Abyss Falling

4 | Imposter

After standing in the cafeteria, Koda sighed. "Let's start with your tasks before someone throws a fit," she started heading East of the ship, not even checking if Lemon was following. "Okay!" she happily responded followed by her soft footsteps as it sounded on the iron floor of the ship.

Koda's thoughts subconsciously returned, reminding her of her mission. She briefly checked her tablet again, as her heart nearly stopped at the new notice covering the previous message.

'You have made excellent progress and the Head Master is now officially promoting you. You shall now receive twice your normal payment'

Koda quickly put it away and continued to walk, 'I knew this day would come..' She entered 02 and gestured to Lemon to go to her task 'After my recent flawless success in Division A15, I expected a promotion..'

Lemon stood infront of the lever of the garbage shute and pulled down the lever. "All the way down like this?" she looked back at Koda checking to see if she did it correctly. Koda hummed in response, still deep in thought, 'I just didn't expect it so soon..' she recalled her previous mission as the memory flashed in her mind like an old TV show. She cringed slightly at the thought of losing control again. She sighed quietly, 'And this kid ain't helping my situation'

"You okay?" Lemon's voice had a hint of worry as she interrupted Koda's thoughts and in the process also scaring her once again. Koda flinched slightly before quietly growling, "I'm fine" she replied, annoyance lacing her voice. She started walking again, going towards navigation 'The sooner I get this mission over with, the better'

"Alright then" Lemon sounded a bit hurt by her reaction, but quickly recovered, "I don't have any tasks in here. My next one is in Shields I think"

"Mkay. Do that one last. What else do you have to do?" Koda turned to her, crossing her arms impatiently. "Um. Admin; Swipe card" the crewmate responded, looking up at Koda.

"Cool," she started heading to admin, passing three other rooms on their way there. She watched as Lemon readied her card and swiped at the machine that was built into the table. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't read correctly and so she retried. To her avail, her next tries were also unsuccessful. Koda couldn't help but chuckle as she watched the newbie struggle.

'It'd be stupid to kill her now. Everyone knows she has to stick with me so it would raise a lot of stupid questions and draw unnecessary suspicion to me. It'd be better to use her as an alibi' Koda subconsciously tilted her head as the thought. "Finally!!" Lemon cheered with relief when she finally got a successful swipe and turned to look at her mentor, expecting a praise. Instead, the experienced crewmate simply nodded her head to acknowledge her success before continuing their task speedrun to the next room.