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Given the trajectory of the rest of Derek’s life, he shouldn’t have been surprised when they lost the war. Just like he shouldn’t have been surprised by the Alliance cruiser bearing down on them. Or the gun pointed at his chest. It was all par for the course, really.
---
Derek hadn’t been home in so long that it didn’t feel like home anymore. He could just see the roofs of the Beacon Hills hamlet as Isaac lowered them down into a berth at Eavesdown Docks. He’d grown up in the hills nearby, and had always known he would leave, but had never considered he wouldn’t have a home to go back to.
He shook off those thoughts as they landed. It was a bumpy landing - Isaac and Scott shouting obscenities at each other through the comms.
“It’s the damn rotators again, Cap’n,” Scott grumbled, smearing grease across his face. “They’ve busted and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”
“Make a list of what you need,” Derek sighed. “I’ll give it to Erica and Isaac. Maybe they can scrounge something up in the scrap yards.”
“They oughta be new...” Scott muttered.
“We can’t afford new and you know it. Get us some good paying passengers and we’ll see. Have to get us a job too.”
“You’re not going to see-” Isaac chimed in.
“Yep. I’ve gotta go have a chat with Lizard.”
---
Erica and Isaac took off in the mule, leaving Boyd and Derek to go the rest of the way on foot. The guy standing guard outside of Lizard’s hideout gave them an appreciative once-over combined with a dirty look. Derek was impressed; he hadn’t known faces could move that way.
“Danny,” he greeted.
“You’re late,” Danny replied. He waved off their excuses. “Right this way.”
The den was dark, but luxuriously appointed. Danny showed them to a little table already set with tea for three.
“Where’s Lizard? He said he had a job.”
“Straight to business, huh? I appreciate it. We’re all busy men.” Danny poured himself a cup of tea as he talked and then set the pot down, ignoring Derek’s outstretched cup. “Lizard’s off-world at the moment. Thus the nature of the job. We’ve got a shipment that he needs to inspect personally, and we need someone to get it there.”
Danny settled back into his chair and watched as Derek poured tea for Boyd and himself.
“And we’re not to know what the shipment is, I imagine?”
“And that’s why you’re still in business, Captain,” Danny said with a small smile.
He pulled out a quite respectable bag of coin.
“I’m authorized to give you half the payment now, and some of our men will deliver the shipment to your ship. Berth Whiskey Seven Niner, I gather? Lizard’ll give you the rest of the money upon safe delivery on Verbena. And gentlemen, this is the sort of shipment that needs to stay well clear of the Alliance. Understand?”
“Understood. We got no hankering to tangle with the Alliance anyway. We’ll transport it safe. No problem.”
---
“We have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?” Derek growled. “Did we not get any passengers?”
Scott looked nervous. “No. No... We’ve got two passengers, so that’s good. And Lydia’s back. Also good. Um...”
“Spit it out, Scott.”
“There’s a woman to see you. She’s got- um... I tried to stop her, Captain, but she just blew past me and took him down to one of the rooms. She says your sister sent her.”
Derek froze. “My sister? Took ‘him’?”
Scott pointed in the direction of the passenger bunks, and then very pointedly stayed out of Derek’s way.
There was a thin, severe-looking woman standing in the doorway of one of the passenger bunks with her arms crossed over a nurse's uniform. She thrust a letter at Derek and glared at him as he read it.
It was indeed from his sister. She'd had to take a trip off-planet and needed Derek to keep an eye on their uncle. "You barely have to do anything," she'd written. "His nurse does most of it. I would just feel better if he was with family." She'd signed off with her usual admonition to "fly safe, little bro."
Derek clutched the letter in one hand and peered past the nurse into the tiny room. His Uncle Peter sat propped up in one of the beds, staring at nothing.
Derek sighed. “He’ll be okay down here? I mean, you don’t need the infirmary or anything?”
The nurse shook her head.
“Good. Good, okay, just, stay out of the way. Do you need food or anything?”
“I can handle it,” she said curtly.
“Good.”
Derek fled.
---
After their cargo was delivered, and Isaac and Erica returned with what parts they could scrounge up, Derek declared them ready for take off. He and Boyd did final checks before heading to the galley. The two passengers were sitting awkwardly at the table, while Scott and Lydia clattered around the kitchen jabbering away in Mandarin. Scott was doing most of the actual cooking, thankfully.
“I saw Cora,” said Lydia coyly, when she noticed Derek.
“Oh God, she’s my baby sister. I can’t know that.”
“How is she?” Boyd asked as he entered.
“Good. She’s practically running things at the Academy satellite school. I’ve been telling them for ages that they needed a non-Companion to help keep an eye on things, and of course I was right. She sends her love, by the way.”
Boyd smiled, and Derek glared.
“What’s for dinner, Scott?”
“Deaton sent us a box of vegetables and a packet of fresh herbs, and Mr. Daehler here had been fishing, so we get some real food tonight.”
Derek nodded at the smiling man at the table who said, “Call me Matt.”
The other man kept his eyes on his tea.
“And Mr- sorry, Dr. Stilinski’s a doctor,” Scott said, sounding very impressed.
“A doctor of people? Or have you just got a doctorate in something useless?” Derek asked.
He could feel Lydia’s glare on the back of his neck.
“A doctor of people, Captain,” the man said cooly.
“Well we shouldn’t need any doctoring. It’s a simple run to Verbena.”
---
“Captain. We have a situation.”
Derek would never get used to Boyd’s gift for understatement.
“Boyd, when I hear ‘situation,’ I think more along the lines of Scott’s lost his favorite wrench, or Isaac’s left the parking brake on. Not a gorram Alliance vessel latched onto us. That’s more along the lines of a ‘catastrophe.’”
“Noted, sir,” said Boyd, the corner of his mouth twitching up.
There was a clattering in the corridor outside the bridge. The doctor burst in, with Erica hot on his heels.
“You can’t stop,” the doctor gasped. “You can’t let them board.”
“Alliance has latched on already. I got no choice now. Is there something wrong?”
“I’d say so, Captain.”
Derek cursed. They’d been distracted by the doctor and everyone had taken their eyes off the door. Their other passenger - Matt something - gestured with his Alliance-issue gun and Derek spread his hands slowly.
“Lot of sensitive instruments in here, son. Let’s not get trigger happy.”
“If the good doctor comes quietly, there’ll be no need for shooting.”
Derek frowned. “The doctor?”
“Come along, Dr. Stilinski. I would advise the rest of you not to do anything foolish. I’m sure there are plenty of illegalities on this vessel, and the more you cooperate, the more like it is we’ll let you fly on by.” He yanked the doctor’s arm and practically threw him down the stairs.
Derek and the rest of the crew followed cautiously.
There was a distressing pool of blood in the galley. A trail led in the direction they were going, and about halfway to the cargo hold they found Scott, leaning against the wall and clutching at his side.
“Hiya,” he whispered. “Captain, he-”
Derek didn’t even have to say anything, he looked at Boyd, and Boyd took out the Alliance man with a neat right hook.
“Erica, tie him up."
"Gladly."
"Then wake Lydia, have her keep an eye on him. Doc. See to Scott.”
The doctor hesitated. “Not unless you help me,” he said softly.
“Fix him,” Derek growled, shoving the doctor into the wall. “Fix him, or pick the airlock you want to be thrown out of.”
“I’d pick the starboard one,” offered Isaac, hands trembling as he held Scott up. “Nice view of the Rose Nebula in this part of space.”
“You can’t let the Alliance get me,” the doctor insisted. “I’ll help him if you promise to protect me.”
“I don’t care what kind of bullshit problem you-” Derek started.
Scott groaned. “So loud,” he slurred.
“Fine,” Derek gritted. “Fine. Isaac, go with him. Keep him in line.”
The second the three of them vanished down the corridor to the infirmary, Derek turned to Erica and Boyd. “You two with me. We’re going to figure out exactly what this kid is hiding.”
They tossed his cabin first, but found nothing revealing. The cargo hold was a different matter.
“This is his,” said Boyd, tugging a huge chest out of the pile.
It was heavy, about big enough to hold a person, and solidly locked. It was also cold. Derek leaned in close and heard the tell-tale hum of a freezer system.
He cursed in Mandarin. “I think he’s transporting a body.”
It wasn’t all that common, though unfortunately more common than Derek was comfortable with. Rich folk from the central planets would send body hunters to distant moons and they’d bring back whatever the customer wanted. For medical purposes, or personal use, or what have you.
“To the infirmary. This son of a bitch better have a good explanation. And when Scott’s better we are having words about his choice of passengers.”
---
Matt the lawman was still unconscious in the galley, presided over by an irate Lydia. “This is not part of our arrangement, Hale.”
“Not the time, Martin,” he snapped back.
The doctor was washing up when they crowded into the infirmary.
“How is he?” Derek growled.
“Stable for now. It was a knife wound actually. Not a bullet like I’d thought. I stitched him up.”
“Hmm. Who’s in the box?”
The doctor’s eyes flicked desperately around the room. He whimpered a little bit when he realized he was absolutely trapped. “I- that I can, um, explain?”
“No need to explain it to us. The Alliance can sort it out.”
He blanched white as a sheet. “No! Please! You can’t let them get us. You can’t let them get her.”
Derek opened his mouth to ask who “she” was, when the whole ship lurched suddenly, executed a sharp turn accompanied by an ominous groaning noise, and sped off at what felt like the hardest burn she could handle.
Derek swore. “What in the - who the hell is flying this thing?”
He looked around and realized it was a valid question. His whole crew was here, and one of the passengers, and the other was tied up under Lydia’s watchful eye. There was no one else aboard.
“Isaac, with me. Let’s see what’s going on. Boyd, keep the good doctor out of trouble. Erica, do a sweep of the ship; maybe we picked up a stowaway in Persephone.”
It was after all how they’d first hooked up with Lydia.
The halls were quiet, but Derek kept his gun at the ready as they moved towards the bridge.
It was empty.
Isaac fell immediately to his controls. “Well, they’ve locked us onto a new course, but nothing’s too messed up, Captain. But whoever it was - holy hell - they managed to free us from the Alliance lock. Jesus,” Isaac shook his head. “They know their tech, Derek. Possibly even former Alliance.”
A thought was occurring to Derek.
“Buzz Erica. As quietly as possible. Don’t let her tell you where she is.”
Isaac frowned, but started punching the comm buttons for different parts of the ship.
“Hello?”
“Erica,” Derek said quietly. “Did you or Boyd escort the doctor down to the cargo bay to get anything? Did he ever leave your sight?”
The comms crackled as Erica thought. “You know, Captain, I think he did. Just for a moment or two. Lawman dropped something and I helped him pick it up. You don’t think-”
“I think the good doctor and his friend have some bad intentions. Meet me at the infirmary.”
Derek ended the comm, and turned to Isaac. “See if you can get her fixed, and make sure we really are well clear of that Alliance ship. I don’t anticipate a meetin’ with them would be real pleasant after that stunt. Stay alert.”
“Aye aye.”
---
“What the hell do you want with my ship?” Derek snapped, pinning Stilinski to the wall of the infirmary.
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just needed a ride.”
“Don’t lie to me. Your partner’s trying to take over my ship.”
“Partner? I don’t have a partner.”
“That’s not what your body box says.”
The young man blanched. “You didn’t open it, did you?”
“You already did that. Let your partner out so they could take over the ship while you kept us busy.”
“No! That’s not- I wouldn’t.”
“Prove it. Open the box.”
The doctor looked up. “I can’t. Not for a week at least.”
“Too bad,” Derek growled.
He yanked him by the arm and dragged him to the cargo bay, Boyd and Erica following as guards.
“Open it,” Derek ordered, releasing Stiles so he stumbled into the side of the box.
“I can’t!” he wailed. “It’s too soon!”
“Open it,” Derek said tightly, training his gun on him. “I won’t ask again.”
With trembling hands, the doctor did as he was told. He tapped in a code, and pressed his palm to a scanner, and the box opened with a hiss.
Erica leaned in close to look. “It’s just a girl,” she exclaimed in surprise.
Derek moved in to look for himself when an arm shot out of the box and tossed Erica to the side. Derek swore, and started moving, but the doctor was closer and faster. He was helping the girl out of the box, calming her with soft words, and draping his jacket around her skinny shoulders.
“It’s okay, Al. I’m here. I’ve got you. You’ll be okay, Allie.”
Derek stared in disbelief. “What the hell is this?”
The doctor looked up. “This is my sister, Captain.”
---
“Explain,” Derek said weakly after the girl had been calmed down and dressed.
“Allie is my sister,” Stiles said, keeping an eye on her curled up on one of the infirmary beds. Scott was trying unsuccessfully to engage her in conversation, but he wasn’t very lucid either.
“The Alliance took her from me. They brainwashed her, tortured her, all in the name of science. I figured out something was wrong, learned that they were trying to make her into some sort of super soldier. As I’m sure you’re aware,” he continued, gesturing around at the ship and the brown coat Erica was wearing, “the war isn’t over, the fighting’s just got sneakier. She was supposed to be part of that.”
“What did you do?” asked Derek.
“I got her out,” he replied simply. “It cost a lot of money and probably my professional reputation, not to mention we’re now fugitives from her- from the Alliance, but I couldn’t leave her in there.”
Derek had two sisters; he couldn’t imagine what he would do if the Alliance got ahold of them.
“Not that this ain’t real touching, but Captain, have you forgotten we’re locked on to a course who knows where by a party or parties unknown?” Boyd drawled.
“I swear I don’t know anything about that,” the doctor interjected. “I just wanted a safe flight-”
Derek froze. “Safe flight.”
“Captain?” Boyd asked.
Derek was already moving, bolting for the passenger dorms.
There was another distressing pool of blood spilling out from under one of the doors.
“What the hell is happening on this gorram ship?”
The blood belonged to the nurse whose throat had been neatly cut.
“Knife wounds,” Derek muttered.
Peter was nowhere to be found.
Derek hit the call button on the nearest comm. “Isaac, gather everyone, everyone, in the infirmary. Quietly. And tell Erica to get her guns.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
---
“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Scott said drowsily, once the crew was gathered in the infirmary. “It was your uncle who got me. Stabbed me.”
“What’s he planning?” Isaac asked.
“Revenge.”
Everyone jumped. The voice over the comms was soft, sibilant, and horrifyingly familiar, even though Derek hadn’t heard it in years.
“Uncle Peter,” he growled, looking around as if Peter would suddenly appear.
“I must say, Derek, you’ve done surprisingly well for yourself. Much better than I would have expected. Such a lovely ship. ‘Selene’ was your mother’s code name, wasn’t it? Pity you weren’t able to hold onto her either. It must burn to know that even after everything your parents sacrificed, the Independents still lost. But you and I survived. You’ve always had good survival instincts, Derek. Like now, gathering all your crew together in order to protect its weakest member. I have to thank you for that. It makes it much easier to do this.”
There was a clang as the fire doors slammed shut, sealing them off from the bridge and the rest of the ship.
“Just sit tight, nephew, and things will go much easier for you. I’ve got your best interests at heart. Trust me.”
The comm clicked off with a hiss of static.
“Can Scott walk?” Derek barked at the doctor.
“He probably shouldn’t, but-”
“Will walking injure him more?”
“Well, no. It’ll just hurt.”
“You and Isaac help him. He can get us out of here and we can’t be separated right now; not until we know where Peter is.”
Right on cue, Peter’s voice cut in again, “Oh Derek. Do you think that if you keep everyone close then you won’t lose them? That this time you won’t lose them all?”
Derek could hear the smirk in Peter’s voice, and Boyd’s hand on his arm was the only thing that stopped him from responding.
“I guess you didn’t lose them all,” Peter continued. “After all, you’ve still got me. Though, you have lost a few people already.”
“Where are Lydia and the lawman?” Boyd asked suddenly, just as Scott got the door to the galley open.
“Derek, I’m afraid I’ve made a bit of a mess. The lawman started to come ‘round and I was a little overzealous in getting him to be quiet.”
Derek turned the corner and saw the bloodstain.
“He’ll live. Probably. I am sorry about all the stains, but needs must. You and your adorable pilot may have noticed our flightplan. You’ll not alter it if you value your beautiful Companion’s life. The lawman’s mine too. An entrance pass if you will. But it wouldn’t do to reveal my whole plan, just stay out of my way, and we’ll-”
“We’re in my shuttle!” Lydia’s voice cut in, followed by the sound of a slap before the comm shut off.
Boyd took a defensive position behind Isaac, Scott and the doctor, while Derek and Erica moved ahead as a unit towards the shuttle. They met Peter on the catwalks above the cargo hold. He had Lydia’s arms pinned behind her back and a knife to her throat. Her eyes were drooping as if she’d been drugged. Derek held his hands wide, letting his gun swing loose in his hand.
“Uncle Peter,” he said softly, striving to keep his voice calm. “Just let her go. Please. Please, this isn’t you.”
“Who is it then, Derek?” Peter sneered.
Derek felt Erica step closer and raise her gun, and Peter’s eyes snapped to her. The blade pressed into Lydia’s neck.
“That’s not very polite,” Peter smiled. “We wouldn’t want anyone to be rude, now would we?”
The proximity alert started to sound.
“And that’s my cue. It was rather stupid of you to bring a member of the Alliance onboard, but I’m grateful for your lack of judgement. His ident-codes were quite useful; though he ultimately proved to be not very accommodating. Now, kindly stay out of my way.”
Peter dragged Lydia down the stairs to the airlock doors, careful to keep her between him and the gun Erica had trained on him. Derek started to follow them, but Peter bared his teeth, and he froze.
“Some guidance would be nice, Captain,” Erica hissed. “What in the ‘verse is going on?”
“I don’t- I don’t know.”
“I thought he was in a wheelchair,” said Scott, leaning heavily against the doctor.
“I thought so too, but-” Derek looked down at the floor of the cargo bay. “He’s not the same as I remember...”
Everything had changed after the fire; after his stupid mistakes had caused the death of most of the members of his family. He and his two sisters had been the only ones to escape physically uninjured. He’d fled the planet to help with the war effort, Cora had vanished into a life at the Companion Academy, and Laura had thrown herself into the Reconstruction. Peter was the only one who’d survived the fire, but it had left him scarred. In more ways than one apparently.
“He’s seen the edge of space,” said Boyd, voice terrifyingly subdued.
Isaac eyes widened and Erica swore. “He’s going Reaver?”
“I don’t know,” Derek cried. “He hasn’t started cutting on himself.”
“He’s cut on plenty of others,” Erica growled.
“But- aren’t Reavers a myth?” Stiles asked shakily.
Erica snorted, and Boyd said, “They’re real alright.”
“How the hell do you fight a Reaver?”
“He’s not a Reaver,” Derek insisted. “He’s my uncle.”
“Derek,” said Isaac softly, “Whatever he is, I don’t think he’s your uncle anymore.”
Erica’s gun hadn’t left Peter, but even doing whatever he was doing to the airlock, he’d managed to keep Lydia under his control and blocking any chance she might have at a clean shot.
“We need to get Lydia out of there,” Boyd whispered. “Then we can focus on taking out Peter. We just need-”
“Transport Ship Selene, you are flying in restricted airspace and attempting an unauthorized docking with an Alliance vessel,” a voice boomed through the comms. “Please disengage engines and prepare to be boarded.”
“-a distraction,” finished Boyd.
Peter laughed. “You might want to see to that, Derek. The Alliance can be so cranky when they don’t get their way.”
Isaac and Boyd both moved simultaneously. Isaac darted for the bridge and Boyd leapt over the railing and launched himself at Peter the second his boots touched the deck. He was brought up short by Peter’s knife centimeters from his neck.
“A bold move, though ultimately futile,” Peter smirked. “You’ll have to be faster than that.”
The bullet slammed into his upper arm which was extended safely away from Lydia.
Peter screamed, an animal sound.
“How’s that for fast?” asked Erica.
Selene lurched as Isaac got to the brakes, and Boyd stumbled. Despite his injured arm, Peter managed to keep hold of his knife and he brought it back up to Lydia’s throat.
“This doesn’t have to concern anyone else, Derek,” Peter said. “No one else has to die. Just let me get aboard that ship.”
“Why are you doing this, Peter?”
“Because they killed our family, Derek!” Peter shouted. “The Alliance came to our house and burned it to the ground. Your mother, my sister; my wife and children. They were innocent, Derek! Innocent. And the people who killed them are going to pay.”
He slammed his fist down on the airlock button and the doors hissed open. Then the doors on the Alliance cruiser did the same. The second they were fully open, Peter tossed Lydia to the ground and darted away into the bowels of the ship.
It was the second time facing down the Alliance in as many hours, and Derek was not happy about it. His first instinct was to charge after Peter, to try and rescue his uncle - even it it was so he could kill him himself - but there were more important things.
“Erica, Doc, help Scott and Isaac get us unstuck from this ruttin’ Alliance ship.”
A shot rang out and whizzed over their heads to punch a hole in one of Lizard’s crates.
“Boyd, with me. Let’s ask these fine Alliance guards to stay off our ship.”
Boyd gave him a look.
“Politely,” Derek insisted.
---
He didn’t miss the war, not at all, but there was something oddly satisfying about taking up arms side by side with a friend. He and Boyd stepped cautiously into the airlock, guns ready. There were two men in Alliance uniforms on the other side of a hastily erected riot barrier.
“Drop your weapons!” one of them yelled. “Prepare to be boarded!”
“That don’t sound very nice,” Derek shot back. “Do you have a better offer?”
“You have illegally docked at Alliance Substation AG243. One of your crew has already killed three men. Now is not the time for jokes, Sergeant Hale.”
Derek barely suppressed a shudder. “It’s ‘Captain’!” he called back, and fired.
The man went down, clutching his arm. Boyd got the other one in the shoulder.
Derek strolled over and squatted down next to the groaning men. “Man you got aboard this ship ain’t my crew. He’s your main problem right now. Frankly, I’d like to take care of him myself, but I understand you’ve got procedures. We’ll cause you no more trouble. Just let us get unhitched and we’ll be outta your hair. See? A better offer.”
Derek patted the man on the arm and he groaned in pain. “Now be a good man and get the hell out of here.”
The two men limped off and Derek resumed his defensive position with Boyd. Erica was back too, with her favorite gun tucked under one arm.
“How’s it going, Scott?” Derek called over his shoulder.
“Shiny, Cap’n.”
“How long’s it going to take, Scott?”
“No idea, Cap’n.”
Derek growled. He could hear boots out in the corridor.
“It’s just an electromagnet,” said a voice Derek didn’t recognize.
He whipped his head around. The girl, Allie, was standing barefoot in the middle of his cargo hold, staring at Lizard’s boxes.
“Magnets to open the doors. Boxes to bring the dark. Men are coming.” She looked straight at Derek.
Boyd started firing. Derek turned back to the front, aiming for kneecaps and shoulders when he could.
After a few minutes, Scott gave a whoop of triumph. “Electromagnets to override the normal lock procedures, and they won’t show up on scans. That’s brilliant. Thirty seconds and the doors’ll be ready to close, Cap’n!”
Erica and Boyd pulled back, but Derek hesitated. “Peter...” he said.
Boyd sighed and yanked him backwards. He struggled for a moment, but Boyd was strong enough to hold him back. Then the woman appeared.
Derek hadn’t seen her in years, but there was no way he could have forgotten the face of the lieutenant who’d promoted him to sergeant. Or the face of the woman who had betrayed his trust and caused the death of most of his family. Her face was twisted in anger at first, but a sick smile curved her lips when she caught sight of Derek. She started forward.
Derek couldn’t have moved if he’d wanted to. Boyd was shouting something, but Derek couldn’t hear anything but her laugh.
And then - somehow - Peter was there. His arms curled about her, one hand curved around her neck. He turned her head towards his, like they were about to kiss. There was a bloom of red and a shot rang out.
Sound rushed back. An alarm was going off, people were yelling, Isaac’s comm-amplified voice was shouting about getting the hell out of there, and in the middle of it all, two bodies lay perfectly still in a pool of blood, one with a slashed throat, and one shot through the heart.
Someone took the still warm gun out of Derek’s hand.
“Kate wasn’t afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,” said the girl. “Are you?”
Then she led Derek back onto Selene.
---
Isaac managed an impressive burst of speed and got them safely into empty space and away from any possible pursuit. Derek finally allowed himself to relax in the co-pilot’s chair.
“Being held hostage and drugged was not part of our arrangement, Captain Hale,” Lydia snapped.
Derek sighed. “You’re not allowed up here, Madame Martin.”
She ignored the jab. “Well now you know how it feels. I didn’t sign up for this.”
Derek was too tired to argue with her. “I’m sorry. This trip has been stranger than I like too. How are you and everyone doing?”
“Well fine now, I guess. Though I’m not sure what possessed you when you let Allison Argent on board.”
Derek froze and Isaac looked up from his controls in surprise. “What.”
---
“You said she was your sister!” Derek shouted.
“That may have been, well, sort of an exaggeration,” Stiles admitted, looking up sheepishly from the couch Derek had shoved him onto. “She’s not biologically my sister, but she might as well be. Plus, the name ‘Argent’ doesn’t tend to make friends, especially on outer planets.”
"Her face has been all over the Coretex news channels. She's supposed to have run away from her boarding school."
Stiles's face tightened. "They're lying."
“Why don’t you tell us what really happened,” suggested Boyd, pulling up a chair.
Stiles swallowed and looked around at the gathered crew. “Okay. Okay. Our moms were best friends back on Londinium and we grew up together. Allie’s a year older than me, and the two of us were always getting into trouble together.”
Derek and the crew listened, rapt, as the doctor painted a picture of a childhood spent running wild around the suburbs of New Cardiff.
“Both our fathers were military, so we got caught more often than not, but it was usually worth it. School was easy, and neither of us had many friends,” he shrugged. “It was great fun. But then my mother died. Doctors couldn’t save her and I swore to myself that it wouldn’t happen again. I would learn so much that I always knew how to save people. Allie helped. We took University courses through the Coretex, and her family - well, you know - they’re very influential; they helped a lot. I did my residency during the war and Allison went off to a special school at the request of her grandfather. We exchanged letters from time to time, but we were both so busy. And then I got a letter that made no sense.”
Stiles sighed. “We had a made-up language when we were kids - a mix of Latin, Cantonese, and our own slang. This letter was in English, but it followed the same rules. She was in trouble and I had to help.”
He described an escape involving a stolen police vehicle and a lot of bribery. Derek was starting to like his original body hunting theory better; it was simpler.
“Then what?” Erica asked when he finished the story of the rescue.
“We ran,” he said simply. “I had two weeks of time on the box before I’d have to wake her and we needed to be as far from her family as possible. I am sorry about the trouble. I thought I’d covered my tracks better than that.”
“It may have been bad luck,” Isaac offered. “Your face has popped up on the Coretex a couple times.”
Derek shot him a look and Isaac shrugged. “We’re on there at least once a month. I don’t usually pay it any mind.”
Derek crossed to the tiny porthole in the wall. This was a lot bigger than the occasional theft and some minor smuggling. He heard movement behind him and was aware of people leaving the room. Out of the corner of her eye, Derek saw Lydia cock one perfect eyebrow at him.
“Here to tell me how to run my ship?” he asked without looking at her.
“I might if I thought it would do any good. Anyway, I already know what you’re going to do.”
“That’s a trick. I don’t.”
He turned to look at her. She’d flopped back on the couch in a carefully arrayed manner. “You’ll let them stay.”
“She’s an Argent. And he was on the side of Unification.”
She shrugged elegantly. “So was I. You’ll let them stay.”
---
“You can’t let them stay.” Boyd was leaning against the wall in the bridge, arms across his chest and showing no signs of budging.
“Noted,” Derek said.
“Look, I like ‘em well enough, but Derek, we just boarded an Alliance ship. Now is the time to lie low, not take on two fugitives.”
“How do the rest of you feel about it?” he asked, looking around at his crew.
“We can help them, so we should,” Scott said simply.
Erica sighed. “They’re a big risk. You know I’m all for messing with the Alliance, but I agree with Boyd. Some shore leave on a moon so small it doesn’t have a name sounds perfect right about now, not running all over the damn galaxy for two stowaways.”
“We can’t kick them out, Derek. He saved my life,” Scott protested.
“It was only in danger because that Fed followed him onboard,” Erica pointed out. “They’ll just bring more trouble.”
Isaac snorted. “What doesn’t bring trouble? There are Alliance patrols and informers all over the ruttin’ sky. We nearly got shot up by that group of rebels last month for being deserters. The last three jobs we pulled ended poorly and violently. The only person in the ‘verse who seems to like us is Deaton, and I only say that because he hasn’t actively shot at us. Yet. How much more trouble could they bring?”
“I take it you’re for letting them stay, then?”
Isaac shrugged. “It’s your call, Captain.”
Derek looked out at the dark sky.
“How long ‘til we get to Verbena?”
Isaac turned away gratefully and checked the computers. “Two days.”
“Alright. We can’t do anything either way until then so, business as usual for now.”
---
The rest of the trip to Verbena was about as peaceful as the first part had been chaotic. Scott and the doctor became such good friends that you would have thought they’d known each other since birth. Stiles made himself useful too, which Boyd and Isaac approved of. Derek never knew what Erica thought of people, but she seemed willing to give him a shot. Derek liked the Doc well enough - he was bright and funny and was a useful addition to the crew - but the sister was a different story. She was dangerous to have aboard for one thing, and for another, she kept popping up places Derek didn’t expect her to be.
Derek nearly screamed when he climbed out of his bunk and came face to face with Allison. He managed to turn it into a swear. “You ain’t allowed up here, missy,” he growled.
“Scott let me in,” she started, “we’re going to...”
She stood up lightly and drifted away back to the common areas.
Derek pounded on Scott’s door, shaking his hand-painted welcome sign. “Don’t be letting that girl near the bridge, nor the engine room,” he ordered when Scott poked his sleep-tousled head up.
“Wha? I didn’t - I mean, I thought about inviting her up, but-”
“Keep a leash on it, Scott, or the Doc might kill you.”
Scott blushed. "Nothing like that, Cap'n," he said hurriedly. Derek turned to leave. "Though I wouldn't mind if the Doc-"
Derek left quickly before he could hear any more of Scott's muttered confession. The quicker they got to Verbena and sorted out this mess, the better.
---
They circled closer and closer to the valley before Derek declared it safe to land. Lizard’s hideout was in another valley three klicks east, but they were a few days late, so Derek wasn’t at all surprised by their welcome party.
“Howdy gentlemen,” he said, trying to focus on the gun pointed right at his nose.
“You’re late,” said a snide voice. The gun moved and Lizard stepped forward.
Derek thought Lizard was a pompous, self-absorbed asshole who put on airs. Lizard thought Derek was a dirty, backwater criminal with delusions of nobility. They got along great.
“Had a few hiccups, nothing to do with your cargo. It’s all here and in one piece.”
They’d turned the one bullet hole to face the wall.
Lizard narrowed his eyes, but stepped warily onto the the ship. “No surprises, Captain,” he said, waving at four of his men to follow him.
He cracked open the lid of one of the crates and started comparing the contents to an inventory on his tablet. Movement up on the balconies caught Derek’s attention. Stiles was up there, looking like a rabbit trapped between hunters and dogs. When he caught Derek’s eye, he pointed frantically down towards-
Allison appeared from behind the Mule.
“Who do we have here?” Lizard asked.
Lizard had been born on a small moon just outside the Core and people there spoke with a strange, deliberate accent that they claimed was from Earth-That-Was. Lizard always emphasized it when he was trying to impress.
Derek was frozen in shock as Allison gave Lizard an appraising once over and dismissed him.
Lizard frowned. “I asked who you were.”
“That doesn’t really matter, does it?” Allison said, mimicking his accent beautifully. “Not when you don’t tell anyone who you are. Trying to look tough. Fake name, fake ship, fake titles,” she looked him up and down again, “Fake hair.”
Lizard’s hand flew to his hair, and Allison sighed.
“Why don’t you ever invite anyone interesting on board?” she asked Derek, before vanishing again.
Lizard gaped after her.
“New, uh, new crew addition, Captain?” he finally said.
“Something like that,” Derek muttered.
---
Derek was finally finished cleaning up the blood stains in the guest room. The smell would linger for a while, but maybe he could get Lydia to burn some of her funny incense to cover it up. Then she might insist on doing the whole ship though, and there was no chance in the ‘verse he’d let her anywhere near his cabin with that stuff. He flapped his rag a bit, to stir the air. It didn’t help.
There was a shout and a thud from the next room, then a low voice talking quickly. Derek wandered over to investigate.
Stiles was on his knees beside the bed, hands gentle on Allison who was curled on the bed, shaking her head and mouthing ‘no.’
“Hey now, it’s okay,” Stiles was murmuring. “Captain Hale will land us somewhere safe. We’ll make a fresh start. We can raise chickens or something.”
“Chickens are evil,” she muttered, peeking one eye open at him.
Stiles laughed. “No chickens then. Goats? Cows? Octopuses?”
The corner of Allison’s mouth twitched.
“I saw a dimple, you’re not sad anymore.” Stiles crowed triumphantly.
Allison huffed and curled in tighter, but the mood was definitely lighter. Stiles picked up the case that had apparently been hurled against the wall and started dropping clothes into it.
Derek rapped lightly on the door frame. Stiles looked up, surprised, but Allison didn’t budge.
“You goin’ on vacation, Doc?”
Stiles scrambled to his feet. “Oh. Uh, we’ve imposed on your hospitality long enough.”
“Well, you know, we hit a lot of back moons, Scott’s got a friend out near the rim that he’s been wanting to visit. And it’s always nice to have a doctor on board. Your skills have come in handy a time or two. Plus your sister annoyed Lizard and anyone who can do that is alright in my book.”
“You want us... to stay?” Stiles blinked.
“I told you not to pack,” Allison muttered.
“Just don’t bring me any Alliance trouble and you’re more than welcome. We travel a lot, mind; I don’t like the idea of setting down too long in one place. And it’s a lot of work. I expect you’ll always be busy.”
Stiles smiled. “Thank you, Captain.”
Derek nodded and turned away. From behind him, he heard Stiles say, “And you’re always right, are you?”
“Yes,” Allison responded primly.
Laughter followed him down the hall.
---
Derek swung by the engine room where Scott was snoozing. Derek kicked his chair.
“Injured, Captain. Recovering,” Scott said instantly.
Derek rolled his eyes. “Put the good doctor on the duty roster. And see if you can’t find something for his sister to do.”
Scott’s smile could have lit up the sky. “They’re staying?”
“For a while. Yeah. I suppose they’re staying.”