Eralis stiffened, his breath catching in his throat as he felt the cold steel against the side of his head.

“Now, let’s all be reasonable…” he started to say, but the Captain cut him off.

“Reasonable? You’ve got some nerve, you know that? You’re the one who got us into this mess in the first place. We’re only here because of you. So you’d better have a darn good reason for putting my crew in danger like that!”

Eralis’ mind raced through his options, trying to find an answer that wouldn’t get him killed. He didn’t like his chances.

“Captain…”

Darryn’s eyes softened at the quiet tone and turned towards the pilot. Eralis relaxed for a moment as the gun left his skull, and the man’s grip on his collar tightened, letting him know he wasn’t off the hook just yet. 

“What is it, Mik?” Darryn asked quietly.

The kid was looking at the floor, knuckles turning white as he gripped the sides of his chair. Eralis couldn’t be sure, but he thought he could see the kid’s muscles trembling as he tried to steady himself. 

“Signal jammer,” Mik got out with some effort. “On him somewhere…”

Darryn immediately turned and started rifling through Eralis’ pockets until he found Eralis’ gun, as well as the communicator. He pocketed the gun and tossed the communicator back to Mik. “See what you can do.” 

The pilot snatched up the communicator and started fiddling with it, eyes focused and relatively steady for once. 

“Start talking.” Darryn leveled his gun at Eralis’ head again. “What happened back there?”

“Your pilot set off a security alarm when he went to download the files.”

“Project Alpha,” Mik muttered from behind Darryn. 

The Captain’s eyes narrowed. “Project…That wasn’t in the deal!” 

“The deal was you get me the information I need.”

“A list of names. All those who worked in Ventura. That was what we agreed to! Not the Enhanced Project!”

“Would you have taken the job if I’d told you what I really wanted?”

“Of course not!” Darryn let go of Eralis’ collar and slammed his fist against the wall. “You think the Federation is just going to let us go with that information? They’ll follow us to the far edges of the galaxy. It doesn’t matter how far we go, they’ll never stop looking for it!”

“Then my actions were justified.” Eralis tried to smooth out his shirt, attempting to regain at least a modicum of dignity. 

“Justified?” 

There was a flash of pain and the next thing Eralis knew he was laying against the bulkhead, rubbing his chin as Darryn stood over him, fist still clenched. 

“Let me tell you something, Fed,” The Captain’s voice was like ice. “Nothing justifies endangering the lives of my crew. Least of all your petty attempts at blackmail.” 

Eralis frowned and looked up at him. “Blackmail…What are you talking about?”

“I assume that’s what this was?” Darryn crouched down and gestured with the gun. “An attempt at moving up the ladder? There’s a good few people would lose their jobs over the details behind the Enhanced project getting out.”

“You actually think I would be stupid enough to steal this data and then tell people it was I who did it?”

“You tell me. You haven’t exactly been the brightest specimen so far.”

Eralis glared at the scavenger captain. “Let me make something very clear, Sureshot. I despise blackmail almost as much as I despise you. Unlike scavs, I serve a greater cause. And I will not be intimidated by scum like you.”

Darryn placed the gun against Eralis’ head again, this time speaking in a dangerously calm tone. “Why did you need that data?” 

Eralis felt his heart skip a beat. Something in the captain’s eyes had changed. They seemed more deadly, simmering with a barely controlled rage. He would do it. He would pull the trigger. 

“I need to find Doctor Alistair.” 

“Who is rotting in a Federation prison. You don’t need the data from his project to do that.” 

“The arrest was a lie.” Eralis averted his gaze, looking at the ground. “A ruse to placate the public when the project was unmasked.”

There was dead silence for a moment, broken only by the beeping from the console. 

“You’re telling me,” Darryn said slowly, “that the man responsible for some of the greatest war crimes in history is walking free?”

“He was given a new identity and covertly moved to a safe house somewhere in Federation space. That’s all I know. It was before my time.”

“Why the data?”

“Alistair was a genius, ahead of his time. The Federation wouldn’t waste a scientific mind like that. He must be working on something. But I need to know what kinds of equipment he used in order to track down where he might be kept.” 

“Lies.”

Eralis blinked. “What?”

“All you do is lie. You don’t need the data from a former project to find a secret lab. You’re after the Enhanced data specifically. Why?”

Eralis sighed. “We need the project data so we can better deal with the remaining Enhanced loose in the outer planets. We needed to understand their genetic make up so we can find and neutralize the remaining threats.”

“Which of course explains why you hired a group of Scavengers to steal your own data from you.”

“Public opinion dictates…”

“Spare me that story. The public didn’t even know this data still existed. The Federation never had to say a thing.” Darryn poked him in the chest. “No. You needed this data. Why? What do you want with the doctor?”

Eralis shook his head. “I won’t tell you that.”

Darryn thumbed back the hammer on his gun. “This isn’t optional.”

Eralis glared back at him. “You can shoot me if you want, Captain. It won’t change my answer."

There was a high pitched tone from the communicator followed by a triumphant whoop from Mik. “Got it!” 

“Honor, this is the Captain speaking, do you read me?” Darryn stood up, keeping his eyes fixed on Eralis. 

“I read you, Captain.” The Steeleyes’ soft purr sent a shiver through Eralis. Her voice was nearly as unsettling as her hypnotic eyes. “It is good to hear your voice.”

“Lose your tails, if you can, and meet us at co-ordinates….” Darryn leaned over the console, looking at the star charts. “.0677 Delta. And prep the medbay. We’ve got a couple casualties.” 

“Understood. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

“Only one man is down,” Eralis corrected the Captain. “We don’t have multiple casualties.” That is, unless the man was actually so soft as to count Mik as a casualty in his shellshocked state. 

“Oh, don’t we?” Darryn looked directly at Eralis, brought his gun up, and shot him in the leg. 

The Federation Agent cried out and grabbed his thigh. He stared accusingly at the captain. “You shot me!”

“Oughta put one in the center of your miserable face.” The man grimaced as he holstered his weapon. “But, unfortunately, I might need you alive.” He turned his back on Eralis and took a look out the window. “How are we looking on pursuit?”

Mik took a moment to register the words before glancing at the scanner. “All clear, Captain.”

“Then let’s fire her back up and rendezvous with the ship.” Darryn squeezed Mik’s shoulder. “You did good, kid.” 

Mik looked up at him. “Jax…”

“I’ll check on him. You just focus on docking with the ship.” Darryn gave the pilot a reassuring smile. “Can you do that for me, Mik?”

The kid drew in a shaky breath and nodded. “Yes, sir. I can do that.”

Darryn nodded and turned back to Eralis. “You’re coming with me.”

Before Eralis could protest, the captain gripped the back of his shirt and he was half scrambling, half being pulled, into the main cabin. He yelled in pain as he was roughly thrown against one of the seats, jostling his throbbing leg. 

“Stay there.” Darryn’s tone was rough and uncaring. 

Eralis attempted to straighten himself up as best he could, working himself into a sitting position and glaring at the man’s back. 

Darryn ignored him, turning to crouch next to Rocoram and Jax on the other side of the small space. The wounded man was laying next to the wall, and Eralis could see the Gath had been busy using the shredded remains of his borrowed Federation uniform to create makeshift bandages. The bandages were already soaked with blood, and the Gath had resorted to keeping his hand pressed against the wound, attempting to physically stop the blood from escaping.

“How is he?” Darryn asked quietly, probably trying to keep from distracting Mik in the cockpit. 

“Much blood lost. Is not good.” 

Eralis snorted. He had seen many dead bodies during his time as a Federation Agent, and if he couldn’t see the occasional labored rise and fall of Jaxon’s chest he would have sworn the man was already gone. 

“You’re wasting your time,” he put in. “The man’s a goner.”

“When I need your opinion, Fed, I’ll ask for it,” Darryn responded sharply. 

Eralis shrugged and sat back in his chair, trying to keep his leg as still as possible. If the captain wanted to live in denial, it wasn’t any of his business. 

“Medbay not equipped for wound this great,” the Gath continued as if he had not been interrupted. “Need someone more capable.”

Darryn nodded thoughtfully. “We’re only a few jumps from Arrida, aren’t we?”

“Little Mik know that better than Rocoram.” 

“Close enough in any case.” Darryn stood up. “We’ll take him to Anaka.” 

“Is Painted Woman?”

“Yeah. If anyone can pull him through, it’s her.”

Eralis frowned. “I’m sorry, did you say Arrida?”

Darryn ignored him and stuck his head in the cockpit. “Mik, once we’re back on the Viper set a course for Arrida.”

There was a muffled reply from Mik.

“I know it’s a desert. Just get us there, and I’ll tell you where to land.”

“I am not going to Arrida.” Darryn turned to glare at him, but Eralis held his ground. “I need to get back to Pleasance before my superiors realize I am gone, and I am the one paying you here.”

“Tough” Darryn looked towards the door as they began to hear the banging sounds of the airlocks connecting. “As soon as we’re all off this thing, we’ll disconnect and leave her drifting for the Feds to find. No sense in taking her with us, she’d only slow us down.”

Eralis decided he’d had enough of this. It was time to pull rank. “As an Agent of the Galactic Federation of Planets…”

Darryn spun around and stuck a finger in his face. “You don’t get a say in this! As of right now, you are a passenger on my ship and it will go wherever I want it to go. If you got a problem with that, you can feel free to take a walk out of the airlock.”

Eralis shut his mouth. That uncontrolled rage was back and he figured it would be better for his health if he stopped talking. 

There was a hissing sound from behind the cabin door and Mik stepped out of the cockpit. “We’re docked.”

Darryn stepped back from Eralis. “Good. Mik get us to Arrida as fast as you can. Rocky, get Jaxon to the medbay and help Honor with whatever she needs.”

“Yes, sir!” Mik ran to the door and opened it, disappearing into the ship beyond. The Gath nodded and slid his strong arms under Jaxon’s body, lifting him with ease and following Mik at a slower, but deliberate pace. 

“As for you.” Darryn pulled Eralis out of his seat and dragged him out of the cabin. “You can spend the rest of the trip in your quarters. I’ve just decided you’ve lost your passenger privileges.”