According to Cressida's calculations their clock was down to eight hours and forty-five minutes exactly and everyone was beginning to get a little nervous but Rush pushed all those thoughts away and focused on his work. Before hyper-sleep he'd have worked so hard because it was what he did best or because he wanted to discover Destiny's secrets but that wasn't what drove him in the hours they had left, no, one sentence drove him in those hours; save Cressida and Chloe. Doctor Nicholas Rush wasn't a brave man – or so he thought – many people believed him to be thanks to some of the things he'd done but that was more a combination of arrogance, recklessness and quite often there was anger in there too, however, his daughter and Chloe gave him the gentle push he needed to slip into bravery.
He'd hardly looked up from the screen in the Control Interface Room for the last hour and people had left him alone in that time, Cress had been working up on the bridge, no doubt keeping the command chair warm for her Daddy; my good girl. His peaceful working silence was finally broken when the tall blonde known as Varro stepped into the room looking like he had something to say.
"There you are, Doctor Rush, just the man I was looking for. " Varro came to a stop only a few steps away from the older man.
"Well don't I feel honoured." Said Rush without looking up, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"This is important." Still no reaction came. "It's about Cressida." With that his head snapped up to the blonde.
"What is it? Is she alright?" There was instant Fatherly worry in his tone, something that made Varro respect the elder man.
"Have... have you noticed anything strange about Cressida lately?" He started slowly knowing Rush's daughter was going to be a touchy subject. If Varro didn't have all of Rush's attention that question certainly got it. "I play with Cress all the time and I know what she's like but this was... not her."
"What do you mean?" Asked Rush in a gruff tone.
"I didn't think much of it at first but... before the fire I saw her walking down the hall. She seemed dazed and not like her normal self, at first – like I said – I didn't think much off it just thought she was tired after all the work she'd been doing. Cress told me she was going to see you but later when I thought about it she seemed so blank and then I realised the direction she was going in was the long way around to the bridge... and it would have taken her past the engine room." He paused only for a moment. "I saw her about twenty-five minutes before the fire alert. Rush, how long before the alert did Cressida show up on the bridge?"
Rush didn't want to think about it, she was his sweet little girl but as the memory came back to him he realised what Varro was suggesting had to be correct, the Nakai had done to Cressida what they'd done to Chloe. It had been hidden much deeper than with her Mother though, almost as though it had been time delayed.
"Not until a few moments before." Rush finally had to admit.
"Did she seem off?"
Rush sighed. "She tripped down the steps and it was like... like she'd just woken up." Then he remembered. "Her hand was bleeding but I don't see how she could have cut when she fell." His head snapped up to Varro. "Why now? It's been months so why does she trigger and sabotage the ship now?" The blonde wasn't entirely sure if Rush was asking himself or actually wanted Varro to answer; he decided to answer anyway.
"I don't know but it would explain why they created Cressida, why she's here."
"She's just a little girl." Nicholas said to himself, so quiet that Varro almost didn't here him.
"She's your little girl. All that knowledge and the Nakai's desperation to get Destiny-" The blonde found himself cut off by Rush speaking over him.
"And now we are drifting through space with no shields or weapons to defend ourselves."
"You have to tell Colonel Young, now."
"What?! Tell the man who thought she was dangerous since the second we found her that he's right. Just when he's starting to trust her?"
"You have to, Doctor Rush." Argued Varro softly. "If you and Chloe tell him then he won't react as badly."
"He's right, Nicholas." The two men turned to the doorway to see Chloe stood there, tears pricking in her dazzling cerulean eyes. "If this is true then we have to tell Colonel Young."
Before they had any chance to respond Tamara came charging into the room with a look of worry on her angelic face.
"Have any of you seen Cress?" She asked quickly. "She was in the infirmary with me, said she needed a brake and then she was just gone. It was strange and she's not answering her radio."
Chloe sighed and went to Rush's side where he pulled her into a gentle hug, she just needed the contact in that moment.
"We have to tell Young, don't we?" Chloe just nodded.
"Once we find our daughter, yes."
In only a few seconds they had TJ, Varro, Camile and Airman Dunning helping to search for their daughter. Young had demanded answers the second they managed to find her but as time ticked on that started to look less and less likely; they were all getting worried. Observation deck, quarters, bridge, hydroponics, showers; they looked everywhere with no success. Minutes turned into hours – or at least that's what it felt like to her parents – like when a child went missing in a mall and all that panic bubbled to the surface.
It was Varro who found her although he really wished it had been somewhere else, Cressida lay face down in the chair room. His heart rate spiked.
"Cressida!" He dove onto the ground beside her pulling the child into his arms.
Cress was so beautiful and sweet, he couldn't believe she'd have sabotaged the ship of her own freewill; she probably had no idea she'd been doing it just like Chloe hadn't.
"Cress, wake up! Come on, wake up!"
She was limp in his arms but he could see her chest rising and falling as he stood with her bridal style before racing out the room and reaching for his radio.
"This is Varro, I found her. She's unconscious. Meet me in the infirmary."
Everyone did just that, all converging on that one location, all full of worry for Cressida. When Varro arrived he found TJ was already there and quickly set to checking Cress over once he'd laid her down on the bed; stethoscope flying around at lightning speed. The blonde man had never been a religious man of any kind but he found himself praying to anyone who'd listen that the girl would be alright. In the months since she'd arrived Cress had been treated in much the same way as he had, suspicion and even hostility. That had been a force to them befriending each other and Varro felt responsibility for her; she did call him Uncle after all. His mind snapped back to the world around him when Chloe and Rush charged into the room, they looked panicked and honestly, who could blame them?
"What happened?"
"Where was she?" The asked over one another.
TJ flashed a light into Cressida's whiskey colored eyes, they dilated and her breathing seemed to be soft and normal; the only issue Tamara could find was that Cress was unconscious. Suddenly Colonel Young and Camile burst into the room as well and ended up watching in silence. Young wanted to asked what she'd been doing but he knew it would only piss off Rush; probably not the best plan. Rush and Chloe stood close to their child, Mother holding her daughter's hand forcing TJ to work around them.
"What is going on?" Rush growled demanding answers from the blonde medic.
"She's unconscious and I don't know why, I can't see any wounds and her vitals seem normal. Give me a minute."
Young turned to Varro and tried to keep his tone soft so as not to anger Rush but still get an answer.
"Where did you find her?"
"She was in the chair room." Varro responded, worry in his eyes. "She was just lying there."
"Did it look like she'd sat in the chair?" Camile questioned faster than she'd intended but Cressida's parents and TJ just ignored her.
"I really don't know, I don't think so. She looked more like she'd walked in and just collapsed."
"Right, that rules out some things." Seemed TJ had been listening all along.
What if something was really wrong with Cress? What if-? No, no one wanted to think about any of that, she'd be fine. Cressida was the daughter of Nicholas Rush and Chloe Armstrong the two most stubborn, brave and determined people on board.
XXXX
They'd hit seven hours and thirty-eight minutes on Cressida's original calculation before the ship's hull could take the heat no longer and in that time Chloe had refused to leave her sleeping daughter's side while Rush had slipped down to the floor with his back to the wall lost in his thoughts. Only when Tamara had been stood in utter silence for around five minutes did the two notice she'd stopped moving and that Varro, Young and Camile had left the room. Rush's stomach fell seeing TJ's expression.
"What?" Rush asked in a voice that showed he was trying not to panic, he stood.
"Em, she... Cress-" Tamara paused seeing Chloe starting to shake. "Cressida's muscles seem to be atrophying... which means she's losing muscle mass and is very weak. Her skin is starting to yellow and jaundice as are the whites of her eyes."
Chloe had descended into full blown tears, a waterfall of emotion down her face while Rush looked as though he couldn't breath, or maybe he was going to be sick, or both.
"Please just tell us." Pleaded Chloe, clearly the question of a desperate person denying what was already evident.
"I am so sorry." TJ couldn't hold it in anymore and let her tears fall as well. "Her organs... they're shutting down. She's loosing muscle strength and mass. I... I... I don't think... she was meant to... live this long. Cress is dying."
Chloe just collapsed to the ground, face dripping with tears and Rush just fell down beside her pulling Chloe into his arms; it was all he could do to comfort her. He didn't cry but TJ could see him vibrating with rage. He'd been lost in a cloud of static where time seemed to stop, Rush didn't know what he felt because he had so much emotion surging around himself like he'd been lost in a storm; beyond rage he couldn't name his feelings. Cressida was a sweet eight year old girl and the Nakai just wanted her to die.
"Daddy?"
He blinked awake from the horror storm of static, once more Chloe was in his arms and Destiny existed; so did the pain. Cressida's voice had been so quiet but Nicholas would always hear his baby girl. He raced to her side, pulling Chloe up with him.
"Hey, baby girl."
"How do you feel?" Chloe asked as she wiped her tears away.
"It hurts." She looked up to Rush. "Daddy, I... I did... something bad." She stuttered, suffering too much pain to get through a sentence without several breaths. "I didn't... mean to. The fire... it was me... I-"
Rush stopped her as he pushed a strand of stray hair behind her ear.
"Shhh, it's alright. It wasn't your fault. The Nakai made you." He told her with love.
"Why... does it hurt?"
Everything went silent and that long drawn out silence was what finally broke Rush and tipped him over to tears, bold and violent. Cressida was such a sweet and innocent little girl, now they had to watch her die and it shattered his heart into a million pieces. He'd not felt so much pain since Gloria and he actually thought he'd be sick for a second. Chloe gripped his hand so tight that his knuckles cracked. He wasn't the only one suffering, Cress was Chloe's daughter too.
"Don't worry, Sweetheart. You're just sick, you'll be better in no time."
Was Chloe lying to Cress to make her feel better or was she denying what TJ had said? At that moment Rush didn't have the brain power to answer that question. Cressida didn't believe her though, she was much to smart for such a simple lie to have any affect on her, the girl wouldn't cry though, it would only make her parents hurt even more.
"How does she remember that?" Chloe managed to ask Tamara who wondered for a moment.
"Em, maybe the barrier keeping her subconscious programming separate is breaking down as well."
It seemed to be the only logical option. TJ knew next to nothing about what was happening to her mind. TJ left after that, she couldn't see another child die, just couldn't.
"Daddy-"
"No, baby girl, you need to rest." Rush was actually rather surprised that his voice didn't shake.
"You're Daddy's right, Sweetheart." Chloe continued to wipe away tears.
"But I... remember." She paused, eyes growing sad and pained. "They're coming. They made me... to sabotage the... ship. Slow it down... give them time... to... catch up."
It hit him then, they'd been drifting for so long with no shields or weapons; Destiny was a sitting duck! That was why Cressida had collapsed, she wasn't meant to survive after damaging the ship and completing her mission, the Nakai had no use for her. They didn't need her so now Chloe and Rush had to watch her die. No! No, I won't just stand here and watch it!
"I'm going to figure this out, Cress. I promise." Nicholas pressed a loving kiss to his daughter's forehead and then he was gone, a gust of wind being the only indication he'd ever been there.