Warning: There is no violence in this episode, but it is intensely emotional. Story Summary: Current sub-plots in the story: Toma and Kiera have revealed their secret, the word of the Alarian race and Sky Knights will spread Maera escaped the Struthian ambush thanks to the intervention of Kallae and Cirres. Marcus has secured the Bridge and is now solidifying his position as Captain with Gillian’s help. Ren has been rescued. Falor and Taerek are transporting Ren to the Bridge. Taslaen is in custody. Saline and her Care Team have taken charge of the nursery. Kallae and Cirres have returned to the Nursery to report to Saline. Current condition of the Morning Star: The first ring has been destroyed. The second ring is critically damaged. The fuselage suffered severe damage at the ring couplings. The Sun Shield generator is operating at minimal power. There are 625 escape Pods with 2,500 survivors, all children, following alongside the crippled Morning Star. There are 42 days of fuel remaining in the Pods.

*** Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event — either by experiencing or witnessing the event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event, and even feelings of guilt for having survived the incident. The effects of PTSD may take days, weeks, or even months to manifest *** Saline sat in one of the fluffy chairs positioned at each of the incubators. She was cradling the new Jacarion hatchling and picking away bits of shell still clinging to it. Cirres told his side of the story first, leaving out no detail, not even the part where he’d shot the two Struthians with a stun gun. Kallae then told his side of the story, quoting precisely everything he had said to Maera, and everything she had said. When they had finished, Saline sat quietly thinking before she spoke. “I find no fault in your actions,” said Saline. “You didn’t know Maera’s history, or that she is capable of terrible evil. You only saw the person you knew to be my Senior Officer in danger of serious injury or death, and you used non-lethal force to stop the attackers. I don’t think there is anyone here that could have handled the situation any better, both of you displayed amazing courage.” Kallae glanced at his brother with a grin, and then back to Saline. “So, we’re going to call Captain Markus and have her arrested for murder?” Saline took a deep breath. “You two are from a deeply religious Rositite family?” Kallae nodded. “Mom read to us every night from the Corvus Corax, and we attended the Rositite Temple twice a week with mom, but she was there almost every day, volunteering and taking donated food to less fortunate families. Dad had to work a lot, so he only went once a week.” “Kallae and I sang in the children’s choir,” added Cirres. Saline smiled. “Is that so, I’ve heard the Rositite Children’s Choir before, I might have seen you perform.” Cirres blushed. Saline sighed. “Alright, what I’m going to tell you is not meant to cast doubt on your Faith. As I understand it, the two greatest sins in the Rositite religion is lying and not paying a debt.” Kallae nodded. “That’s true.” “Those are both excellent traits to cherish, and I’m not going to ask you to lie, but I am going to ask you to consider something before you report Maera.” Saline lifted the infant into the incubator next to her before continuing. “Markus is under tremendous stress, and though he is the best suited for the Captaincy, with his charisma and considerable contacts as a sports star, he is holding all of this together with a string and a prayer.” Kallae tipped his head to the side. “What about the Alarian?” “Ren is too young and has no leadership experience, he has decided to let Markus continue as the Captain for a few years while he grows up. If you report Maera, Markus will arrest her, put her on trial, and she will likely be found guilty. But, Markus is already on thin ice with the Holentites for having Maera as a fiancé. He would not be able to survive the scandal. He would be forced to resign in shame, and then what’s left of the Morning Star would fall apart.” Kallae looked down at the ground and whispered. “If we do the right thing, it’ll be the wrong thing?” Saline kept her expression neutral as Kallae thought through the consequences, but Rositites weren’t very good with shades of gray, everything was absolutes with them. “You do what you think is right.” “We won’t lie, but we won’t say anything,” agreed Kallae. Saline’s eyes flicked to a petite Pasaran girl that had been standing off to the side. “Did you need something, Tamae?” The girl tentatively held a radio out and spoke in a soft timid voice, barely audible. “Captain Markus is on the radio for you.” Saline sighed. “Tamae, we talked about this, if someone from the Bridge calls, you tell me immediately.” The girl dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to interrupt you.” Saline took the radio and slipped the headphones over her ears. “Saline here.” While Saline spoke on the radio, Cirres came around his brother and smiled at the girl. “Hi, Tamae.” The girl blushed and glanced away. “Hi, Cirres.” Cirres took a step closer to the girl. “We went out on a mission.” “Oh, was it dangerous?” whispered Tamae. “It was very dangerous, but nothing I couldn’t handle. You know, they call me, Mr. Dangerous.” Kallae rolled his eyes as Cirres puffed his wings up a bit. “I would have been so scared,” said Tamae. Saline ended her conversation on the radio and handed it back to Tamae. “The boys are heading out on another mission, you can talk with Mr. Dangerous when he gets back. I believe you have messages to send?” Tamae locked eyes with Cirres for only a moment. “Be careful.” Saline waited until Tamae had gone before staring sternly at Cirres. “Do I need to remind you that we are here to take care of the eggs, not add to them?” Cirres turned crimson red before he was able to pull his wings around to cover his face. “What’s the mission?” asked Kallae. “I just learned why you couldn’t find any baby formula. On the morning of the meteor strike, there was to be a large food shipment delivered to groceries, the commissary, and the nursery. But of course, the shipment never arrived. Some Holentites searching for food saw a large group of armed Rositites moving crates marked, Cori Foods.” “Does Cori Foods make the baby formula?” asked Kallae. “They do…or did. Markus is assembling the Holentites and Hetenittes for an attack to seize the stolen food, but it’s going to take at least four days to put the attack together.” Saline nodded towards the sleeping infant. “This angel will starve to death before then, I want you to go buy the baby formula.” Kallae glanced at his brother still hiding behind his wings. “We don’t have any money.” Saline removed one of the bracelets from her wrist and held it out to Kallae. “This is a sun bracelet, use it to buy the formula.” “That looks really expensive,” said Kallae. “It is, but if it saves even one hatchlings life, it serves a better purpose than hanging on my wrist. Take it and go now. You have a pilot’s license, right?” “Yes, I flew my dad’s maintenance pod all the time.” Cirres peeked out from between his wings. “Kallae has more flight hours logged than most grown-up pilots have.” “And Cirres has more time walking around on the outside of the hull than he does on the inside,” added Kallae. “You’d be surprised how much stuff outside needs maintenance. Kallae does the flying, and I do the spacewalks to fix stuff.” “Okay, take my pod,” said Saline. “The crates were seen on the loading docks in R Sector, but first, report to the Bridge, Chief Gillian wants to speak with you.” “Are we in trouble?” asked Kallae. “No, but I’ll let him tell you what it’s about,” replied Saline. “Go on now, and take Mr. Dangerous with you.” Kallae took the bracelet from Saline and stuffed it into a storage pocket on his armor, then grabbed Cirres and headed for the airlock. The flight to the Bridge took a different route than Chief Gillian had taken on his flight to the Bridge, but then, Chief Gillian was an Engineer, and the Engineers either didn’t know about all the secret maintenance tunnels, or deemed them too low-brow to use. Kallae opened a maintenance tunnel and flew the pod inside, then landed on a narrow specially designed track for pods. Once the pod was securely fixed to the track, he tapped the destination into the computer, and sat back. The Pod sped along on the track between the double-hull of the ring, and then out through the coupling-section, and into the double-hull of the fuselage. The entire trip took less than 10 minutes to arrive at the Bridge. The guard outside the Bridge must have been surprised when a Pod dropped out of an opening in the ceiling and descended towards him. However, to Kallae’s perspective, he was ascending, not descending. Kallae took one look at the loading dock and rolled his eyes. There were eight Pods crowded in a tangle around the upper dock, or lower, depending on perspective. The pilots of those Pods obviously didn’t have much experience dealing with all the various dock configurations around the Morning Star. They had entered the fuselage from the Cargo Bay door, therefore they only saw the one dock at their perspective. Kallae had to wonder what they thought the metal platform above the dock at their perspective was for – maybe to keep the rain off their heads? Kallae kept his Pod upside down, or right side up by his perspective, and docked at the upper landing platform. By the time he and Cirres exited the Pod, upside down, several more guards had joined the first, and two of the pilots had exited their Pods to also stare up at Kallae. Kallae and Cirres jumped up, or down, again according to your orientation, did a summersault in the air, and landed neatly on the lower platform. “That’s a dock?” asked one of the pilots. “You’re thinking one-dimensionally,” said Kallae. “There’s never any gravity in the fuselage, so it doesn’t matter which direction you or the dock is. Did you really think you were supposed to jam all these Pods into one tiny dock?” The guard flared his wings. “How’d you get in here, and who are you?” Kallae pointed up at the ceiling. “Maintenance tunnel, but don’t try to use it. You have to take a 3 week course before you’re even allowed to start practice docking with the practice tunnel. If you do it wrong and get your pod stuck, we’ll have to take some of the hull plates off to get you out.” Kallae dipped his wings in the traditional greeting of the Daria. “Hi, I’m Kallae, and this is Cirres. We’re with the Maintenance Division, Chief Gillian is expecting us.” The guard lowered his wings. “Okay, you can go in, Markus said you were coming, but next time tell someone before you drop out of secret tunnels none of us knew about.” One of the pilots motioned with a hand for Kallae’s attention. “Hey, while you’re here, there’s a really bad squeak on my Pod’s hatch.” “Have you noticed any drop in oxygen levels?” “Not that I’ve noticed,” replied the pilot. “There’s a can of lithium grease in the maintenance locker under the floorboard behind the pilot’s seat. Just smear a little of that on the hinges, but let me know right away if you have any drop in oxygen levels, it could mean your hatch is out of alignment. My maintenance request frequency is 2213.1, leave a message and I’ll get back with you.” The pilot nodded. “So, if you’re like every other maintenance guy, about 3 weeks?” Kallae grinned. “Wow, if you know a maintenance guy that fast, you should call him instead.” “I like this kid, he’s got a sense of humor. I’m Taethon, good to meet you.” “You too,” said Kallae. “I better get inside, I don’t want to keep Chief waiting.” Kallae and Cirres cycled through the airlock and dropped to the ground when they reached the point where the grav-plates began creating artificial gravity. Cirres dropped to a knee almost immediately and ran a hand over the grav-plate. “Kallae, these are blood stains.” “A lot of blood stains, there was a huge battle here… Cirres, look at the walls, there’s blast marks all over them.” Cirres stood. “There’s the Alarian, and I think that’s Captain Markus with him.” “The Alarian doesn’t look much older than we are,” said Kallae. “Are you boys lost?” asked a large Holentite stopping and glaring down at them. Kallae shook his head. “Chief Gillian sent for us.” “He’s over there at the computers, and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” replied the Holentite. Kallae and Cirres weaved their way through the crowd of large Holentites. Cirres ran into one of the Holentites. Kallae recognized the large G-Ball player and was pretty sure Cirres had bumped into him on purpose; it was Cirres’ favorite player. “Woah there, careful little guy,” said Gaethon. Cirres practically gushed. “I know you, that goal you made against the Falcons was epic.” Cirres held up a marker. “Can I get an autograph… here on my arm, so I can always see it?” Gaethon took the marker. “Are you sure? This is molecular ink, it will be permanent, even on liquid armor.” “I’m your biggest fan, you would have made pro G-Ball if this disaster hadn’t happened.” Gaethon signed the arm: Gaethon Hawk #72 “Hmm… it’s fading into your black armor, I can’t even see it,” said Gaethon. Cirres grinned from ear to ear as he stared at the autograph. “The ink is genetically made for my eyes only. We all have our own markers to make maintenance notes on the hull that nobody else can see. You should see what the hull outside looks like wearing a set of the master goggles. I’m Cirres, my maintenance request frequency is 2213.2, if you ever need anything, just leave a message and I’ll make sure you go to the top of the priority list.” “I will keep that in mind, thank you.” Gaethon handed the marker back before returning to his conversation with an evil looking Hetenitte. Cirres practically bounced the rest of the way to where Chief Gillian was working at a computer. The old engineer looked up at Cirres and nodded approvingly. “Everyone needs a hero, Gaethon is a good choice. Come around here, I want you to see what I’m working on.” The boys went around the desk to look at the computer screen. “This is the survivors list Ren and Laena put together. Since I’ve got the computers partially up, I’ve been cross referencing the names with their personnel records to determine what skills the survivors have.” “That’s pretty smart,” said Kallae. “I found something disturbing,” said Chief. “What is it?” asked Cirres. “Of the 1,200 interns assigned to the Maintenance Division, you two are the only survivors. Can either of you shed any light on how something like that happened? Statistically, based on the survivors from other specialties, there should be around fifty Maintenance Intern survivors.” Cirres deployed his helmet and set his face shield to the lowest opacity. He didn’t want anyone to see him crying, but it was obvious from the way his chest was heaving that he was. Kallae fought hard to keep the tears from his eyes, but they weren’t cooperating. One simple sentence from Chief had finally made the disaster come real for them. All their friends and everyone they knew were gone, and it was all their fault. The unspoken sin that Kallae and Cirres bore between them was finally coming to light. Chief frowned. “I’m sorry, perhaps I should have eased into this. I’m not the best with children, but I need to understand what went wrong and why only two survived.” Cirres collapsed to his knees, his wings heaving as he wept alone inside his helmet. Kallae reached the limit of his restraint and the tears flowed down his face. Laena and Aeyah pushed through the crowd and rushed to the two boys. “Chief, stop it, can’t you see something’s really wrong,” shouted Laena as she dropped down next to Cirres and wrapped her arms around him. Aeyah put her arms around Kallae. “Tell me what happened.” Kallae screamed the words. “We killed them, we killed them all. It’s our fault.” “Tell me,” said Aeyah gently. Kallae’s voice dropped to barely a whisper. “We weren’t where we were supposed to be.” “What do you mean?” asked Chief. Kallae was trembling as he spoke. “We were late for our shift, we should’ve been down in the tunnels with everyone else.” Chief stood, his expression one of confusion. “I must be missing something. I understand you were late to your shift, so fortunately you weren’t in the tunnels, but there should have been some other survivors that also weren’t in the tunnels.” Kallae swiped a hand across his eyes. “Everyone was in the tunnels, it was 5:16 in the morning when the meteor hit, I know, I checked my watch when I heard the first strike.” “And why is the time of the disaster significant?” asked Chief. Kallae tipped his head in confusion. “Don’t you know the schedule?” “No, I worked in the engine room, I have no idea what the Maintenance Division’s schedule was.” Kallae wiped at his eyes again and sniffled. “We work a twelve hour shift, 6 to 6, but the incoming shift has to report one hour early, and the outgoing shift has to be back at their tool cages one hour before the end of the shift. That’s so the outgoing shift can clean and put away tools, take showers, and have briefing meetings, and the incoming shift is there an hour early to get their tools ready, get their assignments for the day, and also have briefing meetings.” Chief frowned. “I see, so for two hours every day, the entire Maintenance Division is together in the tunnels. Now I understand how we lost everyone, but why do you think you killed them?” The tears began to flow again from Kallae’s eyes. “Cirres and I got up early to go to the Children’s Morning Service at the Rositite Temple. The Priest has been reading the story of The Raven and the Crow every morning, and we didn’t want to miss it. We always leave Temple early so we can get to our dad’s tool cage by 5 a.m., but the Priest was on the last chapter. We knew we’d be in trouble, but we had to hear the ending to the story.” “And again, why do you think you killed them?” asked Chief. Kallae reached the end of his strength and collapsed to his knees. “The meteor hit, and there were alarms, and explosions.” Kallae looked up at Chief. “The bulkheads and access doors to the tunnels closed and locked, but we were scared and ran for the escape pods. We were cowards… I was a coward, and I’m going to burn in hell forever.” “You’re not going to burn in hell, you obeyed the evacuation order, as you were supposed to do,” said Chief. “We have dad’s master access codes,” shouted Kallae. “We could have opened the doors and saved them. I deserve to be punished, I killed them.” Kallae grabbed his wings and started ripping at his own feathers. Aeyah and Chief grabbed his arms and held him from hurting himself further. “Son, listen to me,” shouted Chief. “You didn’t kill them. Every Master Maintenance Chief has the master access codes, any one of them could have unlocked the doors.” “They must have been injured and needed our help,” wailed Kallae. “I want to die, let me die.” “Kallae, stop,” shouted Chief. “They didn’t open those doors because there was a toxic chemical spill in the tunnels, the pipes broke in nearly every section. If the Master Chiefs had opened the doors, it would have killed everyone on the ship, and there would have been no survivors.” Kallae was beyond hearing anything Chief was saying and continued to thrash around wildly. Taerek and Falor knelt down next to Kallae. Taerek waved a device over Kallae’s armor and the armor retracted. Falor shoved a needle into Kallae’s arm. Kallae’s eyes closed and he became still. “It’s just a sedative,” said Falor. Chief glanced at Taerek. “That’s a very rare and illegal device,” said Chief. “It’s a good thing you had it, well done.” Taerek grinned. “Hehe, I’m the good guy for a change, feels weird.” “Markus,” shouted Chief. “Yes, Chief,” replied Markus. “These two aren’t going to be the only children that don’t understand why they survived while so many others died. I want all the Pods brought into the cargo bay, push that excavation equipment out into space if you need to make room. I want 24/7 eyes on every child, and call Saline, I want her up here. Her personnel records says she was studying to be a pediatric surgeon and has already taken the child psychology classes. She’ll take over grief counseling. We need to stop this before it cascades into a horrible disaster.” “Yes, Chief, I’m on it,” said Markus. “And everyone needs to keep an eye out for trigger events,” shouted Chief. “These two were triggered when I asked how only two of the Maintenance Division survived.” Gaethon knelt and took Cirres up in his arms. There were tears in Gaethon’s eyes. “I’ll take care of this one. I’ll put him in one of the officer’s quarters and stay with him. Hey, Sarek, you take Kallae to the Captain’s cabin, and stay with him.” Gaethon glanced at Chief. “Isn’t there something they do for when someone… you know… when they threaten to…” Chief nodded. “Yes, it’s called suicide watch. Sarek, make sure someone is with him around the clock. He’s not to take a piss without someone standing there watching.” “You got it, Chief,” said Sarek. “I wonder how many more cases of this we’re going to find.” “More than a few,” replied Chief. “I should have seen this coming, and sitting in those Pods with nothing to do has probably made it worse. I think the next few weeks are going to be rough.”