Rayne

  Rayne recognized Lena’s voice. Lena had one arm wrapped around her neck from behind, with her feet wrapped around her torso as Rayne found herself staring at the ceiling. Every marine in the squad was taking an arm or a leg and doing their best to keep her immobile as she kicked and thrashed. Most were in half states of dress and had obviously been asleep when the commotion started.

  Rayne stopped actively fighting, but continued to pull against the restraining hands.

  “Is she okay?” It was Sgt. Weber’s voice.

  “She’s still breathing, but unconscious.”

  It was obvious they weren’t talking about her. She was very conscious, still teetering on the brink of violence.

  “Do you want me to get someone from med tech?”

  “No, not yet.”

  Rayne heard soft steps and then the sergeant’s concerned face hovering above her.

  “Rayne? You okay?”

  Of course she was not damn well okay. She was freaking out and had just attacked one of the marines or a member for the crew.

  “I’m fine,” she lied. She tried to relax, but the multitude of hands touching her was making it impossible.

  He stared at her for several seconds and then nodded.

  “Let’s let her up.”

  “You sure?” Jackson stood next to him; looking down on Rayne as the others held her.

  “No, but are you gonna hold her like that all night?” The sergeant turned to Jackson with a questioning look. Jackson just put both his hands up and shook his head in response. Sgt. Weber turned back to the pile of marines at his feet. “Just back off quick when you let go or you’ll be throwing up in a bucket as they haul you away.”

  The pressure on her arms, legs and neck released suddenly. One moment she was on the ground with Lena at her back, the next she was standing with her back to the view port window with what seemed like no movement in between.

  “Holy shit,” someone murmured.

  Rayne kept her position, back to the window, secondary lids closed, and huffing in exertion as she kept her feet planted on the floor, resisting the urge to charge forward for attack. ‘These are my friends,’ she kept repeating to herself. As much as she had, anyway. Lena stood from her position on the floor and walked quietly forward, stopping a meter before her and just out of reach. Like it mattered. She could cover the distance in less than a nano-second and deal a death blow before the woman could move to defend herself. Their sparring sessions were a joke and she was pretty sure Lena knew it. So why stand so close when she knew it could be lethal? Trust? She rolled the word over in her mind for several long moments as Lena just stood before her saying nothing. She simply waited, giving Rayne time to…what? Decide not to kill her? The realization that she had no intention of doing so suddenly dawned on her and she relaxed. She allowed the tension to drain from her body, sat in the view port window and turned her head away from those behind her, watching the nebulae’s slow, churning motion as if nothing had happened.

  ***

  Rayne sat quietly in the corner of the ship’s small galley, sipping a hot drink. The rest of the squad sat around her, talking idly on a variety of different topics. The current topic of choice seemed to be their re-assignment and the various effects it would have on their lives and careers. A few discussed the opportunities that would be available in Alpha Centauri and the surrounding systems. They talked about the different recon and combat assignments that would be available. Being that much closer to the center of human space, the opportunities for conflict were often higher and thus the marine’s ability to get into a fight, or some action was higher. Overall, the group seemed to feel pretty optimistic about the move.

  Rayne didn't really care one way or another, so long as there was open sky wherever they ended up. She didn't have any family left to go home to anymore, so as far as she was concerned, one place was as good as another. She'd not had time to think about what she would do when they reached their destination. Past the pain and scrambled voices inside her head, the only thought on her mind had been freedom and open sky. Now that the prospect of getting planet side had presented itself, thoughts of what she would, or could do, began to fill her mind. The first thought that had occurred to her was to finish school. Her mother had been overseeing her education and she had nearly been done with the basic curriculum. She had planned to move on to one of the many specialties available to her, but their ship's crash had eliminated that future. Or maybe that was not the right word. Delayed might be a more accurate word for it. Now that she'd thought the matter over, finishing her schooling was what she wanted to do. She'd always loved to learn. She'd always been curious about everything and had driven the ship's crew nearly insane with her questions. She guessed the only reason they put up with her was because she was the daughter of the ship’s captain.

  Rayne toyed with the idea of staying with the marines, but decided it just wasn't going to be in the cards. She was too messed up in the head to pass any type of entrance exam, and while she liked the group and the training, which gave her a sense of purpose and helped displace the chaos that constantly sought to burst free, she wanted to be done with killing. She didn't want to choose a career that would put her in the middle of that. Unless they were Tau Ceti. She could definitely make a career out of that. Anger bubbled to the surface as the thought caught hold, and the liquid in her cup began to shake as her hand trembled with the rage. Lena, who was sitting next to her, put a reassuring hand on hers and the rage sank. She took a deep, relaxing breath and looked for another track of thought to occupy her mind.

  That was another thing. What was she going to do without Lena? She had come to rely on the woman in the last two weeks. She was an anchor, the calm in the storm that threatened to spiral out of control at every turn. Could she keep it together without her? If she wanted some form of independence, and to live a life of her own, she was going to have to learn how.

  It was at this moment the ship alert sounded and everyone was ordered to their stations. The marines moved as one toward the weapons bay to await orders. Lena hooked an arm in Rayne’s as they followed the group. They all moved to their assigned weapon racks and began checking their equipment. Not having one of her own, Rayne helped Lena with hers. She'd become familiar with the gear over the last two weeks because Lena had gone through it daily as something to keep Rayne occupied. She knew how to load the magazines, how many magazines she needed for a basic combat load, where each item went and what needed to be included based on the mission type. Lena had even taught her to assemble and disassemble the automatic pistol. Rayne hadn't been allowed to fire it, which didn’t necessarily offend her, and recognized her condition meant she could only be trusted so far. In reality, she'd fired enough rounds for two lifetimes anyway and wasn't overly eager to go to that place again.

  Lena had offered to teach her the basics on maintaining and servicing the T80. Rayne flat out refused and made every effort to keep a healthy distance from it. Although the combat system had eventually become an integral part of her, the memory of being trapped inside without being able to escape, still haunted. Not even knowing where the release was located had been enough to get her anywhere near it. Sgt. Weber had been a little disappointed. He had hoped at some point to have Rayne give them some suggestions or insights, since she had one of the highest kill counts in the fleet. Her obvious skill at the hand-to-hand fighting strongly suggested an equal amount of skill when operating the T80. The sergeant was forced to admit that even if they could get her to suit up, it probably wasn’t a good idea for the foreseeable future. Any explanation or insights Rayne possessed would have to wait until she was willing to speak in more than the one or two word phrases she preferred.

  Sgt. Weber spoke to the squad as they finished checking equipment.

  "Once you've finished checking your gear, hang here until I tell you otherwise. I'm going to check with intel to see if they hav
e anything for us." Everyone acknowledge him, then went back to checking their gear as he walked away.

  "Hey, Lena, how about some cards?" Abena had finished checking her gear and was looking for something to pass the time until they knew what, if anything was going to happen.

  "Sure, you got a deck? Grab the other two and we'll make a game of it."

  "How about you, Rayne?” asked Abena. Rayne shook her head. It was typical of her to refuse, but they always offered anyway. She sat quietly against the weapons locker as Lena and the others pulled up whatever they could find to sit on.

  "What's the game?" Callahan asked, pulling up an empty storage crate over to use as a table. Rayne hadn't spent much time with the marine and paid him little attention.

  "Black Jack?" Abena suggested as she pulled a deck of cards from her locker and began to shuffle.

  "No, I hate that game. It's boring," Taft said as he took his seat.

  "What's the matter, can't you count that high?" Ribbed Abena. "How about “Go Fish,” Taft? Isn't that more your speed?"

  "Ha, Ha, very funny."

  "How about Texas Hold'em?" Suggested Callahan.

  "Sure, you deal." Abena set the cards on their makeshift table and Callahan began to pass the cards out.

  "Why do they call it Text Ass anyway?" Taft asked.

  "It's not Text Ass idiot, its Texas and I think it was some old earth colony to start," Lena answered.

  "Isn't that the name of the capital on Sirius?" asked Callahan.

  Lena nodded, "It's New Texas and I'm sure that's where they got the name."

  Rayne turned her head from the conversation and watched Sgt. Weber walk across the bay. She strained to hear what he was saying as he approached the intel officer. Rayne felt something like static crackle through her coarse black hair and there was an odd sensation as it seemed to reorient itself in that direction. She felt a series of connections snap rapidly into place inside her mind and sighed in relief as her world opened up to her again. She boosted the audio input, pinpointed, and then isolated, the conversation. She had missed the T80s capabilities that had become as natural to her as breathing. The loss of the ability had felt like being blind. It didn't occur to her that she shouldn't be able to do what she was doing. She was just glad it was back. She was glad to be herself again and to truly see the world as it was meant for her to see and hear as the data poured in. What had previously been the sound of electronic gibberish coalesced into the recognizable voice of the T80 interface. She welcomed the data like the voice of an old friend.

  Rayne’s brain had been forever changed by its three-year connection with the T80 system. While at its core her brain was still human, everything had become so closely integrated with the T80 software there was now little difference between the two. Rayne had become the T80 in all but hardware, and now after having been on an auto connect sequence for the last two weeks, her brain had finally found its missing connections. It had reached out, strained, and made new pathways, and adapted to the loss of its external sensors. The bio gel, which was now part of her chemical make-up, had responded slowly as it was forced into unnatural configurations, forming new structures and connecting gaps. The T80 now locked in her brain had reached out for existing structures and adapted them to its own purpose until finally, it had replaced what was missing and Rayne felt whole again.

  Rayne became unnaturally still at what she heard in the conversation between the sergeant and intel officer, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Lena as the cards were dealt. Lena saw no signs that Rayne was about lose control, but the stillness was something new and it made her nervous. She kept one eye on the game and one eye on Rayne.

  "...Ceti," was the first word she heard.

  "How far out are they?"

  "They've pulled them a million kilometers off the main lane into an asteroid field. Looks like the ship's captain was able to get the distress call out and then rigged his drive for an EMP burst, so now they're both locked together and floating dead in the water.

  "What class ship?"

  "B class."

  "So we can expect a crew of about fifty, give or take?"

  "Yeah, that sounds about right. The captain's in contact with them right now, but you know how Tau Ceti are. They'll die before surrendering, but I guess we gotta go through the motions."

  The conversation then turned to tactical data, ingress routes, and attack points, but Rayne had stopped listening. Tau Ceti had killed her parents and their crew and then hunted her through three years of hell. Killing now consumed her thoughts and she fought the rising tide of rage. With a supreme effort of will she kept it from bubbling to the surface where Lena would immediately see it. She knew if she lost it now, she'd lose the ability to think herself onto that ship where she could kill until they were all extinct.

  Rayne’s mind raced furiously. First, she would need a weapon. Something more than the batons she still carried with her. She had no intention of beating anyone senseless. She intended to kill them and these little sticks weren't going to cut it. She knew Lena would miss anything taken from her weapons locker, as would any of the rest of the squad, but she also knew from her last two weeks that those weapons weren't the only ones here. They called it the weapons bay after all and there were a variety of weapons and ammunition stored in adjacent lockers. All she needed to do was take one during the confusion and then get herself on whatever transport they would be using to get themselves to the disabled vessels. She thought through every option, including taking out the entire squad and hijacking one of the ship's small shuttles. No, she wouldn't do that. Besides, she didn't know how to fly the shuttle, but she would not be denied. She was getting on that shuttle with everyone else, even if she had to fight her way on.

  Sgt. Weber strolled across the weapons bay as he shouted.

  "Everyone gear up! We've got an op! Light combat load! When you're ready, form up at Jensen's terminal and we'll go over the details!"

  Everyone moved to their weapons locker and began pulling gear and loading weapons. Rayne stepped to the side to give them room and took the opportunity to slip an automatic pistol and spare magazines into her waist band and cargo pockets from a nearby weapons crate while no one was looking. Finished with their preparations, the squad formed up at the intel console as Jensen swiped schematics to the big screen for everyone to see.

  "Here is what we've got. Tau Ceti have hijacked this vessel and pulled it off the shipping lane to this area here." Jensen indicated a spot on the screen and then enlarged it for everyone to get a better view as Sgt. Weber continued with the briefing.

  "The ships are both locked together and dead in the water, running on reserves. That means we'll be operating in a low light environment. Check your IR gear before we load up. Remember they use an active camouflage, so if your gear is not working you'll likely be dead before you have any idea who's shooting at you." He looked around to make sure he had everyone's attention. "We'll be taking shuttle number two and making entry at this aft maintenance access here." He pointed to a section just in front of the main engine casing. "Because we're using that access we shouldn't have to do any cutting, but we'll bring the gear just in case." Tau Ceti vessels could be a mishmash of different systems and components. There was no guarantee anything still matched the original design specs and they might have to cut their way through the hull with special tools. Sgt. Weber's hope was to get in fast and start killing bad guys before they knew what hit them.

  "This is a Class B vessel, which usually supports a crew of about fifty, so plan on having at least that many bullets." That drew grins from the squad. He turned to his two team leaders, "Jackson and Lena, we're going to combine the teams and move down the main corridor and clear compartment by compartment. We'll hit the big stuff first and then move on from there. My biggest concern is clearing the engine room. It may not be operational, but that's not to say they can't make something nasty for us, so
we'll hit that first."

  "What're our rules of engagement on this one, Sarge?" asked Jackson. The answer to this question would make a big difference on how they approached the op. If there were potential friendlies, they'd have to be more cautious and take more time choosing their targets. They would be held responsible for any friendly casualties and no one wanted to face court martial for making a mistake.

  "This is a Tau Ceti vessel and there are no reported prisoners on board. The cargo vessel’s crew have managed to keep them at bay, so anything moving is Tau Ceti and you are authorized to shoot first and ask questions later." There were a few surreptitious fist bumps but everyone kept a cool, professional demeanor. "These are Tau Ceti, so the likelihood they'll surrender is zero, but if one chooses to, try not to kill them." He eyed the squad to make sure everyone understood. "If there are no questions, let's load up"

  They all started for the shuttle until Lena cleared her throat, "Uh, Sarge? What are we going to do with Rayne?"

  "Ah, hell, I totally forgot about her." Sgt. Weber stopped short and turned to Rayne. "Rayne, you're staying here. Report to Dr. Little until we're back." Thinking the matter settled, he turned toward the shuttle.

  "No." Rayne said firmly.

  Sgt. Weber stopped and turned. "What?"

  "I said, no," she repeated.

  "Rayne, I don't have time for this," Sgt. Weber said in exasperation. "You're not trained, you're not equipped and you're not a marine. Now get yourself over to med tech and hang with Dr. Little until we're back. That’s an order." This had been the first time the sergeant had needed to be forceful with Rayne and he wasn't sure how she'd react. "If you can keep it together, then I'm sure he'll walk you over to intel and let you listen in."

  "I will not be staying behind and you will not make me." Rayne said through gritted teeth.

  Sgt. Weber did not want to be dealing with this right now and they needed to be on their way five minutes ago. He hated to short himself on numbers when he was going up against superior numbers, but it looked like Rayne wasn't going to leave him any choice.