Game of Riches (ONC)

The second step.

I had a choice to make.

Stay and wait for the Captain to return, or leave and face the chaos surely ensuing just beyond these walls. I paced back and forth and then it hit me. The remote was still sitting there on his chair. I picked it up and switched the screen on. Immediately, the screen filled with views of the ship. 

The Captain was marching towards the control room, a swarm of guards in tow. Inside the control room, Evan was furiously typing. Danyon and his men were standing around, keeping watch through the door that was clearly broken. Two men lay on the floor. 

The remote clattered to the floor as my hand went slack. They would kill them all. 

A door slid shut. Right in the Captain's path. It was working. 

I smiled, checked the gun was there, then set back out through the air vents. I wormed my way through the vent, careful with the turns I took. If this was to work, I needed to come out behind the Captain. 

I stepped out into a corridor. It looked just the same as the rest and I was instantly lost. All the cells had shut, but the prisoners were still free except for the odd person that had been in their cell when the alarm went off. I jogged down around a few bends, trying to get my bearings. Soon I was puffing and stopped to lean against a wall for a few moments. This ship was a rabbit's warren and I would be damned if that was the reason I failed them. G-forces threw me to the side and I braced against the wall until it evened out again. Evan had made good on his part.

The sound of cursing rang down the passageway and I stepped towards it, certain that was the Captain's frustrated voice. 

I turned the corner to find the passageway packed with soldiers, so much so, I couldn't even see the Captain.

My skin prickled as I lifted the gun and fired at the ceiling. The shot rang out, too loud in my ears. It left a black scar behind and my hands shaking.

The men snapped around, shouts rising up. I held the gun aloft and they froze.

"Bring me the Captain." I said as sternly as I could. A few seconds later, the Captain wormed his way out of his men and faced me. His face had no emotion what so ever. I had no way to know what he was thinking, but I had no doubt he would not submit easily.

He stopped a few feat in front of me. "Are you going to shoot me?"

I nodded. I didn't trust myself to speak. 

"Well, then. Shoot away." He held out his arms like some sort of martyr. 

I lifted my other hand to the gun to steady it, and pressed my finger tighter and tighter to the trigger. With each passing moment, the roiling storm in my stomach got wilder and wilder. It was tearing me apart form the inside out and I didn't know how much more I could take. I closed my eyes and my mothers face passed before me, in those last moments, dread written across her face but also love. She wanted me to do it to save her child. To save me. But then there was my father, torn apart and unable to be put back together. Did this man have a family? Who would I be stealing him away from? However guilty he was, that person was innocent.

I dropped the gun to my side.

"I didn't think so." The Captain looked down at me with pity. He strode towards me and snatched the gun out of my hands, then took my arm in his hand and dragged me after him. "Such a disappointment." He muttered.

He didn't let me go until we reached his rooms. He left me to stand alone while he switched the screen back on and zoomed in on the control room. Evan was sitting at the desk still and Danyon and his men were standing around.