The mutiny happened sooner than they expected.

Lucas was working with a new engineering team on one of the upgrades. They made mistake after mistake, with Lucas constantly having to hover over them and correct their work. Eventually, Lucas had enough and rounded on the team with a vitriolic diatribe regarding their intelligence. The team leader, not a career Navy man, decided he was not going to be spoken to like that by a nineteen year old kid (and he didn't care what anyone said, the kid was nineteen), punched Lucas in the stomach and blacked his eye with a quick one-two punch.

Lucas sat on the floor where he had fallen and gently put his fingers to his eye. He would probably have a bruise, but otherwise he was fine. He saw the team leader - Bill Stanton, that was his name - standing over him, still angry. The rest of the team looked on in horror. One of the women - Susan? Sarah? - moved forward to help him. He looked at her coldly.

"Go. All of you, just get out now." Seeing their hesitation, he repeated, "Now!"

They left, and he sat there and tried to get his breath back. Stanton probably had a hundred pounds on him, and the stomach punch had left him winded. He'd sit there for a few minutes more, and then finish the work by himself. It would probably be quicker that way anyway.


It was about 2am when he finally finished. He could almost believe that he could sleep. For a moment, he considered just staying there where it was quiet and sleeping on the floor, but his eye was starting to throb and he realized that he needed to put some cold water on it. Ice would be better, but he was too tired to go and get it. He walked to his room, the corridors quiet at this hour. There was a night shift, but they were already on duty and everyone else was asleep.

For once, Tony wasn't asleep. They'd been serving burgers and fries in the mess, and he had, somewhat inadvisedly, eaten far more than he should have as part of a bet. Normally able to sleep through anything - he had once slept through an emergency drill - he now lay on his bed with his eyes closed as his stomach gurgled and groaned.

He heard Lucas come in, and half opened one eye to see the clock. 2.17 am. What the hell was he doing until 2.17 am? The way he'd been behaving lately, Tony doubted that he'd been enjoying any female company, no-one wanted to be around him these days.

Tony lay still and didn't speak to him. He wasn't in the mood for a fight right now, and that's all they seemed to do these days.

Lucas didn't switch on any lights, but moved around in the dim light of the aquatube.

Tony watched his outline as Lucas walked over to his computer desk and opened the drawer. He looked around surreptitiously, and Tony quickly closed his eyes and feigned sleep. He hadn't meant to spy on his friend, but something about Lucas' furtive manner made him curious. Lucas turned back to the drawer and pulled out a small box. Taking a key from his pocket, he unlocked it.

Tony watched, transfixed, as Lucas pulled out a pill bottle. He unscrewed the lid, poured them into his hand and then just sat there, looking at them. They almost seemed to shine white in the half light. He ran his fingers over them, almost as though he was counting them. There was a hunger in the way he was handling them, a hunger Tony didn't like. He looked like Tony would have looked with a handful of poker chips.

Tony saw him reach into the pile and pick one up and swallow it dry. Then, with what looked like a huge amount of effort, he returned the rest to the bottle.

He sent another furtive look in Tony's direction, and once again, Tony closed his eyes and remained perfectly still. Then he watched again as Lucas removed his shirt. For some reason, he seemed to be wearing four or five layered t-shirts underneath. With another quick look at Tony, he took something out of the box. Tony only knew what it was because of what he did next. He opened a small packet, pulled up his sleeve and wiped his arm and the first object. Then, slowly and with great care, he drew the object along his arm, and sighed.

Tony couldn't see clearly what he was doing, but he didn't need to.

The secret box, the furtiveness, the actions and the sigh - he recognized that behavior. He had a cousin who used to be a cutter. It hadn't ended well for his cousin, who had eventually decided that small cuts weren't enough and slit his wrists one day in the very hospital that was supposed to be helping him.

He realized that Lucas looked more relaxed at this moment than he had been for weeks. He was leaning back in the chair and starting to drift into sleep, when he suddenly jumped awake, surprising Tony at the same time.

Luckily, the noise of the chair covered any sound Tony made. Lucas grabbed the oversize sleep shirt and baggy pyjama bottoms that he had taken to wearing, and started running water in the bathroom. When he came out, he carefully - Tony could almost have said lovingly - put everything back in the box and tidied it away to the back of the drawer. He climbed onto his bunk, and everything was quiet again.

Tony was now wide awake, his indigestion forgotten.

Questions ran through his mind.

How had he not noticed that his friend was in this much trouble? And what should he do now? He had already lost his cousin while they were trying to help him, and he wasn't prepared to take a gamble on better success with Lucas. He knew this was bad, very bad.

He had been so focused on Lucas' bratty behavior that he hadn't really considered why he might want to drive them all away. He remembered the longing gaze at the pills. What were they, anyway?

Above him, he heard Lucas shifting restlessly. His eyes were closed, but he was moving fitfully and he started to moan. In the half light, it seemed as thought there was something wrong with his face, but Tony couldn't figure out what. He reached out and shook his friend gently.

"Lucas," he whispered, "Lucas."

Lucas shot up suddenly and slammed his back against the wall. He looked terrified. It took him a moment to recognize Tony.

"Tony?"

"Yeah, buddy, you were dreaming."

"Dreaming?"

"Yeah." Tony watched him, concerned. "Shall I put the light on?"

"No! No. Sorry." He offered Tony a fake smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I was watching a horror film before I went to sleep, guess it was creepier than I thought. Go back to sleep, I'll be fine now."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Lucas snapped.

This time, Tony could almost see the walls come up. "Okay then. Goodnight."

He climbed back into his bunk and lay there awake, listening for the sound of Lucas sleeping. After about twenty minutes, Lucas climbed back down from his bunk and grabbed his uniform. He dressed in the bathroom as he always did these days, and then came out, grabbed his laptop and left the room.

Tony sat up and rubbed his face. Whatever he had thought might be the problem with Lucas, it seemed that it was worse.