13 - Complications

"Crown station, this is STRX-25 requesting permission for landing."

Having just jumped out of supercruise after a very pirate-infested trip, Mike, River and Lissandra finally arrived back at the capital Crown station, the final problem was getting back to said station in one piece.

[STRX-25, this is Crown station central control, please transfer access codes or you will be fired upon.]

With the capital station under lockdown due to the ongoing civil unrest, Mike wasn't absolutely certain he could get into the station, even with the right ship and the proper access codes.

"Crown station central control, transferring access codes now and powering down to await docking approval."

Zeroing the throttle and shifting to unpowered drift, Mike lowered the ship's reactor output and glanced over to River while he waited for the station to respond. At the first sign of trouble River would take the reactor up to full output and Mike would light the afterburner and escape to the Crown station residential rings where the local security forces would be hesitant to use heavy weapons and hopefully escape from there.

"What will we do if we can't get into the station?"

Perhaps having caught on to the mounting tension in the cockpit, Lissandra finally spoke up when neither Mike nor River had any time to spare answering.

(Then we'll just end up dumping you somewhere out in deep space and leaving all this behind us.)

"Then we'll find some other way, don't worry."

Almost speaking his mind Mike was about to turn around and run when the tower control finally got back to them

[STRX-25, your authentication codes have been approved, welcome back. Please use taxiway 13 and return to pad 55B.]

"STRX-25 confirms taxiway 13, returning to pad 55B, it is good to be back tower."

Doing his best to act friendly but not overly so, Mike limited his speed to about 5 m/s and started his approach on Crown station. Unlike the previous station's Mike had visited, Crown station was on an entirely different scale with multiple residential and administrative rings in 0.6 to 1.2 G orbits supporting about a trillion people living out their lives in the Trane Imperium oblivious to how the galaxy was going to split apart in just a few years.

"Hey… Are you okay Mike?"

"Yeah, never better."

Doing his best to distract both himself and River while failing at doing both, Mike kept thinking about possible countermeasures against the coming calamity until docking.

(Well, that was surprisingly easy…)

Powering down the reactor and setting the hangar to pressurise, Mike made sure Lissandra didn't do anything stupid once they entered the station.

"Okay, once we get inside the station I'll need you to do exactly what River and I say. Just because you was jumped on Phillip station doesn't mean anything won't happen inside this station and I would rather not have you die or get kidnapped here, that would be really bad for my financial and physical health."

"... Okay, I won't say that I trust you Mike, but it is clear that you have a financial incentive to keep me alive."

"Great, then you're going to stay on my right shoulder at all times, River stay behind and keep my rear clear, if shit starts getting I want you behind me."

While Lissandra had no problems with Mike's instructions, River didn't take it the same way.

"And what the hell should I do behind you?"

"Not get shot? I'm still the only one with a bulletproof vac suit remember? I'm not saying I want you to cower in fear and shriek like a maiden, but wait until whoever is shooting at us gets within range."

Showing a wide smile, it was clear to River that Mike had less than honest intentions, but when was he ever honest.

"... Okay, I can work with that. Let's hit it."

Although River did her best to sound cool in the moment, the trio only made it to the internal airlock out of the hangar before Mike realised there was something wrong.

"Wait a second… Oh fuck."

"What now?"

Stopping in place, Mike wordlessly threw away his pistol.

"When access to a station is this tight there's usually hidden security in place, like voice recognition and biometric security along with more simple stuff like pass codes and passphrases… I'm guessing we failed all of those."

Not a second later a flashbang was thrown into the airlock, from there it was all a blur for Mike.

The next thing he knew, Mike found himself naked inside a cell situated in 1.5 G with a blaring headache from the rifle stock that had been smashed into his head.

"Well, this fucking sucks…"

The word 'cell' was a little inadequate to describe where Mike currently found himself, as whatever metal box he was currently stuffed inside didn't even have enough space for him to stand up straight, nor spread his legs properly. Thus the only way for Mike to be somewhat comfortable was to awkwardly rest his knees up against one wall while his back rested on the opposite wall, although this position lead to his knees getting bruised and his back cramping up. Stuck in either constantly uncomfortable, painful or outright awkward position and with nothing but time on his hands as he felt slowly being worn down by the gravity and uncomfortable amount of space.

(I'm guessing they're going to take me out a few times a month to wash me down with a pressure hose or force-feed me liquids through a tube…)

Although Mike knew what was in for him, things still didn't feel real for Mike, looking at the rest of his life as a captive without human rights or hope of release didn't seem to register to him, then again he didn't have the sharpest grasp on reality in general.

(I really hope River is doing better than me, at least she was somewhat nicer to the princess, so that has to count for something…)

With no way of telling the time or getting any form of sleep, Mike quickly found himself slipping in and out of a daze where time seemed to pass excruciatingly slow and blistering fast at the same time. As he had anticipated, Mike was sometimes taken out of the small cell and hosed down with ice-cold water before he was force-fed some kind of god awful green paste before getting shown back into his small cell.

Luckily Mike quickly found a way to entertain himself inside his cell by becoming the world's saddest improvised one-man band, manically clapping and making popping sounds with his mouth like an insane person.

Predictably this technique worked rather poorly, but thankfully something seemed to happen before his mind turned to mush something new finally happened.

(Time for a bath again? But I just had one… Or did I? Fuck, this buggy ass game is really making me slip.)

Hearing the telltale footsteps of a lonely guard making his way towards his cell, Mike was let out, had his arms and legs cuffed and chained before he was dragged to a room, but this time it wasn't the 'shower', but instead what seemed to be an interrogation room with a metal table and tinted glass walls. Having his cuffs chained to the desk Mike was left alone in the room for a few minutes until the door opened up again and another prisoner was brought in.

"River?..."

Looking like she had gone through the exact same thing as Mike, and while River's long hair had been drastically reduced in length and her fancy braids were nowhere to be seen, her eyes still had some light in them but hardly any of that seemed to matter to Mike as he grew a big dumb smile before he tried to get up to hug her before he remembered he was still chained to the table.

"G-glad to see you're still alive Mike. How are you holding up?"

Copying Mike's smile, River's voice was coarse and rough but still carried her usual energy and the pair hardly broke eye contact as the guard chained River down to her side of the table.

"I think I'm starting to go insane, like really, seriously insane… B-but more importantly there's something I really need to tell you."

Without caring that they were under surveillance or how insane it would make him look, Mike said what had been on his mind ever since he had been imprisoned. If Mike kicked the bucket before her, she had to know.

"Shit is going to go south in 2 years, it'll start at the galactic centre and spread out from there. Get as far away from the centre as possible."

"You sound insane Mike… But then again that just means nothing much has changed."

"And you still look hot as ever, nothing really has changed."

Sharing a mutual laugh the pair soon broke down crying, as smart as the pair was, they both knew that getting to see each other inside an interrogation room wasn't a good thing.

A standard tactic in enhanced interrogation was to use the between two people to break them.

But instead of an officer arriving to interrogate them, Lissandra of all people entered the room. Looking like herself, the princess quickly hid her look of surprise at River and Mike's state before clearing her throat.

"We're letting you two go as your suspicion has been cleared."

Getting straight to the point, Lissandra only seemed to confuse Mike and River further.

"The situation has changed, my older brother took the crown from my father after he died of an overdose, tracking down the people trying to kidnap me through the corpse you left behind at Phillip station investigators managed to incriminate the company originally supplying my late father with his drugs so they have all been purged. It was through that purge that my brother was finally able to clear you two of any suspicion."

Seeing that Lissandra's words were genuine, all pressure seemed to drain from Mike's body.

"Great, I can't wait to leave this place behind."

Forget about payment for escorting the princess, Mike didn't care about anything other than putting as much distance between himself and the Trane Imperium, he truly never wanted to see this system again.

Faced with a response she didn't expect, Lissandra's face showed a brief hint of panic before she answered.

"Of course, I've personally prepared a first-class hotel where you can rest up before we discuss pay-"

"Just get us our vac suits and equipment, we're getting the fuck out of this place."

After being put through such a hellish experience Mike wanted nothing to do with the Trane Imperium anymore, just the sight of Lissandra's face made his blood boil in rage at what they had done to him and River.

"I understand that you're in distress Sir Mike, bu-"

"No fucking buts! We're leaving this fucking place."

Wanting to repay Mike and River out of a sense of noble obligation, Lissandra didn't seem to want to take no for an answer, but in her stubbornness, she missed something important.

"Please just let-"

"LOOK AT ME! Over the last few weeks, I've been shitting and pissing in my own underwear locked in a fucking box without any light while getting a tube shoved down my throat! I blame you for that Lissandra, you and this backwards fucking country of yours! I should have left you where I fucking found you!"

The only reward Mike would accept in his current state was the pleasure of ripping out Lissandra's throat with his own teeth, that rage was clear enough for anyone to see.

"Mike pull your fucking shit together!"

Also seeing where Mike was headed, River brought her partner back under control and took over negotiations as Mike was in no state to make decisions for the two of them.

"Get us out of here for now Lissandra, we'll talk about the rest later."

"... Okay. I truly am sorry for all this."

At some point after that Mike passed out, next thing he knew he woke up staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Oh yeah, I'm stuck inside Interstellar Online."

Finding that his wounds had been tended to and lying on top of a luxurious king-sized bed wearing some sort of silk robe, Mike quickly put together the pieces.

"River! Are you here somewhere!?"

Getting out of bed, Mike ripped out an IV drip that had been stuck to his arm. Mike started to wander around what turned out to be a luxurious hotel suite.

"I'm over here!"

Following the sound of River's voice, Mike arrived in a large lounge where River was sitting on a leather sofa reading on a tablet.

"As you were coming to I sent your medical team away, figured you wouldn't be happy to see people in uniform just after waking up."

"... Right, thanks."

Busy admiring the surrounding room Mike eventually planted his ass in a large chair across from River as his mind finally seemed to register that he was hungry and his stomach released a low growl.

"I'll call for some room service, but first I need you to clarify something for me… I don't know if you remember, but back in that interrogation room you said something pretty insane, like more insane than the regular you which normally sounds-"

"Yeah, I remember."

While River had initially dismissed what Mike had said back in that room as his usual shenanigans, what he said had since come to gnaw at her subconsciousness as she had come to realise that Mike was quite certain that those words would have been his last.

"You'll think I'm insane."

"I already do, so don't worry about that."

With a slight smile on her face, River urged Mike to continue but Mike had other plans.

"I'll tell you all about it later."

"Really? After all-"

"I'm not talking now, not here. Call me paranoid but I don't trust this place."

Chewing over Mike's words it was clear to River that what he wanted to tell her was very important to him, therefore it seemed he didn't want to risk said information leaking.

"Okay, but promise me you'll explain yourself, I'm not stupid enough to miss what's been going on with you."

"Right, I promise."