Ranking. pt 4

Trace followed without a word. Alec looked from them to the Reck Room, then walked in. Izzy was inches from Mikes face, and they were both sleeping, or at least Mike was pretending to. Alec counted to ten in his head, then tapped Izzy awake and sat on the table.

“Hey.” He said almost noiselessly.

“Stop yelling.” She said in a scratchy voice. She turned over and faced Mike’s chest. After a few moments he figured she wasn’t going to talk to him. Then he looked to Mike.

“Mike.” He said pushing his knee.

“Just let it be man.” He said without opening his eyes. His head still hurt a lot, and there was no reason to try to explain it to him. At the moment, it just worked.

“No, tell me now.” Alec said louder. Mike and Izzy both cringed a little.

“Well I thought it was self explanatory, we were both sleeping.” Mike said and Izzy smiled. Alec didn’t think it was funny, but he really didn’t see what there was to be mad about. He didn’t like it, but there was really nothing to say. He got up and headed back to the control room. “Izzy, talk now or later?” He asked nudging her with his arm.

“Later.” She pulled the blanket down from the back of the couch, and kicked her shoes off.

“Read my mind.” He said kicking off his shoes.



“Move stuff around with out touching it again please.” She said facing upward. He looked around.

“I can try, but it’s something new that even Alec doesn’t know about yet.” He looked at the counter, and saw an apple in the bowl on the table. The apple flew over and spun over her face, and moved side to side.

“I feel so privileged.” She said grabbing the apple out of the air.

“You should.” He joked. This was weird. The intercom clicked on, and before any one spoke, Izzy and Mike both plugged their ears.

“Guy’s you have about an hour until we land.” Alec almost yelled into the intercom. With a sigh Izzy struggled and got up. The right side of Izzy’s head was sore, and it felt like she had slept on the grates on the hall way floor. She rubbed her face walking toward her room; she might have some pain killers in her bag for her head. Mike went straight to the shower, wake up, and then worry about the searing pain behind his eyes. The hot shower helped with his tension headache, and after he brushed his teeth all that was left to get was clothes. With a sigh he wrapped his giant blue towel around his waist and shuffled toward his room. He walked through Sickbay and down the hallway to his door. As his hand hit his handle Izzy exited her room with a towel, and broke left for the shower. After she turned into Sickbay Mike closed his door. No words were exchanged. Maybe she just didn’t feel good; he knew that when he didn’t feel good he didn’t want to talk with anyone. Why wouldn’t she want to talk with him? Did he do something wrong? Mike couldn’t help but doubt anything that could possibly be considered a move.



Izzy got in a shower after taking some aspirin. The shower seemed to help a lot, but everything was still very loud. She didn’t want to talk to Mike; she didn’t mean to get that close. That was a mistake. She didn’t need to deal with a relationship on top of not dying, which was a big chore all by itself. She convinced herself that all it would do is cause Alec anger, complicate situations off ship, and give someone the chance to make her unhappy. That was a giant list she didn’t want, and no one needed any of that to happen. There was one sentence that constantly ran through her head: It will do no one good.

That is all she repeated to herself every time she tried to think of some way to be more then friends with Mike. Why was she thinking like that anyway? It’s not like they slept together. Well, they did, just not in the way she was thinking of it. The only thing that happened, was both of them fell asleep next to each other on a couch, in the Reck Room, there was no need to think so seriously. Hearing Izzy say something to that extent would put Alec’s mind at ease. After she got out of the shower and got dressed, she headed for the Control Room. As she climbed the ladder, she took a deep breath, and went over the words in her head.

“Hey, Alec?” She paused so he would give her his attention. He motioned toward the co pilot’s chair, and turned sideways so they would have eye contact. “Listen, we were both drunk and we fell asleep on the couch. No romance, no sex, no problems. It wouldn’t do anything positive if we went together anyway.” Izzy said it aloud, and then to herself to convince herself, but she still wondered. Alec seemed relieved, which made her happy. He had taken the past few hours to think about the situation, and had come to a conclusion a while ago. Alec was slightly nervous about saying it, but he spoke anyway.



“Z, after thinking for a while,” he sat back and took a drawn out breath. “If it makes you both happy, and you all can still function in a team, then I’ll be happy with what ever makes you happy.” He said it, but he didn’t mean it. It was the right thing to say, and he knew it, but he also knew that they would not be able to stick to those two conditions. She could tell he didn’t mean it, and him saying that made no difference at all. She glared at him, sending messages of suspicion. He stared back for a few moments, and then cracked under the glare. “Okay, I was just saying it, and I should really mean it, but I don’t. I would probably be pissed at both of you if you hooked up.” Alec spilled everything he was holding back. When he said ‘pissed at you’ she remembered the baby sitting thing. She stood up, and counted to ten. That was something they both agreed that they had to do if they were mad at each other, because they were both hot heads when it came to arguments.

“Listen,” she said angrily, but paused to change her tone of voice. “I know you mean well.” Izzy paused again to control her tone. “But asking people to keep an eye on me is treating me like a child. I don’t appreciate it, and I will not have it happen again. Okay?” She said passing as the tones varied in her voice. Alec had also thought about that. Mike said she could handle herself, so there was no reason for him to continue to ask people to watch her, right? He wasn’t planning on asking anyone again, but was almost happy she had brought it up, so he could explain himself.

“Izzy, I asked Mike to observe and give me his thoughts on if you would last out here, and if he said no, I would have brought you back to the Company. He said you were more qualified then him when he first got on the Star Jumper, so I relaxed a little.” Alec thought of what to say next.

“But he’s a weapons expert. He should always be qualified.” Izzy said very confused.

“Yea, but he had never been on a ship, and the Board had not reviewed his case yet. Did you know that he was not originally from the Company?” Alec asked, and continued without an answer. “They thought he might be a spy, and the only reason they let him on the Star Jumper was that it was a test, he still passes with flying colors.” Alec finished.



“Really? Not originally from the Company? That’s really hard to do. Don’t they normally kill outsiders on the spot if they are found stowed away?” She said questioningly.

“Well when all the people and aliens that had tried to kill him were tied to each other in the back of a truck headed for a Board meeting, they decided to talk with Mike, because he had killed not one of them, and they were all very well trained.” Alec told Izzy stories about Mike. Once Izzy started thinking Mike was an option again, she thought: it will do no one good. Then quickly changed topics.

“What about TJ tell me how he got on the Star Jumper and what makes him so special?” Izzy was very interested in the crew, and Alec’s voice didn’t hurt her head at the moment, in fact it helped. She leaned her chair back and watched the viewing screen. The baby blue lights rocked the ship gently as they talked.

“TJ was that guy who had done every class the Company had, and then some. You remember he was deemed the smartest person not on the Board. They offered him a seat on the Board, but not only did he turn them down, he threw a cup of water at the main lady.” Alec said holding back a laugh. They watched the blue ribbons together and took a moment of silence for everything to set in.

“What did they do?” Izzy asked. She had never heard of someone disrespecting the Board, and didn’t know what they would do.

“There was nothing they could do; he is one of the smartest young minds at the Company. All they could do is take away his privileges.” Alec said with a sigh.

“Lucky him.” She said tiredly.



“Yea, but the thing is they originally turned me down on the Star Jumper proposal. Then TJ had come to the conclusion that the only thing he had left to do is get on a ship. He went into the Board with me, and the Board jumped at any idea that got him away from the Company. They couldn’t get us out of there fast enough. Keep in mind I knew nothing about him, only his name when he introduced him self to the Board.” Alec pointed out, and then continued. “On the way to the ship we saw Mike dragging people to the Board, and I asked TJ if he knew anything about fighting, and he shook his head no. We both looked to Mike who walked into the Board. But before we could ask for Mike to be on the ship, they escorted us all to the Jumper.” He took a breath and looked over to Izzy. She looked like she was sleeping, so he stopped talking to her.

“Keep going I was listening.” She said, without opening her eyes to reassure him.

“So you have about the three least liked people of the Company, all on the same ship, they worried about us taking off and never coming back with their ship. So they put Jake on the ship; he was a lieutenant general in the quote un quote police of the Company. He learned to like us, and ended up being a rookie on the ship. Before then he had only had to deal with paper work, and maybe a person here and there.” Alec explained why the Lieutenant general was almost useless on the ship. “But Mike and TJ taught him everything they already knew, but from the life on a ship. He was a little lost but he got it.” Alec added with another sigh. He wasn’t tired, but he was slightly stressed, the Company had sent a message, which only he and Trace knew about so far. He didn’t know when to tell the rest of the crew. The Company told him that if they absolutely needed the forty-eight hours to take them, but the Company needed their help ASAP. That was never good to hear from the Company, ‘ASAP’. They only said that when something had gone really wrong and they needed help.

“So, what’s going on?” She asked after a few minutes of listening to the rocking of the ship.

“Nothing really, just kind of tired,” He belittled everything. She didn’t need to worry yet.



“I’ll let you get some sleep then.” She turned and looked at the pilot’s chair. “Try going to your room, the chair will hurt your back.” She said getting up. As Izzy slid down the ladder Alec got up and walked past the Co-pilots chair and climbed up the ladder into his room. He was asleep almost instantaneously. Izzy walked down the hallway, TJ was in his lab at the end of the hallway working with his back to the door. He didn’t really care about what was going on with Mike and Izzy; it wasn’t really that big of a deal to him. He was too busy working on Aimee’s upgrades to worry about anything else. He was pretty happy anywhere he was, as long as there was something to learn about. He was busy working on Aimee. She had become an ongoing project, now that he finally had one. Izzy continued down the hallway and into her room. She tossed and turned in bed trying to sleep.

Mike was already asleep across the hall, and planned on staying that way as long as possible, as long as he got an hour of sleep, he should be fine. He had hoped that Trace wouldn’t wake him up for Alec. Trace’s systems showed no one in the Control Room, so she powered up and took the pilots chair. She didn’t want them to veer off course, so if no one was in the Control Room, she would automatically go sit in the pilot’s chair. As might be expected on a forty eight hour break, no one really cared if they were on course or not, they just wanted the free time. Trace was relieved that Alec was finally getting some sleep; she was worried that his lack of sleep might start to affect his leading abilities. She was also worried about TJ, but less than Alec, because he rarely got sleep, and that was the way he liked it. She heard him yell something in frustration as something hit the floor. With a sigh of frustration he picked Aimee’s right leg up off of the floor and set it on the work bench carefully. He continued his rewiring in the boxy silver compartments of her torso.



TJ was getting upset, he couldn’t remember the exact wiring of her defense systems. If he didn’t wire it just right, she could very well kill them all in their sleep. Aimees were supposed to be destroyed because part of their systems allowed them to disobey their owners, and attack the closest living thing. The only way the Aimee was ever destroyed was when it’s small generators wore down and imploded. The power supply was the tricky part, there weren’t enough of them left in the universe, and they were probably all junked by now. He paused and put his wire cutters down. The bench was an overcrowded mess, and he needed to organize both his thoughts and his work space. TJ cleared off the work bench next to him, and moved it perpendicular to the bench with Aimee on it. That would give him some space, but he still needed more. He moved the bench with her blue prints on it to create another side to his work space, if he had one more, he could put it behind him and make a square, which could be perfect. He jogged across the room, and dragged the bench that was slightly curved and lower then the rest over to the set up.



Two hours later Trace pulled them out of slip stream and into Lupis 5. This was not a very good place to be, especially if you worked for the Company. TJ knew of one place that for a price would have what he was looking for, so he had somehow convinced Alec to stop there just for an hour. Trace landed and TJ left the Cargo hold alone, with a very heavy pack. He was moments from the shop he needed to get to, and it was too early in the morning for any of the people of that planet to be up. He turned the corner and entered the well built brick shack. The owner glared at him suspiciously. TJ skimmed the shelves looking for the power supply, and found one that was built like Aimee’s generators, but they were the model after it, guaranteed to last over fifty years longer than the original. That means Aimee would run for well over a hundred years. TJ weighed his options, and picked up the power supply. He was not in Company clothes and didn’t have the logo anywhere. He set the power supply on the counter and handed the suspicious merchant the back pack. The merchant walked away with the back pack without a word, and TJ took the power supply. He jogged back to the ship. Now all he had to do was remember the wiring.

“We ready to go?” Alec asked as TJ entered his lab. Alec was sitting on the bench next to the Aimee.

“Yea, and thanks, that was exactly what I needed.” TJ started working on Aimee as Alec got up.

“No problem, Mike and Izzy needed some sleep anyway.” He said as he left and headed for the Control Room. There were no issues that time, which was a nice change. Normally someone would have gotten stabbed, or something: but not a thing. They took off and went back into slip stream. It was thirty minutes to the Tocar galaxy. Alec just wanted to stop there to let the team get the weapons they wanted for this next assignment, because it might very well be their last. “Trace, could you tell everyone to be in the Control Room, and ready to go in fifteen minutes please?” Alec asked Trace, and she got up and left without saying a word. He took a deep breath and went over what he would say to everyone in his head. This was a big decision, and he wanted all of them to agree, because it was their lives on the line. With a sigh he slid on his vest and zipped the pockets closed. TJ was the first one up in his seat with all of his gear and a back pack near his chair. Trace sat in her station next and continued systems checks. Alec had to wait for Mike and Izzy.

“Hey.” Mike knocked on Izzy’s door. She opened the door and continued with packing her bag. He stood near the door, and leaned against the wall waiting for her to start the conversation.



“Does he always call meetings before getting off the ship?” She asked zipping her pack and tossing it on her bed. She pulled her vest over another white tank top and shoved her feet into her shoes.

“Yea, but something is different about this one.” Mike said, sensing that something was off with Alec for the last twenty five hours.

“How?” She asked pulling her pants over her boots and grabbing her pack. She walked past him, and headed up the ladder.

“I don’t know.” Mike followed her lead. They walked down the hall and went up another ladder into the control room. Izzy sat in the co-pilots chair, and Mike took his seat next to the ladder. Alec took a deep breath and stood up, he had no clue how they were going to react to his questions.

“Guy’s, big decision to make. I won’t make the choice for you, but I’ll tell you all the information I was given. The Company’s offered everyone a free card, literally. If you want an apartment over Central Park for the rest of your days, it’s yours. You want a lab, and tons of stuff to work on, that could be yours too.” He paused and dreaded saying the next part.

“What’s the catch?” TJ asked.

“The Company miscalculated the time it would take for the generators at base to fail. They have a week maximum. Then the dome will die. They have pinpointed a location where the generators they need would be, and want us to go get them.” He said, giving them pieces of information.

“Why don’t they send Armored Fighters?” Mike asked.

“They have, with no returns. No one who has set foot on that planet has gotten off of it. It’s your choice, as your friend, I don’t want you guys to die. As your Captain I don’t want-” Mike cut him off.          

“-I’m in.” He said holding his hand up.

“Sure why not?” TJ added. He had nothing to lose.

“When’ll we get there?” Izzy asked. Alec had never felt the severe mixture of relief and fear before. He had to go no matter what, and he didn’t want to go alone, but he also didn’t want to get anyone on his crew killed. Trace calculated the time difference.

“Two hours in slip stream.” She answered Izzy.

“Listen, guys. We’re in Tocar, get the weapons you are best with, and be back on the ship in two hours.” He said and left with a back pack for the first time. The entire crew followed him out of the Control Room exit; they went down the ramp and separated into town. Mike was trying to find Izzy, he had a lot of time to think about it, and he knew why she was avoiding him. He had thought about how she didn’t want to get attached to any crew members. She had started to like him, and he was sure that she was going to ignore him if it came to that. He didn’t want her to ignore him; he liked her, and at the very least wanted to keep lines of communications open. He watched her disappear around a corner and he tried to follow her. She had ducked into a well covered shack and started looking at the weapons mounted to the wall. Izzy wasn’t a big fan of guns, they were loud, and alerted anyone of where you were. She had what she was good with, and so did Mike.

She was only ducking in to look around and try to lose Mike; she wanted a Mike-free moment or two. Izzy spent an hour ducking into various shops and was sure she had lost Mike by now. All she would tell herself is ‘don’t get attached’ over and over again. She exited one shack and walked through the crowd; she had bumped into someone, mumbled “excuse me”, and kept walking. The alien grabbed her vest and got in her face.



“Watch where you’re going!” His beastly breath almost made her pass out. His hands covered most of her vest and he started to wrench it around her throat. She kicked him in the face and landed on her feet while he fell to the ground.

“I said excuse me.” She spat back at him, and entered the shop across the way. Mike was in that shop, but she couldn’t avoid him forever. She walked up behind him and poked his sides. He jumped and she laughed. “Ticklish?” She said jokingly. He set the blade that he had almost dropped back on the shelf.

“That’s not fair.” He turned and leaned against the shelves to face her. No don’t do that, she thought to her self. He had a way about him that she couldn’t be mad, or even mean to him. She had not changed her mind about him; they would not work as a couple. “Let me guess,” He paused, and she shifted her weight and crossed her arms. “You want space.” He used his hands to quote ‘Space’ and she really wanted to say ‘yea’ and ‘damn straight’ but didn’t. He had expected her to jump at the way out he had set in front of her. She took a chance, and after all they might not be alive in a few hours. She could always find a way out. She started to feed herself scenarios that would work. Suddenly he had become an option again. Even though they weren’t talking, Mike could see her working something out in her eyes. Their radios broke the silence.

“Mike, Izzy, everyone’s ready to go, could you guys come back soon?” Alec asked. Mike answered, leaving Izzy to continue thinking.



“We’re on our way,” he said, keeping his eyes on Izzy. He put the radio back in his pocket and they walked out into the road with Izzy. “So, you going to tell me what you’re thinking?” He asked. The street was way less crowded, and it was quiet. The same Alien that had grabbed her jacket threw a short thin spike from behind and it imbedded itself in her leg evenly. She hopped around on her good leg.          

“Yea: THAT HURT! THAT HURT THAT HURT THAT HURT A LOT!” She screeched and turned around to see who had thrown it. The alien was gone, and no one claimed responsibility for it. Mike held his arm out so she could use it to steady herself. She grabbed his arm, and still hopped from place to place.

“Izzy stop jumping around.” He said grabbing her arm.

“IT HURTS!” She yelled angrily pointed at the spike though her leg.

“Don’t touch it; wait till we get back to the ship.” Mike supported most of her weight and they walked back to the ship.

“No!” She stopped walking and pulled at the metallic green spike. Mike grabbed her hands and pointed.

“Don’t touch.” He kept her hands in his. It wasn’t a life threatening wound, but if she continued to try to pull the spike out, she might lose a lot of blood. “Listen, if you pull it out now, then it’ll hurt more.” He tried to calm her down.

“I’m not stupid, and I’m not panicking. I’m trying to take the spike out, so I can go stab the FUCKER that threw it at me.” She was getting frustrated. He needed to let her go so she could go stab that guy with his own spike.

“Listen, you don’t have to go kill him right this moment, and with the time schedule we’re on-” She had stopped fighting with him, and was just walking.



“Not feeling so good....” She trailed off and lost consciousness. Mike already had his arms around her, from trying to hold her hands. He readjusted her so his arm was around her back, and under her knees. The ship wasn’t far away, but that was weird. The spike couldn’t have done enough damage to make her pass out, and she wasn’t hemorrhaging anywhere, Mike couldn’t figure it out, and needed to have Trace look at her. As he entered the ship he passed TJ on the way to Sickbay.

“Get Trace.” He said almost at a jog. TJ pulled his radio out of his pocket and followed him.

“Trace, Sickbay please.” He said rolling a table over to where Mike stood. “Grab something to elevate her leg.” He said holding her left leg up so the spike wouldn’t hit the table. Mike looked around in confusion. “Grab one of the boxes from the cabinet under the gloves.” He said directing him to boxes. Mike grabbed a box as Trace entered. She sighed and took the box from Mike and tossed it to the floor.

“TJ,” She paused to pull her glove on. “Get a glove.” She paused again to pull the metal spike out of Izzy’s leg. “Don’t touch it with your skin, and keep a cloth around where you’re holding it.” She pulled a wash cloth out from under the table, and wrapped it around the end of the spike. “Test for toxins.” She finished as he started toward his lab.

“Okay.” TJ said from the hall. She looked through the hole in Izzy’s leg.

“She’s gonna love this,” She said sarcastically. “Mike, hold her shoulders.” She said holding a bottle of alcohol and unscrewing the cap all with the same hand. She grabbed a bucket from under the table, emptied the supplies from it and put it under her leg. Trace she poured the alcohol into the hole in her leg and it drained into the bucket. Izzy didn’t move, but she was awake. She clenched the side of the table as hard as she could, held her breath, and stared absently at the ceiling above her. Mike was watching Trace work her magic and noticed that Izzy was awake; well he hoped she was awake, but she wasn’t moving.

“You okay Ace?” He asked, hoping that she would give him the same answer.



“My ego hurts a little.” She said through her teeth. He smiled at her and Trace stopped pouring the alcohol. Izzy took deep quick breaths, and let go of the side of the tables. She faked a smile back as Trace looked for the iodine. TJ jogged back into the room with the spike in hand and papers in the other. He put the paper on the table next to Izzy’s foot, and walked the spike over to the cabinets on the other side of the room. He wrapped the spike with four sheets: two fabric from below the counter and two plastic from the cabinet above the counter, then tossed it in a sealed plastic bag, and then into a box. After taping the box shut he found the iodine for Trace, and grabbed the paper off the table.

“Trace, a word in the hallway?” He asked looking over the paper again. She held one finger up, and opened the cap on the iodine bottle. TJ got frustrated with her and pulled her out by her arm. Izzy’s leg hit the bucket, and she jerked upward. Mike held her down, watched TJ and Trace around the corner with confusion, and didn’t know what to say to Izzy. She stopped fighting to sit up, and stared at the ceiling again. ‘A little longer’ she kept thinking to her self. She wasn’t crying, and she wasn’t showing major signs of being in pain, but she wanted to. Mike could barely see TJ and Trace around the corner, but he couldn’t hear them. This meant that they didn’t even want him to know. Izzy had her hands off the cold metal table for a while, and they started to burn. She held her hands up for both her and Mike to see; they had blue lines jumping every-possible way across her hands. Mike was amazed and didn’t know what he should do to help.

“Trace,” Mike said keeping his eyes on her hands. Trace didn’t enter right away. “Trace!” He said louder. This time he looked out the door, Trace was heading towards the ladder and TJ was coming back into Sickbay with the iodine. “Where’s Trace?” Mike asked relieving pressure from Izzy’s shoulders.



“She’s working on something,” he said opening the cap on the iodine. “Izzy, this is gonna hurt.” He said tilting the bottle toward her leg. Mike still held Izzy’s shoulders, and Izzy put her hands on the cold metal table, that felt good, the cold metal on her burning hands. She didn’t clench the sides of the table, because that would hurt, she just kept her hands at her side, face down on the table. TJ used a good half of the bottle, and Izzy couldn’t help but cry. Once he finished pouring the iodine, he capped the bottle, dumped the bucket into the deep sink, and ran really hot water. TJ grabbed the synger from underneath the table Izzy was on. “Listen, did you touch the spike with any part of your body that wasn’t covered by Company cloth?” TJ asked looking at her leg. “Where do you have shorts?” He paused and guessed

“In your room?” TJ asked, knowing that those pants had the toxin on them, and she couldn’t go any where and take them off because it might spread the toxin.  Mike remembered the spike cutting his arm as he readjusted Izzy, and looked at his arm for the first time. Mike held out his arm, and Izzy held out her hands. TJ stopped talking and looked up. He expected to see something from Izzy, but not from Mike. “God,” He wiped the table under Izzy’s leg with a wet wipe and set her leg down carefully. “Mike, over here.” TJ pulled a rolling table over and motioned for Mike to sit. Mike followed and did as he was told.

“Top shelf in my locker, there are boxers.” She finally answered through her teeth.

“Why do I have to sit?” Mike asked pulling off his vest, and rolling up his sleeve. TJ looked at the small cut on his sleeve and remembered how quickly the toxin could spread.

“Shirt too.” He said grabbing a sheet and holding it out for him to put his shirt in. Mike took his shirt off and tossed it into the sheet.

“Not that bad, is it?” Mike asked. TJ shot him a worried glance as he wrapped the shirt and put it on the counter.



“Go get Izzy’s shorts please.” He asked sending him off. “Don’t touch anything with your arm!” He yelled after him as he left. “All right,” he turned back to Izzy, who still had her hands up. “Izzy, I have to cut that part of your pants off, so you don’t rub the toxin down your leg.” He said finding the scissors on the shelf under Izzy’s table. She nodded, so he knew that she had heard him. He was speaking very calmly, but he was over explaining things. What was so wrong that it had everyone working as fast as possible? All Izzy could do is lay there and think about everything. Mainly all she thought about was how much her hands hurt, and how stupid she looked holding them up. TJ cut her pants up the side of her leg a few inches past the wound, and then cut around her leg. After pulling her pant leg away and carefully setting it on the sheets at the edge of the table, he quickly synged her leg. A few moments later Alec dragged Mike in.

“In and out of consciousness.” He said pulling him onto the table. Mike had Izzy’s boxers in hand.

“Did you touch his arm? Or let his arm touch anything?” TJ asked. He knew they had forgotten something. They didn’t tell Alec what was going on. Alec shook his head no as Mike started to move.

“Hey TJ, on the way down the ladder, I put my arm on the side and slid down, then I rubbed my arm all over your door handle, and all over Aimee.” He mumbled and handed the boxers to TJ.

“Always got to be a pain.” TJ joked unenthusiastically and took the boxers. He tossed a sheet over Izzy and tossed her boxers next to her hands. She painfully changed under the sheet, while TJ worked on Mike. “Mike, up, gotta talk to me,” He said grabbing the bucket out of the sink, the alcohol and the iodine. As TJ set the bucket under his arm he uncapped the alcohol bottle.

“Anything I can do to help?” Alec asked watching him work quickly. TJ knew he was forgetting something, he looked around and everything seemed to be in order. Then he looked back at Mike.

“Yea, go tell Trace Mike got cut by the spike too.” He remembered that Mike wasn’t human and needed different anti-toxins then Izzy. Alec left Sickbay and TJ started pouring alcohol. After he synged Mikes arm, he went to the cabinet across the room, and found another air tight bag. He tossed the sheets with Mike’s shirt and Izzy’s pants into the bag, then sealed it and tossed it in a different box, and taped it. He looked back over to Izzy who was now crying and had her hands in the air again. “Izzy, I’m not sure how to handle your hands. Do they burn or sting?” he asked trying to find some way to comfort her until Trace got back.

“Burn.” Her tears streamed as her teeth clattered.

“Let me get you some ice, and go talk to Trace, okay?” he asked going to the freezer. He put an ice pack on both sides of her and laid her hands on them carefully. Then he headed down to his lab. Izzy stayed still and tried to stop crying. She looked over to Mike who was on a table about four feet from her. He was awake and quiet as well, she wondered if he hurt everywhere like her. She felt like she had tons of small needles stuck everywhere. Her hands were feeling a lot better, but they still hurt.

“I told you not to touch it.” He said still staring at the ceiling.

“Don’t start.” She didn’t need to get into a fight with him.



“Told you so.” He mumbled again. A few minutes of uncomfortable silence passed. “Do you hurt a lot? Cause I hurt all over.” He asked trying to sit up. He got a few inches off the table then laid back down.

“Sadly.” She answered. “After this I want to get some sleep.” She said. If she was going to be stuck in the same room as him she was going to start a conversation.

“No need for me to be well rested before I die.” He said thinking of the next assignment. “Not so I can be well rested. So I don’t get hurt, cause anytime I’m not sleeping, I seem to get hurt.” She explained.

“Yea and you’re taking me down with you.” He joked. He was getting hurt more now that she was on the ship and they were hanging out. “I blame you.” He continued.

“That’s funny, I was going to say the same thing.” She said holding her hands off the ice for a moment. There it was again, another awkward silence. “So if you do survive the assignment, what are you going to do?” She decided to look on the bright side of things. Mike thought about it for a few moments.

“Nice apartment over Central Park and the choice of assignments to go on. Maybe a small weapons shop.” He described what would work the best for him. “How about you?” He asked.

“Get on another Star Jumper.” She put her hands back on the ice packs.

“You don’t want a happy ending?” He asked in amazement, he thought every girl wanted a happy ending.



“Happy endings are stories that just ain’t finished yet.” She shrugged. “That and I like the time with my brother, who I’m sure would want to keep his spot on this Jumper.” She added so she seemed less cold hearted. TJ came back in with a sulky look on his face. Mike watched him, that wasn’t good.

“Trace says soak your hands in alcohol, then iodine. Then...” he trailed off. “Put pressure on them with dry wash cloths after each one.” He knew it would be painful.

“Just take the hands,” She said seriously. Mike smiled.

“Oh come on, where’s the pain tolerance?” Mike asked laying very still.

“Tolerating you.” She joked as TJ helped her sit up. He felt really bad about making her do this, but it was the best way to give her the use of her hands, and the quickest. He put two buckets in front of her and emptied an alcohol bottle into one, and an iodine bottle into the other. “Do I really have to? Can’t you just cut my hands off and synge my nubs?” She asked waving her hands. He found that funny and smiled. She was not looking forward to this. “I’m dead serious,” She said as he pulled four dry wash cloths from under the table. He knew exactly how serious she was.

“Look on the upside; you should pass out from the pain quickly.” TJ held her wrists and waited for her to give him the signal. She took one deep breath and nodded. He pulls both of her hands down into the alcohol and she screeched in agony. Trace entered as TJ put pressure on her hands. She walked over to Mike with a syringe in hand.  She gave him a shot and turned around to face Izzy with the second syringe. She still kept a solid screech that Alec could hear from the Control Room. TJ relieved pressure and put her hands on the ice packs quickly. “Trace I can’t do that to her again.” TJ walked away from her. He didn’t cause people pain, he didn’t like it, and he couldn’t do it again. Trace took his spot on the other side of the table. Izzy trembled as Trace gave her the shot.



“Listen just once more, then you are done, a few layers of protective ‘new skin’ and then you’re set to go.” Trace tried to make it seem less overwhelming. Izzy still shook, but held her hands out for Trace. Mike even had issues watching her, but he didn’t have a choice. He still hurt, but it gradually started to fade away long after Trace had finished working on Izzy’s hands. She still sat up, with her hands on the ice packs, which were now cool, and liquid.

Everything had been cleaned up and sterilized. Alec agreed that they both needed at least two hours of sleep before the assignment, so as they exited slip stream, he put them in orbit and got some sleep himself. Trace stayed in the Control Room while everyone, even TJ slept. Trace gave them all three hours, and didn’t tell Alec, because she knew that he needed sleep as much as Izzy and Mike did. TJ was the first one up, followed by Alec, then by Mike and Izzy. They all sat in the Control Room. Mike hadn’t put a shirt on, and Izzy didn’t change out of her boxers. No one really cared, because they all knew that they were both still kind of out of it.

“So, when I say don’t touch....” Mike faded off and made fun of her as she passed.

“I throw it at you.” She smiled and continued to her seat. He was being a jerk, so she would be a jerk right back. Alec stood up and waited for everyone to be quiet. This might be his last little talk before they got off the ship, but he didn’t want to admit it. Everyone quieted down and wanted to hear what he was going to say.



“Trace is going with us, she has the most information about the planet and we need all the people we have.” He paused. He found that ironic that the one time he really wanted to give them a hard-nosed speech he really didn’t have any thing to say. “Just watch out for each other like you always do, and at all costs stick together.” He had nothing more to say. “Get ready and meet in Cargo hold in ten minutes.” He dismissed them all. Everyone went to their rooms’ to get into full gear. There was thin under armor that no one ever put on under their gear that was just now being pulled out of their lockers. Izzy had gloves that protected her hands even more then usual. TJ pulled weapons he had invented out, and grabbed what would be useful. Trace was gearing up for the first time, and was sure that TJ had put in the Emo-chip for being nervous, and that was a chip she could do without. Alec was ready to go, he was just piloting to the planet’s surface. TJ knocked on Izzy’s door, with two cases in hand. She zipped her vest, grabbed her blades and guns, and answered her door.

         “Hey.” She said, surprised that it was TJ and not Mike.

“Here, I have something for you.” He motioned triumphantly for her to accompany him to his lab. She followed him to his lab, and he held the smallest case up first. She wondered what could be so important, and so small. The case reminded her of a bike handle, but flat and slightly thicker. He slid the case off, and it still looked like a bike handle. A very expensive, shiny, bike handle. TJ held both flat sides and angled it downward. A curved blade shot out and guarded his knuckles. “It is made of some foreign metal that can cut through bone.” He paused to slide a piece out of the handle, like a cigar out of it’s container. Another blade shot out of that handle and guarded the knuckles on that hand too. “You have to be careful with them,” He handed her them facing away. “I had cut my self a few times, and....” He faded into silence as she spun the blades and tossed them around paying close attention to her hands. “They withstood everything I have thrown at them, I couldn’t find anything that would do them damage.” He explained. She threw both of them up as their blades shot in, as they landed in her hands she slid the two pieces back together and TJ handed her the case.



“I like it.” She slid it into the case. There were tons of things she could use these for; she started running scenarios in her head.

“This is one of my favorites, it has a lot of different uses.” He pulled what looked

like half of a black pool stick out of its case.

“A metal stick?” She said skeptically. He squeezed a button and one end shot out to become a spear. He spun it around as he talked.

“Not just a metal stick, this end.” He paused to point it at her. “Sharp object, which can withstand two thousand tons of pressure.” He squeezed the stick again and the point retracted. “But this end, more or less a super-duper wing-ding tractor beam.” He said jokingly. She smiled; it was funny to hear one of the Company’s brightest engineers to say “super-duper” with a straight face. “Maybe not that awesome, but it will go through almost anything. All powerful laser, and behead people and stuff. Way cool.” He was in the mood to joke. He pointed the end of the stick at the heavy slab of foreign metal across the room, and twisted half of the stick clockwise. He drew a smiley face, then turned it off and handed to her.

“I would say super-duper wing ding tractor beam.” Izzy slid that into her empty side holster next to her gun. “Thanks TJ.” She said.

“Can I borrow Izzy for a moment?” Mike appeared in the door way.

“Yea,” TJ continued to get ready. Izzy now followed Mike into his room. As the door closed there was a small blue light on in the corner. His room looked different than hers. Hers had the basics in it that were almost put together; his was well kept, and darker. The blue light didn’t bother his eyes at all, and it was the compromise. He took off his goggles and jumped on to his bed.



“So.” She said. Izzy didn’t know what he was going to say, but she could tell it was going to be an interesting conversation.

“Why are you so confusing?” He asked grabbing the ball off his shelf next to his bed and bouncing it off his wall.

“Why are YOU so confusing?” She asked. It was a fair question. She had made up her mind about him over and over again, but she couldn’t stick to it when he was around. That bothered her; she was always able to stick with it, but not with him.

“Clarify.” He was confused. There was a lot of confusion, but they got what each other was saying.

“It’s not fair.” She grabbed the ball out of mid air. Mike put his hands down and waited for her to throw the ball.

“Life’s not fair.” He pointed out and waited for her to throw the ball back to him. She was not ready to give up that easy.

“It should be.” She mumbled after a few moments and tossed the ball back to him. He continued throwing the ball against the wall and waited for her to feel sufficiently awkward.



“So how do you honestly feel about me?” He figured being direct with her, and she might return the courtesy. What the hell was he talking about? She thought to herself. How was she supposed to answer that? What was that supposed to mean? She couldn’t think of an answer that she would say aloud. He had realized that had probably thrown her off and felt a little guilty. “Here, I’ll be totally honest with you. You’re weird, not in a bad way, you’re just hard to figure out. You’re great at fighting, and I know you’re not as cold hearted as you try to be. There aren’t visible complexes..” He tried to keep the conversation light. “I like you, a lot, and I don’t know what would happen. If you would end up killing me in my sleep one night or something strange, but hey, why not?” He wasn’t going to put any pressure on her, he just wanted to know. She took a deep breath.

“Well.” She paused. Should she tell him that she couldn’t stop thinking what if?  Should she tell him that she didn’t want to date him because she didn’t want to get hurt again? That she thought if she trusted him he would screw it up.  “I like you too.” That was it, that was all she was going to say about it. That was enough admitting stuff today. Mike was happy with the answer; he didn’t think he was going to get that out of her. He wasn’t going to push his luck, and just left it at that.

“That’s all I wanted to know.” He said smugly. She hadn’t even wanted to say that. She sat against the wall and reevaluated her decision. He rubbed around his eyes where the goggles constantly sat.

“That’s not fair, I can’t see you.” She said trying to adjust her eyes.

“I can see you.” He looked on the bright side. Well it wasn’t technically the bright side, it was the dark side, but it was more comfortable for Mike.

“That’s not creepy, overbearing, psycho stalker vibes or anything.” She joked and stood up.

“If you think of me as a stalker than we already have issues.” He still threw the ball against the wall.



“Everyone: Cargo hold.” Alec came over the intercom. Everyone hurried to grab final weapons and get down to the Cargo hold. Mike and Izzy were on the right; Alec was next to Izzy then Trace and TJ. They all aimed their guns at the dropping cargo hold entrance. There was nothing there and there was no light on the planet. It was pitch black. “Mike, Trace, you’re our eyes.” Alec said as the door shut behind them. Mike took his goggles off and looked around. Nothing but sand. Sand hills and ditches, no beings, no plants, and no signs of any Armored Fighters.

“This way.” Trace switched on her night vision and looked around. She had programmed the very path they had to take to get to the generators, which were supposed to be in an abandoned underground warehouse. Trace continually scanned for life forms, but none showed up on her radar. They came to a gigantic hill, and at the base of the hill there was a well built building that looked like an airplane hanger. “That’s not supposed to be there.” She halted at the sight of the building. Mike peered down at the building with her.

“What do you mean it’s not supposed to be there? Buildings don’t just appear out of nowhere. Someone has to build them.” TJ said walking toward her voice.

“There was nothing but sand recorded here.” She continued forward down the hill with the team. “Alec, this is your call. What do we do?” She asked as they reached the doors.

“All for going into the creepy building?” He said raising his hand. He remembered no one could see him but Mike and Trace. “I have my hand up.” He said explaining what he was waiting for.

“I” TJ said without raising his hand.

“Me too.” Izzy added.

“Sure, why not?” Mike shrugged. There was a point that no one wanted to say: no one had returned from this planet. Why would they be so special?

“Trace?” Alec asked. He hadn’t heard her say anything.



“Your call.” She said putting her hand on the door handle. Mike was standing directly in front of the door, with weapon drawn. Trace opened the door from behind and let bright cold light spill into Mike’s eyes. He fell back covering his eyes, and making a noise resembling a panther howl. Izzy motioned for them to continue in, and she would help Mike quickly. She took his goggles out of his pocket and helped him stand as he put them on. He shook his head in discomfort and walked toward the door. Izzy followed him in and they met up with the rest of the crew. One of the Rathen patrol officers had spotted them, and tracked them from their ship. It hadn’t seen the ship, but there were intruders on the planet. He had information and went to tell his Captain.

“Alec, we have problems.” TJ looked over the walls lined with generators.

“What problems?” He yelled motioning toward the rows and rows of generators. This was way better than the Company had said. They told them there were maybe five left, and that once they brought three back, their agreement went into action.

“We can only move one at a time, and the Star Jumper will only hold four of ‘em.” TJ pulled out his hand held and started calculating.

“We need to move three not four, three is one less than four, so we bring back three, tell them congratulations we saved the dome again, and to send a Cargo Ship in with a few Armored Fighters.” Alec held up the right amount of fingers for each number.

“We have a bigger problem,” Trace paused for their attention. “There is a meteor shower, and if we don’t ship off in an hour, we’re here for at least a day.” She hadn’t checked the weather before they landed. She normally checked while everyone was gearing up.



“Let’s get a move on. We get one on the ship; get out of the rock version of dodge ball, radio the Company, tell them what’s happening and how well we’re doing.” Mike suggested. TJ pulled a few thick metal plates out of his back pack and set them around the generator. Green lights shot from one to another creating a platform for the generator to sit on comfortably. The entire crew watched him, because they really couldn’t do anything else.

“Izzy, could you make the door bigger?” TJ asked motioning toward the empty wall with a door misplaced on it. She took the pole from next to her side arm, and made a rather big hole in the wall. TJ, Trace and Alec were the first ones out, Mike and Izzy brought up the rear. As they were leaving, they swore they could hear English, but not like they spoke, very proper English. Neither one of them said anything, because it was so faint, and they were already on their way back to ship. There was no need to panic anyone. As time counted down, They picked up pace from a quick walk to a flat run. As they got closer and closer to the ship, Trace turned the running lights on so they could see the cargo door opening.

“I need help Mike, Alec,” TJ started closing the door.

“Izzy, Trace, get us out of here double time,” Alec said grabbing the generator with Mike and TJ. Trace and Izzy sprinted out of the Cargo hold, through simulation; through the Reck Room, up a ladder, past Sickbay and up another ladder into the control room. Izzy jumped over the control panel and into the pilot’s seat.

“Powering up,” she paused to turn the Star Jumper on. “Shield at full,” Izzy continued a quick check list. “Rockets?” She asked Trace, who was sitting at Mike station.