Cronus

by K. A. Finn

  'Now what?' Erin asks.

  Bray sniffs and kicks himself for the slip up. 'I wasn't going to tell you... well, not yet anyway. Gryffin's implants are failing. He's dying. He's got a couple of weeks left.'

  His uncle stares at a spot on the floor for a long few minutes. 'So that's why you are so adamant you need the files. You think there's something on the data that can help him?'

  Bray nods. 'Fixing Gryffin has just jumped up the urgent scale too. If the Foundation are about to unleash an army of those women, we'll need him on our side to fight with us. If we can fix Gryffin and the other cyborgs from Ultar it will help... well, a little at least.'

  Morgan nods slowly. 'All right. And what about you?'

  'Me?'

  'Yes you. Gryffin's not the only one with implants.'

  Bray wipes the rest of the irritating tears from his face and runs a hand through his hair. 'I haven't got a clue what they did to me. I thought I knew, but now...' He shrugs. 'If this is the way I am, I have to accept it. I just need to know what I am. Hell, I don't know if I'm a threat to everyone on the station. I honestly haven't got the first clue what to do next.'

  Morgan glances down at his ruined hand. 'Well, my advice would be a spin in that fancy pod your brother was in. You're no good to anyone with a broken hand.'

  Bray glances down at his hand and grimaces. He's done an impressive job on it.

  Erin joins her father and cousin on the ground. 'It's not just you facing all of this alone. We're here for you and your crew is with you. Lean on us. Let us help you figure this out.'

  'I brought this on you all. I should be the one to put it right.'

  Erin squeezes his arm. 'Hey, it's not your fault, Bray. None of this is.'

  'I'm with Erin,' Morgan says. 'We'll figure out a way to save you, Daegan, and Garvan. I'll be damned if I let your brother die before I get a chance to meet him.'

  'I wouldn't hold your breath on having a deep and meaningful meeting with him ' He examines his torn fist. 'Morgan, I don't know if there's enough time left to go through everything on the drives and save him.'

  'So, you're just going to give up trying to find a solution? The Foundation is still hurting people, hurting more family members by continuing with this horrific project. There could be something on the system that can help them all and help Daegan and you in the process. You think you have something to apologise to him for? Find a solution instead.'

  Bray wipes his face again. Morgan is right. It's time the Foundation paid for everything they did to him and Gryffin. He'll start with someone on this station who was involved from the beginning of this nightmare.

  DIXON SPACE STATION

  Terra stops by the door to the med bay on Cronus. She can't get herself to go inside. Desyl had given her a brief recap of his conversation with Gryffin. Even though she knew he wouldn't be happy about being brought here, she wasn't expecting that level of anger from him. She's also not keen on offering herself up to a load of abuse.

  Terra rests her head against the wall and closes her eyes. A few hours of sleep in a proper bed had done wonders for her. Whatever embarrassment she felt at learning that Desyl had carried her back had quickly disappeared when she realised it was something she needed, but was too stubborn to admit. Worrying about Gryffin had been occupying every minute of her day for weeks and she'd been paying for it.

  She looks over at the door and sighs. No point putting it off. Let him have his rant, get it out of his system, and then they can move on.

  When she finally convinces herself to open the door, she's pleasantly surprised to see he's looking so much better than he did yesterday. The Dixon's must have put him back in the rejuvenation pod for a few hours. He still has a way to go before he's back to where he was, but the improvement is encouraging.

  As she approaches his bed, he opens his eye and turns his head to look at her. His eye hardens and he clenches his jaw. It appears she's in for a less than cheery talking-down.

  'Hi. How are you feeling?'

  It's a ridiculous way to start the conversation, but she's desperate to buy herself even a few more seconds without having to face his wrath. Gryffin's frown deepens, but he doesn't say a word as he stares at her.

  'Okay, I know what we did was wrong and that you're angry—'

  'Angry? I'm fucking furious with all of you.'

  Terra manages to rein herself in before she says something she shouldn't. Having discussions with Gryffin is like walking a dangerous line. He's her boyfriend, but also her captain. Makes for an interesting balancing act when they argue, especially when his default position is as captain.

  'What would you have had us do? You were dead when you went in the pod. Your heart stopped. Did you really think we'd just drag your corpse on to the ship and saunter around the Sector while you slowly decomposed?'

  'You think I give a damn about that? We left the colony to the Foundation, Terra.'

  She lifts her head to meet his furious gaze. 'I know, but we’ll get it back, Gryffin.'

  'That's it? We abandon Ultar and all you can say is I know?'

  'Please don't be like this. We had to save you. Roman wanted to save his son.'

  'Roman's dead, Terra. Don't bring him into this. What other ships made it off the surface?'

  She takes a minute to compose herself. Hearing Gryffin speak of Roman's death so bluntly is like a blow to her stomach. 'We still haven't been able to reach anyone. Maybe we just need to give it more time. When they reach safety they'll be in touch.'

  'How? We're not in the Outer Sector, Terra. We're cut off. The flagship ran from a fight then abandoned the rest of the fleet. We have no damn clue if anyone else is alive.'

  'Don't think that way. We need to stay strong. We need to stay positive.'

  'How the hell is staying positive going to help? My ships are missing. Ultar is under Foundation control, and my father is... dead, Terra. Lucan too. No coming back from that. Did we leave the bodies on Ultar?'

  'Yes. It was too dangerous to go back for them.'

  'He wasn't supposed to die like that. Shot in the back by a cyborg then left behind. It's not the way it should have gone.'

  'I know, Gryffin. We need to find a way of stopping the Foundation. It's what Roman would want.'

  'You're seriously going to try that one on me?'

  'I just meant that we can't give up now.'

  'I'm not giving up. They killed my father to get a reaction. It worked. I'm pissed off.'

  'I know you are. We all are. But you have to remember, they didn't know he was your father. They killed him because he turned his back on the Foundation. The second he took Infinity, he put himself at the top of their most wanted list.'

  'You're defending them? They shot him in the back, Terra.'

  'I know and I'm not excusing that for one second. How could you even suggest that? What I'm trying to say is that... oh forget it. I'm tired and emotional and the last thing I want right now is a fight. We're all grieving. He was like a father to me too. He practically raised me after all.'

  Gryffin turns to look at her. Something in his face tells her she's just said something she shouldn't have. She thinks back and closes her eyes.

  His father raised her while her father tortured him. Hell of a comparison. 'Gryffin, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I'm so sorry. I just... I don't want to lose you too. I've lost too many people I care about. I couldn't bear to lose you too.' She runs her hand up his arm but he flinches away from her touch. 'Please don't be like this. We did this for your own good. We were trying to help you.'

  'That was your father's excuse too.'

  Terra takes a step back, the wind knocked out of her by his comment. 'I can't believe you just compared what we did to what my father did. That's low, Gryffin. I get you're angry and fed-up and worried, but don't you dare say something like that.'

  In a highly mature and possibly insubordinate move, Terra turns and hurries from the room without giving him a chance to reply. She doubts the
re's anything he can say to follow a comment like that. The fact that what he said is the truth doesn't help calm her as she storms away from the med bay.

  21

  DIXON SPACE STATION

  Gryffin wakes with a shout and shuffles up the bed as much as his restraints will allow. It takes him a few seconds to remember where he is. It's been a while since he had a nightmare about the lab and had forgotten how realistic they were.

  The argument with Terra isn't helping his foul mood either. He shouldn't have said what he did about her father. It was a fucking low thing to say and he has no idea where it came from.

  There was no comparison between what they did and what the Scientist did. Anger, frustration, and pain had fuelled his outburst. As usual. He tries to wipe the sweat from his face with his shoulder, but he can't quite reach. 'Fuck,' he growls as he pulls against the metal restraints securing him to the bed.

  'Woke up in a great mood, I see.'

  He glances up at Sayber before focusing on the restraints again. 'What do you want?'

  Sayber feigns hurt as he settles in the chair beside him. He rests his feet on Gryffin's bed, seemingly taking pleasure from the fact Gryffin is powerless to do anything about it. 'Came to see how my old buddy is doing.'

  Gryffin rattles his restraints again. 'I'm fine.'

  Sayber laughs and crosses his arms. 'I can tell. Your man is working through the data from the last set of scans. You should be out of here in a bit. Something I can't wait for, as you can imagine. Kind of getting itchy feet on this whole truce thing to be honest. It'll be nice to get back to some good old-fashioned hunting.'

  'Hunting Nomad.'

  Sayber shrugs as he examines his fingernails. 'Can't change who we are, deep down. Am I right?'

  'Deep down you're Nomad.'

  'True. Deep down perhaps I still am. Maybe that's why my failed mutiny sticks in my throat like a dry piece of meat. Can't shift it no matter how hard I try. But that's the way things played out for me. It all worked out in the end. Would have been nice if I'd managed to take your damn head off though.' He leans back in the chair and smiles. 'Seeing that scar across your neck makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.'

  'How's the arm?'

  Sayber lifts the badly scarred limb and wiggles his fingers. 'Fuck all use, thank you very much. Took out a few of the nerves with your knife. Had to learn to shoot with the other hand. You know, you still owe me a blood debt. It's only a matter of time, Gryffin. If the implants don't get you I sure as hell will.'

  'I wasn't going in to save one person.'

  'Your First Officer was asking you to help someone he cared about. She died because you wouldn't risk your precious ship.'

  'She died because the station was attacked not because Ares didn't join the fight.'

  Sayber's face reddens, before he gets control of himself. 'No point going over this again. We've been here before and it nearly killed the two of us. Our time will come.' He settles back in his seat and crosses his arms. 'So, you good to keep this best buddy thing going for a bit longer?'

  'The Foundation is the priority. After that we're both fair game.'

  Sayber smiles. 'I'm in complete agreement with that plan. We'd better get on with destroying the bastards so we can get back to our day jobs.'

  'I hear your First Officer's been busy.'

  Sayber nods. 'Your dear brother, you mean? You could say that.' In spite of having the Hunter leader in front of him, Gryffin's eye drifts close. His body is in better shape than ever, but weeks of fighting the deterioration has left him weak. 'Your brother's got balls. Taking Cronus from right under their nose was a brave move.'

  He convinces his eyelid to lift so he can look over at Sayber again. 'The ship any good?'

  Sayber looks around the room and nods. 'You should be thanking her medical facilities. State of the art. She’s still throwing up a few barriers in other areas, and she cost us Garvan. Not sure it was worth it.'

  'We'll get him back. What are we facing?'

  Sayber passes a unit to Gryffin then winces when he remembers Gryffin's restrained. He holds it in front of him and starts the video. 'I know you've seen some of this footage, but we were able to pull the feed from a few of the cameras in the hold. Take a look for yourself.'

  The image shows the interior of what looks like a cargo hold. Garvan appears on screen with a group of women. At first glance they seem normal, but when the women move closer to the camera he can make out metal arms and eyepieces like his. Garvan steps out of view and takes out some of the women leaving one left. The woman is damn strong. She'd give him a run for him money.

  The video ends with Garvan and the cyborg woman falling from the ramp. Sayber drops the unit onto the bed and looks at him. 'Now I don't know about you, but she's someone I'm not looking forward to meeting.'

  'How many?' Gryffin asks.

  Sayber shakes his head. 'No way of knowing. Well, not without hacking the system on Cronus and checking the reports. No doubt there's a record of numbers somewhere on the system.'

  'All the ones Bray went up against match her, strength wise?'

  Sayber nods. 'You should be flattered. They replicated your design.'

  Gryffin snorts. 'Right. Including me, there's four cyborgs here. Not great odds.'

  'There's no way any of you could handle the new cyborgs for long. Your implants are still failing. Even if we breach the system today, it'll take weeks, months, to repair all the damage the Scientist did to you.'

  'And we'd be human and no match for a group of cyborgs.'

  Sayber looks strangely at him. 'What are you saying?'

  Gryffin shakes his head. 'I don't know.' He looks at his former First Officer. 'I need to get off this ship, Sayber.'

  'Patience. They're looking through your scans.'

  'I don't want to be chained in the med bay of a Foundation ship. Chain me up on Ares, or on Perses, I don't really care as long as it's not here.' He hates the way his voice cracks at the end of the sentence. Being here like this is bringing back memories he'd prefer remain in his past.

  Sayber pauses then nods as he gets what Gryffin's saying. 'Got you. Give me five minutes. I'll see what I can do.'

  Gryffin looks back at the still image of the cyborg woman on the screen. These female cyborgs are a damn big issue. Without an army of men with Garvan's size and stamina, they're screwed.

  He closes his eye and settles back in the bed. If they're to have any chance of surviving an encounter with the new cyborgs, he's going to need to do something drastic.

  DIXON SPACE STATION

  Terra sits on the edge of the dock watching crew mill around the strange and mismatched collection of ships below her. She'd tried to sleep after the fight with Gryffin but being in his... their bed without him had just made things worse. She spent the next few hours sitting in his command chair staring out of Ares before finally making her way to the mess hall again.

  If she's not thinking about Gryffin, then Milla, Chayse, and Aleena take his place. And then there's Roman and Lucan.

  If she lets herself get dragged into the grief, into the pain, she doubts she'll come out again. Just when she thinks things can't get worse, something else rears its head and knocks her back again.

  She feels the same as Gryffin does about leaving Ultar. By leaving on Ares, she had turned her back on too many people she cares about. With no way of contacting them, she doesn't even know if they are alive or dead. What if they're all gone? Like Roman? Like Lucan.

  With all that going on in her head, she doesn't need to add arguing with Gryffin to her list. But that's all they seem to be doing lately. They fight, things are relatively peaceful for a day or so then they argue again.

  She knew he wouldn't be thrilled with their decision to put him in the pod, but without knowing how he had been compromised, they had little choice. Typical of him to jump straight in with an attack instead of taking a few minutes to seriously think about why they made that decision. He was going to die unless they cou
ld get him help as soon as possible. Why can't he understand that?

  Then to go as low as to compare what they did to him to what her— what the Scientist did to him. She doesn't know if she can forgive him for saying that. It was said out of anger and frustration, but he still must have thought it.

  'You okay?'

  She jumps and places a hand over her racing heart as Desyl lowers onto the floor beside her. 'Don't sneak up on me like that. I nearly went over the edge.'

  'Sorry.' He looks over at her and frowns. 'What's got you looking so confused?'

  Terra glances up at Desyl then back at the ships docked below her. 'Have a wild guess.'

  Desyl leans back on his hands. 'Reckon I only need one. The captain's usual charm working its magic?'

  Terra scoffs. 'As always. Have you spoken to him again?'

  Desyl raises his eyebrows. 'Eh no. I value my life. I'm steering clear until he calls for me. I've fucked that up good. I know I did the right thing for him, but that means nothing. I disobeyed the orders of my commanding officer. Usually I'd be gone and I don't mean off the crew. After Sayber and Klay he doesn't take betrayal well. He's not going to kill me... well, I hope not. I'm probably on my last days or weeks as a Nomad though.'

  'Oh, Desyl, I'm so sorry.'

  'Not your fault. I made the decision to do what Roman wanted. I can deal with the punishment. '

  'Seems we're both in his bad books. You know, I keep telling myself that I know him, that I have a fair idea how he'll react in certain situations. Then he has to go and do the opposite of what I thought, and I wonder if I know him at all.

  ‘Can he not just say thank you. Just once? I mean he died, Desyl. Flat-lined in the pod. Why can't he understand that and appreciate everything that's been done to save him?'

  Desyl crosses his ankles and stares at Ares in her berth below them. 'I like you, Terra. You know that, right?'

  She looks sideways at him. 'Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like what's coming next.'

  'You need to accept you'll never get that from him. I've been on Ares since my mid-twenties. Gryffin was on board about eight years or so when I joined so I saw a little of his training. Apart from Rayde and Creed, who was Rayde's first officer, no one was allowed to go anywhere near him. Rayde kept him as his personal project.'