Page 56 of Relyn
Relyn took a swig of the bottle that was near empty.
“Cuz the captain, he knows. He knows everything,” Relyn stood up and swung his arm wildly, nearly hitting two crew members that had been standing behind him. “Everything, and he said something about airlocks, but I’m not supposed to talk about it, so shhhh,” Relyn said as he staggered off in the direction of his quarters.
No one followed him, or even tried to make sure he got back to his quarters unharmed. They were all too worried about saving their own asses. Now it would be only a matter of hours before the whole crew broke out into chaos, trying to find the traitor, or prove that they were not suspicious. If the rumors were true, Rutra was more likely to shove people out the airlock first and ask questions later.
Grom met him at his quarters. “This was not easy to get,” he said as he handed over the requested vial. “But I don’t think he suspects anything. He might have gotten a little drunk after you left. What do you want it for?”
Relyn shook his head, not willing to completely trust Grom with all parts of the plan, just in case he had a shred of loyalty left in his body toward his uncle. “It’s the easiest way for him not to get killed during all of this. Now go back to the ship and lie low until I tell you. Make sure no one tries to board and mess with Wendy and Bright.
Grom went off on his new mission, and Relyn took the vial of liquid that Grom had given him. He opened it and poured it out into his hand. There was that familiar tingle as his form absorbed it, learned it and put it into his permanent memory.
Relyn focused for a moment and transformed into Captain Rutra. The kid had come through. Now it was time to cause even more chaos, especially if Rutra was down for the count.
Captain Relyn Rutra changed his clothes to something that was much more Rutra’s style and size and then exited his cabin. He turned the first corner and nearly collided with Ketle. Of course, Ketle, hearing that Rel was drunk, wanted to take advantage of that sloppiness and get some revenge. Ketle pulled up short when he nearly ran into the captain.
“Ketle, you are just the person I’m looking for,” Relyn said.
“I am?”
“Rel vouched for you. He said you were the only one who couldn’t possibly be the traitor.”
“He did?”
“You’ve got a lot to thank him for.”
“I do?”
Relyn forced himself to keep still and not roll his eyes. “I want you to do something for me. I want you to round up a few people, and bring them to the aft cargo room.” Relyn named off five random crew members. The aft cargo room was on the opposite side of the ship as the hangar, which is where Relyn needed the least amount of people.
“Right,” Ketle said, and then stood there as if waiting for more orders.
“Now?”
Ketle lumbered off and Relyn headed back to the crew lounge. It was empty, which was a good sign. It meant that the crew were now scrambling, plotting or laying low. Relyn proceeded to Rutra’s quarters and punched in the code. If there was some sort of DNA lock on it that Relyn hadn’t anticipated, it would be fooled by his form.
Relyn didn’t linger. He went straight to the crate and circled around it, checking for any obvious traps. Finding none, he activated the hover lift and punched in the command code that Rutra seemed to use for everything.
It wasn’t until he was nearly out the door with the crate that he noticed Rutra, standing stock still in the middle of the suite with a bottle in his hand.
“You’re drunk. Go to bed,” Relyn said using Rutra’s mouth. Rutra staggered a bit and then headed in the general direction of the sofa without another word. Hopefully he’d take that as a vague drunken delusion when he woke up and found the crate gone.
He made it to the hangar without delay, but found a group of crew members staring at the Adrastian ship, and apparently arguing amongst themselves.
“What the hell is going on here?” Relyn said loudly.
They all jumped and swiveled around.
“Nothing, Captain,” Xeron stated. “We were just doing some maintenance.”
“Right,” Relyn said. “Where’s Ketle?”
“He’s uh, I’m not sure. You want us to go find him?”
“Yes. Find him and bring him here.”
Xeron and Thred took off together, but the other three crew stood still.
“What are you waiting for? Or are you looking to steal from my nephew? Because you know what I like to do with thieves.”
