Nightfall

I put down the wire I was working on and swept my sweat-drenched hair from my forehead. Straightening my back with an audible pop that surprised Andromeda, I stared at my work for the day. It was only the first day, but already I had over half the work done.

This was a good thing because Jude and my cousin were not patient fellows. I was sure both were going stir-crazy already. I sighed and wiped my oily hands on a rag by the satellite. Dragging my limp form to the offset washroom and cleaning my hands.

My stomach growled and I blushed. It sounded like a depraved monster.

Andromeda chuckled. “Time to feed the hungry lion?”

“More like a timid mouse,” I muttered walking over to her and leaving the room. I was glad for the reprieve. As we were walking through the halls again, we came across a frantic Tarric.

“Have any of you seen Batholomew or Jude? They disappeared on me a few hours ago in the mess hall,” he said.

Andromeda stared at him for a minute before hissing, “You lost the new flight risks?”

Tarric squinted and lowered his head nodding.

Andromeda leaned in and bopped him on the head. “Idiot!” She turned to me scowling. “Stay here while I help moron here find his charges.”

With that, she left me standing there like a moron. I shifted to the corner and watched as passersby stared at me curiously. My Starfleet uniform of a silver pants suit and black boots was a giveaway that I was a traveler from the stars. I looked the part! I even wore aviator goggles on my head as good luck from my sister who had disappeared.

I should have paid attention. What was a world of training if the basic rule was forgotten? I heard a chink and felt a whirling. Before I could form words, a bag went over my head and Batholomew’s voice came into the hearing distance.

“What now O leader?”

“Now we get Lana,” came Jude’s voice.

“And what? Am I supposed to lug Matt all the way there? They’ll be watching! Better to stuff him in a corner get Lana and then leave!”

“And if he’s found? There goes our plan of escaping. Matt’s the only one who can fly us home!”

Were the morons forgetting we had no fuel? Likely they were or that the Rider was now host to the creatures we saw Andromeda fight off? We knew nothing about this planet and they wanted to march back to the Rider willie nillie? And they had handcuffed me! With everything we were about to get into, they had handcuffed me and put a bag over my head!

I felt the handcuffs and sighed in relief. They had used standard-issued Starfleet ones, which is where the whirl came from. They were electrical. Stupid choice. I could rewire them with my eyes closed and hands tied, which coincidently was where I found myself. They gave a little toot as Bartholomew gripped and dragged me. I couldn’t see where due to the bag on my head.

A door opened then Lana’s voice came into the hearing distance.

“Bart? Jude? What are you doing dressed like law enforcers?”

So that was how they were getting around with me as I was? Clever. It had to be Jude who thought of it. We’d done something similar before.

“We’ve nabbed the Captain. All we need is you,” came Bartholomew’s voice it had an edge to it.

“Bart…”

Jude intervened. “You said you wanted to get away from here as bad as me and Bart. Well now is the time. I’ve got the captain of the ship and I’ve got a way out.”

Lana laughed a high melodias laugh and I blushed. “You do? And you know about this planet? Have fuel for the Rider? Things Matt was handling?”

Jude growled. “That stuff doesn’t matter! We can get a new ship in their hanger and…”

“We have to go through a black hole again. The only ship tough enough to pull that off is the Rider,” I muttered and was met with an elbow to the face which I dodged quickly enough.

As they stood arguing I rolled my eyes and counted to one hundred. Andromeda and Tarric were going to find us soon.

“I vote trying our luck in the hanger,” said Jude.

“I second the vote,” said Bartholomew.

“I really hope you guys know what you are doing. Let’s go,” said Lana.

What a bunch of morons!

I was jostled something terrible on Bart’s shoulder. It made me thankful I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. I stayed as still as I could, not wanting to add to the motion sickness I was having. Part of the reason was Bart’s shoulder blade digging into my diaphragm. I couldn’t breathe properly, nor was the banging into said bone structure helping! Plus the bag limited my air as well. Most of it was now recycled air I was breathing.

The climate quickly shifted to freezing cold and only my jumpsuit kept me warm. It also meant we were outside, on a planet that we knew nothing about, and I had a bag over my head still. I needed to remedy that.

The morons thought my hands were still tied up by the handcuffs. I quickly shook them off and pulled off the cloth bag. I took a big breath and gazed around. It was as dark as when we landed. I doubted we got much sunlight. Grabbing Bart’s arm I twisted it enough to make the lug cry out and drop me. I rolled and stood up in a fighting stance ready for Lana’s fist.

The time before I hadn’t been battling for survival nor had I been anticipating her move. This time I was. I blocked with the side of my palm and let her arm skim off mine. I yanked her hair and forced her away from me, pushing her onto Jude, and stomping off in the opposite direction where I could see some light. I clenched my fists, as I saw how far the light was from me. There was danger lurking in this darkness, and they traipsed without even a flashlight. Dumbasses.