Fic for alienashi (1/2)
Title: After the Sun Burns Down
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Word count: 22,780
Rating: Soft R for violence
Warnings: This is very very AU. Small spoiler for character death but not Jin/Kame. Some violence, high stakes and bad language.
Notes: The science in this may be very wonky, as it's based only on a very thorough reading of many science fiction films, books and television shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Star Wars and Firefly. So... technobabble...but the techno may be but babble. Basically, if you think of a typical Star Trek sci-fi type episode, aspects of this will seem very familiar … So alienashi, I hope you enjoy this! I'm sorry about the lack of explicitness, but that's not really my bag … so apologies there! In a way you also sparked this plot line by a throw away line in response to a question about the current circumstances... you said "not at the cost of lives" and a little plot bunny was born, which somehow became this.
Summary: Jin Akanishi survives the emergency awakening procedure, only to discover that the galaxy has changed while he has been in stasis. When is love not enough? If being together with the one you love will cost lives, can you make that choice? Now that everything has fallen apart, Jin Akanishi and Kazuya Kamenashi must find out whether choices made for them in the past really do define their future, and if they can make a second chance amidst the chaos.
The alarms are screaming; he can't tell if they are inside his head or not. It feels like they are, the loud klaxon sound drilling into his head, and making his stomach contract in its rhythm.
"Damn it Jin! Open your eyes! That's a goddamn order."
They are. He thinks they are, but it is so dark … He forces his eyes open again, and this time shadows swirl in front of him, and bile climbs high into his throat.
"Move. Now. Get up." That voice again. It won't leave him alone. What the fuck is happening to him?
"I said move! Damn you. Move." Who the fuck is talking to him like ... A hand grabs his shoulder and pulls him forward. Instinctively his body rolls with the movement, and his stomach is now heaving vertically as well as horizontally.
"Jin. Please." He forces his eyes open again, and recoils backwards as Nakamaru's face swims before him. Which is not possible. He was never going to see Nakamaru again. How ...
"That's it. Come with me. Move." Maru yanks him out of the chamber, and he falls forward onto his knees. He is rather viciously happy that he manages to throw up on Maru's boots rather than on himself. Maru ignores it, and instead heaves him onto his feet, holding his shoulders in an iron grip.
"Listen to me, Jin. Focus. We have no time. You have to do what I say."
None of this makes any sense, and his head is pounding now that he is standing, and oh fuck he should not be capable of standing so soon after stasis, and -
Maru shakes him again and this time he does throw up on himself. Just a little bit.
"You are awake. I had to wake you. It's all gone to hell, and I need you to focus. Can you hear me?"
"Yes." He manages to force the words past his dry lips. "What the fuck happened?"
"Everything." Maru grimaces. "The ship has been compromised, there has been a hull breach across multiple decks, and we are barely keeping life support going."
"We need to evacuate the ship." He sways and Maru steadies him with a hand against his chest while he gulps down a few deep breaths. "We need to get everyone off."
"Not yet." Maru pulls him towards the doors, then props him up against the wall. "We can't evacuate yet. We need to find somewhere to evacuate too." He pulls the emergency kit down from the wall with one hand, and a grabs a crow bar with the other. "I'll explain everything I promise. Later." Jin's hands close around the crow bar that Maru shoves at him. "We need to find any other stasis survivors. I've initiated the emergency awakening procedure, but... it's not working and it's taking too long. We need to get them out now."
Jin nods and staggers forward. "I'll go check the..."
Maru stops him. "This bay has been cleared."
"It can't have been, there are normally 5,000 transport units in here...." Jin is staring across the cargo bay, finally taking in the rows of damaged units, the shattered Plexiglas covers, the status lights blinking red showing the occupant was dead. A sea of red. As far as he could see. "How many survived?"
Maru presses his shoulder briefly and pulls him through the door. "One. You."
It still isn't making a lot of sense. His stomach is finally settling down, and his legs are obeying the command to move, but his mind is having problems adjusting. Maru keeps talking at him, and some of it made sense, emergencies and wakening protocols and getting out, but … What had happened?
He stops.
Maru yanks his arm and pulls him stumbling down the corridor. "I know it makes no sense. I know you want to know what's going on. I will brief you on everything later, but now, we need to clear the bays and save as many as possible." Maru presses a button and waits as the lock on the door disengages. "There are eighteen possible survivors in here. Find them. Open the chamber, get them out, get them moving. Wake them any way you can. We only have ten minutes before we lose access to this deck."
"Why?" Jin asks, his mind latching onto the last thing Maru said.
"The outer shields are failing, and they won't last much longer. We've routed all available power through to the shields, but they will fail if we keep trying to cover all decks. There are too many perimeter breaches for them to last. We need to get everyone onto the upper decks and abandon these ones."
Jin nods. That made sense - and the static klaxon alarms were ringing because there was no power for the normal warning systems. Which meant things were really really bad.
"That's right," Maru says, and Jin realises he had spoken out loud.
The door opens, and Maru points to the left. "Hurry."
It is horrific. The other bay had been remarkably intact compared to this one. The lines of red lights are the same, but here the broken chambers have been strewn across the floor, and they are having to fight their way over bodies, jagged Plexiglas, twisted metal and all for nothing. They are too late. Jin watches as five lights turn from green to blinking red before he could reach them, he can hear Maru swearing as he experiences the same. Then he sees it, one steady green light; Jin is running towards it even as he is yelling at Maru for help.
The debris around the chamber weighs nothing as far as he can tell in his rush towards the chamber, clearing a path to get there as quickly as possible. Still green, still green. The lid is twisted and the Plexiglas cracked but it hasn't shattered, so just maybe, this one ... this person..would be ok.
Between them they open the chamber, and Jin is scanning the display log, checking vital signs. Respiratory compromised, heart rate falling, core temperature steady but not rising as it needed to, but there seems to be some minimal brain activity at least.
The light blinks, and the heart rate flatlines. "No!" Jin drives his fist against the chest cavity, there is no time for finesse, he needs to get the heart pumping.
The light flickers then the green glow subsides slowly to be replaced by red, but the other vitals don't change. "Come on, wake up," Jin says, unbuckling the restraints, and shrugging off Maru's attempts to help.
"Jin."
"We got one," Jin says. "We got him."
"Jin."
The core body temperature is falling quickly now. That means the awakening process is not working, but surely... Jin looks up at the face as he thumps the chest once more, and freezes.
"No."
Their eyes are opening and closing, in one second bursts. Open and close, open and close. He checks the vital signs log, and they match the brain activity logs. Only an echo. Reflexive muscle spasms.
"No."
He thumps the chest again, hoping to spark something into life, even as his brain refuses to believe that there is nothing more he can do for him.
"Let him go, Jin." Maru's voice is compassionate. "He's gone. I'm sorry."
"He can't be."
"He is. The process wasn't completed. He got close, but he didn't make it."
Jin pushes hard against the chest, and the sudden snap of a broken bone shocks him. He broke the ribs? He stumbles backwards and as he does so, his brain finally realises why Maru's voice is softly compassionate. The kanji label on the chamber, the eyes, the face, he knows who this is. Was. Is.
Tomohisa Yamashita.
"General Nakamaru, the protective shields on Deck E will fail in approximately 2 minutes." The robotic voice echoed in the metallic space. "Please evacuate Deck E immediately."
"Time to go Jin." Maru's grip is like iron around his wrist.
"Can't leave him."
"You have to."
"He might..."
Maru shakes his head. "He won't. We have to go now."
Jin looks away from Yamashita's eyes and sees Nakamaru's determination. "Why?"
"I need you. I can't do this alone."
Jin shakes his head, and Maru punches him. Once. Hard on his left shoulder. "Move. Now."
Jin follows.
**
Maru leads him through the corridors and pushes him up an evacuation ladder to Deck D, and they make it off Deck E with fifteen seconds to spare, according to the computer system. Jin can feel the blood pumping in his veins, adrenaline surging and knows that his mind is slowly asking questions that he doesn't want to face. He closes his eyes and then forces them open quickly. Too similar. Not now.
Maru had promised to explain everything, but right now, he doesn't want to know, but he can't just stand here either. He needs to do something. Anything. So he doesn't think about it.
"General Nakamaru, I require your presence on the bridge. I have detected a large unknown array, similar in size and density to an asteroid belt, and require permission to alter course." The computer sounds as calm and unflappable as any Fleet drill computer, but this was not a drill.
"Permission granted. Do whatever it takes to keep us out of danger."
"I'm sorry Sir. The four most effective course of action will require the redistribution of all life support systems for a minimum of approximately eighteen minutes. This action requires executive approval." The voice sounded almost apologetic.
"Fine," Maru snaps. "On my way." He forces open an access panel and seconds later a schematic of the ship is glowing on the wall. "Jin, there is one more bay that needs to be checked. Here, Deck D, aft side. It's a smaller number, only twenty or so chambers. I haven't been able to get any data on survivors. . They were in deep stasis, so some might have been protected a little, but most are unlikely to have survived the emergency awakening. I need you to check on them."
Jin nodded. "I can do that." He could. Something he could do.
"Deck D will fall next. You probably have half an hour to get there, and check them." Maru presses a small flat disc against his shoulder. "Deck D is harder to monitor than Deck E was, so you might not have as much warning when the shields are collapsing. Keep your eyes open, and leave when I tell you to. No matter what happens, I want you alive."
Jin nods.
"I mean it Jin. Your life is the most important at the moment. Go."
Maru is turning away when the question leaves Jin's lips. "Why were these chambers kept separate?"
Maru didn't turn back, but Jin could see from the way his shoulders slumped the answer was not easy. "They were kept separate because they were … are ... Star Riders. The last of them."
**
Running helps. The movement is causing his heart to pump the blood quickly through his body, and as his respiratory system works hard to keep the air in his lungs and with his blood pumping, he is thinking and moving, and once the thoughts start, he can't stop them.
He was on a ship. He shouldn't be on a ship.
He hadn't seen the schematic of the ship before. He should have if he was going to be on it.
They were in space. He shouldn't be in space. Not like this.
Maru was there. Maru was meant to be leading an expedition to one of the moons in the Spica constellation to see if it was suitable for colonisation. He wasn't meant to see Maru for another forty years, if then. How was he here?
The ship was crippled, and the shields were failing. They needed to evacuate all survivors as soon as possible. Maru said they needed to find somewhere to evacuate. There was always somewhere to evacuate.
Pi was dead. Pi was dead.
The last thing he remembered was ... his crew being assigned back to Earth for the Academy jubilee celebrations. What the hell was going on?
5,000 troops dead in his bay. The same in the other bay. A whole battle frigate's population. So many. Gone. They were gone. What if his crew was also … Don't go there now. Focus.
Still a chance. Still a chance there could be others. Star Riders. Hurry. Hurry.
The doors slide open as he runs towards them, a good sign, surely. The computer is telling him that no life signs have been detected, that the shields in this area should hold for another twenty minutes, and Jin acknowledges the update.
He slides to a stop just inside the door and looks around, realising this room is set up differently to the others. This was not a transport room for normal stasis occupants, and the chambers were deeper and longer, and the occupants were wearing heavier suits, with black out visors and helmets to ensure no light, artificial or otherwise would reach them. These suits were normally used only for long term exploratory stasis, crews that needed to be put so deeply into stasis that they would survive journeys that were decades long. The status panels were hopeful, he could see green lights on almost half of them. He wouldn't acknowledge what the red lights meant at the moment.
The report to Nakamaru was short, a quick head count, ten possible survivors. No names posted over the chambers, no real surprise there, as the individual identities and ranks of Star Riders were one of the most closely guarded secrets in the military. Each Star Rider was deemed to be as important as their fellow ones, so each was deemed equally vital. Maru told him to get as many out as he could, and then gave him the bad news. The Star Riders were placed in an area that was not designed for long term stasis chambers, so didn't have much protection. There was only one small utility hall between the secondary hull of the ship, and this area. The hull had already been breached, and the shields were unstable. If the shields failed, this area would not have much warning.
"How will the emergency awakening procedure have affected them?" Jin asks.
"I don't know," Maru replies. "We have never initiated emergency awakening for deep stasis travellers before. Theoretically it was too dangerous for them, which is why we have always followed the standard procedure, so ..." Jin could almost see the helplessness shrug in his answer. "If they physically survived the trauma of the awakening procedure commands, and the power has held up long enough to assist that transition to waking, they may regain consciousness. If not, they'll remain in hibernation until the power to the chamber stops. So, all we can do is haul those still alive up onto the next Deck and hope."
"Understood. I'll do what I can." Jin looks around the huge chambers, trying to identify the likeliest survivor in the sea of black metal and grey Plexiglas. "Do you know who they are?"
"No," says Maru honestly. "I wasn't briefed on their identities."
"Understood. Whoever I can physically move I will." Jin turns to the line of chambers, and realises one side has six in a row with green status lights. That side must have had a greater consistency of power flowing through, that would explain why there were six … He opens the first chamber, and jumps as his own face suddenly stares back at him. Only a reflection in the helmet, that's all. The status panel begins to beep faster as the heart rate of the Star Rider speeds up. That was surely a good sign?
The buckles on the straps are stiff and his fingers are clumsy as they try to unbuckle them, but finally they give way, and he tries to haul the body out of the chamber. "Come on, you could help me," he says, and doesn't really expect an answer. The body bows toward him, and then snaps back, held fast by an oxygen delivery tube attached to the back of the helmet. It comes free fairly easily, and Jin manages to get the guy onto his shoulders, and carry him out into the hallway.
He slumps against the wall, and Jin checks if he is breathing. Chest is rising and falling, shallow but there. Ok.
"How many left?"
Jin doesn't hit the roof, but it is a close run thing. His heart feels like it is beating hard enough to explode though.
"If you can get them out of the chambers, I'll load them onto this transporter and get them to my medical bay." Junno snaps his fingers. "Chop chop, we don't have much time."
"Junno?" Jin stammers. Doctor Junnosuke Taguchi? How was he here? Was this ship full of people he studied with at the Academy? What are the odds on ...
"Maru told me that you might need help. How many green status do we have?"
"Ten, including this one."
"I can carry five at a time in this thing. Ah, you left the helmet, good idea that should help transition from one environment to another. Ok. Let's get them out."
Jin nods. Stares. Nods again.
Junno pushes him back towards the door. "Go on."
Jin nods, and runs back through the doors. The bodies are heavy, and by the time he has carried another four out, the last chamber in that row has gone from green to red. He can't let himself think too much about that right now. Can't think of them as a person. Just a chamber. Red or green. Green light open and carry. Red light, move on to the next green.
Junno is stacking them alongside each other on his transporter, a long bedded trolley type thing.
"That looks like it belongs in a warehouse," Jin says.
Junno manages a quick smile at him. "It does. It was the only thing I could think of to use. All the medical transporters were lost in the explosion. So, we use what we can?" Junno tests the weight. "I'll move them to Deck C, then come back for you and the rest of them."
"Ok. Jin nods. "We should get warning before the shields fail."
"Though maybe not much." Junno frowns at him. "Work as quick as you can, ok?"
"Yeah," Jin answers and hurries back inside. Three green lights left. As he crosses the floor, two of them suddenly blink and change to red.
"No! Why! Fuck!" He bangs on the lids, shouting at them, but the lights remain stoically red. He turns and hauls open the only remaining green lit chamber in that row, and yanks the oxygen tube away hurriedly. "Come on, you are not going to die on me. Wake up. Wake up, damn you." He might have been imagining it, but he thought the figure was stirring a bit. "That's it. Open your eyes. Come on, fight!" He pulls the body onto his shoulders, and stands up quickly. This guy was shorter and lighter than most of the others, so he was able to move quickly.
Junno had disappeared down the corridor, and Jin hesitates. Where should go? He doesn't want to leave this guy here, but he doesn't know where the medical bay is, and he needs to double check that there is no one else left alive back there. Time is running out … but he hasn't heard from Maru, so maybe the shields are holding? He looks down the corridor. Junno went that way, maybe he should take this one down towards the corner. There must be an elevator down there, Junno would need one to shift that trolley thing between Decks.....
Jin moves quickly, carrying the Star Rider on his shoulders. It's not far, he turns a corner, and finds the elevator Junno must have used. He calls it, and waits impatiently. His stomach is churning a bit, and he wants to get out of there, but something is telling him he needs to check that room one last time.
The elevator door opens, and Jin carefully places his Star Rider in the corner, propping his head against the wall. "Wait here," he orders. The Star Rider doesn't respond verbally, but Jin sees him raise a hand in what could be interpreted as a thumbs up gesture.
Jin runs back down the hall, and into the room. He counts the red lights automatically, scanning back and forth across the room for any trace of green. He can't see any. All he can see is red.
"Is there anyone in here?" he calls, and then feels foolish.
Until a few frantic thumps answer him, and for the second time in less than twenty minutes he feels his heart leap into his throat.
"Jin? Are you there? Jin?" Maru's voice suddenly echoes around him, and Jin was not sure how his heart manages to jump again, but it does.
"Yes, I just found..." Jin starts, but Maru cuts him off.
"The shields are failing. You have 3 minutes to get out. Maybe less. Get out now."
"But ..."
"Out!"
"Where are you?" Jin calls desperately. He can't see any signs of...all the lights are red... There! No light. A chamber, but no light. "Hold on!"
He gets closer, and hears another thump. "I'm here, I see you." The thumps are speeding up, getting more frantic, and Jin rips the chamber open. "Got you!" The Star Rider is still strapped into the chamber, but has managed to free his hands enough for movement. Thank god, he's somehow still alive. "Can you hear me?" He moves his head a little, which Jin takes as a yes. "Ok. I'l get you out." Jin releases him, and yanks the oxygen cord away. The Star Rider claws at his helmet, but Jin bats his hands away. "Helmet stays on. Doctor's Orders. Let's get the hell out of here." He stumbles backwards pulling the other guy with him. "Can you walk?" he asks, as the Star Rider's knees buckle. "Guess not."
"60 seconds, Jin where the hell are you!" Maru is sounding very pissed off.
"On my way," Jin snaps, then grabs the Star Rider's arms and pulls him onto his back. "Hang on."
Jin sprints as quickly as he can down the hallway, it's not easy but adrenaline gives him the extra kick needed. He rounds the corner and whoops as he sees the elevator doors are still open. He throws himself and his passenger into the elevator, and slams the button to shut the doors. The Star Rider is struggling against him, sliding towards the floor. Jin lets go, and before he can choose a button, any button, the elevator is moving upwards.
"Can't see. Can't see." The Star Rider is fumbling with the helmet, and Jin drops to his knees beside him.
"The Doctor said to keep the helmet on," Jin says, pulling the hands away.
"Can't see. Get it off." The tone is determined, and Jin hesitates, then agrees.
"Ok." He sees the release mechanism, and the helmet comes away with a rush of compressed air.
Oh fuck.
Can't be.
Kazuya Kamenashi.
It is.
His eyes are wide and wild, and his face is pale, and his hands are clawing at his eyes, and Jin can suddenly see blood. "Stop that!" Jin catches Kame's wrists, and pulls; his fingertips are daubed red. "Calm down. You'll be ok."
"I can't see. Why can't I see? Where am I? What happened?" Kame's head is turning to the left and then right, eyes moving around desperately.
"Easy now," Jin says, keeping a firm grip on his wrists. "Listen to me. Can you hear me?"
Kame nods.
"Ok. You were in deep stasis. Deep long range stasis. You are on a ship. Something happened to the ship, something bad. Emergency evacuation level bad. They activated the emergency awakening procedure on everyone, including you, maybe an hour ago. You've only been coming out of stasis for an hour at most." Kame is breathing heavily, and Jin tries to keep him calm. "That's probably why you can't see. We are evacuating to another deck. Ok. We'll go straight to the medical bay. Junno will look after you." Jin keeps his voice calm and even, and feels his own pulse growing steady as Kame's movements still and his blank gaze drops to where he probably thinks Jin's face is. "We're almost there. Steady."
"Junno?" Kame asks.
"Junnosuke Taguchi."
"I know him," Kame says. "We were at the Academy together."
Jin says nothing. This is a minefield and he doesn't know what he can say, or can't say, and Kame is looking at him, and a puzzled little frown is settling on his mouth, and fuck he needs to say something.
"He's a great doctor. You are in good hands," he says and then cringes. Really, was that the best he could come up with?
"Have we met before? Your voice sounds familiar," Kame asks, and Jin swallows and wonders how he can answer that question without lying, or causing the next galactic war to break out.
"Um," he says eloquently, then realises the elevator is slowing. "Hey, we must be approaching Deck C." He staggers to his feet and away from Kame.
"We are?" Kame asks. "Where are you going? Wait. Wait!" Jin feels the way the sudden crack in Kame's voice claws at his heart and then sinks all the way down to his toes. "Wait. Don't leave me."
"Steady," Jin leans forward and rests a hand on Kame's shoulder. "It's ok. You'll be fine."
Kame takes a deep breath, and Jin feels that one all the way to his toes as well. "Wait. Wait, please." Kame's hand stretches out and clutches at Jin's arm. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Kazuya Kamenashi, Star Rider Corps." He waits.
"I'mjin." Jin swallows, then tries again. "I'm Jin. Colonel, Celestial Defence Forces." Before he can say anything more, the doors open and Junno's concerned face is peering in at them, and his eyes widen in recognition.
"Kazuya!" Junno drops to his knees, and immediately begins waving his scanner over Kame's body, checking for injuries.
"Junno?" Kame asks, and is rewarded with a confirmatory thump to the chest. "I can't see. I can't see anything."
"Really?" Junno asks calmly, but Jin can tell by the way he swings the scanner up and peers worriedly at the screen that he is not happy to hear that. "Well, it could be the after effects of stasis. Let's get you checked out. Do you think you can walk?"
Kame half nods, and Junno gently pulls him to his feet. "This way. Oh and Jin, if you can help our other guest there?" Junno's voice floats back over his shoulder, and he doesn't wait to see Jin nod.
Jin turns to the other occupant of the elevator, and is surprised to see the helmet moving slowly from side to side. "Are you awake?" he asks.
The snort he receives in return is not exactly the answer he was after. Nor was his reply. "Is it too much to ask you to help me with my helmet visor, Bakanishi?"
Jin recoils, the tone and the name very very familiar. "Ryo?"
"Yeah."
Jin reaches out and hits the switch and Ryo's visor retracts.
"How are you?" Jin asks helplessly.
"I've been better." Ryo stares at him. "I'm glad you are alive."
"Me too," Jin says, then clarifies as Ryo's eyes narrow, "I'm glad that you are alive too." Ryo nods, then winces. "We should get you to sick bay."
"I don't seem to be able to move my legs." Ryo admits through gritted teeth.
"Not even a bit?"
"No."
"Ok." Jin moves closer, and carefully pulls Ryo up from the floor. "I guess I have to carry you."
"Yes."
Jin smiles. "Promise I won't tell anyone." He gently loops his arms around Ryo, and hoists him up. "Quick as I can."
As they leave the elevator, Ryo says quietly, "You didn't tell him your name."
"How could I?" Jin asks.
"He would want to know."
"I know." Jin hesitates. "I know he would and I want to but I don't think I ... I can't tell him."
Ryo is silent, then sighs. "I'll keep your secret."
"Thank you."
"For now. Only for now. We may discuss this again later."
"Somehow I knew you were going to say that."
**
Jin slumps in a chair, and takes three deep breaths. Then another three deep breaths. Maru will arrive soon, and he needs to get things as clear in his own head as he can. Maru promised to tell him what was going on, but he needs to know what is in how own head as well. Whatever he knows, he needs to have clear. His mind feels fuzzy, even fuzzier than usual. It might just be the after effects of stasis, but he needs to try.
His last clear memory from before. What is it? His memory keeps skidding around events, and he keeps wondering about the chronology. Childhood memories were fine, the Academy memories were crystal clear as ever, and his early career as well, all the way up to the last week. He kept latching onto something and then it led somewhere else, and he got confused. He is a Colonel in the Celestial Defence Forces, last stationed on patrol in Sigma Cluster, and recalled to Earth for … what? Recalled to Earth. Dress Uniforms. Anniversary. Jubilee Anniversary of the Academy. 1800 years. That was it, his ship had been recalled to Earth to participate in the anniversary celebrations for the Academy. Three days of celebrations, soft white cotton gloves and shiny boots and medals pinned on his chest. Reunion with some of his classmates, drinking shots, and avoiding him. Shaking hands with the President of the Galaxy Human Planets Alliance, telling her she had beautiful eyes, Pi elbowing him in the ribs to get him moving. Kame smiling and laughing and grinning and happy and always surrounded by other people. Ryo helping him up when he fell of a barstool.
New Hawaii. After that he was meant to be on vacation in New Hawaii. A month, and then rejoin his ship at the transfer point near the Halley beacon. Damn it he had been looking forward to that vacation. So how had he ended up in Stasis and on a military ship in the middle of who knows where with people he had trained with?
He definitely has some questions for Nakamaru.
**
Junno raises his hand, and the orange light moves slowly across Kame's face, then hovers over his left eye. "Can you see a colour?"
"No." All he can see is black. An vast, sweeping, unrelenting expanse of black. No light. No colour.
Junno adjusted the light and it split in two, with a beam of light now hovering over each eye. It quickly became incandescent.
"How about now?"
Kame blinks, concentrates and finally frowns. "No. Nothing."
"I see." Junno realises what he has said. "Sorry Kazuya, that wasn't the most appropriate thing to say."
Kame forces a small smile, and unseen, Junno grimaces and shares a glance with Maru. "Could have been worse, knowing your puns. What's wrong with me?"
Junno shuts the light off, and places a hand on Kame's shoulder. "The tests I have run all point to the same diagnosis. Your blindness relates to oxygen toxicity, which is something we haven't really treated for centuries. Basically, your body was exposed to elevated oxygen levels for an extended period of time at partial pressure, and that exposure has damaged the retina. Kazuya, it's one of the first issues that was addressed for human space flight, and the protocols and procedures put in place are so extensive, I struggle to see how this happened."
"Jin said there was no status light on his chamber," Maru speaks softly from the other side of the bed. "If the monitoring system failed, could the chamber have been flooded with oxygen?"
"Yes. That's possible." Junno nods. "We have never done an emergency awakening from deep stasis, and there are so many ways it could have gone wrong. I am surprised you were able to walk into this room, let alone converse. Then again, you are a Star Rider, your training and physical conditioning would have helped. Everything else I've tested is coming back perfectly fine, so the only damage appears to be your eyes."
"Is it permanent?"
Junno hesitates, then admits, "I don't know."
"Can you fix it then?" Kame's voice is resolutely even and controlled.
"Not immediately. The damage is quite severe, and it's been so long since we dealt with any oxygen toxicity case let alone one this serious, that the medical bots we have aren't programmed to sufficiently heal the damage. I promise Kazuya, I will work on reprogramming them, but it will take time." He took a deep breath. "And I can't promise that your sight will be restored."
"I understand," Kame says and a small part of him is screaming inside. "When can I get out of here?"
"I want to keep you under observation for 24 hours." Seeing that Kame was about to protest, Junno hurries to add, "I know that would require tying you to the bed, so can I have 6 please? Just to be sure. Rest if you can. Although you have been resting in stasis, your system has been through the wringer to get it out of stasis, and you need to build up some energy reserves."
"Fine." Kame nods and closes his eyes. "Six hours. Then I am out of here."
Maru places his hand on Kame's unencumbered shoulder. "When you are out, please report to the Bridge. I'll update you on what's been going on."
Kame nods again and keeps his eyes closed, and Junno and Maru take that as their cue to leave him.
Junno walks Maru to the door, and steps out into the corridor with him.
"How are we doing? Really." Maru asks.
"It could have been worse, and it could have been a lot better." Junno runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "Jin was completely fine, the process worked on him without any issues, but he's the only one. Kame is also physically fine, with the exception of being blind. Truthfully, I don't know if I can restore his sight."
Maru nods. "We cross that bridge when we get to it."
"As for the others, well Ryo Nishikido is awake, talkative and alert, and has full control over his respiratory system. He doesn't have full motor control over his limbs yet, his nervous system is repairing itself more slowly, but the scans show it is happening. He should be fine in another two hours or so, I've given him some boosters to help with that. We lost three in here, they had the opposite problem to Kazuya as they went too long without sufficient oxygen and the brain damage was too massive to repair."
Maru nods, his eyes solemn in understanding.
"The rest of them are in various stages of the waking process, but still technically comatose. Koki Tanaka is in the best shape, he's still unresponsive but seems to be in a waking coma and the scans show him to be stable. Yuu Yokoyama is in a vegetative state, but scans show that he is responding to some stimuli. Takahisa Masuda is in the most danger. He is in the deepest level coma, is not responding to any stimuli and his scans showed that he did suffer heart failure. I can repair that damage but...whether he wakes up or not?" Junno raises his hands helplessly. "I'm sorry Maru, I just don't know. The procedure has never been done before, we have no test cases to refer to, and they all are suffering to different extents."
"Just do your best Junno. It's all I would ever expect you to do. All anyone can expect you to do." He looks into the medical bay, and frowns at the sight. "That any of them made it out alive is miraculous."
"Yes." Junno slumps against the wall. "When you told me that Jin was alive I thought there was no more room for hope, but to get five of the Star Riders out is just..." He trails off.
Maru nods. "Keep me posted. I have to brief Jin now, bring him up to speed."
Junno looks worriedly into his medical bay. "How are we going to handle that? What does Ka.."
"Normally," Maru cut Junno off. :We handle Jin normally." He emphasises the name, and his gaze shifts from Junno to Kame inside the room. "Jin will be a great help to all of us, and we need him to move freely between all of us. Jin can handle it."
Junno nods, but still looks uneasy. "You know how I feel about it, I didn't like it then either."
"I know. This might actually be a chance to resolve it. It will have to be, there's no way around it. At least this time there are no outside forces or agendas." Kame shifts on his bed, and Maru steps closer to whisper in Junno's ear. "They'll get a chance to see what the other really wants. Maybe this time, they will get a chance to work it out together. Whatever they decide to be, it can be their decision. Theirs alone. Given everything that has happened if the only good thing that comes out of it is these two finding each other again, that's something."
Junno nods. "I understand."
Inside the medical bay, Kame has his eyes closed and is concentrating on their conversation, but he can hear anymore of their whispered conversation. Something is niggling at the back of his mind, and he knows he can trust his instincts. That mysterious Jin. Whatever had made him mysterious to Kame apparently applied to others as well. Junno knew him, Maru knew him. Did Ryo? Them? This time? Agendas? Who did they mean? He files that question under things to do later, and pretends to be asleep as Junno enters the room. He is good at solving mysteries after all.
**
"Why aren't I in New Hawaii?"
Maru stares at him and then bursts out laughing. "Out of everything you could have said, I would never have predicted that."
Jin glares. "That's the last thing I remember. I made it through the Academy anniversary celebrations and then I was going to New Hawaii." He points at the ship around them. "This is not New Hawaii."
"No it's not." Maru looks wistful for a moment. "New Hawaii....sounds rather tempting right now." He sits on the seat beside Jin. "What exactly is the last thing you remember?"
Being hauled up off the floor and sat on a bar stool by Ryo, whose eyes are compassionate as they tell him he needs to find some solution, one that doesn't involve alcohol, for his feelings about Kame because they were destroying his soul? Yeah. Not going to tell Nakamaru that.
"Jin? Nakamaru asks.
"I remember seeing everyone at that final Gala Ball, and then I went and had a drink with Ryo." A little bit of truth. Maru might be able to read between the lines, he was always good like that. "I was meant to ship out to New Hawaii the next morning." With Pi. He was meant to be going with Pi. Don't think about that now.
"Yep. You and most of the military forces it seemed." Maru rubs his nose. "I'm sorry Jin, I don't know how to tell you this. I don't know how to start." He raises his hands uncertainly. "I just don't."
"The bad news. Start with the bad news," Jin says, and laughs at the look on Maru's face. "Maru I can already tell things are bad, just tell me."
"You have no idea." Maru says and then holds Jin's gaze with the determination of an old fashioned samurai warrior. "Earth is gone."
"Gone where?" Jin blinks.
"Gone. Gone Gone. As in, no longer existing. As in, totally destroyed."
Jin stares.
"Please say something."
Jin stares.
"Jin."
Jin stares some more.
"I'm sorry, you are the first person I've had to tell, and I... screwed it up didn't I?" Maru's shoulders slump in defeat. "I've been practising and it still came out wrong."
"How?" Jin whispers. "How? Why?"
"That's the question I'm still asking as well." Maru grimaces and his hands clench into fists on the table. "It started the day after the Gala Ball, the first day you can't remember. A fleet approached Earth, they came in past Jupiter and used the Moon's shadow to cloak their approach. They were a consortium, made up of ships from a number of the outlying rim colonies. They said they had a new weapon, one that would kill a planet within hours. They presented a list of grievances to be addressed, and then said they would waive all of them if Earth promised to fund their own military growth. They claimed that they needed to feel securein their level of preparedness for self defence purposes, but they also wanted access to all our latest military technology. The President refused, said we didn't deal with terrorists and criminals. She offered to address their grievances, but only if a representative of each colony came to the diplomatic table.
From what we can tell, they argued amongst themselves. The more moderate ones tried to make it happen, saying that was why they were there, the more extreme factions wanted to make a point. In the end, the consortium started to fracture. They couldn't find agreement, and that's what the colonists from the planets along the outer Shadows rim had been waiting for all along. The weapon was on their flagship. They pretended to agree to discuss their list of grievances, and when the moderates had gathered in the Senate on Earth, they seized their chance.
It was never about a ransom demand for Earth. It was about establishing a new order across the Galaxy, one where they held military supremacy.
They didn't fire the weapon at Earth. That would have only destroyed Earth itself, and would have brought the might of our combined Alliance forces down upon them. They fired it at the Sun. They killed the Sun. Burnt it down."
"That's impossible, no one has that technology." Jin is desperate, searching for another answer. "That can't be true. Maru..."
Maru waits for him to run out of words, waits for him to try and process what that means. "They did. They must have been working on it for decades, maybe centuries. They made our sun burn down, pushed it into supernova. It destroyed everything in our solar system through to Jupiter and it's moons."
Jin stares at Maru, and bites his lip. Maru nods at him, and they sit in silent grief. Jin isn't sure how long he sits there, but his stomach aches and his throat burns and his eyes stay dry. His mind feels like its stuck in a dizzying loop. He understands the words Maru has said, logically understands them, but his heart is having problems with it. If it was true, it was unimaginable. Their home planet, the base from which all the colonies were founded, humanity, their history, their art, everything gone? Impossible. Yet, even as he tried to push the thought away he knew that Maru would never lie to him. That it must be true.
Finally he lay his head on the table, and began to weep.
Maru has no tears of his own left to shed as he watches Jin cry.
"It doesn't get easier, there is still more." Maru speaks gently, and Jin realises how dry his voice sounds. Stripped of hope and heavy with grief. "Can you hear more?"
Jin nods and keeps his head down, because if Maru can find the strength to say it, he can find the strength to listen.
"I think they intended to kill the moderates along with all the supreme council members of the Alliance. When President Kamenashi told them that the only response they would get was one telling them that they needed to sit down around the table to work this out, she played into their hands. As she opened their meeting, they fired the weapon. They miscalculated slightly though, their weapon didn't ignite the way they planned. Solar storms had redistributed the masses of hydrogen reserves on the Sun's surface, and the weapon struck a relatively cooler spot further from the core. It bought us some time, because the explosion was not immediate, we were able to start evacuating."
Jin looks up, hope shining in his eyes.
"Not enough. An hour only. It bought us an hour, which was enough to get some of the population into the air on whatever ships we had. We got maybe 20% of the planet's population off Earth before it happened."
Jin closes his eyes.
"Most people were lost on Earth, billions wiped out. Others were pulled into the firestorm as they tried to flee. The explosion slowed the further it travelled, which at least gave some of the transport ships a chance to evacuate towards the edges of the Milky Way. Mars got 60% of their population off planet, and Callisto base near Jupiter got 90% out."
Jin is silent, and Maru pauses to order his thoughts. "It's completely re-ordered the status quo. Refugee ships that survived are trekking across the galaxy, searching for a safe haven but without long range hyperspace engines, it will take years, maybe decades for them to find somewhere. The colonies are still scrambling to form military alliances, find resources and build a base for conquest. It's fucked up, Jin, it's really fucked up."
Jin looks at him, and Maru flinches in response. Maru has seen that look in the mirror too many times to mistake it. Confusion. Despair. Uncertainty."Why am I here?" Jin asks. "How did I get here?"
"You were already in stasis," Maru says gently. "You and a sizeable portion of our celestial forces, because you were all eager to ship out as soon as possible that morning. So we loaded you like cargo onto whatever ships we had and we ran like hell."
Jin is staring at Maru like he's listening to a story that happened to someone else. It feels so strange and alien. Part of him believes, but a larger part wants to scream and demand that it's not possible. Yet Maru is so calm, and he knows Maru wouldn't lie to him. Not about this.
"We had no planet wide evacuation plans, and it was chaos. Under presidential authority and the seal of the supreme alliance council they did authorise the introduction of a military state of emergency rule galaxy wide to take control, but it didn't work. We were too scattered, and too damaged, and we lost too many high ranking members both military and political for that order to hold once it was clear how much damage there was. It's a shambles."
Maru punches the table and walks towards the sky screen, looking out into the void of space as Jin recoils. "It's a fucking shambles," Maru repeats. "Everything we signed up to protect, everything we have ever worked for is gone."
Jin stays silent because he doesn't know what to say. He's actually fairly sure there are no words for what he is feeling right now.
"I'm sorry Jin. I can't ... I can't imagine what this feels like for you. It's so much to take in all at once."
Jin shrugs. He still doesn't have any words.
Maru nods and walks across the room to stand beside him. He places a small faceted crystal on the table beside Jin. "I put this together, it's a collection of footage and images and reports, and I'm sorry. Please watch it. I don't now what else to say." He lays a hand on Jin's shoulder and squeezes. "We have to go through this again with Kame and Ryo. Do you mind if I finish telling you about the ship then? With the bottom decks evacuated we've secured the hull on the upper decks for the time being."
Jin shakes his head trying to get his thoughts straight, realises that Maru is taking that as an answer, and then nods. "That's fine."
"I'll leave you to watch that. I've told Junno to send Ryo and Kame up in three hours time, earlier if Ryo improves." He hesitates then lifts his hand from Jin's shoulder. He has no words left either.
Maru leaves and Jin waits, listens to his heart beat thirty seven times before he walks to the wall screen and inserts the crystal. He leans back against the table as the data loads, and then thinks better of it. He sits down. After all, he is sure that whatever the videos show it will be worse than what he could imagine.
Two hours later, the screen has faded to black and Jin hasn't moved. His eyes have dried, but the palms of his hands still show the crescents where his fingernails have dug into his skin.
He hears the door slide open, and Maru calls his name, but he doesn't turn. It's like there is a huge weight on his soul, so heavy that it seems ridiculous to do anything because it will never go away. Maru shakes him slightly, and asks if he is ok.
Jin just looks up at him.
"Yes, sorry, stupid question." Maru bites his lip. "And I'm sorry I'm going to ask even more from you now. I need you to stay while I brief Kame and Ryo." He hesitates. "I don't think I'll get through it again by myself."
Jin looks into Maru's eyes and nods. Maru has never asked for more than Jin could give, and so rarely for anything for himself that Jin would always agree to it. To distract himself, he tries to think of the last time Maru had asked for something for himself, and all he can think of is Cadet Nakamaru wistfully saying it would be nice to go out and party with Jin ... and Jin of course agreeing to take him out and get him trashed. That bar was gone now. Like the city. Like the country. Like the planet. Fuck.
Behind them, the door slides open.
Ryo and Kame stand there, Kame with his right arm stretched across Ryo's chest to rest his hand on Ryo's right arm, and Ryo has his left arm around Kame's waist. For a small hysterical moment, Jin thinks they are ice skating.
Ryo says quietly, "Two metres straight ahead. Rounded discussion table and chairs. Turn left, walk one metre. There is a spare chair beside Jin. Maru is waiting for us."
Kame nods, and Jin realises that Ryo is acting as Kame's eyes and is impressed for a second at the speed and ease of their communication, not that he will ever show any sign of that to Ryo … and then he remembers that they are Star Riders. Relay communication and remote management would have been covered in their training.
They watch as Kame fearlessly walks as instructed to Jin's side. He hesitates then stretches his hand out to seek out the chair.
"Down ten centimetres," Jin says.
Kame's hand shifts and he settles into the chair beside Jin. "Thank you." He smiles and Jin feels it down to the pit of his stomach.
Ryo nods at Maru and Jin and sits in a chair on the far side of Jin. "Care to tell us what disaster has befallen us, given you've woken us up?"
Jin grimaces and Maru closes his eyes.
"What?" Ryo looks at one and then the other.
Maru looks helplessly at Ryo, and Jin can almost hear the idea spinning in his head of just blurting out the truth.
"Wait," Jin interrupts. "Tell them about the colonies consortium fleet arriving first. Start there."
Maru nods and squares his shoulders. "Ok. What's the last thing you remember? Tell me that, and I'll go from there."
Jin tunes them out, hearing it once was bad, watching it happen was bad, and he's not really prepared to hear it all again so soon, but Maru only ever asks if it's necessary, and he wants to help him.
He puts himself behind a glass pane and watches as Kame's mouth falls open, as Ryo's fists land against the table, as they both demand answers and show disbelief, rage and incomprehension. He can't blame them.
As Maru recites the percentage of losses, Kame's hand creeps towards Jin. Without thinking, Jin takes it and Kame laces their fingers together tightly. Jin raises his free hand and lays it on Ryo's shoulder. There is not a lot he can do, but this ... this he can do.
When Maru explains that they came to be on his ship because they were already hibernating in deep stasis, Ryo nods and Kame looks grim.
"I don't remember our mission," Kame says. "I should, but I haven't been able to remember."
"Neither can I," Ryo adds. "If we were in deep stasis that should have come back by now."
"I can't tell you what your mission was," Maru says. "All I know is that once we had the cargo bays loaded to capacity, another transport arrived with your chambers. You were already in stasis, so you must have been close by when the decision was made to switch ships." Maru shot a quick look at Kame. "There were only a few other ships left that were close by, and they were all carrying dignitaries so they might have needed extra room for more people. We loaded your chambers into the last space available, the science laboratory on Deck C and then we took off."
Kame licks his lips. "Who … Did … Is there still a President?"
Maru doesn't grasp exactly what Kame is wondering about but Jin sees in a moment of clarity what Kame is asking. He tightens his grip on Kame's fingers. "President Kamenashi was on one of the last military ships to leave. She was killed when her transport couldn't make the minimum safe distance. I'm sorry Kazuya, your mother is dead."
Kame bows his head, and Ryo glares at Jin. "Bakani … Idiot! Why tell him like that?"
Maru glares at Ryo in turn. "You think this is easy for any of us? And be careful what words you choose," he says, gesturing pointedly at Kame who is holding onto Jin's hand steadfastly.
Ryo gives them both an apologetic grimace and then apologises out loud.
Kame takes a deep breath and says, "It's ok. I needed to know." He looks around and Jin is struck by how lifeless his eyes look. "Just one more piece of bad news." Jin shifts his seat slightly closer to Kame so that their shoulders brush. He never wants Kame to feel alone, especially not now.
"Actually, I haven't finished yet." Maru drew their eyes back to him. "There's still more."
"What could you possibly have left to tell us?" Ryo asks.
"More," Jin says. "More like why we aren't out there fighting alongside whatever Celestial Defence Forces ships are left?"
"Some of the colonists tried to set up a blockade while we were evacuating the planet. They didn't have enough ships to stop all of us obviously but they tried to target some of our larger military ships. They took out a few completely, and they managed to damage a substantial number. When we arrived a few of the damaged ships were sending out distress calls requesting additional crew to help stabilise shields and provide medical support, so most of the crew from the Queen was sent over to those ships to help them get out of the danger zone and I assumed command here."
"I was wondering where the rest of the crew was," Ryo says.
"I kept a skeleton crew, and I mean a skeleton crew. Myself on the bridge and Ueda in Engineering to make sure we could keep the ship running. We discussed long and hard about bringing Junno out of stasis as the ship doctor, and I finally gave in because I was selfish. We both wanted to have him around, and we needed the company. It felt wrong to not have him there, and he was on my list of essential personnel."
"Tat-chan is alive?" Kame asks, and the joy in his voice is palpable. Jin feels the shudder that runs through Ryo and gives him a supportive and unobtrusive pat.
"Yes," Maru looks puzzled and then realises, that's another piece of new information. "Yes. Yes, he is. He's fine. In fact, he should be up here soon to present the latest status report."
Kame grins. "I can't wait to ... ummm... see him," he finishes.
"He'll be glad to see you," Maru says smoothly. "Actually Engineering is one of the last things I need to tell you about. As we left Earth the blockade was crumbling, but when they saw we were assisting other ships, they realised our shields were down to allow the shuttles to leave the loading bay, and they hit us. It was a lucky blow more than anything, it didn't hit us full force, but it damaged the hyperspace engines. They work, but can't be used for extended periods of time. We can shift to hyperspace for shorter periods than necessary to complete most journeys but then we need to drop back to normal space to cool the engines. Which means we can't plot a direct course to anywhere without considering where we are going to be making pit stops."
"Fuck," Jin says, and hears Kame and Ryo echo his word in stereo.
"Yeah," Maru agrees. "We are basically one big sitting duck, flying through enemy space, trying to find a safe haven."
"Why didn't you pull us out of stasis earlier?" Ryo asks. "We could have helped. We could help fly this thing, we could help fight, we could ..."
"Are you questioning my command decision?" Maru fixes Ryo with a stern glare and Ryo subsides.
"No. I just ... Why are you still flying? Why are you still looking? Surely you could send a message?"
"We have a bounty on our heads," Maru said flatly. "There are very few places left in the galaxy where we will be welcomed with open arms. Our power base is small and stretched very thin. We need to be very certain of our welcome ..." He bows his head. "We can be less certain now." Maru rubs his hands over his face, and Jin can feel the frustration in the gesture. "Yesterday I was flying almost 10,000 highly trained Celestial Forces warriors in a damaged but still mainly intact latest generation battle ship looking for other ships in our fleet, and today I am flying a dying ship carrying less than 10. We aren't quite the same prize we were yesterday."
Before Jin can ask, Maru stands up and began to pace. "We haven't been able to purchase updated star maps or have contact with anyone due to the danger of discovery. When we drop back to normal space, we've been scanning for anything that is out there, anything we can harvest and use for research, news bulletins, advertisements, anything, and then run them through the computer for suggestions. When we dropped out of hyperspace yesterday we ran into an asteroid belt that wasn't marked on our maps. It's either a new asteroid belt, or the remains of a planet, we couldn't tell which. As we came in, we hit it head on, and the shields started to fail. Without the shields radiation started to flood the lower decks. I started the emergency awakening procedure and we evacuated as many as we could." Maru gestures at them. "You."
Kame pulls on Jin's hand, not pulling away but tugging like he wanted to move. "Maru." Jin realises that Kame wants to go to him, so he silently pulls him up and guides him across, his hand gently nestled in the small of his back. Kame doesn't release him, instead he stretches his free hand out. "Maru, that's not your fault."
"My ship." Maru says flatly. "My command. My fault."
"No."
"It's true," Jin says quietly and Kame turns to face him, anger visible in his stance. "It is. You know that's how it works, Kame." Kame starts to interrupt but Jin squeezes his fingers as a signal to be quiet, and fixes Maru with a flinty stare. "Thank you for keeping us alive, and everyone else alive all this time. Maru, you also did that." Jin pauses, and sees all at once, the tired lines around Maru's eyes, the silver strands at his temples and the thinness of his wrists. "How long? How long did you keep us alive in stasis?"
Maru shakes his head, and refuses to answer. "Not long enough."
"Eight years."
Their heads turn towards the new voice, and Jin smiles at Ueda's arrival.
"He kept us all alive for eight years, and that's more than I expect anyone else would have been able to do. No crew, no support, barely enough supplies for a short cruise between Earth and the Callisto base, and he managed to keep us all alive for eight years. Yes, Maru that is also your fault."
Ueda strides towards them, and pulls Kame into a hug. "Kame-chan. I'm so glad." He ruffles Kame's hair and hugs him again.
Kame grins at him. "Me too."
Ueda looks at the man standing beside them and his eyes grow wide. "What are ..."
"Jin," he says smoothly, interrupting the question and holding out his hand. "Please call me Jin. We met many years ago."
Ueda looks at Maru who nods. "I see. Jin. Good to see you are alive as well." They shake hands.
"No 'glad to see you are alive too' hug for me, Princess?" says a snarky voice.
Ueda's head turns so quickly Jin fears for his neck, and then Ueda is pushing past him, and throwing himself at Ryo, who is more than happy to indulge him in a very very very happy that they are alive hug.
"You are here?" Ueda is stunned. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asks Maru.
"I wanted to see your face," Maru answers.
Ueda glares.
"I thought Junno would have told you when you checked in with him about routing additional power to the medical bay life support systems for our patients up there," Maru tries.
Ueda glares.
"I forgot that you didn't know."
Ueda considers.
"Whatever," Ueda dismisses it much to Nakamaru's relief. "Yes. We are all here. All of us are here, alive, all of us are here on Queen KAT-TUN. Who would believe it?
" Queen KAT-TUN? Really?" Jin asks.
"Yes. Last commissioned ship of the Human Planets Alliance Celestial Defence Forces and named after a legendary group of Academy cadets in her 1800th anniversary year. I would never have thought we'd all be together on her."
"We aren't." Kame says simply, quietly and all eyes turn to look at him. "We aren't all here."
Silence falls, and Jin meets Ryo and Ueda's gaze. He doesn't know what to say. How to say it. Or even if he should. He only knows that it feels like a blade slices him open as Kame stands there in sadness.
Ueda opens his mouth to say something, but Ryo shakes his head and pulls him closer.
Maru pats Jin and Kame on their shoulders. "Shall we give these two some alone time?" He steers them out of the room, and points down the hallway. "Let's finish this discussion later. We can afford some time to be happy. The Bioarena is down there. Trees and plants and flowers. It's a good place to talk." He steps back. "I need to check on how our other patients are doing in the medical bay."
Jin nods as he and Kame are dismissed, then takes Kame's hand in his. Kame looks up at him. "Do you mind, my holding your hand I mean?" he asks.
"No," says Kame. "Not at all. It's just … Sorry." He forces a smile. "Strange day. It feels familiar, that's all. Which it can't. So ... strange."
Jin bites his lip. "Yeah, strange day," he echoes. "Shall I tell you about the ship as we go?"
"Please," Kame says. "The more I know, the easier I will be able to find my way around."
Together they set off down the corridor, Jin's hand locked on Kame's and his voice gentle as he describes the ship, their ship, the Queen KAT-TUN.
Part 2
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Word count: 22,780
Rating: Soft R for violence
Warnings: This is very very AU. Small spoiler for character death but not Jin/Kame. Some violence, high stakes and bad language.
Notes: The science in this may be very wonky, as it's based only on a very thorough reading of many science fiction films, books and television shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Star Wars and Firefly. So... technobabble...but the techno may be but babble. Basically, if you think of a typical Star Trek sci-fi type episode, aspects of this will seem very familiar … So alienashi, I hope you enjoy this! I'm sorry about the lack of explicitness, but that's not really my bag … so apologies there! In a way you also sparked this plot line by a throw away line in response to a question about the current circumstances... you said "not at the cost of lives" and a little plot bunny was born, which somehow became this.
Summary: Jin Akanishi survives the emergency awakening procedure, only to discover that the galaxy has changed while he has been in stasis. When is love not enough? If being together with the one you love will cost lives, can you make that choice? Now that everything has fallen apart, Jin Akanishi and Kazuya Kamenashi must find out whether choices made for them in the past really do define their future, and if they can make a second chance amidst the chaos.
The alarms are screaming; he can't tell if they are inside his head or not. It feels like they are, the loud klaxon sound drilling into his head, and making his stomach contract in its rhythm.
"Damn it Jin! Open your eyes! That's a goddamn order."
They are. He thinks they are, but it is so dark … He forces his eyes open again, and this time shadows swirl in front of him, and bile climbs high into his throat.
"Move. Now. Get up." That voice again. It won't leave him alone. What the fuck is happening to him?
"I said move! Damn you. Move." Who the fuck is talking to him like ... A hand grabs his shoulder and pulls him forward. Instinctively his body rolls with the movement, and his stomach is now heaving vertically as well as horizontally.
"Jin. Please." He forces his eyes open again, and recoils backwards as Nakamaru's face swims before him. Which is not possible. He was never going to see Nakamaru again. How ...
"That's it. Come with me. Move." Maru yanks him out of the chamber, and he falls forward onto his knees. He is rather viciously happy that he manages to throw up on Maru's boots rather than on himself. Maru ignores it, and instead heaves him onto his feet, holding his shoulders in an iron grip.
"Listen to me, Jin. Focus. We have no time. You have to do what I say."
None of this makes any sense, and his head is pounding now that he is standing, and oh fuck he should not be capable of standing so soon after stasis, and -
Maru shakes him again and this time he does throw up on himself. Just a little bit.
"You are awake. I had to wake you. It's all gone to hell, and I need you to focus. Can you hear me?"
"Yes." He manages to force the words past his dry lips. "What the fuck happened?"
"Everything." Maru grimaces. "The ship has been compromised, there has been a hull breach across multiple decks, and we are barely keeping life support going."
"We need to evacuate the ship." He sways and Maru steadies him with a hand against his chest while he gulps down a few deep breaths. "We need to get everyone off."
"Not yet." Maru pulls him towards the doors, then props him up against the wall. "We can't evacuate yet. We need to find somewhere to evacuate too." He pulls the emergency kit down from the wall with one hand, and a grabs a crow bar with the other. "I'll explain everything I promise. Later." Jin's hands close around the crow bar that Maru shoves at him. "We need to find any other stasis survivors. I've initiated the emergency awakening procedure, but... it's not working and it's taking too long. We need to get them out now."
Jin nods and staggers forward. "I'll go check the..."
Maru stops him. "This bay has been cleared."
"It can't have been, there are normally 5,000 transport units in here...." Jin is staring across the cargo bay, finally taking in the rows of damaged units, the shattered Plexiglas covers, the status lights blinking red showing the occupant was dead. A sea of red. As far as he could see. "How many survived?"
Maru presses his shoulder briefly and pulls him through the door. "One. You."
It still isn't making a lot of sense. His stomach is finally settling down, and his legs are obeying the command to move, but his mind is having problems adjusting. Maru keeps talking at him, and some of it made sense, emergencies and wakening protocols and getting out, but … What had happened?
He stops.
Maru yanks his arm and pulls him stumbling down the corridor. "I know it makes no sense. I know you want to know what's going on. I will brief you on everything later, but now, we need to clear the bays and save as many as possible." Maru presses a button and waits as the lock on the door disengages. "There are eighteen possible survivors in here. Find them. Open the chamber, get them out, get them moving. Wake them any way you can. We only have ten minutes before we lose access to this deck."
"Why?" Jin asks, his mind latching onto the last thing Maru said.
"The outer shields are failing, and they won't last much longer. We've routed all available power through to the shields, but they will fail if we keep trying to cover all decks. There are too many perimeter breaches for them to last. We need to get everyone onto the upper decks and abandon these ones."
Jin nods. That made sense - and the static klaxon alarms were ringing because there was no power for the normal warning systems. Which meant things were really really bad.
"That's right," Maru says, and Jin realises he had spoken out loud.
The door opens, and Maru points to the left. "Hurry."
It is horrific. The other bay had been remarkably intact compared to this one. The lines of red lights are the same, but here the broken chambers have been strewn across the floor, and they are having to fight their way over bodies, jagged Plexiglas, twisted metal and all for nothing. They are too late. Jin watches as five lights turn from green to blinking red before he could reach them, he can hear Maru swearing as he experiences the same. Then he sees it, one steady green light; Jin is running towards it even as he is yelling at Maru for help.
The debris around the chamber weighs nothing as far as he can tell in his rush towards the chamber, clearing a path to get there as quickly as possible. Still green, still green. The lid is twisted and the Plexiglas cracked but it hasn't shattered, so just maybe, this one ... this person..would be ok.
Between them they open the chamber, and Jin is scanning the display log, checking vital signs. Respiratory compromised, heart rate falling, core temperature steady but not rising as it needed to, but there seems to be some minimal brain activity at least.
The light blinks, and the heart rate flatlines. "No!" Jin drives his fist against the chest cavity, there is no time for finesse, he needs to get the heart pumping.
The light flickers then the green glow subsides slowly to be replaced by red, but the other vitals don't change. "Come on, wake up," Jin says, unbuckling the restraints, and shrugging off Maru's attempts to help.
"Jin."
"We got one," Jin says. "We got him."
"Jin."
The core body temperature is falling quickly now. That means the awakening process is not working, but surely... Jin looks up at the face as he thumps the chest once more, and freezes.
"No."
Their eyes are opening and closing, in one second bursts. Open and close, open and close. He checks the vital signs log, and they match the brain activity logs. Only an echo. Reflexive muscle spasms.
"No."
He thumps the chest again, hoping to spark something into life, even as his brain refuses to believe that there is nothing more he can do for him.
"Let him go, Jin." Maru's voice is compassionate. "He's gone. I'm sorry."
"He can't be."
"He is. The process wasn't completed. He got close, but he didn't make it."
Jin pushes hard against the chest, and the sudden snap of a broken bone shocks him. He broke the ribs? He stumbles backwards and as he does so, his brain finally realises why Maru's voice is softly compassionate. The kanji label on the chamber, the eyes, the face, he knows who this is. Was. Is.
Tomohisa Yamashita.
"General Nakamaru, the protective shields on Deck E will fail in approximately 2 minutes." The robotic voice echoed in the metallic space. "Please evacuate Deck E immediately."
"Time to go Jin." Maru's grip is like iron around his wrist.
"Can't leave him."
"You have to."
"He might..."
Maru shakes his head. "He won't. We have to go now."
Jin looks away from Yamashita's eyes and sees Nakamaru's determination. "Why?"
"I need you. I can't do this alone."
Jin shakes his head, and Maru punches him. Once. Hard on his left shoulder. "Move. Now."
Jin follows.
**
Maru leads him through the corridors and pushes him up an evacuation ladder to Deck D, and they make it off Deck E with fifteen seconds to spare, according to the computer system. Jin can feel the blood pumping in his veins, adrenaline surging and knows that his mind is slowly asking questions that he doesn't want to face. He closes his eyes and then forces them open quickly. Too similar. Not now.
Maru had promised to explain everything, but right now, he doesn't want to know, but he can't just stand here either. He needs to do something. Anything. So he doesn't think about it.
"General Nakamaru, I require your presence on the bridge. I have detected a large unknown array, similar in size and density to an asteroid belt, and require permission to alter course." The computer sounds as calm and unflappable as any Fleet drill computer, but this was not a drill.
"Permission granted. Do whatever it takes to keep us out of danger."
"I'm sorry Sir. The four most effective course of action will require the redistribution of all life support systems for a minimum of approximately eighteen minutes. This action requires executive approval." The voice sounded almost apologetic.
"Fine," Maru snaps. "On my way." He forces open an access panel and seconds later a schematic of the ship is glowing on the wall. "Jin, there is one more bay that needs to be checked. Here, Deck D, aft side. It's a smaller number, only twenty or so chambers. I haven't been able to get any data on survivors. . They were in deep stasis, so some might have been protected a little, but most are unlikely to have survived the emergency awakening. I need you to check on them."
Jin nodded. "I can do that." He could. Something he could do.
"Deck D will fall next. You probably have half an hour to get there, and check them." Maru presses a small flat disc against his shoulder. "Deck D is harder to monitor than Deck E was, so you might not have as much warning when the shields are collapsing. Keep your eyes open, and leave when I tell you to. No matter what happens, I want you alive."
Jin nods.
"I mean it Jin. Your life is the most important at the moment. Go."
Maru is turning away when the question leaves Jin's lips. "Why were these chambers kept separate?"
Maru didn't turn back, but Jin could see from the way his shoulders slumped the answer was not easy. "They were kept separate because they were … are ... Star Riders. The last of them."
**
Running helps. The movement is causing his heart to pump the blood quickly through his body, and as his respiratory system works hard to keep the air in his lungs and with his blood pumping, he is thinking and moving, and once the thoughts start, he can't stop them.
He was on a ship. He shouldn't be on a ship.
He hadn't seen the schematic of the ship before. He should have if he was going to be on it.
They were in space. He shouldn't be in space. Not like this.
Maru was there. Maru was meant to be leading an expedition to one of the moons in the Spica constellation to see if it was suitable for colonisation. He wasn't meant to see Maru for another forty years, if then. How was he here?
The ship was crippled, and the shields were failing. They needed to evacuate all survivors as soon as possible. Maru said they needed to find somewhere to evacuate. There was always somewhere to evacuate.
Pi was dead. Pi was dead.
The last thing he remembered was ... his crew being assigned back to Earth for the Academy jubilee celebrations. What the hell was going on?
5,000 troops dead in his bay. The same in the other bay. A whole battle frigate's population. So many. Gone. They were gone. What if his crew was also … Don't go there now. Focus.
Still a chance. Still a chance there could be others. Star Riders. Hurry. Hurry.
The doors slide open as he runs towards them, a good sign, surely. The computer is telling him that no life signs have been detected, that the shields in this area should hold for another twenty minutes, and Jin acknowledges the update.
He slides to a stop just inside the door and looks around, realising this room is set up differently to the others. This was not a transport room for normal stasis occupants, and the chambers were deeper and longer, and the occupants were wearing heavier suits, with black out visors and helmets to ensure no light, artificial or otherwise would reach them. These suits were normally used only for long term exploratory stasis, crews that needed to be put so deeply into stasis that they would survive journeys that were decades long. The status panels were hopeful, he could see green lights on almost half of them. He wouldn't acknowledge what the red lights meant at the moment.
The report to Nakamaru was short, a quick head count, ten possible survivors. No names posted over the chambers, no real surprise there, as the individual identities and ranks of Star Riders were one of the most closely guarded secrets in the military. Each Star Rider was deemed to be as important as their fellow ones, so each was deemed equally vital. Maru told him to get as many out as he could, and then gave him the bad news. The Star Riders were placed in an area that was not designed for long term stasis chambers, so didn't have much protection. There was only one small utility hall between the secondary hull of the ship, and this area. The hull had already been breached, and the shields were unstable. If the shields failed, this area would not have much warning.
"How will the emergency awakening procedure have affected them?" Jin asks.
"I don't know," Maru replies. "We have never initiated emergency awakening for deep stasis travellers before. Theoretically it was too dangerous for them, which is why we have always followed the standard procedure, so ..." Jin could almost see the helplessness shrug in his answer. "If they physically survived the trauma of the awakening procedure commands, and the power has held up long enough to assist that transition to waking, they may regain consciousness. If not, they'll remain in hibernation until the power to the chamber stops. So, all we can do is haul those still alive up onto the next Deck and hope."
"Understood. I'll do what I can." Jin looks around the huge chambers, trying to identify the likeliest survivor in the sea of black metal and grey Plexiglas. "Do you know who they are?"
"No," says Maru honestly. "I wasn't briefed on their identities."
"Understood. Whoever I can physically move I will." Jin turns to the line of chambers, and realises one side has six in a row with green status lights. That side must have had a greater consistency of power flowing through, that would explain why there were six … He opens the first chamber, and jumps as his own face suddenly stares back at him. Only a reflection in the helmet, that's all. The status panel begins to beep faster as the heart rate of the Star Rider speeds up. That was surely a good sign?
The buckles on the straps are stiff and his fingers are clumsy as they try to unbuckle them, but finally they give way, and he tries to haul the body out of the chamber. "Come on, you could help me," he says, and doesn't really expect an answer. The body bows toward him, and then snaps back, held fast by an oxygen delivery tube attached to the back of the helmet. It comes free fairly easily, and Jin manages to get the guy onto his shoulders, and carry him out into the hallway.
He slumps against the wall, and Jin checks if he is breathing. Chest is rising and falling, shallow but there. Ok.
"How many left?"
Jin doesn't hit the roof, but it is a close run thing. His heart feels like it is beating hard enough to explode though.
"If you can get them out of the chambers, I'll load them onto this transporter and get them to my medical bay." Junno snaps his fingers. "Chop chop, we don't have much time."
"Junno?" Jin stammers. Doctor Junnosuke Taguchi? How was he here? Was this ship full of people he studied with at the Academy? What are the odds on ...
"Maru told me that you might need help. How many green status do we have?"
"Ten, including this one."
"I can carry five at a time in this thing. Ah, you left the helmet, good idea that should help transition from one environment to another. Ok. Let's get them out."
Jin nods. Stares. Nods again.
Junno pushes him back towards the door. "Go on."
Jin nods, and runs back through the doors. The bodies are heavy, and by the time he has carried another four out, the last chamber in that row has gone from green to red. He can't let himself think too much about that right now. Can't think of them as a person. Just a chamber. Red or green. Green light open and carry. Red light, move on to the next green.
Junno is stacking them alongside each other on his transporter, a long bedded trolley type thing.
"That looks like it belongs in a warehouse," Jin says.
Junno manages a quick smile at him. "It does. It was the only thing I could think of to use. All the medical transporters were lost in the explosion. So, we use what we can?" Junno tests the weight. "I'll move them to Deck C, then come back for you and the rest of them."
"Ok. Jin nods. "We should get warning before the shields fail."
"Though maybe not much." Junno frowns at him. "Work as quick as you can, ok?"
"Yeah," Jin answers and hurries back inside. Three green lights left. As he crosses the floor, two of them suddenly blink and change to red.
"No! Why! Fuck!" He bangs on the lids, shouting at them, but the lights remain stoically red. He turns and hauls open the only remaining green lit chamber in that row, and yanks the oxygen tube away hurriedly. "Come on, you are not going to die on me. Wake up. Wake up, damn you." He might have been imagining it, but he thought the figure was stirring a bit. "That's it. Open your eyes. Come on, fight!" He pulls the body onto his shoulders, and stands up quickly. This guy was shorter and lighter than most of the others, so he was able to move quickly.
Junno had disappeared down the corridor, and Jin hesitates. Where should go? He doesn't want to leave this guy here, but he doesn't know where the medical bay is, and he needs to double check that there is no one else left alive back there. Time is running out … but he hasn't heard from Maru, so maybe the shields are holding? He looks down the corridor. Junno went that way, maybe he should take this one down towards the corner. There must be an elevator down there, Junno would need one to shift that trolley thing between Decks.....
Jin moves quickly, carrying the Star Rider on his shoulders. It's not far, he turns a corner, and finds the elevator Junno must have used. He calls it, and waits impatiently. His stomach is churning a bit, and he wants to get out of there, but something is telling him he needs to check that room one last time.
The elevator door opens, and Jin carefully places his Star Rider in the corner, propping his head against the wall. "Wait here," he orders. The Star Rider doesn't respond verbally, but Jin sees him raise a hand in what could be interpreted as a thumbs up gesture.
Jin runs back down the hall, and into the room. He counts the red lights automatically, scanning back and forth across the room for any trace of green. He can't see any. All he can see is red.
"Is there anyone in here?" he calls, and then feels foolish.
Until a few frantic thumps answer him, and for the second time in less than twenty minutes he feels his heart leap into his throat.
"Jin? Are you there? Jin?" Maru's voice suddenly echoes around him, and Jin was not sure how his heart manages to jump again, but it does.
"Yes, I just found..." Jin starts, but Maru cuts him off.
"The shields are failing. You have 3 minutes to get out. Maybe less. Get out now."
"But ..."
"Out!"
"Where are you?" Jin calls desperately. He can't see any signs of...all the lights are red... There! No light. A chamber, but no light. "Hold on!"
He gets closer, and hears another thump. "I'm here, I see you." The thumps are speeding up, getting more frantic, and Jin rips the chamber open. "Got you!" The Star Rider is still strapped into the chamber, but has managed to free his hands enough for movement. Thank god, he's somehow still alive. "Can you hear me?" He moves his head a little, which Jin takes as a yes. "Ok. I'l get you out." Jin releases him, and yanks the oxygen cord away. The Star Rider claws at his helmet, but Jin bats his hands away. "Helmet stays on. Doctor's Orders. Let's get the hell out of here." He stumbles backwards pulling the other guy with him. "Can you walk?" he asks, as the Star Rider's knees buckle. "Guess not."
"60 seconds, Jin where the hell are you!" Maru is sounding very pissed off.
"On my way," Jin snaps, then grabs the Star Rider's arms and pulls him onto his back. "Hang on."
Jin sprints as quickly as he can down the hallway, it's not easy but adrenaline gives him the extra kick needed. He rounds the corner and whoops as he sees the elevator doors are still open. He throws himself and his passenger into the elevator, and slams the button to shut the doors. The Star Rider is struggling against him, sliding towards the floor. Jin lets go, and before he can choose a button, any button, the elevator is moving upwards.
"Can't see. Can't see." The Star Rider is fumbling with the helmet, and Jin drops to his knees beside him.
"The Doctor said to keep the helmet on," Jin says, pulling the hands away.
"Can't see. Get it off." The tone is determined, and Jin hesitates, then agrees.
"Ok." He sees the release mechanism, and the helmet comes away with a rush of compressed air.
Oh fuck.
Can't be.
Kazuya Kamenashi.
It is.
His eyes are wide and wild, and his face is pale, and his hands are clawing at his eyes, and Jin can suddenly see blood. "Stop that!" Jin catches Kame's wrists, and pulls; his fingertips are daubed red. "Calm down. You'll be ok."
"I can't see. Why can't I see? Where am I? What happened?" Kame's head is turning to the left and then right, eyes moving around desperately.
"Easy now," Jin says, keeping a firm grip on his wrists. "Listen to me. Can you hear me?"
Kame nods.
"Ok. You were in deep stasis. Deep long range stasis. You are on a ship. Something happened to the ship, something bad. Emergency evacuation level bad. They activated the emergency awakening procedure on everyone, including you, maybe an hour ago. You've only been coming out of stasis for an hour at most." Kame is breathing heavily, and Jin tries to keep him calm. "That's probably why you can't see. We are evacuating to another deck. Ok. We'll go straight to the medical bay. Junno will look after you." Jin keeps his voice calm and even, and feels his own pulse growing steady as Kame's movements still and his blank gaze drops to where he probably thinks Jin's face is. "We're almost there. Steady."
"Junno?" Kame asks.
"Junnosuke Taguchi."
"I know him," Kame says. "We were at the Academy together."
Jin says nothing. This is a minefield and he doesn't know what he can say, or can't say, and Kame is looking at him, and a puzzled little frown is settling on his mouth, and fuck he needs to say something.
"He's a great doctor. You are in good hands," he says and then cringes. Really, was that the best he could come up with?
"Have we met before? Your voice sounds familiar," Kame asks, and Jin swallows and wonders how he can answer that question without lying, or causing the next galactic war to break out.
"Um," he says eloquently, then realises the elevator is slowing. "Hey, we must be approaching Deck C." He staggers to his feet and away from Kame.
"We are?" Kame asks. "Where are you going? Wait. Wait!" Jin feels the way the sudden crack in Kame's voice claws at his heart and then sinks all the way down to his toes. "Wait. Don't leave me."
"Steady," Jin leans forward and rests a hand on Kame's shoulder. "It's ok. You'll be fine."
Kame takes a deep breath, and Jin feels that one all the way to his toes as well. "Wait. Wait, please." Kame's hand stretches out and clutches at Jin's arm. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Kazuya Kamenashi, Star Rider Corps." He waits.
"I'mjin." Jin swallows, then tries again. "I'm Jin. Colonel, Celestial Defence Forces." Before he can say anything more, the doors open and Junno's concerned face is peering in at them, and his eyes widen in recognition.
"Kazuya!" Junno drops to his knees, and immediately begins waving his scanner over Kame's body, checking for injuries.
"Junno?" Kame asks, and is rewarded with a confirmatory thump to the chest. "I can't see. I can't see anything."
"Really?" Junno asks calmly, but Jin can tell by the way he swings the scanner up and peers worriedly at the screen that he is not happy to hear that. "Well, it could be the after effects of stasis. Let's get you checked out. Do you think you can walk?"
Kame half nods, and Junno gently pulls him to his feet. "This way. Oh and Jin, if you can help our other guest there?" Junno's voice floats back over his shoulder, and he doesn't wait to see Jin nod.
Jin turns to the other occupant of the elevator, and is surprised to see the helmet moving slowly from side to side. "Are you awake?" he asks.
The snort he receives in return is not exactly the answer he was after. Nor was his reply. "Is it too much to ask you to help me with my helmet visor, Bakanishi?"
Jin recoils, the tone and the name very very familiar. "Ryo?"
"Yeah."
Jin reaches out and hits the switch and Ryo's visor retracts.
"How are you?" Jin asks helplessly.
"I've been better." Ryo stares at him. "I'm glad you are alive."
"Me too," Jin says, then clarifies as Ryo's eyes narrow, "I'm glad that you are alive too." Ryo nods, then winces. "We should get you to sick bay."
"I don't seem to be able to move my legs." Ryo admits through gritted teeth.
"Not even a bit?"
"No."
"Ok." Jin moves closer, and carefully pulls Ryo up from the floor. "I guess I have to carry you."
"Yes."
Jin smiles. "Promise I won't tell anyone." He gently loops his arms around Ryo, and hoists him up. "Quick as I can."
As they leave the elevator, Ryo says quietly, "You didn't tell him your name."
"How could I?" Jin asks.
"He would want to know."
"I know." Jin hesitates. "I know he would and I want to but I don't think I ... I can't tell him."
Ryo is silent, then sighs. "I'll keep your secret."
"Thank you."
"For now. Only for now. We may discuss this again later."
"Somehow I knew you were going to say that."
**
Jin slumps in a chair, and takes three deep breaths. Then another three deep breaths. Maru will arrive soon, and he needs to get things as clear in his own head as he can. Maru promised to tell him what was going on, but he needs to know what is in how own head as well. Whatever he knows, he needs to have clear. His mind feels fuzzy, even fuzzier than usual. It might just be the after effects of stasis, but he needs to try.
His last clear memory from before. What is it? His memory keeps skidding around events, and he keeps wondering about the chronology. Childhood memories were fine, the Academy memories were crystal clear as ever, and his early career as well, all the way up to the last week. He kept latching onto something and then it led somewhere else, and he got confused. He is a Colonel in the Celestial Defence Forces, last stationed on patrol in Sigma Cluster, and recalled to Earth for … what? Recalled to Earth. Dress Uniforms. Anniversary. Jubilee Anniversary of the Academy. 1800 years. That was it, his ship had been recalled to Earth to participate in the anniversary celebrations for the Academy. Three days of celebrations, soft white cotton gloves and shiny boots and medals pinned on his chest. Reunion with some of his classmates, drinking shots, and avoiding him. Shaking hands with the President of the Galaxy Human Planets Alliance, telling her she had beautiful eyes, Pi elbowing him in the ribs to get him moving. Kame smiling and laughing and grinning and happy and always surrounded by other people. Ryo helping him up when he fell of a barstool.
New Hawaii. After that he was meant to be on vacation in New Hawaii. A month, and then rejoin his ship at the transfer point near the Halley beacon. Damn it he had been looking forward to that vacation. So how had he ended up in Stasis and on a military ship in the middle of who knows where with people he had trained with?
He definitely has some questions for Nakamaru.
**
Junno raises his hand, and the orange light moves slowly across Kame's face, then hovers over his left eye. "Can you see a colour?"
"No." All he can see is black. An vast, sweeping, unrelenting expanse of black. No light. No colour.
Junno adjusted the light and it split in two, with a beam of light now hovering over each eye. It quickly became incandescent.
"How about now?"
Kame blinks, concentrates and finally frowns. "No. Nothing."
"I see." Junno realises what he has said. "Sorry Kazuya, that wasn't the most appropriate thing to say."
Kame forces a small smile, and unseen, Junno grimaces and shares a glance with Maru. "Could have been worse, knowing your puns. What's wrong with me?"
Junno shuts the light off, and places a hand on Kame's shoulder. "The tests I have run all point to the same diagnosis. Your blindness relates to oxygen toxicity, which is something we haven't really treated for centuries. Basically, your body was exposed to elevated oxygen levels for an extended period of time at partial pressure, and that exposure has damaged the retina. Kazuya, it's one of the first issues that was addressed for human space flight, and the protocols and procedures put in place are so extensive, I struggle to see how this happened."
"Jin said there was no status light on his chamber," Maru speaks softly from the other side of the bed. "If the monitoring system failed, could the chamber have been flooded with oxygen?"
"Yes. That's possible." Junno nods. "We have never done an emergency awakening from deep stasis, and there are so many ways it could have gone wrong. I am surprised you were able to walk into this room, let alone converse. Then again, you are a Star Rider, your training and physical conditioning would have helped. Everything else I've tested is coming back perfectly fine, so the only damage appears to be your eyes."
"Is it permanent?"
Junno hesitates, then admits, "I don't know."
"Can you fix it then?" Kame's voice is resolutely even and controlled.
"Not immediately. The damage is quite severe, and it's been so long since we dealt with any oxygen toxicity case let alone one this serious, that the medical bots we have aren't programmed to sufficiently heal the damage. I promise Kazuya, I will work on reprogramming them, but it will take time." He took a deep breath. "And I can't promise that your sight will be restored."
"I understand," Kame says and a small part of him is screaming inside. "When can I get out of here?"
"I want to keep you under observation for 24 hours." Seeing that Kame was about to protest, Junno hurries to add, "I know that would require tying you to the bed, so can I have 6 please? Just to be sure. Rest if you can. Although you have been resting in stasis, your system has been through the wringer to get it out of stasis, and you need to build up some energy reserves."
"Fine." Kame nods and closes his eyes. "Six hours. Then I am out of here."
Maru places his hand on Kame's unencumbered shoulder. "When you are out, please report to the Bridge. I'll update you on what's been going on."
Kame nods again and keeps his eyes closed, and Junno and Maru take that as their cue to leave him.
Junno walks Maru to the door, and steps out into the corridor with him.
"How are we doing? Really." Maru asks.
"It could have been worse, and it could have been a lot better." Junno runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "Jin was completely fine, the process worked on him without any issues, but he's the only one. Kame is also physically fine, with the exception of being blind. Truthfully, I don't know if I can restore his sight."
Maru nods. "We cross that bridge when we get to it."
"As for the others, well Ryo Nishikido is awake, talkative and alert, and has full control over his respiratory system. He doesn't have full motor control over his limbs yet, his nervous system is repairing itself more slowly, but the scans show it is happening. He should be fine in another two hours or so, I've given him some boosters to help with that. We lost three in here, they had the opposite problem to Kazuya as they went too long without sufficient oxygen and the brain damage was too massive to repair."
Maru nods, his eyes solemn in understanding.
"The rest of them are in various stages of the waking process, but still technically comatose. Koki Tanaka is in the best shape, he's still unresponsive but seems to be in a waking coma and the scans show him to be stable. Yuu Yokoyama is in a vegetative state, but scans show that he is responding to some stimuli. Takahisa Masuda is in the most danger. He is in the deepest level coma, is not responding to any stimuli and his scans showed that he did suffer heart failure. I can repair that damage but...whether he wakes up or not?" Junno raises his hands helplessly. "I'm sorry Maru, I just don't know. The procedure has never been done before, we have no test cases to refer to, and they all are suffering to different extents."
"Just do your best Junno. It's all I would ever expect you to do. All anyone can expect you to do." He looks into the medical bay, and frowns at the sight. "That any of them made it out alive is miraculous."
"Yes." Junno slumps against the wall. "When you told me that Jin was alive I thought there was no more room for hope, but to get five of the Star Riders out is just..." He trails off.
Maru nods. "Keep me posted. I have to brief Jin now, bring him up to speed."
Junno looks worriedly into his medical bay. "How are we going to handle that? What does Ka.."
"Normally," Maru cut Junno off. :We handle Jin normally." He emphasises the name, and his gaze shifts from Junno to Kame inside the room. "Jin will be a great help to all of us, and we need him to move freely between all of us. Jin can handle it."
Junno nods, but still looks uneasy. "You know how I feel about it, I didn't like it then either."
"I know. This might actually be a chance to resolve it. It will have to be, there's no way around it. At least this time there are no outside forces or agendas." Kame shifts on his bed, and Maru steps closer to whisper in Junno's ear. "They'll get a chance to see what the other really wants. Maybe this time, they will get a chance to work it out together. Whatever they decide to be, it can be their decision. Theirs alone. Given everything that has happened if the only good thing that comes out of it is these two finding each other again, that's something."
Junno nods. "I understand."
Inside the medical bay, Kame has his eyes closed and is concentrating on their conversation, but he can hear anymore of their whispered conversation. Something is niggling at the back of his mind, and he knows he can trust his instincts. That mysterious Jin. Whatever had made him mysterious to Kame apparently applied to others as well. Junno knew him, Maru knew him. Did Ryo? Them? This time? Agendas? Who did they mean? He files that question under things to do later, and pretends to be asleep as Junno enters the room. He is good at solving mysteries after all.
**
"Why aren't I in New Hawaii?"
Maru stares at him and then bursts out laughing. "Out of everything you could have said, I would never have predicted that."
Jin glares. "That's the last thing I remember. I made it through the Academy anniversary celebrations and then I was going to New Hawaii." He points at the ship around them. "This is not New Hawaii."
"No it's not." Maru looks wistful for a moment. "New Hawaii....sounds rather tempting right now." He sits on the seat beside Jin. "What exactly is the last thing you remember?"
Being hauled up off the floor and sat on a bar stool by Ryo, whose eyes are compassionate as they tell him he needs to find some solution, one that doesn't involve alcohol, for his feelings about Kame because they were destroying his soul? Yeah. Not going to tell Nakamaru that.
"Jin? Nakamaru asks.
"I remember seeing everyone at that final Gala Ball, and then I went and had a drink with Ryo." A little bit of truth. Maru might be able to read between the lines, he was always good like that. "I was meant to ship out to New Hawaii the next morning." With Pi. He was meant to be going with Pi. Don't think about that now.
"Yep. You and most of the military forces it seemed." Maru rubs his nose. "I'm sorry Jin, I don't know how to tell you this. I don't know how to start." He raises his hands uncertainly. "I just don't."
"The bad news. Start with the bad news," Jin says, and laughs at the look on Maru's face. "Maru I can already tell things are bad, just tell me."
"You have no idea." Maru says and then holds Jin's gaze with the determination of an old fashioned samurai warrior. "Earth is gone."
"Gone where?" Jin blinks.
"Gone. Gone Gone. As in, no longer existing. As in, totally destroyed."
Jin stares.
"Please say something."
Jin stares.
"Jin."
Jin stares some more.
"I'm sorry, you are the first person I've had to tell, and I... screwed it up didn't I?" Maru's shoulders slump in defeat. "I've been practising and it still came out wrong."
"How?" Jin whispers. "How? Why?"
"That's the question I'm still asking as well." Maru grimaces and his hands clench into fists on the table. "It started the day after the Gala Ball, the first day you can't remember. A fleet approached Earth, they came in past Jupiter and used the Moon's shadow to cloak their approach. They were a consortium, made up of ships from a number of the outlying rim colonies. They said they had a new weapon, one that would kill a planet within hours. They presented a list of grievances to be addressed, and then said they would waive all of them if Earth promised to fund their own military growth. They claimed that they needed to feel securein their level of preparedness for self defence purposes, but they also wanted access to all our latest military technology. The President refused, said we didn't deal with terrorists and criminals. She offered to address their grievances, but only if a representative of each colony came to the diplomatic table.
From what we can tell, they argued amongst themselves. The more moderate ones tried to make it happen, saying that was why they were there, the more extreme factions wanted to make a point. In the end, the consortium started to fracture. They couldn't find agreement, and that's what the colonists from the planets along the outer Shadows rim had been waiting for all along. The weapon was on their flagship. They pretended to agree to discuss their list of grievances, and when the moderates had gathered in the Senate on Earth, they seized their chance.
It was never about a ransom demand for Earth. It was about establishing a new order across the Galaxy, one where they held military supremacy.
They didn't fire the weapon at Earth. That would have only destroyed Earth itself, and would have brought the might of our combined Alliance forces down upon them. They fired it at the Sun. They killed the Sun. Burnt it down."
"That's impossible, no one has that technology." Jin is desperate, searching for another answer. "That can't be true. Maru..."
Maru waits for him to run out of words, waits for him to try and process what that means. "They did. They must have been working on it for decades, maybe centuries. They made our sun burn down, pushed it into supernova. It destroyed everything in our solar system through to Jupiter and it's moons."
Jin stares at Maru, and bites his lip. Maru nods at him, and they sit in silent grief. Jin isn't sure how long he sits there, but his stomach aches and his throat burns and his eyes stay dry. His mind feels like its stuck in a dizzying loop. He understands the words Maru has said, logically understands them, but his heart is having problems with it. If it was true, it was unimaginable. Their home planet, the base from which all the colonies were founded, humanity, their history, their art, everything gone? Impossible. Yet, even as he tried to push the thought away he knew that Maru would never lie to him. That it must be true.
Finally he lay his head on the table, and began to weep.
Maru has no tears of his own left to shed as he watches Jin cry.
"It doesn't get easier, there is still more." Maru speaks gently, and Jin realises how dry his voice sounds. Stripped of hope and heavy with grief. "Can you hear more?"
Jin nods and keeps his head down, because if Maru can find the strength to say it, he can find the strength to listen.
"I think they intended to kill the moderates along with all the supreme council members of the Alliance. When President Kamenashi told them that the only response they would get was one telling them that they needed to sit down around the table to work this out, she played into their hands. As she opened their meeting, they fired the weapon. They miscalculated slightly though, their weapon didn't ignite the way they planned. Solar storms had redistributed the masses of hydrogen reserves on the Sun's surface, and the weapon struck a relatively cooler spot further from the core. It bought us some time, because the explosion was not immediate, we were able to start evacuating."
Jin looks up, hope shining in his eyes.
"Not enough. An hour only. It bought us an hour, which was enough to get some of the population into the air on whatever ships we had. We got maybe 20% of the planet's population off Earth before it happened."
Jin closes his eyes.
"Most people were lost on Earth, billions wiped out. Others were pulled into the firestorm as they tried to flee. The explosion slowed the further it travelled, which at least gave some of the transport ships a chance to evacuate towards the edges of the Milky Way. Mars got 60% of their population off planet, and Callisto base near Jupiter got 90% out."
Jin is silent, and Maru pauses to order his thoughts. "It's completely re-ordered the status quo. Refugee ships that survived are trekking across the galaxy, searching for a safe haven but without long range hyperspace engines, it will take years, maybe decades for them to find somewhere. The colonies are still scrambling to form military alliances, find resources and build a base for conquest. It's fucked up, Jin, it's really fucked up."
Jin looks at him, and Maru flinches in response. Maru has seen that look in the mirror too many times to mistake it. Confusion. Despair. Uncertainty."Why am I here?" Jin asks. "How did I get here?"
"You were already in stasis," Maru says gently. "You and a sizeable portion of our celestial forces, because you were all eager to ship out as soon as possible that morning. So we loaded you like cargo onto whatever ships we had and we ran like hell."
Jin is staring at Maru like he's listening to a story that happened to someone else. It feels so strange and alien. Part of him believes, but a larger part wants to scream and demand that it's not possible. Yet Maru is so calm, and he knows Maru wouldn't lie to him. Not about this.
"We had no planet wide evacuation plans, and it was chaos. Under presidential authority and the seal of the supreme alliance council they did authorise the introduction of a military state of emergency rule galaxy wide to take control, but it didn't work. We were too scattered, and too damaged, and we lost too many high ranking members both military and political for that order to hold once it was clear how much damage there was. It's a shambles."
Maru punches the table and walks towards the sky screen, looking out into the void of space as Jin recoils. "It's a fucking shambles," Maru repeats. "Everything we signed up to protect, everything we have ever worked for is gone."
Jin stays silent because he doesn't know what to say. He's actually fairly sure there are no words for what he is feeling right now.
"I'm sorry Jin. I can't ... I can't imagine what this feels like for you. It's so much to take in all at once."
Jin shrugs. He still doesn't have any words.
Maru nods and walks across the room to stand beside him. He places a small faceted crystal on the table beside Jin. "I put this together, it's a collection of footage and images and reports, and I'm sorry. Please watch it. I don't now what else to say." He lays a hand on Jin's shoulder and squeezes. "We have to go through this again with Kame and Ryo. Do you mind if I finish telling you about the ship then? With the bottom decks evacuated we've secured the hull on the upper decks for the time being."
Jin shakes his head trying to get his thoughts straight, realises that Maru is taking that as an answer, and then nods. "That's fine."
"I'll leave you to watch that. I've told Junno to send Ryo and Kame up in three hours time, earlier if Ryo improves." He hesitates then lifts his hand from Jin's shoulder. He has no words left either.
Maru leaves and Jin waits, listens to his heart beat thirty seven times before he walks to the wall screen and inserts the crystal. He leans back against the table as the data loads, and then thinks better of it. He sits down. After all, he is sure that whatever the videos show it will be worse than what he could imagine.
Two hours later, the screen has faded to black and Jin hasn't moved. His eyes have dried, but the palms of his hands still show the crescents where his fingernails have dug into his skin.
He hears the door slide open, and Maru calls his name, but he doesn't turn. It's like there is a huge weight on his soul, so heavy that it seems ridiculous to do anything because it will never go away. Maru shakes him slightly, and asks if he is ok.
Jin just looks up at him.
"Yes, sorry, stupid question." Maru bites his lip. "And I'm sorry I'm going to ask even more from you now. I need you to stay while I brief Kame and Ryo." He hesitates. "I don't think I'll get through it again by myself."
Jin looks into Maru's eyes and nods. Maru has never asked for more than Jin could give, and so rarely for anything for himself that Jin would always agree to it. To distract himself, he tries to think of the last time Maru had asked for something for himself, and all he can think of is Cadet Nakamaru wistfully saying it would be nice to go out and party with Jin ... and Jin of course agreeing to take him out and get him trashed. That bar was gone now. Like the city. Like the country. Like the planet. Fuck.
Behind them, the door slides open.
Ryo and Kame stand there, Kame with his right arm stretched across Ryo's chest to rest his hand on Ryo's right arm, and Ryo has his left arm around Kame's waist. For a small hysterical moment, Jin thinks they are ice skating.
Ryo says quietly, "Two metres straight ahead. Rounded discussion table and chairs. Turn left, walk one metre. There is a spare chair beside Jin. Maru is waiting for us."
Kame nods, and Jin realises that Ryo is acting as Kame's eyes and is impressed for a second at the speed and ease of their communication, not that he will ever show any sign of that to Ryo … and then he remembers that they are Star Riders. Relay communication and remote management would have been covered in their training.
They watch as Kame fearlessly walks as instructed to Jin's side. He hesitates then stretches his hand out to seek out the chair.
"Down ten centimetres," Jin says.
Kame's hand shifts and he settles into the chair beside Jin. "Thank you." He smiles and Jin feels it down to the pit of his stomach.
Ryo nods at Maru and Jin and sits in a chair on the far side of Jin. "Care to tell us what disaster has befallen us, given you've woken us up?"
Jin grimaces and Maru closes his eyes.
"What?" Ryo looks at one and then the other.
Maru looks helplessly at Ryo, and Jin can almost hear the idea spinning in his head of just blurting out the truth.
"Wait," Jin interrupts. "Tell them about the colonies consortium fleet arriving first. Start there."
Maru nods and squares his shoulders. "Ok. What's the last thing you remember? Tell me that, and I'll go from there."
Jin tunes them out, hearing it once was bad, watching it happen was bad, and he's not really prepared to hear it all again so soon, but Maru only ever asks if it's necessary, and he wants to help him.
He puts himself behind a glass pane and watches as Kame's mouth falls open, as Ryo's fists land against the table, as they both demand answers and show disbelief, rage and incomprehension. He can't blame them.
As Maru recites the percentage of losses, Kame's hand creeps towards Jin. Without thinking, Jin takes it and Kame laces their fingers together tightly. Jin raises his free hand and lays it on Ryo's shoulder. There is not a lot he can do, but this ... this he can do.
When Maru explains that they came to be on his ship because they were already hibernating in deep stasis, Ryo nods and Kame looks grim.
"I don't remember our mission," Kame says. "I should, but I haven't been able to remember."
"Neither can I," Ryo adds. "If we were in deep stasis that should have come back by now."
"I can't tell you what your mission was," Maru says. "All I know is that once we had the cargo bays loaded to capacity, another transport arrived with your chambers. You were already in stasis, so you must have been close by when the decision was made to switch ships." Maru shot a quick look at Kame. "There were only a few other ships left that were close by, and they were all carrying dignitaries so they might have needed extra room for more people. We loaded your chambers into the last space available, the science laboratory on Deck C and then we took off."
Kame licks his lips. "Who … Did … Is there still a President?"
Maru doesn't grasp exactly what Kame is wondering about but Jin sees in a moment of clarity what Kame is asking. He tightens his grip on Kame's fingers. "President Kamenashi was on one of the last military ships to leave. She was killed when her transport couldn't make the minimum safe distance. I'm sorry Kazuya, your mother is dead."
Kame bows his head, and Ryo glares at Jin. "Bakani … Idiot! Why tell him like that?"
Maru glares at Ryo in turn. "You think this is easy for any of us? And be careful what words you choose," he says, gesturing pointedly at Kame who is holding onto Jin's hand steadfastly.
Ryo gives them both an apologetic grimace and then apologises out loud.
Kame takes a deep breath and says, "It's ok. I needed to know." He looks around and Jin is struck by how lifeless his eyes look. "Just one more piece of bad news." Jin shifts his seat slightly closer to Kame so that their shoulders brush. He never wants Kame to feel alone, especially not now.
"Actually, I haven't finished yet." Maru drew their eyes back to him. "There's still more."
"What could you possibly have left to tell us?" Ryo asks.
"More," Jin says. "More like why we aren't out there fighting alongside whatever Celestial Defence Forces ships are left?"
"Some of the colonists tried to set up a blockade while we were evacuating the planet. They didn't have enough ships to stop all of us obviously but they tried to target some of our larger military ships. They took out a few completely, and they managed to damage a substantial number. When we arrived a few of the damaged ships were sending out distress calls requesting additional crew to help stabilise shields and provide medical support, so most of the crew from the Queen was sent over to those ships to help them get out of the danger zone and I assumed command here."
"I was wondering where the rest of the crew was," Ryo says.
"I kept a skeleton crew, and I mean a skeleton crew. Myself on the bridge and Ueda in Engineering to make sure we could keep the ship running. We discussed long and hard about bringing Junno out of stasis as the ship doctor, and I finally gave in because I was selfish. We both wanted to have him around, and we needed the company. It felt wrong to not have him there, and he was on my list of essential personnel."
"Tat-chan is alive?" Kame asks, and the joy in his voice is palpable. Jin feels the shudder that runs through Ryo and gives him a supportive and unobtrusive pat.
"Yes," Maru looks puzzled and then realises, that's another piece of new information. "Yes. Yes, he is. He's fine. In fact, he should be up here soon to present the latest status report."
Kame grins. "I can't wait to ... ummm... see him," he finishes.
"He'll be glad to see you," Maru says smoothly. "Actually Engineering is one of the last things I need to tell you about. As we left Earth the blockade was crumbling, but when they saw we were assisting other ships, they realised our shields were down to allow the shuttles to leave the loading bay, and they hit us. It was a lucky blow more than anything, it didn't hit us full force, but it damaged the hyperspace engines. They work, but can't be used for extended periods of time. We can shift to hyperspace for shorter periods than necessary to complete most journeys but then we need to drop back to normal space to cool the engines. Which means we can't plot a direct course to anywhere without considering where we are going to be making pit stops."
"Fuck," Jin says, and hears Kame and Ryo echo his word in stereo.
"Yeah," Maru agrees. "We are basically one big sitting duck, flying through enemy space, trying to find a safe haven."
"Why didn't you pull us out of stasis earlier?" Ryo asks. "We could have helped. We could help fly this thing, we could help fight, we could ..."
"Are you questioning my command decision?" Maru fixes Ryo with a stern glare and Ryo subsides.
"No. I just ... Why are you still flying? Why are you still looking? Surely you could send a message?"
"We have a bounty on our heads," Maru said flatly. "There are very few places left in the galaxy where we will be welcomed with open arms. Our power base is small and stretched very thin. We need to be very certain of our welcome ..." He bows his head. "We can be less certain now." Maru rubs his hands over his face, and Jin can feel the frustration in the gesture. "Yesterday I was flying almost 10,000 highly trained Celestial Forces warriors in a damaged but still mainly intact latest generation battle ship looking for other ships in our fleet, and today I am flying a dying ship carrying less than 10. We aren't quite the same prize we were yesterday."
Before Jin can ask, Maru stands up and began to pace. "We haven't been able to purchase updated star maps or have contact with anyone due to the danger of discovery. When we drop back to normal space, we've been scanning for anything that is out there, anything we can harvest and use for research, news bulletins, advertisements, anything, and then run them through the computer for suggestions. When we dropped out of hyperspace yesterday we ran into an asteroid belt that wasn't marked on our maps. It's either a new asteroid belt, or the remains of a planet, we couldn't tell which. As we came in, we hit it head on, and the shields started to fail. Without the shields radiation started to flood the lower decks. I started the emergency awakening procedure and we evacuated as many as we could." Maru gestures at them. "You."
Kame pulls on Jin's hand, not pulling away but tugging like he wanted to move. "Maru." Jin realises that Kame wants to go to him, so he silently pulls him up and guides him across, his hand gently nestled in the small of his back. Kame doesn't release him, instead he stretches his free hand out. "Maru, that's not your fault."
"My ship." Maru says flatly. "My command. My fault."
"No."
"It's true," Jin says quietly and Kame turns to face him, anger visible in his stance. "It is. You know that's how it works, Kame." Kame starts to interrupt but Jin squeezes his fingers as a signal to be quiet, and fixes Maru with a flinty stare. "Thank you for keeping us alive, and everyone else alive all this time. Maru, you also did that." Jin pauses, and sees all at once, the tired lines around Maru's eyes, the silver strands at his temples and the thinness of his wrists. "How long? How long did you keep us alive in stasis?"
Maru shakes his head, and refuses to answer. "Not long enough."
"Eight years."
Their heads turn towards the new voice, and Jin smiles at Ueda's arrival.
"He kept us all alive for eight years, and that's more than I expect anyone else would have been able to do. No crew, no support, barely enough supplies for a short cruise between Earth and the Callisto base, and he managed to keep us all alive for eight years. Yes, Maru that is also your fault."
Ueda strides towards them, and pulls Kame into a hug. "Kame-chan. I'm so glad." He ruffles Kame's hair and hugs him again.
Kame grins at him. "Me too."
Ueda looks at the man standing beside them and his eyes grow wide. "What are ..."
"Jin," he says smoothly, interrupting the question and holding out his hand. "Please call me Jin. We met many years ago."
Ueda looks at Maru who nods. "I see. Jin. Good to see you are alive as well." They shake hands.
"No 'glad to see you are alive too' hug for me, Princess?" says a snarky voice.
Ueda's head turns so quickly Jin fears for his neck, and then Ueda is pushing past him, and throwing himself at Ryo, who is more than happy to indulge him in a very very very happy that they are alive hug.
"You are here?" Ueda is stunned. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asks Maru.
"I wanted to see your face," Maru answers.
Ueda glares.
"I thought Junno would have told you when you checked in with him about routing additional power to the medical bay life support systems for our patients up there," Maru tries.
Ueda glares.
"I forgot that you didn't know."
Ueda considers.
"Whatever," Ueda dismisses it much to Nakamaru's relief. "Yes. We are all here. All of us are here, alive, all of us are here on Queen KAT-TUN. Who would believe it?
" Queen KAT-TUN? Really?" Jin asks.
"Yes. Last commissioned ship of the Human Planets Alliance Celestial Defence Forces and named after a legendary group of Academy cadets in her 1800th anniversary year. I would never have thought we'd all be together on her."
"We aren't." Kame says simply, quietly and all eyes turn to look at him. "We aren't all here."
Silence falls, and Jin meets Ryo and Ueda's gaze. He doesn't know what to say. How to say it. Or even if he should. He only knows that it feels like a blade slices him open as Kame stands there in sadness.
Ueda opens his mouth to say something, but Ryo shakes his head and pulls him closer.
Maru pats Jin and Kame on their shoulders. "Shall we give these two some alone time?" He steers them out of the room, and points down the hallway. "Let's finish this discussion later. We can afford some time to be happy. The Bioarena is down there. Trees and plants and flowers. It's a good place to talk." He steps back. "I need to check on how our other patients are doing in the medical bay."
Jin nods as he and Kame are dismissed, then takes Kame's hand in his. Kame looks up at him. "Do you mind, my holding your hand I mean?" he asks.
"No," says Kame. "Not at all. It's just … Sorry." He forces a smile. "Strange day. It feels familiar, that's all. Which it can't. So ... strange."
Jin bites his lip. "Yeah, strange day," he echoes. "Shall I tell you about the ship as we go?"
"Please," Kame says. "The more I know, the easier I will be able to find my way around."
Together they set off down the corridor, Jin's hand locked on Kame's and his voice gentle as he describes the ship, their ship, the Queen KAT-TUN.
Part 2