The Void flickers — stages of memory.
Arthur and Sarah slow dance as another movie plays around them.
Sarah leans back. “They’re cutting the door off. Shouldn’t be long now.”
“Good,” he whispers. “I’m tired of being cold.”
A faint plasma-torch hum echoes through the Void.
He kisses her. She holds him a second longer.
“I’ll see you later.”
Then — he vanishes.
—
Arthur looks into Varhee’s eyes.
“Remember — we never left the command center or the engine room. No matter what.”
Varhee nods. “I got it, Hammond.”
A final burst of sparks —
the hatch slams to the floor with a metallic clang.
Gerion soldiers in pressure suits enter quickly, finding Arthur and Varhee wrapped in thermal blankets.
They are evacuated in silence.
—
Aboard the Gerion, a doctor examines them both.
“I’m Dr. Madison. You two fared pretty well, considering what you went through.”
Arthur smiles gently. “We were lucky.”
“Yeah,” Varhee adds. “If it weren’t for the blankets in the command center, we’d have been goners.”
Dr. Madison gives a faint smile.
“Negative seventy-five degrees isn’t luck — it’s a miracle.”
She sets her clipboard down.
“I’m releasing you both. Captain Drevick wants to debrief you.”
“Sure. Thanks.” Arthur stands, glancing toward the guards.
“These two will probably show me the way.”
He looks to Varhee. “You stay here.”
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—
The guards lead Arthur to Drevick’s office.
He steps inside and takes a seat. At Drevick’s nod, the guards step out.
“Let’s not play games, Captain,” Drevick says.
“What happened in the cargo bay?”
Arthur meets his eyes.
“You tell me. You’re the one making accusations.”
He leans back.
“What even happened?”
Drevick folds his hands.
“The medical crates were incinerated. Intentionally.”
He adjusts his sleeves.
“Sabotage.”
Arthur smiles thinly.
“And you think I did it? Why — for fun? For sport?”
His voice hardens.
“You think I risked my life — and hers — to destroy medicine?”
Drevick doesn’t smile.
“Your clearance code was used several times to access restricted areas.”
He taps the log.
“But I’m focused on this one. Open. Close. Sixty-three minutes apart.”
Arthur exhales. A bitter smile curls.
“That deck was sealed in vacuum. How do you think I did it? We didn’t have suits.”
A dry laugh.
“You think I just strolled outside?”
Drevick glances toward the door.
“Something’s off. Your code opened three doors in thirty-six hours.”
Arthur’s voice firms.
“The system’s fried. False readings everywhere.”
He leans forward.
“All I did was survive — and keep Varhee alive. Is that a crime?”
His fist slams against the desk.
From the Void, Sarah whispers, He’s about to throw a chair. Pull back a little.
Drevick stacks his papers neatly.
“Watch your tone, Hammond.”
Arthur leans back, calm again.
“I’m not the one pointing fingers, Captain.”
—
Moments after Arthur leaves, guards enter the med bay.
“Juliet Varhee. Come with us.”
They walk her through cold corridors. A door slides open — she’s pushed into a chair.
A man sits across from her in silence.
Seconds stretch.
Then —
“My name is Bregor Fenn. Head of Security aboard the Gerion.”
He rocks back slightly.
“I’ll be blunt. I know he did it. He’s going down for it. His codes were the key.”
He stands, gazing out at the blue flame of the gate chain.
“I don’t care what you think he meant to do. I care what you helped him get away with.”
“I didn’t help him do anything,” she snaps.
“And you don’t know a damn thing about him.”
Fenn smirks.
“And you do?”
He leans in.
“I know those blankets came from storage. They shouldn’t have been in the command center.”
A tap against her temple.
“You’re lying.”
Varhee laughs.
“No — you’re guessing.”
She shakes her head.
“What are we even talking about? Blankets?”
Fenn’s tone hardens.
“He went outside. Twice. Once for the blankets and parts. Then again — to destroy the cargo.”
Varhee’s eyes widen.
“Listen to yourself. It’s negative four hundred degrees out there!”
She leans forward, sharp and furious.
“I confess — I was in the vents rerouting heat so we didn’t freeze to death.”
She doesn’t blink.
“As far as I know, the Captain stayed in the command center trying to keep us alive.”
A beat.
“If that makes us suspects, this ship has bigger problems than some cargo.”
Fenn grips her shoulders.
“He destroyed it. You helped.”
“Get your hands off me.”
Her voice cuts like glass.
He releases her slowly.
“Brave words for a cadet on the edge of a dishonorable discharge.”
“If surviving one of the worst situations in space travel is a crime,” she says evenly,
“then discharge me.”
She leans back.
“I’m sick of this — whatever this is.”
Fenn turns back to the viewport.
“Don’t tempt me.”
—
Back in Drevick’s office.
“We’ll drop you both at the next outpost,” Drevick says coldly.
“After that, your records vanish into a black hole.”
Arthur meets his gaze.
“Got it. Survival’s a crime now. Guess we’re done.”
Drevick sneers.
“You ever think about how fast you climbed the ranks? From nobody to captain — record time.”
Arthur smirks.
“So now competence is suspicious? Is this about the cargo — or my record?”
Drevick tosses the papers onto the desk.
“Maybe it’s time you retire — before whatever you’re running from catches up.”
Arthur stands. Eyes narrow. Voice flat.
“I’m not running.”
A beat.
“I’m leaving before the rot spreads.”
—
Later, Drevick and Fenn sit in Fenn’s office.
Fenn powers down his comm and drops it into a drawer.
“I watched her carefully. She didn’t flinch when I pressed her on the Captain.”
A pause.
“But when I mentioned the walking…”
“She flinched?” Drevick cuts in.
Fenn nods.
“Like she knew everything I said was true.”
A quiet chuckle.
“And Hammond?”
Drevick’s expression is cold — calculating.
“Calm. Like we were reading from a script he wrote weeks ago.”
The smile fades.
“I told him to resign. He didn’t argue. Didn’t blink. Just smiled.”
Fenn tilts his head.
“That scare you?”
“It does,” Drevick admits, moving toward the door.
“Men like that don’t walk away.”
“Or,” Fenn says softly, “they burn the system down behind them.”
“Let them go. They can be someone else’s problem,” Drevick says, dropping the report into the trash.
“What a waste of a perfectly good ship.”
Fenn’s smile thins.
“And Daevos?”
Drevick pauses at the door, turning just enough for the light to catch his face.
“He’s already aware,” he says quietly.
“And he wasn’t happy.”
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