New Elysium: Breakout

Yeah, I Killed Someone, A Few Someone's. (22)

Just what the hell am I supposed to say to these people?

Twenty to thirty expectant eyes stared at him. He swallowed and took a step back. The focus was intense.

Red froze. Panic started to build up inside of him. He clenched his hands together in tight fists, his heart was racing.

"You're a murderer." He didn't know who said it. It didn't make it any less true as far as he was concerned. But it broke the tension in the room. Something relaxed in him, they'd made the first move. He could respond.

"Yeah I killed someone. A few someone's..." He amended. Red sighed, lifting his hands. "I did what I had to do to protect my... my crew." He paused. They were escapees, not a crew, at least not until recently. Not to mention there was still some discussion as to who their vessel belonged to. He and Ember would have to duke it out later. "I didn't want to kill anyone--"

"What good does that do us now?" Again, he couldn't identify the speaker. He glanced over at Andrea, she gave him an encouraging nod. Both painfully aware that the crowd was on the brink. Some of them had family left behind at New Caledonia.

Red put his hands up, attempting to placate a growing anger. He decided to be firm. "This is my ship. Nothing is going to change that." He paused. "We're going to New Elysium and we're going to get there. All of us. In one piece." He stared at each person in the front row. Making eye contact. Most dropped their gaze to the floor. "If anything happens to me, or Dag, Ember will vent this ship faster than you can break into her chambers to get to her. You'll all be sucked out into space. Is that understood?"

A few eyes widened at that. Red waited for someone to call him out on it. It was a bluff. He had no idea if she could even pull that off, opening a hole was easy enough. Again, he was met with silence. Maybe that was too harsh. But at this point he didn't care if they liked him.

"Did you help me escape?"

A few shook their heads. He tried again. "Did you assist us in escaping out of Helion 7?"

A few mumbled no's, and Red knew he had them. "So, you just know that I'm a cold-blooded killer out for the payout, even though I just escaped myself?"

He turned and walked out, theatre was not his thing. Public speaking, also was not his thing. He paused in the hallway and leaned back against the wall, running a hand through his hair. Had they really just escaped prison? He glanced down at his clothes again. The same drab brown, he had nothing else. They were a ship full of people in rags, the supposed crew in prison garb.

"That was some speech." Ember's voice floated to him from above his head. He almost looked up but stared down the hallway instead.

Dag came out of the door. "Andrea is calming them down. Can Ember actually vent the ship?"

"I don't know." He admitted.

"Certainly." Ember's voice popped into the conversation, she sounded amused. "There's more than one way to pull it off."

"We're not venting the ship." Red sighed. "How did we get into this mess?"

Dag laughed. "We escaped." He put his back against the wall next to Red, his metal arm clanking with the contact. "Honestly, I can't wait to see my wife and kid again."

"You think they are there?" Red faced him. He had no one out there waiting for him like that, but at least some good would come of their escape.

"My kid loved building satellites." Dag's grin grew even wider. "He was a genius from a young age. My wife would have moved him there to protect him. We had plans to go there...before things really went to hell."