Mykal ran through the corridors, his mind racing as he sent messages to various people and parts of the ship. He had the communications department shut down all outbound transmissions, until further notice from himself or the King. He put Royal Security on high alert and sent notices to both Vivian and Tobias that they are to move to their parents' location, due to security lockdown, immediately. He also tagged a notice to their personal guards that they were to move them if they didn't move on their own.
Slowing to a trot as he reached the corridor that Fred's quarters were located on, he noticed that security had not entered yet.
"What's the holdup Captain?" He asked as he walked up to the group of on ship marines.
Giving Mykal a quick salute, the captain grimaced. "The door is on lockdown, and for some reason, our security override isn't working."
A chill ran down Mykal's back. "Well, now I know who hit my rooms." Mykal focused for a moment, accessed the ship's security computer and threw his newly minted access codes at the locked down section that contained Fred's quarters.
There was a faint click as the lock seemed to release. "Do your thing Captain; I'll open the door your team needs to move in. Remember though, no lethal force, we must take him in one piece."
"Understood, Sir. Breach team in place; weapons on knockout." The team of four marines moved forward, flipping selector switches on their hand weapons.
"Computer, override personal locks and open doors, now!" Mykal barked to the ships computer.
The doors slid open and the marines slid quickly and silently into the room. In a matter of moments, there was the sound of weapons being discharged, a few muffled grunts and the distinct sound of two bodies hitting the floor.
"All Clear, Sirs!" came the call as one of the marines returned to the door.
Mykal nodded, followed the marine captain into the room and looked around at the minor damage and disarray that the room must have been in before they even entered. As they entered the back room, Mykal's stomach sank as he saw his friend handcuffed and laying on the floor, the scorch mark of a blaster round on the side of his chest. Next to him was another man, one he recognized from his file as the navigation officer that had been locked out of the system, Nomoro.
"Why'd you do it Freddy?" Mykal whispered. He looked up at the marine Captain. "Take these two and lock them up in separate cells. Don't make them comfortable." he said in a steely voice.
******
Mykal walked into the royals' sitting room about an hour later, his energy drained and his feet dragging. Brigit rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him, as soon as he was in the room. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling the warmth radiating from her that had seemed to seep out of him in the last hour.
He looked into the ashen faces of the king and queen as they sat on the couch. "They know where we are going. Communications show that there were a series of transmissions sent to a relay station. After digging through the transmission records, they were sent to Carthanian space. From what we can tell they gave them a confirmation that all of you survived, when we were expected to make orbit, and where we were going. They were in the process of uploading a report of what forces we have on the ship and available overall, but that was interrupted when I had comms shut everything down." Brigit pulled away slightly, led him to one of the couches and sat him down.
"Well, at least they don't know everything. Do you have any idea how much information they were able to obtain?" Hans asked.
Mykal shook his head. "They didn't know much. Only thing they had right was what we have on the ship. They had access to a force account file, but it was the one that was barely secured." Mykal looked Hans in the eyes and sent him a data pack.
[They found
,
but couldn't open the real file
;
it was completely secure. We need to talk about that later
,
by the way.
]
Hans nodded. "Yes we do, but not tonight. Was it just Davidson then?"
Mykal shook his head. "Nomoro was in on it too. I am having the captain verify the course headings to make sure there isn't anything hinky going on. When he is done with that, he is going to pour on a bit more power, since we have the spare reactor mass, to speed up our arrival time. He should be updating us both when he has an ETA." Taking a deep breath and releasing it, "I'm going to have the Royal Guard captain do the questioning of Fred, since I am too close to the situation."
"Understandable and good call. I wish we had more time for you to get your feet under you, but things seem to be escalating fast." Looking at each of his children, Hans added, "I'm going to order an extra two guards each, for all of us. Just in case." Looking pointedly at Mykal, "That goes for you as well."
Tobias nodded as if he expected it, Vivian rolled her eyes as if they would just be underfoot more than usual and Brigit shrugged as if it didn't bother her at all. Jason cleared his throat. "Do you think it necessary for us to have that many in the Med Lab? Hells, I don't know if we have that much room."
"Until we make the planet, I want exposure to the rest of the ship limited, Jason. Unless it's an emergency, I really don't want you to leave the Royal quarters." Mykal replied. Before Jason did more than open his mouth, Mykal cut him off. "I promise your research won't be ruined by the interruption, and even if it was, you being alive and well are far more important to me than your projects." The smile he gave the doctor never reached his eyes. "And right now, what's important to me is what is important to the kingdom. Sorry Doc." Jason frowned, but nodded his agreement.
Hans stood, helping his wife up. "Let's everyone try and get some rest. We are no doubt going to have a very busy day tomorrow. Good night children, Jason."
Vivian and Tobias stood, and both wished them good night. Mykal waved to them half heartedly, and barely even noticed when Jason left.
Sitting on the couch with Brigit cuddled up to him, silently just being there for him, his thoughts ran wild. Trying to figure out why Freddy had done what he had. Every path he could think of was met with a brick wall. Not even realizing it, tears started to run down his cheeks as the pain in his chest overwhelmed him. Holding him close, Brigit lightly rubbed his back as Mykal began to cry out his pain as the emotional devastation of his friend's betrayal hit home.
*****
Mykal woke slowly, his head throbbing and his mouth dry. As memories of the night before came back, he felt a tightening in his chest. No matter how he looked at it, Fred, the best friend he'd ever had, the closest thing to a brother, had a hand in the betrayal of the crown. How deep was he? How much damage had he done? Thinking back on the way things unfolded on Orphus III, there were little things that came to mind, things that he had suppressed in the heat of battle and not thought back on.
Trying to lift his right arm, to run it through his hair, he realized that it was pinned down under the weight of a body. Immediately, he became aware of the warmth pressed to his side. Looking down, he saw that Brigit was curled up against him, seemingly still asleep. He thankfully noted that they were still clothed before the final memories of last night came back to his exhaustion muddled mind.
She had held him as he cried out the pain of betrayal and when he had finally stopped what seemed hours later, she handed him a strong glass of scotch and ordered him to drink it down in one go. She then helped him to his feet and led him down the corridor to her quarters, where she told him in no uncertain terms he was sleeping, and that she was not going to leave him alone at a time like this. After he had removed his tunic and boots, she slipped out of the room and returned in a modest set of pajamas and robe, and curled up against his side. He then promptly fell into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep. He looked down at her head, wondering if she had handed him more than just a drink of scotch.
"Yes, there was a sedative in the drink; that's why your mouth is dry." Mykal gave a small start at her response to his unasked question. "And no, you didn't ask out loud; I just know how you think and that you would have asked yourself that question, at some point, after you woke up."
"How long have you been awake?" he asked softly, running a hand through her hair.
"Since before you came around. You moved around a bit before you came to, some deep down dream, I think. I wasn't sleeping very deeply." she said as she looked up into his eyes.
"I'm sorry I woke you." he whispered, looking deep into her eyes, searching them for what she was thinking.
She smiled coyly. "It's not your fault; I'm not used to having anyone else in my bed. It was nice though, all things considered."
Checking his internal clock, Mykal groaned. "Damn it's late." Then his eyes got big. "Your father is going to skin me alive."
"He's fine; mom will explain the situation to him."
"And what exactly is our situation?" he asked softly.
