Jeb watched the action on the bridge. Rafe was at Ops, checking essential systems. Joyce was at Comms, still making a show of "trying to figure it out." She'd had the system operation down for weeks; she was only trying to antagonize their Sedition allies. She'll cause trouble if she isn't watched, Jeb thought, then immediately dismissed the thought and turned his attention to the two Sedition crewmembers on the bridge. They'd be the ones to cause trouble if anyone did.

Spike, the white-haired security officer, was checking out Tactical. Making sure all his instruments of destruction are still there, Jeb thought uncharitably. He liked the Seditionist's generally-bright attitude, but it was hard to tell sometimes when he was being serious. Tank, the Sedition commander, was standing on the opposite side of the command station from Jeb. He, too, was observing the bridge, silently except for the clicks and occasional whirs of his mechanical limbs when he shifted weight.

It was actually a little amazing, Jeb thought sometimes, how well the two groups had blended. Well... except for Joyce. And Grey. But then, the Sedition medic had never blended with anyone in her entire life. But aside from those two, by and large the two groups got along as long as no one talked about politics.

At Ops, Rafe shook his head. "The hyperspace tracker just won't work, Major. I can't even get it to turn on, much less do its job."

//I could have told you that// Akira said. //When I said it was reparable, that was hypothetical//

"No one asked you, computer," Joyce told it. "Shut up."

Jeb almost winced. Reluctantly, he'd come to accept Akira as a being unto itself and a member of the crew in its own way. Joyce had not, and Jeb had the uneasy feeling that the AI had developed a dislike for her. "Do you know what's wrong, Rafe?"

"As far as I can tell, the magnetic coils have depolarized. They're just slag now. And," Rafe glared at Spike over his shoulder, "there are no replacements anywhere."

"How is that my fault?" demanded Spike in injured tones. "Paler threw them out in a fit of pique! Not me!"

"You're head of security!" Rafe snapped. "Didn't it occur to you that throwing away replacement engine parts might have been a security risk?"

"You never met Paler."

"So we can't track the Jupiter 2 through hyperspace anymore?" Jeb asked quickly, to head off further argument.

"Assuming we could have found the trail at all," muttered Joyce darkly.

//What are you complaining about? I have to find the trail!// Akira wailed.

"It's the same thing, computer."

//Is not//

Joyce refused to answer.

This time Jeb really did sigh. He sneaked a glance at Tank and noted that the cyborg was rolling his eyes, long-suffering expression on his face. "Rafe," he said finally, "what Walker was asking was whether or not the magnetic coils are completely irreplaceable."

"No..." The engineer sounded dubious. "I suppose we could use coils from the Proteus."

"Is that legal?" Joyce asked.

//Who cares? The Proteus will never be used again anyway//

"Salvage law," Spike said absently, toying with Tactical again. "Finders keepers losers weepers. Most of this ship was part of one derelict or another at some point."

"I'll believe that," Joyce muttered.

//Now I'm insulted//

"You're a computer. You can't be insulted."

//Well, I am// Akira reported petulantly. //So there//

Jeb closed his eyes and counted to ten. "All right. So we can get the part we need from the Proteus, as well as whatever other parts you need, Rafe-"

"Why don't we just repair the Proteus, Major?" asked Joyce. "There are parts, Rafe knows the systems, I'm sure the bombardment has stopped by now-"

"We've already exceeded our time table, Lieutenant. We must complete our mission as quickly as possible. We don't have any more time to make repairs to a second ship," Jeb interrupted.

Spike glanced at Tank, received a nod. "Yeah," he agreed with Jeb. "Besides, if you fixed it, we'd only blow it up. Our mission is just as accomplished if the Proteus is sitting uselessly in orbit."

Their mission. Jeb found himself nodding and stopped. It was the first time any of the Sedition crew had referred to their mission; they seemed to take it as so obvious that it wasn't worth mentioning. But by the same token, the people he'd allied himself with, that he trusted the lives of his remaining crew to, were the kind of people who were willing to commit what amounted to twenty counts of murder and not deem it worth mentioning.

Rafe's thoughts seemed to have followed the same path as Jeb's; he look a little sick. "I'll... go to engineering ad make a list of what we should...salvage." He rushed out the door.

"I'll help him," Jeb said, and followed.

Spike looked to Tank. "What'd I say?"

*****

Rafe looked around engineering, feeling much less sick now that he was off the bridge. "I can't believe it took me six months to fix two systems."

//They're big systems. And a different technology than you were used to//

"I know, and thanks, Akira. I suppose it would've taken a lot longer without you and Grey." He frowned. "How'd she learn to repair electrical systems anyway?"

//With as many cyborgs and AIs such as myself in the Sedition as there are, technical skill is necessary for medics//

"I suppose that makes sense."

Jeb walked in. "I need to talk to Rafe alone for a minute, okay, Akira?"

//Sure thing, Walker//

Jeb walked over to Rafe and put a hand on his shoulder. "You all right?"

"Yes, sir. It's just... I still don't trust them. I mean, why are they with us? If they wanted to, I'm sure they could make us do what they want. Tank's a walking arsenal, Spike's stronger than all of us put together, and Grey...well, she must be pretty bad to scare an AI. Have you noticed Akira doesn't talk to her unless it has to?" Rafe shivered. "How long will it be before they decide that we're not worth keeping around anymore?"

"I agree that they probably have their own agenda," Jeb replied. "but I also think that until we find the Jupiter 2, at least, our agenda and theirs are the same. Then I'll worry. Not before." Jeb shrugged. "We trust them only as long as we have to, Rafe, and we stay on guard. That's all we an do."

"Yes, sir," Rafe said, clearly unhappy. "We're ready to launch anytime, sir."

"Good." Jeb left.

*****

The Crusader's launch was smooth and uneventful, thankfully free of invisible asteroids or whatever they'd been. It feels good to be at the helm again, Jeb thought. The entire crew was on the bridge, even Rafe and Grey who were not usually present.

"Come out of our cave, have we, Doc?" Spike asked mockingly. Grey ignored him. "No sign of any more of those asteroid-thingies, Walker. Did you people ever figure out what they were?"

Jeb shrugged. "Asteroids, so far as we know. Invisible ones."

"We got some odd gravity readings though," Rafe offered..

"Really. So did we; like black hole theory, only hundreds of times too weak," said Tank. "We discarded them as irrelevant."

"Hey!" Spike cried, grinning. "Maybe those things were... time traveling asteroids from the future!" He laughed to himself.

"I worry about your choice of reading material," Grey told him. "With every literary choice available, you choose ancient science-fiction."

"If you had a sense of humor, I'd think you were making a joke," Spike said.

"Besides which, time travel is impossible, Spike," Rafe added.

"You two always spoil my fun."

"What the hell is that?" demanded Tank. "That wasn't there before!" He gestured out the front viewscreen, where a strange-looking ship could be seen docked with the Proteus.

//Hey, aliens!// cried Akira. //Cool!//

"No way, man. If they're aliens, how'd they know the docking codes?" Spike wondered.

//They could have hacked the CPU and tried everything they found until they got the right code. That's what I would have done//

Grey glanced at the alien ship, then at the Ops readings. "No life signs. No heat readings."

"Oh, great, Doc. I'm sure that's helpful. They're aliens. They probably won't show up on our scans." Spike shook his head.

"All the same, it ought to be checked out," Tank told his security officer sharply. "If there's no one there, there still might be something useful. And if there are aliens there, they might be able to tell us something about the Jupiter 2."

Jeb nodded. "It does seem strange that they jumped to this planet and there's no sign of them. Even though we haven't finished going through the scans yet. Let's dock with the Proteus ourselves, then split into groups. One group will go to engineering for the parts we need and the other will mosey on over to the alien ship."

"Sounds like a plan-" started Tank.

//Plus you get extra points for using the word 'mosey'//

"-but someone should stay here and keep scanning for the Jupiter 2's hyperspace trail and keep contact between the two groups," Tank finished. "I nominate Lieutenant Marius-"

"You and Rae will get the parts from engineering, leaving Spike, Grey, and myself to look over the alien ship."

The two commanders engaged in a silent staredown. Finally Tank shrugged and nodded. "It doesn't really matter who does what as long as we don't trip over our own feet."

A synthesized crash sounded through the bridge. //Sorry, boss, I tripped// apologized Akira. //What do I do?//

"You're the computer," Joyce said. "You can't do anything."

//Says you//

"Akira, you help the Lieutenant," Jeb ordered.

//Thank you//

The Crusader docked with the Proteus. It looked a little ridiculous; the smaller, slapdash Crusader against the clean, linear design of the Proteus. "Docking sequence complete, Major Walker," Joyce reported.

"Split up, like we talked about," Jeb commanded. "Hold the fort here, Lieutenant. This shouldn't take too long."

*****

"The alien ship is this way," Jeb said, and started walking. Spike and Grey followed him.

"This is familiar, huh, Doc?" Spike said happily. "When was the last time we salvaged anything from another ship?"

"One year ago last Tuesday."

"Man, that long, huh?" Spike shook his head. "'Course that wasn't from an alien ship. I wonder what they look like, these aliens."

"Not human."

"You don't want to talk, do you, Grey."

"No."

"Both of you be quiet," Jeb said. "We're here."

"The door's open," observed Spike, ignoring the directive for quiet. "Maybe there aren't any aliens. At least, none anymore. I know I'd never leave the door open so any looney (sorry Doc) could come in." Spike grinned at the redheaded medic.

Grey gave him a cold stare. "Your physical is scheduled for next week," she informed him..

"No, it's not."

"It is now." Grey crossed her arms, daring him to argue with her.

Spike sighed. "Yes, Doctor."

"Much better."

"Maybe you two missed it," Jeb growled, "but I said shut up." Spike made a face at him. Grey didn't even deign to glance in his direction. "Let's go in," Jeb murmured to them. "Quietly."

They walked in silence. There was little light, mostly from what might have been computer stations, and their footsteps echoed forlornly. "See, Walker, nobody here,' announced Spike. "So it doesn't matter whether we're quiet or not. Right, Grey?" He looked around. "Uh...Grey? Wanna back me up here? Doc?"

The medic was standing by one of the walls, completely absorbed in studying something on it. "Look at this," she said quietly. "It looks alive. Maybe an egg sac of some kind."

Spike joined her at the wall. "It looks like a lump of slimy blue modeling clay with veins," he corrected in disgust. "Eww."

She ignored him and addressed Jeb. "I'm going to take this to the Proteus medical lab and analyze it. Keep going without me."

"Why don't you use your own lab?"

"The Proteus lab is closer. Besides which...I'm not going to risk anything in my lab with anything that might be dangerous." Grey took her specimen and left.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Jeb.

"Oh, Grey just woke up on the wrong side of life," Spike replied breezily. "Don't pay any attention to her."

They explored the alien ship in silence, finding no life except for more of the egg sac things. Finally Jeb asked, "So how long have your crew been together?"

"That depends. Tank started our group, along with Grey. Then Darlene joined. You never met her, she died in the crash. Kind of. Then some other joined. Then me. Then some other others. I know I've been with Tank around five years." Spike shrugged. "A while, I guess."

Jeb nodded. "I suppose your parents think you're dead."

"Excuse me?"

"Your parents. You know- you mother, your father-"

"I don't have parents, Walker," Spike said calmly.

"Everyone has parents."

"Not me. I was...grown, I guess the word would be. In a lab. Genetically engineered, from other people's DNA cut and pieced like a quilt." Spike chuckled. "Just call me Amish. Anyway, the way I understand it is that, during the millennial wars, there was a major shortage of cannon fodder and some sides decided to grow their own cannon fodder, stronger and faster than the opposition. Like sea monkeys. Only bigger. And human, although we were supposed to live about as long as sea monkeys." The white-haired man's expression turned wistful. "I bet you have parents, though."

"Yeah, I do."

"...Tell me about them?"

Jeb shrugged. "Not a lot to tell. My mom teaches second grade at the local elementary school, my dad is a computer programmer. They weren't too happy when I decided to enter the military, but I hope they're proud of me. We haven't seen each other in a while between my flying and their work."

"Do you miss them?"

"I guess so. I don't really think about it."

Spike laughed. "I miss a family I don't even have!" He turned away to look at a blinking console, as if trying to physically leave the topic.

"So... if you didn't have parents, who named you Spike?" Jeb persisted.

"My overseer. I don't know what his name was. I was made late in the wars, when they weren't even waiting until the growth hormones finished their jobs. So I was still growing when I was sent out to the lines. Growing fast enough that if I shaved my head nearly bald in the morning, it would have grown out by evening. When it rained, my hair would stick out in spikes. So one day when the overseer was in a rush about something, he called me Spike, 'cuz it was shorter than my ID number. The nickname stuck, and I prefer it to the number anyway."

"Oh."

"Not quite the answer you were expecting, Walker?" Spike asked, his brief stint of sadness evidently over.

"I don't know what I was expecting," replied Jeb. He looked around. "I think you're right about there not being anyone here, though. The power's on, it looks like the ship still works, but no one's here to work it."

"Which seems to beg the question, if the ship's still working, why's it abandoned?"

Jeb looked pointedly at one of the blue egg sacs. "Maybe it's not abandoned per se. Maybe something else happened."

Spike shivered. "Okay. You have successfully given me the creeps, Walker. Can we leave now?"

"Yeah. I'd like to see what Grey's found." The two men walked back to the Proteus,

*****

"Do you feel pain?" Rafe asked.

Tank was startled out of his work. It was the first time either of them had spoken since leaving the Crusader. "Excuse me?"

"Pain. Do you feel it?"

"Of course. Doesn't everyone?"

"No, I meant-" Rafe floundered for a moment. "In your arm, or your leg, do you have feeling?"

"Yes." Tank lengthened to the word to try and impress upon the engineer that the point of the question still eluded him.

"How does metal have feeling?" Rafe wondered out loud. "I suppose if electrical impulses were carried to the brain somehow. Possibly with fiber-optic cable." He cocked his head to one side, thinking. "No, that couldn't be how, because then the cable would have to be run through the body and probably some parts of the brain would have to be replaced. But what if you shorted out? And why give metal feeling anyway? What's the point of it if it hurts? Robotics aren't my forte-"

"Rafe!" Tank barked. The engineer look at him, baffled. "If you want to talk to me, don't talk over me or through me. Talk to me. Now. My cybernetics themselves don't feel pain, you're right, but there are other parts of me besides those. The connections burn sometimes, and then there's the ghost pain. I've heard other amputees, those without cybernetics, talk about it, too, so I guess it's normal. And then I still have my original limbs."

"Your original limbs?" Rafe repeated blankly.

"Yes, I still have one arm and one leg of my own, remember? In fact, most of my body is still mine. I'm not a machine or a model in a book, Rafe."

Rafe flushed. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I really am. I didn't realize it would be upsetting...."

"Most don't. I like you, don't make any mistakes about that. It's always been a sore point with me." Tank touched his cybernetic arm lightly. "This used to be a biological arm, you know. It got blown off in a firefight during the millennial wars, along with my leg and one eye that couldn't be saved. My heart and one lung had to be replaced due to internal hemorrhaging. At hospital, I was given some choices. I could die, or I could live with life-support devices, in a coma... or I could get cybernetic replacements." He shrugged. "It didn't take me too long to decide."

"I see. I'm still sorry."

Tank sighed. "It's all right. I'm used to it. Are we done here?"

"Yeah, I'm done. Once we get back to the Crusader, it shouldn't take me too long to fix the hyperspace tracker."

*****

//You are being stubborn//

"I will conduct these scans without a nosy computer's interference," Joyce told Akira.

//You'll be sor-ry// Akira sang.

"I don't care." Joyce continued scanning the space around the ship, as well as the nearby planet. It was unfair; she was always the one left behind. And Akira's attitude didn't help her mood, either. "They're still there!"

//What are?//

"The gravity reading we got before. They're stronger now, though, practically a gravity well instead of just isolated readings," Joyce said before she realized she was talking to a computer and snapped her mouth shut.

Akira tsked. //Gravity wells. What can you do with them? It's like they have no manners// The AI paused briefly. Then it said, //Scan it again. The gravity well, scan it again//

"I've scanned it once, computer. It's a gravity well. I don't need to scan it again."

//If you don't, I will//

"No, you won't."

//Yes, I will//

Joyce started running scans on the planet. Akira was programmed in such a way that it could not take system control away form a human, but it could prevent a human form taking control. All she had to do was get the upper hand. "No, you won't."

//I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know-//

"What?!" Joyce shrieked. "Leave me alone, damn you!"

//No. Scan the gravity well again//

"Will it shut you up?"

//...It's possible//

"Fine, fine. Okay. I'm scanning. And I see...a gravity well. Just like I told you, computer. Nothing special there."

//Look at all the data//

"I am, you stupid thing! It's a gravity well!"

//I know that. Okay, let's try this. Go look at the command station//

Joyce didn't move.

//I'll shut up once you know what I know// Akira wheedled. //Promise!//

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" she asked. But Joyce got up, walked over to the command station, and looked at the display. She sat down in the command seat hard, gaping at it.

//Told you so. The gravity readings were messing with the really cool stuff// Akira paused. //There's a lot of stuff there. Do I have to hold your hand through this too?//

Joyce shook her head. "It looks like the Jupiter 2's hyperspace trail. So they did leave."

//Well, sort of. That's your first set of readings. Here's your second set// The display changed. //See? Gone like they were never there. It may not even be the trail at all//

"That's impossible. The trail here was still there on Earth. It didn't appear and disappear like this one. What's different?"

//I'm working on that. There's so much information, it could take days to pin down whether it's even the right trail, much less what's making it behave that way. Right now it looks like a spatial distortion is covering the trail at intervals. The interval of the trail's existence gets maybe a nanosecond longer every time, and it's a slightly different trail each time//

"I'm getting fed up with this. Can we or can't we follow the Jupiter 2?"

//Unequivocally yes, if that's the trail and if you allow me to make the actual jump; some fairly precise timing will be required// Akira's voice turned petulant. //Although I want to know why it's doing that//

Joyce nearly had to curl her fists to keep form giving the command console a comforting pat. Gratitude was all well and good, but she'd be better off giving hers to the person who programmed the AI. Akira was still just a computer.

*****

The Proteus medical lab was much as Jeb remembered it, all bright lights, glass and chrome. Grey stood at a table, carefully dissecting her egg sac from the alien ship. Jeb watched her quietly rather than alerting her to his presence.

Spike had refused to come in with him, saying, "No way. I pissed her off earlier. I'm not looking for a rematch." He was out in the corridor, ostensibly on lookout.

What was it that was so frightening about her? Granted, Grey was cold and antisocial, but that was no reason to fear her. To dislike her, certainly, but not to fear her. Almost certainly her own strength was no match for Spike's or Tank's boosted strength. Either of them could toss Grey around like a kitten if they chose. "Find anything yet, Grey?" he asked finally.

She showed no surprise at his presence, but replied in a slightly irritated tone, "I've had barely enough time to find this lab, let alone anything of interest."

Jeb winced. He hadn't meant to make her angry, just to get her to talk. Well, maybe idle chat would succeed where work-related questions didn't. "Spike says he's been on the Crusader about five years, but that you've been there longer."

"Yes."

"How much longer?"

"Longer."

Jeb abandoned that question. "Do you miss Earth?" he asked. Common ground was key. Find some and she would talk.

"Should I?"

Jeb sighed and abandoned that question as well, decided to stop beating around the bush. "Tell me about yourself," he coaxed. "Family? Friends? School?"

Grey stopped working, stared at him steadily, and for a moment Jeb saw some emotion cross her face. Was it sadness? Anger? Frustration? Confusion? It could have been anything, but it came and went too quickly to tell. Her expression resumed its customary nothing. She pointed at the door. "There's the door," she said coldly. "Use it. I can't work with you yammering at me." She went back to poking and prodding the egg sac, ignoring Jeb as completely as she had when he'd come in.

Jeb sighed internally and left, letting the door slide shut behind him. "Got kicked out, huh?" Spike asked sympathetically. "I'm not surprised. Grey can't handle personal questions."

"Why are you afraid of her?" Jeb asked, watching the shut door.

"So you noticed that!" Spike laughed.

"Yes, and for once I'm going to get a straight answer out of one of you. Why are you afraid of her?"

Spike sighed, abruptly solemn. "And you just had to get your answer out of me, didn't you? Never mind, I don't think Grey'll skin me for talking about her behind her back." He shook his head. "No, she wouldn't. She's not cruel, just... not nice. Yeah, I'm scared of her sometimes. I don't know what she'll do or when she'll do it. When I was created, I got my strength boosted, and sure I could bat Grey around like a cat playing with a mouse. But I wasn't made to be clever, and she got fifty or sixty IQ points tacked onto an already high IQ. She'd make me pay eventually; she never forgets anything. I don't think she can. I'm faster than her, true, but she'll always react first due to enhanced reflexes." Spike shivered. "She never tells everything she knows. I wouldn't be surprised if she has her own arrangements with the higher levels in the Sedition."

"But... if you're that nervous around her, why do you act the way you do with her? The jokes, the teasing, attempts at conversation-"

"I feel sorry for her," Spike said defensively. "It's not really her fault. Remember I said she never forgets anything, that I don't think she can. I'm a fighter, made to inflict damage. I don't really see the injuries and death I cause, but Grey does, all of it, and she never ever forgets. I know that disturbing memories fade with time for me, but they don't for her." He grinned. "Personally I think that her attitude is mostly a defense mechanism. She couldn't take it and trained herself not to care. All the same, she didn't choose to be the way she is. Like I told you, she just got up on the wrong side of life."

"You're a wise man, Spike."

The security officer threw his head back and laughed. "No, I'm not. I'm just a glutton for punishment. Let's go."

They returned to the Crusader, leaving Grey to work in solitude.

*****

"You said you'd shut up!" Joyce yelled.

//I lied. And I did tell you so//

"Is there a problem, Akira?" Tank asked, striding onto the bridge of the Crusader, closely followed by Rafe.

//No, boss// The AI sounded chastened.

"Good. Keep it that way. Find anything, Lieutenant?"

"I found the Jupiter 2's hyperspace trail, I think. There's too much information to sift through, though. I can't be sure."

"Great!" Rafe said happily. "I found the magnetic coils for the hyperspace tracker, and a few other replacement parts, just in case."

//Oh good. So I'm not headed for the scrap heap anytime soon//

Joyce turned away from her console to look at Rafe intently. "Give me those parts, Rafe," she said dangerously. "I just figured out how to shut up this wretched computer."

"Uh-oh," chirped Spike from the entry. Jeb had preceded him through the door. "Look out, everyone take cover! It's Mount Vesuvius and she's about to blow!"

"Shut up," Joyce hissed at him.

"Mostly everyone's here," Tank approved. "Where's Grey?"

"We lost her to the joy that is research," Spike replied. "She found a lump of slimy blue modeling clay and retreated to the Proteus's medical lab to play with it."

Jeb gave the white-haired man an odd look. "It was an egg sac of some kind," he said. "Not modeling clay."

//Awww. And here I thought the good doctor had finally developed a sense of fun//

Spike shook his head. "No such luck."

"The aliens? Really?" Rafe asked. "I'm going to go look at that for myself. And I'll tell Grey we're almost done, too, of course."

"I don't think that's such a great idea," Jeb cautioned. "She's, uh, she's a little grouchy."

"She's always grouchy, sir. I want to see the aliens." Rafe was all but bouncing on his toes in eagerness to go. "It'll only take a little while. Please, sir?"

"Fine, go." Jeb held up his hands in an attitude of surrender. "Just be careful."

Rafe nodded and raced out. "Thank you, sir!"

Jeb sighed. "I'll go with Tank to put stuff away in engineering and make sure everything else is ready to go. Lieutenant Marius, go get some rest. Spike can handle things here."

Tank nodded, looking at Spike. "Works for me." The two commanders left the bridge.

Joyce made no move to leave.

"Uh, Lieutenant," Spike said. "You heard the Major. I can handle things here now. I'm a big boy, you know."

"I will not leave a known terrorist in charge of the bridge," Joyce informed him.

Spike laughed. "You really need to lay off the glue, sweetheart. It's beginning to mess with your perceptions. This is not your ship. This ship belongs to the Global Sedition, which means it belongs to Tank. I'd bear that in mind if I were you."

"Is that a threat?"

"If I were threatening you, believe me, you'd know."

"While I or my crewmates are aboard this ship, I will preserve our lives the best I can," Joyce retorted, stung. "That does not include handing over control to the enemy."

"But apparently it includes collapsing at your station and ceding control to us anyway." Spike snickered. "Look, Lieutenant. What can I do on the bridge all by myself? Not much. Go get some rest. Save your energy for another fight." He grinned at her charmingly. "This one's just not worth winning."

Joyce got up and reluctantly headed for the door, then turned around and spat, "I'm leaving because Major Walker ordered me to, not because you swayed me in any way, you freak. Just so it's clear."

The Seditionist flinched slightly at the words, but said in an even, mild tone, "I never thought anything else, Lieutenant."

*****

Jeb and Tank walked through engineering in relatively companionable silence. At least they weren't trying to kill each other. "Why?" Jeb demanded suddenly. "Why the Sedition? The wars stopped! There was peace! Why plunge Earth into war again? Even light-years away people die because of people like you! What's it for?"

Tank looked at him as though he had a third leg growing out of his stomach. "It's a different fight than the millennial wars were, Walker."

"That doesn't answer my question," Jeb said softly. "I can't help wondering. I like you. I like Spike. There's not much to like about Grey, but I'm used to her. I want to know why you all do this, when any of the three of you could do pretty much whatever you want."

"Could we really." Tank gave Jeb an odd look, compounded of equal parts grief and pain. "Let me tell you a story, Major Jeb Walker. It's about a soldier during the millennial wars, an ordinary enlisted man, not an officer. He left his wife and two children whom he loved to fight for what he believed in. He was a good soldier, a good leader; good things were expected of this man. But in one battle, he was so badly wounded that in order to live, he chose to have primitive cyberware installed." Tank regarded his right arm critically. "I have of course upgraded since then, thanks to Grey and her medical connections. At any rate, the cybernetics replaced my right eye, right leg, right arm, heart, and one lung. As long as the war was still on, no one cared about the metal as long as there was a good soldier underneath. But then, the wars ended."

"You were-"

Tank waved Jeb silent. "I was overjoyed to be going home again, and rushed to see my wife and children." He took a deep breath. "To make a long, painful story less long, my wife, Rose, took one look at me and refused to speak to me. My children, Timothy and Iris, were scared to come near me. They'd already been fed the careful propaganda about the horrors of cybernetics. Rose and I were divorced within a week. I never wanted her to be unhappy. I was unable to return to my old job, and no businesses would hire a cyborg. The military was out of the question as well." Tank smiled sadly. "No one called me Tank back then. My name was Mark Cohen."

"I'm sure what happened to you isn't the norm, Tank," Jeb said softly. "It can't be."

Tank smiled more cheerfully. "Whatever you want to believe, Walker, but my story's not over. In a very little while, I had nothing left of who I was before the war except half my body. I took to drifting, a bum if you will. Eventually, I found my way to an internment zone. In case you don't know about those, they're places where your United Global Government put their genetically engineered soldiers at the end of the wars, to forget about them.

"Out of curiosity, Mark sneaked in. And you have no idea how hard it is to sneak when your right side is mostly metal. The zone broke my heart, Walker. It wasn't quite a concentration camp in there, but it was close. And the worst part was that the GenTechs in there didn't even know how bad their conditions were. They had their own stories, their own beliefs. Some even made their own religion, but not many ascribe to it."

Jeb shook his head mutely. It's not true. The United Global Government wouldn't do something like that.

Tank didn't notice. "I spent maybe a month in the zone with the GenTechs, getting to know them and their ways. I especially got to know one of the medics, Dr. Alicia Grey was what she called herself. I gathered from others that an acquaintance had given her the name during the wars, but she never talked about it. The long and short is that three things came with me out of the zone: the nickname 'Tank,' Dr. Grey, and a need to make things right. Grey and I traveled, and along the way we picked up other cyborgs and other GenTechs, as well as a ship.

"We'd all been soldiers, so it wasn't entirely out of line for us to look into doing something similar. It was what we knew and were good at. Other groups had formed with about the same ideas. Then we heard about the plans for the Jupiter mission." Tank clenched his fists, mechanical hand buzzing dangerously. "Colonize Alpha Prime, abandon the dying planet. Fix the mistakes humanity had made."

"What's wrong with that?" Jeb demanded. "Earth is dying, and colonizing space is the only chance we have to start over and do it right."

"Oh, nothing's wrong with it, Walker. Unless you happen to be one of humanity's mistakes!" Tank visibly calmed himself down. "The GenTechs in the zones, the cyborgs... they won't be taken to Alpha Prime, Walker. They'll be left on Earth to die if your precious Space Force has its way, and have it it will unless someone fights back."

"Terrorism isn't the way," Jeb insisted. "If you have grievances-"

"We can file them with the government and wait for some politician in the future to brave vicious dust bunnies to champion the cause of a dying or extinct people? Not a very strong hope, there, Walker. Thanks for playing," Tank snorted.

"Not everyone in the Sedition is on your holy mission, your crusade for rights, Tank," Jeb said. "Have you looked at your allies?"

"You think I don't know that? I know. But... this fight has to be fought by someone. I admit I don't know what goes on in the upper levels of the Sedition or with the covert agents. I don't think I want to know. My level is the one that matters to me."

"There's speculation that big corporations are bankrolling the Global Sedition," Jeb persisted.

"Could be. The only one of my crew who might know would be Grey, and she's not telling." Tank shrugged.

"Why Grey? I thought you were the one in charge."

"I am in charge," Tank answered. "Of the Crusader. Sedition medics have their own network. If you want to know any more about that, you'll have to ask Grey yourself, later."

Jeb made a mental note to do just that. "Thinking of Grey, I can't exactly see her as a freedom fighter. Spike maybe, but not Grey." He attempted to make his tone conciliatory.

"Grey has a hard time being anything," Tank replied. "She's not so bad after you've worked with her for a while. I'd trust either her or Spike with my life. And have. And," he smiled, "as long as we're all friends here, so can you."

*****

Rafe walked into the Proteus medical lab to find its population doubled. Instead of one doctor and one egg sac, there was one doctor and three egg sacs. Two of the sacs were completely pulled apart and pieces reposed near various parts of equipment in the lab, along with dozens of little spider-like bodies impaled with pins. Grey was working with the third sac, and thankfully not pulling it apart.

Rafe bit his lip and tried not to remember that the tiny impaled creatures might have been harmless, sentient, living beings once. "What have you found out about the aliens?" he asked. "Anything?"

Grey didn't look up from her instrument. "Some."

"Like...?"

"These things never built that ship. No opposable digits. As you can see."

"They look like spiders. Do they spin webs?"

"Do you see any webs on the ship? No. And they're not arachnid in any case. Six legs. Although they do have a rather interesting venom. It looks like it would act more like a virus than anything else. I have a sample to look at later."

Rafe reached out to the nearest spider-body and touched it gingerly. "They're metal."

"Adamantium."

"What do they eat? Do you know?"

"Judging from their digestive systems, their primary prey seems to be each other."

"They're cannibals?" Rafe looked at the tiny bodies in horror. Okay, not harmless. "Do they eat other things?

This time Grey looked up. "Of course. What do you think happened to the crew of that ship?"

"Then there are living, adult spider-crab-things still there?"

"I wouldn't think so, or at least very few. They probably ate the crew, laid eggs, ate each other, laid more eggs, and then those that were left ate some of the others. If any are left, they're probably laying eggs again."

"And getting hungry." Rafe shuddered. "And you went back onto that ship in spite of them."

"The probability of any remaining adults being able to sense me was practically zero percent," Grey told him coolly. "And I needed more specimens. Some of the tests contaminated the ones I had so I couldn't reuse them." She returned her attention to her present specimen. "There's the possibility of a hive mind, not unlike bees or ants, although I discount the idea of a queen since it looks like every individual can procreate. Also, heat and light seem to attract them."

And I'm sure you tested that on some of those things before sticking them with pins, thought Rafe. "Like moths," he said out loud. Grey ignored him. "Deep space moth-ant- spider-crab things? That's... interesting." He spoke louder, to get her attention again. "We'll probably be ready to jump soon, Dr. Grey. So if you're almost done here, we can get back to the Crusader."

She nodded, picked up a vial of silvery-blue liquid. "I'm done." Tucking the vial into her medical bag, she headed for the door. "I have one or two things to do before we leave, anyway."

Rafe hurried out the door after her, still discomfited by the gruesome decor of the tiny, impaled spider-aliens.

Neither bothered to turn the lights off.

*****

Jeb walked quickly towards the Crusader's bridge, fully expecting to have to break up a fight between Spike and Joyce. Instead, Joyce nearly ran over him on her way towards her quarters. "Lieutenant,' he said, "care to watch where you're going?"

She gave him a blank look for a moment, then her face set determinedly. "Major, I wish to formally protest this alliance."

"Noted. You were an your way to your quarters, Lieutenant?" Jeb continued towards the bridge, unwilling to deal with Joyce so soon after his conversation with Tank.

"Major!" Joyce chased after him. "These Seditionists are terrorists and murderers! How much innocent human blood is on their hands? We can't trust deceitful creatures like that!"

"And what do you suggest?" Jeb kept his tone even.

"It shouldn't be too hard to take them by surprise. Now that the Crusader is repaired, we don't need them. We could kill them and keep the Crusader!" Joyce's face glowed with pride in being asked and pride in her plan.

"You want us to break faith with the people we've accepted as crewmates for over six months?" Jeb shook his head. "That would make us as bad as you're making them out to be."

"You can't compare them to us, sir!" she cried. "They're not even really human! They're just a bunch of freaks-"

"Lieutenant," Jeb told her coldly. "The matter is not open for discussion. The six of us are one crew. Those are my orders, and you will obey them whether you like it or not. You don't have to like the Seditionists, you just have to work with them."

Joyce took a step back, stared at Jeb as if he'd slapped her, or betrayed her somehow. Then she turned and ran down the corridor. "This isn't finished!"

Jeb shook his head and walked the rest of the way to the bridge. "And who did I think was going to cause trouble?"

*****

Grey walked into the Crusader's sickbay and set her bag on a table. "Took you long enough to get here, Doc," Tank said from somewhere off to her left. "I knew you'd want to look the cyberware over before we left, so I just came down."

She turned to face him, unsmiling as always, but there was no irritation in her tone when she spoke. "You know me better than I know myself. Any irritation? Power shorts?" She crossed over to him and started running scans.

"No, everything's fine."

"Your adrenaline levels are up," she told him, "and so are your endorphin levels. Have you been in a fight?"

"Argued with Walker earlier."

"Ah." She worked silently, running her scans and occasionally prodding at some circuitry.

"Are you okay, Grey?" Tank asked suddenly.

"Okay?" she echoed, with a querying lift of one eyebrow.

"With this. The Space Force being on the ship with us."

Grey shrugged. "People are people. They're all the same. Walker and his crew are no better or worse than our own crew." She narrowed her eyes. "Are you ingesting enough calcium?"

"Don't evade the subject, Grey," Tank warned. "Spike seems to be getting along fine with them, and so am I. I want to know about you, not my calcium."

"Calcium is important," she rebuked, "and we've talked about it before. Metal is considerably heavier than bone, and if your bones aren't strong enough, they'll snap under the pressure."

"I know, Grey," Tank sighed, "and I am getting enough calcium. Now, how are you?"

"Perfectly healthy."

"I didn't mean physically how are you." Tank forced his voice to stay calm. "How are you dealing with this alliance? Once they learn about your... bank, you'll become a target."

"I am probably already a target. And my organ banks are fine."

"Not to them."

"How stupid. Engineers keep spare parts around to fix things. Why shouldn't I?" Grey stepped back. "Done."

"Grey, give me an answer now. Can you work with them long-term or not?"

"I can work with anyone. What kind of question is that?" Grey crossed her arms and watched him, patiently waiting for him either to explain himself or leave.

Tank sighed, gave up, and left, as he'd done more than once during his and Grey's time as crewmates. He'd hated doing it each time, hated having to give up on someone, but he tried to tell himself that Dr. Alicia Grey could take care of herself in any situation.

It would've been easier if he believed himself.

*****

Joyce stormed into engineering, still seething in spite of her brainstorm. She'd tried to go to her quarters, but that wretched computer had refused to let her in, claiming, //You didn't say the magic word//

An idea had struck her then. If Major Walker refused to hear reason, then maybe Rafe would have a little more sense. She'd hurried down to where the engineer was installing the new magnetic coils. "I'm almost done," he reported cheerfully, hearing someone enter.

"Good for you," Joyce snapped. "We need to talk."

"...I'm listening. Is something wrong?" Rafe put his tools down and watched her expectantly.

"You know there is! You, me, Walker, we're all going to die on this hunk of junk!" Joyce spread her hands to take in the entire Crusader.

"I don't know, Lieutenant Marius. The Crusader's kind of grown on me. I'm not following you, I think."

"Walker is way out of his league," Joyce said bluntly. "Remember how quickly he abandoned the Proteus? He consigned the entire crew to a lifetime on a barely habitable planet because he panicked! He's totally unsuited for command, even this ridiculous parody of command he's doing now. Look at him! Can't you see-"

"Do we have the same memories?" Rafe interrupted. "The Proteus didn't have enough power to go anywhere. Not to mention that it's a little tough to dodge invisible asteroids."

"The point is that Walker will lead us straight to hell!" Joyce argued passionately. "We've both served on ships, we've both fought the Sedition! We know what they're like and what they do! With minimal force and the element of surprise we could take this ship and run it properly.'

"we've worked with Tank, Spike, and Grey for over six months, Marius," Rafe said, "and they've played straight with us so far-"

"Only because they had to!"

"I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt."

"What doubt?!"

"I don't think we have the full story on the Sedition. We didn't have the full story on Earth. We've been told all our lives that the earth is fine, and then we find out it's got maybe twenty years left. Maybe we were lied to about them, too. I'm willing to believe, at least for now, that the Sedition isn't just engaging in random acts of violence. The ones with us haven't been particularly violent, have they?"

"And Walker?"

"The Major's gotten us this far, hasn't he? We're as alive as we can be, we've got a soon-to-be-fully-functional ship, and some semblance of a crew." Rafe shrugged. "Could be a lot worse. Major Walker's not doing to badly."

"Seventeen people dead isn't doing too badly?"

"Joyce," Rafe said quietly, using her first name for the first time, "even Callahan said to abandon. And Callahan would have seen options if there were any. We had no choice but to assume the bombardment would continue, and the Proteus destroyed. At least by abandoning, we could have been fairly sure that some of us would survive. And we'd still be down on the planet of not for Major Walker making the deal with the Seditionists."

Joyce clenched her teeth. "I hope that when those snakes turn on you and Walker, I'll still be around to have the last laugh.'

Rafe shrugged again. "I don't think it's that funny, Joyce. Its kind of strange, but your attitude is getting fairly high on my not-funny list." He picked up his tools again and started working.

Joyce drew herself up and her eyes flashed angrily. For a moment it looked like she was going to continue arguing, but instead she turned and ran full-tilt out of engineering.

At the door, she nearly knocked over Spike, who was walking in. The white-haired man tossed her an amused glance. "Why don't you whistle at the crossing?" he asked. He shook his head and remarked to Rafe, "There went someone who really needs to switch to decaf."

Rafe grinned. "Does she drink coffee?"

Spike shrugged. "What else can explain it? Nearly every time I see her she's running off somewhere. Gotta be that caffeine. Anyway, Walker sent me down here to check whether we can leave. He's getting twitchy."

"You follow the Major's orders?"

"I'll follow orders from authority. It's just the way I'm put together. So are you done?"

Rafe checked his work critically. "I think so. Akira, run some diagnostics just to be sure, okay?"

//Gotcha//

"Why didn't Major Walker just come down himself like he usually does?" asked Rafe.

Spike shrugged. "He said he had something to do. On the Proteus."

*****

Jeb walked onto the Proteus bridge and activated the captain's log. "Captain's log, final," he said. "After abandoning ship, my remaining crew and I met up with the remainder of the crew of a Sedition ship, the Crusader. In order to get off planet and to have a higher chance of survival, we banded together."

He got up and started pacing, still recording his log. "We, all six of us, repaired their ship, and I am still worried about whether or not our two crews can get along. Lieutenant Marius in particular refuses to accept the situation. According to my orders, I am to give up on the Jupiter 2 and continue to Alpha Prime and complete their mission." Jeb took a deep breath. "I'm not going to. The hyperspace tracker seems to be functioning normally. But we cannot process all the data.

"There is... no sign... of the Jupiter 2. I have exceeded my timetable, but I have a chance to go on..." Jeb trailed off, thinking of the multiple trails, one or none of which might eventually lead to his friend.

He jabbed a finger at the camera as if admonishing it. "I want this on the record! I am not willing to give up!" He dropped his hand and looked directly at the little vidcam as if he could see Don West through it. "Don would keep looking for me. I can't do anything less for him. This is Major Jeb Walker. Proteus out."

Jeb cut the power to the log and left the Proteus behind him.

*****

"What did you do, Walker, make a speech?" Spike asked when Jeb returned to the Crusader's bridge.

"Something like that. Tell me we're ready."

Tank nodded. "We've nailed down the trail we're going to use, and Akira's ready to make the jump any time."

"Engineering and Medical report ready, Major Walker," Joyce said, all cool efficiency now that she was working. Then she swiveled in her seat to look pointedly at Tank and Jeb. "Before we go, who's in overall command?"

It was an innocent-enough sounding question, but Jeb almost swore. Now is not the time to get a command fight started, Lieutenant! He was about to tell her so in no uncertain terms when Tank said calmly, "Walker is in command, Lieutenant."

Both Jeb and Joyce gaped at the cyborg, who shrugged. "It's only practical. You three have the engineer and a pilot, even though we have the ship. My and my crew's mission has been accomplished; the Proteus is out of commission. Your mission is not. Walker has the purpose and technically the upper hand." Then Tank grinned. "Besides which, Lieutenant, my people have proved that they're disciplined enough to obey orders from an authority other than myself; something you have failed to do."

Spike snickered from Tactical. "One for our side!"

Joyce turned back to Comms, trying to decide whether to be pleased at the command situation or angry at the insult. "Shut up, Spike."

Jeb sighed, settled himself at the helm. It's going to be a long trip. "All right then, let's get this show on the road. Akira, make the jump."

//Right-ho... boss//

Time froze.