space Odyssey

chapter 3 part 1

Most people think of a handful of small cells when they think of a brig but the Zion was a colony ship meaning it had to transport a population large enough to repopulate the human race on a planet majority of those were kept in cryo sleep but the Zions brig was in all tense and purposes a prison which held over two hundred individuals who had been locked up for one reason or another many had a set time they would be released others had lost the right to be part of the community most who resided in the brig were former lower deck crews those who worked on the more undesirable systems of the ship like sanitation and the Zions many factory sections who started a mutiny and revolt a incident that had been started by a former ARST who sought to take over the ship but was stopped and incarcerated along with his surviving mutineers the incident had resulted in forty three people losing their lives.
Trask performed push ups counting with each one sweat ran off his face chest and arms like rain drops but he kept going he needed to stay in shape for the day he would get out of the brig and be able to rejoin his team he knew he was no longer the team leader that had gone to Dante a good choice for a leader trask only wished he could have given him more experience before throwing the responsibility of the team on his shoulders but Duke had made a good decision. His cell door opened and he saw the last person he would want to see Chris Harris the man had salt and pepper colored hair a well trimmed beard and wore the same inmate orange jumpsuit provided to all the inmates. "commander trask  or should I say former commander now since the old lady and her lap dog gave you the boot for doing what you had to, to save your men." Chris said. Trask stood up to where the two were eye to eye. "get out of my cell we have nothing to talk about." trask said. "I disagree and I'm here to be your friend you see in the pit it's good to have friends." Chris said. "I don't need friends like you your lucky they didn't vent you into space for what you did." trask said. "what I did was stand up for the lower decks my old home my people who I hear are still living in poverty radiation shielding isn't as good in the lower decks health care isn't as good either just because they aren't soldiers and don't explore alien world's or have a officer uniform on doesn't mean they should be treated any less than those who do that's why I did what I did I'm not sorry for it and the hag put me here so I wouldn't be a martyr for the lower decks and she wouldn't have a full on uprising on her hands that and Zion doesn't believe in the death penalty." Chris said with a smug smile. "I repeat get the fuck out of my cell before I remove you." trask said. "I'd like to see you try!" came one of the men behind Chris who raised a hand to stop him. "I wanted to give you a chance to join me be part of the movement because of our past but I see that won't be happening." Chris said turning and leaving his followers went with him trask closed his cell door and went back to his exercises.
Dante stood where he never thought he would stand right where trask use to stand in the briefing room it didn't seem that long ago that they had been there when trask had introduced him to the squad they hadn't had a meeting about Carter since he was a last minute addition to the team. He didn't feel like he belonged in charge he felt like he was just a substitute  a pretender.
"alright let's get this briefing started our next stop isn't a planet it's a planetiod drifting in space the Zions probes have identified materials that could be mined so we'll be providing security for the mining team. I would also like to introduce alpha teams newest addition Abby Collins she just passed the certification to be promoted from the security force to ARST."  Dante stated Abby stood and waved to the other team members who looked at her with indifference except for Duke who got up and shook her hand. "welcome to alpha." Duke said. "why did they give us her we don't have a empty slot once bosses stint is done he'll be back." Manny said. "we don't know if he'll be accepted back into the ARST or if he'll want to return either way he'll have to repass the certification course like we all did."  Dante said. Carter raised his hand.  "I didn't they just tossed me a helmet and told me to get lost." carter said. "and yet here you are." Dex smarted off. "enough Abby is here to stay so everyone cram it and get over it." Dante said. "tough crowd." Abby muttered as she sat down. "like I said we are going to be providing security for the mining team so we will drop on it first and do a survey of the rock and make sure it's safe after that muarader squadrons will take over and we will be brought back to the ship." Dante explained. "sounds boring why do we have to do this shouldn't security and the dirt diggers be good enough to run this op?" carter asked.
"not with the number of hostile encounters we have had lately the admiral isn't taking any chances." Dante stated. "well it still sounds like a waste of our time." carter said. "well it's hers to waste it's what we get paid for." Dante said. "tool Dex your staying the admiral wants two ARST bodyguards when she performs her inspection of the ships departments there have been some unrest among the lower decks so you two will be going with her along with her security detail." Dante ordered. "why us?" Dex asked. "because Manny is good at talking to lower deckers and your medic and the admiral isn't in the best of health your to keep her safe and monitor her status through the assignment. Meanwhile Irish Duke and Abby will perform the security for the mining operation." Dante concluded. Abby raised her hand and Dante nodded to her. "when do I get a callsign or do I make it up myself?" Abby asked. "you earn it." Dante said. He concluded the meeting and the squad went to get prepped for their assignments.
Jacob Flint crawled through maintaince tunnels  he checked his map he was directly over the brig section he used a tool to open a conduit exposing hundreds of wires he began snipping certain wires he needed to be sure none of them touched or he could risk a electrical discharge and not only would that set of alarms but it would most likely kill him instantly he finished snipping the wires needed and began to splice them together in new formations once he was certain his task was done he put the cover back over the conduit. He crawled further down the maintaince tunnel perform the procedure on three more conduits once he was finished he pulled out his knife opening a secondary maintaince hatch which took him to the food refinery for the brig it served each inmate a bowl of paste he opened his pack pulling out a set of overalls and a plasma cutting torch he changed into the overalls and used the torch to cut into the food refinery for the inside it was a maze of tubes and trays each tube was assigned to a specific cell which would deposit the paste to that cells trey he climbed into the refinery it was a tight fit he kept his knife in between his teeth and rolled up his sleeve and used a special light to show the invisible tattoo of the cell number he found the tray chute that would send a Trey to the cell he placed his knife on the tray and smirked when the tray was sent to the cell he crawled out of the cramped shaft his task done for now. He returned to his scheduled duties.
Trask performed pull ups until the warden came over the over head. "attention inmates the admiral and XO will be performing a inspection today I don't want any trouble from any of you anyone who causes a ruckus will be put in the box for the duration of their term." the warden declared shutting off the speakers. He went back to his exercises but stopped and dropped down from the top bars of his cell he pulled his jumpsuit fully on and used a pillow case to wipe the sweat from his brow he pressed a button to speak to a guard. "what is it?" came a guards impatient voice. "I need to talk to the warden he's gonna want to hear what I have to say." trask said.
Dante Carter Abby and Duke went to the launch bay for their pods. "awesome so what's a real drop like?" Abby asked. "right yeah the Sims don't do it justice whatever you do don't try to talk while your falling you could bite your tongue off." carter said climbing into his pod putting his helmet on. "so who am I partnering up with?" Abby asked. "we will find out when we get down there." Duke said. "no way to know who you'll land near." Dante said as he strapped in putting his helmet on. Abby climbed into her pod and slid her helmet on the pods lids closed and dropped them into the tubes catching them in launchers. "that was cool." Abby said. "that was just us getting in the chamber." Duke said. "oh." she said. "alpha Team deployment launch!" the control officer declared but nothing happened. "launch!" the man repeated. "hit the button mate!" Irish yelled over the comm button. "hold alpha we have a technical difficulty we are trying to remedy it." the officer stated. "technical difficulties are you serious it's not rocket science mate just hit the bloody button!" Irish said. "actually I think it is a form of rocket science." Abby said. "no one asked you rookie." Irish said. "cut the chatter!" Dante ordered. "control what's going on?" Dante demanded. "the launch protocol won't engage the pods are stuck in the tubes." the officer explained. "well... This is awkward." Duke said. "okay so get us out until it's fixed." Abby said. "doesn't work that way once in the barrel you can't be unloaded we have to launch to get out of here." irish explained. "control how long are we gonna be stuck here?" Dante asked. "unknown alpha give us some time and we will get back to you."  the officer said elevator music started playing over the speakers. "you got to be fucking me right now." irish said leaning his head back in his pod. "why not just open the launch bay doors and let us free fall?" Abby asked. "that works if we are already in a gravity well the planetiod doesn't have a atmosphere very little gravity and we are in space so we wouldn't have the momentum to clear the tubes." Dante said. "more than likely we would just get stuck worse if they tried." Duke said.
Minutes ago
Manny and Dex walked to either side of the admiral and XO the team would be getting prepped to be launched soon and Manny wished they were there with them.
The admiral had inspected the engine room factory sections and waste disposal and water recycling they had come to the one section nether Dex or Manny wanted to visit the brig. Along with the admiral and XO two security personnel Ruby and a guard named Tyler mane was with them with Ruby in front and mane bringing up the rear they entered the wardens office warden Herald Jackson was a man who looked like he had given up on finding a uniform that fit as his gut caused clear strain on his leather belt that kept his uniform jacket closed and uniform pants from falling down he had three buttons that were barely holding the uniform together and he had a officers cap on his sliked back greasy black hair that looked like it was thinning at the top. He had yellow teeth and despite the scent of breath freshener he clearly enjoyed hiss scotch too much he kept his stubby fingers in white officer gloves he gave the admiral and XO a salute and the others dismissive nod. "welcome admiral commander to my brig I trust you will find everything satisfactory."  Jackson said. "I'm sure this inspection is just a formality that we have to do once every nine months." ash said she went to the computer and tapped a button the console bringing up the maintaince logs for the brig and ran a diagnostic to get a idea of the condition of the brigs holding cells. Manny and Dex took up positions on either side of the room as Ruby took up a position by the door.
Chris looked up seeing the admiral before the windows tented to conceal the wardens office he smiled as he wiped the slug off his tray revealing the skinny knife blade that had been smuggled in he picked it up hiding it against his skin he hit the door release on his cell door the door didn't open but the guard came over to investigate. "what is it inmate?" the guard asked. "I wanted to make a call." Chris said. "you don't have comm privlages who the hell would you call anyway?" the officer demanded. "your mother I hear she's available." Chris said. The guard pulled out his stun rod and opened the cell door Chris moved faster than the officer could register swiping the blade across his throat opening him up ear to ear he grabbed the officers stun rod and let the man drop drowning in his own blood. "sorry I'll do my best to make sure not many join you." he said taking the officers security card. The brig suddenly locked down with a blast door closing the wardens office door mane drew his weapon firing a stun round into Rubies chest sending her to the floor Manny and Dex went for their side arms only for mane to put two stun rounds into Manny's chest Dex drew his weaponRaising it he fired a single round just as mane fired his own weapon  one round went wide and hit Jackson in the forehead the second struck Dex in the stomach sending him to the floor but dexs shot found its mark hitting the man in the lower side he mane doubled over grasping the smoking hole that the energy round had burned into his him he put a stun round into Charles sending him to the floor and aimed at ash who glared at the man who grimaced in pain. "hit that red button admiral." mane ordered. "no." ash said. Mane switched his weapon from stun to kill he aimed it at Ruby. "press it or I kill one each time you object." mane said. Ash pressed the button opening all the cells in the brig and opening the door to the office allowing Chris into the room ash didn't seem surprised she was surprised to find two men dragging trask into the room unconscious Chris saw Jackson's unconicous form and looked to the wounded mane. "you weren't suppose to shoot Jackson." Chris stated. "shit happens he's only stunned."  mane said wincing in pain more inmates entered the office and tied the unconicous Charles Dex Manny and Ruby up while giving Jackson adrenaline shot to wake him up the man woke with a scream of panic. "I can't see anything I'm blind!" the man yelled. "relax its temporary one of the side effects of getting a stun bolt between the eyes paralyzes the optic nerves." Chris trask woke up groggy the last thing he remembered was being in his cell when the door suddenly opened. Chris smiled at him as if he was glad he was awake. "alright now that your up we can get started." Chris said as two of Chris's men lifted him up to his feet. "I'm not helping you." trask said. Chris didn't seem phases he pulled out the side arm they had taken off of Dex and he aimed it at Manny pulling the trigger and sending a crimson energy round into Manny's lower leg not only waking him up but making him scream in agony as the bolt borrowed into his leg searing flesh muscle and bone. "stop!" trask ordered. "then your going to do exactly what I say or your former teammates bite it first." Chris said.Trask went to a comm station Chris looked to the admiral. "activate a ship wide broadcast." Chris ordered leveling the gun to Charles head. Ash walked over to the console and entered the codes and activated the ship wide broadcast. Chris looked to trask and gestured for him to speak as mane held up a data pad with a speech scrolling down the screen. "my name is Thomas trask I  was a ARST captain I was incarcerated because I disobeyed orders and I refused to leave my men behind I refused to stand by while any human isn't given the same equal and fair chance the people in the lower decks the factory workers and maintaince crews live in rough even dangerous conditions conditions that can be fixed  if those in command would give them the time of day. I have taken over the brig locked all entries and exits and I have taken the admiral and XO hostage along with a few others if my demands aren't met within 48 hours I will start to execute a hostage every hour once my demands are met I shall surrender and accept any punishment deemed necessary." trask said word for word he then disconnected the broadcast and Chris gave him a approving grin. "now go sit down." Chris ordered. It wasn't long before a emergency lockdown was initiated from the bridge under the command of the weapons officer Stevens who opened a channel directly to security chief omally who had his tactical teams at the main doors to the brig and at all other routs to and from the brig including the direct route to Jackson's office. Omally went to the blast door that seperated him from the office and rapped his fist on the door he put a comlink to the view screen when mane peeked out. "comm channel fifteen asshole let's talk." omally yelled so he could be heard mane switched his channel accordingly and waited to engage it. Chris looked to the captives and to trask. "anyone go off script someone dies at random I might even close my eyes to do it." Chris warned he put the comlink on speaker and gestured for trask to stand Chris typed what he wanted trask to say. "have you agreed to my conditions major?" trask asked giving Chris a death glare the entire time. "I want to know your conditions first I also want to know the condition of your hostages." omally said. "this isn't a negotiation major agree to the terms or don't bother calling." trask said mane killed the link and Chris nodded his approval. "before this is over I will kill you." trask said.
Dante and his team were listening to the comm chatter inside their pods Dante opened a secure link to the bridge. "lieutenant commander stevens requesting permission to handle the situation." Dante asked. "sorry alpha but your still stuck in the pods and it would be a conflict of interest your too close to this." Stevens said. "sir alpha is trained for this type of scenario and we can get in the brig without anyone knowing let us do this before someone dies." Dante said. "negative." Stevens said closing the channel. Dante cursed and hit the seat with his elbow.
Stevens sat in the admirals chair and took a breath he knew Dante had a point alpha was one of the best teams they had but trask had been the teams leader until recently and he couldn't risk their personal feelings getting in the way. He activated his comm channel to omally. "breach and take the brig back." Stevens ordered. "sir I believe it's premature to attempt a breach at this stage trask is a asshole but he isn't a traitor this is completely out of character for him." omally stated. "we need this to end omally quickly get it done the survival of the admiral and commander are our top priority." Stevens stated. "yes sir." omally said he turned to one of his officers. "get to atmosphereic control and route knock out gas into the brig flood the whole section after ten minutes we will breach and take these bastards down." omally stated.
Inside the brig Manny was sweating heavily in pain from his wounded leg. "hey get me a medkit so I can patch my friend up." Dex ordered. "shut up." mane said wincing in pain himself. "you could use a patch job yourself I know I probably took out a kidney with that shot or I could have hit your intestine do you know what high thermal rounds do to someone's insides?" Dex asked. Mane put his pistol to dexs head. "you want to demonstrate." mane threatened. "yeah give me the gun I'll show you." Dex said. "enough." Chris stated. "give him the medkit." Chris ordered mane grabbed the white metal container and brought it over to Dex. "now medic your gonna patch up my boy since your the one who shot him once your done with him you can patch up your friend but if you try anything your friend won't need patching up." Chris said. "I get it your the boss I won't do something stupid." Dex said. "you know their not gonna give you what you want because it's impossible." Dex said. "if they can't bring everyone's condition of living up equally then they can bring it down equally." Chris stated.  Dex accepted the kit and looked to mane.
"your gonna need to remove your armor jacket and shirt." Dex instructed. Mane looked to Chris who nodded to him mane did as he was told and Dex opened the kit he pulled out a scanner and  ran a scan over the wound and saw scan results on the kits screen. "well?" mane demanded as he put his pistol to dexs head again. "your armor cloths took most of the hit but it still damaged your kidney your right now working with one half cooked kidney you need a real medical suite to repair this damage." Dex said. "when this is over maybe." mane said. "you don't get it your kidney is dead it's gonna start to rot and once that happens your gonna go septic and go into shock shortly after that your gonna die." Dex said. "fix it." mane ordered. "I can't not with this we need real medical equipment stuff I don't have." Dex said. "what would you need?" Chris asked. "corporal don't answer that." ash ordered only for mane to back hand her to the floor Chris leveled his pistol to Manny's head. "best answer me or your buddies shot leg is gonna be less of a issue permanently." Chris said. Dex was silent torn between wanting to save his friend and not wanting to help their captors any longer Chris pulled the trigger the weapon discharged trask yelled out no as did Dex Manny slumped to the floor unconscious from the stun bolt he had been shot with. "oh my bad I forgot I set it to stun don't worry I'll fix that." Chris said switching the pistols setting and aiming at Manny again. "no stop!" Dex yelled. "damn Chris if you hurt them I'll fucking kill you right now even if it's the last thing I do!" trask yelled. "then answer the god damn question!" Chris yelled. "if I was to treat him here he would need a sedatives antibiotics regeneration jell injections and possibly a organ cloner and proper surgical supplies if I have to do a transplant!" Dex yelled frantically. "I warned you not to be cute about this that stun bolt was your only warning." Chris said calmer as he lowered the weapon. Dex gave mane a shot of painkillers and sprayed the wound with antibiotic spray before applying a bandage over the wound he then moved to Manny's unconicous form and ran the scanner over his pant wounded leg and picked up a energy scapal mane put his gun back to dexs head drop it!" mane ordered. "I got to cut his pant leg open to get to the wound or would you like to see my friends dick when I take his pants off?" Dex demanded mane lowered his gun taking a step back Dex cut the pant leg open being careful to avoid Manny's actual skin the round had burned down to the bone but was slightly answer to treat than manes injuries as Dex used a regenerating lazer to close the wound he applied a medical bandage to the wound and gave Manny a injection of antibiotics and painkillers he then put everything back in the medkit mane closed it and tossed it on the desk in the office a alarm sounded and Chris smirked. "their trying to gas us well we thought of that and some friends rigged it to vent the gas out in the corridor outside." Chris explained.
Omally coughed from the gas being vented into the corridor the ships AI Walter managed to divert the gas to vent into space before everyone became incapacitated from the gas. Omally coughed heavily his vision blurring slightly from the effects of the gas he saw most of his breaching team had been knocked out by the gas before they had the chance to get their mask on.
Trask voice came over the comlink. "I warned you that there would be consequences to not complying this is on you." trask said even as Chris had Charles at gun point Chris grabbed Jackson and shoved him to the view port of the door kicking and screaming the entire time. Chris then put the gun to Jackson's head. "no wait don't do this!" trask yelled. "you don't need to!" Dex yelled before being drown out by the weapon discharged the left half of Jackson's head exploded out ward as the energy bolt burned into his skull and exploded outward the body dropped to the floor trask could see the shocked look of omally on the other side of the glass before Chris tented the glass again.
Trask stared at the corpse of Jackson the man had been a traitor a corrupt individual and should have e been a inmate but he didn't deserve to be executed. "I thought we needed him alive?" mane asked. "we have the admiral plus I have all of Jackson's codes if we need them." Chris stated.
Dante cursed at the news of a hostage being killed when his pod suddenly opened and a voice hadn't heard before came over the comms. "commander Jones I am authorizing your operation you are to retake the brig lethal force authorized your target is a former ARST Chris he is a target that needs to be eliminated he's the mastermind behind this." the voice said. "identify yourself?" Dante ordered. "I'm the intelligence officer and third in command of the zion I have officially taken control of the situation my name is jasper." Jasper stated. Transmitting his authorization code which his HUD authenticated "alpha let's go for a walk." Dante said.
Dante Duke Abby and irish got out of their pods and floated out of the launch bays to the exterior of the ship a highlighted section of the ship marked the brig which didn't have any external airlocks except for waste disposal Dante activated his jet pack and the others followed suit as they flew toward the brig.
Chris handed trask the comlink which he activated. "omally you still awake out there?" trask asked as Chris aimed his weapon at the admirals head. "yeah I'm out here you son of a bitch murdering a hostage only made things worse for you." omally said. "his blood is on your hands not my mine I said this wasn't a negotiation and your stunt needed to be punished please don't make me do anymore punishments." trask said. "what are you calling for?" omally demanded. "I have two injured men one of which I care about very much I want you to send in surgical supplies a type ten body scanner pain killers and power antibiotics with a organ cloning machine." trask instructed. "like hell if you have wounded send them on out and they can get the care they need from doctors." omally said. "you have one hour before I execute another hostage and this time they'll be higher ranked than the warden." trask said turning the device off he tossed the device to Chris with a death glare. "I wish you had actually joined me we could have done so much good together." Chris said. "your insane." trask said anger clear in his voice.
Omally tossed the comlink on a desk they had set up and looked at his breach commander. "when can your team be set to go again?" omally demanded. "ten minutes." the officer said. "don't bother just give the man what he wants." came Jasper's voice from down the hall he approached the command center and took the comlink. "Chris this is commander Jasper I'm calling to inform you that your medical supplies is coming and I have relieved both the admiral and XO of their duties invalidating their codes they couldn't even order a cup of coffee if they wanted to and the wardens codes are no longer valid either and I have technicians working on the damage your subordinates have caused so we should have full control of the ship in under a hour this is your chance to surrender and avoid the death penalty."  Jasper said. Chris looked to the admiral who smirked. "he as the authority to do it."  ash said.
Dante and his team got to the waste disposal of the brig he drew a tool and began the waste disposal process and the metal door opened and jettisoned cubes of junk and debris they climbed in one at a time and closed the door behind them Dante got to the disposal maintaince hatch he hot wired it to open and detached his pack and ducked through entrance he left his pack on the floor outside the hatch once all four of them were through he gestured for Duke and Abby to go left and he and Irish go right they attached silencers on their weapons that setting their weapons for stun and moved silently and cautiously through the cellblocks most of which were empty Dante peeked around a corner seeing a inmate guarding a group of guards now locked in a cell Dante surged into action kicking  the back of the man's knee in while grabbing him over the mouth and delivering a powerful blow to the back of the man's head he was out without making a peep he checked the man for weapons and tossed him into a cell meanwhile Irish had dealt with his in a similar fashion they moved forward toward the office.
Mane and another inmate aimed rifles at the door that was open as omally and his guards rolled in carts of the supplies they had demanded before backing out and Chris closing the door Dex got up and inspected the equipment and looked at mane. "get undressed from the waist up and get on the bed." Dex ordered. "your not even going to pretend to care on how dangerous operating here would be?" mane asked. "I'm not a doctor I didn't take a oath to do no harm so get on the table and let me cut into you to save your life."  Dex ordered Chris nodded and mane climbed on the bed Dex grabbed a rag folding it together he offered it to mane. "bite down on this." dex ordered. "why aren't you putting me out?" mane demanded. "no because your idiot boss only asked for pain killers not sedatives." Dex stated.
Mane bit down on the rag and his body tensed awaiting the first cut Dex looked past Chris and saw one of the inmates outside the office window go down he grabbed the disinfectant spray and sprayed the wound site after removing the bandage he had applied earlier he looked to Manny who gave him a nod as he picked up a injector putting in a dosage of a white fluid. "what's that?" Chris asked. "just what he needs." Dex said. The door burst open and four stun grenades were thrown in Chris had just enough time to register the grenades presence before they exploded sending out a blast of energy that filled the room with a blinding light and deafening noise the six inmates helping Chris toppled to the floor spasming from the energy surging into them Chris fell to the floor dante irish Duke and Abby stormed the roof sending stun bolts into the inmates that were still standing Chris rolled onto his back firing a trio of shots Irish was sent to the ground by three direct hits in the chest Irish cursed from the pain of the impact and coughed Abby fired a spray of automatic fire at Chris who rolled away to avoid it getting to his feet he fired four more shots that sent Abby to the ground trask tackled him to the ground and they wrestled for possession of the weapon trask jammed his elbow into Chris's throat pressing down and cutting off the man's air ways Chris grabbed trask by the right half of his face jamming his thump into his eye making trask yell out in pain.  Mane attempted to get up but the drugs Dex had injected him with had kicked in making him fall to the floor foaming at the mouth Dex retrieved his pistol and Duke handed both Charles and Manny a weapon when they heard the gun between Chris and trask discharge the pair stopped wrestling looking eachother in the eye eyes wide in surprise. "you should have joined me." Chris said before shoving trask off him a smoldering hole where his heart would have been. Dante switched his weapon to kill as did Duke Manny and Dex all took aim and fired into the insurgent leader crimson energy bolts slammed into his unarmored body his jumpsuit was set ablaze the bolts burned through the man's chest cavity cooking or vaporizing the man's organs the man fell to the floor his face half melted away from a direct hit from a energy bolt to the face. The squad went to their fallen former leader Dex checked trask pulse and looked to Dante shaking his head. Charles helped Irish and Abby off the floor both stood on shaky legs their armor had stopped the energy bolt but the kinetic energy most of that had been transferred to them. Dante opened a channel to Jasper. "the brig is secure all targets down." Dante reported barely containing his grief. "casualties?" Jasper asked. "one." Dante managed to keep his voice from cracking they lifted the lockdown and omallys security force came in with medics that tended to the hostages and Irish and Abby Dante looked at trask body he shook his head. "this wasn't suppose to happen." Dante muttered. "he went out like he lived a boss." Duke said grief clear in his voice. "he wouldn't have let this happen." Dante said. "save it for later right now we need you to be a rock." Duke said clasping his shoulder plate. Dante nodded and looked to the admiral. "ma'am are you okay?" Dante asked. "yes thanks to you and captain trask I swear that everyone will know what he truly did here today." ash said. Dante nodded and looked to the medic tending his team. "status?" he asked. "Manny as a single injury to his leg but he'll be fine after a days rest the others just have some bruises." the medic stated. "hey how about I shoot you a couple times and we call them just bruises fuckers hurt like hell." Irish yelled. Dante watched as they put trask in a bag and saw them bag Chris up as well and stayed until they carted them off toward the morgue he and his team were dismissed their mission to guard the mining operation had been reassigned to beta team Dante went to the locker room and stripped out of his armor he looked in his hand to see trask dog tag. "I'm sorry." Dante said a single tear ran down his face. "for what?" trask voice asked Dante spun around seeing trask standing in front of him. "I let you get killed." Dante said. "I knew the risk I taught them to you I did what I did I'd do it again one day you may be faced with doing the same I just hope it goes better for you." trask said Dante nodded. "I shouldn't be the team leader I'm not ready I'm not you." Dante said. Trask put a hand on his shoulder. "than be better." trask said. Dante stood in the empty locker room and looked up at the ceiling. "goodbye." Dante said as he went to the wall he entered trask name and watched it sink into the sea of names.
Dex looked down at the body of his former team leader putting a hand on his chest. "rest easy we got it from here boss." Dex said.
Manny laid in medical watching as the admiral addressed everyone through a hologram transmission she cleared trask name declaring Him a hero a nurse came to check on him he just waved her off.
Irish sat in his quarters watching the breaching of the wardens office watched the ensuing fire fight the feed switching perspectives  from Irish Abby to Duke to dante and it was clear none of them had a clean shot before trask was gunned down he rewinded the footage and Ruby wrapped her arms around his neck resting on his back laying her head on his shoulder. "what are you hoping to find?" she asked. "anything... Anything to make this suck less." carter said.
Duke tucked Sam into bed and got up leaving the bed room he sat in his recliner closing his eyes he looked to a picture of the original alpha Team trask him Chris and three others. He was the last one standing of the first alpha Team he just hoped he could avoid losing anymore.
"if I may have your attention  today was a rare and tragic event a event that springs from our imperfect nature as human beings and it unfortunately claimed the lives of three people and while two of those lives were involved in the mutiny that was performed in the brig they were still human lives... Lives we can't get back our species is now decreased by three and while that number seems small to me and as it should be to you the loss of any life is a unbearable loss but regardless you deserve to know the truth the truth of the events many of you had followed throughout the day former ARST Chris a man who had performed such a act before held me and several others hostage he made captain Thomas trask play the villian to keep us safe because captain trask was a man of impeccable character his loyalty knew no bounds and he will be sorely missed I was honored to call him a friend the Dept we owe him and men and women like him can never be repaid only remembered." ash said concluding her speech she left the office and went to the bridge where she saw the mining ships beginning their work on the planetiod