It Ain't Easy...

[Nick Ryder]

"Of course, although I do worry that she's an orphan." Nick said with a heavy sigh. "Xenexians... they tend to treat their youth as adults pretty early. Kinsey was just a teenager when she ran away and started captaining a freighter. Still, my experience with Xenexian children, treat them right, they'll grow up to be good kids. They do play rough."

[Khan Noonian Singh]

Meanwhile -

Khan was sitting at the controls of the trader ship, going over some of their logs and getting more and more angry. Finally, he got up and opened up the case of expensive liquor they got in payment for a child they sold and pulled out a bottle and took a long drink and shook his head. He was glad he and Kinsey had killed the crew of this ship, normally he took little joy in ending a life. Except when they truly deserved it.

"I want to blow this bloody ship to hell." Khan said as he handed the bottle to Kinsey. "How's your head? It's like an ale of sorts. What did Leo once call it, 'Breakfast of Champions'? The more logs I go over the more I wish there were more crew to make suffer for what they did."

[Ja'larin Yamour]

Ja'larin entered the bridge and gave Kahn a scornful look. She hadn't spoken to him much since killed the crew. She had managed to whisk one of them away. There was smug satisfaction in that, as it had proved useful.

"A bit early to be drinking don't you think?" She handed him a PADD. "The location of Hel, and a few people that might be of interest to the President, and the Admiral. Newstead, Sandoval, Walker, and a Ryder are among the prisoners."

[Khan Noonian Singh]

"After reading these logs... I need to murder a few brain cells." Khan said and sighed heavily. "It's like my past being shoved in my face. I basically 'sold' my daughter Selene to my friend to train into the assassin she is today. I regret it every day. Won't see another child be used for anything like this again. When we get home, I'm going to see what I can do within AlphaTek to help stop this trade. You know this isn't the only ship that does this and those kids are not the only ones out there."

[Ja'larin Yamour]

"Indeed, but becoming what you despise won't help you or anyone else. What happens if your dark passenger takes the wheel and won't relinquish? Look, we have people to rescue. There's Jack on that station. There's people we all probably know on it. Do what is a must, and nothing more." She glanced at Kinsey, "That applies to all of us."

[Khan Noonian Singh]

"I will try." Khan said and capped the bottle and shook his head. "So... there's a Sandoval and Newstead aboard? That's... interesting. What other Sandovals are there? And Kirby Newstead died years ago, perhaps one of her siblings but no... Nicholas would have mentioned something. We get much of our raw materials from the cargo that the Newsteads freight to us."

[Ja'larin Yamour]

"I am reluctant to assume, but it would seem that it would be a Kirby Newstead in some form or another. I didn't get any first names, so it's anyone's guess, but the descriptions match what we know of the Admiral, Jack, and Kirby."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

Jack is alive, Kinsey thought to herself as she stared out the view screen.

"It's another clone just like Ethan." Kinsey said taking a swig from the bottle Khan had given her. "This piece of shit was bound for Hel and is expected. I say we fly right up to Dominus's door and say hello. No no we need to be smart about this. Although between Ja'larin and I we could rip them a part before they knew what hit them."

Kinsey took another deep sip from the bottle.

"And my head is fine, by the way." Kinsey informed Khan matter of fact. Killing those men hadn't strained her and part of her had enjoyed it. Maybe that part of her that still held K'n'zy's memories or maybe in was the dark part of her that had always been there. That part that allowed a kid from Xenex to survive for so long among the stars.

[Khan Noonian Singh]

"Of course he is, you Ryders are incredibly tough to kill and he went through the trouble of actually taking him to Starbase Hel, he wouldn't just kill him there when he could have easily done it on Terra Alpha." Khan replied and smirked at the bottle. "You always surprise me at how much you can drink and be totally straight and sober. You're half my size and you're not an Augment with a genetically enhanced liver."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

"That we know of." Kinsey said with a smirk.