“Wonderful, you’re both awake!”, the First Mate exclaimed with mock cheerfulness.

“I have so much I want to tell you about, but sadly, not enough time. So, we’ll stick to the short version, take a look”.

He guided their attention to a large overhead monitor showing a live feed of the exterior of the Anna Karenina. She floated in space, a massive hulk of metal and composite, bereft of life.

“A beautiful ship, she served her purpose well, but soon she will meet the same fate as the Karamazov”, he said of the ship, simply.

“So, it was mutiny that killed the Karamazov?”, the captain asked quietly.

“Yes, and this same mutiny is being carried out not only on Red Sky Faction ships but hundreds of ships across the galaxy, overthrowing our Earth overlords. Soon a new empire will rise from their dust, led by us, the workers of these ships. By the people who have earned their positions with hard work and expertise, not those who merely bought them” the first mate explained fervently, he had clearly rehearsed these lines and was excited to finally say them.

“Seems like a real people’s revolution, huh? All the crew of the Karamazov are gone, unless you know where they went, I guess they didn’t earn their positions enough for you. Well, more blood for the cause, right?”, Sirius remarked.

“I forget, what exactly would you call that fiasco you were involved in a while back? A guy like you really shouldn’t be arguing from a point of moral superiority”, he said pointedly. “What happened to the Karamazov’s crew is still unknown. Likely some unfortunate tragedy. A hitch in the plan, or as you say so elegantly, more blood for the cause. And soon, both of you will join them”.

“So, all of this was a set-up? The mission, this location, even the emergency evac?”, the captain asked.

“The mission, no. But the outcome, yes. The Anna will find her eternal rest here, in the ashes of the Karamazov, a nearly poetic end for them. We’ll invent some likely sob story as to why she went down, and the revolution will continue, albeit without you two”, he turned to address Sirius, “I had really hoped, Sirius, that you would refuse to help him, given your background with Earth and Mars. I had really thought that literal government-sanctioned enslavement would have been enough reason for you to see the light. You would have made a great ally. Too bad, I guess you’d prefer that injustice continues without reform”.

Before he could retort, a small flash of light caught Sirius’ eye.

“If this was all a set-up, can I ask who the fuck is that?” He said pointing to the ship’s radar map.

A dot had appeared, travelling fast, almost too fast for a regular ship. Sirius almost thought it was some sort of fast-moving space rock, until the targeting alarms started to sound.

It was scanning them. That was definitely not typical space rock behavior.

The First Mate let his composure slip as he heard the warning go off, an expression of real surprise on his face.

“Get those two to the airlock” he snapped at Big Man.

“Are we gonna throw them out?” Big Man asked. He seemed conflicted; their oncoming visitor must have given him pause. Or maybe he hadn’t really been down for murder in the first place.

“Hmm…No. Not yet, the Captain might make an excellent bargaining chip depending on who these people are. Just get them contained in the airlock, if they’re still here once this is over, I’ll let you do the honors. You can take your disappointment out on the skinny one. Now go!” the First Mate shooed them away.

Big Man’s pack herded them down the ladder and through the living quarters. The few crewmembers who didn’t seem to be a part of the clique watched with some sort of morbid interest, but there was no moral outrage, no protest. Sirius knew the feeling, having been one of the onlookers more than a few times. It was easier to accept that some people were destined to fall out an airlock, and that those people wouldn’t be them. Until it was.

He didn’t feel too surprised that he wasn’t afraid. This wasn’t the first time he’d faced down the void. But last time, he’d been lucky enough that somebody had cared enough to help. This time, he wasn’t feeling so lucky, but he still felt calm. Probably because he knew that what was coming was inevitable. It had been a 20-year long road to get to this point, but he’d known since forever that he’d never get to grow old and die peacefully in his sleep. The statistics just weren’t in favor of that.

Sirius shot a glance at the captain, if he was scared, he wasn’t showing it either.

Instead of afraid, he felt curious about the approaching ship. Based on its speed, the dot on the radar must have already cleared the distance between where it popped up and where their ships were located. It had come from nowhere; the radar had only picked it up at half of its potential sensitivity range.

Why didn’t the radar see it until then? Some sort of new stealth tech?

Even the most advanced battleships he knew of lacked that kind of capability – they always had some kind of giveaway.

Had it been keeping dark until it noticed us? Was it waiting for us?! And how would that work? Is it a new build design or material? A coating? Some sort of interference? He let himself retreat into his thoughts, working the problem, until suddenly he was hurled back into reality.

The floor. He was on the floor. His head hurt.

Sirius pulled himself up to see that everyone else was on the floor too. The ship must have accelerated without warning. His tongue hurt; he had bitten it when his head hit the floor, but it seemed to be in one piece. Big Man pulled himself up and he looked pissed. Grabbing the captain and Sirius he threw them in the tiny room of an airlock and set the doors to locked.

“Have fun”, he mouthed and then disappeared.

The airlock wasn’t designed to hold crew during maneuvers. It lacked flight seats, and there were a few sparse handholds designed to maybe hold the weight of one or two people in full g at most. Sirius doubted they’d be much help if the ship started evasively maneuvering.

Which of course, was what had to happen.

One moment Sirius was on the “floor” of the airlock, and the next he slammed into one of the walls as the tiny ship changed direction. Sirius wrapped his arms around his head and curled up as small as possible, shouting for the captain to do the same. As the ship dodged and accelerated the two bounced into the opposite wall, the ceiling, the floor, each other, and all over again. He could hear someone yelling obscenities, it sounded a lot like him.

His hands connected solidly with a wall, he could hear the crunch of bones breaking, but the adrenaline was keeping the pain at bay, for now. He just focused on staying small and protecting his head. He didn’t have to focus for long. With one final shudder that sent the two into the floor, the ship stopped completely.

With the absence of artificial gravity, the pair floated up, the weightlessness a blessing on Sirius’ battered body. Cautiously he uncurled himself, assessing the damage. His fingers were broken on his good hand, and his prosthetics plastics were also cracked, a lot. The arm’s actuators had finally given out and the whole thing was basically trash. He clumsily disengaged the arm’s straps and let it float free from his body. As soon as the connection was severed, the feedback pain disappeared.

So, that was good.

He had no idea if he’d broken anything else, and he hoped there wasn’t much internal bleeding. The pressure buildup from the internal bleeding could be fatal and the medical equipment on the boat wouldn’t help much in low g. He checked on the captain. The man was out cold, his nose was broken – smashed more like. If he survived the coma, he wasn’t going to be much of a looker.

The ship shuddered again, leaving Sirius to wonder what had happened. The airlock was a purely functional room and it had no screens or windows. Basically, they were trapped in a small box, and the only people who could let them out might be dead. He kicked the inner door a few times. To his surprise, it slid open.

On the other side of the airlock’s inner door floated a considerably rougher looking Big Man.

“There’s been a change of plans”.