It was dark when Reno reached the waiting room of
sickbay. It was empty. Good.
He strode through the spot where hours earlier the
entire group had gathered around and held little Brink, making all kinds of
little baby sounds at him. He walked up to the door to the room where Brink was
sleeping. He stopped and glanced over. In a room only several meters away,
Palin slept. He would have to do this quickly and quietly. If Palin came in
while he was working, then he would have to kill her, too. Reno was glad that
Seven was far off in his quarters, sleeping.
Reno took a deep breath. He opened the door.
This was it.
It wouldn’t last long. He couldn’t leave any marks
or traces on the body. Obviously his lightsaber was out of the question. He
would need to use the Force. Close the windpipe, perhaps. Pop a blood vessel.
Something that would leave no trace.
He stared at the crib. He could feel the child’s
presence. He could feel its life. In a few moments, he would no longer feel
anything from the baby.
He stepped forward as the door closed behind him. It
would be a terrible tragedy, when everybody woke up and realized that Brink had
died during his sleep. Seven and Palin would be quite broken up. Reno would
grant them some leave, though. They would need to take care of personal issues.
It was the least he could do, after a--
A green lightsaber sprang into existence next to
Reno. The blade swung from the side, but stopped inches before it reached his
throat. Reno’s eyes widened as he felt the heat of the blade against his
throat. He had never sensed a thing. Had never sensed that anyone was in the
room, aside from the child. Whoever was there could have decapitated him before
he even realized something was wrong. Reno was alive only because the person
next to him spared his life. He slowly turned his head to the left, careful not
to make any sudden moves. His eyes widened even more as his eyes focused and he
saw the man standing there.
“You take one more step towards my son, “ Seven said
adamantly, “and I’ll have your head.”
Reno forced a smile. “Seven,” he said, trying his
best to muster up some false warmth. He had to pretend that he was here for
some other reason than killing the child. “What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t
know you were here. Although I think you must have me confused with someone
else. You can put the lightsaber down now.”
“Give me a reason,” Seven said, his voice low but
harsh.
“A reason to kill me?” Reno asked, his eyes on
Seven’s lightsaber which was wavering only inches by Reno’s throat.
“No, I have that already,” Seven said. “Give me a
reason why I shouldn’t kill you.”
Reno hesitated.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Seven,” he
said calmly.
“You came here to kill him” Seven said bluntly. “
You came here to kill my son.”
Reno let out a short laugh. “That’s preposterous,”
he barked.
“Then why are you here?” Seven asked. “All alone…in
the middle of the night…”
“I am your master, Seven,” Reno said sternly. “I
don’t need to explain my actions to you.”
“If you don’t, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
Reno met his eyes. “You wouldn’t.”
“Are you willing to risk your life on that
assumption?”
“If you do that, they will turn on you. Everyone.
Thunder, Jen, Skate…you will have slain their master in cold blood. You would
be a murderer. You, Palin and Brink would have to run. They would come after
you. They would hunt you and your family down and eventually they would kill
you. You would lose everything you have worked so hard to gain in your life.” He
paused and stared deeply into Seven’s eyes. “You are ready to lose everything
for your son?”
Without hesitation, Seven inched the blade even
closer to Reno’s throat. So close that it began to burn his skin.
“Believe it,” Seven stated.
Reno did.
Seven was ready to kill him. Seven was ready to lose
everything to protect his son. He was the last person Reno would ever expect to
try something like this, but there it was. There was Seven, a lightsaber to
Reno’s throat, threatening to kill him. Seven was such a joker, such a goof.
Even though the kid had matured somewhat over the last year, Reno had still
thought he was predictable. Probably the most predictable member of the
squadron. He thought he knew Seven. Perhaps even knew him the best of anyone.
But he didn’t know him at all. Not at all…
You must kill the one who you know best and
least, or that person could be your end.
He couldn’t believe it.
It was all starting to make sense now. Everything
was falling into place. Suddenly, the prophecy didn’t seem so crazy, so
ludicrous. In fact, it made sense. Brink was the expected/unexpected one…Seven
was the one who he knew both best and least…that meant…
By Sadow…
He flashed back to sickbay, only hours ago. A piece
of dialogue he had half heard, but had paid no attention to at the time.
“Hey, don’t be mean to the kid,” Skate joked.
“He’s way too cute to look like Seven. Definitely takes after his mother.”
“Well, I hope so,” Seven said. “His mother is an
angel. My angel.”
Palin’s broken arm…
And the prophecy was complete.
He understood it all. He understood everything. He
knew exactly who it was that he had to kill.
You must kill the one who is expected and not
expected, or that person could be your end.
Brink…
You must kill the one who you know best and
least, or that person could be your end.
Seven…
You must kill the one-winged angel, or that
person could be your end.
Palin…
He would have to kill them. All of them. Or else one
of them would kill him. Would it be Seven? Maybe it was to happen right then.
Or perhaps the whole thing was a trap…maybe Palin would be sneaking up on him
any moment now, ready to kill him. Maybe they had used the baby as a way to
draw Reno out to kill him. A family plot designed to destroy Reno…they may have
been planning this moment for months.
A bold plan….
He started to slowly back out of the room, not
saying a word. He didn’t know what to say. Hell, there was nothing to say. This
was a man who might kill him someday. What did you say to someone like that? As
he backed away, Seven followed him out of the room, his saber still poised to
kill.
Reno felt another presence. Someone else was there.
He turned sharply and saw Palin standing in the doorway to her room. Her face
was a mask of confusion. Or was it? This was no doubt a façade. She was the
one-winged angel, after all. She was planning on killing him. This was all just
a trap. A set up.
“Seven, what the hell is going on?” Palin asked
softly.
“Reno came here to kill Brink,” Seven replied.
“What?!”
And this was when they would double team him, Reno
guessed. A two-on-one attack. Cowards. He should kill them all. Right away.
Before they could create a better trap. But that wouldn’t do. Killing the boy
was one thing…how would the squadron react if they woke up and found out that
all three of them were dead? They would mutiny.
No, he couldn’t kill them now. He would have to do
it later. He would have to wait. He would have to be more subtle. If it became
known that he killed Seven and Palin, the others would retaliate against him.
He would have to find a means to get rid of all three of them. A means that in
no way implicated himself.
He glanced at Palin, who he expected would be
staring at him. She wasn’t. She was staring…past him. Behind him. He turned his
head to the other side. Standing on the other side of sickbay was Star. Was she
in on it, too? No…the prophecy only spoke of three. And from the look on her
face, she was both confused and terrified. She appeared just to be someone who
was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But how long had she been there? Reno had checked
the area when he had entered and no one had been present. When had she come in?
What had she seen or heard? Did she know why Reno was there? Had she heard
Seven’s words? Was she in on the plot?
Before anyone could say anything to Star, she backed
out of the room, slipped through a side door and was gone.
As Reno had already concluded, it was what he would
have to do, as well. He could not win this battle today. He would have to
retreat and fight another day. Killing them all now would prove to be more
harmful in the long run. It would cost him too much. He was willing to be
patient and bide his time a little while longer. But not too much longer…
Quickly, quietly, he backed out of sickbay.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
“Seven, what the hell was that?” Seven barely heard
her say. He didn’t really know how to respond. He was in shock.
I was right,
he thought. Reno was planning to kill my son. If I hadn’t acted upon my
premonition, my son would be dead now. Maybe he would’ve even killed Palin
next…
Reno had only backed away because he realized he
couldn’t win, at least not that day. He knew that he couldn’t slaughter two
members of his squadron and a baby and not have a mutiny on his hands. He must
have figured that he could leave now and act later.
I won’t give him that chance.
“We have to leave,” Seven said, deactivating his
lightsaber and hooking it back onto his belt. “Now.”
“Seven, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what
the hell is going on,” Palin said adamantly.
“We don’t have the time.”
“Seven…”
Seven grabbed her by the shoulders and let his eyes
lock on hers. “Do you trust me?”
She eyed him back, curiously. “What kind of question
is that?”
“The most important one I’ve ever asked you.”
Palin nodded. “Of course I do.”
“Then we have to leave,” he said. “Our son isn’t
safe here. Neither are we. We need to take Brink and leave. We need to get far
away from here. And we need to leave immediately. This morning. You go back to
our quarters…get whatever you need that is small and easy to carry. I‘ll get
Brink and meet you there in a minute.”
“But…”
Seven looked her deep in her eyes. He knew she was
still confused. He would tell her the whole story later. But they were too
short on time. He didn’t know what Reno was planning. He could be coming back
to kill them at any time. He didn’t think Reno would strike so soon, but he
wasn’t sure. But with Palin and Brink on the line, he simply couldn’t take that
chance. He knew Palin didn’t understand, but she would. All he needed from her
now was to trust him.
Before he could say another word, Palin nodded.
She simply said, “Okay,” leaned up and kissed him
quickly, and then was gone.
Seven looked over to where Star had been standing.
He wondered what she had been doing there. He hadn’t sensed her, and it seemed
like Reno hadn’t, either. She certainly didn’t seem like she was working with
Reno. She had certainly made a hasty retreat when she had realized something was
going down. How much of that scene had she heard? How much had she understood?
Should he go to her? Should he ask? Should they bring her with them?
No. There were too many unknowns with her. He
trusted her enough, but he couldn’t be sure. He just couldn’t be one hundred
percent sure of her. And with the lives of Palin and Brink on the line, he had
to be one hundred percent sure. He couldn’t take any chances with their lives.
Seven sighed.
He was wasting time. He needed to grab his son, meet
with Palin and leave. They could have everything they needed packed by morning.
There was no way they could leave without everyone knowing. They would have to
tell the rest of the squadron that they were leaving.
But could he tell them why? The real reason? What
kind of reaction would that cause? For one, Seven did not have hard, concrete
evidence that Reno had wanted his son dead, or him dead, for that matter. He
knew it was true, but he had no evidence beyond his feelings through the Force.
He’d look like nothing more than a troublemaker.
Furthermore…what would happen if he did tell
everyone? Some might believe him. They might turn on Reno. There would be a
fight…many would die. Thunder could die. Or Jen. Or Skate. Was he ready to
sacrifice his friends like that? That would be the result if he came forward
with his suspicion. Bloodshed. His friends would die. He couldn’t allow that.
If he and Palin took their child and ran, then there wouldn’t be any bloodshed.
They would have to leave Sith Squadron, possibly
forever, but it would save some of his friends lives, and more importantly,
their own.
That, by Seven, was a good tradeoff. A great
tradeoff.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
It was the next morning.
Star had spent the entire night in her quarters,
staring at the door, her hand on her lightsaber. She had seen something last
night. Seen something she shouldn’t have seen. And she knew that there were
some kind of repercussions coming.
Reno had gone there to kill Seven and Palin’s child.
What kind of monster was he?
She knew that he had done evil things. She knew that
he had killed before. But none of that compared to what she had witnessed
tonight. Or almost witnessed. Thank the Maker that Seven was there.
But Reno had seen her. He knew that she had seen
something, though he probably wasn’t sure how much. If he found out exactly how
much she knew, he would kill her. After all, he couldn’t have her spreading
information like that. That was why she had watched the door all night. She
knew her days -- perhaps her hours, or minutes -- were numbered. Any minute she
expected Reno to come through the door. And when he did, he would kill her. She
was sure of it.
Suddenly, her door chime activated.
Star tensed. She didn’t answer.
The door chimed again.
She couldn’t answer it. Death was on the other side
of the door.
The door chimed again.
How kind of Death to have the decency to knock on
the door beforehand…
The door didn’t chime anymore. Instead, it hissed
open. There, blocking the entire doorframe, was Reno. He didn’t look angry. He
didn’t look mad. He almost had a surreal, peaceful look on his face. Somehow
that made him even scarier.
“Hello, Star,” he said, stepping into her quarters.
“I would’ve dropped by sooner, but I had some business to attend to.”
Star said nothing. She couldn’t say anything.
“I was hoping to clear the air about last night,”
Reno started. “I’m sure you’re a bit confused by what you may have seen or
heard, and I’ll get to that shortly, but first…I was hoping to do a bit of
catching up with you. For example…how is your brother, Dexter? I believe he is
still back on Orcania. A mechanic, if I’m not mistaken. Runs a fairly
successful chain of garages. A wife, two kids. I’m sure you miss him terribly.
You haven’t made any personal calls since you got here a year ago. I’m sure you
miss your nephew and niece, too. They’re so young. I do so love…children.”
Star couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She
hadn’t told Reno or anybody else in the squadron about them. This was all
information that Reno had gathered, perhaps in the last few hours.
“You have two sisters, as well, both younger than
you. Fiona and Mira, I do believe. Fiona is married to a local politician in
Cani, Orcania’s capital. No kids, no job. Her husband makes enough through
shady deals for them to live comfortably. Mira, though, is married to an
accountant. No kids yet, but she is expecting. Only two months left. Quite the
family you have there, Star. I’m sure you miss them…and they miss you, too. You
really should call them. Family is so important, after all. And you never know
when something…tragic…will happen.”
Star was too stunned, too shocked to say anything.
He didn’t even try to hide the implications. He may as well have come out and
said that he would kill her family if she said anything about what she saw. She
still held her tongue, not trusting herself to say anything.
“Now, about last night…” Reno started.
She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to let
him blackmail her with this threat. But she didn’t have too much of a choice.
She knew that if anyone had the power to simply wipe out a family, it was Reno.
She didn’t want to do this…but she really didn’t have an alternative.
“Last night…” she said, her voice hoarse, “…I was
here. Sleeping.”
Reno smiled. “Good.”
Without another word, he turned and left.
Star exhaled, unaware of when she had even started
to hold her breath. That was it. She had allowed it. She was compromised now.
He had something over her. She had shown Reno that she would allow herself to
be blackmailed, threatened. He had power over her now. She would have to do as
he said.
Star hung her head low.
What had she just allowed to happen…
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
The entire squadron had gathered in the docking bay
to see Seven and Palin’s shuttle off. As Seven had expected, word of their
departure had traveled through the SSD like wildfire, though the true
reason had been kept under wraps. For everyone who asked, Seven simply smiled
and said that he and Palin were going to go on a little vacation, and wanted to
spend time with their son in a safe place, away from danger. It made sense.
Some looked suspicious, but none questioned it. Why would they? Was it so odd
that two people in love who had just recently had a child would want to spend
some quiet time away from a war vessel that was constantly either attacking
someone or under attack itself? Maybe they figured that the couple would get
married while they were away, preferring a private ceremony. Where would they
get married on the SSD? In the bar?
Palin had already said her goodbyes and was aboard
the ship with Brink. Also aboard the ship was Nuprin, the squadron’s
quartermaster. Knowing how young both Seven and Palin were, and how
inexperienced they were with raising children, Nupe had offered his knowledge
and expertise. Having always enjoyed Nuprin’s company in the past, and knowing
him to be as trustworthy as possible, Seven and Palin had both agreed that he
could come with them. If nothing else, it would give them someone from “home”
to talk to.
The squadron formed a line, organized by call sign
from highest to lowest. Seven started at the end with Jen. He shook her hand,
bid her goodbye for now, and continued down the line. Each person offered
congratulations, best wishes, or other words of sentiment. He went down the
line. Jen, Skate, Star (they exchanged a knowing glance with each other, but
neither said anything about the previous night), Fox, Sky, Jace, Ryvo, Thunder…
And finally, last of all, Reno.
He held out his hand to Seven, smiling, as if they
were best friends. Seven wished nothing more than to activate his lightsaber
and cut off that extended hand. But he couldn’t. He needed to keep up
appearances. He needed everyone present to think that nothing was wrong. If
they didn’t think that, it could endanger their own lives.
Seven extended his arm and shook the hand of the man
who had planned on killing his child.
Seven’s eyes met Reno’s as they shook hands. “I hope
this isn’t goodbye, Seven,” Reno said.
“I’m sure it isn’t,” Seven responded.
“I look forward to our next meeting,” Reno said.
“I’m sure I’ll be hearing from you again,” Seven
said.
“Believe it.”
Seven let Reno’s hand go, grabbed his bag and headed
up the boarding ramp. Those last words Reno had said to him…they were a
warning. Seven had uttered the same thing to him in sickbay.
He’ll be coming after us. It won’t be today. It
won’t be tomorrow. But he’ll come.
And when he does, I’ll be ready.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
As the shuttle prepped for launch, the squadron
moved from the docking bay to the bridge. It was a better place to watch a
departing shuttle from.
Reno watched as the shuttle flew away from the SSD
and eventually shot into hyperspace, to a destination that they thought
would be secret from him. Nothing could be kept secret from Reno, though.
Nothing.
He thought about the night before. He had known then
that Seven and Palin would leave the SSD and go into hiding. He knew he
would need a way to find them, a way to locate them. He would need to get a
mole in with them.
“Nuprin,” he had said as he approached the little,
yellow alien in the bar. Nuprin was drinking shots of ghedre, the powerful
drink that could knock out any human after one shot. “I have a mission for you.
An important one. Something I can trust only to you. But I’ll need it kept on
the low-low. Do you get my meaning?”
“Nuprin get meaning,” he had said. “No want people
find out what Nuprin doing.”
“Exactly,” he responded. “Tomorrow morning Seven and
Palin will be leaving the SSD with Brink. They’re going to go off
somewhere and raise him…away from us.”
“Why they do this?” the alien had asked.
“I know you consider them to be your friends,
Nuprin, but I’m afraid I have bad news for you…Seven and Palin have betrayed
us.”
“What?!”
“I discovered that the attack Xanthis and AOL led on
us today was because of information that Seven and Palin had provided him. They
wanted AOL to capture the SSD, and kill all of us.”
“Nuprin not believe this,” Nuprin had said. “Seven
and Palin are good humans.”
Reno had smiled. “Believe it.”
“No…”
“If you come to my quarters, Nuprin, I will show you
the information. You can make up your own mind on whether or not they betrayed
us.”
“If is true….” Nuprin hesitated for a moment “Show
Nuprin information.”
The stupid yellow alien had fallen for it. The
information he had shown Nuprin had perfectly implicated Seven and Palin in
today’s attack. It had more than fooled Nuprin, who was outraged at their
“betrayal” and had immediately agreed to Reno’s plan.
Reno was just glad that the information he had
created had worked well enough to fool Nuprin.
The group began to break up and leave the bridge.
Reno stayed behind and continued to stare out the viewport.
I’ll be coming for you, Seven. You and your whole
family. Not today. Not tomorrow. But I will be coming.
Believe it.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
Andrei Zhukov walked through the corridors of the SSD
decked out in the red-and-white colored armor of an SSD trooper, the
last person of his strike teams still alive. Out of fifty men, he was
the only one left! Those were his associates. His comrades. His friends.
And they were dead. All of them.
Next to him walked another trooper, his partner in
their patrol. He didn’t know who he was, nor did the other man know who Zhukov
was.
After escaping Tyros in the docking bay, he had fled
deep into the SSD. He had found a trooper to kill after the emergency
was over, whose body he had stuffed in a locker, but not before taking the
armor. It was the only way he could hide. Sometimes, the best place to hide was
right out in the open. This was as “out in the open” as he could get.
They marched down the hallway, neither saying
anything.
The attack on the SSD had been a miserable
failure. Everything was ruined. Everyone was dead. He had heard Xavier was a
prisoner aboard the ship. He thought about going there to fee him, hoping that
maybe together they could escape. He nixed that idea, though. Xavier would be
well guarded. Any kind of prison break would cause too much attention.
Besides…Zhukov had a better idea.
He wasn’t going to leave the ship. He was going to
stay.
When this operation had started, it had only been
about the money. He had had no personal hatred of Sith Squadron or its
personnel. It was just another job, and a high paying one at that. Nothing
personal, just business.
But now forty-nine of his friends were dead. It
didn’t get more personal than that. So he would stay on board the SSD.
He would be the snake in the garden that would strike at their heels, the
dagger in the dark that they wouldn’t see coming until it was too late. When
they least expected it, he would stab them in their vital organs and kill them.
When they least expected it--
His partner suddenly stopped walking. “Hold up, I
need to tie my shoe,” the trooper said.
What? That
didn’t make any sense. Stormtrooper boots didn’t have shoe laces…
Oh no…
In a blur of motion, before Zhukov could even
respond, the trooper reached out from behind him, grabbed his head and twisted
violently.
Zhukov’s neck snapped quite easily and he was dead
long before he hit the ground.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
Tyros Dakon took off his helmet and tossed it aside
flippantly. He looked down at Zhukov’s body and shook his head.
He turned and walked away down the corridor, leaving
the body of his former friend behind. The former friend who had made it
personal by killing several of Tyros’ Red Fangs.
Zhukov should’ve known better than to think he could
escape Tyros Dakon.
No one escaped Tyros Dakon.
Believe it.