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Crashing into You

Chapter 5

Notes:

Quicker updates because I want the parts that I've finished to be published before his season two comes out. Hope you like it!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Time felt like a strange concept.

There was no day and night simulation cycle, no indication of hours ticking by or when a day had passed. The bright lights were always on, leaving you to wonder if it even was possible to turn them off. The place functioned like a prison and every single person with the black chip on their neck were cheap workers, brought here against their will. Engineers and scientists, all with their own specialized field were working amongst each other, but no one was allowed to share any information about it. Every so often, you would spot someone without the chip. Those were here voluntarily and stood a rank above the rest. Then, there was Caine.  

Caine was the highest ranked and the overseer, controlling ‘bad behavior’ as he saw fit. I’d quickly learned why people had looked afraid of him, and I was very certain that the man had never heard of the word empathy. He’d made it perfectly clear why I was there when I had arrived nearly two weeks ago.

‘’Tyberius spotted you when we got intel on someone managing to drastically improve the durability of a stealth shield, and that is a technology that we need,’’ he explained, his eyes never leaving mine.

‘’For what?’’

‘’For making this entire construction invisible to the naked eye.’’

It was such a statement to throw out there, and I didn’t understand it the idea behind it. The shield made sense when used with quick fighter ships or even transport ships that had to go invisible, but a giant construction like this? Obviously, this was something they didn’t want anyone else to find, and that only made me more suspicious of the whole thing. Nevertheless, I couldn’t exactly avoid building it, not when it felt like Caine was constantly breathing down my neck. So I did the only thing I could.

I stalled for time.

Since my blueprints were stored on my tablet and said tablet was still onboard the Promise, I had to start from scratch, but it only gave me so much time. And, as I currently sat in Caine’s office, I knew that my time had run out.

‘’You’re wasting my time, Eiso,’’ Caine spoke as he sat in his leather chair by his desk.

I sat on the other side with one of the few security guards lingering behind me. I tried to look calm, but whenever his hand moved anywhere close to the proximity of his remote, I flinched, making me look like the nervous wreck that I was. 

‘’I’m almost finished with the blueprints,’’ I explained and cast my eyes down, focusing on his desk. Caine liked things to be neat and in order, leading me to believe that the answers I was searching for were somewhere on his desk. However, it wasn’t like I had plenty of opportunities to find out.

‘’You said the same thing two days ago,’’ he sighed and got up from his chair. My glance followed his hand as it picked up the remote. ‘’Need I remind you how I feel about people who waste my time?’’ He asked while he toyed with the remote, making sure that I saw how his finger circled the button.

I swallowed hard before answering. ‘’No… sir.’’

His eyes stayed on me as he studied me. His expression was cold and unreadable, giving me no information about what was going on inside his head, and it remained that way as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. Then, he pressed the button with no warning. Every single muscle in my body tensed and my jaw snapped shut as the pain rushed through me from the chip. I fell to the ground, convulsing against my will while groaning through gritted teeth. When he finally released the button, the pain that had seized my whole body subdued, leaving me gasping for air and my muscles sore.

‘’I would strongly advise you to practice sounding sincere,’’ he sneered at me while he placed his boot on my throat, rolling me onto my back and pressing down hard enough for me to choke. Both my hands moved up to grab him by the ankle, desperately trying to get some air. ‘’I want those blueprints done in two hours, do you understand?’’ His voice dripped with venom as he pressed further down.

‘’Y-yes,’’ I gasped.

‘’I said, do you understand?!’’ He roared, losing his usual calm composure to get what he wanted.

‘’Yes!’’ I somehow managed to raise my voice and he finally removed his boot, leaving me to have a coughing fit on the ground.

‘’Good. Now, get out of my office.’’ His voice was back to normal, calm and collected. He moved back to his desk while the security guard roughly pulled me to my feet and out of the office. The tight grip on my arm helped me stay upright as he dragged me down the hallway and towards my cell. I considered struggling to try to free myself but dropped the idea once I recalled how I’d seen the guard treat those who tried to fight them. I still hadn’t given up on getting out of this place, but truthfully, the few options I had were beginning to look a little bleak.

Like always, the guard was kind enough to shove me inside the cell, not even sparing a glance in my direction as I fell to the floor. He scanned his keycard and activated the force field that acted like the door, locking me inside the tiny room that only had a narrow bed in it. Sighing heavily, I sat up against the bed and ran a hand through my hair. Every muscle in my body was sore and aching; killing what little motivation I had left as I sat there.   

For once, I allowed myself five minutes where I did nothing but feel sorry for myself. Once those were over, I took a couple of deep breaths, attempting to regain a little energy. Staying on the floor, I scootched over to a small access panel in the wall next to the door. Getting it open the first time hadn’t been easy, but I’d been doing it since I’d arrived, so it popped open without much trouble. The wires were in a mess because of my experimenting, and I still hadn’t figured out which combination would override the force field. Wrong guesses had resulted in me getting zapped a few times, but it was a lot less painful than being punished by Caine.

Recalling which combinations I had already tried, I started working. It was a struggle without the proper tools, but I made it work. Once in a while, a security guard would walk by, and it was a little hard to look nonchalant while attempting to break out of a cell, but I hadn’t been caught yet.

‘’Come on,’’ I breathed as I tried the fourth combination. The wires sparked as I held them together and the force field flickered before it disappeared completely. I forgot about my sore muscles and quickly got on my feet, checking if the coast was clear before walking out. My pulse started to race as I kept my face neutral, doing my best to keep a low profile as I approached the workroom. If by any chance I managed to escape, I couldn’t leave them with the blueprint for the shield, not when I had such a bad feeling about this place.

My luck continued as just one other engineer was at their desk, paying no attention to me as they were busy working. I found the blueprints while trying to appear as an epitome of calmness, leaving the room again before heading for the hangar. I managed to get about halfway there when the lights suddenly cut off and I came to a halt in a hallway.

Everything was dark. I could hear footsteps stopping around the corner ahead of me and multiple people beginning to yell in panic. My heart leaped into my throat as I stood there and the footsteps took a few hesitating steps, coming closer to me as they rounded the corner. I knew that I had nowhere to run, but I had no chance to come up with a plan as the emergency lights turned on, shrouding everything in a dim orange light. Immediately, I locked eyes with whoever was in front of me.

My heart stopped when I saw who it was.

The blueprints fluttered to the ground as I dropped them, heading straight for the man in front of me and throwing myself at him. My arms wrapped around his neck and he caught me like I didn’t weigh a thing. I pressed myself against him as his arms moved around me, accepting my overly dramatic embrace as alarms started blaring around us.

‘’You have no idea how happy I am to see you,’’ I whispered, tightening my hold around him while thoroughly ignoring the part of myself that yelled at me for being too obvious. A feeling of safety and comfort rushed over me, making me momentarily forget how things had been two weeks ago.    

‘’I have an inkling,’’ Atlas sighed with a hint of a smile in his voice. Maybe sensing how much I needed it, he held on to me for another moment before easing his grip around me. ‘’We have to get moving.’’

‘’Where are the others?’’ I asked as I withdrew myself from him, quickly picking up the scattered blueprints.

‘’We split up to find you, but we should get back to the hangar. The place isn’t crawling with guards, but-’’ he paused as he looked at me, his eyes narrowing, ‘’what the hell is that on your neck?’’

‘’A disciplinary chip.’’

 ‘’A what?’’  

‘’Just-eugh, I’ll explain later. Did you bring your blaster?’’ His frown and ‘how dumb are you’ look made me smile for what felt like the first time in forever, and I just shook my head as I turned around. ‘’Good, then we have somewhere we need to go first.’’

‘’We don’t have time-‘’

‘’Atlas, I’ve been here for two weeks and I still don’t know what the hell this place is. There’s one office here where we might find the answer and we need to get it,’’ I explained and started walking, really not in the mood for arguing. He made a point of groaning but followed me nonetheless. I led him down the hallway, past the cell I had just broken out of, while a few people passed us. They looked at Atlas in bewilderment but were too busy with getting away to say or do anything.   

We reached the office without any trouble, but it was locked, making me groan loudly before beginning to fidget with the panel. If I could short-circuit the force field in my cell, how hard could it be to override the door lock without tools or a tablet? Having Atlas wait impatiently behind me didn’t really help me work faster, but it wasn’t his presence that interrupted me.

‘’Eiso!’’  Caine yelling my name made me freeze like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.

‘’I see you made friends,’’ Atlas grumbled as he moved in front of me, his tall frame blocking Caine from looking at me with those furious eyes of his.

‘’What is the meaning of this?! I knew I should have thrown you out of that goddamn shuttle the minute I had the chance,’’ Caine yelled, absolutely livid by the sound of it.

‘’Please just shoot him if he pulls out a remote,’’ I spoke as I stayed behind Atlas’ broad back.

‘’Let me guess, it triggers something in that chip?’’ He hummed as his hand settled on his blaster.

‘’I’ll be tased if he uses it,’’ I replied while leaning to the side, catching a glimpse of Caine as he came closer to us. Meanwhile, Atlas muttered something under his breath and drew his blaster, charging it.

‘’You imbecile! Luring these lowlifes here to ruin my project! I’ll have you tortured for this! I’ll-‘’ Caine raged as his hand moved into the pocket where I knew he kept the remote. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the pain to force me to the ground, but I heard a blaster shot followed groaning instead.

‘’How dare you?!’’ Caine sneered as I left my hiding place behind Atlas. Caine was on his knees, left hand clutching his right as blood dripped from it and the remote laid scattered on the ground in front him, shot to pieces. 

I exhaled in relief before walking over to him. Atlas followed right behind me, hard eyes focusing on Caine as we approached him. I snatched his keycard while Atlas kept his blaster aimed at him, making sure that Caine knew what would happen if he were to do anything. Atlas stayed there as I accessed the office and started rummaging through his desk, grabbing anything that looked like it could give some answers about this place. When I merged with a hefty pile of files, Caine was nearly shaking with rage.

‘’I promise you, I’ll hunt you down, Eiso. Don’t you dare think that you’ll get away with his,’’ he hissed at me, his eyes filled with more emotion than I’d ever seen before.

‘’You’re a piece of shit, Caine,’’ I spoke my mind as I glared at him, making Atlas chuckle. ‘’Come on, I can’t wait to get out of here,’’ I sighed, clutching the pile of files against my chest.

‘’That makes two of us,’’ Atlas spoke as his eyes lingering on Caine a moment longer. ‘’Next time, I’m going to aim for something more important than your hand,’’ he scoffed at him before turning around and followed me, leaving Caine to his anger.

For a second, I wanted to turn around and get one last look at him, but I already knew that I wouldn’t be the last time that I saw him, so I didn’t give him the satisfaction. Instead, I picked up the pace and headed back to the hangar. Once we got there, I realized that I’d never been happier to see a starship, let alone the people standing in front of it. They all looked relieved when they spotted us and I felt with chest swell with happiness.

‘’You’re a sight for sore eyes,’’ Jaxon smiled as we approached them.

‘’Are you alright?’’ Nova asked, already looking me over before I could say anything.

‘’I’m fine, thanks,’’ I smiled at her before looking at the others.

‘’Save the welcome party for when we’re on the ship, we’ve been here for long enough,’’ Atlas spoke as he continued inside.

‘’Atlas’ right, we’ll continue this on the ship,’’ Orion agreed.

The group moved inside while Atlas started the Ship, quickly and easily getting us away from the Empire construction in the middle of nowhere. I watched it disappear from the windows and lingered there even after I couldn’t see it anymore. Even with the relief making my stiff shoulders relax, I could feel the exhaustion creeping up on me. My whole body felt sore and I just wanted to go lie down somewhere, but there was still so much to discuss.

‘’Tess,’’ Orion spoke up beside me, startling me, ‘’are you sure you’re alright?’’ he asked me, genuine concern making his voice soft.

‘’Yeah, I’m just… I’m fine,’’ I sighed and smiled weakly at him.

‘’Still, I’m sure you’ve been through a lot. You look like you could use some rest.’’

‘’Orion’s right, Tess, you should think of your health,’’ Nova spoke up, agreeing with Orion.  

‘’I’m not sleeping before I get this horrid thing out of my neck,’’ I sighed and slumped down in one of the chairs. Comet appeared like it had been waiting for me to sit down, and I started smiling immediately once I saw the little fluff ball. ‘’Hey buddy,’’ I mumbled and started scratching it behind its ear.  

‘’Wait, what thing?’’ Jaxon sat down next to me, looking at me with a puzzled look until I moved my hair away, revealing the black chip. He leaned closer to me as he inspected it. ‘’What does it do?’’ He asked as he reached for it, but I swatted his hand away before he could get close to it.

‘’No touching, it reacts to it by tasering me,’’ I explained.  

‘’Tasering? The Empire really uses every trick they can think of,’’ Jaxon scoffed.

‘’How do we get it off?’’ Nova asked.   

‘’Shooting the remote that controlled it obviously did nothing, so the only thing I can think of is creating a miniature EMP wave to fry the circuit board in it,’’ I explained.

‘’I might have something that could do that.’’ Atlas joined the rest of us at the table. I suddenly felt a bit awkward about meeting his eyes. All of a sudden, the air felt thick with unsaid things, and I had to take a deep breath before I could look at him. He looked… exhausted as he gestured me to follow him before he walked ahead. Jaxon flashed me a smile as I got up, making me roll my eyes at him before following Atlas out of the bridge.

Nervousness, curiosity, and exhaustion was a weird mix of emotions, and it felt like they were all trying to be the dominant one and dictate which direction my thoughts went in. By the time we were inside his room, I felt like some sort of a messy bundle that was just waiting to explode and go everywhere. I desperately wanted some answers about my father, but it didn’t feel easy to focus when I had a hard time looking at the man who was supposed to provide them without having my pulse run off like a racehorse.

Feeling a bit defeated, I sat down at the foot of his bed while he rummaged through his desk, looking for something. The silence between us wasn’t directly uncomfortable, but it was different and almost raw as if neither of us wanted it to be awkward, but we weren’t sure how to make it anything else. Finally, Atlas found what he was looking for and joined me on the bed.

‘’Here.’’ He held out a small ball that was about the same size of a grenade. ‘’It’s an old prototype. It’s supposed to discharge a minor electromagnetic pulse after a short delay.’’

‘’Supposed to?’’ I glanced up at him with a small smile and one raised eyebrow.

‘’Never had a reason to use the damn thing. It’s back from my Union days,’’ he explained briefly.

‘’And you've kept it?’’

‘’I don’t throw functional stuff out,’’ he grumbled, obviously not amused by my questions.  

‘’That explains a couple of things,’’ I mumbled while looking around, laughing faintly once I saw how he frowned at me. I was tired, sure, but it didn’t stop me from making dumb jokes. ‘’Fine, fine…’’ I smiled and pressed the button, watching as the little ball lit up. The lights grew smaller and smaller, providing a silent countdown before discharging the EMP. There was a soft beep as the chip was fried and the mechanism holding the legs closed loosened. I quickly plucked it off, hissing slightly as the legs were pulled out of my skin. The little thing looked so insignificant as it lay in my hand and I studied it briefly, not really noticing that Atlas had stood up before he sat back down, wordlessly handing me a band-aid, a big square one.  

‘’Thank you,’’ I murmured as I applied it gingerly, trying not to press too hard against an area that felt like it had been abused. Atlas hummed something as a reply and a silence proceeded to fall between us. I opened my mouth to speak several times, but I couldn’t find the right words to convey everything that was going on inside my head. At the same time, it felt like he was waiting for me to speak like he expected me to bombard him with questions, but we both remained quiet. What finally broke the silence was me inhaling sharply before trying to construct a sentence.   

‘’I-um… Uh, I feel weird saying ‘’knowing you’’, because I don’t-I mean, I’m not…’’ my voice trailed off and I sighed before attempting again, ‘’what I’m trying to say is that I know that there has to be a reason for you not to tell me, because you don’t seem like someone who would do that without a reason. I didn’t exactly make the best first impression… I just… I just want to know, and I want to know your reason for not telling me. I think I deserve that much.’’ I glanced at him once I was done trying to speak my thoughts.

He was hunched over; elbows resting on his knees, and his eyes were focused on the ground. He sat for a minute, almost looking a little lost in his thoughts. Then, he exhaled heavily before speaking, ‘’I didn’t say anything because I wanted to ignore it. I figured that we would just drop you off somewhere and then I’d never see you again. I would never have to think about you or Will again, and it would be that easy…’’ now it was his turn to trail off as he paused. His eyes closed for a moment before refocusing on his hands. ‘’But then you turned out to be not entirely intolerable and I actually started caring about your safety, and then it just seemed impossible to tell you without it blowing up in my face,’’ he explained.

‘’How did you know my father?’’ I asked the question that had been on my mind ever since Tyberius had exposed Atlas’ secret. ‘’I know your Union days isn’t your favorite subject, but I’ve been wondering about it since.’’

‘’We were in the same squadron,’’ he explained as he got up and moved to his desk again, this time moving a stack of papers and books to reveal a small glass frame. He brought it with him as he sat back down, handing it to me. The Union patch inside nearly made my eyes burn once I saw it. ‘’He was my leader, to be more precise,’’ he spoke quietly as he looked at me for the first time in a while, but I was too busy with looking at the replication of the patch that had been on my father’s jacket.

‘’You… you were in the Fire Falcons…’’ I breathed as I processed the information. Atlas hadn’t just seen or spoken to my father a few times, they’d been in the same elite squadron. He’d even been made his successor as the squadron leader. ‘’What happened on that mission, Atlas? The Union would never tell me,’’ I pleaded as I looked up at him, meeting his eyes.

He looked more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen him. Saying he looked less than thrilled about telling me was a severe understatement, and his hesitation couldn’t have been more obvious when he looked away.

‘’Atlas, please, I need to know,’’ I pleaded and grasped his forearm. He seemed surprised by my sudden touch, but he didn’t shake it off. Instead, his glance lingered on my hand for a long moment, eventually moving up to my face. I whispered another ‘please’ while I held his gaze, watching as his eyes wavered before he let out a sigh and looked down.

‘’We were out in the middle of a skirmish with other fighters when the surface of a nearby star collapsed in on itself. We weren’t prepared for it, and the enemy was more concerned with taking us down than getting away from it. Will… Will was hit before he was clear of the star’s radius and his engine died…’’ he paused and closed his eyes for a second. ‘’I watched as your father’s ship got sucked into the stellar black hole that had formed in the middle of it… The others were swallowed up by the supernova. I only made it out by the skin of my teeth,’’ he explained mournfully and I squeezed his forearm reassuringly, trying to offer him some comfort.

‘’Are you… are you sure that he got pulled into the black hole?’’ I asked, having to swallow before I could finish my question.

‘’Yeah, I’m sure,’’ he sighed and ran his free hand through his hair, frustration replacing his mournful expression. ‘’I get back as the only survivor and they make me take his spot.’’ His voice was hard as he spoke, clearly resenting the Union for how they had handled it.

‘’He must have survived though,’’ I thought out loud as my thoughts drifted back to the email.

‘’Tess, your father got sucked into in a black hole. There’s never been any proof that someone survived that.’’ He had a look of pity in his eyes when he finally glanced at me, but I just shook my head at him.

‘’You don’t understand, he sent me a message five months ago, he can’t-!’’ I had raised my voice when I saw the look he was giving me, and I realized that he didn’t believe me. ‘’He can’t be dead, Atlas! It makes no sense!’’ I continued, frustration making me fly to my feet while I looked at him as my eyes got watery. ‘’He’s not dead! I know that he isn’t!’’ I kept going; exhaustion and frustration making me flip like a switch, turning me into some yelling mess that took it out on someone who did not deserve it. ‘’I refuse to believe it!’’

I bit down on my lip as the look in his eyes softened before he stood up. I expected him to throw me out because of my childish behavior, but, instead, he just sighed and pulled me into his embrace, one arm moving around me and drawing me in while the other settled in the back of my head, urging me to lean against his chest. I returned the embrace with no hesitation. My arms moved around him and my hands grabbed a fistful of his jacket while I finally let go of all the pent-up emotions. I let the waterworks flow freely while I just embraced him tighter, hoping to somehow gesture how much I appreciated him and what he was doing.

His scent was oddly comforting and his strong embrace gave me a feeling of safety. I thought back to how I had reacted to seeing him in the hallway, smiling through my tears once I realized that I’d gotten two hugs out of him in just one day. He didn’t say anything as he waited for me to calm down, not releasing me until my hands eased their tight grip on his jacket.

I took a deep breath as I looked up at him, letting just enough distance linger between us for me to tip my head back. My mind felt empty for once as if I had just pulled the plug and every thought had drained away like water in a sink. My breathing calmed as I looked up at him, taking in the softness in his eyes as he gazed down at me. I moved without thinking, my hands slipping around his neck and drawing him closer to me as I tiptoed, ever so softly pressing my lips against his while I closed my eyes.

It only lasted a second, and I felt his shuddering breath hit my lips as I drew back, opening my eyes just as I dawned on me what I had just done. The realization appeared mutual, judging by how his eyes widened in shock as he stared at me. My mind jumped into overdrive, focusing on two words as they appeared like a flashing neon sign in my head.

Oh no.

Notes:

Okay, so here’s my version of ‘’the mission that fucked everything up’’. Also, I know the whole supernova thing wasn’t 100% correct, but they did it in Treasure Planet, so please don’t come after me with pitchforks.