Sakeri, are you certain it would be wise for him to tamper with my controls?” Aisac asked.
       “Don’t worry, you can keep a close eye on him.” Nyree told her, as Main Frame left the room. “Aisac, what is the communications frequency for Research Center eight twenty seven?”
       “Testing… frequency is eighty two percent, you should be able to reach them without too much difficulty, Commander.”
       “Open a link.” Nyree ordered.
       “Link open, record hailing message.”
       “The is Commander Nyree Sakeri of the Ethereal. Identification code alpha, five, seven, three, nine. Requesting to speak with Admiral Stratton.” Nyree waited, she knew that the message could take a while before it was received by the base. They wouldn’t open communications with just anyone, and would have to verify where the location of the message was being sent, check the Ethereal’s embedded coding, as well as her voice print.
       “Opening link with Admiral Stratton.” Aisac told her.
       The small screen in front of her showed a man in his early forties. He was wearing the dark green Admiral jump suit with a black stripe down the side. A dark green beret adorned his head with several badges showing his rank covering both his clothing and the front of his beret.
       “Commander Sakeri, it’s good to see that you made it back in one piece.”
       Nyree continued to sit and saluted briefly, “I made it, but unfortunately Ensign Julka Manormi has been captured. I was informed by a bounty hunter that was trying to take me into custody. They sent her to one of their military bases.”
       Stratton was quiet for a moment as he thought over the situation, “Which one of you has the plans?”
       “She had plans for the dispenser, where I took the biological formula.”
       “What about signature coding linking it back to the Regime, do you have them?”
       Nyree nodded, “I have half of them, but Julka took the rest. It should be more then enough to prove that they were the ones who designed the weapon.”
       “Alright, what’s your estimated time of arrival?”
       “Six hours.”
       Stratton sucked on his inner cheek, before running his hand over his graying mustache. “We will see what you have collected, then decide if the rescue of Ensign Manormi is necessary.”
       “Very well, Admiral. There is another matter, that I need to discuss with you.”
       He waited for her to finish.
       “After we completed our mission, we chose to separate so we would be harder to track down. Ensign Manormi took the Ethereal’s pod, however I purchased a ticket with a transport ship to the outer rim. The bounty hunters were waiting for us around the moon, and their ship was shot down…”
       “Don’t tell me that they are aboard the Ethereal.” Stratton sighed.
       “I just couldn’t leave them on that god forsaken moon, Admiral. What should I do with them when we arrive? They have been marked as traitors to the Regime.”
       Stratton nodded, “If the Regime knows that we have them, then they will demand we hand them over. Treat them as prisoners, we need to keep the peace until we have proof of the Regime’s terrorist activities.”
       “Understood, Admiral. Commander Sakeri, out.” She saluted again before the link went dead.
       “Captain Braxton wishes to enter the control room, should I allow him access?” Aisac asked.
       “Braxton? Oh, yeah, him. Sure, he can come in.” Nyree sat forward and started to act like she was checking the ship’s performance.
       The doors slide open and Evan looked at the woman sitting in the pilot’s chair. She didn’t even bother to look at him, so he ignored her in return. Taking the co-pilot’s chair, he checked their route to see where they were heading. He already knew they were flying to her base, but he wanted to take a look at Liberation space charts. He could of easily looked at it on the GHMS, but Dill wouldn’t stop annoying him with questions. Main Frame had taken over the navigations room, and it seemed it was only built for one person.
       He had never been in Liberation space before, as he was only a child when they took control of the three galaxies. There were several older charts, but who knows what space stations and warp holes they had built. It was the only space that didn’t allow the other governments access to their charts.
       “So, Bubbles…”
       “Commander Sakeri.” She corrected him, as she began to check the ships damage, and decide what needed to be done. On the radar screen, she could see the five fighter ships that were flying around them. She thought it was strange that they hadn’t tried to make contact with her.
       He snorted.
       “And don’t think I am going to call you captain either. You were never a captain in the Regime military. You weren’t even an officer, only an enlisted man.”
       Evan kept his frown, “Glad that you helped yourself to my private information.”
       “The information that I found was all a matter of public record. I just knew where to look it up.”
       “You talk to your superiors?” Evan asked, ignoring her comment.
       “Yep.”
       “What is going to happen to us?”
       Nyree shrugged, “We didn’t have time to discuss your crew, that will be decided when we dock.”
       “But we will be free to go, right?” Evan turned his chair to face her, but she didn’t bother to look up at him.
       “I don’t see why not.” Stopping her scan, she looked up at him. “Don’t worry, it will all work out.”
       He was a little shocked by her words, he hadn’t expected her to be encouraging. “I want to get out of Sedition space as fast as I can.”
       She chuckled, “Oh right, because the Regime tells you people that we are evil anarchists and unorganized militants that want to destroy all forms of government, right?”
       “Yeah, that’s right.”
       Her smile faded, “Don’t believe everything you hear, Braxton. We are not that different from the Regime, except we take care of our people.”
       “How can the Regime take care of it’s people? The Sedition took our farming and mining planets!” He barked.
       Nyree snickered at his outburst, “The Regime could use the money it spends on frivolous ‘research’ and purchase food and other supplies from the other nations.”
       “Research, what are you talking about?”
       “The Regime is so concerned with what the Liberation is doing, and trying to destroy us, that they are ignoring their own people. Starvation shouldn’t be an issue in this day and age, and yet you have entire planets that are dealing with it.”
       He swallowed, “Sedition propaganda. You aren’t going to brain wash me into joining your side.”
       Nyree shrugged her shoulders, “We have plenty of skilled pilots, Braxton. I am only trying to help you open your eyes.”
       He said nothing more, just stood from his seat and walked out of the room. Nyree turned back around to finish her scans.
       “Why didn’t you tell him of the admiral’s orders to hold them as prisoners?” Aisac asked.
       “Because they don’t need to know until it’s time to arrest them. Might as well let them enjoy the next six hours. Aren’t most of them working, anyway? Free labor.”
       Aisac didn’t respond for a moment, “Doesn’t seem fair to me.”
       “Don’t worry about it.”

       Nyree opened her eyes as she laid on her cot in the captain’s quarters. Sitting up, she looked around the dark room. It was as large as the crew quarters on the ship, except it came equipped with it’s own washroom, kitchen, and entertainment area.
       “We are approaching Research Center Eight Two Seven, commander.” Aisac repeated, after trying to wake her up.
       Standing up, Nyree put on her boots and utility belt. She stepped outside of the room into the hallway to find Evan and Dirk on their way up. Evan tried to peek into the captain’s quarters, but the door slid shut.
       Without a word said, they all walked into the elevator. Evan and her went to the control room, while Dirk headed for the kitchen. Sitting in her chair, she hailed the space station to ask for docking permission, which was granted.
       “Message from one of the escorts incoming.” Aisac told her.
       “Commander Sakeri, this is Lieutenant Anamern. Is there anything else you need from us?” The man’s voice said, his ship wasn’t equipped with a screen view communications link.
       “No, lieutenant, you are free to return to base.” She shut it off before he could say anymore.
       Evan couldn’t believe the size of the space station, scanning of life forms showed him a population of a medium sized planet.
       “Welcome home, commander.” A friendly feminine voice said as they landed in the docking bay.
       Nyree turned off all controls of the ship before standing up, “Let’s go.” She ordered, and headed back towards the elevator. Everyone was waiting down by the ramp, when she and Evan arrived. Dirk had made himself a sandwich and was eating the last few bites of it.
       Slowly the ramp lowered to reveal at least fifty uniformed men and women, they all saluted as Nyree began down the ramp. There was an opening for her to pass through, that lead to Admiral Stratton, and his group of officers.
       She saluted him, and could see that he was disappointed that she hadn’t changed into uniform. After saluting her back, he began to speak. “Welcome back, Commander Sakeri. We will discuss matters after you settle in.” He was trying to be coy. “Are these the prisoners?”
       Nyree nodded, “Yes, sir.”
       “Arrest them.” Stratton ordered.
       “You lying bitch!” Evan growled, when they began to wrap restraining wires around his wrist. It was a light blue glowing substance that was only pliable by the DNA of the guard it belonged to.
       Dirk wasn’t going to go without a fight, and began punching anyone who came near him. It caused the guards to take out their shock sticks, and they began to jab him with it. He refused to settle down, and continued to fight them.
       “Enough, Dirk.” Evan yelled, “You can’t fight them all.”
       Dirk was on the floor by the time that Evan told him to stop, and had nearly lost unconsciousness. They had to drag him down the hall to his cell. Evan glared at Nyree as he was shoved past her, as did the others.
       Inside their cell, the restraining wires were removed, and a light blue force field covered the cell door. Only four beds were in the cell as bunk beds attached to the wall. Dirk was laid on one of them, burn marks covered his back and sides.
       “I can’t believe it.” Sparks mumbled, taking a seat on the other bottom bunk. “She had us arrested.”
       Doc sat down beside his sister, “She seemed pretty nice to me, I can’t believe that she would do this.”
       “Yeah well believe it.” Evan growled, “I told you all from the beginning that she was up to something.” He looked out the force field and saw three guards standing over their cell. “Hey!” He tried to gain their attention, but they ignored him. “Hey! What are our charges?”
       They never even looked at him while Evan thought of every curse word to spew at them. After fifteen minutes, Doc sighed, “Give it up, Evan. They aren’t going to answer you.”
       Evan kicked the wall beside the entry way, before turning around to face his crew. “When we get out of this, I am going to kill her.”
       Dill snorted, “Yeah right. First of all, we aren’t getting out of this. Second of all, if we did, you wouldn’t be able to get close enough. Do you not see that we are on a military base?”
       He sighed, and climbed onto the top bunk over Doc and Sparks.
       She looked at her brother, “You have to sleep with one of the others. I’m the only woman, I desire my own bed.”
       Doc rolled his eyes, and looked at Dill who was climbing into the top bunk above the unconscious Dirk.
       “Don’t look at me.” Dill turned his back to him.
       “No way.” Evan snapped before Doc even stood up to ask him.
       Doc looked across the cell at the large man on the bottom bunk, “Well, I can’t fit in there with Dirk. One of you guys is going to have to let me in!”
       “The floor is just as comfortable as the beds.” Sparks mumbled as she tossed around trying to get comfy.
       “I am not sleeping on the floor! I am not a dog!” Doc snapped.
       “Can it, Mitch. We are trying to sleep.” Dill jested before scooting over to allow him on.

       Nyree sat in the large chair, waiting for Tevel to download the information from her cybernetic brain. Only a quarter of her brain had been replaced after a serious accident several years before. It was however the largest cybernetic brain made for the time, and no one had expected her to live.
       Tevel opened up her temple and began to plug in the wires to the main computer. She could smell the coffee on his breath. Tevel was in his late twenties with brown hair and eyes. He couldn’t grow a beard, but did have several long hairs growing from his chin. He called it his boog, but Nyree thought he looked like a teenager.
       “Downloading.” He said as he scooted away, and pressed a button on the interface of the computer system.
       Nyree felt a sharp pain for a moment, and she grasp the arm rest in her hands. She could hear the sounds of computers running and beeping all around her. The room was just one large computer that Tevel kept up. It held all top secret information about her unit’s missions and people.
       “Done.” He cleared his throat, “Now, let’s take a look.”
       Nyree turned her head to see the screen that Tevel’s eyes were deadlocked on. It took him several moments before he began with his usual noises.
       “Hmm.” He began, “Uh.”
       “What’s wrong?” Nyree finally asked, she wanted to get unplugged from this thing.
       “Weren’t you suppose to get signature codes, so we could trace it back to the Regime?”
       “Yes, I took half of them.”
       Tevel continued to scan, “There are three here, that’s not enough to prove anything, Sakeri.”
       Nyree sat up, “What do you mean there are only three?”
       “I mean there are three. Did you have any trauma to your head during the mission after you uploaded the information?”
       “No… wait, we crashed landed and my head hit the control panel.”
       Tevel nodded, “Did you put the codes in the secure data base?”
       “No, it was full… shit!”
       He sucked on his inner cheek, before turning to look at her. “When you hit your head, it probably had to reboot itself. You are at sixty eight percent capacity, right now. What were you at after the upload?”
       “Nearly to full capacity.”
       “It takes thirty percent to reboot the system, so it automatically deletes anything not in the secure database.”
       “I know!” Nyree snapped. “Unplug me from this thing.”
       Tevel scooted over to her on his chair, and began to take out the plugs. “Well, maybe your partner has more. She didn’t hit her head, did she?”
       “Manormi was captured, but she did have half of them. She couldn’t hold the biological formula, her brain was too small. So, she took the dispenser and the rest of the codes.”
       “Well we need those codes, looks like someone is going on a rescue mission.”
       Nyree stood up, “Admiral Stratton is going to be pissed.”
       “Oh, you can count on that.”
       She sighed loudly, “Well, send him the report, and I’ll wait for him to contact me. I have other things I need to accomplish before I am sent out on another mission.”
       “Alright, say hi to Atira for me.”
       Nyree gave a nod, before heading out the sliding doors. When they were closed behind her, she took a deep long breath. She couldn’t believe she had been careless enough to force a reboot, that had never happened to her before. One more sigh escaped her lips, before she headed towards her quarters. There were some people that she wanted to see before the Admiral got a hold of her again.

       Standing in front of her quarter’s door, she ran her hand over the lock. It recognized her hand print, and opened the door for her. Her quarters were rather large compared to most of her rank. Three bedrooms, separate living, dining, and kitchen areas. She also had a meeting room attached to the back.
       Entering inside, she looked around the gray and brown colored living room. In the center wall to the right was a door that lead the to kitchen and dinning room. The left wall had three doors that lead to the bedrooms, and the back wall had the conference room door.
       The living room was a lot cleaner then when she left it, and she decided that Renae must of cleaned it while Atira was out, most likely with Grady. The main room also seemed so dark. At the back of the room near the conference door were lounging chairs and data pad shelves built into the wall. Several plants hung from the wall and ceiling. To the direct right of the door was the entertainment console and a large comfy couch. Walking over to the couch that spread around the corner of the apartment, she clicked on the entertainment console, switching to the station news. A familiar childish, chubby face of Sergeant Anna Ford appeared hovering in blue over the console.
       Anna began her report, while Nyree propped her feet on the couch. “Garner Park’s opening week has been a success. Residents of Eight twenty seven are enjoying the lakes, trees, and grass of the station’s new park. The construction took four years to complete as a new section had to be added to the station. This is the first station to have such a large indoor authentic foliage recreational area…”
       “You are home.” Renae stepped out of Atira’s room with a hamper of clothing in hand. Her long auburn curls flowed over her back, and she wore a gray dress with no sleeves, but fell to her ankles. Her face was gentle and child-like, which was why Nyree had hired her.
       Nyree stood from the couch and turned off the entertainment console, “Atira with Grady?”
       Renae nodded, “They went to Garner Park, it opened while you were away. They took Brew and Grady’s dog to play catch.”
       Garner Park had been named after Alexander Garner, a good friend and mentor of Nyree’s. He died two years before, during a routine trip into Regime space. It was always thought, but never proven, that someone tipped off the authorities about his entry in their space. Records showed that he was tortured for three months about information on Liberation tactics, space, and officers, he never spoke a word. He is now considered a hero among the Liberation military, but he was always a hero to Nyree.
       “I should go there then.” Nyree headed towards her room, she needed to change into her uniform first.
       Slipping on the dark brown jumpsuit with the light brown strip on the sides, and putting on her insignias, she headed out into the hall. The park entrance wasn’t far from her quarters, and when she entered she was shocked to see it. It looked so realistic to being on an actual planet. Grass under her feet, and even an artificial sky and sun were projected onto the large dome top.
       It took up an entire floor of the space station, enough for everyone to get a good amount of exercise. She immediately heard the high pitched bark of Brewster, her parson russell terrier. He ran towards her with Grady’s large brown mastiff chasing behind it. Nyree picked her small dog up from the ground, when it reached her and planted a kiss on the top of his head.
       “Mommy!” The little blonde haired miniature version of herself came running up behind the dogs.
       Nyree put the dog down and scooped her daughter up, twirling her around several times, while she kissed her cheek. Atira was wearing her little blue pants with a white shirt that had a blue flower in the center.
       Putting her down, Atira was immediately bombarded with licks by the excited dogs. She couldn’t say anything as she tried to fight off their tongues, but she continued to try.
       “Nyree.” Grady jogged up.
       His light brown hair was cut short, and his face soft and pleasant. He smiled at her not only with his lips, but his gray eyes as well. Standing tall, he wore the faded blue with a gray stripe uniform of a captain, her superior. When he was close enough he leaned forward to kiss her on the lips, Nyree turned her head slightly, and he kissed her cheek mostly, but managed to get the corner of her lips.
       Grady often took care of Atira while Nyree was out on long missions, even though it was Renae’s job, he insisted on doing things with her. When he started asking her out, Nyree felt obligated to agree. After all, Atira loved him, and even called him Papa Grady. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the man, and that bothered her. She had been in love twice before, once with Atira’s father and once with Alexander Garner. What she felt for Grady wasn’t the same, it was a feeling of love directed towards her daughter that allowed her to tolerate the man’s advances. He was a great man though, and treated Atira like she was his own child. Atira needed a father, she needed any kind of parent that could be with her all the time.
       “How did it go?” Grady asked her.
       “Well enough, I suppose. Julka was captured, and some of my data was corrupted.” Nyree told her, as she shoved Atira and the dogs gently, trying to convince them to go play.
       Atira understood her mother’s silent instructions and called Brewster and Bentley towards the lake.
       Nyree didn’t want to be alone with Grady, and often found Atira was a good way to keep the man away from her, but she didn’t want her daughter to hear about the mission.
       “Corrupted? How’d that happen?”
       “A crash landing. I hit my head, so odds are I am going to have to rescue Julka.”
       He swallowed, “Atira isn’t going to like that. You’ve been gone two months already.”
       Nyree nodded, and looked off in the distance as her six year old throwing balls into the lake for the dogs to swim out and bring back. “I know, and this will probably take me longer then that. We have to act fast though, they could destroy Julka’s cybernetic brain if they tamper with it too much. Then the information is gone forever.”
       Grady was her contact when she was away on missions. They would send her information through code that sounded like a loving message between family members. Atira was often a part of these messages, but she didn’t know what they were doing. She only thought she was sending her mother love.
       “When do you leave?” Grady asked as Nyree began to walk around the park, he followed at her side.
       “I don’t know, I haven’t talked to the Admiral yet. He might not send me. I just have a feeling. This is my screwed up mission, I should never of let a trainee out of my sights. I don’t know why he sent a trainee with me to begin with!” She felt Grady’s hand rest on the small of her back as they walked. “I hate having to do this to Atira. Leaving her alone all this time without her mother, but when we make the Regime fall… I’ll have all the time in the world for her.”
       “You are making the universe a better place for her, Nyree. Besides Renae and I have been doing alright, I think.”
       Nyree nodded, “You two have, but it’s not your job to care for her. I’m her mother and I should always be within arm’s reach.”
       “You can’t expect to always be there for her. I think it’s making her independent, and she understands that you are doing important things.” Grady told her, and they both stop to watch Atira being licked by Bentley.
       Nyree smiled, before she sighed. “I can’t imagine this taking any less then four or five months, Grady.”
       “That long, huh?” He ran his hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her.
       All it did was make her nervous, “She’ll be almost seven when I get back.” Nyree sighed again, “Aisac did a calculation for me, and I have been gone for a quarter of my daughter’s life, a quarter.”
       He nodded, “She knows you love her, and she can’t wait for you to come home. When you are here she cherishes every moment. It’s a good lesson for her to learn, Nyree. You have to love what you have, when you have it, and not resent it when it’s not there.”
       “What if she resents me when she gets older for never being there?”
       “All teenagers resent their parents.”
       She sighed again, “I just don’t want her to be alone without a parent.”
       Grady looked at Nyree’s sad eyes, and started to gather the courage up, “Maybe I should move in with you and Atira. Then she will always have me there.”
       Nyree forgot how to breath for a moment, before she turned and looked at the man beside her, “I don’t want to send Atira the wrong message.”
       He nodded, “You are right, we should get married.”
       Her heart stopped, and she questioned herself as to whether or not the man was being serious. He was, she could see it in his eyes. “I… I don’t know.” Of course, she did know, she didn’t want to marry this man. Yet, there was Atira to worry about. Atira loved him with all her heart, and he loved her. Grady would make a perfect father and husband, and he would always be there when they needed him.
       “It’s alright, Nyree. You don’t have to answer me now. Think about it for a while.”
       The beeping sounds came from her utility band, and she lifted it up to see the Admiral’s face. “I need to see you in my office now, Commander Sakeri.”
       “Yes, sir, I am on my way.” Thank the heavens for the Admiral’s untimely interruptions. Her eyes went back to Grady, “I need to go.”
       He nodded, “I’ll tell Atira.” Kissing her on the cheek before she turned to run away, he watched her exit the park. “Real smart, Grady. Why don’t you push her harder?” He mumbled the question to himself.
       “Papa Grady, come play with us!” Atira called out to him.
       He looked between the park exit and Atira, before running over to her to help throw the balls for the dogs.
       “Where did mommy go?” Atira asked when he took the small green ball from her.
       Throwing it as hard as he could, the dogs took off after it. “Admiral Stratton asked her to come see him. He hasn’t seen mommy in a long time either.”
       “She will have dinner with us, right, Papa Grady?”
       He smiled down at the puppy dog eyes of the little blonde, “I’m sure that she will.” He took the ball from Bentley’s drool filled mouth and threw it again.