I peek around a cargo container as the Colonel holds a man on his knees at gunpoint, "I...Consent." The man then falls forward, then arises. The Colonel looks my way with a wild smile. "Bring him to me." I jump as soldiers grab hold of me, I manage to free a hand, then shoot myself free of their grasp. The colonel opens fire as I turn the corner, "Arrest him!" My teeth grind as I slowly navigate the cargo bay. Get to Kaylin. As the boots clunk fast towards my location, I run full sprint towards the exit to Lady Liberty's main hall. I get to the heavy door. Opening it, they open fire as a bullet rips through my stomach. I rush out the doorway, trying to hold my stomach wound while running. I'm getting slower. I run up to the nearest man and grab him, yank the radio from his shoulders and shout into it, "Do not consent! Kaylin must receive this message! Do not consent!" The Colonel shouts, "Arrest him!" I turn the gun on myself as they run towards me.

Scott bursts into my office, "Sir!" I pocket my daughter's picture, "What is it?" He frantically drops a tape recorder, "Carter tried to sweep this under the rug." I press it, through it, comes the garbled message through the static, "Do not consent! Kaylin must receive this message!" Damn it, that's Liam. Is this why he died? "That's not all, our group is missing. The one I could find- Dale insisted I follow him, but he was off." I rub my chin, "Sir. What is going on? I am freaked the hell out!" I look up at him, "Whatever happens, Scott. Do not consent. I don't care if they have your family." "What!?" I stand up and point to him, "Do not trust anyone but me. I outrank Carter. Your job now is to work for O'Malley on paper. I will write it up now." I sit down as he shakes his head, "Sir?" I clack away, "What?" "I don't know if I can handle this. Oh god, I'm shaking." His orders print and I hold the paper up, "You are the only one I can trust on this. You are to be my eyes and ears on this ship. If this ship dies, the off-worlders die too." He hesitates, takes the paper, then finally makes a salute at attention. "I-I'll do my best, sir." I blow air out my nose and smile, "You're brave. Stay that way, even if you're shaking from your boots." He nods and walks out the room calmly.

"Be brave, Scott." I squint as I look down at the floor. I look behind me, there's all but one of my missing unit, approaching towards me. I turn as they shout, "Scott?" I march away from Kaylin's office and turn a corner. A heavy cart pushes me to the floor, a soldier shouts, "Watch it!" I get up, wave sorry, then run. I run right into Hayley, she hugs me tight, so I shout, "Let go!" She lets go and raises a brow, "Where have you been?"

I shake my head, as I try to speak, Dale shouts, "Hey Pipsqueak!" I turn as Hayley shouts back, "And where have y'all been?!" He shrugs, "We found a smuggler's cache, had to check if it was alcohol or not." She squints as the four laugh. "Where were you really?" Dale waves, "Come on, Carter ordered us all to go see him." I raise a hand, but she lowers it, "Alright, maybe he'll tell me. Let's go, Scott." My teeth grind as her resting sternness fades to worry. "K-Kaylin wants Hayley to see him first. And I have strict orders to listen to him and O'Malley only." Dale laughs, "Carter gives an order, you should follow it." My hand shakes with the paper in hand. Dale swipes it and looks down at it. He crumples it up and tosses it into my face. I clench my fists as they shake. Hayley pulls her gun, "Are you questioning Commander Kaylin? He outranks Carter if you forgot." Dale simply raises his hands, "Alright, Carter will know of this." Hayley shakes her head slightly in confusion, "Since when do you talk like that?" They all turn around and leave, then Hayley grabs my shoulder's, gun still in her hands, "What the fuck?" I look into her eyes, "Kaylin, please." She tears away from me and starts off towards his office.

I pick up the crumpled up note and clench at my pant leg. I huff and puff at all the possibilities. Is she trying to get close to Kaylin to kill him? and why'd she offer to go with them? To get me? Why did I tell her to see Kaylin?!

My radio comes on and I grab at it, "Private, what is it?" He hiccups. I go to change the channel- "Oh! Scott Crawford. Reactor room, O'Malley. God, Whiskey. Hoo." I gulp and start walking and he hiccups again, then slurs, "Scotty?! I hate the Scots!" I turn off my radio.

I get to the reactor's first blast door, but it's shut tight. I bang on it, then the speakers come on, "Damn Scot! Begone!" I hold up the note, "Kaylin sent me." He hiccups, "A Scot? He knows I hate the scots." I roll my eyes, "I'm not even scottish!" He groans, "Bring me the Finest Irish Whiskey!" I gulp. "Y-yes sir." I turn and he tuts, then speaks normally, "Scott. Sweet little Scott. Spineless Scott." I keep walking off, then he groans, "Stop. I'm not finished!" I turn around and my dead eyes stare into the CCTV's camera lens, "The Scott hiding under Kaylin's wing when things went shitty." I gulp, "I saw you were repulsed by a woman's embrace. Hayley is fiery and you're spineless." I grind my teeth, "Everyone's getting action on this ship except you. Even an old man like me has more game than you, no! Even an office desk!" He laughs out loud and I cross my arms. "How could Kaylin put trust in you? Maybe Hayley will take over and we'll just let you cower like you did in the Helm." I tear up as I shout into the camera, "I'm stepping up. I might be all you got. And I'm tired of being tossed around!" I pout, "Like trash!" The blast door starts lifting and there he is.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

A fat old man, "Then act like you deserve respect." He smiles and points despite all that he's said, "Quit crying like a sissy, hide your tears. You are undercover." I wipe my tears, "The cameras here get wiped unless I give the word, or I could back up data, then broadcast it for all to see." I glare at him, "You have to hide all that anger, sadness. Compartmentalize." "Comp-" He laughs, "My god, you are young as they come. How are you on my ship?" I smile, "Kaylin pointed to me out of the crowd, randomly. Pulled me close when everything...happened." He pats on my shoulder, "Luckily for you, I trust his judgement." He shouts, "Close the little boy!"

The blast door starts closing and he waves me inward. "Open the fat man!" The other blast door opens, an entryway with a thick door with dark glass and an upward ramp. As he goes up the ramp, I try to peek through the glass. A dark figure lunges at the further panel of glass, I leap back and fall on my butt. O'Malley shouts, "He doesn't like that!" I walk up, "What the hell is that thing!?" "Close the Fat Man! Lasal- He survived the hell on Martus and managed to save Lady Liberty's heart."

I finally get far enough up, chalkboards upon chalkboards. Scrawlings of a madman, numbers and I'm assuming mathematic symbols. Papers everywhere and a giant computer with the smallest monitor. Who is this crazy old man? He's a crazy asshole. He smiles, "Check, Lasal!" He turns away from the computer and waddles to the reactor controls, "Retract cylinder three..." He shouts into one of many microphones, "Heart to Head!" "Three Degrees Gravity, Heart- Two." He adjusts the controls, "Cover your eyes, Young Whiskey." - "One." "Wait, what?" He slaps on some black goggles with his finger above a big red button. I cover my eyes, "Heart, now." Loud machinery clunks and grinds overhead. Then a loud slam shakes the room. Then a bright flash shines, despite my hands covering my eyes. All I see is red.

The light disappears as fast as it had appeared. I blink repeatedly as the light is still etched into my eyes. He laughs and takes off the goggles, "You sort of witnessed a controlled nuclear blast. It's annoying- She always goes up slightly, she loves to keep me movi-." I wince at the light still in my eyes and cut him off, "Carter's up to something." He shrugs, "Everyone is." I groan and he mimics it, "Hide emotion or your cover's blown." I take a breath, as the damage to my eyesight slowly fades, "Alright, I managed to find a poorly scrubbed recording, of the radio." He smiles, "They don't usually leave anything behind." I nod, "Yeah, it's like they were slowly screwing with the noise to not raise a red flag." He whacks my hand with a metal ruler, I shout at the pain and pull it away, "You've been making hand motions this whole time, stop it, like your emotions." I groan and he bonks me lightly on the head.

I stare dead in his eyes as he slowly smiles with an intense smugness. "Temper, temper." After another deep breath and he sits me down. He holds that ruler firm as he stares into my eyes, I grasp at my pant leg and he taps my hand with the ruler, "Rest them." "I rolled through the channels and found it as they were slowly tampering with the recording." He opens his mouth, but Kaylin shouts, "O'Malley, I am sending you Hayley too. Shoot her if she doesn't make it in fifteen. I scoff, "Were you going to shoot me?!" He laughs and stands up slow, "Temper! And No. You arrived with a second left on the timer I set."

My heart beats faster and faster as the idea sinks in. This old man is crazier than I thought. "Want to see me chew her out like I did to you?" I shrug, "Sure." He whacks my shoulder hard, "No shrugging." I rub it as he starts slapping my hand lightly with the ruler repeatedly, "I hate you." He sets down the ruler and laughs lightly, "I love me too." I see her on the cameras. How does he follow her movements with the cameras? The monitors switch just to follow her. He goes to his computer, "Good move Lasal! But you must not get checked in the first place. I've already won!" A pleasant voice comes from his computer, "Yeah. You're smart." It suddenly turns raspy, "Screw you! I'm going to rip you-" O'Malley laughs as his voice cuts off. "God, I love this job."