Providence

Author's Note: This interlude does not contain our pony overlords, but is important to the story. Your pony overlords will return in the next chapter. Thank you for your cooperation.

Interlude One: The Commander

"A friend is one who has the same enemies you have."

—Abraham Lincoln

Oroon struck Cloden across the face. The backhand was strong enough to send to subordinate to his knees.

"Shvin*!" He yelled. "What did I tell you!"

Cloden looked up and tried to explain. "Sir, I thought–"

"That blowing their ship up would be okay with me?" The leader kicked the other in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. "Our ship is on their ship! You didn't even consider checking with me before you nearly kill us all!"

The lieutenant spoke with a choking voice. "I-I didn't think–"

Oroon kicked him in the face this time. Cloden's nose bent in a odd way and blood began to slowly drip out of it. "Exactly," Oroon said. "You didn't THINK!" He punctuated his sentence with another kick to the chest. The crewman he was offending tried to defend himself as he continued his onslaught, but it didn't help. His ribs cracked under the constant attacks, but he took the punishment. Every pound against his body could be heard through the metal walls within their inoperable ship.

The sounds of Oroon and Cloden "talking" came from beyond the metal door just down the corridor. Regged pretended he didn't hear them; he pretended not to know what Oroon was doing. That didn't distract him from what he did know, and that was the fact that his old friend had changed.

They were in many of the same classes in the Central Fleet University, and both of them were aspiring for the same leadership position. They became close with their schoolwork as well as outside the University. There was an infamous story about how the two of them would bet on games of Civ – a game similar to Pool – which would usually result in one of them wearing some questionable clothing the next time they went out. The two of them were like brothers. When one of them got a girl for the night, the other always did. When one of them got into a fight, the other backed him up. When one wasn't doing so well in a class, the other beat the crap out of him (it was an ingenious form of motivation suggested by their diplomacy professor). They were almost inseparable. Almost.

They were separated by the best thing that could happen to them: they graduated and were assigned to a vessel. However, they were each assigned a different one. Oroon went to a Scavinaught patrol vessel called the Wode while Regged went to a Ute scout ship called the Thusterja – the very ship they were stuck on. They went their separate ways and stayed on them for years.

They came back together following a grim incident.

INCIDENT REPORT

Circumstances: On SMD 71126.5 the UTE class scout ship THUSTERJA detected a subspace anomaly in sector 22-S of SYSTEM URN, which has been placed under quarantine due to the instability of its star. Sector 22-S is considered just outside the system and entry to it does not abide by the quarantine status of its system. The THUSTERJA's presence there DID NOT DISOBEY THE QUARANTINE (disregard Addendum A1).

Events: THUSTERJA reported the anomaly to COMMANDANT STATION when it was detected. CAPTAIN MATO LOCK followed the report up with the following: "We will investigate it immediately." COMMANDANT STATION attempted to recall THUSTERJA, but was too late to respond as the anomaly jammed their signal.

As the THUSTERJA neared the location of the anomaly (which will be referred to as ZEX), the radiation from the ship's engine "fed" (debriefing of COMMANDER REGGED PINN) the anomaly, making it stronger. The THUSTERJA never spotted the anomaly in visual until the energy emanating from it suddenly spiked. ZEX was confirmed to be the beginnings of a WHITE HOLE (a point in space that does not allow energy or matter enter it, opposite of the VOID HOLE). Proximity to a WHITE HOLE can cause an indeterminate number of events to occur. Such events that occurred in this incident were:

— Energy suddenly disappearing from the ship (the nature from ZEX caused the energy to be – for lack of a better term – blown off the ship.

— Massive damage to the ship

Several holes were torn through the hull and approximately seven (7) of the crew were ejected into space. Among those casualties was CAPTAIN MATO LOCK. The remaining six (6) members of the crew managed to seal themselves into the mess hall section of the ship. ZEX subsided and disappeared from the sector. Rescue vessels were deployed from COMMANDANT STATION and retrieved the wreck, survivors, and the casualties.

Post-incident: COMMANDER REGGED PINN was debriefed on the encounter. The casualties were returned to their families. The THUSTERJA is under repairs in the space dock at COMMANDANT STATION and is currently awaiting a new captain.

Three weeks before Thusterja's encounter with Providence; One month after the ZEX incident...

"In response to this terrible tragedy that has caused the death of your captain, Mato Lock, and roughly half of the crew, the Central Fleet will be sending a new captain and crew to the Thusterja. While you are still the first officer, we cannot promote you to captain due to the fact you have not taken the Command Examination. Is this understood, Commander Pinn?"

Regged gave a brief nod to the stone-faced admiral on the viewing screen. "Understood, Admiral."

"Good. The new members of the crew will be at the station tomorrow. Central out." The screen went black. Leaving only a dark reflection of Regged's face to stare back at him. After several moments of staring, he was shaken out of his thoughts by a beep coming from the door of his room. It was his doorbell.

He answered it and found Jyn standing outside the door, hand on her hip. "What's the news?" she asked without any greeting.

"We're getting new crew members tomorrow," he told her. "A new captain, too."

She shifted. "What about you?"

"Didn't take the exam," he answered as he stepped aside. "Come in."

The green-haired Setinole walked in and sat on the closest chair. Regged sat across from her. They sat in silence for a long time, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Jyn spoke up.

"I'm... leaving," she said. She didn't mean the room when she said that, Regged knew. It was farther than that.

"Transferring?" he asked.

"I'm staying here at the station. They need need someone to fill a position in the science wing, so I gave them my record."

Their response to her files was, without a doubt, a "yes". It was sudden, but not unexpected. It wasn't unusual for the crew to talk about their science officer as not being fit for travel. She managed, but she never seemed to get used to the little ship. It wasn't claustrophobia; she just never liked being on a scout ship. That wasn't the only thing that lead her to this, though.

"I knew what it was," she revealed. "I didn't say anything."

Regged shook his head and leaned towards her. "You didn't know what it was."

"I did, though!" She was starting to choke up. "I just knew!"

Regged threw himself back against the chair and sighed. He stayed silent for a while, thinking of what to say. The one thing that he knew would help the most would be something Captain Lock would say. Something that he never said, but would say.

"Jyn," Regged began. "Does your record say you're a Suka?" A rare genetic mutation that made certain Setinoles from the Sukir region of the home world sensitive to future events at incredible accuracy. Some had actually saved towns from natural disasters because of this ability. The ones that saw through everything.

"No, I'm from Yida, like you," she answered.

"Exactly." Regged leaned back forward. "You think you knew. You didn't, though. If really did, you would have said something."

"Well, I should ha–"

"Stop." Regged stood up and started wandering around the room. "You're making yourself look like a shvin by trying to make something look like it was your fault!"

Jyn didn't respond.

"I'm not going to tell you to stay," Regged continued, crossing his arms. "If you want to go, you're going to go. I won't stop you, but I don't want you to go thinking that this happened because of you!"

Again she didn't respond. Regged didn't follow-up; he had made his point. Soon, she stood up.

"I'll... keep that in mind," she said. "Thank you." Without saying another word, she left the room. The commander knew that he may never see her again, but took comfort in how she sounded: calm. She took what he thought as a poor imitation of his former captain to heart.

Captain Lock had a way of saying things that would effect people, and that meant everyone, not just his crew. Regged had often envied his charisma. To him, it seemed like he lacked that certain something his superior had. It was like talking to a very supportive teacher, or a father, or maybe something different. Whatever it was, Regged had a feeling that it had something to do with becoming a captain, and he wanted to know what it was before taking the examination.

He never got the chance to ask.

Regged sat back down in front of the screen the admiral was on minutes ago. He didn't push a button, he didn't give the computer any commands, he simply sat and stared at the screen and his shadowy reflection.

"It's not your fault," he said to it. "It could have happened to anyone." But the words that were exchanged that fateful day rang in his mind.

"Captain, take a look at this."

"I see it... what do you think it is, Pinn?"

"Only one way to find out, sir..."

The next day...

"So Commander," Kesa asked, running a hand through his burgundy hair. "Any word about the new captain and crew?"

The members of the original crew were gathered in Regged's quarters. The commander was buttoning a dress jacket, which was necessary for the welcoming of the captain. A machine floated idly in the corner, with Seltz standing next to it, keeping a busy hand by tinkering with its wiring. Welker was leaning with his back against the door, flexing his hand (which he had hurt during the incident). Loper sat next to Kesa, tapping her foot anxiously.

"No word," Regged said.

"Where's Jyn?" Seltz asked, not pausing her work on the device.

"Oh." It hadn't occurred until now that he never told them about what happened. "She transferred to the station. I would have told you all last night but... something came up."

"Hm," Welker grunted. He balled his hand into a fist and a crack was heard, making him hiss in pain. "Damn."

"Don't do that then," Seltz told him over her shoulder. "Idiot."

"It just feels tight for some reason..."

"That's the graft, it usually feels tight for a week after placement." Seltz wasn't the medic, but she did know her way around the sick bay. "Hold on, I'm almost done here."

"What is that anyway?" Loper asked.

The only response was a secretive chuckle. After a few more seconds, she closed the panel she was working on and stepped back. "Up and at 'em."

The machine blinked to life and wobbled in mid air. The circular "eye" in the center started to glow with a green tinge. "Good morning, everyone." A familiar mechanical voice said.

"Kat?" Regged said. Kat was the name given to the computer on the ship. The last time she was mentioned, the

"Indeed, sir," the machine said. "Thanks to Miss Detok, who had the foresight to remove my programming chip from the Thusterja."

"So... you basically built a smaller ship?" Kesa asked dumbly. Seltz glared at him.

"That's not it at all," she said. "I put the computer program into a medical bot. What makes you think that this is a smaller ship?"

"I just woke up," Kesa said. "Don't crucify me, mip**." As soon as he finished that sentence, Loper's hand suddenly came up and smacked his head.

"You too?" Kesa asked, rubbing the soreness. Loper smirked and didn't respond – she almost never did in the first place.

"Enough of that," Regged said to them before turning his attention back to Seltz and Kat. "Why did you do that?"

"The programming? Did you see the repair manifest?" Seltz asked.

"Yes," Regged answered. "Or at least some of it."

"Well," Seltz began, crossing her arms. "They were going to replace the programming and disintegrate it."

"In a term everyone can understand, they were going to 'kill' me," Kat added. "So Miss Detok took it upon herself to create a simplistic copy of my programming and switch... us, I suppose. The 'stupid' one must be gone by now, poor fellow."

Regged took a step towards the machine and inspected it. Like Seltz had told him, it was a medical bot. Like all med-bots, Kat had two mechanical arms that had sets of tools used for simple and complex procedures, including anesthetics. However, unlike most med-bots, there was a panel on the side that was usable for more than just medical procedure. Kat could potentially run a ship by himself even if he wasn't the main computer. Though this was great, it was also dangerous to the point that what Seltz did was probably a crime. Undermining a repair by saving the main computer could be considered sabotage and, if someone were to find out, the entire crew would be punished.

The punishment would be severe, of course; it's sabotage after all. For Seltz, it would be doubly so since she committed the crime out of her own volition. It would get worse when the investigators found something else she had been hiding.

"How is he?" Regged asked, after a while.

"You could ask me that yourself, sir," Kat said.

"I don't mean you." Regged stared at Seltz, waiting for an answer. Finally, she gave own.

"He was shaken up," she answered quietly. "But he's fine now."

"Still hiding in the vents?"

"The ship's empty now, so I told him to stay in my quarters."

"You two talking about Digen?" Welker asked in a deep voice. It was a rhetorical question.

"Digen". That was the name they gave him. He was very young at about nine, maybe ten years old. He was the only one they found on board of a strangely abandoned space station. Getting him to tell them what happened was impossible. For one thing, he didn't speak; the crew wasn't sure if he was mute or just chose not to talk. The only clue he gave was an unsettling drawing of a figure in a corridor, with the letter "X" written on the walls, ceiling, floors, and one the figure itself. On the bottom right corner was a picture of the same figure looking down at a child, supposedly himself. Again, the letter X was on the figure, but next to Digen himself, there was a different letter, "V". On the other bottom corner were the letters "X V I" near a strange set of curves.

Of course, Digen didn't matter at the moment. It was time for Regged and everyone else to meet the rest of the crew.

A voice on the room's com spoke. "Commander Regged Pinn, please report to the docking area with the rest of the crew of Thusterja to accept the new arrivals."

At the dock, Regged stood waiting in front of the airlock. The rest of the crew stood behind him dutifully, probably ten times more formal than himself, even if he was the only only one wearing anything formal.

The light above the circular door turned red and a heavy clang was heard, announcing the shuttle's arrival. Any minute now, the new captain would walk through the door, as will the new crew members. The new members would probably be more acquainted with the captain, but that wouldn't be a problem. Would it?

The light turned green and there was a hiss. The door rolled away, and Regged immediately stuck out his hand.

"Hello, sir. I am Commander–"

"Reggy! Long time no see!" A familiar voice said. The baffled commander finally got a good look at his new captain.

"Oroon?"

Three weeks later, present time...

"Commander," an urgent voice shook him out of his memories. Regged looked to his left and saw a very shaken Kesa.

"Kesa," he greeted quickly before becoming serious. "What hap–"

"Loper's dead," the crewman interrupted in a sullen voice.

The news struck Regged like a hammer. Loper... dead? It was too soon for something like this to happen. "How?"

"I... don't know." Kesa turned away. "I just found her... her arm was... gone. I think a mutating gouche killed her. There was a giant hole in her stomach... oh quate***. Quate!"

At the alarming rate they were seen mutating, some gouches were capable of doing that kind of damage. However, only her arm was gone. The bugs were hungry, so if they did kill her, nothing would be left, if not just an arm. Something was wrong here. "Show me."

The shaken crew member shook his head vigorously. "I'm not going back there!"

"You don't have to, just point me in the direction!"

"Down that hall," Kesa said, point down the corridor that lead to storage. "She's in the storage room. Cover her or something..." The crew man leaned his forehead against the wall with a pained expression as Regged followed the directions.

Poor Kesa. It was no secret how he felt about Loper, and now this happened. There was no way he would ever recover from finding her like that. It's the last thing anyone wants to see. When someone loves another, they always want to be there to protect them.

This was a feeling Regged believed he would never feel.

The door to the storage room was in front of him, and he steeled himself for what he would find inside. With the push of a button, the scene was revealed.

A pool of blood had formed around her like a rust red carpet. In the dimmed lights, it looked almost black. Regged walked around her body and examined it. Her mouth was stained as blood had spilled out of it and there were scratches along her cheek. Of course, there was a massive hole in her stomach showing more than what Regged wanted to see, and one of her arms was severed. That arm was nowhere in the room, but that didn't matter, what mattered was how it was severed. If a gouche had killed her it would have been torn and messy, but this was a clean cut, as though she was amputated.

"Who did this to you?" Regged whispered, turning away from the gruesome scene and leaving the room. He was going to go back to Kesa when he noticed it – a trail of blood. He began to follow it. The trail could lead to where she was attacked, or maybe the blood came from her arm which the killer (for reasons he couldn't fathom) took with them.

After some time, the trail ended at a certain door – the door to the room Oroon was beating Cloden in. There were voices on the other side, but Cloden wasn't among them.

"I'm sorry," a feminine voice said. "I had to." Regged recognized that voice as one of Oroon's group, Mana.

"You didn't have to dismember her!" Oroon yelled. Regged backed away from the door, his eyes wide.

"I had to make it look like a gouche did it," Mana said coldly. "Still do."

That was enough for him. He quietly made his way back to the storage room with haste. Conspiracy? This is going too far. Oroon pulling this move with the colony ship was one thing, but now he has the balls to go and try to cover this up? This was it, but right now, he was all alone. Who could he trust?

"Commander," a voice quickly greeted as he passed. That was Bahsenal. The large, muscular crewman was intimidating. He didn't matter though. After an acknowledging nod, Regged continued making haste to storage. Bahsenal was part of Oroon's crew, so he was untrustworthy. So was Cloden, though Oroon beat him. He could only trust Kesa, Seltz, Welker, and Kat.

The bloody room was opened again, but Regged didn't enter. He stood there, not looking at anything in particular. Mana was so calm while talking about what she had done. Why? Was she deranged? No one could possibly have been calm after killing some like this!

"It was Mana, wasn't it?" A voice said behind him. He turned quickly to see the very crew member he had passed in the hall. Bahsenal held a somber expression.

"Why would you care?" Regged challenged, pulling his gun out and aiming it at the giant. "You're with them!"

"Yes, I am," Bahsenal said with a look of shame. "For as long as I follow him."

He began to move forward, but Regged pressed the gun against his chest. The larger Setinole stopped as soon as he did.

"He has extreme interests that surprise many of us," he said. "I, for one, do not follow one so dishonored."

"You're from Umot," Regged realized. Back on their home world, the Setinoles born in Umot have a strict sense of honor and discipline. "His attack was a surprise on an unarmed vessel."

"Only a coward would commit such an act," Bahsenal spat. "He is beyond my hatred. So is Mana, I have seen the way she operates. The mip is... missing some wires."

"She's coming back to chop Loper up," Regged told him. "What do suppose we do?"

The Umotian took a step back. "That is for me to ask you, Commander."

Regged lowered his weapon. Clearly, he could trust Bahsenal. That makes one more crew member against Oroon. But what now? There was a sick-minded killer on her way there, so it was obvious that they had to do something about her. There had to be some way...

"Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best."

Mana hummed to herself as she went back to her kill. It was a tune of no particular rhythm, but it was music to her ears. Oroon had practically given her a speech on how she shouldn't go overboard with something like this. The problem was that she didn't go overboard. He had never even seen her go overboard. He may have been the leader, but his naivety when it came to what she did was tactless. That was what made him so cute though! Just like a certain someone else...

She took a moment to herself in the hallway to examine her trophy. "Oh, Lope," she sighed, kissing the amputated arm. "You were so beautiful when you were alive. Now... well, you still are, but you're dead."

She cradled it like a baby as she continued down the corridor. "It's a damn shame... I can't let anyone know what I did, especially that Kesa. You know, he had the hots for you, girl. It's tragic, really. But you see... I had to do it. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was hoping you didn't have to here that message."

She kissed the arm again, right on the pale, clammy palm. "I rushed with you, which was a mistake. I should have taken my time, slow and steady. We could've had so much fun."

She stopped in front of the door and sighed. "It's no fun when I can't hear you struggle. Oh well." She stepped into the room as the door opened in front of her.

Something was wrong, though... Loper's figure still lay on the floor, but something was off about the room. Nothing had changed in the dimly-lit room. By the time she realized what was wrong exactly, it was already too late.

She quickly turned, only to see the giant fist fly out of the shadows, then darkness.

Mana had literally flown across the room, hitting the wall and bouncing onto her side. She was out cold. Bahsenal's punch could dent a ship's hull. In this case, he held back, not wanting to kill the girl. After all, it would have been obvious that he did it, who else could leave an indent in someone's head the size and shape of his fist?

Immediately after the attack, Regged took his chance to pick Loper up. His gut wrenched as his fingers dipped into the bloody pool, feeling the stickiness under her, all over her back. She was limp, as what was expected from a dead body, but because of all the blood it was hard to get a grip on her. He turned to Bahsenal once he got his grip. "Get my crew and meet me in my quarters," he said. With one last look at Mana, he left.

It felt like the longest walk in his life. He narrowly avoided being spotted by bandaged Cloden, who was grumbling something to himself about getting on the other ship again. After the blast, the main connection they used to get on board the colony ship was compromised. In other places, holes had be punched through both hulls, acting like hazardous tunnels. Going through one of these was probably the worst idea anyone could make, for there was usually a drop that ended on sharpened debris. However, Regged didn't take that idea off the table. it was probably going to be the only way someone could get off the ship. After a while, Cloden moved on, entering his own quarters and locking the door. Although the way was clear, the walk didn't get any faster. A mix of nearly crippling paranoia, bottled-up fury, and grief over the murder weighed him down on the inside, while Loper was weighing him down on the outside.

He had a lot to think about. Did he have a plan? No. Did he have an idea of what he had to do? Yes, but that was useless without the plan, but he couldn't think. Not of a plan, not of anything.

If he couldn't think of one, who could? He smiled inwardly as he figured out who to go to.

He entered his quarters after what felt like hours. After clearing everything off of it with his foot, he laid Loper's body on the couch. At first he all but threw her onto the seat, but then he found himself adjusting her... and adjusting... and adjusting. It became superfluous when he started trying to make her symmetrical. That was when he realized that he forgot her severed arm. This made him frustrated in many ways, making him have to punch himself in the leg to snap him out of it. There wasn't a problem. Bahsenal would be bringing the arm when he came.

But then Kesa would have to see her like this.

"No!" Regged slapped himself. Now was not the time for that! He had to get the plan all set! "Kat! Wake up!"

His closet opened and out floated the the machine. "How may I help you Command–" With the sudden pause, it seemed the computer was reacting to the body. He was. "Oh dear... I'm too late, am I?"

"No," Regged said. "She died instantly. Killed by Mana."

"One of the newer crew members? Hmm. I had my suspicions, what with the transmissions..."

"Transmissions?"

"From what I can detect, both came from on board the ship, and they were to and from different individuals."

"Someone has been in contact with someone up above?"

"Only one of those transmissions. However, it is impossible to detect who or even what sent it. Plus, the connection is ongoing with intermittent updates with the constant repeating letter-code 'MCMLXXXIV'."

MCMLXXXIV? That meant nothing to him, but it seemed familiar.

"It's a mystery," Kat continued. "I will continue monitoring the signals. I will inform you when I have more information"

Regged sighed. "Tell me about the other one."

"The other is from Captain Oroon in a connection to Admiral Lepic..."

*Shvin (Shveen) – Setinole curse meaning something along the lines of "dumbass" or "shithead".

**Mip – another Setinole curse; the equivalent of "bitch"

***Quate (kwah-TAY)– "Fuck (everything, myself, the world, etc.)", Quo is a synonym that just means "Fuck" in general. Ate (Ah-tay) is elastic and could mean "everything", "myself", "you", "them", "the world". Usually, it's used to mean "everything", but it could also just be used as "Fuck" (singular).