Red rubbed his eyes, stifling a yawn. In front of him, Andrea shifted on her feet. The commons was stuffed with people, it was standing room only. They'd come to trust Red now as a leader, of sorts anyway. They listened and stayed out of his way. But Ember had informed him that the passengers were uneasy and that he needed to address it. It's her ship, he grumbled to himself. She'd handle it better by venting them all portside pronto.

"Waypoint?" Red watched Andrea's confused face as she processed their location. The woman looked even more aged than when they'd first encountered her on New Caledonia. Her long white hair was pulled up into a clumsy knot, and if it was possible she'd picked up a few more wrinkles, but the intensity of her gaze was still there. She was still on a mission to protect her people. Red could respect that even if he couldn't get past her sentencing Ember to death. Just standing in her presence caused him to tighten his hands into fists subconsciously.

"It's the furthest point out... all unexplored from here on out." He tried explaining. Her eyes widened and then she was nodding in agreement.

He shrugged, he'd spent years out here just on the edge, never crossing over. That didn't mean he hadn't spent plenty of time staring out into space, literally, wondering what lay beyond in the darkness.

"And New Elysium is out there." Her voice brought him back to the present.

"Well someone sent us the satellite with directions to it." Dag offered. He crossed his arms over his massive chest, the silver contrasting against his dark skin. He looked to Red with a lifted eyebrow. Well?

I used to be better at this. Red tried remembering the old days. But this wasn't like that; these people weren't trained in the arts of war on any level. They were settlers, not soldiers, not fighters, scavenging the wastelands of what Neo-Tokyo had reduced them to.

He grimaced, running a hand through his hair, tugging at it so it covered half his face. He'd never had to do that before, but now, he wanted a barrier or at least the illusion of one between himself and the people he'd taken on.

And these people, they wanted answers, answers he couldn't give them. Hell, he didn't want to give them a shred of hope. He had no idea what they would be facing, or if they would survive. That's the answer they wanted, that they'd live. He couldn't give them that.

When he'd served it was Lars who did all the comforting. The AI had an uncanny ability at knowing what to say while Red knew what to do. Now he was fulfilling both roles and Red found himself coming up short in the comfort department. These people, they just wanted to be somewhere, anywhere to call home. He rubbed his forehead again.

*************************

"Most people just want a sense of hope. Something they can hang onto." Lars's voice interrupted as he looked up at Red. "Isn't that why so many of them are invested in some belief in the afterlife?"

"Now you're mixing your philosophy with work Lars." Red had reminded him.

"No sir, merely discussing human nature."

"Some human nature."

"Most humans, Sir. They all want to hope that they will live, get through whatever ordeal they are in...or better yet, that it serves a purpose, a greater good if you want to call it that..."

********************************

"I just need to know if I'll be able to get my people there safely." Andrea's voice cut in. Red stared at her coming back to the present. His eyes narrowed. "So, pray to whatever gods you believe in."

"What?"

"Look you wanted to get to New Elysium? This is it, the way we have to go. It's not easy, but I can drop you off at Waypoint if you like? No doubt, you'll end up the set of my supposed victims or be massacred because you aided us. We're going on. You in?"

Dag rolled his eyes, but Red could tell he was amused. They were still wearing their damn prison uniforms and he hated that. The fraying was worse on Dag, dragging over his metal arm every time he moved. At least in prison, they'd be provided with new clothes.

"We'll take our chances out there." Andrea finally said. The former governor was looking older already. The trip had taken a toll on her, the loss of life was wearing on her mind, just as it was on Red's whenever he slowed down to think about it. He skipped that as much as possible.

Ember had positioned them in orbit around a star, charging, and scanning the area for any sign of the fleet that had followed them. Or the Vesper that was supposedly behind them. She was moody since the other pilot had sacrificed himself, so they could escape. Red could understand that, when you used to fight your own battles, being forced to run and hide stuck in your gut. It hadn't gone down smoothly for either of them.

Red refocused back on the group in front of him. He was getting to know them slowly. A few nodded to him as he filed out, one woman smiled at him in a suggestive manner and he nodded at her but kept his distance. Probably should stay away from that one. Woman throwing themselves at him reminded him of Helion. There was no shortage of people looking for comfort from one another in there.

Andrea reached out and shook his hand, forcing Red out of his own thoughts again. "Thank you." She got out.

"For what?" He stared at her. He drew his hand back as fast as he could when she released it placing it behind his back as he looked at her sideways.

"You are giving them hope, their lives have been bleak for the past few years."

Red looked away. "Yeah well, I know the feeling."

"Do you know what's there? I mean where we are going?"

"No, I don't." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again, a sign for those closest to him that he was agitated.

Dag jumped into the conversation. "We only know who we sent ahead of us, Ma'am." He was able to maintain respect in a way that Red was never going to be able to do for this woman.

"And the fact that they were able to send a satellite to our location on Helion broadcasting under the radar suggests that they have a pretty good set up." I hope, Red paused. "Excuse me." He moved away from her before she could respond.

Behind him, he could hear Dag making an excuse and following him.

"Hey man, what is up with that?"

"I don't like her." I never will.

"You can't hold a grudge against her for that, Ember doesn't." Dag caught up with him and walked next to him, his hulking figure causing others to move out of their way.

"Yeah well...I don't have to like Andrea."

"Whatever man, I know you like Ember. Everyone does."

"I don't."

"Again whatever...but we need to focus on getting there in one piece. So, you can be at least civil, right?"

"I wasn't civil?" Red looked at Dag and grinned. "They're still standing, alive... I even left the guns in my room. No one is floating in the vacuum of space."

Dag rolled his eyes. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Ember still charging?" Red changed the subject. They were in space, escaping the enemy and everyone wanted to bring the conversation around to whether or not he liked Ember. They were close, but that was it. So, he told himself.

"I am." Her voice came out of the nearest point, causing both men to jump. Dag shot Red a guilty look, forgetting that Ember was pretty much the vessel surrounding them, which explained why Red wasn't in a hurry to discuss his feelings anytime soon.

"Do we land?" Red asked her, putting any other subject off to the side for now. He leaned his forehead against the smooth wall, speaking directly to the port her voice was coming out of.

"Up to you, Captain. There's a population down there. All military, they haven't detected us, yet. We don't need to land there... But there will be no supplies from anywhere else once we leave."

"Do we need them?"

Ember hesitated. "Yes and no. We won't need them to get where we're supposedly going... But if we don't find it... We'll need something."

"What do you think?" He turned to Dag who was standing next to him, lips closed in a thin line.

"I don't like it," Dag said, straightening. "There's too much risk involved. We've got an armed Vesper chasing us, not to mention several Leviathans and an angry psycho father... and I don't want to die today. We'll waste time down there, time we might not have."

The three of them went silent as each contemplated.

"Will he follow us into unknown space?" Dag asked after a brief moment, he exchanged a look with Red.

"Yes," Red and Ember answered at the same time. Ember knew him, but Red had stared at the man, scrutinizing him. He was a powerful man, and he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. And that was to tie up looses ends.

As in response, the ship shuddered as it changed course. Both men were tossed against the opposite wall.

"You'd think we could figure out how to turn the gravity off," Red shouted. He tapped his head. Ember what's going on?

We ran out of time.

Her voice came over the speaker. "Crash couches now. They're here. I repeat they are here."

Red ran towards the pilot's chamber, dodging passengers from New Caledonia, as he went. Dag went to find T and Alt. Red felt badly about not checking on them himself, but Dag had told him his job was to keep their ship from doing something stupid like charging an armada with no weapon attached.

"I'm in!" He made it to the chair, Ember circled to the far side of the star as several ships materialized out of hyperspace.

"Only logical for them to come this way," Red concluded. Waypoint is the furthest stop out and we were heading this way when they found us the last time.

"We haven't been detected yet?"

"Not sure, they aren't sending the Vesper after us." He could hear the strain in her voice.

"How charged are you?"

"Two-thirds of the way."

"Close enough...let's go."

Ember snapped. "Seriously? What happened to engage?"

"Ok, Engage, move...go!" Red snapped. He could feel Ember's enthusiasm for the flight. They were leaving known space. He saw on the sensors the fleet turning as one in their direction, and then they entered hyperspace and the stars became streaks in the windows as they left Waypoint behind.

He trembled where he sat. When they stopped, they wouldn't know what they would run into, all they had were a series of jump points Ember had programmed into their NAV Systems. They would have to trust the information from the dead pilot.

Red leaned back and let himself drift back into the past again. Originally, he, Dag, Mad Jack, and a few others had conceived of a place for Augs to flee. "The Motherland." Mad Jack had called it. It had to be outside of Neo-Tokyan control otherwise they'd never be safe.

"You go first and set up," Red spoke to Jack Dawson. "We're trying to get Dag's wife and son out on the same transport."

"What about you?"

Red had shrugged then. "What about me? I'll be fine."

But he hadn't been fine, he was still looking for the man who'd killed Lars. He wanted blood for his second. It had been a useless endeavor, without a name, the man was just one of the thousands of faces behind the relentless scandroids.

"Come on Red, give it up. We don't know who the guy was. He could be dead by now. We need you out there."

"I'll help others get there." Red shrugged. "I'll send them your way."

"You won't know the way yet."

"You'll send the signal back."

Jack had stared at him. "Yeah, I will." He looked resigned. Red walked away.

Dag was supposed to get on that ship too, but he wanted to convince Red to leave with him.

And then they were both caught.

Red snapped out of the memory. It was his fault Dag was still here, Dag ended up in Helion just like him. He should have gotten on that damn boat with his family, not sticking back to make sure Red didn't get killed. Dag never blamed him, not one day. In fact, it was Dag who'd kept him sane all these years. He could do this one thing for him at least. Reunite Dag with his family. And that left him with what? This ship...and Ember, with them disputing over who it belonged to? She'd win, he thought morosely.

"Too many should haves." He said out loud to himself.

"Should haves?" He jumped at the sound of Ember's voice swiveling the chair around. She'd floated down silently while he was dreaming of the past. The cables protruding from her back lifting her shirt up on the sides, exposing her thin waist. Not for the tenth time, that day did he wish they'd found something besides their prison uniforms to wear.

"Didn't hear you come in..."

"Yeah well, you looked like you were asleep or something."

"And you decided to check on me?" He closed his mouth. This wasn't exactly the conversation that was going to keep her from getting any closer than she already was.

Ember rolled her eyes and said nothing. The silence stretched uncomfortably long. Ember put a hand on his arm and he stiffened. "Tell me about Jack." She whispered softly.