Ash was normally a very friendly and positive man despite his lonely former profession, his divorce, and his lack of contact with Laura as she grew older. That’s why when he left his quarters after watching the holographic message from Kate’s father, she and Jayden knew immediately that something was wrong.
”Ash what happened? What did Charlie say?” Kate asked as she sat down with Jayden at the tiny kitchen table, obvious concern in her eyes. There were very few minor problems when you lived in a tin can that was flying through space on autopilot. Ash followed and cleared his throat.
“We uh- we were lied to about this job. It was for a good reason, but um- I’m really not sure how to tell you this. Charlie are you able to play the audio from Mr. Young?”
“Yes Captain. Give me a moment to isolate it and I’m done.”
”What?”
”I was already done before I finished the sentence but you couldn’t have known that so I had to tell you.”
Ash nodded in appreciation. “This won’t be easy to hear, but I believe that it’s the truth. If it’s not, then your dad has a really weird sense of humor Kate.” Ash said. He was staring blankly at his meatloaf and mashed potatoes as he spoke.
”I don’t think he has one at all Ash.” Kate said.
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"Well lets get to it." Ash said, lifting the prybar that he had found in the tool room. This was only the second or third time that he had visited the Solent's considerable cargo hold. He hadn't loaded it himself, he merely looked over the paperwork and took a peek inside to make sure everything seemed okay. This time he had a reason and it was going to be hard work. The so called mining supplies were in large wooden crates that were nailed shut and sitting on their own pallets for easy unloading. "Jay, how big would this jump drive be? These boxes are all pretty small to be carrying an engine for a starship."
"I honestly don't know, I've never seen one before. This must have been secret squirrel shit."
"Captain, the jump drive isn't actually an engine itself, it's a modification for both the engine and myself in a way, think of it as a new computer system." The always present and always listening Charlie said.
"Okay, here's what we'll do. We start on the left wall and pop everything open. We figure out what is empty and what has something in it and we organize them. empty gets collapsed to the right wall, full stays to the left. Kate you're on duty but can you help us get started?"
"Sure, I'll follow behind you and mark them with lipstick after you crack the top. Jay can move them." She said with a wink.
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"Here it is, right Charlie?" Jayden yelled over the sound of splintering wood and the grunting of a middle aged man who was out of breath.
"Yes Mr. Cross, that's it. Please take it to the engine room so we can get started immediately."
"Mr. Cross? Why so formal."
There was no answer even though everyone knew that she couldn't help but overhear.
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"Ash, did you see this?" Kate called out from the right side of the cargo bay.
"What is it?"
"You had better take a look. I thought this one was empty too until I tried to move it. It's way too heavy to be."
Ash tried to move the pallet and agreed. "Yeah there's something in here, watch out, let me rip the nails out of these walls." He said and started pulling the crate apart.
Inside the two layers of wall there were white boxes stuffed into every inch of open space. Ash pulled down one of the walls as the boxes tumbled out, spilling, and their contents clinked off of the metal flooring. His eyes went wide. "Bullets! Oh my god. There's probably a hundred boxes in this crate."
"Ash look, the floor panel isn't actually the bottom." Kate said, pointing to a gap between the bottom of the crate and he floor boards.
Ash stuck his prybar in the empty space and pulled with all of his remaining strength until if finally gave way. The secret area held three old earth rifles. AK-47's to be exact or some variant of that. Ash had seen them in some of the old earth movies that Charlie had stored in her database. "Jay go ahead and work on the jump drive with Charlie, we need to look closer at these crates." Ash said, wiping the sweat from his brow and staring up at the lights in the ceiling but he found no button to make things easier.
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"Charlie, you never answered me. Why did you call me Mr. Cross in front of the others?"
"Two reasons. I didn't want to seem too familiar with one member of the crew over the others. Also I feel... I feel guilty."
"Guilty? How so?" Jayden said as he opened the large box that contained the hardware for modifying the engines to fold space. His hands were shaking. This must have cost millions of credits, or had it? It was alien tech after all. Did they just supply the first humans on Dottier with it?
"I feel as though I've lied to you. In all of the times we've talked through the night, I never mentioned anything about the Sharlah or what happened to Earth. I don't think I lied. I think the information was blocked until we reached a certain time or place in the trip to Aegir and Ingrid. It was like I suddenly knew everything and I could access abilities and processing power that I never had before."
"It's ok Charlie, I don't think I would have wanted to know before we left. There are people that I love on Dottir. I couldn't have left them knowing what I know now. None of us could have. That's why Mr. Young hid everything until now. We have no choice but to try to help from out here."
"Why didn't he send an army instead of three people?"
"I think three people would be easier to keep alive. Less food, water, more mobile. Plus if we do find some way to contact other races, it won't be as threatening. People would have noticed an army leaving the planet and asked questions too. I don't know if we can do anything honestly. He probably just wanted to get Kate off world. They must be pretty bad if he was that scared."
"They are. I can show you."
Jayden was opening and organizing the various parts by size and shape but he stopped cold. "What do you mean?"
"I have footage from the invasion of Earth, I can show you the Sharlah."
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“Whoa." Jayden gasped.
"Right?" Ash said as Jayden stood in the doorway of the cargo hold. His eyes wide and his mouth open. Against the right wall stood three blue suits of what looked like armor or at least beefed up environmental suits. He could see the oxygen tanks attached to the back of each one and a number of spares still in an open crate behind them. Next to that was a crate with the rifles, ammo, magazines, and grenades, as well as first aid supplies.
"What are we supposed to do with this stuff?" He asked, shaking his head.
"Well I'm not sure but there is an old saying. 'I'd rather be caught with it than be caught without it.' Mr. Young stashed all of this here for us, I would assume just in case we need it." Ash said, sweeping up the wood scraps and packing material and tossing them into an empty crate on the left.
"We should bring those up to the main deck. If we need oxygen or guns, it's probably an emergency." Jayden said, rubbing his hand down the soft yet hard plates built into the suit.
"You're the idea guy. I like that." Ash said and pointed at him.
It took all afternoon to stow away the supplies that they had found. Along with everything else there was what looked like years worth of food and drink as well as water filters to recycle contaminated water or waste. The environmental suits were clearly sized for each of them, so there was no need to claim one. They strapped them all in a line against the wall near the kitchen and each claimed all the armaments that they could store in their quarters. Charlie told them she could teach a few basic first aid classes so that they could make use of the medical supplies but she insisted on showing them the footage from Earth as soon as possible.