The Seventh | A Dark Matter Fanfiction | Two (Portia Lin)

Chapter 13

When Seven got back to the ship, he was greeted by a scene of tension and urgency. The atmosphere was charged, and the crew seemed on edge.

"What's going on?" Seven asked as he set down his supplies.

Two turned to him, her face hard. "I was attacked by a dozen men in a casino," she said bluntly.

Six added, "And I knocked out a doctor."

Four, ever calm, asked, "How severely did you injure the men who attacked you?"

"I was pretty thorough," Two replied without hesitation.

"And the doctor?" Seven asked, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, he's just unconscious," Six said, waving it off. "But that's not the point. For some reason, the DNA scan he ran flagged me."

Two crossed her arms. "How about the reason being you're a wanted criminal?"

Six frowned. "I'm sure there are a lot of wanted criminals on that station."

"We have to go," Four said, his voice urgent.

Two quickly activated her comms. "One, Three. We have a situation here. We need you back to the ship immediately. Please respond."

The Android, always logical, suggested, "Given the circumstances, perhaps we should consider leaving them behind."

Two shook her head. "We can't."

Six nodded. "Three made it clear he intended to go his own way."

"He's all talk," Seven interjected.

"Besides," Two added, "if he was actually going to leave, he would have made a bigger deal about it. Subtle he is not."

Four raised a valid concern. "And what if they sold the weapons and decided to keep the money for themselves?"

Two considered this. "No, no. Three maybe. Hell, probably. But One? No way."

"He may not have had a choice," Seven pointed out.

The Android offered another grim possibility. "He could have been deceived, or rendered unconscious, perhaps even killed."

Two tried the comms again, her voice tense. "One. Three. This is Two. Please respond."

There was no answer, only static.

"One, Three, answer me," Two insisted, frustration growing in her voice.

Suddenly, loud alarms blared throughout the ship.

Five rushed in, eyes wide. "What is that?"

The Android's expression was serious. "It's the space station's security alarm."

"Damn it," Two muttered. "Get us out of here."

"I'll prepare the coordinates for a jump to FTL," the Android responded efficiently.

Just then, One and Three burst onto the bridge, out of breath and clearly rattled.

"Go! We gotta go!" One shouted. "Is everyone here?!"

The Android, already working at the console, said calmly, "We're already on our way, One."

Three nodded, wiping sweat from his brow. "We noticed."

Two rounded on them. "Why the hell weren't you answering your comms? We were gonna leave without you."

One looked sheepish. "We— we lost them."

Two's eyes narrowed. "How?!"

Six stepped forward. "How much did you get for the weapons?"

One's shoulders slumped. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" Six repeated, incredulous.

Four stepped closer, his voice low. "Where are they?"

One glanced at Three before answering. "They're gone. We were..."

"Jumped," Three cut in, his voice bitter. "By a half dozen men. Yeah, he got knocked out, played dead. So I took the rest on myself. I was doing alright too until the seventh guy, he snuck up behind me and clocked me right in the head. I went down. We lost our comms and all the guns."

Seven, ever suspicious, asked, "Is that really how it happened?"

One nodded, though not convincingly. "More or less. I couldn't see everything because I was down on the floor."

"Yeah," Three added, not meeting anyone's eyes. "With my eyes closed."

Six, impatient, said, "As much as I'd love to hear the rest of this story, we've got more important things to do... like getting the hell out of here."

Seven gestured towards Six. "Medbay. Let's get that arm fixed up."

Six followed him, cradling his injured arm.

The Android's calm voice filled the room. "Jumping to FTL."

The ship vibrated subtly as it prepared to make the jump, the tension slowly beginning to ease as they escaped the immediate threat.

<>

Two walked into the mess hall and saw Five sitting alone at the table, her shoulders hunched in a way that spoke of deep thought or worry.

"Hey," Two greeted her, trying to sound casual.

"Hey," Five responded, her voice barely above a whisper.

Two sat down across from her. "We should talk about what happened on the space station."

Five looked away. "That's okay."

"I really think—"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Five said firmly, standing up abruptly and walking away before Two could say another word.

As she left, Six and Seven entered the mess hall, both looking concerned.

"What's wrong with her?" Six asked, watching Five's retreating figure.

Two sighed. "Nothing. She's perfectly normal. Which is a problem on this ship."

Six raised an eyebrow. "So, I've been doing the math in my head and correct me if I'm wrong but... we managed to refuel, but didn't have time to effect repairs or resupply and restock. We lost the weapons, so we didn't get anything for them. We sold the other stuff and did get money for it, but it was confiscated at the casino."

"Bottom line," he continued, "we're worse off than we were twenty-four hours ago."

Seven took a seat, holding a cup of tea. "Well, not exactly. The medbay is fully stocked."

Two gave a slight nod. "We also missed an opportunity to do some research while we had access to the station's information hub."

"Maybe next time," Seven suggested, trying to be optimistic.

Two leaned back in her chair, frustration evident on her face. "Yeah. For now, we're back to square one, and our pasts remain a mystery."