74 Might - Part 2

Just before the others arrived, Lera had been talking to Paroppe.

"Are we throwing a surprise for Jev?" She asked.

"I'm not sure…" Paroppe didn't speak right away and once she said that, she paused again. "Ayanni brought it up last night, but Jev doesn't really like those things. I think keeping it to just ourselves and letting Jev decide what he wants to do is best."

"I understand." But before she could continue, Paroppe spoke up.

"I didn't mean it like that. Our group, not just Jev, Ayanni and I, all of us. I think leaving out Drahyun and his group or anyone else for this matter is best."

That did make Lera feel better. She didn't mind and would have understood if they wanted to do that by themselves. Lera just laughed off her nervousness.

"Don't worry about it Lera. Jev's doing his best trying to change how he views you. Give him some time. For now just enjoy this view."

That feeling of being in an enclosed space eased away a little bit more.

---

Paroppe's heart warmed seeing Lera smile next to her. Her little sister was a strange one. Care about everything too much. Putting everything on her shoulders. Even if she did have the power to fix everything, doing so wouldn't change people.

Jev was the perfect example of that. He was brash with Lera. Telling her how dangerous she was and pushing her away. Paroppe hated that he did it, but Lera just took it. She let him tell her these things and tried to follow them. Even if it didn't make Lera happy, she would do it. Like she would be the thing Jev thought she was if she had fun.

The distance over this last year where Lera stayed in Hapho was most likely due to that. Avoiding Jev and subsequently her and Ayanni. Although her fight with Ayanni didn't make things easier.

Ayanni said they weren't going to tell Lera of the threat. Paroppe agreed with it, even if Ayanni was having second thoughts about it.

"Dear, your food." She turned around to see Ayanni making a flashy gesture with the food. Although she could tell they were being more stiff than before.

"Thank you."

Jev passed a snack over to Lera that freed up his hand. He itched his ear and looked to the left. Even if they had trained before a frown showed up on her face. Troubling their vacation turned out to be this way.

Then she thought back to last night. Byyuan had been the one to call attention to Drahyun. Not that it was strange, but she didn't think he was like that. He was someone who noticed Jev's antics, but he never acted on them. Not that she knew of anyway. Maybe he was more like them than she realized.

---

Lera watched as the others were laughing and having fun. She joined in on the conversation as they found funny topics to talk about. Jev was even including her, instead of avoiding her and she followed suit.

When she hit the bed, her worries fell away. Her relationship with her family felt better than ever. Byyuan was really enjoying his time aboard the ship and with them. Well he probably already had, but today it felt more special.

That was the reason she turned down Paroppe's offer to stay over for the night. She didn't want to bother her again by staying the night. Lera felt good and didn't need to stay with Paroppe. Plus she wanted to give her room to be with Ayanni if she wanted.

Drahyun has been a nice person as well. When her group met them, they had played a game against them. Their whole group was good, took loss well, and their wins. Never being mean about it. So when Drahyun approached her group on his own, she thought he wanted to be friends with them all. Although she didn't know why he wanted to be around her the most out of the others. It did make her feel a little uncomfortable, but that was her. So she didn't have a reason to not get to know him.

Lera respected him for teaching and helping out others. Even if this was a different universe, one filled with war, there were still people who wanted to help others.

Weirdly enough, after all that happened today, she felt really tired. Lera didn't even feel the need to put herself to sleep.

---

"Lera? Lera? Wake up."

As she woke up, she found Drahyun sitting next to her. The room she was in was white, like that of a hospital. There was some familiarity with that, but not a strong one. That feeling felt so long ago.

"What happened?" Her confusion only lasted a moment. Drahyun was worried for her, she could see it in his eyes.

The bed she was in was more of a pod. Sea blue squishy padding the interior, sky blue tinted windows and white border metal around the sides holding it together.

"Lera, you've been asleep for a week. We're already on our way back from the Skawaad Cluster." She didn't see her family around. "They were tired after staying by you for this past week. I told them I would watch over you while they rest."

'Did I accidently force myself to sleep for too long? No, I was just really tired last night… or last week.'

"The doctor or… what did they say?"

The room was small, just big enough for the pod, a couple seats, and the medical equipment. She could see how uncomfortable it would be for them.

"Some gas leaked into your room." He chuckled. "They already found how it started, so you can be assured that it is safe back in your room."

"That's good…" She should send a message to them to let them know she's alright. She'll have to make it up to Jev. Afterall it was his birthday and she missed it.

"The doctor injected this thing," he holds up a syringe, "into you, to wake you up. They had to inject many doses over this last week so it would ease that nasty stuff out of you. Since the doctor is out, you just need this last shot, and I'll bring you to your friends."

Lera nodded and he took her arm and injected it into her body.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem at all. Actually I'm having fun right now. I'll bring you to your friends and then I have a job I need to do."

"Teaching job?" She couldn't figure out what he would need to do here on the ship that he couldn't have already done these past, three weeks? It had been quite some time already then. Asleep for one whole week, worrying her family.

"Yea, that's right." He paused as if thinking of something. "You should be feeling better now. If you want, we could stop by my appointment, before heading over to your friends."

"I think it's better if I see them now. I wouldn't want to worry them."

"It will only be ten minutes and they could use the sleep." He grabbed something out of his pockets. It looked like a pen, but thinner. One end looked like it could be pushed in and that was it. She couldn't see any markings or where the hole for the pen's tip would come out. "I think I should give this to you now. It's a present I had made for you. But don't press that red part down just yet and keep it safe." He was a mix of confident and nervous. Or maybe he was just nervous.

Drahyun fixed his glasses as he handed that thing to her.

"Uhm… Thank you."

"Don't be so surprised. We're friends now right? I felt that it was necessary to give you a present. It's so enjoyable to see your reaction."

Lera was a bit embarrassed to hear that, but was happy to see he thought of her as a friend. She followed his lead through the hallways. Actually her SPINE was not working right now, so she couldn't access the map. Though she felt if she used her power to activate it, she would be losing out on letting her new friend take the lead. It was more about trust than anything.

The pen-like-thing in felt fragile. It was just too thin. A little thinner than a straw she used to drink out of from Hapho. Looking at it closer, it actually seemed more like a button than anything else. In a universe where technology was so prevalent, like SPINEs, that there would be something as simple as a button in her hands.

'It must be something else. A key? No, that would still be out of place.'

The way Drahyun made it sound, it was like she should know what it was.

"I don't want to seem ungrateful for this, but what is it?" They just turned a corner when she finally built up the courage to ask. Curiosity won out.

"I can't tell you just yet. Don't worry I will soon. We're going through that door up ahead." He pointed towards a door third one away from her on the left. Compared to the other doors, it had a lot of space between the other doors, and it was more like a garage door she had seen.

As they approached, it slowly lifted up and she saw a bunch of chairs lining the walls with computers. Different people, varying races, sat or floated in their positions, working hard at… well whatever they were doing. Looking closer she realized where she was. The bridge or where the Captain made those announcements.

Looking over at Drahyun, he was smiling and confident. She could see his back straighten as he walked inside, gesturing for Lera to follow him. It was uncomfortable going into an unfamiliar place, but followed along anyway. She didn't want to be rude and let him down as he had stayed with her.

She missed her family.

"Drahyun-"

"Hello everyone! We have a guest joining us today. A friend of mine I had met recently. Even if we haven't really talked much, I think she is just the most fascinating person I've met." He had turned towards her for that last part. Getting so much attention stopped all of her thoughts. She kept still, not really sure how to respond to that at all. "Can we get a chair for her over here?"

A humanoid was pushing over a chair towards her and she just stood there completely frozen. "Ah.. Uhm…" She tried to get out the words to express how uncomfortable she was.

"Let me help you Lera."

Drahyun said as he walked over to her and gently pushed the chair behind her. Lera fell into the chair in an awkward way, but caught herself. Everything was just confusing. Timidly she just kept holding tight the present Drahyun gave her. Once she realized what she was doing, she looked it over to find that it was much sturdier than she expected that it didn't break. It gave her pause as she realized she had been holding her breath in.

"Is everything prepared?"

""Yes, Sir."" Everyone else had answered in unison.

Drahyun was sitting in the larger chair, in the center of the room. It was the same one the Captain had been sitting in before. Holographic screens popped up on either side of the chair and Drahyun began to speak to the screen.

"We've finally arrived at the Skawaad cluster. It's such an amazing sight. Please direct your attention over towards it." He waited a few moments before continuing. "Majestic! Mythical!" He yelled in glee. "I would like to use this time to make an announcement. As I'm sure you would all love to focus on the cluster, this is important."

His pause was just long enough to get everyone's attention, even Lera who was just confused about this all. On the screen in front of her it showed the Captain, but Drahyun was the one speaking the words. Also he mentioned they were at the Skawaad Cluster, but we should have passed that a week ago. After all he said that they had already gone past it and were heading home. At least she thought he said it.

"We found insurgents on the ship attempting to destroy it. This group of humans," the screen changed to show about twenty individuals bound, kneeling on the floor, "are the culprits behind this heinous crime. Fortunately we were able to stop them before they could do any real damage. There is no need to worry or panic as everything has settled before any damage could be done. Trust me, you are all in my care." Drahyun was chuckling at that last part.

Lera was beyond confused as so much was happening and her mind was attempting to catch up.

"Uh…" She barely got out a thought before Drahyun interjected.

"Actually we have the hero here with us right now." The screen was now showing a live video of her sitting next to the Captain, but as she looked between the screen and Drahyun, obviously there was something up. But hearing the hero and now recognizing everyone in the room was looking at her, she shrunk back in the chair. Clearly uncomfortable. She knew the way she was acting right now was just because of her confusion and nervousness, but she couldn't stop herself. "Her name is Lera from the Talaon Corporation. I won't bother you with the details of how she saved everyone here, but trust me, she is a hero." He laughed before turning to her.

Drahyun's gaze was gentle and kind, but with everything that was going on… Something was wrong. Although before she could think more about it, he spoke up.

"I have given her the honors, due to her help, to take care of these people. All she needs to do is to press that little button in her hands."

"What?" Lera was finally able to get that out of her mouth. Everything here just felt wrong.

"Why are you hesitating? These people, no, terrorists, were attempting to kill everyone on board this ship. A vessel carrying thousands of innocent lives. Are you going to let them go?" He asked her, sounding really curious as to why she wouldn't press the button.

"I…" Her hands were shaking nervously. She just wanted to see her family. This was too much for her.

"Don't worry Lera. That button is just a symbol, it won't actually do anything. After you do this, then I will bring you to your friends." He leaned in to whisper to her, but as he did she noticed the screen was just showing her. Her whole body and emotions on display to everyone aboard. She just wanted to get out of here.

"…yes." Lera pressed the button. As she did, the screen changed back to the terrorists suddenly starting to thrash about. Red lights started to flash behind them as a door was starting to open. Then it stopped.

The whole world around her had gone quiet. Looking over at Drahyun, she found him on the brink of laughter. His eyes showed no love, only condescension. Being frozen like this, she realized that she was killing those people even though the button wouldn't work.

He lied.

Then looking to her left, a holographic screen popped up. Like the others around her, but it had a different design. A familiar one she has seen before. Those times when her family was about to be killed, like Paroppe when she was in that cave.

Byyuan, Paroppe, Jev, and Ayanni were all on that list. She teleported to them, to find herself with the terrorists. She removed the coverings over Byyuan's face, the first one she teleported to, and looked him over. There was blood on his shirt and face. He had fought someone.

Quickly Lera unfroze him, removed his bindings with her powers, along with the rest of her family. She also healed them up and started to apologize.

"This is all my fault. If we never had gone on this-" Byyuan had wrapped his arms around her as she broke down. Everything she felt after waking up, to being on the bridge and learning about what she had just about done. She had almost killed her family.