The hanger bay was in the second to last ring and had just enough gravity to keep Fiolas in his chair. It was a huge room that allowed the ships to fly in and land in their designated areas with a command center built into the upper floor overlooking all the scouting and research vessels. The Velos was near the back towards the main door people visited the hangar bay through. It was a ship built for speed and accuracy, it was Zayd Runslo's baby. Keisha had often seen him working on it, but there had been no chance for it to be used yet.

Keisha was busy doing pre-flight checks when Dr. Mirlaj joined her on the ship. She had a small overnight bag despite the trip taking several weeks. Keisha eyed the bag and she simply shrugged back. Keisha gave a short laugh, "That's a pretty small bag for such a long trip."

"I had to make allowances for the tech I wanted to bring along. While cargo weight doesn't matter so much while we're in space, who knows what take-off conditions will be when we leave the Icarus. We may be jettisoning a bunch of things before the end." She strapped her bag down in the main cabin, "You can call me Mina by the way. Three weeks is much too long to be so formal, and this ship is much too small to be so formal." The main cabin consisted of four bunks and a bathroom. The four of them would never be out of arm's length of one another.

"Ok, Mina." Keisha smiled at her. "Thanks."

"I know it's none of my business, but I couldn't help but overhear you in the med bay." She took a quick glance around to make sure no one was around. "You know, I was in love once."

"In love?" the blood drained from Keisha's face.

"Oh, Shipmaster Brakas. I didn't need to overhear the two of you in order to know that you love each other." She rolled her eyes at her and smiled. Keisha wanted to crawl inside a hole rather than talk about this. "Let me tell you a story. My love was a bold Spaniard from Earth and we met on Chronos. We had just started our biology internships at the same research facility. We were young and fresh out of school, full of ideas of changing the galaxy. Have you ever been to Chronos?"

"No, I was born on Klokos and my family was from Earth. They went back to Earth shortly after I left for Klokos II." She said.

"Ah, they must have been considered as rebels if they were from Earth. They're not as interested in colonizing as they once were." She smiled at her. "Chronos is beautiful. We spent days watching a blue star set over the green waters. They have triple moons and the waves on Chronos are simultaneously stunning and terrifying. The two of us did everything together, we researched, we laughed, we argued. We had everything during those days." She sighed as though for just a moment she was back there.

"What happened?" Keisha asked.

"One night he went for a walk by himself on the beach. It was one of our favorite things to do, only I had worked a long day and told him I was too tired. So he went by himself. The one time, I let him go by himself." She said the last part more to herself than to Keisha, "When he didn't come back within the hour I got nervous and tracked him to the little cove we liked to watch the crabustaceans in. He never did make it home."

She shook her head. "To this day I wonder if I had gone on that walk with him maybe I would have seen that sneaker wave and saved him or gotten help in time. Maybe I would have been swept out to sea instead of him. Maybe we would still be together on the bottom of the ocean. I was a complete wreck for years.

"Everyone told me that with the height of the waves that happen on Chronos, there would have been nothing I could do. Everyone said it wasn't my fault. You know what I think?" She had a strange grin on her face.

"What?" Keisha stopped what she was doing.

"I think they're full of shit." She barked out a laugh. Keisha wasn't entirely sure how stable this woman was.

"Ok. Well, thanks for that story." Keisha took a deep breath and tried to get back to what she was doing. Dr. Mirlaj wasn't taking the hint though.

"That's not the end of my story though." She said. "Do you know what brought me back from the edge of despair?"

"What?" Keisha asked.

"Captain Anna Katopodis." She raised her eyebrow. Keisha stopped what she was doing and sat on the floor of the Velos and looked at her.

"The Captain? You knew her before this mission?" Keisha asked.

"She approached me with a puzzle that led to the dissertation that gave me the title of being a chrono-biologist. She is a brilliant woman, but completely ruthless when it comes to what she wants."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"What was the puzzle she gave you?" Keisha asked.

Mina Mirlaj just tapped the side of her nose and said, "That my dear, is classified." With that, she got up and started heading for the door.

"Wait, that's it? She gave you a puzzle and you stopped being a wreck from the guilt you felt? Are you saying I just need a good puzzle to stop feeling bad?" Keisha stood up to and they were facing each other.

"She gave me much more than a puzzle, Pilot Brakas. She gave me a chance of redemption." She smiled at Keisha and turned to walk down the ramp back into the hangar bay, "Perhaps," She stopped and turned her head, "Perhaps, you can find your own redemption, so you can live with yourself again." With that Mina walked out of the ship and left Keisha to think about what she had said.

Keisha looked out the door to see Fiolas up in the command center for the hangar, showing Dr. Sturletto something on a screen. I should say something to him before I go. It's just another coward's way out to ignore him until we go. She got up and walked off the ship towards the stairs to the command center. The automatic doors made it impossible to sneak into the room, so she walked directly over to Fiolas and Sturletto and coughed slightly. Fiolas looked up at her and smiled.

"Dr. Sturletto, I think we're good here. May the stars be with you." The two of them shook hands, "Don't mess it up."

Dr. Sturletto's face went a little green and he looked at Keisha and just nodded, "As the senior officer here, I should be saying that to you."

"As the one who figured this out in time to do something about it, I'll say whatever I want." Fiolas let go of Dr. Sturletto and shouted out, "Please give us the room." Personnel filed out of the command deck. Keisha was surprised to see how everyone was responding to him when she noticed he was dressed in gray with golden accents, which meant he had risen to the rank of a commanding officer within the span of a few hours. Even if they had no idea what this mission was all about they knew he was not to be taken lightly.

"Nice greys," She fingered the golden accent on his front chest pocket. "It suits you."

"Thanks," He smiled. "Keisha, I need to tell you something,"

"I have something to say too," Keisha said. "I'm sorry Fiolas. I'm sorry I'm leaving you again. I know you don't understand, and I'm sorry I can't explain it to you very well, but you deserve someone who can be brave and not run away when things get hard. I need to do this mission if for nothing else than to prove to myself I'm not a coward. If there's a chance I can save you, all the better."

He grabbed her hand, "Keisha, you are one of the bravest souls I've ever met. You saved me over and over again down there. You were put in an impossible situation, if you had charged that thing, then and there, you probably would have just gotten yourself killed. Then neither of us would be here. You did the right thing, you did the smart thing. Stop punishing yourself for it."

He looked pleadingly in her eyes and she broke her gaze away. "Listen, this is important and we don't have much time before you go. I think Andromeda is in trouble somehow. I came across some files while working with the navigation, and she's involved. Possibly, she's the one who got us into this mess. I don't know how, but I started looking around, and she's got her fingerprints all over this ship. She's not a crewmember so I don't know how she's accessing all these files, but she is."

"How do you know? She doesn't have an electronic signature or anything." Keisha asked. The AI automatically marked everything different personnel did on the computers and made a complete electronic signature for each person. Keisha and Fiolas had taken over personnel signatures that had failed to board on time before the Pytheas left.

"Every coder has their own flair, if you will, a certain way they do things. When Andromeda told me she had changed course to correct for the anomaly, it told me what to look for. She has a style, and now that I know to look for it, I'm seeing it everywhere. She has to be hacking in somehow and changing things. I don't know how, but she's entangled in everything. The thing is, everything she does seems to be good, it benefits the crew somehow. I can't wrap my head around it. That's why I didn't mention her at the meeting because I knew it would put a target on her back. Something is going on here, and it centers around her."

He bit his bottom lip like he always did when he was working out a problem. "I know you two are close, and I'll keep my eye on her while you're gone. In some ways, I wish she was going with you. She's brilliant Keish. I've never met anyone even close to her level of intelligence."

"I know she's special Fiolas. Thank you for keeping an eye on her. I think she's very lonely, her mother practically acts as though she doesn't exist. No one acknowledges her or says 'hi' to her in the hallways. I worry about her. Someone that intelligent usually doesn't take to being ignored very well."

"I agree. I'll look out for her as much as I can." he paused. "Keisha. I don't want you to go."

"I know, but I need to do this. I need redemption I think." She got to one knee to be able to speak with him eye to eye.

"Don't do anything too crazy Keish. One of the things I admire about you is your ability to solve puzzles. You take it one step at a time, one problem at a time, and think it through. Don't let redemption come at the price of your life." He stroked her cheek.

She tried to let go of his hand. "Time to go I think."

He pulled her close and he held her tightly, "Come back to me Keish. We may have met under the most stressful situation possible, but I would have chosen to be with you regardless. I know you could choose almost anyone on this ship to be with, but when you get back, choose me. I don't need my legs, I need you." He turned their hug into a passionate kiss.

"I will come back to you Fiolas. I'll come back a woman worthy of you. I promise." Keisha kissed his cheek and then stood up and walked out of the command deck and down the stairs. She was breathing hard and trying to compose herself before she reached the floor of the hangar bay. Zayd Runslo stood at the ship and averted his gaze from where they had been talking. His face was stony and he walked into the ship to finish pre-flight.