Chapter 49
Martin
Friends

"I have a small nick could you take care of it for me Jack, need to get back. . ." Martin gives a short smile as he covers a hand. "If you could."

Both Jack and Nancy look at each other and Jack points to a room, "Get your butt in there. What could you have done this time?" He is laughing and the two walk to the room. Once inside Jack goes to his computer. "Okay, we're fine. Do you need some patching?"

"You know I don't. He sits down, I am a coward." Martin looks down to his lap as he rubs his hand. It is not hard to see he is upset.

"What has happened?" Jack inquires as he leans across his desk looking directly at Martin.

"Mike the cameraman, he somehow got back on the ship. He said he needed to find out what was going on, you know why we are really here." He is shaking his head, "I didn't know he was here, it was truly a surprise. I had heard that some resistance was going down at a water plant and that they were planting explosive devices. A lot of destruction, two of the crew were killed and four injured. Anyway, he grabbed me and yanked me into a dark corner. It was a surprise for sure."

"I have heard about resistance today." Jack is nervously playing with his fingers. "It sounds like it could have been a lot worse. We should be getting those injured down here for skin repair after they get the care they need. One of the injured had an arm crushed. Those not injured were able to cover the two killed so the humans didn't see how we truly look. I heard cleanup crews are already there now taking care of the mess. I also, heard resistance had used mirrors to blind our troopers as they shot at them at another location. This will only be the beginning, it is going to get worse. Nancy told me their news broadcasts are talking about the resistance as well." Jack shakes his head, "Certainly a lot of risk for him to actually come back here."

Martin still can't get over the surprise of seeing Donovan. He holds his breath for a moment and then lets it out slowly, "He wanted to know what's going on with the tanks down in the hold. He was surprised to find them filled with water and wanted to know what chemical we are making."

"We aren't making a chemical." Jack looks concerned, "What did you tell him."

"Just that, I told him there is no chemical and he was shocked." When Martin looks at Jack he can see the shock on his face as well. "Look I had to tell him, he said something about it being a smoke screen. I had to Jack. We talked about bringing in humans to help us. We have to build trust."

Jack shakes his head sternly, "This is not building trust, this is just building resistance against us. Seriously you told him we are here for the water. Did you also tell him why?"

Martin nods his head and holds his hands up in a pleading way. "I had too. I told him it is the rarest and most valuable commodity you can imagine and how earth is blessed with an abundance of it. I admitted we need it for our sustenance and to power our fusion generators and the Leader's weapons. I wanted him to truly understand how much we needed it."

"Let me guess, he said well we would have shared it. Right!" Jack is giving him a stern look, "That is the answer any of them would say." Then he snorts, "He is part of the resistance is he not?"

"It is their planet, their water," Martin says harshly. "They need to know what our Leader wants and that he wants it ALL!" He watches the disappointment growing on Jack's face. "Yes, he is part of the resistance or I assume as much. I would be, in fact you, Nancy and myself are." He truly feels like he did the right thing and ponders if he should finish telling his friend the rest. He decides he must or their trust may be broken. "I also told him other ships like this one are already on the way here. He knows now there will be no water on Earth when finished, as well as no more humans."

Jack is moving his head slowly about staring first at the wall behind Martin, to his desk and then to another spot. Martin can see his friend is struggling. Finally Jack sighs and says, "Their resistance is going to grow and ours has stagnated. We have growing unrest, but that is all. This human resistance movement could actually do what our ranking officers cannot do, provide support to our Leader. I feel for the humans, but you are not human and we need to take care of our people." Then he slaps his desk, "What else did you do? Don't tell me that is all, I can tell you are stressing over something and what is this coward thing."

Martin begins drumming on the desk, "I took him down to the human storage area. He apparently recognized the face of someone. I could tell it made him sick, but it would make you sick as well." He gives Jack a pleading look. "I told him it was Diana's work, but they were not dead, but rather an induced sleep. However, he could see thousands of chambers in which I said would be sent to our home planet. He asked if his son was being held here, which I told him I didn't know if he was on this ship or another. I also told him we would use some as soldiers and some as food due to the shortage on our planet."

"I believe you have made a mistake," Jack states smoothly. "This is not good. However, you did what you had too and I understand. You are a good man Martin. It is why we follow you. Did he ask about anything else?"

"He asked about Barbara and I told him she is recovering." Martin pauses, "Do you know how she is doing?"

"She needs bed rest. You should visit her," Jack stands and walks behind Martin and puts a hand on his shoulder. "It is not your fault, she needed to have the harder stun done to her. A lighter version would have made someone like Diana question what happened with more detail."

Jack walks away and just seems to be staring at nothing. Martin gets up and stands next to him just standing quietly. "I had to show him his friends body, Tony. We went in and he saw how Diana had done some medical experiments. He said he wanted to kill her, I confessed, I and many others would as well.

"Yeah, I think there would be a lottery on that one."

"Oh, there was another human who was pretty battered and said he didn't talk when they tried to question him." Martin shakes his head, "Said he spat in their faces. What he didn't know is there is another way to get information and the outcome would have been different."

"Is Donovan still on the ship?" Jack asks.

"No, I showed him a shuttle and got around the identification. Not sure I can do that again." Martin mummers, "I did go and get a girl that was being held hostage. Supposedly she is being used to ensure that her father spies for us. However, there is something else going on. There was a tracker on her. I had to remove it. Something is going on, there was a lot of medical records on her. Did not have time to read them." He shakes his head, there is something about the girl. The room she was being held in was comfortable, which is not something Diana normally does. Then again she is all about her experiments.

Jack begins shifting about showing his discomfort in the conversation, "How did he get out of here?"

Martin can feel the guilt to what he is going to admit to his friend and it is very hard to do. "I said, I would pilot the shuttle and he said I was more valuable here. Donovan said, he would fly it. He said he knew how and I needed to stay here."

"What are you really saying," Jack holds up a hand to let him know that he wants to really know what is bothering him.

He shakes his head. He was going to desert those in the Fifth Column with no regards to what would happen as he had been that scared. "I was afraid, I would be found out. That if I was found then you would be in jeopardy and the others of the Fifth Column."

Jack tilts his head and gives Martin a sad look. "What you are saying is you were going to leave us. You were afraid of being caught." He gives a slight smile, "I would have done the same. Fear is not good, but it protects as well. Next time you will know others are on the ship counting on you. Had this human not stopped you, you would have regretted the decision for the rest of your life."

Martin gives a quick smile as there is at least one good thing about all that happened. "I told him to not overcompensate when flying as it would fly itself and he said he was proud to have me as a friend, This even though I admitted how frightened I was." He shrugs, "I told him I hoped we get to be old friends." He then reaches out and puts a hand on Jack's shoulder. My closest and most trusted friends though will always be you and Nancy."

Suddenly the door opens and Nancy appears, "Better go Martin. Diana is on her way. She went out to shoot that human Donovan and apparently he got her. She's fine, but needs some major repair work on her face."

They all laugh, but know that Martin needs to get out quickly. He turns and looks at them, "Where would I be without friends like you two."

Nancy smiles, "Where would we be without you." She looks towards the door and pointing says, "Go!"

Martin takes one more look at his friends and leaves. Truly where would he be without people to help him through bad times, to forgive him when he makes mistakes and protect him when he didn't know he needed protection. His next thought is to go see Barbara, again friends are very much what life is about.