He grabbed the coffin lid as soon as the latch clicked open and shoved it aside. Inside was nothing but a dark liquid some of which sloshed out onto the floor, and for a moment he thought he'd been wrong. She wasn't here.

Ember?

For a moment panic threatened to overwhelm him, he'd been so sure she was her. He'd followed her signal... 

And then the liquid sloshed, and a small hand shot up, he reached for it and pulled her out as fast as he could, catching a glimpse of her wide eyes for a moment. 

Fear, real fear etched in them. 

His Ember was not afraid of much and yet, she clung to him even as her father slammed the lid down catching the cable in her back. The thing meant to keep her alive in there.

How long was she supposed to be in there?

But when he looked over the containment unit it wasn't Ember's father there at all, but her brother Jack.

Jack Dawson pushed the lid down, with a final click even as Ember whimpered in his arms. He reached around and twisted the cable out of her back tossing it to the side. 

Jack stood there observing him for a moment. "Do you even know who the real evil is here, Captain Scott?"

Red tightened his arms around Ember as she trembled, he looked down at her face again, her eyes were still wide with fear; the fear of being trapped in the darkness.

Did she know? He asked himself again. 

Did she know what? He answered himself. 

His eyes opened in the darkness and he trembled in spite of the warmth.

###########

"I want to go home."

His words cut the comfortable silence she was currently enveloped in.

Ember's eyes opened as she stared into the darkness over his head. His arms had tightened around her and at some point, she must have fallen asleep because she'd turned around was laying with her back to his chest. It was a sensation she could get used to.

"Red, we're on New Elysium, it's our home now."

He snorted and pulled her closer. She felt him inhale into her hair. "No, it isn't. The Ember is ours, remember? We still have to duke it out to see who it belongs to."

"I thought you were going to duke it out with Null over the Aphelion." Ember smiled when she heard him chuckle.

"She can have it, she can have the Perihelion as well. Hell, we can make sure she takes the credit for both of them. Then Jack could have a new leader and we could disappear into space."

Ember turned around to look at him, noting he was perfectly serious. He really didn't want his old life back in any shape or form, nor did he want to become any sort of freedom fighter.

He just wanted her.

Damn, life wasn't fair.

"You'd really just take off like that?" She whispered. It was both exciting and oddly terrifying. They hadn't known each other that long and yet Ember couldn't imagine life without him in it. Every day they spent away from Helion 7 together was a day he grew more relaxed and even enjoyed life. Despite everything that had happened since.

Ember didn't know what she'd wanted to do just yet. She thought she'd drop him and Dag off and take off, and be away from the conflict. Initially, she hadn't expected she'd survive the escape from Helion 7.

But Red—and she teared up at the memory—had carried her unconscious body out.

"What is it?" He put a finger on her face and wiped the tear away.

In answer, Ember leaned forward and placed her lips against his. Red responded with more ardor than she'd expected, his arms came around her instantly and he pulled her against him, groaning as she brushed against his bandaged wound.

"Oh, Red, I'm sorry..." She started when he gasped.

"I'm not," he whispered and pulled her back again, kissing her longer and deeper. His hands roamed under her shirt.

"Red," she gasped as his lips grazed her chin. "You are going to be the death of you."

"I'll die happy," he muttered into her neck. His fingers fumbled with her bra and then he gave up and pulled up her shirt.

"I've changed my mind," Ember muttered putting her hands on his chest. "Let's move back onto The Ember."

"Well that was easy," Red pulled back with a raised eyebrow. "What brought that on?"

"Just get in the damn chair." Ember extricated herself out from underneath him, pulling her black shirt down and straightening the rest of her clothes.

Red looked at her like he was in mourning, but he also looked tired. Ember felt a second of guilt for all his bravado, he still was supposed to be resting, and she was supposed to be making sure he did just that. 

##############################

Nova stood in the center of the Blackstar. It felt like it had been ages since he'd been here, but in reality less than a month had passed. He felt dizzy and knew he needed a doctor of some kind or another. There was one person right now that he trusted with his own care and he was standing in the middle of her ship.

The fall he'd taken had more of a drop than he'd originally anticipated. Something was broken, his head ached but he'd staggered up through the dense fog that he'd known was coming and he'd escaped without anyone knowing who'd helped him.

Luckily for him, Meyers had already been there with, he couldn't remember the name of the girl... River, Rivera? Meyers got him out of there with a lovely concerto of Alonian Opera music playing over the sound system to keep everyone busy.

It might have been a running gag that Alonian Opera music was terrible but to see it play out at certain decibels while his earplugs were in. It was fucking beautiful.

He'd have to remember to thank Null for not killing Meyers back on Six. The man was proving to be quite useful anywhere they'd found him.

His chest ached in a way that suggested he might be near collapse. Come on Pirate Queen, he thought. He couldn't believe she was here on this backwater planet and he briefly wondered if they were both after Atlas.

Talos had long been a hideaway world, and much like Six had its share of people who didn't want to be discovered. Unlike Six, there was no Blue to keep the peace and augments did not move about as openly as they did there.

He'd avoided several scandroids getting onto the Blackstar, not to mention avoiding the AIs that crewed it as well.

You see there was one thing worth waiting for. One thing even worth dying for...

...and that was the look on Amy Larsson's face, no matter who was in charge of the body, every time he managed to sneak aboard her ship unannounced.

He stared at her now, her mouth hanging open. Nulls, Lars, it didn't matter. Both of them inside rendered speechless.

He grinned, damn he'd forgotten how beautiful she was in person. "Pirate Queen, I have something for you."

Then he slid ungracefully to the floor unconscious. 

###############################

"My Queen, I have strapped that idiotic buffoon to the med bay. He's not going anywhere even if he wakes up. Are you certain you don't want to just jettison him into space with the rest of the garbage?"  

From her seat, Null pull a hand away from her face and smiled. "No, Heisenberg, let's just get him back to New Elysium. He can be their problem."

How does he do it? Lars made a quick scan of the ship's systems. Nothing showed a breach, even the camera showed nothing until they made their appearance. Its as if he didn't show up until he wanted to be seen. Even Adam hadn't detected his entry. 

They'd hauled him into the medical bay and left him to the care of Rutherford, not that there was much the droid could do for him. 

"I agree with Heisenberg," Adam suddenly announced. His voice was sullen, he was upset that even he had failed to detect the intruder. "This is a security breach, Madam." 

Null sat back and let Adam guide the ship back towards New Elysium, she could feel a headache coming on, and for a moment wondered if it was due to Nova. He's unconscious, she reminded herself. He shouldn't be feeling a thing.

"No, just let me know if or when he wakes up," she leaned forward and clasped her hands in front of her.  She'd just gotten out of New Elysium and now she was going back. In the back of her mind behind the veil, she could sense that Lars was somewhat pleased about this.

She'd stayed as long as she could stand it, even checking on little Juni, from a distance of course. Null didn't want to get too close to the little girl, who wanted to grow up to be just like her. No, you don't kid, Null thought. Everyone around me get's hurt, you definitely don't want this kind of life.

Nova was a different matter entirely, he just wouldn't stay away. She was beginning to think she'd have to shoot him for that to happen. Not that she wanted to, it was the furthest thing she wanted to do but the man had a deathwish. 

Not to mention, when he sent out a distress signal and a location, she'd come running, worried sick, like, like...

You like him, Lars interrupted her train of thought. Isn't that a perfectly normal response?

He's an idiot with an insane deathwish.

Yeah, well that makes him a more like us then, doesn't it? He sounded smug and Null was suddenly too tired to argue. She stood up not admitting anything to Lars, but she was going to check on their patient.

Ensign Darwin, jumped out of her way with angry yowl as she moved past him. "Sorry," she apologized to her favorite member of the crew. 

He'll be fine, Lars assured her. She could sense his amusement from here but wisely he said nothing further.

She hesitated as she got to the entrance of the med bay and then squared her shoulders and went inside. 

"Oh yes, Rutherford," Adam's voice came from all over the room. "I assure you those band-aids will wake him up shortly, in fact, the more you cover his face the better. They are of superior quality. Wherever did you find them?"

Null put her hand over her mouth as Rutherford place several more pink band-aids with unicorns on them all over Nova's face. She was mortified but at the same time, she shook with laughter. Even Lars in the back of her mind was awed. 

"He should awaken soon," Rutherford stood over his patient looking rather pleased with himself. 

Null, still shaking with laughter moved over and stood over his face, taking his pulse herself, her fingertips tingled where she touched him. Every monitor said he was fine. But as she peeled off his jacket she could see that his arm was dislocated. 

"Heisenberg lift him on his side." Better she do this than a 'droid who didn't necessarily feel anything.

She pulled the arm back and gave it a short jerk before pushing it roughly back into place. Heisenberg laid him back down gently but he was still out cold. 

She grabbed a medical X-ray and ran it down his leg. The pants were damp with blood, but it had stopped flowing for now. The X-ray showed a hairline fracture, but nothing more, painful but he'd managed to walk here. She sighed. He'd probably hit his head on the way down from wherever he was, judging from the knot forming on the back of his skull. 

As much as she didn't want to go back, she knew her first instinct to take him back to New Elysium had been the correct one. 

"Adam," she said quietly. 

"Yes, Madam?" His voice tinged with nervousness, he wasn't sorry for what he'd told Rutherford. He was sorry he'd been caught.

"Take a picture. Take a couple... I want to remember this moment. Oh and don't forget a close up of those band-aids. Rutherford... a few more in the hair won't hurt..."