Ranking. pt 1

            Alec, Mike, TJ, and Jake all stood back to back, trying to fight off their latest attackers. Alec, the Captain of the team, was doing okay. There were a few key moments where if he hadn’t shot one of these creatures, they would have hit him. Though they were knee high and looked fairly harmless, they were less than friendly. Some of these greenish-brown monsters had bright purple bamboo-like sticks. If the team had time to think about what they looked like, they would have been like little mud-covered pillagers. One of the little creatures swung from a bright green vine dangling from the towering trees above, and landed on Mike. He took the butt of the gun from under his arm and knocked the creature off his shoulder as it attempted to stab him. As the little pillager fell from his shoulder and toward TJ, it managed to drive the sharpened purple bamboo rod into TJ’s left arm. TJ retaliated by stuffing the creature under his shoe and stomping repeatedly.

          “Trace, get the Jumper down here Now!” Alec yelled into the radio attached to his vest. The horrible ear piercing screeches the creatures made covered any chance of hearing the command through anyone else’s radio. Alec, TJ and Mike saw that Jake had been separated from the firing square and moved toward him in effort to stay together. Jake was not doing well at all; he was almost totally separated from the group. The creatures saw him as the weak link, and flocked toward him. He frantically tried to fend the creatures off of him to no avail. Jake stood perfectly still as the bamboo spear ripped through the Company vest and lodged itself evenly on each side of his body. Alec and TJ grabbed the shoulders of Jake’s vest and dragged him toward where Trace was landing the Star Jumper. Mike still shot at the creatures that dared to follow, making it easier for Alec and TJ to get to the Star Jumper. The Cargo bay door opened because it was the closest to them and they jogged in.

          “Trace to Sickbay! Mike, here.” Alec yelled into his radio. Mike jumped behind Alec and took the shoulder of the vest as Alec sprinted towards the ladder to the control room. Jake was non responsive, so all Mike and TJ could hear were their own boots hitting the grated floors: Clank, Clank, Clank, over and over again. Alec jumped over the control panel and into the Captain’s chair. He wanted them off of that planet and out of the Kydonian galaxy as fast as possible. From the Control Room he could hear Trace in Sickbay rambling commands and everyone shuffling back and forth. For an Android, Trace was well equipped because of all the upgrades TJ had given her.

She was modified, but not able to make magic. Trace’s frantic upset voice died down after about a half hour. Alec could no longer hear Trace, or anyone for that matter. He reluctantly got up and walked around the control panel and toward the metal ladder. He walked lightly to the door of Sickbay, wondering what he would find. Trace was at the sink washing something with force; she seemed upset, but that was another chip TJ had put in. Mike sat on the counter with his head leaning against the cabinet behind him, arms at his side, with the feeling of dead weight.

          TJ sat against the wall synging the circular stab wound on his left arm. Synging was the new stitch.  It burned the skin back together seamlessly. The quiet buzzing of the synger was no comparison to the sound of that planet. It felt like moments ago the ear piercing screeches echoed through their ears, and no one had said anything since. Mike almost fell to the side, but caught himself inches from where his face would have met the counter. All Alec could focus on was the white sheet stained with blood that was draped over Jake’s dead body. He was the first crew member they lost, ever. For a crew that worked at the Company that was damn good. The crews at the Company lasted two, maybe three years, and lost at least one crew member every three months or so. This particular Star Jumper had kept its original crew for four and a half years, making them somewhat legendary. They all were really good friends, and didn’t think they would ever have to dock at the Company for a new crew member. Alec didn’t want to break the silence; it seemed to be a good thing for everyone. He looked around his crew and saw exactly what he feared. They looked like a broken crew, no longer capable of anything. This didn’t look like them at all.

      “Meeting in the Control Room in ten.” Alec walked away without waiting for recognition. What was he going to say to them? Would he have to use the Company prepared speech that they had given him? Did he even still remember the speech? Who would replace Jake? Would they fit in? Would the crew reject the new person because they weren’t Jake? Alec could only hope for the best, but he thought the worst. He sat in the pilot’s chair waiting for everyone to enter. As Trace entered and sat in her station, he closed the viewing window on the front wall of the Star Jumper. She had already prepared Jake’s body, and it was in an air tight coffin like tube, waiting to be sent off into space. The Company didn’t bury the dead, honestly, because there wasn’t enough space. Alec was amused with this concept: not enough space. Space was endless, there were still undiscovered galaxies, and space was already very big, how could there be ‘not enough space’? TJ entered second, rubbing the freshly synged area of his arm.

        He was the technician of the ship, and was good at electronics, medical necessities, and anything he could build or modify. For someone who had been on this crew for almost half a decade, and was as smart as he was, he still seemed like a newbie. TJ had a few lose screws upstairs but was harmless. He had accomplished so much at the Company, even though he was socially slow, that they had run out of things for him to fix. They had given him the choice of what he wanted to do. That’s when he had met Alec. Alec was next in line to the Board, to ask for his own Star Jumper because he had fulfilled all the requirements to get a crew. TJ had over heard the rejection the Board gave him and on Alec’s way out he confronted him. TJ helped convince the Board that Alec was more then qualified to run a Star Jumper, and to prove his confidence in him, he would be on the new crew, if it made the Board feel any better at all. After a few moments of consideration, they approved TJ’s idea, and Alec got his crew. The two started toward simulation, and that’s where they had found Mike. Mike was training a few people in some weapons handling and hand to hand combat. Alec wanted him on the crew for his expertise. TJ and Alec had not had a lot of weapons training and needed a combat expert on the ship.

          Mike was the weapons expert, if it could hurt someone, he knew how and what you needed to do; it seems like a job for slackers, but at the Company there were classes and museums for this type of thing. Mike also wasn’t human. He looked human, except for his eyes; they were all black with a silvery emerald green constantly swirling through them. The only problem was his eyes couldn’t have any light at all. It was also one of his strengths because he had twenty/twenty vision in the dark. He had these glasses that were almost goggles, and if anyone remembered, they would remind them of Cyclops from X-men. But earth was long gone, after World War Five. Mike has never been to his home planet, he thinks. Well it was a safe assumption because he had no clue where his home planet was. He didn’t call it home anyway, he grew up at the Company, so the Company was home. He had learned two languages besides the one from his previous planet, and English which wasn’t a necessity thanks to the translators put in everyone’s ear. He also knew a decent amount of the language from planet PXJ18V in the Donietroit galaxy.

          Trace was the android of the ship; she wasn’t technically part of the team because she came standard with the ship. Every crew had one; they didn’t look the same but they were basically robots. TJ had requested that she be let out of her contract to the ship, so he could modify her and make her systems better. The Board allowed TJ to do this because he was their best technician. He had spent almost all of his money on her upgrades because the Company wouldn’t pay for his experiments. TJ put a year of planning in to Trace’s components and another two years to actually install them. He still wasn’t done. She was now capable of anything a human could do, and doing most of it better. She still hooks into the ships communication system and uploads everything the Company knows about everything, she still acted as the android. That was a regulation, so each team had a walking library with them at all times. No one saw Trace as just an Android; she had saved all of their lives, at least once. She was part of the team, and because of all the Emo-chips TJ had put in she was a friend as well.

          “Okay,” Alec sighed. Mike took his seat as Alec stood, and looked behind his chair to the crew, then to the empty co-pilot’s chair next to him. He had almost sat down to wait for Jake. “Jake knew the risks when he signed on. We all did. He saw phenomenal stuff that would probably save someone’s life at the Company some time soon. His life was cut short; but we aren’t dead, and we have a job, unless you want to find another place to call home. The Company is the next stop-” he couldn’t continue with the prepared speech, this wasn’t some little thing; one of their best friends was dead. “-Listen guys, we didn’t know what we were going into and we all had problems down there, but I know that each and every one of us did everything we could. So I know we couldn’t change the outcome if we tried. We have to head back to the Company, and try to be nice to the newbie, especially if you remember how it felt.” Alec sighed and looked around for responses.

          “Alec, spare us the lectures. We all know exactly what you’re going to say, and don’t worry, no one will be mean to the newbie, right?” TJ asked and looked to Mike.

        “Things happen.” Mike tried to make Alec feel better too. After all, Jake was friends with everyone on the ship. Alec sat down and felt a little better about going back to the Company. Plus he would get to see his little sister. He opened the viewing screen and looked out to the icy black wall with little twinkles of hope scattered across it. Trace pressed a little purple button on the far left side of her control panel. She sat directly in the back of the control room. Jake’s body shot into the distance and glided carelessly away from the ship. Everyone sighed in attempt to keep themselves calm. Even Trace was upset, or that was what she thought she was feeling after TJ put another Emo-chip in her. Alec looked to the mini control panel on his left arm rest. With a sigh set up slip stream. An icy blue line ripped across the middle of the viewing screen and sucked them in. They would have four hours to wait before they could exit slip stream near the Company. “I’m going to get some sleep while I have the chance.” Mike did not want to sit there for four hours in ear splitting silence, so he got up and left.

        “Sounds good.” TJ jumped at the reason to leave, they each got up and slid down the ladder on Trace’s left. Alec sighed once more, and leaned the Captain’s chair back so it was a little more comfortable. The baby blue lines that jerked the ship side to side seemed comforting to Alec. The ships compensation systems made the jerking back and forth feel like gentle rocking. Trace pulled a retractable cord from her Company vest and plugged it in to the control panel in front of her. She was informing the Company of everything that had happened and the next plan of action. The only thing the Company had to say was that the crew had held the record for the least deaths on a Star Jumper. They should hope no one beats their record or they would not get paid as much as they do now. Trace was very annoyed with the Company and after they had heard everything, she got up and stomped toward the ladder in frustration. With nothing else to do she went to her room, and shut down to conserve power and avoid people.

      Mike was unable to get any sleep and gave up after about ten minutes. He headed down a floor and into simulation. There was always something to do there. As he entered, TJ was half in the wall and tangled in wires. The touch screen above him was off and he seemed to be working on the system. There was a wall panel discarded about five feet from the tangled mess, Mike figured it would be a while and thought it best to read a book instead. He didn’t want to bother TJ while he was working, because TJ hated that. He had made it very clear when Alec interrupted him while he was working on Trace and almost blew her up. Mike stepped over the separator between the Reck Room and the hallway, and turned right into his room. The small shelf in his closet held a dozen dusty, worn books. He ran his finger across the spines of all the books and pulled out a little red book that was extremely thick. He tiredly swung his hand at the light switch from across the room, and it turned off. He could do that when he was at emotional extremes, move objects small distances. He slid the goggles off and rubbed where the goggles constantly sat. Mike sat in the dark reading.

      As the icy blue line spit them out, Alec sat up. They were already gliding toward the Company and the docks. The Company always looked deserted from that distance, but it was still unsettling to Alec. The tall cold metal buildings sunk into the large cement docks that surrounded it. The defense systems were nearly invisible and only let in Company ships. The crew had only found this out when they tried to land an alien ship on the docks. They blew up at the dome, and barely survived. As they got closer he could see the different ships scattered across the thousands of docks on this side of the Company. The ground crew started popping up like ants near the landing towers. The Company sprang to life as the Star Jumper was navigated to one of the nine hundred empty docks. There were a few different types of ships docked, which was unusual, and as Alec landed at dock K six hundred and twenty nine, he saw what looked like Izzy about ten docks down, in exploring gear.

      “We’re here, you have about an hour to walk around, see you in simulation.” Alec said quickly as he exited the hatch in the Control Room. He was eager to see his little sister, how she was doing, and if she had met anyone for him to interrogate. He had a bit of a protector complex over her, but she didn’t mind considering they only docked every six months so the Company can check the crews’ status and replenish the ships supplies. Alec stepped off the ship and looked to his left where he had seen Izzy, and started walking. Maybe he was just seeing things, because Izzy wasn’t cleared to be on a ship, so there would be no reason for her to be anywhere near the docks or in the gear given to explorers. He was tired, that could have caused him to see things. Alec started making excuses.

      Izzy leaned against the Armored Fighter in pain and looked to the number under her feet. “Need...” She paused to breathe. “Need medic to K six-one-five.....” Izzy sank down the side of her ship. She took her thumb and slid what was left of the supposedly indestructible vest off on to the pavement. The strings and Velcro scattered randomly near the neck line of the vest. She stood herself up straight in spite of the pain, fumbled toward the toolbox on wheels and dropped onto it, almost sliding off. The only thing that kept her from passing out was that Alec appeared from around the edge of her ship and caught her as she almost slid off of the tool box again. “Hey.” She faked a smile and prayed he wouldn’t yell. She gripped the side of the tool box and locked her elbows so she could support her own weight. Alec still had his arm stretched, inches away from hers, in case she fell again.

      “Izzy-” Alec cut himself off. “You-” he did it again and took a deep breath. “What happened?” He finally found the words and asked. They glanced at the two medics rushing towards them. She still supported her own weight, but couldn’t speak. Alec took a deep breath and looked at her wounds. They were blackened with something: not dirt, but something that was slowly eating away at her skin. The lacerations were thick and deep, some wider then his thumb; they weren’t taken care of. Izzy was sure to hide the Captain’s arm plate on her left arm; Alec would definitely flip about that. The male medic pulled Alec away as Amber cut Izzy’s shirt up the side and Izzy held the front of it so the shirt draped over her arm plate. The male of the pair stood in front of Izzy, and kept her from falling forward. He was careful not to touch her shoulders or neck, so he wouldn’t move what charred skin she still had. The female of the pair pulled a large bottle of alcohol out of her medic kit and looked at Izzy’s back.

      “This is gonna hurt.” Amber said and placed her hand carefully on her shoulder. Izzy screeched until the bottle was empty.

      “Mackenzie, a few more minutes.” The man read the name printed on her vest discarded on the cement. She clutched the side of the tool box with everything she had. Amber pulled a bottle of iodine out of her pack and grabbed Izzy’s shoulder again. Izzy attempted to yell again but her voice was gone, either that or it was at such a frequency that human ears couldn’t hear it. Alec stood and watched in awe, he had never seen his sister hurt before. She had always taken care of him, he was the one that was hurt, not her, and she was taking it well. The iodine bottle was now empty, and the medics stood in a swirling puddle of brown and rose red. The male and female started synging quickly. The male of the pair synged all the upward slashes and Amber, downward. The mangled puzzle pieces of skin quickly turned back into a smooth sheet. There was one deep thick laceration that went from her tail bone, up and over her shoulder, then to her chin. “Last one.” The male still supported her weight.

        “Sorry Izzy, he’s new.” Amber finally started speaking. She knew Izzy from the simulation room. Izzy nodded and wiped her face of the dirt lined tears.

        “You know her?” Her partner asked.

        “Yea, so shush and let me finish,” She started synging from the tail bone. Izzy took a sharp breath and held it. All she could think is: almost done, almost done. Amber walked around front and the male backed away. “She’s full human, grab a syringe.” Amber told the man and he opened his yellow bulky case. “Izzy,” she paused for a response. “Izzy.” She said a little more urgently. “Mackenzie look at me now!” She barked, and Izzy looked up tiredly. “Start talking to me please. Tell me what happened.” She needed Izzy to be totally responsive. Izzy threw her a pleading look, begging her to allow silence. “Well?” She asked as she finished synging and took her hand held out of her orange vest. Izzy was determined not to cry about her crew.

        “Alright, let me start from the beginning because my brother” she paused to nod toward Alec. “Will want to know that too.” She stopped again to take her first easy breath in days. “Little over three months ago I took a crew to explore this new galaxy a ship had sent a signal from. My team was two weapons experts, a field medic, an android that was built for safety measures, and me.” She paused to take another almost painless breath. “We got onto the planet and everything got blurry, I heard the android taking count of who was still left, and it was me. As she stood over me she was suddenly gone too.” Izzy slid off the tool box and to her feet. She took another painless breath and it felt unexplainably good. She had almost forgotten how that felt, because for the last three days every time she breathed she moved the ribbons of flesh and felt massive agony.

        “I got back on the ship, brought something extra by accident. It’s dead in there.” She pointed to the exterior cargo hold on the ship. The male stuck her arm and gave her the clear liquid. “Ouch,” she said half heartedly and continued. “I radioed to anyone at all who could hear me, if they had responded I would have gone back for them. I swear. but it was totally silent.” Izzy still held the sopping remnants of her shirt over her arm plate, and chest.

        “Okay, you’re clear to get on another ship, but not as a Captain. We were instructed to give you this,” she paused to give her a hand full of silver wings. “And take your arm plate. The wings won’t go onto the same piece of fabric as another, so the next set will be different. The new crew will be here in an hour.” Amber informed Izzy. The little silver wings reminded her of the wings on the shoes of the messenger god Hermes. Alec stood up in shock as Izzy moved the shirt so the medic could shut down the arm plate and take it off. The medic punched in the shut down code that only they knew, and slid the arm plate off. Two little drops of blood appeared five inches from one another up her arm. Izzy wiped the blood off and the medics packed up and left the same way they came.

      “So let the yelling begin.” Izzy was still happy to be taking painless breaths. Alec didn’t yell, he got up and hugged her. This was strange to her, but he wasn’t yelling, so she wasn’t going to ask. Alec wasn’t yelling partly because he had lost only one crew member and it hurt a lot. She had lost her entire crew, including the android. He suddenly realized that she was cleared to get on another ship. That scared him.

      “You ever take another crew, I’ll kill you myself.” He said still hugging her. What he really would have said was something along the lines of ‘you scared the crap out of me, don’t do it again’ but his communication skills sucked. Izzy wanted to get on another ship, after being out, meeting people, saving people, exploring the well known and finding the unknown, she couldn’t go back to training people to do what she loved. There was one thing she didn’t want to do though: be Captain. She didn’t want the responsibility of a crew again, that was too much for her, and would be happy to be on another ship. Maybe not even an Armored Fighter, maybe just a Moon Jumper, or a Star Jumper. Star Jumper... that reminded her Alec had stopped by about a week before she got on the Armored Fighter. Why was he back so soon? She backed away and looked him over; there was blood on his right arm from where he grabbed Jake’s vest shoulder to drag him back to the ship.

      “Who did you lose?” She asked and looked back toward where he walked from.

        “Jake,” he looked down. “Simulation in about forty five minutes, then back out to the Kydonian galaxy.” He told her his plans for the day.

      “So, you’re going to recruit a rookie?” Izzy asked.

        “No I run specialties, not ladder.” He said. She gave him a look of confusion. He saw that she didn’t get it and tried to explain further. “Everyone does what they are good at, and then if they were to die, then the crew, in Jake’s case, would pick another co-pilot. Preferably with combat training and a basic knowledge of the system.” He looked at his arm plate.

        “You know that there is a chance for a mutiny there?” She asked pointing to his arm plate.

        “Yea, but I trust them. Want to walk with me?” He asked.

        “Sure, just let me clear my stuff off the ship.” She got on her Armored Jumper for the last time. Alec didn’t want her to move too fast and talked loudly while she was on the ship.

        “Z, its fine. I have to get there early anyway, to look over who will be there.” He left without waiting for recognition. He didn’t want her to over do herself and collapse. Izzy sat on her bed above the Control Room. She looked over her stuff, there was about enough to fill two very large duffle bags. That was sad to her; she could fit her entire life into two bags. That was the way things were though. You had what you needed, anything else was icing on the cake. She started packing and thought about which type of ship she wanted to get on. Star Jumper sounded really good, but how would she be back when Alec was there, and hide it from him. Plus he could always radio her and see where she was, how would she explain? There had to be a way around what he said.

      WAIT!!! She had an idea. If she was on his ship, then he shouldn’t have a problem. As she thought that she found a mask she had traded for in Hemmiten 5. Okay she could wear that, and she needed to wear clothes that she normally wouldn’t. The mask would cover her face, and most of her hair, so if she put it on right he could see no facial features. Izzy would also have to wear something that wasn’t like her at all. Well, there was this one out fit that one of her male crew mates had gotten for her; it was very showy, but also useful in carrying weapons. She closed blades that could fold, put them in pockets and loaded her side arm.

        She folded the outfit, got socks that looked like shoes, and sneakers. The rest of the stuff in her room got packed into the large duffle bags. She tossed the bags down the ladder and into the Control Room, and then headed down a level to shower. Izzy lazily walked into Sickbay and to the bathrooms around the operating tables. She took a quick shower and changed in Sickbay. The outfit was easy to move in, but also accented her well shaped curves. She stood for about ten minutes fixing the mask just right. She still couldn’t get over how painlessly she could breath, which was the best feeling to her. She grabbed her bags and jumped off the Armored Fighter. Izzy jogged to K six two nine and dropped her bags against the wall across from the ship. If they didn’t pick her then her bags wouldn’t matter because they were far enough away, but if they had to go right away it would be a convenience. She looked at her watch and was already late, simulations started ten minutes ago. She touched her holsters to make sure that they had her weapons in them, and then continued toward simulation.

        She swerved through the groups of people in the market place; she didn’t look out of place at all, because only twenty percent of the Company was human. There were all kinds of strange looking beings filling out paper work and purchasing stuff they were interested in. The diversity of the Company was matched by no other planet they had visited. There was no discrimination of any type. The Company couldn’t have any discrimination or it wouldn’t work, beings would constantly be fighting. She halted at the end of the line and looked to the simulation runner at the head of the line.

      “Excuse me!” Izzy yelled over the crowd and the alien jogged the ten people back to Izzy.

        “Can I help you?” it asked un-crossing it’s eight arms. Izzy had gotten used to the tons of strange looking things that were at the Company, and knew most of them as friends.

        “I need to scan my weapons into the system.” Izzy told it, and handed it the various sharp objects.

        “I don’t think we can do that, can we?” It asked handing the sword and assorted throwing knives back to her.

        “You can ask you superior, he’ll tell you. I used to work here.” Izzy said and it walked away. The front of the line was quickly approaching, which was a good thing, because that meant that people weren’t doing well. Izzy was next and it approached her with a small hand held scanner.

        “Let me see them again,” it held the scanner up and scanned all the items quickly as the next person in line entered. “I still can’t believe that you don’t want to use guns.” it commented as Izzy entered the white room. The door closed behind her and she stared at the mirror next to the door on the far wall. That was where Alec and his crew sat. Mike leaned forward onto his elbows. TJ was impressed with the figure Izzy had. She was in great shape, especially for a female human at the Company. Izzy would normally give her name and level of choice but, if she spoke Alec would know that it was her.

        She held seven fingers up to the small camera in the left corner of the room. The room went pitch black and Mike took of his goggles. He could see her just fine, and Izzy knew that because she had heard a lot about Mike. Izzy had done this level so many times that she knew exactly where she had to be. She had trained her ears to hear her opponents zap in. Mike saw hints that Izzy knew where her next opponent was, but was thrown when the lights turned on early. He flew back in his chair and onto the floor, making a noise that would crawl up your spine, and make your blood run cold. The closest sound the Company could match it to was a panther howl.

        “She’s got good form.” TJ checked out her butt. Alec looked at Mike and waited for his opinion; Mike rubbed his eyes and listened to the conversation. He looked up after a moment of silence, and then realized that Alec was waiting for him to give his opinion on Izzy’s simulation.

        “She’s good,” Mike got up holding his head and TJ handed him his goggles. “But I think I want a little hand to hand with her before I give her the okay.” He finished standing up.

        “She is the best we’ve seen today.” Alec liked her, and she seemed to be able to hold her own in simulation. Mike shook his head to get rid of his headache and entered the room.

        “Little hand to hand? You seemed to know the simulation,” Mike carefully set his weapons against the wall and she followed his lead. They stood in the middle of the room facing each other. All Izzy had to do was keep her mouth shut and she should be fine. Alec hadn’t realized who she was or he would have stopped her by now. Mike made the first move and kicked at her face; she grabbed his foot, turned around and hit him with her forearm in the side. Izzy backed away and faced him again. This time she moved first and cart wheeled at him. He grabbed both of her feet and picked her up off the ground. She grabbed his ankles, pulled herself down, spun, and tried to knock him over.

        He fumbled and caught his balance, then swung full force and hit her square in the face. She tripped backward and shook her head. To make up for the serious blow to the face, she faked a left hook, then hooked her right foot around his neck and stomped him to the ground. They were tied; the next win would tell who was better. They stood facing each other in the center of the room, Mike cracked his neck, and Izzy wiped the blood from the edge of the mask. It continued to drip but that wasn’t important, she had to make the fight look good.  They kicked and canceled each other, then punched and blocked the same way again, they matched move for move until Alec and TJ stood against the wall, waiting for them to recognize their existence.

        “Guys, she’s good, and in, so now we really have to go. We have a crew to save.” Alec motioned toward the door Izzy had entered from. Mike and Izzy both let go of the others leg and they shook hands.