PART ONE | CHAPTER TWO
THE CREW

After talking with Zoel, Darren called up Sidney.

"Hey babe... What are ya wearin'?" she said flirtily as soon as she picked up.

"I'd love to come right where you are and show you but it's not the time..." he sighed.

"Ugh." she groaned. "Okay, shoot. Whadaya want?"

"I want you to print out or send Zoel a question sheet."

"Should I add what are ya wearing on the list?"

"Sidney..."

"I'm jokin'! Jeez... I'll have it ready in two hours at most."

He heard a chair rolling on wheels around the room.

"Are you still sitting on my seat?" Darren asked his wife.

"I haven't gotten off of it since ye left."

"You're dead to me."

"Love ya too, babe." she laughed. "Who are ya checkin' out next? I hope it's me..."

"Not yet, sweetheart. Rena is next."

"I like that one! She's quiet."

"So is Zoel."

"Yeah... But I feel like Zoel has potential in the shriekin' department. I gotta test that out." Sidney muttered to herself.

"Okay. Whatever you're thinking? Erase it from your memory."

"No can do. Anyway, I'm totally sure that Zoel gave ya some of these delicious chips she makes, so get yo butt over here and hand some of 'em over."

"What are you going to give me in return?"

"Why don'tcha come here and find out?" she replied with the same flirty way she'd answered his call.

"I'll be there in two." Darren hang up on her.

They didn't get the chance to get freaky, because someone came knocking on their door.

"Okay, what the hell is Zoel talking about? Are we getting checked up? Is there something illegal going on here? Are we going to get arrested? I don't want to get arrested! Look at me! I wouldn't survive a day in jail! I'm weak!" Izzy rambled as soon as Sidney opened up.

"Slow down. Gee, yer better at jumping to conclusions than Jol is." Sidney raised her hands in defense.

Isabella Singh's mom was from earth, but she'd never met her father and her mother never really talked about him so she didn't know anything when it came to her dad. Her appearance was pretty earth-like, though. She was olive-skinned with long brown hair and big brown eyes and was always panicking about something.

She wasn't really interested in looking for her missing parent, mainly for two reasons; she believed that he wasn't worth it, since he'd abandoned her and her mom before she was born and never came looking for them and she'd be too stressed to actually interact with him if they ever met.

Darren was unaware of whether Izzy had ever been involved in any other space trips and quests because when she joined the crew she never really mentioned anything along the lines.

"What exactly did Zoel tell you?" Darren asked her calmly. His wife pressed her lips in a thin line and widened her eyes, as she turned around and walked back into the room- her arms still raised up as she shrugged lightly.

"Well, nothing. She just wrote it down because I couldn't hear her." Izzy's shoulders relaxed a bit.

"What did she write down?"

"That there are some reports that need to be done or something. I saw something about paperwork written on her whiteboard and got curious, so I asked her. She wrote that you didn't want the word to get out, but I already knew too much and--"

"Izzy, calm down. Deep breaths." Darren told her carefully.

"I just don't want you to blame her, you know? It's not her fault. She's going to think I'm a terrible person that doesn't stand up for her friends if that happens." Izzy rushed again and paused to take a deep breath.

"Zoel has known you for three years, she knows you're not that type of person and I'm sure she acknowledges that you are a great friend. You did nothing wrong and she's not going to get in any trouble, okay? You just had some questions and came to seek answers, is that clear?"

The girl before him nodded rapidly, still on edge about everything that happened in the past few seconds. "Yes sir."

"Now, who else found out about this?"

"Well, John was in the room when I started asking Zoel about it and, you know John, he hangs out with Jol a lot. I don't know if he told him anything, but he knows what a gossip Jol is, so I doubt he's said anything yet... Don't tell Jol I said that! And, anyway, Jol and Rosie have been getting really cozy these days, if you ask me- not in a romantic way, of course! At least I hope so... But that's not the point! The thing is that if Jol knows, then Rosie knows too and she's best friends with Kyle, you know, and Kyle is always with Nyara and Nyara is the only person Rena hangs out with other than Dinah because the two of them mechanics, right? And even though Rena doesn't really talk to people much, Dinah is really social and might have said something to Gorno--"

"Okay, I got it. If John spoke up everyone knows." Darren sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'll go talk to him, you go relax."

"Zoel isn't getting in any trouble, is she? If she is I'm never going to forgive myself. I'm taking the blame for everything that happened, Zoel did nothing wrong!"

"Izzy, please. Go take a nap and calm down. No one is getting in trouble."

"Okay, thank goodness!" she smiled lightly, calming her breathing. "I'll just go now." she continued awkwardly and walked away, fiddling with her fingers.

Darren returned to his room, where Sidney was eating the rest of the chips Zoel had made.

"That gal's entire existence is based on stress. If she gets a papercut, yer going to see stress coming out of 'er 'stead o'blood."

"Sidney..."

"What? It's the truth..." she rolled her eyes, still munching on the slaty snacks. "Seriously, we have to help 'er out. She might get a heart attack or somethin'. That's somethin' ye get out of stress, isn't it? I dunno all that medical stuff... That's Rosie's specialty..."

"I'm going to go talk to John and Rena."

"Ugh... I was hopin' for some alone time..." Sidney tried to seem flirty or whatever, but was covered in chip crumbs so, unsurprisingly, her seduction skills didn't work this time. The moment had been ruined.

"Me too, but the crew didn't really agree... Do you think you can deliver the questions to Zoel when you're done?"

"If I gotta put on pants or leave the room, then it's a no from me."

"I don't believe you." Darren scoffed, shaking his head.

Sidney pouted, puffing her cheeks. She was trying to look adorable, but she only managed to appear creepy in a hilarious kind of way.

"Okay, stop it, you win. No more work for you today, but only because you just got your period. I won't tolerate this tomorrow."

"Aw, stop lyin' to yourself, hun. It ain't the period, it's my incredibly gorgeous looks and utter hotness." she flipped her hair over her shoulder. A chip fell on her thigh. She shrugged, picked it up and ate it.

"I beg to differ."

"Just go ahead and look for the homicidal maniac we have aboard and let's get rid of 'em before they decide to do to us what they did to the Stars... I'm too awesome to die."

"That, I can agree on." he tried to give her a peck on the mouth but she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him for a lot longer than thay. When she let go, he could still taste the saltiness of the chips on her lips.

"Go catch a killer and make me proud, hot stuff. I'll be waitin'."

"You'd better... We got interrupted at a crucial moment..."

"Just go before I lose all control, a'ight? Havin' you standin' here is as if you're purposefully tauntin' me."

"Good to know. I'll see you later. Don't go anywhere."

"I wasn't plannin' on it..."

Darren got out of the room as fast as he could to finish all the work he had for the day and return to the love of his life.

Sidney could be a little unbearable when she was grumpy or in a mean mood, but she was actually a huge and protective softie when needed. She may have been calling her crew animals, but she thought herself as the only one allowed to do that and would kill anyone who even thought of trying to pick up the mantle.

John was the resident programmer or, as the rest of the crew liked referring to as instant tech support that gets mad at you. There wasn't really much programming he could do, since the ship didn't really go looking for any trouble, but he sometimes piloted the whole thing if Darren and Sidney wanted some alone time.

He was a good kid, but had some problems with authority. Darren suspected it was because his three older sisters bossed him around all the time when their parents weren't looking, but he couldn't know for sure. The only thing he was certain about was John's strained relationship with his family, which is what may have hinted towards some sort of interaction with the Stars. Now, he wasn't going there to point fingers, but he had to be suspicious of everyone and since Darren was going to talk to John and ask him whether he told Jol about the check-up, he'd also ask him some background questions.

John mostly spent his time in his room, doing whoever-knows-what. Sometimes, when he was feeling social, he got his computer and moved to Jol's room to keep doing the usual stuff.

He took his time opening the door for the captain.

"What is it?" he crossed his arms immediately. Darren felt as if he was talking to his rebellious son who was going through a rough version of teenagehood, during which he hated everyone and everything in existence.

"Did you tell Jol about the check-ups I started doing today?" Darren asked him, going straight to the point and ignoring John's attitude.

"Of course I did. He's my best friend. I don't keep secrets from my friends." John rolled his eyes. His blue eyes shined behind his black-rimmed, Harry Potter style glasses. His skin and hair, which were braided in short cornrows, were dark and he looked like he was done with the world before even facing it. He was in his middle twenties, but still pretty immature in character.

"Dammit, Doyle... I wanted this to go slowly and quietly. Izzy almost burst into tears when she came to ask me about it."

"Izzy is always like that."

"That's unfair and you know it. She panics easily, but you don't have to call her out on her insecurities. You're only making it worse for her." Darren glared at him. "Anyway... I have some questions for you."

"Ask away, but be quick about it. I'm busy."

"Alright. How is your relationship with your family?"

"Damn, this is a low blow, Cap." John scoffed. "Cut the trash about this being a check-up. I know you're looking for the traitor who brought down the Stars..."

"I've told you a million times to stop hacking my computer and eavesdropping on my calls! Dammit, John! That's a violation of my privacy!"

"I'm sorry! I just saw that there was an unknown caller and I got curious." John actually appeared to be embarrassed this time. "Plus, I've sort of bugged the whole place."

"John! What happened to asking people about stuff?" Darren's eyes widened. "Please tell me you didn't tell Jol about this either..."

"No, I didn't. I knew it would cause panic, I'm not stupid. I only told him about your cover story. You should be damn proud of yourself; I never keep secrets from friends and right now I'm keeping a huge one from all of them." John grumbled. "And please tell me I'm not a suspect because, if I am, it's going to hurt my feelings."

"Everyone aboard is a suspect apart from Sidney, because we were in jail together when the Stars fell."

"What did you do?"

"We tried to get her brother out of there in a not so legal way... Anyhow, that's not the point. You and your family are not on good terms and you ran away when you were pretty young, so that fits the Stars' memo."

"Seriously, dude? You think I'd ever join the Stars? You obviously don't know anything about me or them. They're not my scene. They're too organised. Besides, three years ago I was in Venus hooking up with some incredibly hot peeps. Trust me, there are lots of witnesses of my time there..."

"I didn't need to know that."

"Well, that's what you get for suspecting me." John smirked. "I want to help you dig out the rat."

"No."

"I'll tell Jol."

"That's a new low for you, Doyle."

"Do we have a deal?"

"Fine..." Darren grumbled. "But you're not going to eavesdrop on any of my conversations agsin, got it?"

"Whatever." John shrugged.

"Promise me you'll disable the bugs. This is invading everyone's privacy and is disturbing to say the least."

"Fine..."

"Good. Now go back to doing whatever you were doing. I'm going to talk to Rena."

"Good luck with that..."

"Why?"

"She had a fight with Dinah earlier today and she's been grumpy since."

"Well, nothing I can't handle. Rena ain't really that dangerous." Darren thought about it. It was the truth, she'd never been hostile or gotten in trouble. The only one she wasn't getting along with was Dinah, and that must have been because they were forced to spend so much time together.

"Is that why you're suspecting her too?" John asked him sarcastically.

"She's got a past she never talks about, we barely know anything about her family and she is a mechanic. That's enough for me. I said she looks like a low-key and calm person, I never said she's not shady."

"Everyone's shady to you at this point."

"Exactly."

"I don't know, man... No one in here looks like they could kill five dozen people, betray their only family in the world- because that's what the Stars used to be- and escape with a top secret project that some pretty damn powerful people would kill for." John bit his lip.

"You never know... The Stars say they've traced the traitor here and they really want that traitor. I don't think they'd make such a mistake." Darren shook his head, slipping his hands in his pockets. "I'll go have a talk with Rena.

Rena Best was fuming and glaring at Dinah James from across the room. They were both fiddling with the engines and were covered in grime, but still had time to hate each other while also doing their jobs.

"Rena, may I have a word?" Darren called her to the door. She loudly dropped her tools, shot one last glance full of loathing at her co-worker and dashed out of the room.

She had shoulder-long, honey blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Her hair were let down, but she always had two small braids on the front and either side of her head to keep the rest of her hair from falling in her face while she worked. She rarely ever smiled or spoke but did a damn good job, so no-one complained.

"How can I help you?" she asked the Captain.

"We were asked to do a routine check up on the crew due to some errors in some reports and files, so I have to ask you some personal questions to fill in the blanks." he explained.

"How personal?" she raised an eyebrow.

"It depends on how you define it." Darren replied. "It's just a background scan of some sorts. The Space Office keeps finding new ways to get us to do more paperwork..." he shook his head.

"Okay..." she sighed in disbelief, wiping her hands on a piece of cloth. "I'm listening."

"How old are you, exactly?"

"Twenty."

"You're aware that you're the youngest one in the crew, right?"

"Yeah, so what? Someone had to be."

"You joined this crew when you were seventeen. What was your relationship with your parents like?"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"You were selling scraps of metal in the black market of Mars when I found you. I want to know if they had anything to do with it."

"Well, if you have to know, they died when I was little. My sister and I were on our own and then I was all alone. I had to live, somehow."

"You're a prodigy mechanic. Where did you learn how to be so good?"

Rena went silent and her face fell. "Uh... My sister. She was a mechanic in the Stars until the tragedy. She taught me a few things before she died and then I took it up from there." she said, blinking rapidly. The whites of her eyes suddenly went red and started glistening.

"Oh. I didn't know that. What was her name?"

"Tara." Rena gulped.

"Okay, that would be all. Thank you, and sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. It's been years, right?" she smiled sadly. "Uh, can I go back to work now?"

"Sure go ahead. Tell Dinah to come out so we can talk on your way in."

"Will do."

Two down, eight to go.