As he checked his gun, Avon looked darkly over at Blake who was yelling at Vila.
After the debacle at Control and the death of Gan, the atmosphere was tense on the Liberator. Even after Blake's successful manipulation of the crew to take him back onboard as leader, it was no longer the same. Most of them didn't believe him anymore and the only one who bothered to lift a finger to help him when his uncle and niece were being held as hostages by Travis was, surprisingly, Avon. Of course, Avon had never been able to resist helping the naïve and mentally challenged.
He had tried to reduce his risk exposure by using Servalan's helpful dogs but good help was hard to find these days and he had to go down personally.
Now they were going down to Albion to search for Provine, a Federation officer who supposedly had clues that would lead to discovering the whereabouts of Star One.
Vila whined, "Why do I have to go down?"
Blake, who had been facing increasing opposition from Vila since the death of Gan, rounded on him and said with a snarl, "Don't you ever shut up?"
Vila never liked people yelling at him. He muttered under his breath, "That's the last time I help you. I'm going because Avon was going down too." At least with Avon, he had a much better chance of surviving whatever insane ideas Blake managed to come up with.
Teleporting down to a battle zone in the aftermath of a battle wasn't the brightest idea Blake ever had. Avon's lips twitched in a sneer. Not that Blake had any that would qualify. At least the fool recognized the Albions might be trigger happy and they should avoid any confrontations in the meantime.
They went down without incident and began searching the empty parts of the complex for information.
Blake ordered, "You and Avon search in here. There must be some information on the computers." He left the room.
Good riddance, thought Vila as he kicked a chair.
Avon glared after Blake. The man insisted on going after the Federation computer complex again. Nearly getting them all killed the last time wasn't enough for the maniac. Blake killed Gan. The bastard didn't even bother to apologize for betraying them all repeatedly. He was only sorry he'd found them the wrong target and that Gan died for nothing.
Well, Blake's hold on the crew was weakening every day. Avon had never thought it possible, but he might have a chance to take the ship after all. He would only have to bide his time and Blake would bury himself. The man was extremely good at doing that.
It was about time. Blake had monopolized the ship far too long. A third of the ship belonged to Avon. Not the whole thing; not that Blake bothered to recognize that. He thought his cause gave him the right to do anything he wanted, take anything he wanted and use anyone he wanted. Avon was sick of it and sick of Blake. He wanted to be free of him.
This scheme to kill hundreds of millions and to destroy the economy and environment of scores of planets just to prove himself right was insane, even for Blake.
Avon had been working on Cally. She was the only one on the ship he respected. Lately she had been questioning the justification for what Blake was doing.
"Avon, what do you think this is?" asked Vila as he poked at a keyboard and a screen full of words came up.
Avon came over and looked over his shoulder.
Wisdom for the ages.
Vila scrolled to the next screen.
You will always be surrounded by true friends.
Avon sneered and looked after the door through which Blake had exited. "It's obviously defective." He knew Blake was finally realizing how much Avon hated him.
Vila followed his gaze. "Yeah, you might be right. There's another program. Fortune Cookie Wisdom."
Avon said, "Don't waste your time."
Vila pressed a control.
Be kind and beware.
Avon turned back. "This one has more promise."
Vila went onto the next one.
You will have a good week. Enjoy. It will not last.
Vila turned his head to look at Avon, "Did you write these?"
Avon snarled, "I have better things to do with my time." But he didn't move away.
"Next one."
Embrace joy and slap evil.
A smirk lifted the corner of Avon's lips. He did have a dream the other day. "Does Servalan count?"
Vila said with horror, "You wouldn't."
"Perhaps not."
Vila shuddered and preferred not thinking about it. He turned back to the screen and advanced to the next Fortune Cookie fortune.
Speak softly. Loudness attracts anger.
Avon snarked, "Someone should give that one to Blake."
Reach out for love. Avoid touching others today.
Vila chortled, "That's you in a nutshell, Avon."
A low growl formed at the base of Avon's throat. "We have to find Provine."