Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies 5

Chapter 5

"The doors are locked. Someone must have hacked into the systems," Anne states.

Captain Kane looks over at her, "Can you overwrite it?"

Anne shakes her head, "I can reset it. But that would take hours."

Silence falls over the room. Tick. Tick. Tick. The constant tick is getting to me.

"The ticking is coming from over here..." Royce states.

We all head to where Royce is standing. The look on his face when we get close lets us know just how serious this situation is. Royce is sweating bullets and when I get close I can understand why. Sure enough there is this device on the shuttle with a glowing red dot. It is small. It's about the size of a cable television set back home.

It's ticking...

"Are we going to die?" Trucker asks me.

I don't know why he's asking me. I don't know why I'm the one that pops up into his head. I feel like I owe him some sort of comfort though. I walk over to him and hug him as tight as I can. My arms surround the kid. He should be so much more mature than he is. He should be so much braver than he is. He isn't. He is just Trucker. He's as emotional as ever and it's OK.

"No we aren't," I let him know.

For a moment we all believe we are going to die and there is a connection that forms in this moment between everyone. Our eyes connect. There is sadness and eagerness. An Upsetter had been released from captivity on the space station and had strapped bombs to each of the shuttles. I wondered how the Upsetter got the bombs. Did he find them aboard? Did he build them? This was a race of aliens that were capable of destroying an entire planet. They had no problem destroying several shuttles.

The ticking continues. The feeling of doom is all around us. Idris panics more after each moment passes. It's clear he doesn't know how to handle moments of crisis. Luckily we have Captain Kane there putting on a brave face.

"Don't lie to him," Idris tells me damn near spitting it out.

All I hear is tick, tick, tick.

And I think that maybe I'm lying to Trucker. I'm holding this fucking boy in my arms and lying dead to his face. Maybe Idris is right. We were going to die and there is nothing we can do.

"No he isn't," Anne says, "Captain Kane, are there any tools on board?"

"Why?"

"These are one of the bombs from the space station. It must have been stolen. I can disarm it..."

"Are you serious?" Cassie asks her.

"My father wanted me prepared for anything," Anne says.

We all look at each other confused. Anne knew a lot of shit but why the fuck would Anne know how to disarm the bombs on the space station?

We watch as Kane gets the tools for Anne. We all stand around waiting for Anne but Kane doesn't seem to have that in mind.

Kane looks at the rest of us.

"The rest of you need to go to the storage room," Kane explains, "If this thing explodes you may be able to survive."

"What about you?" Cassie asks.

"I'm staying with Anne," Kane responds, "I'm Captain of the shuttle. If it goes down then I go down."

"I'm staying too," Royce says looking at Anne.

"Me too," I respond, "We stay together."

I get close to the Captain. His eyes look over at me. It shouldn't be a personal moment. He shouldn't show emotion but right now Kane grabs my hand in front of all of these people. He looks me deep in my eyes and for that moment I see emotion in his eyes. I wonder what that emotion meant. I wonder why he wasn't afraid to grab my hand in front of all of these people. Then I look to my right and I notice Royce hugging Anne. Was it the same sort of emotion that Royce had towards Anne? Was it all personal?

"We don't have a lot of time," Idris tells me.

"He's right," Kane says, "It's an order. Anne and I will stay behind."

"No..." Royce responds.

"Private Powell..." Kane says to me.

I know why Kane is saying my name. I know why he releases my hand. He needs me at this moment to control Royce. Royce is crying for a moment. I'm not sure why at first but I see how he is clinging to Anne.

I nod at Katashi. He knows what I mean to. There is no need to say anything. Together we grab Royce hard enough to pry him from Anne.

"Come on Royce. She's going to be OK," I tell him.

We are able to pull Royce away from Anne and we head to the storage room of the shuttle and lock ourselves in. The storage room is full of food supplies, water and comfort items. Supposedly there is enough in there to last 30 days. Right now these supplies would be our only isolation from a blast if that thing explodes. Surprisingly in that room Royce is the one breaking down and even more surprising is that emotional Trucker is comforting him.

Idris paces back and forth at that moment as time passes. Katashi listens at the door to see if he can hear the ticking from back here. Cassie bites her fingernails. Jonathan stares blankly at the walls not showing any emotion or really saying a word at all.

"She'll be OK," I tell Royce.

He just shakes nervously. Trucker puts his hand on his head. Truth is I want to be like Royce. I want to cling onto Kane the same way that he clings onto Anne. I wanted to have hugged Kane the way that Royce hugged Anne. I couldn't though. I couldn't show the same emotion that they showed. All I got to do was hold his hand for a quick second or two.

Royce's reply haunts me, "I should have told her how I felt about her. I was just so fucking shy man. How many times did we flirt? How many times did I brush my fingers on her hoping that she'd notice? How many times did I let my gaze linger for a little too long? I'm a fucking pussy. That's what I am. I should have told her."

I am standing in that room and I lean up against the shelves that are lined with cans of food. I want to express that same regret but I am not even allowed to. I can't even tell my fucking friends what I want to tell them about Kane. All I feel at that moment is regret as well. There is so much fucking regret.

"You'll have another chance," Katashi says.

"Yeah. And don't waste it," Cassie says putting up a brave smirk, "Make sure you give her the dick when you get the chance."

We laugh. Even Royce puts on a smirk. Leave it up to Cassie to put everyone back in a good mood using her vulgarity. The moment of levity is sweeping however. The second passes and Idris is back to pacing. Katashi goes back to listening. Trucker goes back to comforting Royce. I go back to thinking silently about all the things that I should have told Kane when I had the chance.

A chance I'll probably never have.

1 minute passes. Two minutes.

"Is it still ticking?" Idris asks nervously...

He isn't helping. Idris was in a position of leadership now. He was the executive officer. Him pacing was only making things worse. If Kane was back here I knew he would have on his brave face. He'd look all sexy in his captain's outfit trying to make everyone think he was a lot older than he actually was. He'd lead by example. Idris was no Chad Kane though.

I want to tell him to stop the fucking pacing and stop making everyone nervous but I know that will just start another fight.

"I don't know," Katashi responds sighing a little bit, "I always thought that I was important for some reason. Like I was meant for something more."

I laugh, "Really?"

"I've had that feeling too," Royce responds.

It's a weird feeling. It's an even weirder thing to say and share with the group at a moment like this. It's almost like they are saying they aren't meant to die. I guess a lot of people feel that way. They feel as though they can escape death or that somehow they are the exception to it.

I just nod and let them think what they want. It didn't matter. Right now they were all facing just how human they are.

Death would come to all of us.

Sooner or later. God would punch our fucking clocks and we'd all go to heaven. Hopefully...

"Somethings happening!" Katashi says.

"Fuck...this is it!" Idris screams at the top of his lungs.

My heart jumps when Idris says that, but in that same moment we both realize that wasn't what Katashi was talking about. Idris was over exaggerating once again.

The door is opening and Captain Kane walks into the storage room.

He has a smile on his face.

"The bomb is disarmed."

~

We come outside the shuttle. That is where we see the destruction. The hangar which was lined with hundreds of shuttles has smoke everywhere and there is so much destruction all around us. So many of the shuttles have been destroyed. That meant even more death. It seems like a crew is out there trying to fight the fires now but I can only imagine how much damage has been done.

We are all standing there watching the outcome of the Upsetter sabotage in awe. It's all hard to believe that one alien was capable of doing all of this. Still we are all there watching as though confused except Captain Kane who is back on the shuttle getting updates from the Admiral on what is going on.

"The Captain wanted to see you," Trucker says to me.

"Me?"

"Yeah, back on the shuttle," Trucker tells me.

I head back to the shuttle. I'm nervous to leave the others. I'm nervous every time I leave my friends now as though thinking something might happen to them. Maybe it is the connection that we are forming. It wasn't just a crew to me anymore. These were people that I had survived with. I had survived the Upsetting and an attack on the shuttles with these people.

I find Kane sitting on his captain's chair. He leans back in the chair. His uniform is unbuttoned and he slouches over in a way that he normally doesn't sit. This isn't Captain Kane right now. This is Chad.

"The admirals men were able to disarm bombs on half the ships. We are the only shuttle that was able to disarm their own bomb. Thank God."

He says this out of no where as though I asked for an update. It's clear he's reading the updates as they come in making sure that he knows everything that is going on. He was still in Captain's mode a little bit even though he looked worn out.

"Thank God and thank Anne," I laugh.

"True. Still. Almost half the ships are gone. The Admiral was able to send engineers to disarm the bombs but we lost half the shuttles. Half the motherfucking shuttles," he tells me.

"Even worse than that we lost half the people we have left," I remind him.

What was the point of shuttles if we lost people? More humans were dead. There weren't a lot of us left to begin with.

"You're right," he realizes, "I'm sorry."

"It's OK."

"No it's not," he responds getting up at that moment, "I'm so stuck in saving humanity that I sometimes forget about my humanity. It's not OK. When you guys needed me the most I blanked out."

I remember Kane being unresponsive when he first found out about the sabotage. I remember how he just blanked out and I remember how I was the only one or thing that could bring him back to life.

I smile thinking about it, "It made you human. There's nothing wrong with that. We've all cried during this ..."

"And aren't done yet," he finishes before getting up, "Would you like to know what I was thinking about when I found out about the sabotage?"

"I could only imagine all the things that ran through your head."

"No. It was just one," he tells me, "Just you."

"Me?"

"Just you. There were a million thoughts but all of them were of you. Why is that?"

I can only smile.

"A million thoughts though, Captain Kane? No wonder you were unresponsive. A million is a lot," I respond.

"A million thoughts about you isn't nearly enough. A million thoughts about all the things I should have said to you. A million thoughts of all the ways I should have made you feel like you were worth it. A million thoughts of all the kisses I should have given you. Like this one..."

Chad walks up to me at that moment and kisses me. It takes my breath away literally. There is so much fucking warmth when he wraps my body around me. With all the destruction that went on last night all that mattered was that I was here with him. Our world was getting so much smaller and yet the universe was getting so much bigger when he pushes his tongue into my mouth. He grabs me on the back of my head and holds me there. We breathe in together. A violent emotion takes over my body. I'm tearing up when he does it.

It's as though we haven't kissed enough.

Chad takes off his shirt. Maybe I rip it off of him. I don't remember. Either way it's gone and then his pants are to his ankles. I look at him. I look at this perfect man. He's so handsome. His face is so beautiful. His body is so toned. His abs are chiseled like a stone sculpture. His chest look like inflated muscle. His shoulders are broad and sturdy like an ox. His dick is hard waiting for me to interact with him. Everything on him is so perfect as though someone placed him in this world intentionally to be adored in every way. He is powerful in every way except one. His eyes.

Chad's eyes are so vulnerable.

"Only you," he tells me.

That's all he says and he doesn't finish his thought but I wonder if that is enough. I wonder so much right now about how much enough is. Would the slight attention he gives me be enough for me? Would the silent smile when no one was looking be enough? Would his face be enough? Would it be enough to know a man was falling for me and not being able to show it?

He turns me around and has me on the Captain's panel. I'm pressing buttons on the panel and I swear the Heavenly shuttle moves a little bit because of it. My pants fall down as well and within seconds Chad is inside of me.

"Make love to me," I tell him.

He complies, entering in me using nothing but his spit. It's not enough lube and he can't get inside of me but we are desperate enough to try anyway. He attempts to get deep but I am far too tight. Still for that moment he's in me enough and that's what I wanted.

He turns and kisses me as he lets a few inches inside of me. Just enough for this to be emotional.

It hurts. I squirm in pain. I don't care though.

I feel so happy at that moment. There is happiness and it's true and emotional. He does it for a long moment but doesn't nut. We don't have enough time. It's not him either. It's me. I pull away from him.

"We should be outside..."

"I want to be in here with you. I just want to be with you," he responds.

He tries to put his dick back inside of me. It's dripping with precum. His eyes are what really gets me though. His body may want me but his eyes need me right now.

"Your crew needs you," I tell him, "I may need Chad but your crew needs a Captain right now more than ever."

Captain Kane sighs deeply, "Does that mean you'll wait for me?"

I'm not sure how long Captain Kane means when he says that. Does he mean I'll wait until the next time he brushes his hand past mine secretly? Does he want me to wait until a night where he sneaks into my room when no one is watching me? Does he want me to wait until we find another planet where we are safe from the alien Upsetters and everything is back to normal and we won't have to hide? I don't know the answer to any of these questions and it doesn't matter.

"I'll wait for no matter how long it takes," I tell him.

Captain Kane nods and dresses as though feeling satisfied with that. We get dressed just in time too because the crew comes back aboard the ship. Kane takes a few steps away from me at that moment. I can tell that he doesn't want to but he has to. He has to act like we are just having a normal conversation. He can't break protocol no matter how much it hurts.

Royce and Anne are holding hands when they get back onboard. Kane stares at their hands. I wonder what is on his mind when he stares at their hands but I know I don't have to think long. He wishes that he could be holding my hand the way they are holding hands.

"I'm sorry," Royce says pulling away from Anne when he notices Kane's stares.

"No, it's OK," Kane responds, "For today it's OK."

I smile. At least Royce and Anne could be open about their relationship even if Kane and I couldn't be open about whatever we had going on. I feel so alone at that moment but luckily Katashi walks over to me and smacks me on my butt making me laugh a little bit. Cassie walks over from the other side and puts her arm over my shoulder.

"Sir...the crew has been talking," Royce tells him.

Chad and I look at one another. Did they know about us? Is that what they were talking about?

It's Anne who finishes Royce's statement, "We were thinking we should still do the mission."

"Are you serious?" Kane asks, "The explosions just happened. All of the surviving crews are docked. No one is going anywhere today. The mission is cancelled. "

"We're tired of crying," Trucker says.

"We are all tired of seeing you cry," Cassie teases Trucker.

Trucker laughs, "I want to see the stars...up close and personal. That would make me smile."

Katashi nods at that moment, "I think we should do this for humanity. We need a victory."

"The chances of one ship going out there one time and finding Earth are next to nothing," the Captain lets us know.

I smile, "Let's be honest, Captain Kane. The odds of a hundred ships going out into the Universe and finding a 2nd Earth is next to nothing as well. This has never been about odds though. This has always been about hope. Leaving now would be symbolic. Not just for us...but for the survivors of the hangar attack. It would be give us hope."

Kane looks at me hard. Too hard. I have to stare away and break the stare before anyone notices just how hard he stares at me.

I can hear him audibly sigh and it makes me smile knowing it's killing him as much as me to act like there is nothing going on between us.

I stare at the floor of the Heavenly.

"They won't let us leave, but...the Heavenly has controls that can open up the airlock. So we would be able to leave even without the Admirals consent..." Captain Kane thinks out loud, "It would be breaking orders and I'd probably be written up. Still I haven't gotten a direct order saying that the mission was cancelled. So I can argue it."

"Are you saying what we think you are saying?" Cassie asks with her usual sly seductive grin.

Captain Kane looks at the crew. Slowly, a smile crosses his head.

"Everyone to your stations. Let's see what this piece of metal can do."

By the time he says that he gets an explosion of "Yes, Captain" from every last one of us. I say the same and I'm proud of Captain Kane. For once he was breaking rank and I was happy to see it. As I walk past him my fingers brush past him a little bit. He doesn't turn to me but his smile gets wider. He flashes his white teeth and his eyes sparkle up. I watch as he bites the side of his lip and I want nothing more than to walk over and suck on that lip of his.

I sit at the station alone. Lucky is there and hopefully there wasn't a lot of debris that needed to be cleared or else we'd probably be fucked in space. Regardless of all of that we had hope and we had each other.

We all look at Captain Kane.

"Start the engines," he directs Katashi and Royce.

At that moment we do what probably no one else in the hangar expects. We start the engines and we leave the Pioneer.

~

The planet is beautiful. We stare into the large universe together on miniature observation deck of the Heavenly. From here we can see the planet. It's large and we are floating nearby.

It took a day and half to get to the planet. The Heavenly was fast. Exceptionally fast. We are lucky that the government had these shuttles created without general knowledge of the planet. Shuttles able to move faster than anything normal people were aware of. We had the technology to expand the galaxy. Maybe humanity was more prepared than we thought. Maybe there was hope after all...

We have a counter letting us know the next time that the Pioneer is going to do an FTL jump so it's OK. We have more than enough time to see this planet.

"This has to be it. See. Hope," Trucker says, "This has to be the 2nd Earth."

I have to admit that the planet looks like Earth. There is blue. Blue meant water. Trucker has lead everyone to the small observation deck. Now that we are close enough we could read certain statistics about the planet.

"Don't get your hopes up, Trucker," Idris lets him know.

Idris is right but it's cute to see Trucker's eyes get bright like that. The planet is so fucking beautiful. Regardless of what we found out about it I was just amazed by how Earth-like it looked.

"Captain Kane...it looks just like Earth," Trucker says, "It has to be habitable right?"

Captain Kane smiles back at Trucker, "All the planets that we are being sent to have a chance of being 2nd Earth. We are definitely in a habitable zone. This planet definitely is made of up rocks and has water. There are other factors though like the planet's bulk composition, orbital properties, atmosphere, and potential chemical interactions."

"This is it," Trucker says, "I know it is..."

"Are we going to land?" I ask Captain Kane.

I make the request more for Trucker than myself. It would be nice for him to see what the planet looks like up close and personal. I'm yet to see him look excited about anything. The Pioneer had drained the life out of him. For once I want Trucker to be happy about something. Anything.

Unfortunately we are interrupted. Someone walks up from behind us and I know they are almost certainly going to shed some bad news. It's Cassie.

"There is no point," Cassie explains, "Jonathan just ran the numbers on the planet. Now that we are closer our computer can calculate the conditions of the planet."

"And your conclusions?" Captain Kane asks.

Cassie shakes her head, "Unfortunately the Heavenly's computer has deduced that the conditions cannot support life. The planet doesn't have the necessary conditions in place to hold an atmposphere, or even a protective layer of essential gases. Not only that, but the nearest star is unstable. The computer noticed scorched earth. There is no vegetation on the planet because once every year the closest star flares up burning up the planet completely..."

With her report Cassie returns to her station. Cassie has no emotion. She might be a little disappointed but she doesn't show it. The rest of us knew that the chances of this first mission being a success were tiny but for some reason Trucker has fooled himself to believe in some sort of miracle. Kane and I look at one another. He gives me a smile and a nod before he returns to the main room. I stay with Trucker. I know Kane wants me to comfort him.

"It's going to be OK, Trucker," I let him know, "There will be other planets..."

"I don't get it. It looks just like Earth."

We'd gone through enough simulations to know what constituted a habitable planet. Deep inside Trucker should have known that there was no way humanity could survive on this planet.

"There will be other planets," I explain to him, "The universe is a big place."

That is a blessing and a curse. The universe had a lot of planets. Way too many planets. Such a small chance of success.

Trucker's eyes stay big, "You're right. It's going to be the next one. It's going to be the next mission we go on. I can feel it. We are going to be the ones to find the next Earth. Do you feel it, Selah? The Heavenly is special. Isn't it?"

I look around. What was so special about the Heavenly? It looked exactly like every other shuttle in that hangar. The only difference is half of them were gone. Half the shuttles meant half the missions. That brought down our chances of finding a 2nd Earth even more.

"Yeah," I state, "Real special..."

I want to convince Trucker but he doesn't need any convincing. The teenage kid is completely convinced.

"We should head back to the Pioneer," Trucker said, "I'm excited for the next one. The next one is going to be it. I know it."

Trucker leaves. I look out at the planet. Trucker was right. From here it did look a lot like the Earth. There were so many factors though. So many factors that needed to be checked in order for a planet to be habitable. The odds were so low of finding a 2nd Earth.

I was the one who would need convincing.

As I walk back I notice Jonathan. He's still in the observation area. He's staring out of the window. He's not staring at the planet. He's just staring out into space.

"Johnny, you OK?"

Jonathan just stares out into the dark void of space. He doesn't respond. He doesn't move. He isn't admiring space or the stars like I would do from time to time. There is a different look on Jonathan's face. It is just like someone staring at something. It's almost like he's looking directly at something. But what is it?

"Johnny?"

No answer. None at all. Whatever he's looking at has all his attention. He barely blinks. He barely moves. He just stares.

I get back into the main room with everyone. Katashi and Royce have already put instructions into the computer to head back towards the Pioneer. Captain Kane is sitting in his chair. The others are slowly getting back to their stations.

"Johnny is acting weird," I announce to everyone.

"When doesn't he act weird?" Idris asks, "That kid freaks me the fuck out."

"No. It's different. It's like he's staring at something."

"He does that often, even on the Pioneer," Trucker says, "I'll go get him."

"No, leave him," Captain Kane orders, "He just needs his time. It's been hard on everyone. Some more than others. I'll get him before we dock back on the Pioneer so he can buckle up. This has been a long day. When we get back to the Pioneer I'll have the kitchen make everyone a special dinner. Just for us."

"That's what I'm talking about," Katashi responds, excited.

Captain Kane smiles, "Listen. I wanted to make an announcement. We've survived something today. We'll be surviving a lot more but we'll survive it together. Now that our families have been destroyed, we don't really have anyone to love and care about. A human needs someone to love and care for. They need a reason to keep going. We have to love and care for one another moving forward. Moving forward we are all family."

Captain's Kane voice is strong. When I look at him I look at a leader. The bond that he's talking about is already forming between each one of us. It's strong and it will only get stronger.

"Yes Captain," I state, winking at him.

~

We return to the Pioneer. There is no point in gazing at the planet no matter how beautiful it is. This would be the first of many missions. Probably twice as many after the attack on the shuttle hangar. When we get back all the destroyed ships have already been cleared out. The hangar isn't nearly as crowded as before. Then I notice something else. People are out in the hangar. People are out there waiting for us and they are doing something.

"What are they doing?" I ask.

"Looks from here like they are applauding," Royce says, "I could be wrong."

"No you're right," Captain Kane says, "They are applauding us. We brought hope like you guys said. We did the mission even though everyone was too upset to keep going. That means something to everyone..."

By the time we land I'm shocked by the reception. Hundreds of people are waiting for us. The loud cheer fills the room when we land. No one seems to expect it.

I'm a little embarrassed by the time we walk out into the hangar. I fade behind Cassie who is throwing her hair back seeming to almost love the attention. Honestly I hate it. I want to disappear somewhere. Anywhere. I could care less. I just feel fucking embarrassed.

By the time dinner times comes it is clear that we have become somewhat celebrities on the station. I think the space station just needed a reason to look up to someone. It's a part of humanity. They always needed an idol. I've hidden in my room until dinner time but luckily Anne comes to get me when it's time for Captain Kane's special dinner.

"We get to eat in a states room today," Anne responds.

"That's real nice."

"Seems like the Admiral is really happy that we completed the mission," Anne responds, "All the girls are talking about how sexy Captain Kane is. He's getting a lot of attention from the ladies: The sexy Captain who bravely led his crew on the mission right after the Upsetter attack. It's a big deal."

When we get to the states room I can see what she's talking about. Captain Kane is walking over to the states room and he has a group of admirers surrounding him in the hallway asking questions about the mission. Anne was right but she was wrong about one thing. It wasn't just girls. It was men as well. They were all over him.

I can't help but to get a little jealous as I walk past him and hear a part of his little story. He was the perfect face of hope. I can tell you that much. He had that handsome face and those broad shoulders. It was definitely someone you wanted to look up to.

We get into the states room and I sit in the chair immediately annoyed by the fact that Kane is out there getting attention.

"People still throwing their panties at the Captain?" Katashi asks when we walk in.

"Hell yeah," Anne responds.

The states room is nice. I had no idea that a grand room like this was on the Pioneer. There is a long table where everyone has been sitting. They must have been waiting for Captain Kane to finish entertaining his admiring group of fans.

"He might need some help," Idris states.

"Sit your horny ass down," Royce responds, "I'll get the Captain."

I sit down annoyed and irritated when Royce leaves to go get him. Idris seems to love the attention as well. He spends the next five minutes talking about the little attention he was getting. It's clear it's all going to his head. He's not even getting a percentage of what Chad is getting but he seems to be loving it. I realize at that moment that Chad is definitely getting attention not only because we did the mission but also because of his looks. It feels like all of a sudden people are realizing just how handsome he is. I feel like I've had a treasure that was all mines before but all of a sudden that treasure has been discovered by literally every person in the world. Now I'm not the only one who adores that treasure.

By the time Captain Kane walks into the room I can tell his admirers have taken a lot out of him. He's red with embarrassment as he sits at the table.

"Sorry about that," the Captain announces. He is apologizing to the whole table but his eyes look directly at me as though he's talking to me. They connect for a moment but I roll my eyes at him and look away.

"It's OK. We got an official CILF. Captain I'd like to fuck," Cassie jokes at that moment.

The Captain shakes his head, "No. It's not like that at all. People just wanted to know about the mission."

"They wanted their own mission. A mission to your drawers," Cassie responds.

Everyone is laughing but Kane and I. I can feel his eyes burning into me. I look away. I know Cassie is joking. I know Kane can't control the amount of attention he's getting. Still. It's annoying as fuck to know that everyone realizes just how sexy Captain Kane is right now. I can't control my jealousy even if I wanted to.

Captain Kane sighs with relief when the awkward moment passes, "Thank God. The food is coming out..."'

The food is nice. Expensive looking food that I didn't think they had on the Pioneer. There was chicken. Fresh chicken. God knows how the fuck they snuck chickens on Pioneer and where they kept them. Everyone is eating but me.

"This shit is good as fuck," Katashi states, "You eating yours, Selah?"

I hadn't touched it.

"Nah you can have it," I respond.

Captain Kane stops him almost immediately, "Katashi don't touch his food. Private Powell. Eat. You need the strength. That's an order."

I look down at the food.

The Captain's eyes soften a little bit when I look up at him. I watch him mouth the words "Please" so low that no one can hear. I grab my fork reluctantly and start eating.

Just at that moment though we are interrupted. Soldiers. They barge into the room unexpectedly. I'm a little confused by it.

"What's going on here?" Captain Kane asks.

The soldiers are storming in the room.

"The admiral sent us sir."

"The admiral gave us this room."

"It's not about you sir. It's about a member of the crew who leaked confidential information that endangered every human on board this space station," the soldier says.

I know who they are talking about by the time they walk over to me and put me in handcuffs. They are talking about me. They are talking about the fact that I told my crew about the Upsetter alien that Admiral Lincoln was keeping on board the Pioneer. My crew stands up. I can tell they are shocked and scared about what is happening.

Before I know it, I'm in handcuffs and face down.

"Selah Powell---you've been arrested and you have been sentenced by the Admiral to be punished with Procedure 770."

Procedure 770. That was the procedure where I was launched into space.

I was sentenced to death...

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