Dean sat at the mess hall table, tapping absentmindedly on a pad as he looked over his list of events. He looked up in surprise to see everyone but their most recent member sitting around staring at him. He smiled and tried to reassure them but Gavin cut him off, “You have been staring at that thing for three days and won’t tell anyone why you put that stuff on there. Spill.”

Dean looked to Katsi for support but she just looked sad. Glancing quickly to Anisa he found the kind of laser focus that even he couldn’t endure. Tak’Nasi wasn’t much better as her eyes dissected every micro expression. He looked over at their newest member who was still working at the kitchen counter and he simply gave a thumbs up. Returning to Gavin’s interrogation he sighed and explained, “I’m concerned that someone knows more than than they should. And that this person is targeting me specifically. Tactically, it would make sense, but how?”

Tak took the pad from him, looking over his documentation as Anisa confirmed, “You think someone with an axe to grind is ignoring us and going after you?”

Dean sighed and shook his head, Tak eventually explaining, “Axe might not be necessary. All of these are threats he has survived before. Maybe not this way, but they are all tactics he has overcome, according to his notes.”

Katsi exclaimed, “You knew about all of this stuff?!”

Anisa held her head as Gavin explained, “He probably didn’t expect them to happen so close together.”

Dean nodded and clarified, “It’s just a gut feeling I’ve been ignoring. I mean I’m basically impossible to kill. I went three days in the vacuum of space without a suit and I made a full recovery.” Having reassured them he stated, “But someone is trying to test that. They sent the most difficult and traumatic enemy they could to cut me off at the Ziegfried within twenty four hours of my return. They infected me with a lethal and rare plague, and when the purple one had to fight me, she eventually tried to strangle me. These are some of the most effective ways to try and take me out of commission.”

Katsi sighed, “So someone is feeding them information on you.” She tapped the table and asked, “Are they the same person who told them where the Ziegfried would be taking off from?”

Dean nodded in confirmation and everyone was quiet for a moment. Anisa grumbled something and held her head. Tak seemed worried, but she motioned her quiet and said, “My gut says that they are trying to prove something. Either that we aren’t the only ones with memories of before or…”

Dean sighed, “Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. I think they are trying to show everyone that I’m a bigger threat than they are giving credit. If that’s true, we might end up with the whole empire dogging our heels and I don’t feel you guys are ready for that yet.” They looked like they wanted to disagree but no one could find a good argument for it. He nodded, “Usually I could get away with pretending to be a smaller fish. But without Cosmic Patrol on my side and the other two missing, I don’t know if I can keep doing that.”

Katsi stood up with force. “That’s fine. We have the most powerful ship in the cosmos and you are practically indestructible. Let them fight us so everyone else can be safe.”

Gavin shook his head, already seeing Dean’s concern. “He is just one guy. He can hold off an army but I don’t think he can defeat one and if they ever got their hands on this ship, who knows how much damage they would do.”

Tak asked, “You said you used to be a detective in the Cosmic Patrol, right?” Dean nodded, seeming to already be thinking what she was. To confirm, she stated, “If you turned yourself in to the Cosmic Patrol, they might be willing to take you back.”

Katsi seemed upset but Gavin nodded, “She’s not wrong. It’s a thin mask that hides how much they hate cooperating with the Falos occupations. Given that they can’t execute you even if they wanted to and the goodwill of what few people remember you, you might be able to help from the inside.

Katsi smacked the table, “We need him to run the engine room. Without the Geo Stone the repair drones can’t maintain it!”

Dean nodded, leaning back in his chair, “I would leave it here. I don’t want to deliver the Geo Stone into their hands anyway. Who knows who could walk out of the evidence locker with that thing.” Katsi was clearly growing more and more frustrated with everyone but Dean put a hand on her shoulder. “Kat, it’s going to be okay.” She shrugged him off and walked out of the mess hall.

Anisa stood to chase but Gavin held her back, “We are losing the most reassuring and relatable meat shield I have ever met for tactical reasons. She isn’t-“ Anisa pulled her hand free, punched Gavin in the head and went after her sister. He sighed and completed, “A soldier…”

Tak apologized, “She has some issues I’m still working with her on. Shawn’s advice helped but-“

Dean’s hand slammed down on her shoulder. His head turned slowly towards Tak, his eyes filled with concerned intensity and disbelief. “Who?”

Tak realized when she looked at Gavin’s utterly clueless expression that she didn’t share what she had done. She stammered, “I, uh. I, um, p-put my hand in the engine.” The silence was deafening. Dean stared at her as if confirming she had just said that. She spoke a hurried explanation, “Anisa was having a breakdown and I didn’t know what to do so I figured if she could talk through the Geo Stone-“

Dean smiled an eerie smile and his eyes got distant. He patted her gently and reassuringly, which gave her the inverse sensation, and he walked towards the elevators with purpose. Gavin, concern on his face for both her and their engineer, left to follow him and make whatever efforts he could to keep the situation contained.

Now alone at the table, Tak sat quietly. Eventually, the chef came to join her with some food from his homeland. He wrote down that it was nice to have variety again. She spoke to him in his native tongue, hoping it would help him recover his speech, “I know your armor is important to you, but I would like to help you communicate better with the crew.”

He nodded and wrote down that with tensions as high as they were, it wouldn’t hurt for him to make himself more known. That the dead feel no insult, their power only in memory. She smiled at his oddly reassuring statement and gestured for him to follow as they made their way to the medbay.