It was clearly not her first space walk. He remembered his first zero-g experience. Dwayne had been fourteen and he'd done it to impress a girl. A cause many a foolish stunt had been performed in the name of. His arms and legs just sort of wobbled up and down as he floated along. The girl had not been impressed, nor should she have been. He watched Anjali. She wasn't someone who had done this many times, but she knew what to do. She engaged her boot. Then tested the walking surface for stability.<i>Then </i>disconnected her tether. She'd be a pro at this in no time flat. Dwayne's training had been different. Space walks and zero-g combat; in a vacuum less was more. And form always trumped strength at every junction. He instructed in small bit and only hoped he wasn't using a 'dad voice'.<br/><br/>"If you see the interior start to<i>move, </i>stand on something that isn't moving. It's not common, but old wrecks can break apart. If it ever happens, and you're standing on an unlucky portion, the best thing you can do is not panic. Transports and salvage boats have tractor beams. It can slow down the breakage long enough for you jump back toward home. You can just float along a little ways, then ditch the magnets off your boots. There's enough Oh-two under there to give you a five second burn off each boot. If you're calm and cool, it's more than enough to get you back to a friendly airlock."<br/><br/>Words kept spewing out him for some reason. There was the occasional request for information or a scan from Bianca, but mostly it was him talking to Anjali. Dwayne kept it casual. There was a time and place for some of the 'No shit. There I was' stories from his active duty days, but just now was neither. He'd save those for if she decided to stay on with him and Bianca. Dwayne hoped that she would, but decided to play that close to his vest. She didn't try to stop him. She didn't look board. It was rather nice.<br/><br/><i>Maybe that doctor's not so full of shit after all.</i><br/><br/>The mood was as light as it could be considering. There was a small twinge of something whenever they passed a portion of the bulkhead where a clear fire fight had taken place. That was the only time he was really silent. Nobody ever ditched their demons. Most sane people only ever rose above them. And ghosts of the past needed to be laid to rest. Anjali was clearly processing a lot. But she'd turn her focus back to him and he'd start talking again. The<i>grab bag </i>followed them around without a care in the universe.<br/><br/>Dwayne wanted to make one clean sweep through the safely accessible portions of the cruiser. Taking what was valuable and stopping by crew quarts along the way. He mostly kept his hands to himself in the crew quarters. He gave Anjali the run of whatever floating personal effects that remained. Some of them were relics that might have fetched a decent price. Laying claim to her fondest of memories in the name of profit just felt wrong. There was plenty enough pay here in glettanium deck plats alone. Powder coated steel was the modern standard. The Katesh supernova of CY 761 had wiped out all of the asteroid belts in that system. It was a large portion of the verge's source of starship grade Glet. The deck plates of anything pre-761 was pure money.<br/><br/>The mood didn't get real heavy until they hit the Captain's quarters. He'd had seen vacuum desiccation before, but Anjali had known this man when he was among the living. Dwayne wasn't a full citizen of the Confederacy, but he lived there. Confederate customs and society were well steeped in ancient maritime traditions. Lack of citizenship meant little. Dwayne owned and operated his own vessel, which made him a Captain in their eyes. Short of criminal or sanctioned bounty activity, Captain's were expected to show one another a certain respect, alive or dead. Dwayne disturbed nothing here. He stood silently in the door way, as the man in the chair sat, unable to grant him permission to enter.<br/><br/>They returned to the Rag Tag in short order. The grab bag was only half full. More deck plates could be taken up, but only a few. More than that ran the risk of the breakage he'd cautioned Anjali about earlier. He organized his new finding in the cargo hold, but just a bit. Anjali was out of his eye line. He assumed she was in the mess area. He felt hungry himself. Dwayne promised himself a sandwich when he was done. A lot of data chip had been recovered. He loaded a few on an stand alone terminal, unwilling to risk the Rag Tag's main computer or Bianca. It was mostly garbled data that Bianca would have to pan through for anything useful, and one video log. Dwayne watched as the young man, adjusted the camera and sat down in front of it. He looked much worse for ware. Sunken eyes and thin midsection and limbs. He looked at the deck below him before he spoke at last.<br/><br/>"Jace Tillman. Final log entry. This is for my family and anybody else who might find it. I'm sorry, but you'll never see me again. I want to think fondly of me. And tell my friends that I was a good man. And I want you to tell the whole verge what sort of gutter slime the Srinivasan's really are. They lied to me. The Rath-Yatra was supposed to bring the fiance of Srinivasan diplomat to the colony. Only Anjali Miriam Sarawgi isn't anybody's fiance."<br/><br/>Jace was silent for a moment before he screamed."She's a bio-engineered fuck slave that the Srinivasan's are gonna pass around the colony! And it makes! Me! Sick!"<br/><br/>The contents on top of his desk were cleared with one violent swipe, including the camera. There was a break in the video. Dwayne found himself unable to look away. Jace returned a heartbeat later to the screen. Eyes puffier than they had been before.<br/><br/>"We found out about it. The Captain and the crew. We tried to take the ship from them. It went...badly. Most everybody's dead. Engineers are all dead. Engines are down. Coms are down. Power is shaky at best. Food fabricators work but we're really low on nutrient raw. They stuck Anjali in stasis and sealed the med bay. It's not cryo. It's some other advanced tech I've never seen before. We were going to put her in an escape pod and get her out of here. Whoever's watching this, I regret nothing and I'd do it all again. I hope Anjali lives and drops a planet cracker right on the equator of that fucked up colony. She deserves better. I hope to see every single Srinivasan in hell. It's going to be a long eternity boys. I'll be waiting."<br/><br/>Jace left the video frame. He pushed his fingers into his eyes. The kid spirit. And balls the size of gas giants. Dwayne flinched hard when he heard the gun shot. There was an hour of video left. He increased speed up to thirty-two times to see if anything else came into the frame. It was empty. It'd be difficult, but Anjali needed to see this. Dwayne copied the data chip and took it with him to the mess.<br/><br/>Anjali was there. He was glad to see her making herself at home. It made Dwayne think she might be recovering form the experience she'd been through. The contents of the video might set her back a few days. He believed it was necessary. Dwayne wanted Anjali to see and to know that another man from her time thought and believed the same as he did. Jace was seventeen if he was a day, but he was a man nonetheless. Boys didn't take up arms to defend something they believed in. Dwayne fabricated a turkey sandwich and began to eat. He silently talked himself into and right back out of destroying the copy and the original of the data chip three times before Bianca called him to the carpet.<br/><br/>"Dwayne. Your vitals are spiking. Are you experiencing a cardiac event?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Yes."<br/><br/>He stared at the floor and pulled the data chip form his vest and placed it on the bolted down table. Dwayne kept his index finger held firmly down on it. He was quiet as he looked up at Anjali.<br/><br/>"This chip has a video log on it, by Jace Tillman. It's not my place to hover, or act like a mother hen, or try and tell you your business. This was informative. And it was hard to watch. If my opinion counts, you'll watch this tomorrow after you've had some rest. And don't watch it alone. It's been a difficult day for everyone. Right now, all I really want is a shower and some rest. Bianca, upgrade Anjali's access to crew status. I will see you ladies in the morning."<br/><br/>Dwayne lingered under the hot recycled water. Having someone else aboard was going to take some getting used to. He'd have to change some of his habits. Like wearing boxers to bed when the gravity was on, if he wanted to leave his door open. The air recycling protocol he used sometime created a small breeze that blew into his quarters. It was one comfort he wasn't willing to give up. After he was dry, he pulled gray fabric up over the important bits before walking out of his bathroom. Captain's quarters had space enough. It wasn't like the master bedroom of a planet side home, but it served. He'd grown accustomed to the cold deck plats under his bare feet. Dwayne fluffed his pillows before he climbed under the covers.<br/><br/>"Lights." he said as his room fell dark.