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The scream woke him. Realizing he was the one screaming made him clamp his mouth shut. He didn't care how much pain he was in. He wasn't giving those bastards the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

Pain shot up his arm and he sat up, holding it against his chest. He saw someone move through the tears and he grabbed his knife. The pain, as his arm fell to the side, almost made him drop it.

"It's me."

Alex blinked, the person before him was shirtless, and deep brown, almost black. He didn't dare open his mouth, the pain was demanding to come out that way.

"Relax Alex. You've been through a lot."

That was an understatement. He remembered the beating, the torture, that electrical stick. His arm. He looked at it and his hand flexed.

How?

He looked at Tristan.

"We've been exposed to the virus."

His mouth fell open, and the shock was such that even the pain went away. He was dead. He'd be healthy for a decade, then he'd just stop working.

"You?" the idea Tristan might die made his inside cold.

"Me too." The tone was the same Tristan always used. Cold, unemotional. This was just one more thing the Samalian had to deal with. "How are you feeling."

Alex thought about it. "Better, even the pain's going away." He bent his arm and he couldn't tell if what he felt was real of the memory of what it had been. "I have knives, so I'll be okay."

Tristan rolled his eyes.

"But I can see how none of them thought this was a bad thing. I'm sore and hungry, but that's about it. Even Heals make you feel it for a while. Speaking of which, you think there's nutrient bars in here?"

"You'll have to look for yourself. I need to get us out of here."

Alex got off the bed and stretched. He didn't even feel like he'd worked out. He said he'd been sore a moment ago, but now even that was gone. He pointed to the screen where the man was looking at them with ever-growing eyes.

"What's his deal?"

"He doesn't know what this really does."

"How are you still alive?"

"Really? I thought he had access to the old man's files."

Tristan shrugged and headed for the door.

Alex went o a counter and opened the cabinet under it. Not finding anything edible he stood. The man was on that screen now.

"You shouldn't be able to move. I saw what they did to you."

"Yeah, thanks for that. Remind me to give you a taste when I see you again."

"Sir?" a voice off screen called for his attention.

"Not now, something's gone wrong."

"Sir, you need to see this."

The man cursed. "What is so importan--" the screen went off.

Alex glanced at Tristan, he was in front of the door, his hand pressing against something he couldn't see. The lock was flashing yellow. Hazmat lock. They wouldn't be getting out that way unless someone on the outside turned if off. The force field in front of the door was a smaller version of the one ships with shuttle hangars used to keep the oxygen from escaping. Even if this was a weaker version of those, they'd need something much more powerful than Tristan's muscles to get through it.

He found boxes of nutrient bars, the good stuff, medical grades with all the extra amino acids and stuff the commercial versions left out. He ate two boxes before he felt the dent in his hunger. He handed Tristan a box and went off looking for more weapons. Two knives weren't enough.

He found scalpels, but those didn't have the right balance. He liked something he could feel in his hand, not something he'd forget he was holding and stab himself with by accident.

He stopped by the fabricator. It was a bulky model, not something he'd expect in a medical bay. The directory was blank, but with a few tapped in commands he saw it had been used recently. The log didn't show what had been made, just a string of numbers. Considering his state, Alex suspected what it had been. Maybe he could use the scanner to input one of the knife and make--no, the reservoirs only contained base stuff. The kind of stuff needed to make a virus.

An alarm sounded and the force field in front of the door shifted from opaque to clear. Alex had no idea they could do that. The door opened while the field was still up. When it was clear, he could see five people wearing bio-hazard gear, at least they were covered from head to toe in them and the fabric had the symbol.

"Step to the back," one of them said, male, not a voice he recognized from his beating. Only four of them were armed, the other didn't even carry a sidearm.

Tristan backed up and Alex followed his lead.

"We're clear," the same person said. The field disappeared and they entered. Once inside the door closed and locked again, the panel flashing red.

"If they move, shoot them. The boss made it clear they don't have to live anymore." The one nearest to the unarmed person grabbed an arm hard enough she let out a yelp of pain. Definitely a woman. He guided her to the device in the center of the room and she looked the machine over.

"Aren't we sort of immortal?" Alex whispered.

"No, we will die." Tristan lowered his voice too, but the finality in the tone couldn't be missed.

"Sure, in a decade or so, but until then aren't we going to heal from anything they can give us?"

Baran's face appeared on one of the screens. "Well?"

Tristan didn't look at it, he had a thoughtful expression that told Alex to be ready.

"Well what?" the woman replied. Even with the distortion he thought it was Mary.

"Why didn't it release?"

The woman turned to face the screen. "Did you miss the part where I told you I am a biochemist, not a mechanical engineer?"

"Are you telling me you can't figure out if the aerosol dispersed the virus?"

"Oh no, I can tell you that." She showed an empty vial. "That's empty, so it sprayed it."

"Then why aren't they dead?"

"How should I know?"

"You told me this was the virus."

"No, I told you I'd copied the formula from the fabricator. You told me it was some deadly virus."

"Don't try to be funny, you'd been looking into it. How do you think I knew to bring you here? I recognized the searches you did."

"Of course I ran searches. I find this virus formula in a fabricator that's been lost for decades. You think I'm just going to plug it in and set it loose? I was going to figure out what it did and then decide what I was going to do with it."

"You're lying. You were going to--"

The screen went blank as the ship shuddered and the lights flickered. Tristan took off for the three mercs in front of the door. Alex headed for the one by Mary.

The man fired and Alex didn't bother dodging. He was hit, felt the burning pain and almost immediately it cooled. He batted the gun out of his way and buried his knife in the man's chest. He pulled the head cover off and was disappointed not to find the lanky man underneath.

He pulled the knife out and turned. Tristan was in close combat with two of them, the third had backed up enough he could fire. He was taking his time aiming. Alex threw his knife into the back of his neck.

He smiled at Mary, who took a step back. "Don't move." He pulled his other knife and headed to offer Tristan help. The Samalian was ignoring the two mercs stabbing him. He had one of the rifles in his hand and was doing something to it.

Alex sliced the closest's throat open. Finished with the work he was doing on the weapon Tristan backhanded the other man and was about to throw the rifle toward the door when the control flashed yellow.

Tristan step to the forcefield, pressed a hand on it, then hit it, and hit it again, letting out a series of curses in languages Alex didn't even know Tristan spoke. He'd never seen him like this. Tristan always went cold when he was angry. He calculated how to make the person responsible pay. He didn't just lose it and hit a force field.

He was about to risk getting close to him when he heard a tone, and then a voice asked for his identification. Alex smiled and headed for the closest computer.

"Tristan."

"What?" the anger seethed.

"The jammer's down. I'm going to have control of the door in a minute, max." He entered commands. "Hello there, let's have a chat." Fifty-three seconds later the force field was down and he'd ensure the only way it came back up was if he told the computer."

Tristan had gathered the knives and placed them on the counter next to where he was. Alex smiled and secured them on his body. The Samalian had made a harness from the belts, crisscrossing them over his chest so the four guns were in front. He was heading toward Mary, who'd taken off her suit and backed as far as she could.

"Don't fight him," Alex said. "You're just going to get hurt."

She was shaking by the time Alex reached them. Tristan had pulled a datapad out of her vest's pocket, along with some devices Alex figured were related to her job.

He patted her down and reached into her pants pocket. He took a small case and from that he pulled a vial. It was opaque, but Alex recognized the shape as one that fitted in the standard medical injector.

"What is this." The rage in Tristan's voice made her shrink in even further. "He was right! You were going to take this for yourself and spread it." He raised his hand.

"Don't! It's the cure!"

Alex stared at her.

"What cure?" The suspicion in Tristan's voice echoed Alex's frame of mind. There had never been any discussion of a cure existing.

"There were two formulas in the fabricator's buffer. I didn't know what either did, but they were made to react to one another. When Baran told me about the virus being a killer, I was able to make myself a cure without him knowing. When you didn't die I thought that maybe I'd gotten it wrong and given him the cure while I had the virus, but you're clearly freaking out about this existing, so you know you've been infected, I just don't understand why you're not dead."

Tristan leaned in and she pressed against the wall. "Because that idiot has no idea how this thing works."

"It heals before it kills," Alex added. When she was able to look away from Tristan he moved his arm and waved at her.

"How? The bones were crushed beyond repair. The only way to fix that was to replace them."

"It's a miracle worker, right up to the point when it unravels your DNA and kills you. You get perfect health for a decade, then it's over."

"And that's the cure?" Mary reached for the vial, but Tristan growled.

"But it's the only one, It's mine."

"Not anymore. It's his. Now, we're going to tie you up so Baran doesn't think you are our friend."

"Alex."

"We have bigger problems right now. That shudder, that was another ship forcefully docking. The computer doesn't have any details, but the bridge crew's panicking. We need to get moving, and I don't think we have the time to waste here."

"Fine," Tristan turned and stalked off, "But if she ends up being a problem, I'm wringing your neck."

Alex hadn't expected to win this argument. He grabbed medical tape off the counter and forced her to sit on the floor.

"Did--did he just threaten to kill you?"

Alex shrugged and pulled her arms on each side of one of the bed's legs. They were welded to the floor so she wouldn't be going anywhere.

"It's how he shows he cares."

Her eyes became wide as Alex wrapped the tape around her wrists. "That isn't caring, that's abuse. Look, maybe you think that he--

"Don't" Alex focused on the tape.

"How can you do that to yourself. You're a mercenary, how can you put yourself in an--"

Alex pulled on her arms hard and she hit her head on the leg. "Do not tell me I'm in an abusive relationship. I know. I chose him. I decided to stay. He made me what I am, and I am not going to walk out on him."

"That isn't healthy, I think--"

"I don't care what you think." He filled his voice with disgust. He stood. "I stick by my decisions no matter the cost."

He grabbed the injector on the counter and left.

"Had a good talk?"

Alex glared at the Samalian. "What about the mercs? They're infected, they might wake up."

"Put the bio-hazard field back up. They're not getting out of that."

"And then?"

We get away from here. He's going to send people to check. Will they be able to get through the lock?"

"Only if they have a coercionist. This isn't my best work, but it's going to keep the amateurs out."

"Good, then I want you at a terminal, I need to know who's on that new ship and what they're after."

"At a guess, the same thing Baran wants. I'm getting the feeling more people know about it then we thought. Done, they're locked in."

Tristan set a fast pace. "The virus can't be allowed to spread off this ship." He made a turn and opened the fourth door. "Entertainment room, one of the computers here should give you access to the ship."

"Any of them will, by the sound of it." Alex handed Tristan the injector. "Here. It should work with the vial the cure is in." He sat at the desk and began typing. "Alright, where were we, right, you need to give me access to--" he felt a sting on his neck. He was up with a knife in his hand.

Tristan was holding the injector, looking at him with an expression of utter terror. The indicator on it showed the vial was empty.

Alex touched his neck. "What did you do?"