Nanashi 4
"Docking complete." Heero said
as the ship came to a stop.
"Okay, we'll be here for half an hour, you can go
and look around the colony if you like or stay here, it doesn't matter to me as
long as you're back before we leave. Anyone who is not present will be left
here and expelled from the service. See you all in half an hour." Christi said.
Duo grabbed Kari and Bria's arms and pulled them to
the exit saying something about partying. Alan followed because he had nothing
better to do. Heero left with Leikela and Trowa disappeared into the
communications room. Wufei said he had shopping to do and something about how
we ate up all the food faster than he could cook it and Quatre was working with
the piloting controls because they had been sluggish when the ship was docking.
Christi sat in Heero's chair and studied a manual while she waited for the new
crewmember to arrive.
"Quatre?"
"Yes, Christi?"
"I've been thinking about what you said last night,
and, well, didn't you have an alibi?"
Quatre smiled. "No, I spent the whole night in my
hotel room." He said but then quickly added, "Alone!!!" as if he didn't want
Christi to get the wrong impression.
Christi smiled.
"The officers who played the trick and say they saw
me at this bar were drunk and everyone else was also drunk. They all just
decided to pin it on me."
"So didn't
anyone see the officers who played the trick leave the bar or near the ship or
at the seafood restaurant?"
"Well you see they were all at a party and they all
got very drunk and everyone at the party got so drunk they don't remember if I
was there or not and to top it all of a fight broke out at the bar they were in
between another Preventer and her superior officer and everyone stopped to
watch, so because they were distracted and drunk the three guys were able to
slip away unnoticed and no one remembers if they left or not. Since most of the
people at the bar were the friends of these guys, they went along and blamed
me. It was basically their word against mine."
"Well weren't you the pilot of the ship, why didn't
they like you?"
"I was a new pilot and I was only assigned to that
ship until I could get one of my own. Now I have to wait another month to get
my own ship."
"So they questioned everyone at the bar?"
"Well except the girl and guy who were in the fight.
They were taken away and were never questioned."
Christi remembered a night in a bar only a little
over a week ago. "When did all this happen?" She asked.
"Oh, a little over a week ago on a colony near Space
HQ. I heard that the girl was taken there but no one bothered to question her.
If only she could prove that I hadn't been there or if my officers left."
"They never questioned the girl."
"What?"
"The people at HQ never questioned the…me."
Quatre looked at Christi as if he didn't understand.
"Earlier at dinner I didn't tell you everything
about how I got to be stationed on this ship."
"I don't understand?"
"I was the girl in the fight. And I wasn't very
drunk but since I have had a few incidences where I was, I was punished and
sent here. It wasn't the only reason; I was the only one who had been given
extensive training on how to pilot one of these things. Anyway, they never
questioned me about anything like that. I think I would remember a giant
lobster."
Quatre laughed.
"So can you testify that I wasn't there?"
"Yeah. I don't remember seeing you there and I was
there all night until the fight. Besides, I would remember you."
Quatre blushed and was relieved when the new officer
chose that moment to walk in.
"Officer Nixie Granger." The tall, skinny, dark
haired young woman introduced herself.
"I'm Capitan Christi Davis and this is Capitan
Quatre Winner." Christi said, introducing herself and Quatre.
"I'm here to assist with machine, and computer
maintenance. I can pilot if necessary."
"By pilot do you mean co-pilot or primary pilot?"
Christi asked.
"I said pilot. That means anything."
Christi was surprised by the coldness in her voice.
"Well, officer Granger…"
"I go by Nix. Just Nix."
"Okay, Nix, you said you did computer maintenance. I
seem to be having a little bit of a problem and it has been bugging me ever
since this afternoon. We have a little time before the rest of the crew shows
up, shall we look at it now?"
Nix nodded.
Christi explained about the information on the crew
that was in the ships computer and as far as she knew no one had put that
information in. Nix said she could fix that and went to work. A few minutes
later she was done and Christi checked out the work. Nix explained what she had
done.
"I put on a device that will block anyone from the
outside who might be trying to get into our computers. This way the information
is safe because you did say this was confidential information, right?"
"Well some of it." Christi answered.
"Now, no new information can be sent into or out of
our computer without our knowledge. If someone is trying to hack into our
computer you will be notified and we can track the signal from the main
computer, here."
Nix pointed to Heero's computer.
Christi nodded. She didn't know much about computers
but this sounded about right. She'd have Heero look at it later and maybe he'd
be able to make sure everything checked out. For some reason she didn't trust
this girl.
"Okay, you guys have 1 hour before lights out. Do
what you'd like just don't mess anything up. The first day seemed to go well so don't blow it now!"
Everyone started leaving the bridge and heading
toward his or her cabin, or to the kitchen for a late snack.
"Heero, can I talk to you after everyone leaves?"
Heero nodded and from all the nodding that Heero had
done Christi decided that Heero didn't like to talk. That was okay, Duo made up
for all the talking he didn't do. Although Christi couldn't help wish that Duo
would shut up sometimes and Heero talk a little bit more.
"I wanted to talk to you too." Heero said once
everyone had left.
"You did? About what?"
"The computer, I noticed that ever since we docked
the commands I was giving it were either being ignored or were taking a very
long time to complete their tasks. Did you do anything to the computer while we
were all gone?"
"Well not me personally but I had Nix take a look
because I've been having problems with some of the other computers."
"I haven't noticed any problems. I have the main
computer, if there are any problems it should show up whenever I run checks of
the system."
"Well it's the fact that some confidential
information was able to be accessed by one of the other crew members. The thing
is, that information wasn't supposed to even be on the ship computer. The only
copy of that information was in my little folders of you guys and no one had
uploaded the information from those folders. It would take a while to do
because whoever wanted to put the info in the comp would have had type it all
out. I talked to Trowa and you and even someone at HQ."
"That's right I do remember you saying something
about touching your folders earlier."
"Well could you look around? You can do it tomorrow
if you'd like."
"Well I'll run another check tonight but the heavy
duty stuff will have to wait till tomorrow."
"That's fine."
Christi yawned.
"I'm gonna head to my cabin."
Heero was too busy with the computer already to
notice that she had left.
"Man, am I starved!" Duo said rubbing his mid
section.
"You're not the only one!" Kari agreed.
"Well girls you are in for a treat!"
Duo smiled at Bria and Kari, both sitting on bar
stools across the counter from him. Duo put on Wufei's chef hat and winked.
"I am going to make you the best late night snack
you've ever had!"
The girls looked at each other with scared looks on
their faces.
"What? Why do you look like that?"
"They are afraid of what you are going to cook."
Wufei said as he entered the kitchen.
"Yeah well you'll be surprised too!"
Duo raised his chin at Wufei and used his crutches
to move importantly around the kitchen looking for what he needed. While trying
to look in a cabinet he tripped over one of his crutches and fell to the floor.
Wufei stifled a grin and Bria and Kari ran over to help him up.
"Are you okay?" Kari asked.
"Yeah." Duo answered, taking both Kari and Bria's
outstretched hands.
"Are you sure?" Bria asked?
"Yes! I'm fine, where do you keep the ice cream?"
Duo asked. "Oh wait, in the freezer, right?"
Wufei jumped up and Bria grabbed Duo's arm.
"NO!" they said in unison.
"What? You don't want ice cream?" Duo asked.
"Uh…I'm…lactose intolerant." Bria said, thinking
quickly.
"Me too!" Wufei added.
Bria turned red as she realized she was still
holding Duo's arm. She quickly removed her hand.
"Well I'm not and I want some ice cream!" Kari said,
walking to the freezer.
"Well…you can't!" Bria said.
"Why not?" Kari asked.
"Uh…well…Wufei told me he wanted to make you
something special tomorrow night and I think he was saving the ice cream for
then."
Wufei glared at Bria.
Kari looked at Wufei.
"Really?" She asked, hesitantly.
"Well it wasn't just for you, I was going to make
something special for everyone." Wufei said.
"Now Wufei, don't forget what you told me earlier."
Bria stated.
"What are you talking about onna?" Wufei said
through clenched teeth.
Bria smiled.
"About how there's something different about Kari
that you find…attractive."
Wufei's face went red.
"I never said such a thing!"
"You liar!"
Kari stepped closer to Duo as Wufei and Bria started
to fight.
"Um…I'm not hungry anymore, whatta ya say we just go
to our cabins?" Kari said.
Duo nodded in agreement and the two hurried out of
the kitchen and to their separate cabins.
When Duo and Kari had left, Bria and Wufei quit
fighting.
"Good! They're gone and they forgot about the ice
cream!" Bria said sitting down.
"I still can't believe you said that!"
"Said what?"
"That I find Kari attractive!"
"Well don't you?"
"Well…yeah I guess but not like that!!! I mean I
find you attractive too-"
"Don't' say that!"
"Say what?"
"That you find me attractive! I feel like throwing
up now! Besides, I'm after a cute American!"
"Don't tell me you have a crush on Duo too!"
"You're just jealous! And what do you mean by
'too'?"
"I am not! And it is totally obvious that Kari has a
thing for Duo as well!"
"You are too jealous! And I don't care about Kari, I
only care about Duo!"
"Uh! Forget it! I'm going to sleep. Don't forget to
lock the freezer."
"Yeah, yeah…jealous!"
"Grrrrrrrr!"
"Are you two okay?" Quatre asked.
"-I- am fine, although I'm not too sure about miss crush on the cute
American over there!" Wufei answered as he walked passed Quatre.
"He's just jealous." Bria said.
"Yeah, he is acting that way." Quatre agreed
"I am not!!!"
And with that Wufei left the kitchen before either of the two could say
anything else.
"So, Quatre, can I get you anything?" Bria asked.
"No, I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm just heading to my cabin."
"Okay."
Bria smiled as Quatre left the kitchen.
"Now to lock the freezer."
Heero sat back in his chair as he ran a system
check. His eyes focused on the screen looking for any problems. Suddenly he
turned because something had gotten his attention. He looked around the bridge.
"No one." He thought.
Heero knew that most everyone had gone to the
kitchen for a snack so he figured it must have been one of them making some
noise that startled him.
Heero finished the system check and on impulse he
took off the cover of the computer and searched through the wirers to see if he
found what he feared might be there.
"She was right!" he whispered.
Something made a noise behind him. He was sure of it
this time. He turned to find Nix standing to his left.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking at the computer like Captain Davis asked me
too."
"She said you could wait until tomorrow."
"Well I decided to do it now."
"Well I can tell you now that there is nothing wrong
with the ship or it's computer. Trust me, I looked at it earlier."
For some reason Heero had a hard time trusting Nix.
"You looked at it earlier?" Heero asked.
Nix nodded.
Heero tensed, something wasn't right.
Bria opened the freezer and stared at the body for a
moment. She noticed the things that were scattered over the floor where she and
Wufei had thrown them earlier. She reached down and picked up a folded piece of
paper. As she read her mouth opened in surprise.
"Christi, I have to tell Christi."
Bria grabbed some of the other papers and ran to the
crew cabins, leaving the freezer door wide open.
As Bria ran down the hallway something jolted the
ship and Bria lost her balance and was thrown to the ground. She reached up and
felt the warm liquid coming from a gash in her forehead.
"Blood…" she thought.
Shaking away all other thoughts she got up and ran
the short distance to Christi's cabin.
"I have to warn her about the danger we're in."
To Be Continued…
Author's note: still needs a name!!! And now that
ff.net has taken away the review alert and since I don't have the money to pay
for it, I won't get your reviews for a while cause I have to go to the site and
look up all the new reviews! So if you have a suggestion for the name I would
rather you email me with it, my email address is, Christian.m.hall@att.net you can
still review, in fact I still want you too, it will just take me longer to get
it! So if you have any questions or anything you want me to see right away then
use the link above to email me. If you send me an email I will not email you
back unless you specify that you want me to. Hope you like it so far and I hope
to have the next part out real soon! I've been real busy with school and stuff!
I just started this week! Ahhhhhh!
Till next time,
~Bishonen Chaser~