7 Little death.

The morning sun brought a sense of calm back to the crew but not for long. More disputes broke out regarding their small supplies and it's distribution. More people died. Mostly Avari. For an evolutionary advanced and technologically superior race, they seemed too prone to anger and fear. They turned on each other with the ease of consuming food. Altair wasn't too upset about this. The Avari hated him and the feeling was mutual. The fewer of them were around. the higher his chances of getting off this planet alive. However, he wasn't sure that the leaders of the Confederate army would let him live after he lost their precious Corvite. More likely than not, with all he knew about Avari, they would execute him or have him do hard labour on a mining world. Neither of these seemed appealing to him. Maybe it would be better if they didn't make it off the planet, he wondered. There was nothing waiting for him out there.

His wife had left him because he spent too much time working. The work he put so much time and effort into was proving to be his undoing and even if he made it off this world, it would be to swiftly rejoin a losing war that he might be killed in. The Avari were embroiled in a conflict with the Messari empire over some disputed worlds and by virtue of being subjects to the Avari, humans had no choice but to needlessly die in this pointless war.

Altair looked up again into the morning sky. He let the gentle warmth bathed his skin. He had to enjoy the small simple moments like this because they wouldn't last. Time was running out or more accurately, time had run out. Things were getting ugly among the crew. Things were getting tribal.

He crept toward the ravine and felt moved by the sight of his ship caught between the two rockfaces like prey caught in the mouth of a predator. Most other captains would look at their ship the way they looked at a blaster or a rapier, as tools to get a job done but Altair considered the Lady Luck like a star crossed lover would consider his beautiful bride even though it wasn't the Avari way. It was this human sentiment or attachment to things that made them superior to the Avari as world-builders, administrators and captains of industry.

Flying was out of the question. The Lady Luck had had its final voyage but its telecom receiver would find the hyperspace beacon and its transmitter would tell the Avari where he was. He may be killed for failing this mission but Altair was sentimental about his sense of duty.

Climbing down carefully, Altair lowered himself into the ship through an open section that had been violently ripped by an explosion. He made his way through the wreckage until he got to the cockpit.

A half dozen empty vials lay strewn around the cockpit floor and another one sat in Hudo's quaking palm. Altair had read the reports of Hugo's dabbling into illegal narcotics and how it had prevented him from rising higher through the ranks. The bigger concern is that he had gotten to the ship first and against the orders of his captain. He now lay collapsed in the captain's chair with a blank expression as he gazed into space.

"I see that the cockpit survived the fall," Altair said. Hugo who was unaware that he was no longer alone seemed to jump out of his skin.

"I went to look at the transmitter array, it looked structurally sound and functional," Hugo said in a panicky voice.

"From the outside, maybe. Altair clambered over fallen sections of the ships hull to get to a ladder that led to a crawl space above the cockpit ceiling. This crawl space housed the ships' vital electronics. Altair pushed open the ceiling panels that gave way with ease to reveal the melted circuitry. The external transmitter still stood but without the circuits that powered it, it was now a relic to its purpose. The story was the same everywhere else on the bridge. Nothing lit up or beeped when activated. Only deafening silence.

The Lady Luck was dead.

"Perhaps we could transplant the dead parts and use it to construct a makeshift transmitter," Altair said hopefully.

"Unlikely. The explosions from the torpedoes blew away most of the ship's parts," Hugo said.

"What about the hangar bay? The fighters were still outside the ship when we made our way here, perhaps there's something serviceable we can use," Altair said.

"Forget it, the deck below including the engineering level was crushed," Hugo said defeatedly.

"Then we must cut the ship away, deck by deck until we have enough to fabricate the parts we need," Altair responded.

"With what? Our teeth?" Hugo rose, steadying himself against a fallen beam. "We're done! We are here now, far from everything we know. Far from the war!"

Altair ignored him and climbed into the hallways to rummage through cabinets looking for anything that could be helpful. Unfortunately, due to supply shortages to the badly managed Avari star fleet, they did not have a lot of provisions, to begin with.

"We must make plans to stay here on this planet," Hugo said. Standing alone with his form casting a long shadow down the middle of the hallway. Commander Taj al-Din will think that we absconded with the Corvite with the intention to defect.

Altair released the cabinet handle and pondered what Hugo said for a brief moment. He straightened and faced his Avari first officer. He tuned his senses to the man's facial expression, posture and pulse.

"My first officer was replaced after your conversation with Commander Taj," Altair said calmly. 'What did you discuss."

"We merely discussed the details of the mission," Hugo replied.

For a moment his eyes became unfocused. There was an unconscious flicker from left to right as his pupils narrowed.

A lie.

"You discussed having me replaced from my command of the ship with you didn't you," Altair said. "When the commander refused, you asked to be my second in command."

Hugo froze and then panicked and activated his shield belt.

Altair also activated the force button on his shield belt and felt the protective cocoon of an electromagnetic field from his forehead to his feet and unsheathe his rapier. The shield reflects fast blows and projectiles away from it's wearer. The only way he would let Hugo out of this was for him to tell the whole truth.

"No more games, Hugo. I want the whole truth right now!"

Altair leapt high to one side, then forward, pressing a furious attack.Hugo fell back parrying. He felt his shield sizzle and pop as the edges touched and repelled each other. After a brief exchange, Hugo ran back into the cockpit.

Altair followed him intending not to let his advantage slip.

That was a mistake.

Altair felt like he walked into a hurricane. Hugo stood in the centre of the cockpit levitating debris from the broken viewport like an angry god getting ready to smite his disobedient followers. The shield around him deflected most of it but some fragments got through and ripped into his uniform. Altair had heard tales of some Avari so connected to the life force around them that they could levitate objects and now he was in the presence of one of those fairytales drugged out of his mind with chemicals that he did not understand.

A beam slammed against the inner cockpit walls that made the Lady Luck shudder. Another strike made her tip over, knocking Altair and Hugo off their feet. Momentarily disoriented, Altair got to his to find that Hugo was gone. He climbed through the ruined viewport in pursuit. He leapt through the opening and landed on a soft patch, wrenching his ankle.

Altair felt himself lifted into the air and then violently slammed into a rockface damaging his shield belt. Hugo walked into view with every rock and pebble in his path floating in the air like in the zero-gravity of deep space. When Altair tried to stand he was met with sharp stabs of red hot pain from broken bones and torn muscles. Altair dug deep, summoning all the strength he could and using all his mental training to shield his mind from the pain and fear of impending death.

Fear is a mind-killer. It is the small death that brings total destruction.

The words of his mentor gave him strength. He just needed to buy some time to unleash his true strength.

Altair sprung to his feet just as Hugo tried to finish him off. He managed to parry most of the strikes from Hugo's rapier until one fo them connected with his left shoulder. Hugo pinned him against the wall and kicked him. Just as ge tried to land the final blow once more, Altair turned around on the ground and unleashed a burst of purple lightning from the tips of his fingers.

Altair gingerly stepped toward the edge of the ravine to find his first officer charred and smoking. How he still managed to hold his weapon after that was a mystery.

"How?" Hugo asked with a painful grunt. He finally let go of his rapier and let it fall over the edge of the ravine. His eyes opened to reveal blood-red pupils. The telltale sign of the drug 'Red Mist'.

"My real ability is being able to absorb those of people I kill," Altair replied. If given care and immediate medical attention, Hugo would still recover from his wounds but Altair knew that he would come back at him again.

Destroy all your enemies completely. Give them a chance and they will come back to destroy you.

His teacher's words rang true in his head but he hesitated for a moment. Altair was no murderer but Hugo would always stand in his way.

"I will complete my mission," Altair said as he hoisted Hugo into the ravine. He landed with a loud thud on the Lady Luck and together they plunged into the abyss.