Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Twenty Five: TREVON

Trevon's hands few to his mouth pressing back the sick that was rising from his stomach. What had he done? He left his sister, no, he ignored his sister's calls for help on Midway and now she's lost out in the universe.

"Breathe Trevon." Uncle Clint could see the panic through the comm link, "There's more to hear."

Trevon held up one hand as he tried to follow the instruction to breathe. Swallowing down the sick he followed up with one deep shaky breath, then two more.

"You ready?"

There was no time to panic. Trevon brushed the tears away from his face, flattened his hands on the desk in front of him and looked straight at his Uncle. "Go."

"She was placed on a one way shuttle return. Just her, on autopilot. It was on course to reach Meckam long before they were out of the sector. We got a message from Meckam two days after she was supposed to arrive saying there has been no contact."

"You searched the area around the autopilots route?"

"And more. We found the ship, but she wasn't on it." Trevon's inner voice screamed, where is she? Why wasn't she there? How did she get off, but he bit down on his tongue and waited for the rest of the explanation.

"There were scratch marks on the outside of the shuttle and the inside was dismantled. We were able to confirm that the auto mechanism had basically exploded but the rest of the ship was gleaned of useable parts. So many parts that, that's all we could deduce about the malfunction."

"Gleaned of parts?" Trevon questioned

"Our working theory is that the ship malfunctioned, Ari tried to fix it but ended up being boarded by a scavenger. One with an effective ship to ship docking attachment. The fact that she wasn't on the ship makes us think scavenger since pirates -" He hesitated finishing the thought but he was already into it. "Pirates don't board gracefully and would have killed her."

Trevon's head dropped heavily onto the table, his hands thread through his hair, gripping tight. "We are tracking two scavenger ships right now with that capability. We will find her Trevon."

"I shouldn't have left her -"

"Stop Trevon." His, General Bishop tone, returned but Trevon refused to lift his head. "This is not your fault. You have done nothing wrong." There was a long pause, "It's mine. I shouldn't have forced her to go back to Meckam. I believed I was protecting her. But I will find her."

"I'll catch the next shuttle out-" Trevon started.

"You will not." The direct order startled Trevon into lifting his head. He now saw that Clint was standing, hands on his polished desk. He was leaning forward at the camera. "I'm already never going to forgive myself for this, I will not take the blame for you dropping out and loosing your future as well."

"I'm not officially admitted -"

"You will be. That is where you are supposed to be. It's your mission. Mine is to find Ari. And Trevon," The General made sure he had Trevon's full attention to finish, "I've never failed at a mission."

He wanted to believe his Uncle. He sheepishly realized he didn't know his uncles military record enough to believe him. Most of all he wanted this all to be a horrible misunderstanding, that he'd dreamed it all up. After the Communication had ended, Trevon stayed starring at the dark screen as time ticked by. Out of all the worst case scenarios he had thought of, this was not among them.

She could be anywhere in the universe. She could be dead. Consumed by dread Trevon time passed without notice. The evening light began to show through his back window when Russ entered the room.

It was his usual, push of the door stumble through the frame throwing his belongings across the room onto his bed.

"Hey man, you missed dinner." The sound of clattering metal echoed as Russ put his wheeled contraption into its place between the bed and the wall. Trevon didn't move. "I'm sure you can still find some snacks in the house kitchen though, I stashed some popcorn in a few of the cupboards."

Trevon didn't move.

"How did the talk with the General go?" Russ's bed squeaked as he sat down to removed his shoes. Again, Trevon didn't answer. "Trevon?"

Trevon looked at the blank computer screen, what was he supposed to say? Absently he scratched his head. The noise across the room changed as Russ dropped everything and grabbed Trevon's chair, forcing him to put Russ lightly freckled nose in his direct line of sight. "What happened?"

"My sister is lost, or kidnapped or," As the confused words came from his own mouth they sounded odd.

"Your sister? The smart one?"

Trevon nodded, "Her ship was boarded by a scavenger and Uncle Clint thinks they took her with them."

Russ' face reflected Trevon's pity, but his roommate did his best to comfort him. "With General Bishop for an Uncle, I'm sure he's got several ships out looking for her." He walked back to riffle through his bag and let Trevon turn back to stare blankly at the computer. "What was her name?"

"Ariana Kana. She hates her full name though. She likes Ari."

"What else did the General say? Is the Commander allowing the search?"

"Commander Mackay is also our guardian."

"She's WHAT?" Russ recoiled from his own surprised reaction, "sorry that was - Really? The General and Commander Mackay are your family? With that level of power, the entire army is out there looking for her. They'll find her. Two day's tops."

Trevon nodded, and he had to admit Russ's confidence did help him feel little more hopeful. He wanted to thank Russ when the screen on the computer flickered and a yellow window opened on the right side, and instantly began filling with typed black words.

ZIG: TREVON KANA, if this is not you I am out of places to search!

ZIG: TREVON KANA, RESPOND. Time sensitive information.

Trevon's head tilted as he squinted at the words.

"I'm going to get you some water," Russ said. Pausing at the door for a moment, "I'll tell Gilad you won't be to work tonight. But when he asks, you have a horrible stomach virus and you're on the toilet all night." His words trailed after him as he left the room failing to notice the messages.

ZIG: This system is about to scramble the signal and I won't be able to re-establish the link for twenty-four hours. Respond.

TREVON: I'm here. This is Trevon.

ZIG: I've been monitoring the General's Communications and when a scrambled call came in I didn't think it would be you. How did you get from Meckam to Melvin of all places?

TREVON: You said you're short on time.

ZIG: Correct. When I got back weeks ago there was sudden military chatter of a missing person linked to an arrest of one ARIANA KANA on Midway. Since then I've been tracking what I can. I briefly found her and I sent the nearest vessel to retrieve her. However since then, that vessel has been tricky to pin down.

TREVON: She is alive?

ZIG: Yes, data supports that conclusion. Now that I know where you are, don't leave Melvin and get off that computer, maintaining a connection is complicated, even for me. Copy the link below to your personal and I'll reach you when I have intel.

The link blipped onto the screen, Trevon instantly copied it moments before the signal cut. Quickly transferring the copy to his personal he made a specific link labeled ZIG, Ari's friend.