[i]”What are you thinking?”

Ryobi looked incredulously back at the person who had asked the question. “You’re insane. Completely insane.”

“He said so himself. Get on her good side, and you’ll go far. So, get on her good sides. You’ve always excelled at that.”

Ryobi shook his head, unable to fully comprehend what was being said. “I’m not going to sleep with Jan. That’s ridiculous. Just be happy with what we’ve got for once.”

“I’ve never been one to be content with normalcy. You know that. I take what I can get. That’s how I got you. That’s how you got your job. And that’s how we’ll get on top, just like the Captain said. You’re not going to flake on me now, are you?”

Ryobi sighed and looked over at the sleeping toddler nearby. “Of course not, Sayako. I’d do anything for you. You know that.”

Sayako approached, a broad smile filling her face. “I’ll always love you, Ryobi-kun.”

“I love you too.”[/i]

~ = + = ~

Ryobi rested his forehead on the window pane, looking over the station. This was too much. He thought he could handle it if he looked at his deceased friends as bodies instead of people. That quickly proved to be impossible. A tear rolled down his cheek, and he wiped it away, hoping Jan didn’t notice. “They must have had to kill each other,” Ryobi replied quietly. “At this point, I don’t care why or who was at fault. We need to keep moving.” 

He drew in a deep breath before pushing away from the window. “Can you lock out system controls from here? Shut everything down: airlocks to the ports, elevators, anything nonessential. We need to keep the prisoners away from the civilians, and we need to make sure the doctor’s okay. After that, we’ll just round up the prisoners, get them back in the cells, and re-open the station.”

His grip tightened around the handle of the pistol at his side. “Easy, huh? What could possibly go wrong? We’ve got to make this right, no matter what.”