“So, he woke up, talked to you, and vomited?” Dr. Trenton asked as he fought to hold back a smile. 

He never smiles… what?

“Well… yeah.”

Dr. Trenton burst out laughing as the two of us walked back to the medbay. 

“I completely understand the feeling,” the doctor said through his fits of laughter, “I’m starting to like this kid you brought on board.”

I rolled my eyes and turned away. 

“I should go check in with Cortés,” I muttered in annoyance with the doctor, “I never got debriefed when I got back.”

“Yes, yes, run along, Colt. Go chat with your handler while I go check on my new favorite crew member.” 

I walked towards the cockpit of the ship and prepared myself for the absolute neck-wringing I would undoubtedly get for bringing Ryker back. When I entered Captain Cortés was typing several messages at once talking with about ten different people at the same time, organizing missions and talking strategies for the future of Chronos. 

“So, you finally come to see me,” she stated as she glanced up from her C-Watch momentarily to see who had entered her space, “I heard about the car you brought on board… and the boy.”

“Yeah… the car was necessary; I was being chased by the Plutoan Police and the Plutoan Mob. The boy… Ryker… that was my choice.”

“Well, I hope you disabled the tracking in the car, because I plan on getting that thing repaired and keeping it for myself. I've always wanted a Mustang… maybe a new paint job as well, I’m thinking royal purple… whatcha think?”

I was too stunned to reply. I just stared at her in shock as she tapped away at her display. She glanced up when I didn’t respond. 

“Well?”

“Are you-are you serious?” I asked in shock as I stared at her.

“Yes, I’m very serious,” she responded with a slight smirk, “I want that car.”

“Purple sounds great.”

“I thought so,” she said as she nodded, “now about the boy… you know what you did was completely against protocol right? You endangered this mission, us, and Chronos as a whole… Maria won’t be happy.”

As I keep getting told. 

“Yeah, yeah I know,” I sighed as I responded defeatedly, “but I couldn’t just leave him there to die, he shouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place but because of me and this mission he did. I also got at least two other people killed. I don’t mind spying, sabotaging, and killing targets… but when innocent people get stuck in the middle of everything and get hurt or killed… I hate that, it’s wrong.”

“Aidan, I think you need to visit the Recalibrater when we get back,” the admiral said as a look of concern crossed her face, “you’re starting to talk nonsense.”

I sighed and muttered an agreement to go see the Recalibrater when we returned to the facility. I knew that I wouldn’t be doing that though, it was something I would never do again unless they forced me. 

“Ok, now to finish debriefing,” Cortés stated after a short silence, “how’d things go?”

“Orion showed up just like he was supposed to, he was upset that Maria hadn’t come, I killed him then his bodyguard. When I went outside the last person that had shown up with him tried to kill me, she killed 4 civilians instead and then I killed her. Now we’ve made enemies with the Plutoan Mob.”

“Ok, consider yourself debriefed, I’ll send this report to Maria,” she said as she went back to her display, “you’re dismissed, you should go check on your new friend. We’ll be heading through the Wormgate in roughly fifteen minutes, then back at the facility ten minutes after that. You’ll need to go straight to Maria so you can explain our passenger to her in person rather than just what she’s getting in my report.”

I nodded and left the cockpit, heading towards the medbay. When I got there Dr. Trenton was standing in the corner tapping away at his display while Ryker sat up on the cot looking much better than he had when I was here before. Ryker looked up and squinted at me as I entered the room, Dr. Trenton didn’t even acknowledge I was there. 

“What are you gonna do with me,” Ryker asked suspiciously as I sat down, “from what I heard I shouldn’t be here, and since you people are a secret organization of murderers, I assume me knowing of your existence is a big no no.”

“I see the doc has been saying some things he shouldn’t have been saying,” I glared at Dr. Trenton, which he acknowledged with a shrug, “but don’t worry, I don’t have any plans on doing anything to you.”

“Like I said before,” the doctor looked up at me and grimaced, “just because you’re Maria’s golden boy doesn’t mean you can get away with everything.”

“So, this Maria is the one who’s gonna take care of my knowledge of your existence,” Ryker glanced between the doctor and me fearfully, “what exactly will she do to me?”

“Oh she’ll probab-“

“Don’t worry,” I interrupted Trenton, “I’ll talk to her and sort it all out, everything will be fine.”

“Well, that’s encouraging,” Ryker sighed and leaned back against the wall. 

Before anyone could say anything else the intercom crackled to life. 

“We’ll be exiting the Earth-Pluto Wormgate in ten minutes, please start preparations for our exit into Earth-space. We’ll be landing ten minutes after we exit the gate.”

With that the intercom shut off again and an uncomfortable silence settled over the three of us. The doctor was still tapping at his display. Ryker was starting to look sick again, probably because he was worried about what Maria would do to him in roughly twenty minutes. I pulled my display up and started to think of what I should do about Maria to keep Ryker from getting killed while I typed up my report of the mission. 

After what felt like way less than ten minutes Cortés came back over the intercom to instruct us to strap in for exiting the Wormgate. Ryker looked like he was about to vomit again as he fumbled with the straps. I sighed and strapped myself in. 

“I hate space travel,” Ryker said as he finally got his straps sorted out.

I raised my eyebrows at him as I noticed he was gripping the edge of the cot so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were closed tightly. 

Suddenly the familiar extreme turbulence of entering it exiting a Wormgate rocked the ship, then just as quickly as it started it stopped and we were flying smoothly again. I stared out the medbay window and saw my planet approaching quickly. 

“Ryker, if you wanna see Earth, open your eyes.”

He slowly opened his eyes and they widened as he saw the planet. North America was facing us as we approached for landing. 

“Woah… that’s… that’s amazing!” Ryker excitedly unstrapped himself and went over to the window. 

“Never been to Earth before?” Dr. Trenton asked as he and I walked over to the window as well. 

“Nope. I was born and raised on Pluto… my mom always talked about taking a vacation to Earth one day… to see where our ancestors came from, but we’ve never been able to save enough money for that. I’ve never left Pluto before you people kidnapped me.”

“Well, welcome to Earth,” the doctor muttered half-heartedly, “capital planet of the Solar Republic. It’s not nearly as nice down there as it looks from up here, by the way.”

Ryker stared out the window through the entire landing process, and when we had landed, he continued to stare until I tapped his shoulder and gestured towards the cargo bay, where the doors were open for us to leave. I led the way through the ship and out onto the landing field of the facility.

“Welcome home,” I turned to my left and saw a familiar, sixteen-year-old girl approaching, “who’s this guy?”

“Hey, Sophia,” I said as one of the only people who I truly considered an ally here stopped and raised her eyebrow at Ryker, “his name is Ryker, he got hurt during my mission and I decided to help him.”

“Uh huh,” she responded skeptically as she glanced between me and Ryker, “and you thought that was a good idea… why, exactly?”

I rolled my eyes and kept walking towards the facility. Sophia walked next to me, glancing at Ryker every now and then but staying quiet. Ryker was on my other side, staring in amazement at his surroundings. The semi-peaceful walk was cut short when I noticed a dozen people walking towards us from the facility, Maria in the lead. The three of us stopped in the middle of the path and waited for Maria’s group to reach us. 

“Sophia, take this one to a holding cell,” Maria instantly glared at Ryker and gestured at him as if he was a mangy dog, “I need to speak with Aidan… alone… everyone else get to your business.”

I swear I heard Ryker gulp as Sophia grabbed his shoulder and led him around the group. He looked back at me as she led him away and I saw the fear that had overtaken his mind. The people who had come with Maria headed towards the landing field. Maria turned back towards the facility as well and started walking. I followed behind her as she led me to the massive building. As we walked through the facility people turned and stared at me, whether that was because they knew about me bringing Ryker back or just because it was me that was walking by, I didn’t know. We made it to Maria’s office, where she sat behind her large desk and gestured for me to sit across from her. 

“What the hell is wrong with you, Aidan?” 

“Only the things you’ve made me,” I shrugged as I leaned back in the chair. 

She raised her eyebrows at me and crossed her arms. Clearly she’s grown used to my impudence after ten years of dealing with it. 

“You know what I’m talking about.”

I sighed and crossed my arms before responding, “he was going to die and he wasn’t the target so instead of leaving him there to bleed out I brought him with me and saved his life. I know that life means nothing to you, but I’m not quite as inhuman as you.”

“You risked everything this organization stands for… everything we have done and will do… for a person you don’t know,” she leaned towards me and clasped her hands in front of her, “you know what I am going to have to do to him… don’t you?”

“Maria, don’t… he’s innocent, and has nothing to do with what I did, it wasn’t his choice to come with us, it was mine. If you have to punish someone, it needs to be me since it was me who made the decision.”

“Stop,” she shook her head with a look of indifference on her face, “that wouldn’t solve the fact that you brought him here, he knows about us and what we are… that means he cannot leave this facility alive.”

Before I could protest she put her hand up and glared at me. Her decision was final… I had saved Ryker on Pluto just so he could be killed, likely more brutally, on Earth.