Skeeter hadn't had a cigarette in nearly two weeks. The cravings were gone, but he still sometimes found himself out of habit reaching for a pack that wasn't there. He sat on his bed on the Medstar waiting for his flight home. He couldn't wait to get away. His room on the hospital ship had been too quiet, but if he had shared a room with someone, else he would probably have ended up with a snorer, so at least that issue had been avoided. He had been packed more or less since he had woken up. He had read so many books and magazine in the last two weeks, more books than he had read in ten years. Dark Day had been his favourite. He had seen the movie adaptation, so had never bothered with the book, now he had read it, he would probably never watch it again, the book had been so much better. He had managed to keep up to date with the fleet news, with the talk radio and newsletters as well as from his visitors, he had certainly missed some interesting days.
As he let out a sigh, Archangel walked into the room.
"Sorry I'm late. We have some new recruits and it's their first day." Archangel said.
"Don't worry about it." Skeeter replied with a laugh, "Take me home."
As Archangel picked up his friends bag a nurse walked in.
"Mr Kent good job you haven't left yet." The young woman said.
"You finally decided to take me up on that date yet?" Skeeter replied flashing a grin.
"Hardly, Dr Mills has asked me to give you these pain killers. Should your chest continue to give you any pain you can take two every four hours and they should help. When you've finished them, if you're still hurting then come back and we'll give you another scan." the nurse replied.
"Thank you," he replied taking the bottle of tablets from her, "And thank you for looking after me."
"You are very welcome, even if you have been a giant pain in the ass. I don't want to see you back here." She said with a smile. "Major Hunter?"
"Yes." He replied.
"One of our doctors has asked to speak with you, F deck in the secure wing." The nurse said.
"I'm behind schedule but I can try and get back this afternoon or this evening?" Archangel replied.
"Of course sir, I'll let him know."
Captain Amy "Streaker" Wesson stood outside the pilots briefing room trying to compose herself. She was the new training officer for new recruits. She had been on Orion for a week now and was taking her time to slide back into things. She had been the CAG aboard Olympus, now she was a squadron leader and she was actually pleased about it. She took one final deep breath and then walked into the training room with purpose.
"Attention on deck." She shouted as she walked in.
The eighteen new recruits stood to their feet. They all looked nervous, especially Jasper Vents. Amy stood looking at them as they all stood up looking back at her. None of them really knew what to do so they all kept standing.
"Please sit down." She said, "My name is Captain Amy Wesson, the pilots call me Streaker, you call me sir. You now all have the honour of serving on the most advanced ship ever built by the Colonial military and as far as we know the last. I do not care who you are, I do not care what you did before, I do not care where you came from, you are all, now, mine. You are at the bottom of the food chain. When I give you an order no matter what it is you will follow it. I will only accept the best from you and your best is what I will get. Gods forbid if your best is not good enough I will kick your asses back to whatever ship you came from and you will not get the chance to come back aboard Orion. We are at war so I will be hard on you because I have to be. The fighter pilots on this ship, even before the war were some of the best of the best, they have to give it 100% everyday because if they do not they will die. Until you finish your training you will think I am a bitch, you will not like me at all but as soon as your training ends, as soon as you join the fighter wing of the Battlestar Orion, you will find out I am not so bad. Ensign Greg Wallace what is the name of your CAG?"
Ensign Wallace looked shocked to be chosen for a moment, like a rabbit in headlights, "Major Mark Hunter sir." He replied.
"Very good Ensign, learn the names of the squadron leaders as they are who you will directly report too every day." Amy said, "We will be heading down to the flight simulators this afternoon and you will get your first taste of what it is like to fly a viper Mk7." she said with a smile.
Mr Caprica looked at himself in the mirror in his suite. He was wearing his best suit, when he had bought it two months before the Fall, it had cost him nearly ten thousand cubits. It was made from the finest materials on all the Colonies and hand stitched and tailored to his exact measurements. It would probably be the last suit he would ever buy, at least it was the best. Despite being one of the richest men in the Colonies before the attack, he and his wife had never been people who spent money for the sake of spending it. They had lived in a modest house with modest cars. They wanted their children to grow up living a life that wasn't dependant on vast amounts of money.
The door opened and in walked the man Mr Caprica trusted with everything, John Cavill, flanked by his personal bodyguards.
"Everyone is starting to arrive." John said.
"This should be fun." Mr Caprica replied.
Cavill gave a little laugh.
The room the Twelve met in was in the depths of the ship in a remote area, which wasn't often visited by other people. As Mr Caprica walked into the room, the other members were already there and waiting for him.
"Good morning everyone." He said as he took his seat, "We have a lot to talk about and I'm sure you all have things you want to discuss."
"We've been discussing the recent activities on Orion," Miss Tauron said, "It appears they have been holding an awful lot back from the rest of the fleet." Before the attack Miss Tauron had been the wife of the largest crime family on Tauron. Her husband had died only a week before the attack and she had taken over. Even though she was in her mid sixties she was as feared as her husband had been. Stood behind her was her eldest son, another head of the family. He was one of the most intimidating men any of the twelve had ever seen. He had a reputation as a brutal killer and had been known to have murdered people who even questioned his mother.
"Yes there has," Mr Caprica replied, "The information we have comes from one of our sources aboard Orion."
"How accurate is this information?" Miss Tauron asked.
"Very, the source is high up and is privy to information not many others are." Mr Caprica replied.
"This Pandora, the source mentioned sounds very interesting indeed." Mr Sagittaron said.
"It does and it appears they have samples of plant life, water and oxygen samples as well." Mr Caprica replied.
"If we could get our hands on them then maybe we could turn them into some sort of bio weapon." Mr Sagittaron said.
Mr Arilon groaned, "I have to object to this potential course of action."
"What a surprise, the activist objects." Mr Sagittaron snapped back, "Remind us why are you here again?!"
"Enough!" Mr Caprica snapped, "Need I remind you AGAIN that everyone's opinion around this table is as valid as yours."
Before the attack Mr Arilon had been the lead activist in the Arilon Farmer's Union. Fighting everyday for the rights of his people, who more often than not were treated poorly by the rest of the Colonies. He stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the killers and gangsters and corrupt businessmen around him. Mr Caprica had chosen him for that very reason, when the day came the NCO had to go public, he would be the perfect face for their organisation, a peaceful, well respected man who was known throughout the colonies.
"Mr Arilon please continue." Mr Caprica added.
"I thought we were brought together to bring freedom to this fleet. We know what the military is capable of and the new President had too much in common with Adar, but biological weapons, with all due respect we're not the SFM, we're not terrorists." Mr Arilon continued.
"I have to say, while I understand where your sensibilities come from Mr Arilon, Mr Sagittaron's idea is one that we should at least discuss." Miss Tauron replied, "If we want to even hope to remove the people on Orion this could be the only way."
"It's mass murder." Mr Arilon replied.
"I think we should at least look into getting those samples, so then at least we can have it as an option. At the very least when we take over the fleet we can use it as a potential weapon against the Cylons. We vote, who thinks we should ask our source on Orion to look into what it would take to get hold of these samples?" Mr Caprica asked.
Everyone, except for Mr Arilon raised his or her hand.
"Okay I'll make contact with our source." Mr Caprica replied.
Archangel walked through the Medstar. The former Columbia class Battlestar was a throw back to the last war. He liked the simplicity of it all. As he walked onto the secure wing he was met by Dr Christian Gerrard.
"Major thank you for coming, I know you are a busy man." Gerrard said shaking Archangel's hand.
"Not a problem, what can I do for you?" Archangel asked, he had no idea why he had been summoned.
"Please come to my office so we can talk." The doctor replied.
They both walked the short distance to the cluttered office. Both men sat down.
"We have a patient here who I would like you to speak too. She has been here since we left the Colonies. Since she heard that you had joined the fleet, she has been asking to speak with you. Part of her delusion is that she thinks she is your sister." Gerrard said.
"What? I don't have a sister. I had a brother before the attack." Archangel replied.
"This is why I would like you to speak to her, I hope that when you tell her this, it may go some way to helping her. I also want to perform a DNA test so that when she sees the result, there will hopefully be no way that she can carry this on." Gerrard said.
"Of course." He replied.
Gerrard picked up the phone on his desk, "Please can you bring Miss Spence to my office?"
Minutes later the door to the small office opened and in walked a blonde woman in her mid twenties, she looked utterly terrified. When she saw Archangel she dashed over to him and hugged him.
"Thank the gods you came." She said with tears in her eyes.
She wiped her eyes and sat down next to him.
"Carrie, this is Major Hunter, could you please tell him what you have been telling me?" Gerrard asked.
"I know you don't know me, but I know all about you. Before I was born our father, Galen Hunter and my mother had an affair. They broke it off amicably and then my mother found out she was pregnant with me. She never had any intention of telling your mother. Dad looked after her even though they weren't together, he gave her money so she didn't have to worry about anything and would always spend time with me when he was able. When I left college he gave me a job as a PA to one of his companies Vice Presidents. He told me about you and our brother but told me that I could never contact you or tell you who I was. When I heard you were in the fleet I decided that I had to meet you as I didn't think it mattered any more. I was with my boss Stephen Singer and when he found out I wanted to get in touch with you, he put me in here." Carrie said frantically, as she spoke she transformed from a frail looking girl, to a woman with purpose.
Archangel looked at her as she spoke and she believed what she was saying, he could tell that she hadn't been lying, but if she was delusional as Gerrard had been telling her, she would think it was the truth. He looked in her eyes and couldn't help but think they looked just like his brother's.
"Major Hunter has agreed to a DNA test so we can prove this matter one way or the other." Gerrard said.
"Thank you." She replied taking hold of his hand.
"You're welcome." He replied.
Dr Gerrard took their samples before heading off to begin the processing.
"I hope you believe me." She said when they were alone.
"I know that you're not lying," Archangel replied, "When people lie, they do little things that give themselves away. I look at you and I see Illum and I."
"I'm not crazy, no matter what he or anyone else says. I've been begging him for months to ask you to see me and he wouldn't." Carrie said, she wiped her eyes as she spoke.
"It's okay, I'm here now." He replied.
"So when the DNA test comes back, if it says that we are brother and sister, what happens then?" she asked.
"We get you out of here so you can start living your life again." Archangel replied kindly.
Bojay tried to sit up in his bed in Orion's sickbay. Everything hurt, while it wasn't as bad as it had been, it still felt like a truck had hit him. He smiled when he saw Kate walk over to him. They had been seeing each other since he had rescued her from Caprica.
"Hey." She said.
"Hey. You been here long?" Bojay asked.
"About an hour." She replied.
"I'm sure you have places you'd rather be?" He said.
"Don't be stupid," she replied, "When I was on the Medstar after you rescued me you came to visit me every day. Anyway it's nice to be able to see you so much, just a shame this is how it happened." She gave him a kiss.
"So what's the gossip from the fleet?" Bojay asked.
"Honestly not much. No Cylon and no NCO activity, the fleet is just plodding along as usual." Kelly replied.
"At least I'm not missing all the fun." He replied with a smile.
"Nope, no fun being missed at all." She replied.
Meetings of the Twelve never went as smoothly as Mr Caprica hoped they would. Mr Sagittaron was often the instigator of an argument. He felt it was his own fault asking the terrorist to take the position.
"Next order of business, we have received a copy of the star charts and the positions of all the planets that the Olympus surveyed," Mr Caprica said, "We're going to have them studied for the endgame to our plan."
"I don't mean to be a party pooper but won't they be the first places they come looking for us?" Miss Libran asked.
"When we decide on a planet and we have initiated the final phase, then the information about that planet and all the others, will be purged from all of Orion's systems. Unless someone memorised them they won't be able to find us. Anyway when we do leave them we won't go straight there. We give them enough time to search all the planets so even if they do go there they'll be long gone before we get there." Mr Caprica answered.
"What is the status of the ships that we have control of?" Mr Aquaria asked.
"Seventeen ships and that is confirmed." Mr Caprica replied.
"Is there any chance of getting control of a military vessel?" Mr Sagittaron asked.
"As of now, no. We don't have enough people on any of the ships to take them over. We had a Raptor pilot who had shown interest in our cause but we haven't heard from them since the set back on the planet last month. I'll ask our source aboard Orion to see how recruitment is going." Mr Caprica replied, "But irrelevant of whether or not we have them, our time table remains the same. Before we move on does anyone have any business they would like to discuss?" Mr Caprica asked.
"I do." Mr Sagittaron said.
This didn't surprise Mr Caprica or any of the others at all, he always had something he wanted to add.
"Go ahead." Mr Caprica said.
"As you all know I was picked up from Sagittaron after our camp had been attacked by Cylons. What you may not know is that the people who were responsible for the Cylons finding us are here in the fleet and I want your permission to bring them to justice." He said.
"May I ask what your version of justice is?" Miss Tauron asked.
"They killed 67 of my friends, good people who had done nothing to them except give them shelter, I want them dead." Mr Sagittaron replied.
"Is it someone the fleet will miss?" Miss Tauron asked.
All eyes were on Mr Sagittaron, he took a deep breath before he replied, "Major Hunter and Sergeant Vannick from the Battlestar Orion, plus Mike Kent a civilian and the Cylon that Orion is currently harbouring."
Mr Caprica tried not to look as shocked as he felt, he kept his composure, "You cannot be serious? They're too high profile, you would bring far too much attention to us. We're trying to make the people of this fleet think we are their saviours, we cannot go around killing people like this for petty vengeance."
"Really? Petty vengeance, this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Major Hunter is your son would it?" Mr Sagittaron replied.
On that bombshell all attention had now turned to Mr Caprica. Only a hand full of people in the room knew who he actually was, or so he thought.
Mr Caprica took a deep breath before he replied, "Do you want to know about MY son?" he replied, "Aside from being the youngest CAG in the history of the Colonial military he is also a highly trained assassin."
This did come as a shock to the Twelve.
"If you go after Mike Kent, his best friend and the other people you mentioned and you fail to take him out he will hunt you down, he will hunt us all down and the last thing any of us ever see will be him before he kills us." he said, meaning every word.
"But you're his father, you would be safe." Mr Sagittaron replied.
Mr Caprica smiled and let out a laugh before replying, "My son has no idea who I am, he has no idea of the things I've done and if he ever found out that I left his mother and brother to die on the Colonies when the attack happened, I guarantee you my death would be worse than any of yours. And before any of you stick out your chests and beat them with your fists you need to know that not one person in this room has what it takes to stop him, not your sons." He said pointing to Miss Tauron's son, "Not your terrorists," he said pointing at Mr Sagittaron, "No amount of guns or bombs will stop him. If you knew the list of people he has killed in the name of freedom, if you knew the ways and means he kills people with, you wouldn't even be thinking of doing this. He didn't just kill the Picon bomber, he blew up the car he was travelling in with his innocent wife and son. He knew they were in there and he pressed the button anyway, because he knew it was the only chance he was ever going to get. If this happens, if you all agree to this, then it is the last time any of you will see me and our plans end now, because he may be my son and yes I love him but he is the single most terrifying killing machine that I have ever laid eyes on."
The room fell into silence, even Mr Sagittaron seemed lost for words at this. Mr Caprica hadn't exaggerated, he had told them the simple truth, now he needed to see if his words had fallen on deaf ears.
"So you can vote, those who think Mr Sagittaron should be able to carry out his plan, raise your hand." Mr Caprica said.
The room once again fell silent, no one raised their hand, no one spoke, everyone seemed to have heard what he had to say.
"Then I'm sorry Mr Sagittaron but your permission for…. vengeance is denied." Mr Caprica said smiling.
Carrie Spence had led a comfortable life. She had lived in a nice home with a loving mother and had wanted for nothing all her life. Then on the day the Cylons attacked everything began to fall apart. This was the first time since she had last seen her mother that she had smiled. As she sat opposite the man she knew was her brother suddenly her life felt as though it could move forward again. She hoped he believed her, if she had been religious as her mother was, she would have prayed as well. When Mark Hunter smiled at her, she felt as though he did believe, she felt as though she could smile again. The last few months had been like a nightmare, no one had believed her, they told her she was crazy, delusional and she hated the fact that at times she had thought they might be right, maybe she had been making it up. As the office door opened Dr Gerrard walked back in holding a folder.
"Sorry it took so long, I wanted to be totally sure that the results were correct before I came back." He said.
"Well?" Archangel asked.
"You are brother and sister, there is no question." Gerrard said.
Carrie smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek. Archangel took hold of her hand.
"This will be a great help in treating you Carrie and getting you well again." Gerrard said.
"What?" Carrie said.
"Dr Gerrard, Carrie is coming with me, there is nothing wrong with her. You were told a lie and you bought it." Archangel said.
Carrie held tightly onto her brothers hand.
"I must insist that she remains here." Gerrard said.
Archangel chuckled, "You can insist all you want. Please go get her things so I can take her back to Orion." he said standing up.
Gerrard pressed a button on the bottom of his desk and seconds later two marines came through the door. Carrie stood next to her brother still holding tightly to his hand.
"Private Henry please take Miss Spence back to her room and escort Major Hunter to the flight deck immediately." Gerrard said.
"Belay that. Private do you know who I am?" Archangel asked.
"Yes sir." Henry replied nodding and sounding very nervous.
"You are going to send your man here, to get my sisters things and bring them back here so that I can take Carrie back to Orion. You are going to keep Dr Gerrard in his office until we get off the ship and you will not let him make any calls at all." Archangel ordered.
"West go get Miss Spence's things and bring them back here immediately." Henry said, "Dr Gerrard I must insist you remain in your office and keep your hands on your desk where I can see them."
"Thank you." Archangel replied.
Ten minutes later Archangel was flying his Raptor out of the Medstar's port flight pod. Carrie sat next to him.
"You okay?" he asked.
She nodded her head, "Are you going to get into trouble for that?"
"Nah, when I explain what happened it'll all be fine." Archangel replied.
"So what now?" she asked.
"For what?" Archangel replied.
"For me, where do I go from here?" Carrie asked, relief evident in her voice.
"You forget about the last few months and start to build your life again. You'll be safe on Orion. You're away from Dr Gerrard and trust me Stephen Singer will never even catch sight of you again and we get to know each other." Archangel said taking hold of her hand.
She smiled at the last part, "Thank you for saving me."
As the Raptor came to a halt on Orion's flight deck Commander Garrett was waiting for Archangel. As the hatch opened Archangel could tell from the look on the Commander's face that she had heard from Dr Gerrard already.
"Commander I would like to introduce you to my sister, Carrie Spence." Archangel said.
This surprised Garrett and her expression gave her away, clearly whatever the doctor had told her about Archangel taking a patient, hadn't included who she was.
"Very pleased to meet you Carrie." Garrett said.
"Likewise." Carrie replied shaking her hand.
"Can I borrow your brother for a few minutes?" Garrett asked.
"Of course." Carrie replied.
"Wedge." Garrett shouted.
"Yes ma'am." He replied.
"Can you show Miss Spence here the hanger deck for a few minutes." Garrett asked.
"Of course." Wedge replied.
Garrett grabbed hold of Archangel's wrist and dragged him into one of the decks many tool rooms.
"What the frak is going on?" Garrett asked, "I've just had some doctor on the horn screaming about how you took one of his patients from the locked ward against his orders."
"I assume that he missed out the part about who she was?" Archangel said.
"Yes he did. What the frak happened?" Vanessa asked.
"He called me over to talk to me. He said that he had a patient who claimed to be my long lost sister, that she was crazy and I was part of her delusion." Archangel said, "For some reason her boss dumped her on the Medstar when she found out I was in the fleet and wanted to get in touch with me. Turns out after a DNA test that she is my sister, we have the same dad and everything she said was true. She's not crazy and I'm not leaving her on that ship." Archangel answered. Vanessa could tell by his tone, there was no way this situation was going to go any way but how Archangel wanted it to.
"Okay." Garrett said, "I'll tell this doctor that Carrie is staying on Orion. Her boss, the one who had her locked up."
"What about him?" Archangel replied.
"Am I going to get called about a mysterious death?" Garrett replied bluntly.
"If you do it'll be nothing to do with me." Archangel replied.
Bojay sat on the side of his bed taking slow deep breaths. He was determined to stand up under his own strength. He expected a lot of pain when he stood up, it had taken him twenty minutes to get from sitting up in bed to being able to get to this position. He braced his hands on the side of the bed and stood up. The pain was excruciating, but he managed to stay standing up. He looked around and saw Kate stood talking to the doctor in her office. He braced himself again and took a small step forward, followed by another and then another, before he knew it he was half way across the room. Kate and the doctor hadn't seen him until he was at the office door and they both seemed startled to see him. They both jumped up.
"My gods Bojay, what the frak are you doing?" the doctor asked as they both rushed over to him.
"Hey I'm fine, I was just heading for the head." He replied pointing to the toilet.
"You should have called for us we would have come and helped you." Kate replied.
"Yeah that's why I didn't. What were you two chatting about anyway?" he asked.
"Nothing important." Kate replied.
"Fair enough. Hey the way things are progressing I'll be able to go home before you know it." Bojay replied with his usual cocky smile.
As the meeting of the Twelve came to a close some members of the group began to leave. Miss Tauron and her son came over to Mr Caprica.
"Galen we need to talk." She said.
"Of course Adriana." He replied.
They both sat back down as Miss Tauron's son closed the door.
"Mr Sagittaron concerns me." She said.
"I know what you mean. I seriously regret not heeding your concerns about him before I asked him to join us." He replied.
"We've known each other for fifteen years, if I had a cubit for every time you've said that I'd be richer than you." She replied.
They both gave a little laugh.
"Joking aside I worry that he will go against us and seek vengeance anyway." She said.
"We'll have to keep an eye on him." Galen replied.
"I will send one of my boys if that is agreeable?" she replied.
"Of course. Listen I wanted to say to you that if anything should happen to me, I need to know that you will take control of the group. There would undoubtedly be a power struggle, but I've instructed my aide John to help you in any way." Galen said.
"Of course but let's make sure that never happens. Also, should anything ever happen to me, I've instructed, Nathan and everyone from my family to follow you and only you. You are the only person I truly trust in or group." Adriana replied, glancing up at her son as she did.
The door opened again and John walked in.
"Sorry to interrupt but I thought you would both want to know. I've just received word our new asset is in play aboard Orion." He said.
Carrie stood alone in the memorial corridor aboard Orion. She stood looking at the picture of her brother with his mother, their brother and their father. They seemed happy in the picture. Their father was smiling in a way she had never seen before, he looked truly happy. She looked down at the picture she held of her mother. Despite the visits she often had from her father growing up and she saw him most days at work, she had always thought of her mother as her only family. As she pinned the picture to the wall, Archangel appeared next to her.
"Is that your mother?" he asked.
She nodded her head, "Yeah."
"You look a lot like her." Archangel said.
"I can see myself in you and Illum as well." Carrie replied smiling
"So can I. I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner." He said.
Carrie took hold of his hand, "It's okay, there's no reason to be sorry, you didn't know. I'm here now."
"Are your quarters okay?" he asked.
"Yes thank you. Everyone I've met seems nice as well." Carrie replied smiling.
"There are some things I need to tell you before you hear them from someone else, let's go get a drink." Archangel said.
When they reached the pilots rest area they sat on a table by themselves, Archangel handed her a glass of whiskey and sat next to her. He took a sip from his drink before he spoke.
"When I was on Sagittaron, before Orion found us there was a woman. Her name is Grace and for the first time in my life I found myself in love. She was shot and killed by Cylons just before we got to Caprica. I thought she was dead but it turns out, she's a Cylon. I didn't know till much later and now she's here, on this ship." Archangel said quietly.
"Does anyone else know she's a Cylon?" Carrie asked.
"Everyone does. She's turned her back on her people and she has been helping us to prove that she's on our side." Archangel said, he was nervous telling her, worried about how she would react to him.
"Are you still with her?" Carrie asked.
Archangel took another sip from his drink, "Things are different now. It's harder. But I suppose the answer is, kind of, yes, I honestly don't know."
"Thank you for telling me." Carrie said.
They both sat in silence for what seemed like forever.
"I don't think any less of you." Carrie said.
Archangel let out a little laugh, "Thank you. Give it time!"
"We all have our secrets and things that other people might not understand." She said.
Stephen Singer had lived a life he had loved. He had worked for one of the biggest companies in all the Colonies, money was no problem, he lived a life that most people would kill for. That was before the fall, before things changed. The company he had helped Galen Hunter to build wasn't as innocent as the rest of the Colonies thought, he had done things and ordered things that in the past week had begun to haunt him. His life on the Starburst had been good, then he started to feel as though he was being watched. The paranoia had grown quickly and in the short space of a week he felt like he was one step away from insanity. Things in his suite that weren't where he had left them, he knew that someone had been coming in when he was out. He had thought he had seen faces that he knew he couldn't have. People he didn't know making comments to him as they passed him by. Then the notes had begun, simple notes that said things like "I know" or "They're coming". The heavy breathing phone calls late at night.
He hadn't left his suite in three days, he had sat in the same chair with a revolver in one hand and a bottle in the other. Sleep came and so did the dreams, dreams of the people he had double-crossed and Carrie Spence, the girl he had convinced everyone that she was crazy. He was startled from his whiskey induced haze by a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" he yelled.
There was no answer, just another knock. He took another sip from the bottle and put it down before staggering over to the door. When it opened he fell backwards in shock, in front of him stood Carrie, she smiled before walking in, closing the door behind her.
"Hello Stephen, it's been a while." She said.
He scrambled backwards and turned for the chair where he had left his gun. He stopped when he saw Archangel sitting there with the gun in his hand. How had he got in here?
"Carrie listen, I'm sorry." He stammered, terrified.
"Sorry?" Carrie replied with a laugh, "Sorry isn't good enough for what you put me through. Why? Why did you do that to me?" she asked.
"I had to keep you from finding your brother, I had to keep you from finding out about your father." Stephen stuttered.
"What about our father?" Archangel replied as he unloaded the bullets from the revolver.
"The things he had done, the things his company did. He never wanted either of you to know." Stephen replied.
Archangel loaded one of the rounds back into the gun and threw it onto the floor a couple of steps away from Stephen.
"Are you going to kill me?" he stammered.
"No," Carrie replied, "We're not murderers."
"He is." He replied pointing to Archangel.
"Did you hear about what happened on that planet where we found the Olympus survivors?" Archangel asked.
Stephen nodded, "Yes, the virus that had turned them into monsters, driven them insane."
"Been feeling paranoid?" Archangel asked, "Been seeing people who aren't there?"
"You infected me! How? When?" Stephen replied.
"When someone goes to as many bars as you do it's not hard to spike that person's drink." Carrie said with a smile.
"Did you hear what the effects of Pandora are?" Archangel asked.
He nodded his head in terror.
"Sounds to me like you're not far away from the final phase." He said.
"Then you get to spend the rest of your days sedated and locked away on the Medstar, kind of poetic don't you think?" Carrie said with a wicked smile across her face.
"There has to be away to stop it, please I'll do anything," he said dropping to his knees in tears, "Please." He said reaching out to Carrie, as he did, his hand passed right through her.
"Please? Isn't that what I said to you? And what did you do? You ignored me, you left me. I think I'll return the favour." She said as both she and her brother turned for the door.
"At least kill me." He yelled.
"No, you don't deserve mercy and like I said, we're NOT killers." Carrie said before walking out the door.
Archangel turned to him, "I left you the only help you're going to get." He said as he pointed to the gun before closing the door behind him, "Also, it's kind of karmic that you're seeing my sister."
As Archangel walked away he heard the sound of a single gunshot ring out behind him.
Skeeter couldn't believe his luck. The cards he held in his hands had beyond a shadow of a doubt won him the huge pot. He had missed the triad games in the Delphi bar and it looked like his luck was returning. As the others around the table put their cards down, Skeeter smiled before putting his down.
"Full colours gentlemen, looks like getting shot in the chest brought me my luck back." He said with a laugh as he picked up his cubits.
"Yeah we had heard about you getting shot on that planet, gods dam NCO right?"
Skeeter looked up and smiled, "Dam right." He replied.
Mr Sagittaron who was sat opposite him, smiled, "But you have to remember my friend, there's always time to get revenge."