Chapter One: The Unlikely Survivor


A/N: So uh...hi. There aren't any OC stories within The Expanse fandom yet, so a little nervous about how this will be received. We own only the characters you don't recognise - such as Nikki Kamal, her mysterious mum Prisha (more will be revealed about her soon) and Tasya Michaelson, who comes into the story next chapter.

Please review if you have the chance, this is such a small fandom and we'd really love to know if it's worth writing this and if people would be interested in reading more.


Corporal Nikki Kamal really wanted to finish her shift and take some painkillers, but the fun thing about being part of the Martian Congressional Republic Navy was that your shift didn't end when the clock said it did. That was precisely why Nikki found herself responding to a summons to the bridge fifteen minutes after she was meant to have clocked off. She could have been cheeky and ignored it, but the summons came from Captain Theresa Yao herself.

"Corporal Kamal." Captain Yao examined the younger woman as Nikki inclined her head, clasping her hands behind her back and trying desperately to think what she was in trouble for this time. Although even Yao said Nikki was one of their best and brightest at 22 years old, the young woman's propensity for mischief drove the commanding officers to the brink of their patience.

"I heard that we took in the Knight."

It had been all over the news. A man named James Holden, an officer aboard a now-destroyed ship called the Canterbury, was openly blaming Mars for the attack. The MCRN battleship had since captured one of the ice hauler's shuttles, the Knight. Nikki wondered what Yao intended to do with the crew, however it wasn't her place to ask. Lieutenant Lopez would make the call on that one.

"We have him and the others in custody, but there's something you should know." Yao took a deep breath. "The crew's pilot is Alex Kamal."

Nikki stiffened. She hadn't seen her dad since she was fifteen or sixteen, a few years before she left Earth to travel and finally join the MCRN. The decision to accept her had come with difficulty – Martians were proud, and Nikki's half-Earther heritage meant that there were some who questioned her acceptance. Alex and Nikki's mum, Prisha, had been separated since Nikki was a small child – and he'd rarely visited.

"Oh." She couldn't think what else to say to the odd and frankly annoying situation. She resisted the urge to reach up and rub at her aching temples.

"I thought I should inform you in case things became complicated. He's being treated as a guest, as befits a man who served the MCRN for twenty years and was honourably discharged."

"Right." Nikki vaguely remembered that her dad had history with MCRN too, although that certainly wasn't why she'd joined up. She'd had a promising future on Earth, more promising than most. Yet she'd abandoned that in favour of exploring the Martian side of her heritage. Had it been the right choice? Some days, Nikki still didn't know.

Yao sighed. "I know this could be hard for you…"

"With respect, Captain, it really isn't." Nikki straightened up. "Alex and I aren't close. He and Mum were younger than I am now when I was born, and he wasn't exactly up for being a young dad. He hasn't had much to do with me, and I doubt that's going to change."

"Lieutenant Lopez has requested that you become a part of the interrogation."

The blunt words made Nikki frown. So that was what Yao thought would be hard for her. It made sense – Lopez was clearly considering whether Nikki's presence might coax answers out of Alex. As uncomfortable as the situation was, Nikki knew that a request from a superior officer was never a request.

"Can I at least catch some sleep first? I have a killer headache."

"Of course." Yao nodded fervently. "Your shift is over for the day. Dismissed, Corporal Kamal."


Nikki was woken unceremoniously by a great shuddering that threw her from her bunk and onto the floor. Luckily her headache was already gone, because the fall wouldn't have much helped. Rubbing her eyes and adjusting to her surroundings, Nikki realised that the lights had gone blue and the alarms were sounding throughout the ship. Instantly alert, she pushed herself to her feet and quickly stripped out of her pyjamas, forsaking them for her MCRN uniform.

Pushing open the door and entering the corridor, Nikki tensed when she saw Lieutenant Lopez marching toward her in an environment suit. She swallowed hard. Had she missed the interrogation? Was he pissed that she overslept? However, the fact that the lights were flashing red and blue around them, the ship lurching every now and then, indicated that they currently had much bigger problems.

"Are we under attack?"

"Corporal Kamal, with me, now." Lopez pressed a suit onto her, which she struggled to pull on while following him. Attaching the helmet was probably the hardest part while attempting to keep at a brisk walk. They were joined by a handful of others, including a man that Nikki recognised even through the glass of his helmet to be James Holden.

"What the hell is he doing here? Is he responsible for this?"

"Holden needs to be escorted off this ship," Lopez stated, brushing past Nikki. There was clearly no time for a lengthy discussion. Yet there was still time for Nikki to shoot James a filthy look. "We are under attack by the same ship that destroyed the Canterbury, and he is the only one who can directly testify to that."

Nikki opened her mouth to ask more questions, however when they rounded the corner they were confronted by people in environment suits of their own – definitely not the MCRN kind. Lopez pressed a gun into Nikki's hands and she began opening fire. She'd never killed anyone, and the thought that she might do so today made her feel sick to the stomach.

The sound of quick footsteps caught her attention even over the gunfire, and Nikki whirled around to see James making a break for it. Shoving herself up and sprinting after him, Nikki caught him by the arm.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not leaving without my crew."

Nikki paused when she remembered that crew included Alex. Whether she and her dad were close or not, was she really willing to let him die here? Lopez and the others were crouched over one of the fallen enemies, Lopez attempting to question the person in their dying moments.

"Let's go." Lopez and the others headed over to Nikki and James. Judging by his tone and the still body of the person he'd been interrogating, Nikki guessed that the enemy had died before they could reveal anything of use.

"Please, you have to help me get my friends. You wouldn't leave one of yours behind."

Lopez's eyes narrowed through the glass. "We are Marines, we've sworn to die for each other if we have to. You barely know those other people."

"They're only here because of me."

"He's right." Nikki's words ensured silence fell between the two men as Lopez stared her down. No doubt Yao had caught him up on Nikki's own connection to a certain member of James's crew. Nikki wondered where Yao was now, if she was even still alive. "You know why I can't leave them too."

"What are you talking about?" James's brow furrowed. "You don't know any of them at all."

"There's a pilot among them, right? Alex Kamal?" Nikki asked, earning a slow nod from him. She ignored Lopez's restraining hand. Just hours ago, he'd wanted to use her to get at Alex, so why didn't he want her to reveal her identity now? "He's my father."

"Corporal Kamal, meet us at the entrance to the hangar bay." Lopez's command made Nikki spin to face him, effectively cutting off any response James might have offered. "We'll touch base when we're on our way. Be careful."


"Fuck." Nikki examined her comms when she read the message about Yao setting condition zero. "Fuck."

Heavy footsteps alerted her to Lopez, James and several others that must be the members of his crew. Nikki scanned their faces curiously despite herself, her gaze settling upon a man who had to be Alex. He was being heavily supported by another man, and her stomach twisted at the thought that he might be injured. As Alex almost collapsed, the other guy held him upright.

"Hey, hey! Don't you quit on me."

"Go!" Lopez ordered. Alex and the other man began to cross the bridge first, with James and the woman not far behind. Nikki swallowed the lump in her throat and adjusted the settings on her gun. Maybe this wasn't what she was used to, but it was what she was trained for. What good was she if she couldn't defend these people – people who were clearly important and relevant to what was happening, people who needed to testify that this wasn't Mars's fault.

Lopez and Nikki opened fire around them to protect them from being shot, before an explosion behind them sent both of them plummeting down onto the bridge. Easing herself up, Nikki glanced behind her at Lopez, who was rummaging around in his suit for something.

"What are you doing?" Nikki hauled herself up, prepared to engage in cover fire once again.

"Nikki." Lopez gripped her wrist, forcing her hand open and pressing something small into it. She clutched onto it tightly, like it was a lifeline. "You need to go with them. You have to survive this. MCRN Command may not listen to them, but they will to you."

We are Marines, we've sworn to die for each other if we have to. Lopez's words of not even half an hour ago came back to her with a vengeance.

"No." She shook her head fervently. "You…you're the ranking officer here, you need to…"

"That's an order, Corporal Kamal." Lopez pushed her away from him, and Nikki knew that there was no time for argument. Her entire body shaking with trepidation, she clicked on her magboots and sprinted down the bridge toward the others. She spun around just in time to see Lopez get shot in the chest.

Nikki's scream rang through the hangar bay. She couldn't do this by herself, she didn't know how to. Someone picked her up as easily as she was a doll, hauling her into the ship and tossing her unceremoniously into a chair. It was the big guy, the injured one. Nikki took off her helmet and strapped herself in with shaking fingers as Alex paused to look at her.

"You…you're…"

"Nikki Kamal." It wasn't the time for this conversation, but when was it ever going to be. Nikki looked up at him with tears welling in her eyes. "I'm your daughter."

He clearly remembered her. It had been a while, but not long enough that he wouldn't recognise her. Alex seemed to want to say something, his expression emotional, but James caught him by the back of the shirt and tossed him up to the pilot's seat.

"GO!"

Nikki opened her hand to examine what Lopez had put there, his dying command for her to accompany the others. Why her? Was it because she was Alex's daughter as well as a member of MCRN? She didn't understand, and she probably never would. As they flew out of the hangar bay and Donnager vaporised behind them, Nikki realised that she was the ship's sole survivor.

It meant something. It had to. She might be young and she might be frightened, but she was important. Perhaps it was because of her family connections, on both sides. Lopez had seen something in her, something she didn't yet. Even as she grieved for the loss of her crew, Nikki examined the data cube that Lopez had given her, and knew it was up to her now to decide what to do with it.


Alex looked down from his post at the pilot's seat to the dark-haired girl in the chair beside Jim's. She was oddly silent, tears streaming down her face as she screwed her eyes shut. It was hard to believe that this was his daughter, his Nikki. She might wear the uniform and play the part of the fearless Marine, but the girl he saw in the chair down there was a scared kid who'd lost her entire crew and wasn't sure how she was going to handle things.

She eased herself up from the chair, only for her knees to buckle, causing her to collapse in a heap on the ground. Naomi was by her side in an instant, helping the younger woman to her feet and putting her back in her chair, examining her closely. Alex couldn't help but feel overcome with concern.

"What's the matter? She okay?"

Naomi was too busy prying Nikki's suit off to answer immediately, but the young woman's cry of pain wasn't a good sign. Flicking some of the controls to automatic, Alex swivelled in his seat. Nikki's entire shirt was dark with blood, her teeth gritted against the pain as Naomi lifted the fabric to examine the wound. Alex was no med-tech, but it didn't look good.

"It looks like you've still got a bullet lodged in there."

"Can't we just take it out?" Alex climbed down the ladder to stand beside Naomi.

"It's not that easy." Naomi glanced over her shoulder at him, expression grim. "From what I can see, where the bullet's lodged, it's going to cause a lot of bleeding. If the wound's internal, we can't just patch it up."

"I'm fine," Nikki hissed through clenched teeth, although it was obvious that she was anything but.

Alex was aware that the ship had state of the art medical facilities. Naomi had managed to use them to fix up Amos's broken leg. Yet none of them were surgeons, or knew how to operate surgical equipment. They didn't know for certain how complicated Nikki's wound was, but it would need a med-tech or another sort of medical professional to look at it. Right now, they were weighing all of their options, but Nikki's condition made that decision all that much more urgent.

"We've got an incoming message," Naomi announced, tapping into a few things as Amos and Jim joined her and Alex over at the screen as an unfamiliar setting, yet a very familiar man, flashed up in front of them.

"Survivors of the Donnager, my name is Fred Johnson, director of operations here at Tycho Station."