Crucial Piece of the Puzzle

Kita got out of the Pod and headed towards the Nocturne. It was a pretty well known bar in the Koster city, known for catering to the officers as well as to anyone who wandered in. This was where Holland usually spent his free times.

As Kita entered the Bar, he noticed Holland sitting in a quite corner. The bar war rather desolated this time of the day. Holland seemed to have found himself a corner to sit on.

Kita walked straight towards him.

Holland noticed Kita and looked up.

"Kita.", Holland nodded.

"Holland." Kita nodded back and sat down beside Holland.

Then, there was an awkward silence. It went on for some time before Holland broke it.

"How're you right now? What did the doctors say?"

"All fine, Nothing wrong with me apparently."

"Heh, if only they could figure out the state of the heart."

"If only…."

"Here have a drink. It's my treat." Holland poured Kita a glass.

Kita took the glass in his hands and held it for a bit before taking a small sip.

"So? What brings you here today?"

"Can't I just come have a chat with a friend?"

"I know you're not here for that. Tell me, what do you want." Holland sat himself up straight.

"Nothing. I honestly just wanted to chat for a bit. Maybe have a drink."

"Oh.. Is that so? Then here, have another one.", Holland said as he poured more into Kita's glass.

That wasn't the truth. Kita had a very real ulterior motive for coming here to find Holland today. Kita needed his key card to the War console to access and operate the terminal. So, he came here to find a chance to clone it before the funeral.

This part was crucial. Without the card, there was no plan.

Kita laid a bit back on his seat as he took a small sip from the glass. All while keeping and eye on Holland on his moments.

Kita knew that the card was on Holland at all times. This was mandated by the rules. Kita also knew where Holland stored the card. Holland carried it inside a tool belt on his hips. He kept the tool belt on him at all times.

Kita knew he couldn't take out the card out of the tool belt. So he had created a device that could clone it without touching it. The problem was that Kita needed to take the device really close to the card itself for it to work. The device would be able to detect and clone the card by itself as long as the distance was small enough.

The device was current installed under his comm. Kita just needed to get his left hand in position and hopefully, it'd clone the Keycard.

What Kita lacked right now was the opportunity. It had not presented itself yet.

As Kita took a few sips, he eyes the state of Holland. Holland had been drinking before Kita arrived. So technically, he should get drunk shortly.

But from the looks of it, Kita didn't get the feeling that Holland was drunk. Instead, he seemed wide awake. He eyes was clear although somewhat bloodshot.

"You know, I thought this was a bad plan from the beginning. We should've never sent anyone to that forsaken planet. If only I had voiced my opinion instead of staying silent. Maybe this tragedy could've been avoided.", Holland sighed as he took another sip.

Kita didn't reply to that remark. Instead he stayed silent. He didn't really know what he could say at that moment. So he chose to stay silent.

"What are you gonna do with her? Is there any last wishes?", Holland asked Kita as he turned to look at him.

This caught Kita off guard. He didn't expect Holland to ask such a question. He thought for a moment as his expressions calmed down.

"I haven't thought of it. I never thought I'd lose her so soon. I still need time to process it.", Kita said as his eyes visibly teared up. There was still a smile on his face as he remembered Helen.

"May time heal all the wounds.", Holland said as he raised his glass.

Kita joined him and raised his glass likewise.

'Although it's unlikely.' Kita thought to himself. But he didn't voice it out.

Holland suddenly got up.

"Oh, look at the time. I need to go. You enjoy yourself Kita. This one's on me.", Holland turned towards Kita and said, before he turned to leave.

Just when he took a step, he suddenly stumbled and fell face first. It seemed like he had a bit too much.

Kita quickly got up and went to pick him up. He pulled Holland up and made sure that his hand was in position. This was the opportunity Kita was waiting for.

After he got Holland back up on his feet, he made sure that he held onto his waist until he got the subtle signal that the cloning was done. It was extremely fast and only took a few moments.

After he got the signal, Kita let go of Holland and asked.

"Hey, Are you alright?" to which Holland replied.

"Yeah. My mind suddenly fogged up for some reason. Maybe I should visit the med bay before going back to the bridge."

"Maybe you should."

"C'mon, I'll help you get in a pod."

"Nah, I'm fine. I'm not that old yet!"

"If you say so…"

"Watch me."

Holland said as he began to walk towards the exit.

Kita watched Holland walk out of the bar before he went towards the washroom. He quickly took out the small white disk from under his Comm. This was card that he had just cloned.

He checked the logs on it. It had successfully cloned Holland's Keycard.

"Now, Everything is almost ready.", Kita's eyes gleamed as he looked at the white disk in his hand.

Kita looked at the time on his comm.

It was almost time for the funeral. That was when the Bridge would be it's emptiest. As most of the people on the bridge would be attending the funeral. Which would be held at one of the hanger bays.

From the distance of the Hanger bay to the Bridge, Kita would have about 10 Mins to go in and take control of the bridge and fire the turret towards the Monolith. He would only get 1 chance. He would need to fully capitalize this one chance.

Kita disposed of the small device he used to copy the card and left the bar. He got in a pod and zipped through the tubes towards the bridge.