Part 4: Showdown

	"Michaels is dead." announced Jarvis.

	"I figured." replied Preston. He stood up and headed out of his
quarters. "I only wish I came up with what I did earlier."

	Jarvis followed him out. "You got something?" she asked.

	"Think so. We'll know by the end of the Io night."

	Jarvis caught his arm, causing him to stop. "What do you have up your
sleeve?" she asked.

	Preston shook free of her grasp. "No time to explain, we have to
hurry. He'll be here tonight."

	"I don't think he'll strike again tonight." said Jarvis.

	"That's exactly what he wants you to think."

	She grabbed him again. "I need time to get a security team together!"

	Preston stared into her eyes. "That's what he wants you to do. And
that's why you're not going to do it. Just you and me, in the Normandy's
dropship hanger, he'll take the bait."

	"Of course he'll take the bait, you idiot! We'll be sitting ducks
without backup!"

	Preston waved his finger at her. "You have to trust me. Now go get
two blaster rifles and meet me there." Jarvis was about to protest further
but he bolted away first. With no other choice, she ran to retrieve the
needed weapons.

* * *

	Amy Hiatt paced restlessly outside the dropship hanger. She heard
footsteps in the distance and in few moments Robert Preston came into few.
"Over here!" she called.

	He darted over to her with one hand extended. "Everything set?"

	"Yeah. I ordered the hanger cleared for 'maintenance reasons' and set
it up like you wanted." She produced a small rectangular box and a battery
pack for a blaster rifle. "It's a simple transceiver, just press the big red
button. Anything else I can do for you?"

	Preston grabbed both items and jammed them into his pockets. "Yeah.
You can make yourself scarce." Someone could be heard running toward them.
Jarvis, right on schedule. thought Preston. "Go now!"

	"I'm going! I'm going!" hissed Amy. She vanished around the opposite
corner as Jarvis arrived.

	"Got them." She tossed him a rifle.

	Preston caught it and flicked the safety off. "Good. Let's go in."

* * *

	"So are you going to let me in on the plan?" Jarvis paced about,
looking for any signs of danger in the darkened hanger.

	"In a minute." said Preston coolly. He stared off into the darkness,
rifle in hand. "Remember Mars, Sonya?"

	"I usually concentrate on trying to forget it, Robert."

	"I remember it. I remember when you started hallucinating so badly
that you were afraid to eat. You thought the food would come alive and attack
you."

	Jarvis stopped pacing and stood with her rifle at ease. "You got me
to eat. You took care of me." She turned to look at him. "I don't think I
ever really thanked you."

	"You never needed to. You know that."

	"Flashing back on Mars, it got me to thinking. Whatever happened to
the man in charge? The lead scientist?"

	"No one knows." answered Jarvis. "He'll get his eventually."

	"You'll see to that, right?" Sonya tilted her head a little, not sure
if Preston had meant more than what he had said. "It was the prison transfer
orders, just in case you were wondering. Those three project leaders that
went to prison. They were all transferred to the same prison...by you."

	Sonya said nothing. She turned back toward the hanger and began
scanning for danger again. "What are you insinuating?"

	"Slade was in that prison. Now I don't really know how you did it.
Maybe you gave him the needed info and left his cell open. Maybe you were
more clever than that. Frankly, it doesn't matter, because we both know you
used Slade to kill those men for you. He may have been the weapon, but you
squeezed the trigger. You used him then, just like you're using him now."
Sonya stood still, saying nothing, and staring away from him. "Warner,
Bennet, Michaels, you killed them all. Then you shifted the blame to Slade.
That's how the killer was able to get to them all so easily. Because the
killer is you, the officer in charge of the investigation."

	"Intriguing theory." commented Sonya.

	"There is one thing I couldn't figure out though." admitted Preston.

	"And that would be?" asked Sonya.

	"Did Slade die during the Neo invasion or is he still alive?"

	Robert noticed her grip on her weapon tighten. "You know something,
Rob? I have no idea."

	She spun suddenly and opened fire. Preston dove to his left and fired
back. Sonya disappeared into the darkness with only her crystal blue eyes to
show where she once was. Preston scrambled to his feet and bolted for cover
behind a parked shuttle. He reached for his weapon's power pack and pulled it
free, replacing it with the one Hiatt gave him. "That's how you got Michaels,
wasn't it? You gave him rifle with a faulty power pack so all his shots were
at half power."

	"You're more clever than I gave you credit for." answered a voice.

	A crimson bolt struck just above Preston's head. He rolled forward
and returned fire in the direction from which it came. "You never recovered
from the Project, did you?" He got to his feet and jogged behind a cargo
crate.

	"Recover from what, Rob? The project opened my eyes to the evil men
do. They had to be punished."

	"Okay." answered Preston, "So what evil did the others do?" He heard
a noise from behind, a quick glance revealed nothing.

	"They were in pain. I relieved their suffering."

	"Pain? What pain?" asked Preston.

	"The pain that was forced onto them on Mars. The pain that taught
them to fear the light."

	"I don't suppose it would change things if I told you I felt fine?"
The moment he heard the blast, Preston was in motion. It struck the spot
where he once was. He continued running as other shots followed. Spying a
safe spot, he leapt over a pile of refueling hoses and landed safely behind
them. "I'll take that as a no."

	"Use the power that condemns you."

	Preston glanced about the hanger, in the hopes of seeing Sonya's baby
blues. He did not. "BlaqNite is an ability, one of several I have as a
soldier. I choose to use it. I don't let it use me."

	"Then you're a fool." From the sound of it, she was standing directly
behind him. Preston reached into his pocket and removed the transmitter Hiatt
gave him. "I still remember everything you did for me back on Mars, Robert.
And I appreciate it. So I'll make it quick, but only because I've come to
value your friendship."

	"Don't do me any favors." muttered Preston. His thumb pressed down on
the transmitter and the hanger became a brillient, blinding light. Robert
covered his eyes as Sonya let lose an ear-splitting scream. Preston pressed
the button again and the hanger returned to low light conditions. Robert
slowly uncovered his eyes. Sonya lay curled into a ball. Parts of her uniform
had burned away, as had many sections of her skin. She was shaking violently.
Robert noted her rifle a safe distance away. He crawled over to her. "Sonya?"

	She extended a shaky hand toward him. "Robert?" She rested her head
in his lap and looked weakly up at him. "I-I...just wanted...to stop...the
pain."

	"It will stop soon, Sonya. I promise."

	"Ro-bert?"

	"I'm here."

	"Tell them. Tell them...that...I'm...sorry."

	Her eyes became vacant as her shaking slowly stopped. Preston gently
closed them and laid her peacefully on her back. "It wasn't you're fault,
Sonya. You were a victim, just like the rest of us."

* * *

	"Then Crow said, 'If I had a body like yours I'd never get dressed in
the morning!' So I slapped him. And HE had the nerve to tell ME that I was
overreacting. Do you believe his nerve?" asked Nikki.

	"It truly knows no bounds."

	"Easy on the sarcasm, Amy." Hiatt lay on her bed, Montgomery was
sitting in her desk chair. It was their usual evening ritual. Gossip, Double
Stuff Oreos, and plenty of milk.

	"Sorry Nik, but I can't help thinking that maybe he was right."

	Montgomery stared at Amy as if her head was on backwards. "You're
taking his side!" Amy shrugged and grabbed another Oreo.

	"He didn't resort to physical violence, now did he?" She grabbed her
empty glass from the desk. "Any milk left?"

	"No, we're out." answered Nikki.

	"I'm sure more will be along." said Amy.

	"The way Cookie guards the kitchen? Yeah, right. Pull the other one
and it plays music, Aimless."

	There was a knock at the door. "Get that would you?"

	Nikki walked over and jabbed her finger at the release button. The
door whooshed open. "Hello?" Nikki looked to either side of the hallway and
saw nothing. She glanced back at Amy. "No one is out here."

	Amy lazily flipped open a tech manual. "Just be a dear and bring that
stuff in here."

	"What stuff?" Nikki looked down and discovered a carton of milk and
another package of Oreos. She picked them up and went back inside. Confused,
she asked, "Where did these come from?"

	Amy gave a quirky smile. "From my new friend." She offered her glass.
"Fill, please."

	Nikki poured the milk and handed the glass back. "Must be nice being
an officer."

	"I guess you could say it has a few perks." The conversation renewed
itself. Stories were told. Laughter was heard. And the light which permeated
it all, cast well into the late hours.

	Across the way, in another part of the ship, where darkness cloaks
everything, another crewmember ponders his past, his present, and his own
dark future.

The End