"This is such a pleasure to be meeting someone outside from this station. It's such a remote location, almost no one ever comes to visit. Well, maybe just the cargo suppliers," continued Elros, laughing loudly at his own not so amusing joke.
D'Avin felt a wave of confusion. There was a moment of absolute clarity - D'Avin knew the man. He knew him. And then the thread was gone, and he was left with just unease and a terrible feeling of deja vu. He tried to catch Dutch's eye, wondering if she was feeling the same thing.
She must not have because she didn't sense his seeking gaze. Instead she greeted Elros with open respect, "Well, the pleasure is ours. Tell me, Elros, why is this place located so far at the fringe of the quad?"
D'Avin didn't hear Elros's answer, instead, he felt a sharp pain in his head.
Alvis gave a curious glance at him, while Johnny looked at him in concern, "D'Av? You alright?"
D'Avin blinked. Johnny. He just had a horrible imagery of him lying still in a white room. The image had disappeared as quickly as it had come though, leaving D'Avin very disturbed. Shit. All this Dr. Yaeger mind f*ck had messed him up badly than he thought.
"This facility has been here for over 80 years. I bet you couldn't believe it by just looking at it from the outside. If it hadn't been for private funders who had felt this place had potential as a research lab, it indeed would have been as old as it looks externally. Hence all this fancy equipment," he opened his arms showing off the clean well lit hall ways with technology that belonged to probably one that could be situated on Leith.
The man was damned proud of this place thought D'Avin. Am I being paranoid? Thought D'Avin to himself. The guy seemed friendly enough. Chatty, but normal. But something about him was off. And D'Avin couldn't help thinking that he had forgotten something very important.
Nevertheless, D'Avin kept watch on him. Something was also off with his headset, the visual was staticy. D'Avin had been a soldier for years. He had to trust his instincts. Something wasn't right. Now he just had to figure out exactly what it was. To do this, D'Avin to really hone in on the man's explanation about the technology on the station, something he didn't often do.
The station, apparently, had an experimental A.I. that had been in the works for the past few years. Aldross was its name. It was extremely advanced and installed on an alloy that was unique to the entire Quad, perhaps even this part of the J in general. The alloy was delivered by a private supplier, though it had been quite sometime since the last shipment, so they had to make do with what they had. They used most of it to build Aldross, while leaving some bits of it for other technology on the station. There was a reason for this, said Elros, and it was because when Aldross was active, it emitted strong waves that interfered with most technology. Only machines or electronics coated with the unique alloy worked normally.
Well. That explained the issue with the headset. Damn it. The guy was pretty forthcoming. Was he being paranoid? D'Avin was beginning to doubt himself suddenly.
"So you guys are here to pick up some old devices as your warrant? I don't know too much about killjoys, but it's good you don't do the violent type of things for joys." asked Elros
While D'Avin had no comment on the violent stuff, it was Dutch who answered, "We're here today for the warrant only, so just devices."
The man smiled and nodded. "Ah, I see."
"Sir," entered a petite woman with a bob haircut, "your request to load the devices to the other cargo bay has been rendered."
"Ah, good. Thank you, Lorey."
Then he looked at the team, "my, pardon my manners. This is my lead science officer, Lorey Mason. She's the techiest of techs onboard this vessel."
D'Avin smiled. Johnny and her would get along, he thought. The two could talk all day about technology.
"Sir, I actually detected some unusual diagnostics from our mainframe, and it may have an effect on our visitor's vessel. If I may borrow the engineer of the ship to see if we can prevent a possible issue ahead of time?"
"I can go with you," offered Johnny, and looked at Dutch to confirm that he wasn't needed.
"Ok, go check it out the waves.. and the A.I. This shouldn't need you. And besides, I'm sure Lucy will appreciate your due diligence on keeping her in one piece. Try not to forget we're on a warrant?" She looked at him knowingly.
Johnny grinned. "Will do."
"Geek," said D'Avin snidely with a smile on his face. The feeling of deja vu hit him again.
Johnny's pale face flashed in D'Avin's vision.
The vision vanished again quickly.
In its place, instead, was Johnny's smirking face and an eye roll. Johnny offhandedly waved at them as he turned and followed the science officer.
"Lyaff, why don't you follow Lorey and see if she needs to any circuit changes to the mainframe?" called out Elros to a man who stood by the right console of the main bridge they were standing in.
The tall pale man nodded, "Yes Sir."
D'Avin would not have given a second glance normally, especially given that they were visitors on a space station and while they were on a warrant, the people on the station had no reason to trust them. Yet something about the man made him angry. An intense feeling of rage overcame him, and D'Avin had to hold himself back. This was crazy. He had just met the man.
Gods, D'Avin hoped he wasn't going crazy. Was it something that Khylen subjected him to on Arkyn that was doing this? The green goo finally took a toll?
Stop it, he told himself. This was getting ridiculous.
Shaking himself out of the paranoia, he followed behind Dutch and Alvis as Elros lead the way.
They had walked perhaps 10 minutes down the corridors, all the while Elros was chatting on endlessly. The man never seemed to stop talking. Normally such prattling would just be distracting, but for some reason, it wasn't like that for D'Avin this time. In fact, for every step that D'Avin took down the station's corridors, he felt a pull of urgency to stay in contact with Johnny. This was crazy of course. They'd been on many missions before, ones even more dangerous. This was nothing like that; it was a simple pickup that was on a research station for Gods stakes.
Yet when he checked in with Johnny, he did notice immediately that there was a lag in the response. It could have been the interference that Elros was talking about. But ... there was something wierd. It was ... so fixed.
Dutch and Alvis weren't on edge yet. But they had noticed how he was checking with Johnny a lot. And that set them to be concerned. Was D'Avin sensing something that they didn't?
D'Avin gave them the signal with his eyes. Damnit. He was going to follow his gut feeling.
"Look, Elros, seems like we forgot something we needed on our ship -"
The reaction was instantaneous. The guise fell from the stocky man's face and he was ready to call out in his com, but D'Avin's instinct as a soldier for years came out and he unholstered his weapon and in a swift move forward, covered the man man's mouth. In a firm neck deadlock grip, he ripped the man's com device from his ear and stripped him of his weapons.
"I'm going to let you go now, if you try anything, I'll put a blast through you." said D'Avin coldly. The man nodded and D'Avin released his grip and pointed his blaster at his face.
"We're going to leave now, but first you're going to lead us to where Johnny is. His com is responding way too slow. I don't know what is going on here, but clearly you are up to something. We're here, as we stated, for a warrant."
"A warrant?" The man repeated as he laughed coldly. "Of course. A warrant, all the while you harbour a murderer in your midsts," nodding towards Alvis. "It's his and his kind that has caused seven generations of hardwork all go to shit. My family in Old Town are dead because of you. Never would I have thought I'd have had the chance to avenge them, and then the lot of you walk right through our front doors asking about a warrant."
"It was the Company's work that did it," snapped Dutch. "That's got nothing to do with us. It was a plan made by the Company and the Nine, they used the scarbacks, they used Alvis as their scapegoat."
The man snorted. "You can lie all that you want. But the company was what helped our family. They promised us they would be taken good care of if we worked here in this outpost. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. Knowing that they would live well. But they're dead now. Dead. This was for nothing." There was a bleep from the com that was on the ground. "Sir, it has been done. Heading out."
Elros smirked. "It's too late for your engineer. And for you."
There was rage in Dutch's eyes as she lunged at him, holding him in a choke hold against the wall. "You know nothing of what the Company has done - you believe blindly in them, and you don't even realize they've been using you all along. You had better hope be lying about Johnny. If there's a hair harmed on his head, I will tear you apart myself."
She threw the man unceremoniously to the ground and she picked up the dagger, one of the weapons that D'Avin had removed from Elros' earlier.
She froze for a moment and stared at it; as did D'Avin. Alvis, however, kept his eyes locked on Elros, his blaster locked on him.
"I don't know what lies the Company has spread about the scarbacks, but we are innocent of the charges," said Alvis, though the man said nothing and simply glared at him.
"This.. this looks familiar." Dutch said softly as she examined the dagger. Suddenly her hand went subconsciously to her abdomen, as if to feel for something. An injury? There was an injury here.
"Deja vu?" Asked D'Avin.
"Yes, very" she agreed. "No time to waste, let's get to Johnny now and get off this bloody station."
"Johnny?" Said Dutch urgently into the com link.
"Johnny, answer me."
"Lucy?"
Only static met her words.
"You," she pointed at the stocky man,
will us to him now. If you try anything, I will make sure you regret it," threatened Dutch.
The man said nothing.
Dutch was angry, and while D'Avin had seen her kick people's asses for less, this was like rage unbottled.
"Do not take my words lightly, Elros," she said. Her voice was low and there was a menace in it D'Avin had never heard before. Was this the side of Dutch that she hid from everyone else? Alvis did not seem surprised, in fact, he had the same look.
Johnny had that effect on people. He drew the protectiveness out from everyone. For D'Avin, it was simply that no one laid a hand on his kid brother. No one.
"I will make you regret you ever crossed me. You think losing your family is hard? You touch my family, and I will make your life a living hell."
The man went silent, though there was a flicker of fear on his face at her words.
As for D'Avin, he was worried that Dutch was going to gut him there and then. They still needed the man to get to Johnny.
"Take us to John now."
Beads of sweat formed on the man's forehead. He nodded slowly and led the way.
Their pace was back to the bridge of the station was brisk, and with no hitches. But it was Alvis who suddenly stopped in mid-stride in the corridor. His eyes were dark as he glared at Elros. "You are messing with us. Take us to Johnny!"
The man paused for a moment and then he gave a crooked smile. "No."
The man had a death wish. He didn't fear death, he had resigned to it.
Dutch didn't even blink an eye before she buried the the man's own dagger into his left arm. The man stared at the blade in shock.
"No?" repeated Dutch.
The man was speechless. Or perhaps it was from shock. It didn't seem to matter.
"Say something little man. The next one will be elsewhere. I will make sure you live to feel the pain. There's plenty I can do to you while you are functional. From here on, I will take off a finger for every corridor you mislead us to. Do you understand?" As to demonstrate, Dutch removed the man's index finger.
D'Avin stared at Dutch. She wasn't kidding.
The man howled in pain, staring at the missing finger and trying to staunch the bleeding wound.
"Yes. yes, yes. Please. Please, no more," begged Elros. This time, there was no faking the pain and fear on the man's face.
"Johnny," D'Avin tried again with the com. Still silence. Before there had been static and delayed messages, now there was just nothing.
"Johnny, come on. Answer me buddy."
Nothing.
Shit. Something must have happened to him. Something bad. And this bastard had something to do with it.
"Johnny!"
Come one... something.. Anything...
"Johnny!"
And then static.
"D'Av?" The voice sounded weak.
Yes! "Johnny, are you ok? Johnny, where are you? We're going to get you, and we're getting the hells out of here. Understand?"
Static cracked again.
"The doors? Did Lucy get them open?"
D'Avin's mind was whirling. What was Johnny talking about?
Dutch charged her blaster and pointed it at Elros. "Let's speed this up. Bring Johnny to the bridge of the station."
When they arrived there, they saw Johnny. His eyes were closed and he lay still against the side wall. There was blood on the ground where he was. Too much blood.
By the Gods.
"You assh*les!" He swore as he raced to Johnny's side. "Johnny. Johnny!"
Please be alive. Please.
D'Avin was so preoccupied that he didn't even realize that Alvis was beside him as well.
It was he that spoke. "D'Avin, he's got a pulse. It's weak and thready, but it's there. We need to get him back onboard Lucy now."
"Unblock Lucy. Or I swear I will cut this man, and this time it won't just be a finger," said Dutch. The blade bit into Elros's neck. A thin line of red had already started to show.
Lorey stared at Dutch, her face unwavering. But she finally relented and accessed the console beside her.
"Lucy?"
"Yes, Dutch."
"We need to leave this station. Are you functional? Have you sustained any damage?"
"There has been several attempts to hack my systems. However, they have been unsuccessful. John's new subroutines have helped ensure that."
"Good. John needs you right now Lucy. He's hurt. When we get onboard, we need to route to a station with an OR, understood?"
"Yes, Dutch." If it was possible, D'Avin could almost hear anger in Lucy's voice that someone had hurt Johnny. Damned artificial intelligence sometimes creeped him out.
Both D'Avin and Alvis carried the wounded and unconscious Johnny to the ship. They held Elros hostage until the very last moment when they boarded Lucy.
At the ramp just before closing Lucy, Dutch buried the dagger into the man's thigh. The fat man howled again in agony, but Dutch showed little mercy as she kicked him unceremoniously down the ramp. The fat man rolled down, and was eventually caught by Lyaff. D'Avin wanted to shoot his blaster at the man, but he knew they didn't have time. Johnny needed every second.
D'Avin and Alvis carried Johnny straight to the infirmary and did what they could to stabalize him, while Dutch went to navigate Lucy to get them out of there.
It was a bad wound, worse than what D'Avin had done to him under Dr. Jaegar's mind control.
"You can get through this Johnny. You can do this." Another flash of white.. A memory. Johnny in the control room. Multiple stab wounds. No. This wasn't it. That didn't happen. It didn't happen.
It took more than an hour to stablize Johnny. He had gone into cardiac arrest 3 times. He needed more aid that only a medical facility or a real doctor could give him. What D'Avin wouldn't do to have Pawter onboard right now.
He could see that was the same thought that crossed Dutch's and Alvis's minds as well. But they had to work with what they had.
Johnny was stable now, that was what was important. Now it was just the wait till they reached the proper facilities that could take of his little brother.
Johnny. They had almost lost him.
"Lucy, ETA on arrival to the nearest medical facility?"
"3 hours and 10 minutes."
"Good. Johnny needs to get there asap. Gun it if you can, Lucy."
"I will do that, D'Avin."
There was silence on the bridge for a moment and then Lucy said, "Thank you for saving him this time, D'Avin."
That jarring thanks surprised D'Avin.
This time?
"What do you mean, Lucy?"
The A.I. did not respond, instead, a set of video feed logs displayed on the main view screen of the bridge.
Damn that looked familiar. Another feeling of deja vu overwhelmed D'Avin for a minute.
Lucy auto played the first of the video logs on the playlist.
When the video ended and went to dark, D'Avin felt sick to his stomach. And just when he thought it was over, the video replayed again. D'Avin was about to ask Lucy to stop when he realized there was something different. There was a variation. This was not the same video. These logs, while they all took place within the control room of the Aldross, different events played out in them. In every feed.
Suddenly it made sense to D'Avin. Why the sense of deja vu kept coming over him. It was because the events had happened already, over and over again. They had been looping the same day for nearly 20 times.
The first video feed, it showed them reaching Johnny in the contorl room, but it was too late.
Johnny was already gone. Stabbed multiple times by Lyaff. D'Avin watched himself cradle Johnny's still body, in tears. Meanwhile, Dutch and Alvis were desperate to contact Lucy, trying all that they could do to unblock the signal.
"Lucy!" Cried Dutch. "Help us get out here."
Static.
"Lucy. Come on." She pressed all the buttons on the console and then suddenly there was a clear voice that came over the com.
"Dutch?"
"Yes. Lucy. Can you get us out of here?"
"I will do what I can, Dutch. John. I cannot detect his lifesigns."
Dutch swallowed with difficulty. "They killed him, Lucy. We will have our go at them later. But we need to get out of here first."
Lucy went silent.
"Lucy? Come on damnit."
"Interfacing."
Something inside the scarback's side bag started to glow. Suddenly it, a cube,levitated into the air, surprising everyone, even those of the Aldross crew.
It seemed to scan them all and then suddenly the feed ended.
The next video feed started. Again, it was back at the beginning when Johnny first arrived at the control room. It had similarities, but there were differences. Each time, it seemed that Johnny was able to get closer to getting them out.
It was because of the residual memory. Johnny must have been able to retain more of it.
And each time, he had done the same thing; save the team and sacrifice himself in the process. Damn it Johnny, I always loved that you gave a sh*t about things, but this... D'Avin swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Lucy. Why, why didn't you tell us? You had all this information..why didn't you just tell us not to go down there?"
"The particon waves from the Aldross A.I. caused errors in my system. I am only able to access these memory banks once we have left a distance from the space station."
"Couldn't you have told us still? That we were in a loop?"
"I have just said, there were errors in my system. The Aldross affects my system each time the time interval initiated. In fact, before the time device was activated, my systems were being damaged by the Aldross. For each loop, John added new subroutines to protect my systems. It is why I am functional at all."
"I guess the only way for you to communicate what happened was through these logs you downloaded."
"That is correct, D'Avin."
"And the memory flashes, they were fragments of the other timeline?"
"The human mind is an anomaly."
"So is the cube some sort of time travelling machine?"
"Its origins are unknown. But diagnostics does show that it has the capability of temporal distortion."
"And that means?"
"It means yes. It is a time travelling machine."
"That makes no sense. How is it you have recordings of things that never happened?"
"D'Avin, it is not my video feed you are watching. It is ones recorded by the Aldross A.I."
Did A.I.'s come with a condescending tone? D'Avin wasn't sure, but he definitely heard it. He would have to ask Johnny.
"Recall the information Elros told you when you first went on board the space station," continued Lucy, "The Aldross is made of special alloy exhibiting waves that can interfere with most things not protected with a similar metal. Hence all instruments, such as scanners and headsets can become ineffective. The special alloy is also what shields the Aldross A.I. from being affected by the timestream and also keep records of what has been changed."
"Tell me Lucy, is this why Khlyen was there then? For that cube?"
It was Dutch that spoke. D'Avin hadn't even noticed her arrival or how long she had been standing on the bridge. Her cloths were unchanged and still stained red with Johnny's blood.
Dutch
Lucy turned off the feed and switched to the regular view screen mode and displayed regular navigation view.
"It would appear so, Dutch." responded Lucy.
"He must have funded the lab privately so that he could experiment with time travel," said Dutch.
"Then why did he abandon it?" wondered D'Avin aloud.
It was Lucy that answered. "Khylen could not activate the device."
"Why?"
"It is unknown"
"But, you activated it, Lucy?"
"Affirmative, Dutch."
"How?"
"I... do not know Dutch. It was on instinct."
Dutch couldn't help but feel it was because Lucy felt the loss of Johnny. Could machines feel?
"Thank you Lucy," she said.
There was simply silence for a moment, no one spoke.
"Lucy," said Dutch.
"Yes, Dutch"
"Lock these video logs away; no access is to be given to Johnny." As much as Dutch wanted to delete the logs, there could be important clues in it in figuring out Khlyen's end game. "Also...remove Protocol Jacobis 2 7 R."
"Complying command, Dutch," answered Lucy.
D'Avin turned to look at Dutch. The question clear without being spoken; What was Protocol Jacobis 2 7 R?
"A memory," she said quietly in response. D'Avin didn't need anymore than that and simply nodded.
There was a shared silence again, between them as they stood there, staring into the view screen. What hells they had gotten out of at the Aldross station was only scratching the surface of Khlyen's plans. A machine that was able to travel back in time. Did Khlyen really abandon it because he couldn't use it, or was it because it was faulty, allowing only limited time travelling?
There were too many questions, not enough answers. Dutch made up her mind that she would return to Aldross one day soon and find out. And for those on board that station that had hurt Johnny, they should prepare for retribution. No one hurt her family and got away with it. No one.
End