The inside of the small cargo ship wasn't nearly as put-together as the other ships I'd been in. It looked more like the inside of a warehouse than a spaceship. Byrne and I scoured the inside for anything the soldiers might have missed. Two hours later and we had to reluctantly admit they had found everything to be found.

    The next stop was the Patriot. It was still surrounded by Mayor Spencer's militia, but the press was as thick as ever. We were forced to go through the back entrance and hope we hadn't been seen. Then we began to solidify the Patriot's defenses.

    It took three days. First we located paint that we mixed with sekrite. Then we spent those three days painting the interior of three rooms: the chamber, the control room, and the Bridge. The hope was that with the sekrite lining the walls, the man wouldn't be able to get inside even with his destabilization technology.

   I was flat on my back under one of the capsules in the chamber when footsteps approached. The paint was smeared across my hands and arms from three days of working without cleaning up. "They have finished the control room and Bridge, First Officer."

   It was Officer Peterson. I grunted. "Good. Has the Captain finished getting our trip to Nusora prepared?"

   "I think so, First Officer."

   Something itched with his constant formality. With a faint sigh, I shifted out from under the capsule. Peterson was wringing his hands nervously, apparently thinking that I was coming to chastise him. His blonde hair was finally back enough for me to see the color. My own dark brown hair was fuzz atop my head.

   In all honesty, even after his siding with Byrne when the Bridge crew was awoken, I knew I trusted him nearly as much as the Captain. We had been the first two to exit the ship. We'd been forced to rely on each other long enough that I considered him more of a friend than a subordinate. It had been us against the world – and yet we still stood.

   "When it's just us, Peterson, you don't need to use that kind of formality." I stood up and bent back down to pick up the tray of paint. He was quiet for a minute.

   "I'm afraid I don't understand."

   "Which part was confusing?" I didn't look at him, instead busying myself with wrapping the paint brush. I found not staring at someone after asking a question often made them feel like there was less pressure.

    "The formality part. You're my superior and I respect that."

   I shook my head. "That's why I told you that, Peterson. I know you have respect. I've known you long enough to trust that. To trust you, too."

   He stared at me as I finally looked over at him. "I don't want to be treated differently than the rest of the crew."

    "You're not being treated differently. Once they earn the same respect and trust from me, I'll tell them the same. Don't you remember how Captain Thorn established his own formality rules the first hour we were on the Patriot?" He already trusted the crew more than I did, simply because he picked us out. We weren't strangers to him. However, to me, the whole crew were people I'd never met. I was still learning to trust them past being coworkers.

    Peterson weighed my words carefully. He was so cautious that it surprised me. I could see his want to deny it politely, but he was struggling to find a way how. I smiled a bit and clasped his shoulder. He jumped. "Just take it and run, Peterson." Gathering my supplies, I set them up beside the open door and headed into the hall.

    It wasn't until I'd taken a few more steps that I realized I'd nearly copied what Captain Thorn had done with me in the chamber not too long ago. And that'd been after Captain Thorn had been awoken by being told I was a traitor. I shook my head slightly. That man was either incredibly stubborn or astronomically trusting in the crew he'd picked out.

    After I'd confirmed that I'd finished working in the chamber, Captain Thorn gathered us into the Bridge. All of us were covered with paint and not exactly clean from three days of solid work. Decker was the cleanest, simply because he was still recovering. Captain Thorn looked down at his communication clasp and grimaced. "We've got 5 days, 9 hours, 43 minutes, 36 seconds until the Patriot loses all power and dies and takes the remaining crew with it."

    It hit me like a physical blow. I felt like someone was choking me. A strangled sound left my throat and I crossed my arms. My reaction was small, compared to the rest of the Bridge crew. Peterson visibly paled and took a step back. Edwards swore under his breath. Byrne glowered and her fists clenched. Bird looked like he'd seen a ghost. Decker muttered some choice words. Captain Thorn himself looked agitated. With his calm demeanor, that said something.

    "We've already used five days?" Peterson rasped, shocked.

    Captain Thorn nodded gravely. "We've got five days left. And we've got no certain way to get the power sustained back into the crew. The technology needed for electron batteries doesn't exist here. And with Earth gone, there's no way to get that technology back. We have to hope the more advanced technology of this generation of ships can suffice." He opened the case on the station beside him. Inside sat ten electron batteries. They were about as large as a football, and utterly empty of energy. They sat dark inside the case.

    "We need this many batteries charged, according to Peterson and Byrne's calculations," he continued. "With the new discovery of sekrite and its power capabilities, I'm praying that we can find Ambrogio Tase and make a way to charge these." My eyebrows creased at his mention of the doctor again, something niggling at me. I felt like I'd heard that name before.

    Peterson cleared his throat. "I think I've come across something that will help, Captain."

    My attention switched over quickly. Captain Thorn nodded, so Peterson elaborated, "the power system of the Patriot doesn't require electron battery-specific power. The electron batteries were created as a way for the Patriot to gather power while in flight. The design simply allows for the most use of one charge as possible, but it doesn't have to be electrons inside that charge it."

    Peterson reached out and gently picked up one of the empty batteries. The center capsule was translucent, showing no power inside. When they were fully charged, they glowed with white light. The top and bottom was a metal cap that Peterson gently tugged off. I wasn't that well versed on their technology, so the top looked like a bunch of wires and bits to me. However Peterson saw something else because he pointed out a small piece. "This is a converter. It takes the magnetic field the electrons generate and converts it into power the Patriot can use."

   Byrne suddenly inhaled sharply and her eye went wide. "Magnetic! It uses magnetic fields from the electrons."

   I glanced toward her, my eyes narrowing as I started to see where Peterson was going. Captain Thorn snapped his fingers. "And you said that the batteries don't specifically need electrons? Because of that converter?"

   Peterson nodded eagerly, his face alight. "Because of the converter, there's no reason that another magnetic-pulse-generating substance can't be used. Something like—"

   "Sekrite." Edwards stared at the battery in his hand. His face was astonished. "And because sekrite has been pressurized using gravity and magnetic fields, it generates power when oxidized. It generates power that the Patriot can use."

   "Exactly." Peterson fastened the cap back onto the battery and put it away. His face was bright. "We don't need electron-capturing technology. We just need to find a way to transfer sekrite into these batteries. It will have to be oxidized sekrite."

   "All the more reason to go to Settlement Vilara of Nusora," said Bird earnestly. "It's a double win. We find a way to charge the batteries, and we track down that ghost."

   Captain Thorn exhaled and clapped Peterson on the back, making the small man stumble. "You've outdone yourself, Quinn. You just might have saved the crew." Peterson just nodded. Captain Thorn addressed us all. "Gather what supplies you need. Mayors Spencer and Zyre had gotten us a HyperZipline to Nusora prepared. With the chamber, control room, and Bridge secured, we're good to go."