Chapter Text
Aipha was doing a routine check on the upper engine. He listened to people as they walked past and chatted with Skadj for a minute while he went to go check the lower engine.
“And that’s Aipha, he’s our main engineer here,” He heard 5ups voice say. He ignored them, probably some new crewmates he would meet later. That’s usually how it went. “I’m glad Dumbdog agreed to this. He’s usually very strict on who gets on this ship,”
“I’m glad you wanted to keep us around,” a scarily familiar voice said. “It’s nice to be given a second chance after everything I’ve done,”
“Me too. You’ve really helped us out a lot,” another familiar voice. That was unnerving to say the least. He knew those voices and he was just not going to greet them, they didn’t matter and they wouldn’t be here for long knowing 5up.
The voices faded and a hand grabbed his leg, yanking him out from under the engine. He frowned, looking up at his annoyance but smiling when he saw the commander of the ship.
“Dumbdog!” He said, smiling. “How can I help you? I was trying to get the stupid engine to stop rattling but it doesn’t like me today,”
“Well either you can figure it out or Skadj can,” Apollo didn’t seem like he was that concerned about the engine at all. “5up said you didn’t come out from the engines to meet his new crewmates, I wanted to check in on you, you always jump at the opportunity to meet new people,”
“Just distracted by the engine,” He muttered, wanting to scramble beneath the engine and ignore the commander. Apollo must’ve noticed that because he kept a hold of his ankle. “What?”
“You? Focused on something?” Apollo asked, raising an eyebrow. “Didn’t you leave us without lights for a week because you kept getting distracted with other things?” Apollo leaned himself against the engine with an elbow and Aipha huffed.
“I’m allowed to be able to focus," Aipha crossed his arms. “Now can I please finish the engine?” He asked and Apollo let out a small chuckle.
“Sure kid, sure,” Apollo said and released his ankle. “Just make sure you go introduce yourself to the new guys before you turn in for the night,” There wasn’t much left to argue about and as the commander walked away he slid himself back under the engine.
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” He said, knowing that those two could ruin everything for him and unbury secrets of his past. That was not something he wanted just out and about on this crew, none of them could know what had happened in the past.
*********************************************
He finished up his work on the engine, ignoring the swirling thoughts in his head. A glance at the time revealed that it was time for him to snag some food and go the fuck to sleep. Hopefully he could avoid the two new crewmates.
He walked past the admin office where he saw Dumbdog working, a look on his face that was all so familiar. It reminded him of someone and tugged at his heart a little bit. He kept walking, heading into the cafeteria and getting some food.
Nobody else was particularly in there because it was a little past dinnertime but it wasn’t shocking to see someone eating late because of work. He was well aware there was oil smeared across his suit and his face, so he pulled off his gloves and began to scarf down his food. After this he just needed to take a hot shower and call it a day.
“Aipha, there you are,” The telltale voice of Antfrost appeared behind him. His shoulders tensed because Ant wasn’t new to the crew but he did stick with 5up meaning he had the two new people with him and it would be a problem if he brought them over right now.
“Hey Ant,” He said, not bothering to turn around because that could confirm his worst suspicions and he really didn’t want that at the moment.
“5up wanted me to introduce you to Swifyz and Whyin,” Those were not names he recognized so he turned around and froze. Yeah…those were exactly who he thought they were. “Swif, Whyin, this is Aipha, a pretty damn good engineer and training to be the next officer of technological advancements,”
“This guy? In charge of something?” The guy in purple said, glaring at him. “Seems like a recipe for disaster,”
“I can’t say I’m fond of that idea either,” The other guy said, looking down and shifting his weight.
“You two are being dramatic, Aipha here will be a fine officer…in a few years,” Ant said. “I’m heading to bed, make sure you two are in the room before 5up is or I’ll have to drag you in there myself,” The cat hybrid walked off and Aipha turned back to his food. Maybe these two would leave him alone if he didn’t acknowledge them.
“Nothing to say, Lance?” Whyin's cold voice sounded in his ear. “Wow, for someone who doesn’t shut up, you sure seem pretty speechless right now,”
“Fuck off,” He said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t ask for you two to be here, either of you,” He stood up and deposited his plate. “Just stay away from me and keep my name out of your mouth,”
“Why? Afraid your new crew will find out what you’ve done?” Swifyz said and Aipha sighed.
“You two have no room to talk about my past, not when you were on 5ups ship. Your files may be sealed, everyone else may not know what you’ve done, but I do,” Aipha said, walking towards the ladder so he could go to his room.
“And we know what you’ve done,” Whyin said.
“Then I guess all of us better be quiet, I’d hate for everyone to find out what you two did. Especially you Swif,” Aipha said and held up his hand, well aware of the silver five-finger ring bracelet flashing in the bright cafeteria lights. A reminder of his time working with the valorants and all that happened there, as well as giving him the abilities to replicate their powers.