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Amy Pond, Captured	By : Kurokami Category: 1 through F > Doctor Who Views: 28867 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, only my original characters. Nor am I making money here.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
The Doctor re-entered the TARDIS looking ashen faced, and strode silently to the control panel to input co-ordinates. Rory followed, eyes shifting nervously about the control room.
‘What was that thing?’
The Doctor shrugged, but didn’t look up. He didn’t like not knowing things, but in cases like Viral’s he was only too happy to remain in the dark. Some things weren’t worth knowing.
‘Alright, fine; what did it take from you? There was that weird light, and-‘
‘Five years, Rory,’ The Doctor said flatly. ‘Five years of my life to find Amy. Five years, only to find out that we’d already been where we needed to go!’ He slammed a fist down on the controls hard enough to make things vibrate.
Rory’s eyes widened. The Doctor had given up part of his own life, just for a chance at finding Amy? Once again, that hollow, conflicted feeling; the Doctor was his best chance at ever finding his wife again, but he felt terribly useless, terribly jealous, that he wasn’t able to lift a finger to help.
‘But aren’t Time Lords supposed to be immortal, or something?’ He ventured, some strange green-eyed part of himself demanding that he attempt to lessen the Doctor’s sacrifice for its own benefit.
The Doctor waved a hand vaguely, ‘It’s not the time itself that I’m worried about, Rory. You’re right, we live for a very, very long time. Five years is nothing on that scale,’ He shot the human a sidelong glance. ‘But five years of a Time Lord’s life is a very powerful thing for anyone else to have. Every moment of it is packed full of time energy, Artron energy... all sorts of things that the rest of the universe finds hard to come by. And Viral seems to be collecting time from me, every time I need to see it. Can you see why I might not want something like Viral to accumulate something like that?’
‘Yeah...’ Rory said indistinctly. This wasn’t helping his jealousy any.
The Doctor threw one final lever, and the time machine lurched forward, ‘Come on, let’s go. We’re catching up.’
*******************************

’72- Simple Vector, this is Sierra Complex Control requesting identification. Also, please lower your approach velocity to within practical limits.’
‘Negative... Sierra Complex. There’s w-wounded on board. Don’t have much time.’
‘Simple Vector, if you attempt auto-docking at that speed you’ll crack your hull, not to mention the damage you’ll do here. We’re a commercial facility; we don’t have the hull plating to handle an impact like that. Lower your speed or switch to manual and await a go-round. Second request for identification, over.’
‘No time, Sierra Complex! I’m on the edge here... Posting priority Level Zero code to you now. Ugh... Fuck!’
‘... Level Zero priority granted, pending identification, Simple Vector. Who are you?’
‘Not... Not important, Sierra Complex. I’ve got a shoulder blasted to shit, severe burns, shattered hand, left eye’s fucked beyond repair and I’m pretty sure I’m bleeding out. You’ve got my clearance, now post a docking solution before I die and this thing turns into a floating missile!’
‘You’re alone, Simple Vector?’
‘Fuckin’ A! And I’m dipping in and out of consciousness, so I need to lock in a goddamn flight path now rather than later! If you can’t figure out who I am when you see me, then your administrator can. Now open the door!’
‘... Posting solution to you now, Simple Vector. Please be advised that upon entering the Sierra Complex Medical Station you will be a guest of Hackett Industries, and no longer subject to Terran law. Any violations will be met with lethal force, over.’
‘Yeah... Believe me, I know...’
***********

Sander awoke with a groan. He hadn’t realized that he was that tired, but here he was.
He smiled grimly as his shoulders shook; from the moment he had shared a part of his escape from Vesperia with Mara, he knew he would be reliving the rest of those memories in the hours to come. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was the price he paid for that moment on the deck of Nirvana...
Of course, Mara hadn’t got the whole truth. Large parts of his ordeal he had kept under wraps, mostly because it was just meaningless, abject darkness. Partly because the full extent of the damage he had incurred on Vesperia was rather disturbing, and he hadn’t wanted to ruin the moment. Mara should never, ever know that.
He looked around his ship with a wistful smile; he had stolen a random shuttle from a Vesperian spaceport to get to the Sierra Complex, and he’d kept it running to this day. 72-Simple Vector had been one of the only stable elements in his life for the past thirteen years. The old crate had served him well.
The viewing screen displayed an unchanging view of the stars. Sander had always thought that looking up at the stars was a slightly lonely pursuit, but right now he couldn’t deny a certain pleasant symmetry; between vast expanses of utter, existential nothingness, the universe was exploding.
In the hold behind him, Mara and Amy slept. Sander looked over his shoulder and smiled. After Nirvana, Mara looked completely different to him. Where before he had only seen a vaguely frightening force of nature wrapped up in a thick layer of sarcasm, now he saw an actual person. A woman betrayed, and so, so angry. Suddenly, the terrifying, burning Mara that had surfaced the night before and taken merciless control of Amy’s punishment made a lot of sense. He liked Mara generally, but he found himself particularly intrigued by that dark other that had taken her place that night. Dark Mara. Huh.
She had taken control; not just of Amy, not just of the situation, but of him too. And it had felt good. On an intellectual level, it had been pleasant to cede control to someone else, to just get caught up in the flow and allow another to plan for him. But Mara’s vicious mentality, her dark confidence... Something in that had called to something deep within him. He hoped that it had answered correctly.
He found himself hoping, in the core of his being, that the dark Mara would return sometime soon. She was spectacular. As bizarre as it had been, Sander found himself longing for a repeat performance. He had never felt pleasure quite like that before...
The console buzzed. Sander turned in his seat; the shuttle’s automated proximity warning had activated. Another ship was within range of the rather limited communications array. Strange; space was large, and the odds were against ever seeing another craft in deep space, even with the prevalence of faster than light travel.
Sander pressed a button, causing the registry information to spill out across the screen. His eyes lit up, and he gasped.
‘No way!’ He laughed, swivelling in his seat. ‘Mara! Mara, wake up!’
‘What?’ Mara said roughly, squinting at Sander.
‘Mara, it’s the Oviroa!’ Sander clapped excitedly. ‘We’ve found the Oviroa!’
‘No, we haven’t,’ Mara yawned. ‘The Oviroa is just an urban legend.’
Sander gestured to the screen and raised an eyebrow, ‘Well it’s right there, Mara. At least, some ship bearing the name Oviroa on its registry is there...’ He conceded.
‘If you’re that concerned with letting the opportunity slip by you, I say hail them,’ Mara shrugged, unbuckling herself from her seat to join him. She slipped into the co-pilot’s chair, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
Sander shrugged. Grinning at her, he keyed in the hailing frequency of the passing ship. He noted with a hint of apprehension that the Oviroa, whether it was the real deal or not, was a Frigate-class starship, and easily capable of reducing his shuttle to motes of steel dust in seconds. Not the best ship to be next to when completely alone in deep space, then.
‘Oviroa, this is 72- Simple Vector, broadcasting on an open channel. Please respond,’ Sander did his best to sound official. At this early juncture, being himself would probably lead to... well, motes in deep space.
Seconds later, the reply came, ‘Simple Vector, this is the Oviroa. Requesting identification, over.’
Mara shot Sander a questioning look. It was a little early to be requesting a passenger manifest, and given the size disparity between the two vessels, it was impossible that the Oviroa wouldn’t know what this would look like to the smaller ship.
‘Are we going to get jacked?’ Mara half-joked. Sander held a finger to his lips.
‘Oviroa, I need a little clarification; are you guys the Oviroa, or just an Oviroa?’ He said.
There was a chuckle from the other end of the line, ‘We’re the Oviroa, Simple Vector. The one and only. Transmitting identification now. Second request for identification, over.’
Sander looked over the Oviroa’s registry. Everything seemed to be above board; the ship had been registered with the Terran Fleetcom and everything. However...
‘It’s a New Earth ship?’ Sander said quizzically. ‘I didn’t think they built anything there anymore.’
‘It is an older model, Sander,’ Mara pointed out. ‘Perfectly likely it was built before the Terran expansion.’
‘I guess so. Well, do you want to try getting invited in?’ Sander grinned at Mara. ‘It’s a once in a lifetime chance, Mara.’ He whooped with childlike laughter, ‘It’s the motherfucking Oviroa, dude!'
Mara high-fived him, the two of them laughing together. It was good.
‘Oviroa, this is Simple Vector, providing identification. You’re speaking with the pilot; name’s Sander Hackett.’ Sander winced as he said his own name; if anything was going to get him denied access to the other ship, it would be his name. But it wasn’t like he could just lie; they would find out pretty quickly, and then he’d be in real trouble.
There was a pause, and Sander thought he could hear furious typing on the other end of the line, ‘Are you the Sander Hackett, or a Sander Hackett?’
Mara squeezed Sander’s shoulder sympathetically as his eyes went dark and downcast. He frowned apologetically; it looked as though they weren’t going to board the Oviroa after all, and he felt bad for ruining this chance for Mara.
‘The Sander Hackett,’ He said grimly. ‘The one and only.’
There was another pause, and then, ‘Huh. Come aboard, Sander Hackett. Since you know what the Oviroa is, I doubt I need to explain why.’
‘Thank you, Oviroa...’ Sander said haltingly. This was... unexpected.
‘Oh, well hell yeah, then!’ Mara crowed. ‘Looks like there’s a person in the universe who doesn’t care about your reputation, Sander! Good for you!’
‘Yeah... great.’
******************************

‘Remain in the docking bay, Simple Vector,’ the familiar voice from the radio buzzed out of a number of speakers inset above the door. ‘I’m sending someone to greet you now.’
‘Well, this place is... Way better than the shuttle,’ Mara deadpanned. ‘Sander, I thought you were loaded. Why not something like this?’
‘Because I don’t care about all that,’ Sander shrugged. ‘Shuttle gets me planetside, shuttle’s worth keeping. Although now that you mention it, this is pretty lush.’
The Oviroa was an older ship, but it had been well maintained. It wasn’t terribly rare to see ships this old, in spaceports or the orbital fleets of smaller commercial worlds, but never this polished. The airlock behind them opened onto the rear hull of the ship; if direction had meant anything in the weightless environment of space, Sander had needed to reverse the shuttle in to dock. The second one crossed that threshold, the disparity between the two craft became apparent. Put simply, the Oviroa was way, way nicer.
All gleaming chrome and polished white polymer surfaces, the Oviroa had that classic science-fiction look that, at least in Sander’s mind, would never go out of style. Every surface looked slick, as though one could simply glide along them without ever worrying about friction. Amy glanced around with a hounded look in her eyes; whenever Sander and Mara decided to play tourist, she always ended up losing out.
‘So, what is this place?’ She said finally, tired of speculating.
‘The Oviroa,’ Sander said absently, gazing around the docking bay. Something in this seemed awfully familiar...
‘Where we come from, this ship is legendary, Amy,’ Mara clapped her on the shoulder. ‘Nobody knows who captains the thing, and those who do are sworn to secrecy, or something. But for twenty years or so, the Oviroa’s been cruising occupied space, picking up travellers at random and basically having fun. It’s supposedly one long party that travels the galaxy non-stop.’
‘And nobody’s ever so much as gotten a picture of the thing. So of course we had to join in when we got the chance,’ Sander gave a half-hearted grin and tried to get in the spirit of the thing, but found it impossible. Some small part of his brain was nagging at him, trying to prod his memory into action. Shit, what was it...
At the other end of the docking bay, a mechanical door slid open soundlessly. Everyone turned to the figure standing in the doorway. All at once, Sander let out a wordless sound of surprise and strode forward towards the figure. The crewman, a tall, languid individual with intelligent, lively eyes, smiled as Sander approached, recognition filling his features.
Sander punched him.
‘Where the fuck have you been?’ He snarled, cracking his knuckles. The impact had thrown the crewman to the floor, where he laid swearing and trying to regain his position.
‘Sander, that’s not the way we greet people,’ Mara chided him. ‘It’s an open hand, not a closed fist. Also, a wave, I guess. Not a... Y’know,’ She trailed off as Sander’s penetrating gaze swung to her.
With one hand, Sander lifted the crewman to his feet and held him at arm’s length, his jaw set in anger, ‘Mara, Amy; I’d like to introduce you to Cohen Hackett. My dear older brother.’
‘Hey there, babes,’ Cohen grinned and tried to wave, causing Sander to tighten his grip and growl wordlessly. ‘Okay, okay. Calm down, Sandy...’ He said appealingly.
‘Go fuck yourself, Coco,’ Sander muttered, throwing his brother aside and stomping through the open door. ‘You got a place to sit down on this thing? Because you have some fucking explaining to do, brother mine. Or some getting beaten to a bloody pulp. I don’t really mind which.’
******************
The Time Lord’s feet rang out on the wood floor of Nirvana. Some small part of Rory hoped that someday he too could make such an everyday action as walking that dramatic.
Seemingly having found his target, the Doctor kicked out at the nearest door, barely slowing down at all as he stormed through the opening. Inside… Something was happening. Something alien. Rory couldn’t be sure, but it was fairly likely there were two aliens in that singular, shuddering mass on the bed that sat in the centre of the floor. He couldn’t be sure, he wasn’t a xenophile.
‘Right, get out!’ The Doctor roared, pointing his sonic screwdriver at the alien mass as menacingly as possible. ‘Now!’
‘Excuse me, you can’t just burst in here!’ A familiar pink-haired alien said archly, stepping out from her position in the corner. ‘This is a private facility!’
‘You want to try and stop me?!’ The Doctor growled, projecting pure menace in every word. The sonic device swung from alien to alien; it was actually quite impressive, for a bluff.
Rory skidded to a stop just inside the room, his vision blurring and his stomach heaving. He leaned heavily against the nearest wall, ‘Ugh… Doctor, what-‘
‘Neurological Amplification Field, Rory,’ The Doctor cut him off. ‘You’ll be a little sick for a while.’
‘But not you, huh?’
The time traveller shot him a strange glance, ‘Of course not. Why would I get sick?’ He shook his head, ‘Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Lysithea! We’re wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping us to locate a friend.’
The Trine-form’s eyes widened, ‘Oh, I see. You’re him. And the other one,’ Her eyes shifted to Rory.
‘The other one?’ Rory exclaimed, recovering from the effects of the Field.
‘So you’re here for Amy,’ Lysithea said flatly. ‘I’d tell you that as an employee of the Nirvana corporation I cannot divulge the private information of our clients, but I don’t think you really care.’
‘That’s exactly right,’ The Doctor nodded.
‘You’re going to cost me my job, you know,’ Lysithea snapped. ‘Aside from that, do you know how frightening you are to Sander? He’s not going to just let you sweep in again.’
‘So you know where he is?’ Rory yelled. ‘Please, we need to know!’
Lysithea shrugged, ‘Such a moral quandary. Do I resist you to help Sander, a man that I actually like quite a bit? Or do I help you right away, even though you’ll probably destroy his life again? This is the decision I have to make; Sander’s life, or Amy’s? Which is more valuable?’
Rory stormed forward, eyes burning, and grabbed Lysithea’s collar, drawing his face close to hers, ‘Amy! The answer is Amy!’ He snarled.
Lysithea’s hand clasped Rory’s forearm, fingers gripping him with surprising strength. She peeled his fingers from her shirt with very little effort, and held him there, her bright grin never fading for even a second. Her eyes narrowed, and a chaotic storm of noise and light burst through Rory’s head. He stumbled away.
‘You are connected,’ Lysithea smiled. ‘If you want to find her, you’re going to have to follow what remains of their psychic trail. Since you’ll just force your way in anyway, I’ll help you, though I want it noted that I’m doing so under duress. But you’ll both have to interface with me, and that’ll be… interesting. Are you sure you still want to do this?’
‘I have to,’ The Doctor said gravely. ‘I won’t abandon her.’ He reached out and took Lysithea’s hand.
The Trine-form hunched her shoulders and closed her eyes. In her tenure at Nirvana she had connected with any number of alien life forms, but none quite as old or… immense, as the Doctor. He was a legendary figure in many galactic circles, but even discounting that, he was a Time Lord. She wasn’t entirely sure she could adequately prepare for taking him into her mind.
‘Okay, we’re up and running,’ The Doctor said quietly. Then Lysithea smirked, focused her mind in a particular way- taking care to avoid too much contact with the Doctor’s immense consciousness- and…
Both men doubled over, swaying from side to side. Their minds burned, Rory’s probably worse than the Time Lord. Lysithea stood over them, her light, sunny smile returning.
‘Sander is not a bad person, Doctor. Not necessarily a good one either, but not exactly evil. He’s just been pushed too far,’ She said. ‘At least, that’s what I believe. I’ve seen his mind, and he cares. Maybe too much for what he’s doing. But we all do terrible things for love. You know that better than most, Time Lord Victorious,’ She turned her back, eyes closing in concentration.
‘You’ll get the information you need. Just don’t expect me to make it pleasant for you. Maybe this way you’ll learn some interesting things too.’
********************************
‘Sander, what’s going on?’ Mara said quietly. The three of them had been seated in what seemed to be the central area of the Oviroa, just off of the main freight passage. The long, stretching hallway outside the door rotated constantly as a way of generating enough centrifugal force to provide gravity, making travelling along it a fun little exercise.
Sander sat at one end of the large bank of seats that lined one wall, anger radiating off of him in waves. Mara felt that getting too close to him would make her skin blister.
‘That bastard-‘ He began, before changing tack. ‘Cohen, is my older brother. The one who should have inherited Hackett Industries from my father. We grew up in New Warsaw together; the guy was like my hero or something.’
‘Then why the punching?’ Mara asked, frowning. She’d never seen Sander this angry about something not related to the Doctor. The look didn’t suit him.
‘When I was thirteen, he disappeared,’ Sander gave Mara a pointed look. ‘Without a trace. One day he was there, the next he was gone. We all thought he was dead.’ His expression had grown dour and it was clear that this was a painful memory for him. Still, something in what he was saying didn’t make sense, and Mara was always one for rubbing salt into a wound.
‘Okay. So why the punching?’ She said emphatically.
Sander closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands, ‘Think about it: Twenty years gone, absolutely no contact with his family in any way. If he had died, then it’s a tragedy, but I get to keep my memories of my great older brother; the guy who always had my back. But he’s alive, Mara. Which means he was running. If he was on the Oviroa all this time, that’s even worse. Means he left us of his own accord.’
‘That might not be it, though,’ Amy said, getting drawn into the conversation despite herself. ‘There might be some other reason why he left.’
Sander shook his head, ‘No, he was running away; he never wanted the responsibility of running father’s company. He just skipped town and... and left it to me... To Elsa and I.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Mara said, looking troubled. ‘You knew Elsa when you were thirteen?’
‘I was together with Elsa when I was thirteen. I know it’s unlikely, but that’s how it worked. I just got lucky.’
‘Huh,’ Mara said softly, pouting slightly. It didn’t seem as if she was even aware of how... disappointed she looked, but Sander saw it clear as day. It was troubling.
‘Anyway, that’s the story,’ Sander said darkly as Cohen re-entered the room, followed by a younger man who was grinning widely.
‘I didn’t know you were going to punch him, man,’ The young man laughed. ‘That was awesome!’
Sander nodded, ‘It felt awesome. You’d be the voice on the radio, then?’
‘Tsugi Nakatsukasa, at your service,’ He bowed, but it was hard to tell whether he was being serious or not. ‘The last in a long line of technicians working for this guy,’ Tsugi jerked his thumb at Cohen.
‘That’s enough, Tsugi...’ Cohen murmured.
‘So, what the fuck, Cohen?’ Sander leaned forward over the table in front of them as Cohen took a seat opposite. ‘You disappear for years and now you’re on the crew of the Oviroa? What’s that all about?’
‘Okay, first of all, no more punching, little brother. I don’t endorse the punching,’ Cohen said bitterly. ‘Second, I’m not on the crew of the Oviroa. I am the Oviroa.’
‘Well, that’s very cryptic and all...’ Mara began.
‘He’s been running this ship since the beginning,’ Sander growled, staring daggers at Cohen. ‘That’s why he ran away from our family.’
‘Yes,’ Cohen nodded. ‘I developed the Oviroa concept, started the legend. Mainly to see what would happen. All the crazy shit I’ve been able to do since then has... Well, that’s just been gravy.’
‘You selfish motherfucker,’ Mara wound up, cracking her own knuckles.
‘No, no, I’ve got this one, Mara. Thanks for having my back though,’ Sander stood and took a deep breath, his fingers gripping the edge of the table tightly. ‘You selfish motherfucker! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?’ He snarled.
‘I’ve been having fun, Sandy.’
Sander gasped, raised his fist. It shook, hovering in midair as Cohen flinched. Sander’s teeth ground together as every muscle in his body tensed, ready to strike.
‘You fucked everything up so badly that nobody in our family ever recovered, Cohen!’ Sander sat back down, eyes still filled with an unhealthy amount of bloodlust. Mara’s hand reached out to grip his under the table. He squeezed back tightly.
‘Sounds a little dramatic to me, Sandy-‘
‘Hand to Christ, if you call me Sandy one more time I’ll tear your spine out through the back of your neck,’ Sander said in a single, explosive breath. ‘We all thought you were dead, Cohen. Mom never recovered, and she was the only thing holding Dad back. You knew that before you left, and you did it anyway. He got worse when you left, and you know what happened when I took over from him.’
Cohen was silent for a moment, ‘I did hear about that, yes.’
‘I’m not stupid enough to claim complete justification for my actions, Cohen. I know that I did what I did, nobody else. But when you left, I didn’t have the best of teachers, you know?’ Sander said, seeming to have calmed down a little. ‘How could you just leave us like that?’
‘Dad was a psychopath, Sander, you know it as well as I do,’ Cohen snapped. ‘There’s no way I was going to stick around and become the company’s little puppet ruler. I know what that would’ve done to me.’
‘So why didn’t you take me with you?’ Sander bellowed. ‘Why did you leave me behind? I was thirteen, for fuck’s sake! I needed my big brother there, and you bailed on me...’
Sander’s anger failed him, and he simply stared emptily at the tabletop, shoulders shaking with what could have been rage, or sobs. Mara rose quickly, putting her arm around him and hugging him to her chest. She shot a dark, venomous gaze at Cohen.
‘So let me get this straight: You didn’t want to take control of Hackett Industries, so you ran away and left it to your little brother? Is that actually your justification for all this? You ran away because you were an irresponsible half-man who didn’t want to grow the fuck up!’
‘Who is this girl?’ Cohen tilted his head to one side and gave an oily smile. ‘I sort of like the look of her.’
‘Sander, please don’t tell me all the Hackett men are like this,’ Mara said.
‘There aren’t any more Hackett men. Cohen and I, we’re the last two.’
Cohen perked up, ‘What do you mean?’
Sander closed his eyes, as he seemed to do when delivering unpleasant news, ‘Vesperia fell. In the initial riots, Elsa died. Shortly thereafter, Mom was killed. Our sisters were killed. Every Hackett on the surface of the planet was killed... Except for me.’ Sander trailed off into sullen silence. He felt his heart beating wildly; it had been a long time since he had been forced to relive all this, and he knew that Cohen would be judging him for it.
‘What happened there, Sander?’ Cohen said in a kinder voice than Sander was used to. ‘All anyone knows is that the security drones inexplicably failed, and the citizens revolted. I’d just heard that you had died in the fighting, but here you are. What really happened to you?’
Sander felt the story pour out of him, like it was someone else using his tongue to relate the tale. The five of them sat, Amy, Cohen and Tsugi in complete silence as Sander relived his past. Everything came out; the Doctor, the thirteen year plot for revenge, capturing Amy... Even Theros. Once he had started, Sander found it hard to stop; he and Mara developed a bit of a dialogue, she adding bits and pieces of information wherever his recall failed him.
At the end, Cohen spent several moments in silence, as if marshalling his thoughts, ‘I’m sorry, Sander. For everything. When I heard about Vesperia, I thought for sure they had killed you. If I’d known you were still alive, I’d... Everyone else is dead, huh? Then I don’t want to waste any more time fighting. You’re still family, Sander.’
‘I know that,’ Sander sighed. ‘You’re still my big brother, even if you are a completely self-absorbed asshole. I can’t say that I forgive you yet, but I’ve been the last surviving Hackett for too fucking long. Besides, I think I can only sustain perpetual anger for one person at a time, and the Doctor has you beat there, Coco.’
Cohen grinned, ‘Thanks, Sander. But if you call me Coco again, I will have you thrown off of my ship.’
‘Hey, wait a minute...’ Mara mused. ‘I think we’re forgetting something. This is the motherfucking Oviroa!’
‘Yeah...’ Sander said with a growing smile. ‘My brother is the captain of the Oviroa...’
‘Hell yeah I am,’ Cohen crowed. ‘You have to admit, this was a great idea, abandonment or no.’
‘So, what? You’ve just been cruising around for twenty years, picking up people and-‘ Sander’s gaze had been magnetically attracted to a corner of the room as he was talking. ‘I’m sorry... Is that a full body medical scanner? In the dining area?’
Tsugi closed his eyes, ‘This is the Oviroa. You’d be surprised how often people need medical attention here. Like, immediately. Usually it’s just alcohol poisoning... Or, like, syphilis but when they pass out it’s hard to tell without the scanner.’
There was a moment of speculative silence as everybody in the room got increasingly disgusted. While Tsugi was oblivious, everyone else immediately regretted that Sander had asked the question at all. It was like the whole ship had suddenly become coated with a thin, invisible layer of human filth. Amy made a conscious effort to come into contact with the least amount of surfaces as possible. Mara made a tiny “eww...” sound.
‘I think I should take this opportunity to mention that the disinfection routines are entirely automated and also very frequent,’ Cohen said dryly.
‘Not frequent enough,’ Mara squeaked. ‘There is no possible way that they will ever, ever be frequent enough.’
‘My ship be clean, Mara!’ Cohen narrowed his eyes.
‘Listen, I really doubt that,’ Sander shrugged. ‘But I don’t care; what I want to know is this: What actually goes on here? No two people tell the same story.’
Cohen furrowed his brow, ‘What do you want to do, brother? It really depends on the guest. Usually we get plastered and see where the ship takes us. Of course-‘ He slid closer to Mara. ‘If there’s women, that’s where things get interesting. Except for Tsugi, since he’s, well... He’s something. I don’t feel entirely safe saying gay, because-‘
‘Stop right there, Cohen,’ Tsugi broke in. ‘Let me be a mystery, alright? It’s more fun that way.’
‘And slide your stupid ass away from Mara,’ Sander said, a steely note entering his voice.
‘Yeah. I’d much rather be next to Tsugi, anyway...’ Mara said, grinning wickedly.
‘What’s up, Sander? Is she yours, or something?’ Cohen said.
‘Well-‘ Sander began, and stopped as Mara laid a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes flashed intelligently, as though she was sizing Cohen up.
‘Why, yes,’ She began in a sultry voice. ‘I am Sander’s. Right, lover boy?’ She poked him in the ribs with her elbow.
‘Uh, yeah...’ Sander said uncertainly, knowing that this was going to cost him later, but also not minding terribly.
‘You can have Amy for a while, if you want...’ Mara continued with her silvery voice. Amy’s hands clenched into fists under the table.
Cohen leaned back in his chair and sighed, ‘Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask... Sander, do you know what you’re doing?’ He held up a hand as Sander began to reply, ‘Don’t answer that; of course you know what you’re doing. But are you prepared for what comes next? If this Doctor fellah is half as scary as you think he is, then he’s never going to stop looking for this girl. You barely got out of your last encounter with him unscathed, what do you think he’s going to do to you this time?’
Sander frowned, but Mara piped up first, ‘He didn’t get out unscathed. His shoulder’s all fucked up, and he almost died out there.’ She said acidly.
‘I’m sorry to hear that. Really, I am,’ Cohen’s eyes were full of concern. ‘But this time you’ve crossed a line, Sander. The Doctor’s going to put you through hell for this.’
Sander stood suddenly, the words tumbling out of him. It was like this conversation had lit a powder keg in his mind, and now it was going off.
‘I’ve already been through hell!’ He shouted, hands slamming down onto the table. ‘None of you even know the half of it!’ His eyes blazed as he crossed over to the medical scanner and stood behind the large, semitransparent blue screen. It lit up at his approach, overlaying a series of displays over the outline of his body. Immediately, several parts of Sander began flashing red to the beat of warning alarms.
‘Let’s itemize it all, shall we?’ He growled, possessed by his anger. He pointed at his left eye, where the scanner was flashing particularly brightly, ‘Left eye, practically burned out of my skull! Got hit with a laser cutter while trying to steal transportation offworld. This one’s a mechanical replacement. Shoulder wound, that one almost killed me. A lot of the bone’s missing, so I had it redone with metal plating and nanofiber musculature. Fun.’
He raised his right hand, where a section from his fingertips to halfway down his forearm blinked red, ‘Right hand, wrist and arm; bones crushed beyond repair. It’s really just a robotic framework under the flesh. Same with my left leg up to the knee. I did fall into enemy hands for a while, and though they didn’t kill me right away, they weren’t kind. That’s also why all the ribs on my left side are metal struts. That’s the truth, since you all seem so concerned about me,’ He spat the final few words, looking away. ‘I’m really just a fucking patchwork person.’
Frosty silence descended on the Oviroa, as the rest of the group stared wide eyed at Sander, who stared back, rapidly losing confidence and energy and becoming simply exhausted. Mara spoke first.
‘Oh my god...’ She said softly. ‘You must be in so much pain...’
Sander chuckled bitterly, ‘Ha! You’re thinking of public cyborg implantation work; mine’s privatised. Even deposed, there are plenty of places I could run to. The fact that I’m still alive is the product of the Sierra Medical Complex.’
‘I did hear a rumour that you made it there from Vesperia. Apparently you were pretty beat up and died on the operating table,’ Cohen said. ‘But if you were on Sierra... Why go for robotics? You could have had genetic artificing, or a clone graft. You could have been good as new, but you went for the inferior option?’
‘Right!’ Sander nodded weakly. ‘That’s my point. I’ve been through hell. My eye, my arm, my leg... Every little twinge, every painful maintenance op or nanomachine injection... They’re all reminders. My eye doesn’t see so well, and my hand’s not a military model, so the grip’s been capped. Every time I’m inconvenienced by my mech parts I remember Vesperia. I remember that... That I couldn’t protect the people I care about,’ Sander’s gaze shifted pointedly to Mara. ‘I will never let that happen again. I’ve killed people to survive. It didn’t suit me. But I’ll kill the Doctor if I have to. Again and again, until he’s out of spare lives.’
‘This is all getting a little too heavy for me,’ Cohen said in a strangled tone of voice. ‘Sander, you’re here now. It’s a family fuckin’ reunion. You’re safe here. So is... ‘ Mara stared back at Cohen with a strained look. ‘Uh, anyway, I say that we do the Oviroa thing. Everybody gets one, why should you guys be any different?’
Sander closed his eyes. He hadn’t meant to bring the room down, but when his thoughts went down that path he had been like a boulder rolling downhill, and the whole sorry tale had come tumbling out. Now he just felt bad; in himself and for potentially spoiling Mara’s one chance at the Oviroa. Although he felt like going home as fast as the shuttle would carry him, for Mara he would bottle it all up and try to be cheerful. He knew that he was only a few drinks away from true happiness anyway.
‘Alright. We are in a special place,’ He said with a grin he hoped looked genuine. ‘Let’s fuckin’ do it!’
‘There’s my boy!’ Mara said kindly. Her eyes lingered on him just a second too long, and Sander looked away.
‘So, wait...’ Cohen looked from Sander to Mara. ‘Was she serious before? Do I get a whack at Amy?’
‘Oh, this is going to be harder than I thought...’ Sander sighed.
********************************
Sander sat on the stairs, listening to the sounds of the ship and trying his hardest to drain a bottle of mystery booze as quickly as possible. The sound of footsteps made him stare at the end of the corridor expectantly. He had gotten used to the sound of those particular footsteps.
He smiled gently, ‘Mara...’
She rounded the corner, and when she caught sight of him she looked for all the world like a mother who has just discovered her child sporting a skinned knee; put-upon, but undeniably sympathetic. She crossed the room and laid her hands on his shoulders, lowering herself onto his lap so that her legs wrapped around his waist. Her forehead rested against his.
‘Sander,’ She whined. ‘Why didn’t you tell me how fucked up you were? I wouldn’t have cared...’
‘Oh, like you’d ever want to be with a weird cyborg like me,’ Sander said. ‘I didn’t want to freak you out too much on Nirvana, and afterward... Well, it’s in the past.’
‘You really got put through the ringer, huh?’ Mara said, stroking one hand through his hair.
‘Yes. Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t just drop dead before I even got into orbit,’ Sander sighed. ‘You know what the worst part was? When my drones went down, all the private research facilities on the planet opened up. All my employees died and a lot of weapons that were still in development were stolen. That’s how the guys who caught me were able to pulp my bones without hurting the flesh; we were making this sonic device, sort of a fully weaponized sonic screwdriver ...’
‘This isn’t exactly the sexiest flirting I’ve ever heard, Sander...’ Mara purred. It was important to her to take his mind off of the past. She kissed him, ‘You know, this hasn’t been the way I’d envisioned my trip to the Oviroa would go... And that’s all because you were there. You and your damned issues,’ She smiled. ‘There has to be a way for you to make it up to me.’
‘I think I could do that,’ Sander said, spellbound. He hadn’t noticed it right away, but seated like this Mara’s skirt was spread wide, and certain parts of him were rubbing against certain parts of her that he was very interested in. ‘Thankfully I didn’t have to have any surgery on that part of my anatomy.’
Mara laughed, shook her head, ‘See, there you go again! Pulped bones, implantation surgery... These aren’t romantic phrases, Sander. We just had that lovely moment on Nirvana, I’m practically throwing myself at you and you can’t stop talking about your bloody mech eye!’ Mara hooked a finger into the front of her blouse, pulling it down to reveal a little more cleavage, ‘You can see this all right, can’t you?’
‘I had a zoom function installed...’ Sander admitted with an animal grin. Mara laughed hysterically, throwing back her head. Sander leaned in closer. ‘Where’s everyone else? I don’t want to be interrupted.’
‘Oh, Tsugi’s sleeping off what will probably be a truly epic hangover. And I gave Amy to Cohen for a while. Figured he’d be distracted if I gave him a new toy; besides, he said that was a part of the Oviroa’s rules. Fair trade: if you’re a guest, you’ve got to provide something... information, supplies, even women. Cohen really likes to party, I guess.’
‘Well, I suppose he’ll be alright then. As for Amy... I almost went off the rails there, didn’t I? Thirteen years in planning, and I lose my cool now?’ Sander shook his head. ‘No. We’ve both come too far.’
‘That’s the spirit, Hackett. Now come here... Don’t make me force you,’ Mara showed far too many gleaming white teeth. ‘Although it almost seemed like you’d enjoyed that, last time we tried it.’
‘I did,’ He admitted. ‘I really, really did. But none of that kinky shit right now. I just want you, as you are,’ He hugged her close, biting at her neck. She moaned, her fingers tightening on his back.
‘Right on!’ She said breathlessly, then tilted her head to one side. ‘Sander Hackett... My boyfriend...’ She seemed to roll the words around in her mouth, testing them for quality. Sander simply gave a satisfied laugh and made her moan again.
To be continued...
- 6
- 7
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Amy Pond, Captured