“That wire goes over here,” James holds out his hand to take the cord from Warren.

Warren froze. He might not know a lot about rewiring a navigational unit, but he sure as hell knows that the wire in his hand does _not_ go over there. Warren looks over at James, and a knowing glance passes between them.

James knows he is taking a risk. After months and months of calculating, learning the personalities of the workers on the ship, gathering intel on who would be most trustworthy, and testing loyalty with less destructive missions, Warren has proven himself the only one on the side of The Cause that could possibly be trusted.

And James knew, it had to be today. Their ship, The Chrysalis, took a stop on an evacuated planet for refuel and restocking. Their ship _never_ stops anywhere, usually other ships dock to them, bringing everything needed. This day took a LOT of planning, and luck was on his side.

The ship’s PA system chimed for the third time in the past 10 minutes, “_All hands to the loading bay. Repeat: All hands to the loading bay.” _

This is how James knew they wouldn’t be caught. Only the two of them were cleared for work on the flight deck today. There were glitches found within the override system to the navigational unit, so the crew had been unable to use the autopilot program without it malfunctioning when trying to turn it off and it has cost them time and money. And so, James was ‘installed’ within the crew of The Chrysalis, coming highly recommended by the Core Universe as the best avionics technician and electrical engineer on this side of the Tennetic System.

And James _was_ the best, the very best. James was exceptionally good at one very specific thing: Blowing shit up and not getting caught.

If he played his cards right, he’ll be off this hellhole and on his way back home to his wife and kids before the suns go down on this God forsaken planet.

“I can get you out,” James said, misreading Warren’s hesitation, knowing this could go very wrong if Warren decides to alert the crew.

“I can get myself out, that’s not the problem,” Warren said, handing the cord over to James. “Are you sure this is going to work? If it doesn’t, and we get caught…”

A silence hung in the thick, humid air. No one needed to say what would happen if they were caught.

Wiping a bead of sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand, James took the wire and started splicing it somewhere it shouldn’t be within the flightdeck’s control panel mainframe. The idea was, when the captain started up the ship and switched on the navigational unit, the wiring would ignite, setting the whole console on fire, beginning a chain reaction of misfirings and malfunctions along the entirety of the ship that James had been slowly setting up throughout the past month. This itself wouldn’t blow up the whole ship, but it would keep them from taking off and while everyone was distracted, James could put his next step in play. Warren didn’t need to know about that next step. He would never have agreed to doing this much if he knew what the rest of the plan really was.

“We won’t get caught,” James said. “Remember, as long as we are off this ship by the time they turn on the navigational unit, we’ll survive to tell the tale.”

“And what tale is that? How do we explain _our_ survival without it looking like we’re deserters?” Warren asked, a little huffy.

“We wandered too far from the ship trying to catch up with the rest of the crew and got lost, and by the time we returned, the ship blew up before we could get back on board,” James said, a little annoyed that the only person trustworthy enough to do this with him seemed to come with an IQ of 4.

“This seems like something you could have done by yourself, and it is insanely risky, why involve me at all?” Warren asked, a bit suspicious.

“I’ve grown to like you,” James said. “I don’t want you to go down with ship. Plus, I need an extra set of hands for this next part.” It was half true, James had grown fond of Warren. You could almost call Warren a friend. _Almost._ It’s never a good idea to make friends in this line of work. Besides, there was no contingency plan for _two_ survivors.

As soon as James and Warren had made all necessary ‘repairs’, being careful to tuck all rerouted wires into inconspicuous areas, they sealed the panels back over the units, put their gear away, and started heading to the loading bay.

Halfway there, Warren stopped, “Shit. I think I forgot to pack up my welder. It’s still on the flight deck. I’ll catch up with you in the loading bay.”

“Damn, ok. Warren, make sure you look for your brain back there too. And hurry up, you know we have to stay on schedule,” James said as Warren rolled his eyes and started running back the way they came.

_Luck is really on my side today, _thought James. Now that Warren was already gone, he didn’t have to find an excuse to ditch him to put his other plan in motion. _Better make this fast. _

James ducked right down the next hallway and opened a hatch at the end that led down to the lower level, or the dungeons, as some crew members called it. And it was rightfully named. The musty, dank smell of the dark corridor James climbed down to led to a number of horrific nightmares that, in his honest opinion, should not exist, let alone be kept alive. He shivered even though it was hot and humid, and slowly walked until he was midway down the row, passing several jail cell doors with tiny windows or no windows at all, trying to step as quietly as possible, even though he knew some of the monstrosities could hear his thoughts and feel his presence. He pulled a screwdriver out of his kit and began to open a panel across from a jail cell door with a sealed glass window that somehow still emitted a horrendously putrid smell.

…_James… _

The sound was faint inside his head.

_…James… I know something you don’t know…_

James started working faster. He knew in order to make this ship explode, there was only one way to do it. He had to rewire the system to let one particular monster out of it’s cage when the navigational unit goes down. He also knew about what _not_ to let out. …_James… Come here… Let me tell you a secret…_

He finished what needed to be done and replaced the electrical panel and, knowing better than to look in the window of the jail cell across from him, he started hurrying back down the corridor and up the ladder. Faintly, in the distance, he swore he could hear his name called again and then laughter, an evil, knowing, eager laughter more felt through his skull then heard.

As soon as James reached the top of the ladder, he shoved the hatch closed as quickly and quietly as he could and ran to the docking bay. The sooner off this ship, the better.

The Chrysalis had a very interesting docking bay, it was wide with a very narrow height. It was built this way so that war ships could not dock and let any soldiers into the ship, only smaller, more narrow ships could dock here, which were usually only cargo ships, containment vessels, and refuel pods. James started scanning the docking bay for his ship, found it near the entrance, and started heading in that direction. He needed to make sure the coordinates in his autopilot system were correct for when all hell broke loose.

“James!”

James, startled at the sound of his name called across the docking bay, turned around to see Warren heading in his direction. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. _It’s only Warren._ Warren had a weird look on his face. Almost… panicky? Worried?

“Hey, Warren. I had to take care of something, I was just going to come and find you,” James reassured him.

“No, you weren’t,” Warren had a false sadness to his voice.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” James just had to hope his ship was ready, there was no time now for that.

“No,” Warren said. “James… It’s over.”

“What? No, Warren, it’ll be fine, but we have to get out of here,” James turned around to leave and was staring face to face with 10 other crew members. “What… ?”

“I’m sorry, James. We can’t let you compromise all the work we’ve done for the Core Universe. There is a brighter future for all of us if we can just… let go and become one,” Warren said this in an almost monotone voice, as if he weren’t the same man James was talking to just an hour ago.

“Warren… Are you feeling ok? Please tell the crew members we just need to go get something off this ship, and we’ll be right back,” James started backing up from the crew members who were inching closer and closer to James. Something wasn’t right here.

…_James…_

“No,” James shook his head, disbelief registering across his face. His heart started beating faster and he noticed sweat rolling down his temples. That whisper deep inside his head should be locked down in the dungeons, why is he hearing it now?

…JAMES…

He looked closer and that’s when he saw it, the same color as Warren’s skin, blended to perfectly match his complexion, thin tendrils, wrapped around his face, snaking through his mouth, nose, ears, eyes. Very easy to miss if you didn’t know what you were looking for. James knew about the one in the dungeon but had thought the rest of the parasites were eradicated a long time ago. Now it looks like the whole crew was infected.

…_James… Come and be a part of us…_

Change of plans. James knew his luck ran out and this mission against the Core Universe now became a mission for humanity. He knew this ship could not take off.

He took a deep breath and then RAN. He knew his time was short and his new mission was to turn on the navigational unit and pray the parasites weren’t smart enough to figure out and fix what he already did. He heard a squelch and a hiss behind him, he knew better than to look. He made it to the flight deck only to find the parasites had taken over the pilot, who sat staring absent-mindedly at his screens, and the copilot, whose face was still locked in a silent scream. James reached over the copilot’s lap and managed to turn on the navigational unit just as he felt a sharp jab in his back. He found himself instantly paralyzed, with his last sane thought a prayer that he had turned on the unit in enough time to destroy the ship before these things could become a plague to humanity. And then the pain began. James tried to scream, he felt the parasite wiggle into every orifice, taking control of each part of his body. He _felt _tendrils snake through his spine and up into his brain.

His mind fought like hell, rebelling against the inevitable.

A silent rebellion nobody would ever hear about.

…_James… Let me in… _