As Four made his way to the training room Two's authoritative voice again rang in his ear.
"We're doing the delivery now. Go get the crates and get to the shuttle." Four could almost see her lips tightening in anger and felt his shoulders clench up as he struggled to overcome his own frustration. He felt himself grinding his teeth as the doors to the training room slid shut and he made his way towards the cargo hold.
When he got there, One stood waiting next to a crate. Four saw no reason to wait for his shipmates. Three wasn't likely to be helpful, and Six was probably gearing up the shuttle for flight. He'd watched Six watch the android on the trip to and back from the planet. If anyone could fly it, it was Six.
"On the count of three," One muttered. "One. Two. Three!" With a grunt the crate left the ground and the two men shuffled it towards the shuttle. Neither spoke and Four was more than happy with that. His gut was still tight with anger due to Three's continually abrasive attitude, and this insane idea that they could help the settlers. Something bad was going to happen and Four could feel it. His fight or flight instincts were in full effect and right now he wanted to run. This wasn't their fight and it wasn't dishonorable to run from a fight that wasn't yours to begin with. Every time he thought of setting foot on that planet…
"Make sure to lift with the back," Three taunted as he toyed with a knife. "Helps take pressure off the knees."
"You know what would take the pressure off my knees?" One responded through gritted teeth. "You helping out." Four admired the backbone but felt engaging Three would only encourage him
Unfortunately, he was right.
"Yeah see, I think that'd be kinda hypocritical given the way I voted and all." Three said as Four and One set down the crate. Four walked towards his seat in an attempt to catch his breath. The crate was heavy and the cargo hold had been a fair distance away.
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry," One said between pants. "I don't think it'd be possible for us to think any less of you."
"Well you never know." Three replied cheerfully. "I might surprise you." Three said more seriously. Prior to this, Four had only been half listening, but that last statement drew Four's attention. Three, as well as everyone else on the ship was a question mark, but that response put Three on Four's radar as he'd never been before. A true threat to his safety.
"Alright, I think that's it. We're good to go." One said eyeing the large crate they'd hauled to the shuttle. Just as they began to take their seats, Two's voice could be heard throughout the ship.
"I need everyone on the bridge. Now." Where before she had sounded angry, now she sounded scared, something even One seemed to pick up on.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
"Just get up here," She said. Her voice breaking uncharacteristically. Four grabbed his katanas and followed One out of the shuttle. All of the men hurried in silence towards the bridge. If Two was that scared Five must be petrified, if she was still with her. Four found a small part of himself hoping Five had wandered back to the infirmary and not followed after Two.
As they entered the bridge Four found his eyes drawn to the flash of turquoise curls nearly hidden behind Two's taller frame.
"What's going on?" One asked.
"The Android managed to recover a significant amount of data related to this ship and its crew." Two said as she turned to greet the men. Four slid into the shadows at the back of the room, his gut sinking. He should be happy they knew more about themselves but the tension running through Two meant it couldn't be good news. Knowledge is power. Power is control. They had to learn sooner or later but the knots in his gut remained.
"Well that's good." Six said. 'Isn't it?" Four noticed Two kept her body between Five and the men's the entire time. She was protecting her. Why? What had changed in the last 20 minutes?
Then a moving picture of Three, captioned by a most wanted sign and a name appeared.
"Marcus Boone." The Android said in that calm mechanical voice. "Murder, assault, kidnapping, piracy." Four could see the man's entire demeanor change as his list of crimes was read off. Four was slightly surprised, not because Three seemed like such a good person, but he'd either done a lot of crime and been caught occasionally, or been caught every time he broke the law. Either way…
A moving picture of Six flashed across the screen. His too was captioned by a name and the most wanted sign.
"Griffin Jones." The Android began," Murder, assault, smuggling." Four watched the man freeze, as if his whole body rejected the information in front of him. He couldn't blame the man. It was never easy learning the truth and it often left the soul bleeding.
As the Android turned to face One, the screen once again housed a moving picture, this time of One, captioned by a most wanted sign and a name.
"Jace Corso." The robot's voice recited. "Murder, assault, kidnapping, trafficking, theft." Four could see the blow as if it were a physical one. One hunched over slightly and seemed to lose his breath. Four found it curious that his list of prosecutable crimes as longer than Three's. Either One had done more, of he'd been more careless. Four couldn't figure out which he wanted it to be.
Then, his gut bottomed out as a moving picture of himself, captioned with a most wanted sign and a name – Ryo Tetsudo flashed across the screen.
"Ryo Tetsudo: Murder, assault, piracy." The Android's voice once again listing their crimes as if they were inconsequential. Four found he could almost live with these charges. He had almost killed someone down on the planet today, and had been more than willing to assault someone. Piracy just meant he took something big. His chest hurt at the idea that he wasn't a pure soul, but deep down, he'd known. He was too skilled, too willing, and too quick to violence to have been innocent. With the arrival of this new information came quiet acceptance. Yesterday is history and solid as stone. There was nothing he could do to change it. He could only accept it and move on.
Finally, a moving picture of Two flashed across the screen, accompanied by once again a most wanted sign and a name.
"Portia Lin," The Android stated. "Murder, assault, arson, theft, piracy." Even though Four was sure she'd already heard her rap sheet, he still saw her jaw tighten as her crimes were listed. To conclude this depressing presentation of their dark pasts, the Android put their mug shots side by side. Four found a part of himself relieved not to see Five's face next to the rest of theirs. Her past must have been dark to land her among a group like themselves, but at least the law wasn't involved.
"Turns out the Raza aren't a race of aliens." Two said, voice still shaking. "'The Raza' is the name of this ship. We're not here to help these people. We're here to kill them."
