"You didn't follow through," Amuilius said, "what a disappointment." His tone was firm but lost the calm demeanor that he supported for years. Lydia could only visualize what his face looked like.
"I know you are pissed," Lydia said, "but this is getting out of hand."
"Damn right, I'm pissed," Amuilius scolded. "I gave you an order and you defied that order. What has gotten into you?" Before Lydia could answer, Amuilius cut her off. "If you want something done, I guess I have to get someone better. Look at your monitor and learn, little girl." The image of the envoy appeared. "Warren," Amuilius ordered. "Naturalizes the problem." In a matter of seconds, three missiles struck the envoy and destroyed it.
"You idiot!" Lydia yelled. "You just fucked us all."
"You are the only one that is fucked. You have no idea the wrath I will release on you. You are put on notice. Amuilius out."
Lydia collapsed in a chair. Her hands shook and she felt a tightest in her chest and her breathing shallowed and labored. Amuilius had put a lot of people on notice in the past and they were all eliminated. Lydia knew what happened to them because she was the one that eliminated them. She has no idea how Amuilius would come after her, but she wasn't going to wait around either and let it happen. "Fuck!" Lydia screamed at the top of her lung. "Get a grip, Lydia." She slammed her hand on the table. "Get a fucking grip." The whole crew was in danger and it was all her fault.
Lydia wasn't going to take this, she took several deep long breaths to calm herself down. If Amuilius put a kill order on her, it could from anybody, including some of her crew members. Lydia had to come up with a plan to protect her and her crew, she went to her quarters and called Faith and Ezi on their earpieces.
When Faith and Ezi arrived at Lydia's quarters, Lydia was sitting on her couch working on her datapad. Ezi was first to talk.
"If this is a sex thing," Ezi joked, "count me in."
Faith laughed. "The last time we all three were together. We ended up in sickbay."
"This isn't a laughing matter," Lydia's tone was serious. Her hands shook a little, but not as bad as they were before. "Amuilius destroyed the peace envoy and put me on notice, which means I'm going to be killed and there might be collateral damage. If the order had been given, everybody in SINDRI could be my enemy. You two are the only ones I could fully trust because you two are not SINDRI."
"We have your back," Faith said.
"What can we do for you? Ezi asked.
"Keep your eyes and ears open," Lydia said. "Pay attention to any odd or nervous behavior, like sweating, hair pulling, talking more than normal or talking less than normal, anything out of character for that person. The rest of the crew can't know that Amuilius put me on notice. We need to act normal. We can't let them know that something is wrong."
Ezi folded her arms firmly against her chest. "I'm puzzled. There have to be more reasons to trust me than that I'm not SINDRI. I disagreed with your last decision. I shocked you across the room and almost killed your friend. Why trust me?"
"Because I do," Lydia asked. "Sometimes you got to have a little faith, a belief in something without any evidence."
Ezi giggled. "I understand that reference. Maybe I could provide you with some evidence of my loyalty. When I was analyzing the Svantevit's data, I saw something concerning. Entries were changed to cover Amuilius and SINDRI's tracks."
"That makes sense," Lydia said.
"I would agree with you, Lydia," Ezi explained. "Anyone engaging in these activities would definitely try to cover any evidence, but that wasn't the concerning part."
YOU ARE READING
Project Faith
Science Fiction"Weapons are deadly but not as deadly as the person that wields it." In the mid-twenty-fourth century, Earth was a respected member of the intergalactic community. It made allies, established several key trade agreements and cooperated with many al...
