Cronus

by K. A. Finn

'Liza.'

  'Your sister? Something you're not telling me about her?'

  'No. Her husband, Jake, works for the security services on the nearest penal colony. If anyone has shady connections it'll be him.' Zeke pauses then smiles widely. 'Yeah, Jake may be able to help us. So, you fancy meeting Liza?'

  'Not going to say no. Besides, might not be a bad idea to get her away from Harvey.'

  'There's no way he could pin your escape on me.'

  'Not saying he would, but I'm not where he left me. That'll raise alarms. Best we have her under our protection.'

  NEMESIS

  Aleena sits in front of the console and turns it on. This is not the first time she has been contacted by Gryffin over the years. She has lost count of the conversations they have had while she was on Ultar and he was on Ares. For some reason, this request is different.

  Since she received the message, her stomach has been in a knot. Gryffin may be a dear friend, but he has never contacted her without a valid reason. Idle chats were not something the Nomad captain did.

  She clears her throat and keys in the code to reach him. When she left Ultar so abruptly, she had not had a chance to say goodbye to him. In truth, she did not expect to see him again.

  Their relationship was volatile at times, but since he first arrived on Ultar and held a gun to her head, he had been an important part of her life. She still does not quite know how they turned that hostile initial contact into a trade partnership, and then a deep friendship.

  Over the years, she has seen him at his best and at his worst. She nursed him back to health after Sayber tried to kill him. He had been at his lowest and had contemplated ending his life.

  Then Terra arrived and the change had been noticeable. More friendships had been formed and those he tried to push away refused to go, giving him support he never had before.

  Including his father. Someone she has fallen deeply in love with. Someone, she fears, she will not see again.

  When Gryffin appears on the screen she realises her fears are well founded. 'He is dead,' she says before she can stop herself.

  Gryffin nods once but does not say anything.

  'How?'

  'He took a bullet meant for me. He died saving me. Aleena, Lucan's dead too.'

  She closes her eyes and lowers her chin to her chest. Gryffin does not offer empty words of support. There is little point.

  She knows Gryffin well enough to be certain he bears a great deal of guilt for what happened to both Roman and Lucan. The relationship between Roman and Gryffin was new to both of them, but over the last few weeks she had seen it grow. It should not have come to an end so abruptly.

  She looks up at the screen and is surprised by his expression. She had expected him to be angry, but instead she can see such deep sadness.

  'I'm sorry, Aleena. I tried... I told him to go. But he wouldn't.'

  'This is not your fault, Gryffin. He gave his life to save his son. He would have no regrets. I am certain of that.'

  He nods and slumps back in the chair. 'We had to leave their bodies on Ultar. I can't even bring him to you so you can bury him.'

  Her tears break free at his words. She glances up at him and sees he has moved closer to the screen. He places his hand against the side of the screen and she mirrors his actions, resting her palm against his as the grief takes her over.

  Gryffin does not end the transmission. Instead he stays with her, his presence on the screen offering a little comfort as she cries.

  34

  ARES

  Gryffin splashes icy water on his face and glares up at his reflection in the cracked mirror. The hours in the rejuvenation pod have done their bit. He looks a lot better than he did a few weeks ago. His pale, gaunt face has filled out again, the black ring has gone from under his eye, and he's managing to put some weight back on. He's still not as big as he was, but he doesn't look like a walking corpse anymore.

  The call with Aleena lasted well over an hour but he's not complaining. She's been a big part of his life for years. He wasn't going to tell her Roman was dead and then disconnect the comms.

  Being with her like that had actually helped him a little. Since he woke up on the station, he hadn't had time to think about what happened to Roman. Not properly anyway. He'd focused on the anger, on the need for revenge, but not the fact his father was dead.

  They hadn't spoken much after she broke down and he's grateful for that. Talking about what happened over and over isn't something he wants to do. Killing more of the cyborgs responsible for his death is a different story.

  He didn't mention what he's about to do either. Aleena had enough to deal with without worrying about him getting more mods. Losing Terra is bad enough without adding Aleena to the list. And probably Chayse. If he thinks about it too much, he can come up with a list of people who would be less than thrilled about his plan.

  He knows he's making the right decision, but that doesn't help ease the pain of possibly losing Terra. He knew she'd be furious at his decision, but he wasn't prepared for her to pull away from him like she had.

  Everything that's happened is because of him. Roman, Lucan, Bray, Aleena, Chayse... and now Terra. The list of people he's hurt is growing by the day. Having people he gives a damn about has ramped up his guilt levels when something goes wrong.

  Life was so much easier when it was just him, his crew, and his ship. A father, a brother, a partner, and now these new family members... He never wanted any of it, but somehow it crept up on him.

  Of all the new and unwelcome relationships, Terra was the one that really blind-sided him. A Foundation officer and a Nomad Captain shouldn't work, and for the most part it didn't. He tried to push her away, tried to put his feelings for her down to a malfunction, but it was a big lie. Since he'd stepped in to save her life two years ago, she'd changed his.

  He'd lost track of the amount of out of character decisions he'd made since that day. Telling her his name. Meeting with her again. Sleeping with her. Somehow, she became a part of his life. She was the first thing he thought of when he woke up. She was the thing that kept him relatively sane when the Scientist held him prisoner for ten long months. Thinking of her had distracted him from the horrors of that place.

  She saved him.

  Evie is right. Terra had helped to calm him. Helped to bring out a part of himself he didn't know existed. His humanity. The Scientist had torn it out of him in the lab. Then Rayde had taken care of whatever was left over the years. But she had seen what he thought he'd lost a long time ago.

  He walks over to their bed and picks up the t-shirt Terra left on the covers. It's one of his, but for reasons he can't figure out, she insisted on wearing it. He holds it up to his face and closes his eye as he breathes in her scent. It's a scent that, until this moment, he didn't realise was a part of his life. Just as she had become. He lowers the shirt and looks around his room. Their room.

  There are reminders of Terra everywhere. Her clothes take up most of his small wardrobe. The once empty shelves have small trinkets from different colonies she had visited with him. Her drawing pad is open on his desk, pencils scattered on top of the paper.

  He sits on the chair and pulls the paper closer. Each page has another drawing of him. Page after page after page. Every now and again she sketched a landscape, but for the most part it was him.

  Gryffin stops at a page with two hands on it - his old metal hand holding her much smaller one. He traces his finger along her hand on the paper and the empty feeling in his gut gets so much worse.

  He runs his fingers over the scar on his upper chest. Terra's bullet had left the permanent mark on his skin the first time they met. He has too many scars on his body to count, each one a reminder of an event in his life he'd prefer to forget - except that one.

  She changed his life the moment she shot him. That one bullet had led him to his past and brought Roman, Bray, and Terra into his messed-up life.

  He went from being alone, from barely surviving, to
having her in his life and wanting a future. Just a pity it hasn't worked out like that. Gryffin looks around their room, looks at her clothes and the trinkets then back to the drawing.

  The empty feeling in his gut and tightness in his throat come back as he looks at their hands on the page in front of him. He frowns as a thought suddenly hits him. The strange feelings he's been getting lately aren't down to malfunctions. They come when he thinks about Terra. It's her.

  Does he love her? Is that what these feelings are?

  Gryffin laughs and scrubs his hand over his face as the truth sinks in. He loves her. He loves Terra. Then his smile fades as something else hits him. He's felt like this for a while. For months. Does that mean he's loved her for months? All that time she was telling him how she felt and he gave her nothing back.

  He didn't recognise what he was feeling and there's damn all he can do about it now. He wants to tell her how he feels. He needs to tell her, but it's too late for that. She'd just think he was saying it to get her to stay with him. The moment has passed and he has to live with that.

  The Foundation has taken so damn much from him, but forcing him to make this decision - to choose between more mods or a short, but happy life with Terra is too much. This whole thing started when they decided to pluck innocent people from their happy lives and do whatever the hell they wanted with them. Enough is enough.

  He goes back to the bathroom to collect his shirt from beside the sink. He doesn't want to leave his quarters. As soon as he steps outside, his life is going to change forever. He knows it's not going to be the same as when the Scientist worked on him, but he's still dreading it.

  He splashes his face again, watching as the water trickles off his hand. He looks up and wipes a droplet of blood from his nose. He can't even get five minutes alone with his thoughts without his body telling him he's done for.

  He wipes his nose again, making sure he's not going to drip blood all over Evie's station, then pushes back from the sink. Time to get to get this over with.

  He opens his door and stops in his tracks. Terra is standing at the bottom of the steps to their quarters. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her arms are wrapped around her chest.

  'I couldn't let you go... If something happened...' she stops talking and leaps up the three steps, throwing her arms around his neck. He lifts her off the ground and buries his face in her hair.

  'Terra—'

  'No talking, Gryffin. Please. Just be with me.'

  He doesn't need to be asked twice. He backs up and closes the door behind them.

  EARTH

  The bowl Liza was holding shatters on the floor, scattering pieces across the room. She stares at Garvan, her brows raised as she takes a step forward. 'Dad? Is that really you?'

  Garvan smiles but doesn't make a move towards her. He wants to give her space to process everything that's happening. 'Hey honey. It's me.'

  She stops in front of him and reaches out with a shaking hand to touch his face. 'Wow. You look a little... different.'

  'It's a long story. One that I don't have time for right now.'

  'What's wrong? Why don't you have time?'

  Zeke pulls out one of the chairs from the breakfast bar and gestures for Garvan to sit. He lowers onto it and sighs in relief.

  'What happened to you, Dad? Are you in pain?'

  Garvan hopes his smile puts her at ease, but one look at her face and he knows he's failed. 'Just a little tired, love.' He reaches out his hand, hoping that she'll come to him. Liza doesn't leave him waiting for long. She embraces him, crying softly against his shoulder. 'Hey, it's okay.'

  'We were told you were dead. How is that okay?'

  'I need you to get a hold of Jake,' Zeke interrupts.

  'Jake? Why?'

  'We need to find some people and Jake is our best bet.'

  Liza looks from her father to her brother and back again. 'What are you two up to?'

  'Nothing.'

  She places her hands on her hips and stares at the two men. Zeke finally blows out a breath. 'Fine. We're joining in a rebellion against the Foundation and need help finding someone who can put us in touch with a big group of rebels in the Sector. One of whom is a cyborg.'

  Garvan holds up two fingers. 'Actually at least two are cyborgs.'

  Zeke nods. 'Sorry. At least two cyborgs. Well, is it three now?' he asks waving his hand at Garvan's mods.

  'Fair enough. I guess it is.'

  'Oh, and Harvey is One on the Council and is behind the whole thing. Including having Dad arrested after falsifying charges against him.'

  Liza stares at them again for a few minutes before shaking her head. 'There's no way you two could have made that up.' She leans against the counter and purses her lips as she examines them both. 'Damn it anyway. Fine!'

  'Really, love? The last thing I want is to land your family in trouble.'

  'Dad, you, Zeke, Jake, and the girls are my family. But are you sure about Harvey? I mean him being One. I just can't see it. He's not exactly... He's just so...weak.'

  Garvan nods. 'Sorry, love. Hard to believe I know, but he's One.'

  Liza slams her hand down on the table. 'Fucker is out of this family as far as I'm concerned. I'm sorely tempted to show him exactly how pissed off I am.'

  'As much as I'd give anything to see that, you have to stay quiet for now. If he gets a whiff you're involved he could hurt you. Actually, scrap that. You need to come with us.'

  'To the prison?'

  'No. We can drop you at the Morgan farm on the way. Can you pack a few things for you, Jake, and the girls?'

  Liza stares at her father, then nods solemnly. 'Of course. Give me a few minutes.'

  Zeke waits until she's out of earshot before he speaks again. 'You really think Harvey would do something to her to get to you?'

  'I'm not willing to take that chance. He cut my damn arm off. I wouldn't put anything past the bastard. Go help your sister pack for the girls. I don't want to freak them out.'

  Liza hurries back to the room and passes Garvan her personal unit. 'It's a secure link. I've told Jake who you are.'

  Garvan smiles his thanks and looks down at the screen. He'd seen pictures of Jake in the hallway on the way in. The young man's hard green eyes examine him like he's a new inmate being sized up.

  His blond hair and beard are cut short and from what he can see of Jake's upper body, he wouldn't want to go up against him one-on-one. Most of the prison guards at Tyrat had kept control through fear and intimidation. He has no doubts Jake would be able to do it with pure brute force. 'Hi Jake. Nice to meet you.'

  'I'd prefer if our first introduction didn't involve looking for criminals or forcing my family into hiding.'

  Garvan grimaces. 'Not how I would have planned it either. Sorry about that.'

  'Yeah, I'll bet. Are you sure the location you're taking them to is secure?'

  'Absolutely.'

  'It better be, Wade. This is my family you're messing with. Can't say I give a damn about you, but I'd kill for them.'

  Garvan nods. He hears Jake's unspoken threat loud and clear. 'You can trust me.'

  Jake laughs. 'We'll see about that. Our next door neighbours are away for a few days. We've got the code for their house so we can keep an eye on it for them. They have a second transport in the garage. Code is 875645. No one will be looking for it so you should be able to move around without anyone checking you out. I'd like to be able to give it back to them at some stage so please try not to destroy it.'

  'Thank you. Now for the other help.'

  'I've heard of the Dixon's but most of the stories involve how off-grid they are. I think there's one or two inmates I can persuade to help me, but I can't promise anything. I'm off shift in two hours. Doesn't give me a lot of time.'

  'I appreciate anything you can do to help.'

  'Where will you be?'

  'We're hiding out at a friend's farm. I don't know how long we'll be off the radar for though. I'm not someone they want wanderi
ng around.'

  Jake sighs and rubs his forehead. 'Okay. I'll meet you there. Tell Liza to leave it for two hours then send the coordinates to my personal comms unit.'

  'Will do.'

  'I've told Liza to empty the gun safe in our room. I've got twelve unregistered weapons and ammunition. I'm hoping you won't need them, but better prepared than screwed.'

  'Hold on? You have unregistered weapons?'

  'I'm a security guard in a Foundation prison. I don't go around with my eyes closed and my fucking fingers in my ears. I know the Foundation is corrupt. Why do you think I'm not putting my foot down and telling you to fuck off and leave my family on Earth? If you have a way of getting them off that damn planet I'm not going to stop you. Keep them safe, Wade. I mean it. I'll be coming to the farm armed and I swear the first bullet will be for you if anything happens to them.'

  Jake kills the connection and Garvan blows out a long breath. Wasn't quite how he imagined his first chat with his son-in-law would go, but so far he likes the guy.

  35

  FOUNDATION SHIPYARD

  Creed pulls himself out from under the console and curses as he shoves the wires aside. 'No bringing this one back.'

  Baila contacts the rest of the team checking the other systems on the ship and tells them to move on. 'Thought we'd get more than we are.'

  Baila has a point. They've been at this for two hours and so far only two ships have joined Nemesis outside. Everything else either needs a new engine or a new hull. Neither of which they have time to deal with. If they had a year to rebuild the ships they'd be laughing.

  'Creed.'

  He taps his comms unit. 'You find it, Hardy?'

  'I got it. It's at the back and is fairly beat up, but the name is clear.'

  'Is there any way of getting it out?'

  'Don't know how, but the engines are still operational. I should be able to manoeuvre it out. Creed, there's still personal belongings in the rooms. What do you want to do with all the items?' Hardy asks.

  Destroying the ship is one thing. Destroying belongings of all those children that died is something entirely different. The families deserve to get those things back. 'How many rooms are we talking about?'