Mission 4-2-7

Griffin

They landed and Alex grabbed her bags. Garth followed suit and soon they were walking through the station. Garth had been to the station before and was shocked when they turned not towards the holding bays, which were docks that held ships that would be there a long time, but the selling bays.

"I thought you said you had another ship waiting.", Garth pointed out.

Alex walked towards another man and they spoke quickly and quietly.

Alex then stepped away and began walking towards a ship. Garth was shocked when he saw the ship. His memory was bad, but he remembered this ship. It was Alex's favorite ship, a gunship with an AI made specifically for her, which she had named Griffin.

Alex was already in the ship, impatiently beckoning for Garth, saying, "Once the shields go down, we are going to get out of here as fast as possible. I have already made most of the calculations so we'll jump right to light speed."

"Where exactly are we going?" Garth asked.

"To find the rest of our team. Then we're completing this mission," Alex answered. "Now be quiet and watch for the shields to go down."

Garth nodded and walked onto the ship after Alex.

Alex hurried up to the bridge. Once she got up there, she finally felt peace again. It had been too long since she had last been up here. She reached the main control panel and hit a few buttons.

"Griffin," she then said, "Unlock code 3-9-7-4-2-It's-government-crushing-time."

The ship began to hum.

"Nice," Alex said.

"Welcome back aboard, Captain Alex," Griffin said in a female voice.

Alex smiled and said, "It feels so good to be back."

"I'm glad," Griffin said, then added, "Commander Garth is climbing up the ladder."

Alex nodded and commanded, "Prepare to jump at lightspeed to the Siberian system."

"Calculating now, Captain," Griffin responded.

Alex turned around and saw Garth walk on to the bridge.

"The shields are down and some officials are coming this way," he said.

"Hello, Commander Garth," Griffin said. "I am ready to go when you are."

"Cool," Garth said, climbing into one of the chairs.

Alex shook her head and sat in the pilot's seat.

"When I give the word, get us out of here," Alex said.

"Yes, Captain," Griffin answered.

They watched as another ship prepared to launch. Then Alex said, "Now."

The ship launched forward, and they rushed out of the bay. The ship jumped to lightspeed as soon as they were clear.

"Congratulations," Garth said, "we are now officially criminals."

Alex nodded and leaned back in her seat calmly. Garth stared at her, uncomfortable.

"That doesn't bother you at all?" he asked.

"They might think we stole a ship, but the seller will tell them that we bought it. He has fake identification and everything for us," Alex said. "We aren't criminals, at least not for that crime. Thane probably made us look like criminals and ever since I left the fleet I've been being hunted"

Garth stared at her, open-mouthed.

"Shut your mouth, Garth," she said. "Unlike you I am always prepared."

Garth was offended at this, so he stood up and left, walking towards the crews' quarters. As he did, he relaxed and smiled. It had been a long time since he had walked this hall, and memories were flooding back to him-- When he had first become part of Alex's crew and had been taken on a tour of the ship-- When they partied after stopping Drex from taking over the planet Atlas-- When Alex skunked everyone in a shuttle race.

Then Garth passed a certain crew member's cabin and remembered the last time he had been on this ship. Alex had stood in this very doorway, crying. Garth had been walking back from the medical bay and passed her. She turned when he walked by. Her face was red and tear streaked.

"You killed him!" she screamed. "Get off my ship! I never want you here again! If I see you here one more time, I will kill you!"

Garth had run from Alex, off the ship, and had never been on it since then.

The memory scared him, especially since he was alone on the ship with her. He hurried away from the door towards his own room.

He typed in his code to open it, but the code was denied. Garth tried again, but it was once again denied.

Garth hurried back to the bridge and asked Alex, "Did you change the code to my room?"

Alex turned and stared at him for a long moment then said, "Garth, your code is 1111, not 1234."

Garth thought for a moment then mumbled, "That's a stupid code."

"It's the only code you could remember," Alex said, turning back to the console she was working on.

Garth shook his head and hurried back to his room. He typed in the code and the door opened. The room looked exactly how he had left it.

Garth was exhausted and quickly fell asleep in the bed. He awoke when the ship shuttered as it came out of lightspeed.