An update of Pets to close out the month; Caitlin ends up having a little bit of a breakdown on the mission to murder some helpless scientists. Who’d have thought that something like that could happen?
For the full chapter, check out the link above, but there is a snippet down below, so enjoy!
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Calvin was at the Comms station, working with Yanloladaughter to try and figure out the problems with the comms equipment, while Caitlin was sitting in her command throne. Something was bothering her. She’d told herself it was just the lack of consistent sleep from the last few weeks and exhaustion from all the extra exercise and shifts she’d been putting in, but that excuse rang hollow to her.
Calvin was right. She didn’t like this mission, but it was important to father, so that made it important to her. She wished she’d told Calvin that two days when he’d called her out, but she couldn’t. Silence was easier, and that hurt more than anything else. They’d always been able to tell each other anything. That she kept this from him – and that she knew he was keeping something from her – made her ache in a way that only their father’s disapproval had ever come close to.
She wanted to bury everything from the past year and just go back to how things used to be, when it was her and Calvin and none of this had ever happened or ever would. Father wouldn’t have lost faith in them. They wouldn’t have to prove themselves like this. Calvin wouldn’t be keeping secrets from her, or her from him and they… they wouldn’t be playing a game.
I wonder what you will do?
A chill coursed through the young woman as surely as if the temperature on the bridge had dropped by five degrees. Her heart started to pound and her breath almost caught in her throat. Something about those words had found a sudden and awful resonance within her. She wanted to get up and scream, to run until her legs gave out, or fight until she couldn’t stand and all thought was gone, but she couldn’t do that. She had to sit, biting her lip and glancing at Calvin while trying to look like she wasn’t so weak that she needed her brother next to her to stave off something as… as pathetic as a panic attack.
No. She told herself, refusing to let the memories take hold. She dug her fingers into her palms so tightly that her nails drew blood. No. No. This isn’t like that. You’re not on Luckbreaker. You’re on Sky Spider with your crew. Calvin’s right in front of you. There’s no one on this ship that shouldn’t be here. There’s no one in this system but us and the prey. Passamon’s Folly is just like any other system. All the stories about it are just that – stories. Exceidium Beacon is still here. They’ve been here for days and nothing’s happened to them. Their leader is getting pissy, but that’s okay because he hasn’t been able to get any messages from you since…
…since…
Oh. Oh, no.
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