Chapter 10

The inside of the spaceship was not what she expected. Instead of a creepy, alien environment, it was a sleek, utilitarian design with soft grays, matt blacks, and muted silvers. The overall effect was soothing.

"Not what you expected, huh?" Rory asked with a slight smirk.

"Not at all. Who designed this?"

"We hired consultants from an ergonomics engineering firm to design an high-tech office for a fast-paced, stressful environment, then we tweaked their recommendations to suit our needs."

"Impressive. And unexpected."

"Why? Because Hydra's a heartless organization that just sends its valuable personnel into the depths of space in a dark, dreary craft, devoid of comfort? After the last three months, you don't know us any better than that?" He frowned with disappointment, making her feel shitty for thinking exactly what he described. "People are our most valuable resources. Do you know how hard it is to find people with the right skill sets that haven't been brainwashed into thinking Hydra is the Big Bad Evil that SHIELD propaganda depicts?"

"No," she lied, "I expected the inside to look just as alien as the outside. After all, you have to admit, from the outside this thing looks pretty freaky." She put on an affronted look, daring him to contradict her.

"I'm sorry, you deserve better than that. Come," he led the way towards the front of the craft, "Let me show you the command center."

At his apology, Frankie felt even shittier for her lie. She followed him as he led the way.

The control center was like the rest of the interior, just with more lights and knobs. Three swiveling chairs were arrayed around the perimeter of the oval room, each with its own console laid out in front of it. Once again, she was surprised.

"There's no window."

"Very astute, as always," Rory chuckled. "Why would you put a fragile window in the command center of a heavily armored ship? Even with the thickest, most advanced transparent polymer, it would have only a fraction of the strength of the shell that protects the rest of the ship."

"I never thought about it that way."

"And having a window only gives so much visibility." He stepped up to one of the consoles and pushed some of the buttons, "cameras mounted on the hull give you a complete sphere of vision around the craft. And you can zoom in and out as needed."

Frankie stepped up beside him and looked at the screen. He flicked through several cameras that showed various views of the hanger around them. One of them briefly showed what looked like a stack of missiles before the image changed.

"What do you plan to do with this thing?" she asked as he showed her various other functions at the fingertips of the person that would be sitting in this position.

Rory straightened up from the station, "SHIELD has already made contact with several alien groups and governments and you can believe they are not painting a good picture of Hydra, as expected. We need to get out there and meet these civilizations on our own terms. We need to make our own allies and not let SHEILD and the Avengers control the intergalactic destiny of earth and the human race."

"And those missiles are going to help you make allies?"

"You don't miss a thing, do you?" he chuckled and shook his head slightly. "We are allowed to defend ourselves, aren't we? There is no way of knowing who or what we'll encounter, and I'm not going to send my people out there defenseless."

"Makes sense, I suppose." She decided to change the subject, "how are you going to choose who goes?"

"We are doing the final screening of our top candidates right now. They have been training on simulators for months and are going through rigorous physical and mental testing to determine their suitability. Why? Are you interested?"

"Why not? Earth has treated my pretty shitty all these years. Maybe space will be better," she laughed, making it a joke. "Are they here training? Do I know any of these potential spacemen?"

Rory waved his hand dismissively, "yes, and other locations. But they're in a different section, in isolation, so they can concentrate on their training."

A different section? And here she thought she had seen all of the facility. Interesting.

Rory stepped close to her unexpectedly, bringing his hand up to stroke her cheek with a finger.

"And you wouldn't be a good candidate for space travel. You're too much of a social creature. You'd go nuts locked up with just two other people for months on end," he murmured looking down into her eyes.

Frankie's heart began to race in panic as he started to lower his head to kiss her. This was definitely NOT what she had expected. She loved Rory with all of her heart, but not in this way. To her, he was still the innocent boy she had rescued. This felt all wrong, like being kissed by your brother.

She put her hand on his chest, intending to push him away, when someone cleared their throat behind them.

"I'm apologize for the interruption Commander, but you are urgently needed." A different guard than the two they had encountered earlier stood in the entrance of the control center, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Rory spun abruptly, dropping his hand from her face, "of course. Let them know I'm on my way."

He turned back to Frankie with a slight smile, "I'm sorry, but I have to cut short the tour. Maybe some other day?"

She nodded, still reeling from what almost had happened, "yeah, another day."

She followed him and the retreating guard out of the spaceship and to the heavily guarded door. Once back out in the large hanger, Rory hurried off and left her to find her own way back. Making her way back to her room, she replayed what almost happened again and again in her mind. Since when did Rory feel that way towards her? They had just reunited and had barely spent any time together since then. Had he felt that way before the accident? Had she given him any reason to think she felt the same? Her thoughts chased each other around and around.

Trying to take her mind off the subject, she mulled over what she had learned instead. There was a lot more at stake here that just Rory. Even she knew the ramifications of Hydra making allies in space were not good. She had to do something, but what?

She wasn't a hero or even a good Samaritan, what could she do? She could do what she was best at: gathering information. Learn all she could then, once she got Rory out, she could turn that information over to…. Who? Who could she trust? Certainly not the bloody Avengers. Maybe the feds. Yeah, that was it. Turn it over to the feds and let them decide who to trust.

Lying in bed with the lights off, she made a mental list. In addition to finding out who pulled the strings here, she needed to find out who the potential astronauts where and where they were being housed and trained. She was going to have to start cultivating contacts in the facility. She had been there long enough that she was fairly well-known and trusted. After all, Rory himself vouched for her. She was going to start using her skills and she knew just the two people to start with.

The next day, she was informed by Jacob that her first real assignment had been determined and she would be briefed that afternoon on the details. Both excited and worried, she toyed with her lunch while the rest of her team talked around her. At 12:35 sharp, Andi, Ms. Jones' assistant walked in, got a salad, and sat at a table by herself.

"Hey, Josh," Frankie asked the man next to her quietly, "what's the deal with her?" she indicated Andi with a nod. "I've noticed she never eats with anyone."

Josh, a data analyst, followed her nod and grimaced, "that's Andi York, Ms. Jones' assistant. She eats alone because everyone is intimidated by her boss."

"So, it's not just me she hates?" Frankie asked with a smile.

He shook his head, "no, she hates everyone." He shuddered, "I'm glad she's not our boss anymore."

Frankie was surprised. "Really? I didn't know."

His voice dropped to a whisper, "she was a CIA spook, but got canned for some reason. Pretty scary, huh? Doing something so shady that not even the CIA wanted anything to do with you? Anyway, she was the head of intelligence when I first got here but was promoted to security shortly afterwards. Thank God, because she was awful to work for."

"Who?" Dean asked from across the table, having just caught that last bit.

"Ms. Jones."

At the mention of the name, the entire table stilled.

"You need to be careful who you talk about, Josh," another person further down the table cautioned.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, the talk at the table returned to normal. Frankie leaned towards Josh.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you into trouble or anything."

"It's ok. But Bill's right. Be careful who you talk about. Things have a way of getting back to Her."

"I'll remember that. But it's not right that Andi has to eat alone every day just because everyone's afraid of her boss."

With that, Frankie pushed back from the table, picked up her tray, and made her way over to the lone woman. The table fell silent behind her.

"Hey," she said, standing across the table from Andi, "may I join you?"

Andi looked up quizzically from her salad, "excuse me?"

Frankie smiled at her confusion, "may I join you?"

Andi looked at her, then at the quiet table she had left with a frown. "Did they put you up to this? You know, a prank on the new girl?"

Frankie plopped her tray down and took the seat opposite the woman, "no. I just think it's bullshit to make someone a pariah just because their boss is scary."

Andi smiled weakly, "well if you're not afraid I'll feed you to her, then by all means, join me."

Frankie smiled back, "ok, but be warned, if you do try to feed me to her, I've been told I'm a tough cookie."

Andi laughed.

Andi York was actually a very lively companion. Her quirky sense of humor kept Frankie giggling during most of their lunch. She had never married, but her two brothers had large families and she kept in contact with them despite working and living in such a secure facility. She had a lot of stories about growing up with them and the exploits of their children.

At 1:00 the members of her team departed the cafeteria. Dean came over to her and Andi on his way out.

"Don't forget, we have that briefing at 2:00."

"Oh, I won't forget, but thanks. I'll be finished in a few minutes and join you."

He nodded at Andi on his way out. She sighed when he left the room.

"How can you even focus on your job with such a hottie as a partner?"

"You think Dean is hot?"

"You don't?"

She had never thought of him as hot but saw how his dazzling smile and bright blue eyes combined with his blonde hair and strong jawline could be considered good looking.

She shrugged, "I guess, but he's not my type."

"What's your type?" Andi leaned forward with a grin.

Frankie didn't really have a type, so she adlibbed, "I like them more serious, I guess. Not too tall, that just makes certain activities more awkward, if you know what I mean."

Andi giggled at her insinuations, "you better not tell the Commander he's not your type. He might take offense."

"What?"

"Well, surely the two of you are, you know…," she let the sentence tail off.

Frankie's face flushed, "is that what everyone thinks? That I'm screwing Rory?"

Andi leaned back, "no. I mean…," she stumbled. "Well, yeah, actually. Some do."

Frankie drew a breath and exhaled slowly, calming herself down. It wouldn't do her any favors to lose her shit here in the middle of the cafeteria. She shook her head slowly.

"I supposed that's to be expected. We do have a history and he did bring me in." She looked up and met Andi's eyes. Sometimes the truth is perfect for the situation. "But I raised him. He was just a boy when I found him. He's like a little brother to me, that's all."

Andi nodded, "I understand. But I don't think he feels the same way about you. I've seen him looking at you a couple of times and believe me, he isn't thinking brotherly thoughts."

Frankie blushed, "I don't know why, I haven't given him any indication I feel the same or any encouragement. But I know what you mean. Yesterday, in the spacesh…," she let the sentence trail off, dangling the bait. "Oops, sorry. I'm probably not supposed to say anything about that."

"Oh, that's alright," the other woman waved off her apology. "I already know about that. Glenda was livid." She lowered her voice, "I could hear her yelling at him through her office door."

"Really?" Frankie appeared confused. "I thought he was in charge of everything?"

"Yes, of course he is." Andi hurriedly looked at her watch and stood up quickly, "I'm sorry, Frankie. This has been the most enjoyable lunch I've had in a long time, but it's time for me to get back to work." She paused before picking up her tray. "Thank you."

Frankie smiled, "you're welcome. See you tomorrow?"

The other woman smiled shyly, "maybe."

A good start, Frankie thought as she gathered up the remains of her lunch to leave. One down. One more to go.