A/N: Thank you CometesseAlanna, pallysd'Artagnan, 29Pieces, and SnidgetHex for reviewing! I hope you all are staying well during this difficult time.

"Lifeline"

2390

Rios walked among the orchards outside the town they were currently staying at. They'd been on the road—on the run—for several months now. And while there'd been no indication anyone was actively hunting for them—him—he couldn't shake the edginess and trepidation prickling his nerves…well, everywhere.

He'd spent the last decade on a confined starship but here on Earth with the wide open country stretching out in every direction as far as the eye could see, he felt trapped.

They were careful. Never used any equipment that required identification. Never used their full names when talking to locals. Still, was this to be their life indefinitely? Wandering from town to town, always looking over their shoulder? Waiting for a shadow to attack in the dark, to feel that prick in the side of his skull one second before they utterly obliterated what was left of him? Or were they past that and a simple phaser shot would do?

Rios stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched in on himself as he walked, feeling a chill despite the warm sun streaming down on him. He could still feel the sheer terror of that moment in his apartment, the sickening thought of what would have happened if Raffi hadn't come after him. As if he didn't have enough reasons not to sleep at night. If it wasn't nightmares of drowning, either literally or metaphorically, it was Vandermeer blowing his brains out right in front of Rios.

He stopped and slumped against a tree, pressing a palm against his eyes as the image flared to life anew. He couldn't shake it, no matter what he did. Alcohol numbed the gut-wrenching guilt and despair to a degree, but it didn't stop the dreams, the echo of painful words he wished he could take back…the occasional thought that he should just follow in the old man's footsteps.

But he'd made Raffi promise she wouldn't go down that road and he could hardly be a hypocrite on that. Still, he was fraying at the seams, slowly and irreparably. And he didn't know what to do about it.

He pushed himself up and continued walking. The orchard eventually gave way to dirt fields on the edge of a large recycling plant that was the town's main industry. Automated machinery sifted through old materials and decommissioned vehicles so the parts could be recycled into resources for new construction.

He walked the perimeter of the yard, meandering idly. Sometimes a shard of sunlight would reflect off a piece of metal and hurt his eyes.

But it was the dull and faded sangria paint that caught his attention and made him slow. There in the yard awaiting dismantlement was a beat-up freighter. Scratched and dented, it otherwise looked perfectly intact. Rios stared at it for a long time, feeling the same tug deep down in his bones that had stirred his heart since he was a boy every time he looked at the stars.

He finally turned and went to see if he could track down someone in charge. He found a manager signing off on a shipment of recycled material being transferred out.

"Excuse me," he said when the cargo vehicle had left.

The manager looked over. "Yes?"

"That Kaplan F17 you've got sitting out there, it's slated for recycling?"

"That's what we do here."

"I'd like to take it."

The manager quirked an odd look at him. "It barely runs. You'd be better off putting in for a new design over at the ship yards outside of Houston."

Rios's jaw tightened. Aside from the fact that he'd have to register a new ship on the spot and therefore risk drawing attention to his whereabouts, there was something about this ship that he was drawn to. Maybe it was that in an unregistered ship he could finally escape this cage he felt like he was living in. Maybe it was that the Kaplan F17 could be operated by a single person and he wouldn't have to worry about a crew, or betrayal, or being responsible for lives that could drive him to compromise who he was.

Or maybe it was that this ship was as equally broken and discarded as he was. And he felt a foolish, sentimental hope that if he could fix it up, he could somehow fix himself.

"I want a restoration project," he said.

The manager shrugged. "You got a place to park it? I got the equipment to tow it out of here, but not far."

Rios thought about it for a moment. Taking this on would mean staying in this town for an indefinite amount of time, longer than he and Raffi were accustomed to doing. But once they got the ship up and running, they could move into it, stay away from people, try not to draw attention.

"How about in the field out back? I'll probably need access to some recycled materials as I go."

The manager shrugged again and waved for Rios to follow him. They made their way through the yard to the freighter where the manager then diverted a crane to tractor beam it up and out into the field beyond the plant.

"Thanks," Rios said, shaking the man's hand.

He merely waved and went back to his work.

Rios stood there and considered the starship for a long moment before finally heading inside. The bay door had to be wrenched open manually, and Rios wrinkled his nose at the musty air that hit his face. Sunlight lanced through the window up at the nose of the ship, filling the hold with a dusty haze. It was an open floor plan, with an upper and lower deck and mostly clear sight lines from either end of the central body of the ship. Rios liked that. It felt like breathing room. Like freedom.

He climbed the small stairs up to the bridge and tapped a main console experimentally. Nothing happened. He hadn't really expected it to. Who knew how long the ship had been sitting in that scrap heap, waiting its turn to be annihilated. Rios wrenched himself away from the analogy.

He exited the freighter and left the bay door open to air it out some while he headed back into town. He was gonna need help getting that hunk of metal up and running.

He found Raffi moseying around the local craft fair, admiring things but not taking any.

"Hey," he said, coming up to her.

"Hey."

"I have something to show you."

She arched a brow at him. "Okay."

She followed without question as he led her out of town and through the orchards. She did, however, start to grow impatient.

"Rios, for the love of god, if we're not almost there I am turning around."

"We're almost there."

She huffed but didn't offer any more complaint. They finally reached the field where the freighter sat.

Raffi glanced between it and him. "This is what you wanted to show me?"

"I know it doesn't look like much now," he said. "But after some fixing up, it'll be good as new."

She regarded him for an extra beat. "You're heading back out into space." It was a half statement, half question, delivered tonelessly so he couldn't quite discern what emotion she was feeling behind it.

"I can't stay on Earth," he answered. "Always looking over my shoulder, always wondering if Starfleet Security will eventually catch up, or whether they've decided I'm not worth it. I can't live like that. I feel like a fish in a bowl. A very large bowl, but nonetheless."

Raffi sighed but her expression was understanding.

"You could come with me," he added hopefully.

She was contemplative for a moment before shrugging. "Not like anything's holding me here." She flicked another unimpressed look at the freighter. "This thing even operational?"

Rios quirked a small smile at her. "I was hoping you'd help me with that. Once the system's online, we can retrofit everything from the ground up. Got a recycling plant right here for the raw components we need." He gestured behind him. "You in?"

She smiled back. "Aye aye, Captain."