Shadows of the Ethereal - Part Three

      Nyree sighed as she looked above the elevator door. Level eighty three had the Admiral’s office, and her quarters were on level twenty two. She knew she should of taken the express elevator with the long line when it stopped for the ninth time to allow people off and on. Most were her equal in rank or below, and those below would take a moment to salute her.
      “Hey, Nyree.” A familiar feminine voice said, as the elevator door opened.
      “Constance, hi!” Nyree smiled, and hugged the dark haired woman that stepped in beside her.
      “You look great! I can’t believe you’ve been gone for two months!” Constance was always happy, and her cheerful nature always seemed to rub off on Nyree. She and Constance had been friends since she joined the Liberation Military almost eight years ago.
      The two had both come from the Regime military, as well as their significant others. Nyree’s other chose to leave the Liberation just before Atira was born, he didn’t want to believe the truth. Constance and her wife were still life long companions, and she had been there for Nyree when she found herself alone and pregnant. The dark haired woman had even moved into Nyree’s quarters for a while after she gave birth to help her out, until she hired Renae.
      “Going to the admiral’s, huh?” Constance asked.
      Nyree nodded, “You too?”
      “Oh yeah, he is pissed. I am guessing he read the lab report about your data.”
      “A reboot has never happened to me before, he can’t be that mad at me. It was the first time, and besides being shot out of space and crash landing on a moon, you are bound to bump something.” Nyree folded her arms, and watched her friend smile widely.
      They both ignored the other enlisted men and lower ranked officers in the elevator with them. “Stratton is irrational, as most men are. That’s why you should start dating women. Your life gets a lot less complex then.”
      Nyree laughed, “Still trying to recruit me into your cult, huh? Think a girl could be forgotten after being gone for two months.”
      The cult remark was a reoccurring joke between them. With all the advancements made in human history, there were still some that thought homosexuality was an evil. A man had once thrown holy water in Constance’s and her wife, Dawn’s, faces and told them to turn away from their evil cult. Constance took it with a grain of salt, but Dawn was bothered by it for sometime.
      Something Constance said that day had always stuck with Nyree. When Dawn was upset, she remembered Constance hugging her and told her, “His acceptance isn’t necessary, Dawn. There are only two people in all the universe that need to accept you.”
      Dawn had looked up at her, her blue dyed hair in her eyes, “Who?” She asked.
      “Me and yourself. I accept you, do you?”
      Suddenly, Nyree was jerked from the memory as Constance waved her hand in front of her face, “Did you hear me?”
      “No, sorry. I zoned out there for a moment.”
      “I said, we got black cloaks with hoods now, and they allow high heels. You would love it!”
      Nyree laughed, “As much as hanging out with the girls all day would appeal to me, think I would miss a man’s touch.”
      “Oh yeah, what woman could live without those clumsy, rough, callous hands molesting her body?”
      Nyree knew that Constance wasn’t really trying to get her to join the ranks of the space station’s lesbians, it was a joke between them. But sometimes, Constance would overstep the comfort zone, and Nyree would be without any comebacks. She could always tell when she went too far, it was written all over her friend’s face.
      “Have it your way then.” Constance shrugged, “Speaking of men, have you seen Grady lately?”
      “Just left him at the park with Atira.”
      “The park? Oh, that indoor recreational center named after Alex.” She frowned at the sound of his name. Constance had been good friends with the man as well, and they both wore their pain for all to see when it came to him. She cleared her throat, “He’s a sweet guy.”
      “Grady?”
      “Yeah.”
      The elevator door finally arrived at their floor, and they stepped out together. Making their way to the Admiral’s office, they continued their conversation. It would be a long walk, as the station floors were three miles wide.
      “He asked me to marry him.” Nyree said after a moment of silence.
      “Oh, did he?” Constance cocked her head to look at her friend.
      “I told him that I didn’t know.”
      Her black locks bounced up and down as she nodded, “Hard to say yes to a lifetime commit like that, especially if you don’t love the person.”
      “How do you know that I don’t love him?”
      Her friendly stare turned into a glare, “Give me a break, Nyree. I have seen you with… ahem, Atira’s father and Alex. I know when you are in love, and whatever you have with Grady is just…”
      “A want to be in love with him.”
      “Yes, a want.” She jerked her head in a firm nod. “Why do you think it is that you can’t seem to fall for the guy?”
      Nyree looked over at her tall and shapely friend, before swallowing deeply. “I don’t know. I want to… I mean look at him. He’s kind, affectionate, loyal…”
      “We talking about Grady or Brewster?”
      Nyree frowned, “I probably would of sent him away a long time ago if it weren’t for Atira. She just loves him so much, and he loves her.”
      Constance nodded, “So, it’s about Atira, then. Look, Nyree.” She stopped and turned Nyree to look at her, “By leading him on, you are only hurting Atira more. When she understand that he’s never going to be her daddy, that’s going to sting. You are lying to your daughter.”
      “I don’t want to hurt her.”
      “Pain is a part of life. If Grady really loves her, then he’ll still come around to see her, even if you don’t want to date him anymore.”
      Nyree sighed and shrugged, before freeing herself from Constance’s grip. “I don’t know, Constance. I’m really torn.”
      They continued their journey to the admiral’s office, “Can’t say that I’d want to be the one to make the decision either. But if you do marry Grady and then the real love of your life comes along, then what?”
      “Atira’s father was the love of my life.”
      Constance snorted loudly, “That man left a pregnant woman because he couldn’t tolerate the truth about his precious Regime. Love of your life, my ass!” Her eyes went ahead of her, and they found Captain Edison standing in front of the Admiral’s door.
      “And what a nice ass it is too.” Edison smiled, his thin face suddenly became a little bit fuller.
      “Oh, please!” Constance shove the man who was nearly six inches shorter then her aside.
      Edison smiled at Nyree, his small features always made her chuckle. He motioned for her to step through the door, “Ladies first.”
      Admiral Stratton looked tired standing behind his desk with his arms folded behind him. He looked like he was trying to hold back a sigh, and stop himself from rubbing his face. Rear Admiral Aramis and Vice Admiral Gwidon sat in front of his desk. Both older gentleman, who looked just as worried and upset as Stratton.
      The office was of medium size, mostly just a desk, a conference table, and some plants. Stratton was always a basic person, and didn’t seem to like any excess. Nyree wondered why they were sitting in front of his desk and not at the table.
      “Have a seat.” Stratton waved at the empty chairs in front of his desk, leaving one last chair open as they sat down.
      Nyree knew exactly who the last seat was for, and wondered when he would arrive. After all, Grady was her contact when she was out on long trips.
      “Where is Captain Doyle?” Stratton asked after ten silent, uncomfortable minutes, his eyes deadlocked on Nyree.
      She cursed herself for knowing, “He was at the park with my daughter. He had to take her home, and his dog back to his quarters before coming…”
      “Excuse my tardiness.” Grady said stepping into the doors, they slammed shut behind him.
      He smiled at Nyree, before sitting down between Edison and Aramis.
      Stratton picked up the data pad on his desk and started to look through it, clearing his throat occasionally. “Where to start.” He mumbled to himself.
      “How about with the damaged data?” Gwidon barked, turning his old, wrinkled glare to Nyree.
      “I hit my head, it couldn’t of been helped.” She tried to defeat herself, but Stratton put his hand up.
      “We know it is not your fault, Sakeri. It is not as if this is a reoccurrence, but the information lost was invaluable.”
      “I know, sir, but…”
      Again, his hand flew up to silence her, “Why wasn’t it safely embedding in the core memory? That is what I don’t understand.”
      She folded her hands in her lap, “I was shoved out so quickly that I didn’t get time to have some of the storage banks cleared, especially my core. It’s was filled with the formula, and I thought that would be more important. Besides, I never had any problems before, so I thought…”
      “She thought, she thought, she thought.” Aramis chimed in, a deep growl in his throat.
      “It was my judgment call, it may have been the wrong one, but I made it. At the time, I had fifteen minutes to download everything. I didn’t have time to call back to base and wait for a message.” Nyree tried to sound respectful towards the Rear Admiral, but her tone was clear enough.
      “And that judgment call is going to get you another mission.” Stratton interrupted Aramis before he said anything else.
      “Captain Loring.” He look at Constance, “Unfortunately, I think this means you are going to go back into the field. Nyree is going to need your contacts and eavesdropping ability to find out where they are holding Julka.”
      Constance glared at Nyree out of the corner of her eye.
      “It would be best if you worked separately. I will have your crew gathered, and you will leave when Nyree does.”
      “You want us to go digging around in Regime space?” Nyree questioned.
      Stratton nodded, “That’s what I am ordering you to do.”
      “What about our spies? We should speak…”
      “Sending messages is dangerous right now. The Regime knows there are spies working among them, and have been very cautious in collecting messages sent from Liberation Space. If you want to talk to our spies, you need to meet with them in person. Which is what you are going to be doing.”
      “In the Ethereal?”
      He nodded, “We will use the codes from one of the freight ships we have collected. That should keep you under the radar for a time, but certain individuals are going to recognize the ship.”
      Nyree nodded, he meant Osrin and she knew it.
      “Failing is not an option.” Gwidon told her, as he stood up to leave the room.
      “I understand, sir.”
      When everyone left the room, Nyree turned to Stratton. He was reading over a data pad, and sighed when he realized she still wanted to talk. “These are my orders, Sakeri.”
      “I understand that, sir, but I seem to have a problem.”
      He looked up from the data pad, “What?”
      “I don’t know my way around Regime space all that well, and for a mission like this I am going to need a good crew…”
      “The prisoners, you mean?”
      She nodded.
      “Regime space has already been informed that we have them, you can’t take them.”
      She folded her arms, “Just tell them that we are charging them with something, and then keep stalling their trial. We’ve done it before, when we didn’t want to release a prisoner over to them. Eventually, they stopped knocking.”
      Stratton sighed, and leaned back in his chair, “Sakeri, they will be in your custody. If one jeopardizes your mission, it will be on your head, do you understand me?”
      She gave a sharp nod, “Yes, sir.”
      “I’ll call down to the cells and tell the guards that you are coming.”
      “Sir, I would like to give them to choice though.”
      He glared up at her again, “Play whatever games that you want, Sakeri, just get out of my office.”

      Sitting at the dinning room table, Nyree smiled at her daughter who was eating her peas one at a time. The lights in the room were dim, and the dark décor didn’t help. Most things in her quarters were bolted down, thus making all living quarters look the same. The table was a dark metal that tried to mimic wood. Anything made out of trees was rare, so most wood looking items were actually metal. Even her chair was made of metal, and most of her quarters.
      Grady tapped her hand and smiled, while she looked at her daughter. Nyree smiled back at him, and looked across the table at Renae.
      “I didn’t know you didn’t like fish, Renae. I’m sorry.” Nyree told her, as Renae picked at a piece of chicken.
      “It’s alright.”
      She sighed, “Almost seven years that you’ve been with us, and I didn’t know that. I feel terrible.”
      Renae looked up with a smile, “It’s alright, it’s not as if you eat seafood often.”
      “I love fish!” Atira held a piece of it on her fork for all to see, then shoved it in her mouth.
      “We see that.” Grady told her, “Now, calm down a bit, Atira. You are getting a little too excited tonight.”
      The little girl nodded, and smiled at her mother, “Mommy, can you come to the park tomorrow? Papa Grady and I are going to have a picnic.”
      Nyree nodded, “Sure, I’ll try to be there. I have some things I need to take care of.” She looked at Grady, “What time?”
      “Lunchtime, so around noon.”
      She looked back at her daughter, “I’ll try.”
      Atira nodded a little disappointed, she knew that when mommy said that she would try, it meant that she couldn’t.
      Nyree wanted to let Evan and his crew sweat it out for a few more hours. Make them wonder what was going to happen to them, before she blew in and rescued them. She grinned at the thought of Evan’s face. She knew that his stubborn brow would be in full force, and that the rest of the crew would have to convince him. He was the type of man that didn’t take charity from anyone, especially people he was holding a grudge against. She liked that about him, she was like that. Of course, he was also the type to take chances, where she wasn’t. If it wasn’t certain, she wouldn’t do it.
      The rest of his crew seemed to compliment each other well. She wondered if they knew how hard it was to get a crew that understood each other’s needs without words. It took years to create a crew like that in the military, and this group just got thrown together.
      After dinner, Grady and Nyree read Atira a bedtime story.
      “Kiss teddy.” Atira held up her teddy bear, and let the two of them kiss him. “Kiss Brew.” She pointed to the dog at the end of her bed. “Kiss me.” They both kissed her cheeks at the same time. “Kiss each other.”
      Nyree tried not to frown when Grady planted a kiss on her lips before she even had time to process her daughter’s request. “Goodnight, Atira.”
      “Night, mommy. Night, Papa Grady.”
      The door slid shut behind them, and Nyree began to walk Grady to the door. As they past her bedroom door, he stopped and turned to her. She knew exactly what he wanted and she had a split second to make up her mind. With a sigh, she turned to him, allowing him to kiss her lips and neck. He pushed her gently backwards, and she heard the doors to her bedroom slid open.
      When her bed hit her at her knees, she allowed him to lay her down, still kissing her lips. The sound of her jumper unzipping caused her heart to stop, but she didn’t object.
      “Atira isn’t asleep yet.” Nyree sat up, when his bare hand touched her stomach. She held her jumper together.
      “She doesn’t wake up like she use to anymore, Nyree.” Grady rolled over onto his back with his hands behind his head. “Hasn’t since you left a couple months ago.” He heard her zip up her jumper, and he tried not to show his disappointment. “Should I leave?” He asked, when Nyree stood up and headed for her dresser.
      Guilt clouded Nyree’s heart, “No, you can stay.”

      Nyree stood in the horizontal elevator as it traveled to the prison section located at the far end of level thirty six. She remembered the look of hurt on her daughter’s face, when she left. Atira knew that she probably wouldn’t be there for their picnic, and it hurt Nyree to know that. She needed to go on a vacation, Nyree decided. After she returned, her, Atira, and Renae would go to a nice tropical planet. She sighed, she would probably have to take Grady with her too. It didn’t matter as long as she could spend some time with her daughter, and give her all the attention she deserved.
      The doors to the elevator stopped, and Nyree stepped out. She was right in front of the prison entrance. It was a steel door with several intricate locks, and with a quick swipe of her hand, they began to unlock.
      A man sat behind a desk busily doing his work, “Commander Sakeri.” He stood and saluted her.
      “I am here to see…”
      “Yes, Admiral Stratton informed us. They are in cell B three five. Be careful in there, the large man is a little high strung.”
      Nyree grinned, “Have they been behaving themselves?”
      “For the most part, when we delivered their food earlier, they tried to make a break for it. They couldn’t figure out the hand swiping mechanism. So, they are going to look a little beat up.”
      She nodded, “Alright, then open it up for me.” She turned to the large door marked with a B.

      Sitting in their cell, they all picked at their meals. Sparks and Doc sat on the floor with their legs crossed, while Dirk laid on the bed. He had his food on his chest and would pick it up with his large fingers, and drop it into his mouth. Dill and Evan sat on the other bed, both eating with their forks. Main Frame wasn’t hungry and slept on the top bunk above Dirk, his tray laying next to his bunk mate. They guessed the meals to be chopped beef in a gravy over mash potatoes, but they could have been eating dog for all they knew.
      “We are fucked.” Sparks suddenly said, breaking the silence.
      “You can say that again.” Dirk chimed in before scooping some more potatoes up.
      Evan sighed, “We will figure something out, don’t worry.” He looked at her with a confident stare.
      She nodded, “I want to believe that, Evan. I really do. I just can’t imagine how we will can manage to escape. Even if we got out of our cells, we have no ship. We couldn’t fly a stolen Liberation ship into Regime space.”
      “We will figure something out, we always do.” Evan swallowed, he didn’t even believe himself.
      He knew they were screwed, there would be no escape from this. Whatever the Liberation had planned for them would be their fate. He just didn’t like seeing Sparks so upset.
      The guards outside the force field, suddenly stood at attention. Their hands went to their foreheads in a salute, and their feet together. Then there she was, Evan’s heart beat with both hatred and excitement. He wanted to kill her, but he also prayed that perhaps she was their salvation. After all, she had promised them that everything would work out.
      She was talking to the men outside the field, but couldn’t hear a word she said. He had come to understand that the force field was sound proof and all his yelling before had been in vain. Evan looked at Dirk, who had sat up, rage burning in his eyes.
      “Behave, Dirk.” Evan ordered.
      He didn’t say anything, instead glared across the room at his captain.
      Evan turned his eyes back to the woman outside the cell. She was wearing different clothing, no longer the black jumper with the utility belt. She didn’t even have her blasters with her now. Instead, she looked like everyone else that he had seen. Her jumper with the stripe down the side, and a matching beret. Her blonde hair still braided behind her, but she was wearing make-up. Not much make-up, just enough to enhance her features.
      The field fell and the six guards all pointed their rifle blasters at them. No one stood up from their seats, and just watched at Nyree and the guards entered into the cell. The guards lined the entryway, as Nyree came to stand in the center of the room. After a moment, she looked over her shoulder at the leader of the guards.
      “Who invited you in here?”
      “No one, commander, but I just thought…”
      “You thought wrong, get out.”
      The young enlisted man stared at her for a moment, “These people are dangerous, ma’am. They put two of our men in the medical bay, if you get hurt…”
      “It will be on my head, now get out.” Nyree ordered.
      “But, Commander Sakeri…”
      She turned to face him, placing her face inches away from his, and her hands folded behind her back. “Are you disobeying my orders, corporal?”
      He shook his head, “No, ma’am.” Turning he and his men left the cell, and put up the field behind them.
      Nyree turned back around to the group, she carried no kind expression on her face. “Good morning… er, afternoon.” She corrected after seeing their lunches. “Is it lunch time already?” She asked, and looked at her utility band. “Huh, how time flies when you aren’t locked up in a cage.”
      They all frowned.
      “Why the hell have we been arrested?” Evan snapped.
      “You are traitors to the Regime, and they want you to be handed over immediately. They have a week long trial for you and then you will all be executed.” Nyree told him very calmly.
      “You tricked us!” Sparks snapped, “You said that we would be free to go. Instead, you have us arrested.”
      “I didn’t have you arrested. That was the Admiral, I had no idea he was planning that. I’m just a commander you know, I don’t know everything the higher ups do.” Nyree leaned against the wall next to the field. She pulled a data pad out of her back pocket.
      “What do you want?” Evan asked.
      She looked up at him for a moment, then back down at her data pad. “Here we go, Evan Braxton aka Capt‘n, dishonorable discharge from Regime military. Wanted for multiple murder counts, smuggling and selling illegal products, and theft.”
      “Murder, my ass, I was protecting myself!” Evan barked.
      She ignored him and cleared her throat, “Dirk Russell, multiple murder counts, several counts of assault, fighting in illegal ring matches, and smuggling and selling illegal products.”
      He didn’t say anything.
      “Eugene Jonas aka Main Frame, multiple counts of fraud, hacking, theft, and of course, the common theme here… smuggling and selling illegal products.” She looked up at Main Frame, who sat up when she said his name. “Bryan Dillon aka Dill, you are pretty clean except for your murder counts and smuggling and selling illegal products.”
      “Is there a point to this? I think we know what we have done.” Dirk barked.
      She ignored him, “Jasmine and Mitch Aurick aka Sparks and Doc. You two have quite the combined record, including murder, smuggling, theft, assassination attempts on political leaders of the Regime… the list goes on.” She looked around the room, “And those are just charges before you guys got together, minus the smuggling charges.”
      Hate filled eyes glared deeply at her, waiting for her next words.
      “Add to that the charges of assaulting our guards, and we are going to peg some of our unsolved murders on you as well.” Nyree looked up, when Dirk stood from the bed. His tray of food splashed to the floor, some landing on Sparks.
      “You fucking bitch!”
      “Attack me, and those guards will be in here with their weapons set to kill.” Nyree didn’t even look afraid.
      “Sit down, Dirk.” Evan ordered, he knew there had to be more to this.
      Shoving the data pad back into her back pocket, she looked at Evan, “Guess that means you guys will be caught up in our long juridical system for sometime. We won’t hand you over to the Regime until we finish prosecuting you.”
      “Why?” Mitch asked.
      Nyree grinned, “I can make all your charges disappear… well, more like you disappear, but you have to do something for me.”
      Everyone waited curiously.
      “I need a crew that knows Regime space inside and out, and knows how to bypass security checks.”
      “What for?” Evan asked.
      “I need to investigate where they took my partner and rescue her. She has some valuable data in her cybernetic brain that we need.” Nyree stood up straight.
      “No, fucking way.” Evan snapped, “We aren’t going to betray the Regime.”
      She snorted, “They already consider you traitors, and if you don’t help, then you get handed over to the Regime tomorrow. You will be executed.”
      “And we will get killed if we help you. It’s the same deal, except one way we just fall asleep and the other we get blown to pieces.” Dill barked.
      “If you survive then you will get full Liberation civilian rights, and the choice of a planet to call home.” She lied, she had no idea what they would do to them afterwards.
      They all looked amongst each other, trying to decide.
      “It’s either the Regime to certain death, or with me to probable death.” Turning around she walked over to the force field, and the guards lifted it. “I have a meeting elsewhere, I’ll be back in an hour or two. Have your answer ready.”
      When the force field went back up, they all returned to eating.
      “Got to love a woman who knows how to get what she wants.” Dill said, and no one but Mitch laughed.
      “She looked even better in her uniform then the black suit.” Mitch retorted.
      “This is serious, people.” Evan snapped, “We have to make a choice that will alter our lives forever.”
      “There is only one option, Evan.” Mitch interrupted, “We go with her. I’m not going to get handed over to the Regime.”
      “Me either.” Sparks replied.
      “Same here.” Main Frame laid back down, “I am not ready to go to certain death as she put it.”
      Evan looked at Dill, “And you?”
      “Sorry, Evan, but I’m not ready either. If there is a chance we will survive her mission, then I have to take it.”
      Dirk nodded, “I am normally ready to die any day, but not by execution. If I am going to die, it’ll be fightin‘.”
      Evan sighed, “Well, she’s really got my ball in a vice. Alright, then I’ll go too. Shit.” He kicked his foot, almost hitting Mitch.
      “Look on the bright side, we get to see her sexy ass for a few months everyday.” Dill joked.
      “I get dibs.” Mitch said, “The rest of you always get the girls, I never…”
      “I never get a girl.” Main Frame looked over the end of the bunk bed.
      “You have to pay for it, man, look at you.” Mitch told him, and watched him lay back down. “And after I have her, the rest of you can…”
      “Screw you, it’s a free for all. I’ll bet she’s a tough cookie to crack.” Dill chuckled.
      “She probably likes the big strong guys, I won’t have any problems.” Dirk told them in between mouthfuls of Main Frame’s lunch.
      “No one is touching the Libby!” Evan interrupted, “What the hell is wrong with you people? You would think this was a room full of teenage boys! We get what she wants done, so we can get the hell away from here.”
      “Sounds like Evan wants her for himself!” Dill jested.
      “I… I do not!” Evan barked, “She will be a crew member, and there is a rule. Remember?”
      He meant when Main Frame and Dirk fought over Sparks for a while. They had to make up a rule about not touching crew mates after Main Frame was in the medical bay for three weeks.
      “She isn’t a crew member. We have enough of those. And fuck all of you, I’m getting that first!” Mitch exclaimed loudly.
      “Mitch!” Sparks screeched, “I don’t want to hear this! Argue about it when I am not around!”

      Stepping off the elevator, Nyree still had the taste of potato salad in her mouth. She had made it just in time to eat with Atira and Grady, both of whom looked shocked to see her arrive. Had she not given the crew time to think on it, she wouldn’t of made it. Stepping through the prison door, she waited for door B to open, before making her long journey down the hall of blue force fields.
      She stopped in front of their cell door, and was allowed in. They were all lounging around the cell, trying to find themselves a comfortable spot. It was strange that they piled all of them in there, when several cells were free. They normally liked to keep two to a cell, but for some reason or another the Admiral wanted them together.
      “So?” Nyree asked, when the field turned back on behind her.
      Evan sat up from his bunk, he was bored out of his mind. The rest of his crew was as well, there was absolutely nothing to do. No reading material, no entertainment consoles, it was his version of hell. “Do we get out of here if we say yes?”
      “You mean right now?”
      He nodded.
      “Of course.” Nyree smiled.
      Everyone stood up, they looked defeated and she wondered why that was. Nyree turned to the force field and it was lifted. She began the walk down the hall with the crew following behind her. The man outside at the desk called her attention to him.
      “Please sign them out. Remember they are in your custody, if anything…”
      “Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I got it. Let me sign them out.”
      He offered her a pad and she pressed her thumb print on it. She turned to walk away, “Wait, you have to sign one for each.”
      Nyree sighed and turned back around, “This is more work then they are worth.” She teased, but none of them seemed to find it funny.
      Finally, they were out in the hallway and waiting for the horizontal elevator. Nyree had her back to them, and Evan was surprised that she trusted them not to try and escape.
      “If you try to escape, you will only get lost.” She said, when she noticed Dirk looking down the hall. “The station has a hundred of thirty three floor, each three miles long. Three of the levels have docking bays, unless you try to steal an escape pod. The pods, however, can be controlled by the station and you will be brought back here.”
      The elevator doors opened, and they stepped in. When they were all crammed in together, she asked it to take her to the express elevator, which this floor normally had no lines.
      “Where are we going?” Evan asked after a moment.
      “My quarters. We need to discuss a plan.” She answered, staring at the door.
      “When do we leave?”
      “Tomorrow.”
      “Are we taking Aisac?” Main Frame asked.
      Nyree grinned and looked at him, “You mean the Ethereal? Yes.” She cleared her throat, “Which by the way, no one can fly her unless I am aboard or I have given instructions that they can. So, don’t think you can kill me and take off in my ship either.”
      “We got it, no escaping. Not that we would have anywhere to go.”
      Nyree looked over at Evan, who had just spoken. “After we finish our plans, we will need to remove your identification chips that the Regime implanted in you.”
      “What we is removing them?” Mitch asked, knowing that it had to be a medical procedure.
      “We will go to the medical bay.”
      The elevator doors opened, and they all stepped out. Nyree swiped her hand over the express elevator’s controls, and waited for it to come to them.
      “How long is it going to take to find her?” Evan asked.
      She shrugged, “We have no leads. We will have to speak to some of our inside guys to find out where they might be holding her. We need to move quickly though. If they tamper with her…”
      “Nyree!” Constance voice called out behind them, as she stepped off the horizontal elevator.
      “Constance, what are you doing on this level?” Nyree turned to her dark haired friend.
      “I was told that you were down here, and I wanted to be here when you had your meeting with…” She looked the crew over, “them.”
      “Which meeting?” Nyree asked.
      “Where you decide where you are going. I figure it would be best for me to know which places you are checking, so that I don’t go to the same contacts.”
      Nyree nodded, “We could just assign ourselves different quadrants, that way it won’t be a problem.”
      “Alright, sounds good. I’ll come with you until you figure out which ones.”
      The express elevator opened, and they stepped inside. Nyree ordered to go to the twenty second floor.
      “How did Dawn take this?” Nyree asked.
      “She is pissed, of course. I wouldn’t recommend talking to her for a while.”
      “It wasn’t my fault.” Nyree tried not to squeak, “Stratton was the one that ordered you be dragged along.”
      Constance nodded, “I know. I told her that, but she doesn’t understand the situation. You can’t blame her for being a little ticked at you.”
      “I suppose not.”
      The crew behind them listened carefully to their conversation. This wasn’t the Nyree that they had come to know, somehow her voice was different. She didn’t seem as confident.
      “I’ll tell you what, she will be livid if it takes me five months like the Admiral said in his report.”
      “Five months!” Evan screeched.
      Constance looked over at him, then back at Nyree. “A little excitable, isn’t he?”
      Nyree grinned over Constance and to the blushing Evan. He hadn’t meant to say it like that, he really wanted to sound angry not shocked. “You talk to your crew?” Nyree asked her.
      “Yeah, and none of them want to do this. But, we got to do what our government says.” She shrugged, “Oh well, I was getting bored of being safe and sound in a space station anyway. I need someone to shoot at me.”
      “I am sure Dawn would of done that for you.”
      Constance laughed, “After I told her where I was going, you bet.”
      The elevator doors opened, and they began the short walk to her quarters.
      “I can’t believe that we have to do this.” Nyree said with the crew behind her and Constance at her side. “With all the intelligence we have on the inside, we can’t even talk to them. Someone has to know where Julka is. Do you know how much easier our lives would be?”
      “I know, I know. It’s complete bullshit!” Constance snapped.
      “We could just fly in there, grab her, and come home. It’s as if I don’t have a pile of missions assigned to me already. You should see the damn list.” Nyree stopped in front of her door, and swiped her hand.
      “Don’t tell me about a list. I have so much crap piling up for me to do, I won’t retire until I am at least three hundred.”
      Nyree laughed as they stepped inside.
      Evan and the others looked around the room, a little surprised at how nice her quarters were. They continued to follow her into the conference room. It was just a large room with a long table and stools in the center. Some plants hung from the wall and ceiling, but other then that it was empty. The table was set high, and so stools were used instead of normal chairs. Nyree had specifically had it made that way, as she felt people were less likely to fall asleep in a stool.

      Evan watched Nyree as she wrote with her electronic pen into her data pad. He watched as it transformed her sloppy hand writing into times new roman text that the pad was set for. He hadn’t noticed it before, but she was wearing perfume now as well. A sweet scent of lilacs and fresh linen. On the center of the table was a small GHMS that listened to commands of what quadrants to show them, as well as coordinates.
      Everyone was silent as Nyree finished writing down the information about a jump hole near the planet of Yerdun. Sparks sipped the tea from her cup, still disappointed that Nyree didn’t have any sugar for her to put in it. Constance had left after Nyree decided to take quadrants two and three, giving her one and four. She didn’t seem to care which ones that she got, and they argued about who would pick first.
      The door slid open and the familiar auburn haired woman entered the room, a half smile on her face. “Nyree, they are back.”
      Nyree looked up from her data pad, “Tell them I am in a meeting and to not come back here.”
      Renae nodded her head, and reached across the table to see if the tea pitcher needed to be refilled, it did. “Dinner is at six.” She said dropped the metal pitcher to her side. “I am making lasagna and garlic bread.”
      Nyree nodded, “Alright, I’ll be there.”
      “Should I make enough for everyone?” She asked, looking around the table.
      Everyone stared at Nyree, waiting for her answer. She could see the hopefulness in their eyes.
      “Probably, the admiral put them in my custody. I suppose I should feed them every so often.”
      Renae smiled, “Alright, I am going to run to grocery storage then and get some more supplies.”
      “Make sure you tell them not to come in here.”
      She nodded, “I’ll bring back more tea, first.”
      Main Frame watched Renae leave the room, “Is she like your maid or something?”
      “Or something.” Nyree answered him, “Now, do you know the codes for that jump hole or do you hack it?”
      “Main Frame hacked the codes, but they change them occasionally, since it’s only used by military personnel.” Evan answered, he turned his head towards the door, when he heard the sounds of a small dog bark from the next room. The others seemed to hear it as well, and directed their attention to the door.
      “Alright, how long does it normally take you to…” She looked up when Renae entered and put the pitcher on the table.
      “I’ll be back in thirty minutes or so.”
      Nyree looked at the clock on her utility band, it was three pm. They still lived by earth’s twenty four system. Even though some planets had longer days, it just made things easier.
      When Renae left, Nyree continued, “How long does it take you to hack the code, Main Frame?”
      “Depends. Sometimes they put new security systems on it, and I have to get around them without tripping them. If it’s something I already know then five to ten minutes. If I don’t then it could take up to an hour.”
      “Why do you need to know?” Evan asked.
      She shrugged, “Can’t have the Ethereal sitting around in space for too long. We have to keep moving, or we might get recognized.”
      Mitch looked at the door this time, when he heard the sound of a man talking. Suddenly the door slid open and a small white dog came running into the room. He ran directly for Nyree, and tried to jump up into her lap. The stool was too high for him, and he crashed to the ground, but that didn’t stop him from trying again.
      Nyree was still writing, and reached her hand down to pet the dog’s head.
      “How cute!” Sparks squealed, looking at the dog beside her. “What’s his name?”
      “Brewster.” A small little girl said from the entrance.
      The little blonde walked around the table to stand next to Nyree, who took her hand off the dog, and laid it behind the girl’s head. “I thought I told Renae to tell you not to come in here.”
      “She did, but Brew didn’t listen.” Atira whined.
      Nyree kept writing, before looking up at her daughter. “Then why did you come in here?”
      “To get Brew.”
      “You weren’t suppose to come in here, Atira. You should of waited, where is Grady?”
      She looked towards the door, then back at her mother. “Talking to Nana.” Nana was Atira’s name for Renae.
      The crew watched Nyree speak to the little girl. Evan immediately saw the resemblance, and wondered if this was her sister or her daughter. The little girl looked just like Nyree, right down to the single braid.
      The doors slid open again, and Grady stood in the doorway. The crew recognized him as a Liberation military officer, thanks to his uniform. “Nyree, I’m sorry, she got away from me.”
      Nyree looked up, “It’s alright.”
      He looked around the room at the crew, “Can I talk to you outside for a minute?”
      With a loud sigh, Nyree slammed down her pen and went into the living room with Grady. Atira smiled at everyone as she pulled herself onto the stool, Sparks stood up and helped her up.
      “Thank you.” Atira smiled, and picked up her mother’s pen. “What’s your name?”
      “I’m Jasmine.” Spark answered, “What’s yours?”
      “I’m Atira. She’s my mommy.” Atira pointed to the stool, and they all knew that she meant Nyree.
      “Was that your daddy?” Sparks asked referring to Grady.
      Atira shook her head, causing her braid to flap back and forth. “He’s going to be my daddy, though. Mommy and Papa Grady are going to get married, and then Papa Grady will move in here. Then Renae can stop being so sad.”
      Sparks looked across the table at Evan, who was leaning on his elbows listening to the girl. Mitch sat beside Sparks and Dill besides Evan. Main Frame and Dirk sat at the end of the table, but for the most part, Dirk kept his head down and rested.
      “Why is Renae sad?” Mitch asked.
      “She’s tired. So is mommy. Papa Grady says that when he moves in, they will both be happy again.” Atira was drawing on the table with the pen, but it left no marks. “You are going with mommy as her crew?”
      Sparks nodded, “Yeah.”
      “I wish I could go with mommy, but Papa Grady says that she does important stuff to make my future better, and that I have to stay here and keep him company.”
      “How old are you?” Mitch asked, Evan had no idea how to talk to a child.
      “Six and a half.” She said, pushing Brew down, when he tried to jump up again.
      “When is your mommy and Papa Grady getting married?” Mitch asked, he was curious when Nyree would find time.
      Atira shrugged, “Papa Grady says that mommy has a lot to do, but she’ll find time.” She looked up at Mitch, “Are you a girl or a boy?”
      The tea came out Evan’s nose.
      “I’m a boy.” Mitch answered a little perturbed.
      “Oh, Papa Grady says that only girls should have long hair, and boys who have it just want to be girls.”
      Evan couldn’t help but laugh out loud, neither could Dill or Dirk.
      “Well, I assure you that I don’t want to be a girl.” Mitch told her, tugging on his ponytail.
      “Maybe, you just don’t know it yet.” Atira told him.
      “No, I am pretty sure.”
      She shrugged, “I don’t know.”
      Nyree entered the room to Mitch’s relief. Grady had tried to scold her about bringing the crew into her home and around her daughter. There was no where else to take them, the admiral had sent her instructions that they weren’t to be let out her sight. “Ok, everyone under four feet tall, needs to get out.” She said as she walked over to her daughter sitting in her stool. “You are in my seat.” She took the pen from Atira’s hand and put it back on the data pad. “And I told you not to play with my pens, haven’t I?”
      Atira stuck her tongue out, and Nyree replied in kind.
      Evan grinned watching Nyree and her daughter having their little tongue contest, as they began to fold their tongues into different shapes. He didn’t see Nyree as the playful type, the rest of his crew found it out of her character as well.
      “Mommy.” Atira finally said, and then motioned with her finger for her mother to bend over. When Nyree did, Atira placed her hands on Nyree’s cheeks. “We are having dinner at six, are you going to be there?” Atira said in her high pitched child’s voice.
      Nyree shook her head, as Atira squeezed her lips together as she pushed on her cheeks.
      “Are these people coming?” She looked at the crew, and again Nyree nodded. “And you will be there?”
      “Yep.” Nyree answered.
      “At six, not six thirty, and not seven, but six.” Atira lifted her eyebrow.
      “I will be there at six.” Her words were muffled through her pressed lips.
      “Mommy, don’t forget.”
      “Won’t forgot.”
      Nyree stood up and picked Atira up, holding her on her hip with her arms and legs dangling. She kneeled down and picked up Brewster. “This is officially a no Brewster and Atira zone.” She said walking them over to the door and placing them down when it slid open.
      “Six pm, mommy!” Atira yelled as the door shut.
      Nyree walked back over to the stool and took her seat.
      “Cute kid.” Sparks told her.
      “Bright too.” Mitch added.
      She didn’t respond to her, just finished what she was writing. When she was done, she looked up at them, “Yes, she is. And now you can forgot that she exists. I don’t want you to tell anyone if we get captured, cause if they don’t kill you, then I will.”
      They understood, and no one objected to her demand.
      “Mommy.” Atira stuck her head in the door.
      “What?” Nyree looked across the table at her.
      “What time is dinner?”
      Nyree smiled, “Six.”
      “Sorry?” Atira put her hand to her ear, “Six in the morning?”
      She laughed at her daughter, “Six in the evening, three hours from now. I know.”
      “Don’t forget!” Atira snapped friendly, before disappeared behind the door again.
      “You often forget dinner?” Evan asked.
      Nyree glared up at him, “Somehow, I don’t think that’s any of your damn business.”
      With a shrug, he turned his eyes back to the GHMS. He tried to act as if her snapping at him didn’t bother him, but in truth his pride was wounded. It had been a simple question. Dill saw the anger in his eyes, but said nothing.

      Sitting around the dinning room table, Grady helped Renae bring out the three trays of lasagna as well as some steamed asparagus and garlic bread. The crew wasn’t sure how they should go about filling their plates, as they didn’t want to seem rude. It was then that Renae started to cut up the lasagna and serve it to everyone.
      “Thank you!” Atira smiled as Renae put the plate in front of her.
      “It’s hot, so wait a moment.” Nyree warned.
      Grady cut up the garlic bread, and then gave Atira a piece. She wouldn’t eat the asparagus or anything green for that matter, except for peas for some reason.
      “Mommy, I have a play tomorrow, are you coming?” Atira asked with a string of cheese going from her mouth to the lasagna.
      
      “No, I have to leave tomorrow morning.” Nyree rubbed the back of her daughter’s head, “I’m sorry.”
      Atira frowned then smiled, “It’s alright, it’s not important.”
      Nyree scowled, “It is important, and I am sorry. Don’t ever say anything you do isn’t important, Atira.”
      Grady patted Nyree’s hand before handing her the plate that Renae was offering him. “Don’t worry, it is being recorded. Mommy can watch it when she gets back.”
      “This is great.” Dirk said with a mouthful of food.
      “You were suppose to wait until it cooled.” Atira scolded the giant man, shaking her index finger at him, and he only glared across the table at her.
      “Let the pig eat anyway he wants, Atira. He is a guest.” Nyree told her, before cutting up her daughter’s lasagna.
      Dirk frowned, then turned his sights to Renae, “It is good.”
      She grinned, “Thank you, I appreciate it.” When she finished serving everyone she sat down between Atira and Evan.
      “You got a big table for such a small family.” Sparks announced after realizing that the table fight everyone rather comfortably.
      “This is really an Admiral’s quarters. They normally give large parties and have meetings in them.” Nyree told her.
      “How did you get an Admiral’s quarters?”
      “Admiral Stratton married Rear Admiral McKay, and she moved into his quarters.” Grady told them, “Since there were no other Admirals to take it, they gave it to Nyree as a gift. Her quarters were a little small for a child and a nanny.”
      “Pissed a lot of people off too.” Nyree added, “They thought it should go to a captain, not a commander.”
      Grady shrugged and looked at her, “Well, this is what you get when you are the best in your field, and to the hell with others who are jealous.”
      Nyree tried to grin at him, but even his friendly words were making her sick. She felt trapped between her two lives in those moments. Between the Nyree at home and the Special Ops Nyree. She just didn’t know which one she was suppose to be. The crew would think she was actually soft, but she might hurt her family’s feelings if she acted like she did at work. As much as she hated leaving in the morning, she was thankful that she would only have to play one part again.

      Nyree took the extra pillows and blankets from the man at the door, he saluted her before walking away. With a quick toss, they fell atop of Evan and Dill who were laying on the floor next to the couch. Main Frame and Sparks had taken the two sections of the couch, leaving everyone else with the floor.
      “There are no extra rooms available?” Evan asked, pushing the blanket off his face.
      “Nope.” Nyree answered him, before going into her bedroom.
      “Liar!” Evan barked.
      Sparks rolled over to look at him, “Why would she lie?”
      “So she can keep us in her sights. Doesn’t want us to escape, so she sticks us in here.”
      She rolled her eyes, “Escape where? She already believes we aren’t going to be able to get off the station, and she is probably right. Look at this place, it’s a fortress.”
      “I bet it take harnonian crystals to power this ship.” Main Frame said, “Could you imagine the computer system that is takes to run this place?”
      “What about the engine room? If I ever come back here, I definitely want to check that out.” Sparks said with a smile to him.
      He nodded, “This is an amazing place, I’ve never seen a modern station this big.”
      “Ahem, the matter at hand please.” Evan snapped.
      Dirk was already snoring fast asleep, and Dill decided that he didn’t want any part of the conversation.
      “There is the door, escape!” Sparks turned her back to him.
      Evan looked at the door and frowned, before laying back down after passing out the pillows and blankets.
      “Strange that she is marrying that guy.” Sparks said as they were drifting off.
      “Yeah, it is.” Main Frame answered her.
      “What do you mean?” Evan sat up, propping himself up on his elbows.
      Sparks turned around to look at him through the darkness, “Did you see the way she reacted whenever he touched her? I thought she was going to be sick.”
      “Yeah, it looked like she was being electrocuted whenever he touched her.” Main Frame added, “And when he left, she turned her head so he would kiss her cheek not her lips.”
      Sparks look at him, “You saw that too? I thought it was just me.”
      Evan rose an eyebrow, “You are saying that you think she is marrying a man that she hates?”
      “That’s exactly it, I wonder why though.” Sparks looked over at Main Frame for an answer.
      “Money? I don’t know.” Main Frame answered and looked at Evan.
      Evan rolled his eyes, “Ok, I’m not having a school girl slumber party with you two. Go to sleep.” He laid back down, realizing that they were in essence gossiping.
      All eyes went to Atira’s door when it slid open, they watched the little girl in her pajamas walk into her mother’s room. “Mommy, can I sleep in here?” She asked before the door shut behind her.
      “Aww, that’s so sad.” Sparks said and Main Frame agreed.