Three Miners assembled at their location, curious to what they were summoned for. Trigger related his suspicion about the nature of the smooth wall and asked that they mine it down.

"If it's a wall, don't you need a construction guy to tear it down?" One Miner, Ox, asked. The others present just looked at him with varying degrees of dissappointment, shaking their heads.

"Just tear the damn thing down, smartass." Trigger was in no mood.

Like a well-oiled machine, they had a section of wall mined down in no time. With their flashlights, they peered in to the dark room that had apparently been mined out before. It was a tiled room that was fairly sizeable, about the size of a barracks with several strange devices within that none of them knew how to describe. Trigger and Mushinto dismissed the Miners and summoned Doug and DIck over the commlink.

"Any idea what these things are?" They were surrounding one of the devices of mystery, the four of them speculating its purpose.

"I discovered things like this in my research. My model was a little different, but this one looks operational, if unpowered and quite old."

"What is it, though, Doug?" Dick was curious now.

"It's a Cryogenic Stasis Device. You should have seen one before, right Trigger? I thought you came out of one?"

"I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it once I woke up."

"You know..." Hope was in the air as Doug suddenly seemed to have an idea, "We could put you in one of these, Trigger. We just have to power it up by connecting it to our power grid and we can freeze you until we can devise a way to save you." Doug seemed excited at the idea that he had saved the day, the mood, possibly his leader's life. Everyone looked to Trigger for his reaction, and he seemed thoughtful, contemplative of the possibility of another period in cryo. Did he want to extend his life or end it on a high note?

He was certainly a successful man. He wasn't going to be remembered a failure. Did he want to take a chance that he would wake up in 100 years to Explorers or worse, Raiders of some kind? There was no guarantee that they would survive here, and he'd have no control over being woken up. He was at the mercy of chance, by that point. Sure, they could save him, but could they keep him safe? It was usually him keeping them safe.

"I could likely have something worked out in less than a month. I can clear out my workspace and do research again. I'd be happy to."

"Fuck it. Let's do it, then. Just let me have tonight to myself, okay? We'll get everything done tomorrow. For now, have them install the power conduits to reach out here and set up some defenses around the building." They all nodded and headed back to base. Mushinto went to lead the construction team in doing as commanded

That night, Trigger found the person he wanted to talk to currently more than anyone. Mort was in her room, one she had decorated herself with delicate flowers and a sculpture she had made in her spare time. He had never noticed her skill in sculpting before, amazed at the detail in the bust. He knocked on the frame of the open door, leaning against the opposite side as he watched her sitting there at her desk, writing. He had never seen her writing before or heard anything about it, but he wasn't concerned with that at the moment. It was likely just a diary.

His knock had startled her, and she turned with a relieved expression to see that it was him,

"Commander..."

"You can call me John, Morticia." She didn't respond, obviously still upset. "They found a possible way for me to live." She perked up at this news, curious. She was about to ask when he answered her question for her, "We found some cryo things or whatever in a room we discovered. They're gonna put me to sleep for a while until they figure out how to fix me." The same concerns that Trigger had ran through Morticia's mind and she looked to his eyes to see if he was lying. Trying not to burst into tears again, she smiled through a quivering lip to embrace his chest tightly in a hug.

This took him by surprise. He had not had this level of contact with a woman in quite some time. He reciprocated, softening from his usually firm, serious self into the man that she needed right now. He rubbed her back and after a while, she pulled back, sniffling slightly, and looked up to him after starting to speak,

"I thought you were going to die before I could tell you how much I admired you. I always thought..."

"What?" Trigger had an idea of what she meant but he needed to hear it.

"Ever since I first met you on the battlefield, still a Tribal, I could see something special in you." He remembered seeing her. He came close to turning to fire on her but had gone for a closer target instead. "I let myself be captured because I had to find out more." This took Trigger by surprise. He had never heard of someone doing that before. Perhaps even he had underrated his charisma.

"When I first spoke to you as a prisoner, I knew I wanted to work with you. I had to fake resistance for the sake of my fellow captured Tribespeople, but I was tired of being held back by them. I always studied with people from the other colonies instead of just learning the ways of the tribe. I knew you could help me grow. I was always afraid to say anything, afraid that you would reject me for who I was and never understanding who I really wanted to be."

"Wha-...who is it that you really want to be?"

"I want to be your wife." His heart nearly stopped.

"Listen-"

"No. You listen." She wasn't so firm that she was disrespectful, but she got his attention. Trigger was actually pleased to hear her speak up for herself this way. He had never met this Morticia before. He had never really taken time to know any of his people this deeply. If he did make it back from cryo sleep, he'd have to work on that.

"I've been here too long sitting in silence as I work, holding back my feelings. Now, I've realized how much time I've wasted and I want to make up for it." Trigger saw where this was going, and suddenly, words were no longer needed.

________________________________

"You ready, Boss?" Doug asked, accompanied by Dick in operating the device that would put him in cryostasis. The rest of the colonists were here as well, Trigger looking to all of them proudly.

"Let me have a minute. I want to speak with everyone." There had been some chatter around the room, but it fell silent at this announcement. "Being realistic, I may not ever see any of you again." He didn't have to explain this concern, they all understood, "That being said, I have known many of you for some time now. I've worked with you, argued with you, fought with you on the field of battle to keep this colony safe and prospering, fighting every obstacle that has come our way. I've been an ass sometimes too." He chuckled slightly, "I've been neglectful of my duties as a leader to truly know and appreciate fully my people. Because of all of you, this colony runs smoothly like a well-oiled machine."

"You're part of that machine too, Trig!"

"God damnit, Ollie, let me finish!" The room laughed lightly and Ollie looked sheepish but still was smiling anyway.

"As you all know: Mushinto, Doug, and I were the first three to land here. We made a lot happen with just the three of us, including converting all of you to a better way of life." Even in an emotional speech, he had a way of keeping the mood light in some ways. "So, while I'm gone, Doug will be the one in charge, advised by Mushinto as I was." Dick started to open his mouth to say something, "And Dick, of course will be advising him in some ways. We all know I'm a fan of seeing all the points of view. No matter who is in charge, we all do our parts, don't we?" Trigger looked to Morticia as he asked this rhetorical question. She smiled softly towards him, both of them thinking about the magical night they had shared.

"Keep up the good work, boys and girls, I couldn't be more proud to see how far we've all come together." This sparked a flood of emotion from the crowd and collectively, she shed several tears. As he climbed into the machine, Morticia couldn't resist approaching him and giving him a deep kiss. Everyone was astonished at this development, but said nothing, instead only cheering for them. One leg in the casket-like device now, he took one more look around the room with a big smile and saluted with two fingers from his eyebrow, They all waved and said a collective goodbye. After laying down, he extended a hand to Doug, then Dick, they each performed their secret personal handshakes they had developed with Trigger and said their personal goodbyes. Mushinto was the next to do this,

"See you soon, my friend." They smiled at each other, and said no more. Morticia then approached again and kissed him one more time. He caressed her face softly as he looked into her eyes overlooking him.

"You certainly are a rare gift on a merciless world." This evoked a tear from her and she covered her mouth. She couldn't speak, she had nothing appropriate for how she felt. Her feelings crushed her heart inside her chest as she watched him smile at her, then nod to Doug. The windowed cover closed over him, and he put his hand to the thick glass, palm open. He kept that soft smile as she put her palm against the glass to meet his. They locked eyes and he mouthed the words, "Be strong for me."

In moments, he was frozen, and Doug and Dick left the room after attempting to console Morticia with reassuring pats on the back. She ignored them, looking into Trigger's frozen eyes with despair she had never known. She had to do as he said and be strong now, though. Sierra Onimal was now a man short and they had plenty of work to be done after the time they had taken off today and yesterday.

With a heavy heart, Morticia steeled herself for the days ahead and left, hoping that this woulnd't be the last she saw him alive.