After carting away supplies, the UNS Hermes took off urgently and covertly from Avaros, charting a course directly for Earth. The mood was in the cabin was sombre. Alita stared at holographic images of her childhood and sulked while Colonel Lyn pretended to be busy. Taisen merely sat cross-legged in meditation. He suddenly opened his eyes and shifted to sit comfortably before addressing Alita, the Quinian UNE ensign.
"May I ask you something?" Taisen said to Alita. She straightened and shut of the holographic projector in her hand.
"Go ahead," she said.
"Why is a girl from a pacifist race like the Quinians, doing in a UN star fleet uniform?" Taisen asked.
"I'm a non-combatant," she said. "I just wanted to help bring peace to other worlds."
"So you do understand that peace can only be achieved through strength," Taisen said. "As long as there's someone in the world that thinks that they might be stronger than you, there will always be war."
"I disagree. Through co-operation and good will, the universe can achieve peace," Alita said. "We just have to find the right incentives."
"That's bullshit and you know it," Taisen said finally with a contemptuous scoff. "But I'll leave you to your delusion."
"I have a question for you," Alita said turning to face him fully.
"Go ahead," Taisen replied.
"Those synthetic life forms. How did you defeat them?" she asked. "I mean, they shrugged of our blaster shots like it was nothing. Could we defeat them with just any blade or is there something special about yours?"
"I would like to know the answer to this question as well," Colonel Lyn said while interrupting the discussion.
Taisen smiled and eyed the both of them. "Do you believe in magic?" he said.
"That is bull shit. If you won't tell us then we'll find out some other way," Alita said.
At that moment, Link walked into the cabin and said, "Colonel, may I have a word with you?"
"In private if that's alright," he said. Colonel Lyn looked at him suspiciously before nodding.
Colonel Lyn accompanied Link to a room at the back of the ship and shut the door.
"Colonel, we have a situation," he said. "There is a traitor on board the Hermes."
"Explain yourself," she said.
"First, I found it unusual that the Krell were able to pin point our location so I did a sweep of all communications made from the ship and I found several deleted entries on the logs that were made at six hour intervals before we were attacked," he said.
"What else did you find?" Colonel Lyn asked.
"The Marrakech did a good job repairing the ship but I found it curious that the one thing they couldn't fix was our deep space antenna. After a visual inspection, I concluded that it was sabotaged by hand after it was repaired," Link said.
"So someone is trying to prevent us from telling central command what happened and might also be trying to kill us," Colonel Lyn said as she sat down suddenly and awkwardly, clutching her forehead and shutting her eyes.
"Colonel, are you alright?" Link asked. He was clearly concerned about her. "When was the last time you slept?"
"I need another stimmy injection," she said.
"I would not advise that, stimulant injections are meant as a temporary fix," Link said. "You can't rely on them, long term."
"I can't believe this is happening again," Colonel Lyn said in a distraught voice. "First Lieutenant Masako, now Alita. I might just be a magnet for traitors or someone is intentionally sending them to me."
"We can't conclude just yet," Link said. "I'm running decryption on the video transmission. It will only be a still image but it will give us an idea of who sent it."
"Do we need proof?" Colonel Lyn asked with a snort. "Taisen just joined us, you brought me the information and Frank has been with us from the start. Once you eliminate all other possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how improbable must be the answer."
"Very apt quotation of Sherlock Holmes," Link said. "But I don't feel confident levelling an accusation against your ensign without evidence."
"Very well, tell me when the de-encryption is done," Colonel Lyn said as she massaged her temples. "For now just shut up and get me a stimmy."
A 'ding' went off on the hand held device Link was carrying. He raised it to his face and fiddled with the controls.
"Is that the de-encryption?" Colonel Lyn asked. "Show it to me if it is."
A stunned expression covered Link's half human face. "Oh, my." He uttered. "Colonel you need to see this," he said.
On seeing the image on Link's device, Colonel Lyn covered her mouth with her quivering right hand before saying "Bring Taisen here. Now. We're flying into a trap."