“Captain, I think we should at least talk about it.” Serge hissed, trying to keep his voice low, but his emotions were starting to bleed through despite himself.

“I said no.” She replied, though her voice did not carry any of her usual self-confidence.

Serge shot a glance at Dally, who had only been standing in the doorway for the latter half of their discussion. He had been busy with the essential systems such as the engines and star drives. The look that crossed the elder Beaver’s face showed that he really did not want to get involved in the debate one way or the other.

“What do you say Dally? I think we should put it to a vote.”

Kenner nodded his head and looked back grimly to the captain. He was seated on a bench seat that was built-in along an alcove in the wall.

“I say…” He fumbled momentarily, never one for being put on the spot. “…we do what the captain wishes. I’m not good at making decisions, only for fixin’ things.”

“So, we have potentially the most dangerous of all the criminals wanting to hitch a ride with us, which could certainly lead to our deaths or worse…I mean with that power armor, I’m not going to be able to do a damn thing to stop him if he decides to turn on us” Kenner began. “But we have him off the ship temporarily gathering supplies. This could be our one chance here. We might not get another one and you don’t even want to discuss whether or not we should…?”

“I’m willing to take the chance.” Alyarus replied quickly. “I’m not about to abandon anyone on this cursed planet.”

“We don’t have to abandon him. Once we get back out past the Void we can send a message back to Zenith…have them send more troops after him. Let him be their problem, not ours.”

“He could have chosen not to save us and bring us back. If he was looking to kill us, he had plenty of opportunities.”

“He needed us though, don’t you see?” Kenner pleaded and the Canid nodded in agreement. “For all his skills in dealing violence, I don’t think he knows the first thing about industrial replicator technology or starship repair. He couldn’t repair the ship by himself, but once we get off this planet, he won’t need anything else from us. I mean, just about anyone could easily take over the flight of a ship.”

“Oh, it’s that easy, is it?” Alyarus crossed her arms across her breasts.

“He’s not saying it’s easy, just that it could be done. He knows how to pilot a ship, I’m sure of that, and what he doesn’t know, I’m sure he reckons he can figure out fair enough to get home.” Serge added. “I’ve never piloted anything larger than a personal rec vehicle in space, but I’m sure I could learn to save my life.”

“And what if we’re attacked again? What if something goes wrong?” The captain stated flatly. “Worse yet, what if we try to abandon him and he somehow finds out and is able to figure out how to gain access? Then it won’t be a question of whether or not he will kill us, but simply when.”

“The doors can be rigged. I’m sure I can keep him out.” Serge replied.

“But the question isn’t can you do a thing…” The wizened Beaver chimed in. “it’s should you do a thing.” He wasn’t taking sides on this one, but thought he should add that tidbit to the conversation.

“How close is the ship to being space-worthy?” Alyarus asked.

“I could have us out of here in about two hours really, once I get the rest of the raw materials to break down into the replicator.” Serge stated. “But he doesn’t know that. We could lie and send him off on another errand.”

“I’ll admit, there is a certain risk involved with taking him aboard…” The captain spoke. “…but we’re just going to have to risk it. We can drop him off at the nearest space station or something. He saved me more than once and I’m not going to abandon him out here.”

“Just remember you also told us all that we’d be safe taking the prisoners aboard in the first place and look where that got us.” Serge replied more gruffly than he intended, but did not take the comment back, even when he saw the pain it caused written in the small female’s face.

The rabbid female stomped angrily back to the ship’s cabin, where the doors sucked closed behind her. The other three stared at each other in silence. Dally was next to walk away, continuing the business he had been on to begin with. The badger security officer leaned towards the Canid and lowered his voice.

“When the time comes…” He spoke cryptically.

From the opposite end of the circular commons area, a cloaked sentry orb hovered silently. Lupus was no fool, and he had left one in the cabin and one in the commons area to spy on the crew. None of them seemed to have any knowledge of the capabilities of his Phantasm armor, nor the fact that it had light bending cloaking technology or that it came with a special upgrade that equipped it with up to four (though he opted for the dual package, because the individual drones came with more sensor options that way) sentry drones that could also cloak. The drones cast a live feed directly to his suit, his eyes and ears could be anywhere at any time. Surely if they had known, there was no where on the ship or elsewhere they would have felt comfortable scheming such things out loud.

* * * *

The repair drones that the Canid non-essential systems chief had fabricated mingled alongside the newly recharged ones that the ship had been equipped with hovered around the ZCAV Triumph’s outer hull, buzzing tirelessly about their repairs as the sun began to dip low in the sky.

“Zoom.” Lupis planted the thought command into his helmet’s camera system.

His display zoomed in to the large shadow floating on the horizon. He saw another large monstrosity floating lazily in the sky. The creature he had killed before he had been able to compare it to living things on Titan, as it’s general appearance had been overall very whale-like, despite its alien qualities. This creature however, his mind was not able to associate with anything his eyes had ever seen before. It had no distinguishable head or body, no segments that had a clear beginning or end. The closest he could come to classifying it was a sort or starfish/jellyfish hybrid, with wriggling tentacles on every side exploring the sky.

Also, there were more of the things he had seen on occasion since he had first crawled out from the crashed cargo crate. These things he had come to call vampire jellyfish. These things were like a mix of a jellyfish and a bat that floated along in the sky, tucked within a large set of glider wings until some suitable food source presented itself underneath, at which time these dangerous creatures would shoot like spears from the sky, latching onto their prey. He had once seen a group of these parasites take down one of the whale creatures and did not wish to tangle with them anytime soon.

The powered Phantasm suit emerged from the mushroom like brush that surrounded the downed ship and walked up to the side entrance. He stood before the door with an armful of vegetation for the fabricator to break down into usable construction materials, the mirrored helmet turned towards where he knew one of the outer cameras was located. He waited and the doors did not open. Underneath his helmet, Lupis ground his sharp predator teeth in anger.

He had, of course, been expecting this, even as the Canid engineer had sent him off time and time again in search of more resources for the overworked fabricators. Lupis had wanted to give the crew the benefit of the doubt and refrained from acting preemptively. He waited for the doors to open, knowing that they would not for a long time until his patience finally ran thin.

“Open the door.” His voice modulators commanded deliberately. His hopes were that the captain would be monitoring the exterior cameras and would gain control over her subordinates before it was too late for them. It was for this reason only that he waited several more minutes, finally bringing up the live feed from his drones inside.

That was when he saw the mutiny that was taking place within. The captain was out in the commons, commanding the others to open the doors, and the little old Beaver was standing with her. They were, unfortunately no match physically for the tall Canid and the fierce Badger security chief. He had already ran a check on the Badger through Gabriel’s database and knew him to be the most dangerous one of the crew.

Kenner the Badger had many years ago been a part of Zenith’s military and was a veteran of the bloody war that had been fought in the tropics of Zandizar. That brutal war had lasted nearly two years and was perhaps the greatest insurgency for a generation. It had eventually morphed from jungle warfare into a bloody war of attrition, and the hardened veterans of that war had seen and committed such atrocities that they were among the most violent and desensitized members of the military. And Lupis knew all of this because he too was a veteran of that nightmare in the deepest jungles of Titan.

“We’ve already decided.” The Canid Serge barked to the Captain. “You can demote us later, but for now, get up there and take off. We’re leaving.”

“Sorry Captain.” Kenner spoke low, suddenly behind the small Rabbid. “But we are insisting. We’re getting out of here alive and we aren’t going to take our chances with any more violent sociopaths aboard the ship.”

As the security chief spoke, he grabbed her by the arms and began walking her forcefully back up the ramp leading to the ship’s cabin. Dally stepped forward to stop it but was instantly overshadowed by his suddenly fierce Canid co-worker.

“Not now Dally.” The Canid put his large hand out to physically stop the much smaller Titan’s forward motion. “We’ve worked together for a long time now and that’s the only reason I’m not getting physical right now. Out of respect. But don’t test me today. Not after what we’ve just been through, what we’ve all just been through. If we have to break a few eggs to make it off this planet alive, me and Kenner decided we would do what we had to. And don’t take this the wrong way because I see that look in your eyes Dally. This is as much about you and Alyarus as it is about any selfish notion of self-preservation. This is the best way for us all to make it back home alive. You might not see it now, but you will eventually understand.”

At that point, the Phantasm’s cloaked spy drone inputted the security override that Lupis had recorded and saved into its hard drive. The door sucked open, and an extremely imposing power armored figure stepped through the threshold back onto the ship.

“W-wait just a minute! You…” Serge began to plead with this figure, his eyes wide in fear.

The Roland series III machine pistol barked a three-round burst into the Canid’s chest before another word could be uttered, strobing the cramped commons area in light temporarily. Serge’s lifeless body slumped to the ground in a quickly forming pool of blood from the holes Lupis’ pistol made.

Without so much as a threat or a word of explanation, the terrifying figure strode with purpose after the others. He found the door to the cabin still open when he arrived and the Badger was waiting for him, with a E-knife pressed menacingly against the captain’s throat. Kenner did not show the same fear as his Canid co-hort, instead his eyes were narrowed and dangerous as the power armor approached and stepped into the cabin.

“Not another step Lupis!” Kenner growled.

Lupis stopped in the doorway, but still held tightly to the machine pistol at his side, which the security officer’s eyes took note of briefly. The mirrored visor on the helmet of the Phantasm armor was the perfect poker face, holding no emotion and betraying no intent to the other Titan standing across from him. Both veterans silently sized each other up for a long moment, before the Badger finally broke the silence.

“I know well what you’re capable of mercenary, but don’t underestimate me. I know at this range there’s no chance of you missing with that Roland by your side. That’s the previous model if I’m not mistaken, the model III.”

The mirrored helmet slowly nodded.

“Three round burst preset with full auto fire thumb toggle switch on the inside. Am I right?”

The mirrored helmet slowly nodded.

“Look Lupis…I know there’s no chance of me getting out of this room alive. But there’s a very good chance, no matter how good you are with that pistol by your side that I’ll be able to jam this knife into her throat before you can squeeze that trigger. So I know you want to kill me now, but the real question is am I going to take her down first or…”

The ear-splitting rattle of a three round burst exploded, and the security chief fell dead where he stood. Captain Alyarus, blood splatter across her face, stood stunned for a moment before nearly swooning right along side her now deceased officer. A strong hand shot out to steady her before she could fall. She looked fearfully up into the mirrored visor, not sure what the mercenary would do next.

“Time to leave.” The powerful robotic voice boomed from the suit’s speakers.

“You…you didn’t have to kill them!” Alyarus heaved breathlessly, still struggling to take in what had just happened around her.

“I’m the bad guy, remember?”

Lupis then turned and walked out of the cabin while Alyarus sat down and gripped the controls with shaking hands.