[i]"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Ryobi stood at the entrance to the Captain's Office, a rigid salute presented. The Captain glanced up and let out a laugh. "At ease, Ito," he replied, his voice warm and jovial. "This station isn't run quite so uptight as that. We're thousands of kilometers from Command up here." Burchill stood up from his chair and approached Ryobi. The man was just leabing middle age, the gray beginning to toy at the corners of his neatly-trimmed hair. "Not every day we get new recruits up here. I wanted to meet you and welcome you aboard Omega. You came highly recommended."

Ryobi relaxed his stance, glad that he would be relieved from the strict requirements of the Military Police. "I work hard, Sir," he replied. "I didn't request this post, but it suits me, Sir."

"Suits you?" The Captain returned Ryobi's gaze with a somewhat puzzled expression. "How so?"

"Always wanted to go to space, Sir. Glad to watch over those lowlifes and keep Earth free of the worst, Sir."

The chuckle returned as the Captain looked out the plate glass window overlooking the station. "Listen, Ito. A few tips. First: one Sir per response is plenty, kid. Second: if you keep working hard and stay on the Warden's good side, you'll be fine here. Just... loosen up a bit. Jan will chew you up and spit you out otherwise."

"Jan, Sir?" Ryobi replied. He had yet to meet most of his fellow crew before meeting the Captain. Heck, he still had half of the crates still unopened in their barracks.

"Janetta Pryce. Warden. Keep her happy, and you'll reach the top, mark my words." Burchill smiled warmly at Ryobi. "Anyways, that is all. If we can make your transition smoother, please don't hesitate to ask the bots."[/i]

~ = + = ~ 

Ryobi stoically lowered his gun. More death. More of his friends and co-workers ripped from him. He wanted to let out his frustration and anger, but that wasn't what they needed right now. They needed clear heads, measured planning. Ryobi stood in silence for a moment, staring into the eyes of the man he had trusted all these years and then doubted; a man whose life may have been saved were it not for his hesitation; a man whose life he had essentially traded for Pryce's.

It was an unfair choice in an unfair situation. Burchill was like a father to the entire station, whether they were civilian, officer, or AI. Benton was not as close to Ryobi, but they had shared a few good laughs. And now they were dead.

Ryobi turned away from the scene, instead choosing to inspect the medbot. There was nothing of this picture that made sense. The scratches on the bot appeared human in origin, as if someone manually fought it off. The arm had been forcibly torn from its socket and haphazardly disposed of. There was nothing more to see here.

Ryobi turned back to Pryce. "Well, Captain Pryce, where do we go from here?" he asked, his voice quiet and emotionless. "Pretty obvious that Burchill didn't do it. I'm worried about Amy. If I were going to disrupt the abilities of this station, I would target the Captain, the Warden, and the Doctor, and so far, we're two out of three."