People quietly bustled around the Sick Bay like a hive of subdued bees. Most of their efforts were for the sprawling figure in midnight blue, who lay unmoving on the medical bed and surrounded by fancy gadgets and somber medics.
The main Sick Bay door slid open with a swish and in strode the captain, moving confidently and swiftly. He was oblivious to the frenzied commotion that proceeded him as assistants scrambled to get out of his way, casting frightened glances in his direction. His mere presence was a source of near terror, he wasn't called the Black Dragon for nothing. Haze, for his part, just assumed that people would move out his way and may God have mercy on anyone stupid or slow enough to not do so.

The medics soon noticed the captain's arrival and respectfully moved out of the way a little, leaving a space for him. Haze surveyed the pirate that had been spared from his vengeance, very possibly the only one. The pirate was wearing one of the stretchy, slightly sparkly body suits that had been popular a few months back. Haze almost snorted as he noted the characteristic eye patch the survivor sported that pirates seemed to love so much. Then he noticed something that stretched beyond the length of the eye-patch. Looked like a scar, probably obtained in a laser duel.
Why didn't he get it surgically fixed? It doesn't cost that many credits.
Ahhh, now I remember, pirates don't have ID's. Not that they deserve any identity.
When the captain noticed the unconscious state of the survivor, he frowned slightly.

"I thought I told you to revive him. Why is he not awake?" Haze said quietly, but in a tone that caused some of the less brave medics to back away slightly. One of the doctors visibly gathered his courage and caught the captain's attention.

"Sir, there was a slight malfunction with the cold-sleep capsule. He should be awake in a matter of hours." he said politely. Haze privately thought it was more than a slight malfunction; the pirate's skin was almost marble-white with deep, dark circles under his eyes, making him look like a raccoon. The way the survivor was sprawled was not in a boneless manner, it somehow conveyed great discomfort, with his lustreless light brown hair falling into his closed eyes.

"Fine. Contact me when he has been properly revived," the captain said tonelessly, turning away and striding out of the Sick Bay without even waiting for a response. The medics merely sighed, exchanging knowing glances before turning attention to more pressing matters.

He was surrounded by darkness, a complete and utter black, with nothing to relieve it, not even stars. A cold wind blew at him, like a blade of ice, cruelly cutting him. He shivered but remained where he was standing, he was here for a reason. Even if he couldn't remember what it was.
Then he realized he wasn't alone, there was something else out there. Out in the darkness. Watching him. He could feel IT all around him, a pressure that was slowly getting stronger. IT was like a stormcloud of sadness, waiting for something. Something from him. But he didn't know what.
He felt their mutual frustration, IT for not having ITs message heard and him for not hearing it. He tried to reach out but he couldn't see his own hand, didn't know what to reach for. Despair drowned him and he felt IT flee farther into the darkness, leaving him alone again.
Always alone...

Haze woke with a start, sitting up swiftly from his limp position at his desk. He must have fallen asleep again while working. The captain blinked blearily at his still-active computer while he tried to figure out what had woken him up. Then he realized that his intercom button was beeping at him.

"What is it?" Haze said in a slightly annoyed tone, rubbing his face as an unconscious gesture of tiredness.

"Sir, the prisoner is awake. Your presence is needed in Sick Bay!" a nameless officer said in a frantic voice. Haze sighed.

"I will be there shortly."

The captain found himself faced with a scene of chaos when he strode into the Sick Bay. The survivor was obviously awake and seemed to be making the most of it. The patient forcefield was activated, normally invisible except for every time something hit it; then it turned bright gold. And it seemed to be flashing continuously as the prisoner kept tossing things at it. Haze could see that the area surrounding the patient pad was destroyed completely, things ripped, broken or bent. The people in the Sick Bay seemed fearfully fascinated by the sight, every time something hit the forcefield they would all flinch as one person.

The captain turned his attention away from the odd view and singled out a medic who was also watching.

"What exactly is going on here? What happened to the prisoner that he decided to go on a rampage?" Haze asked calmly.

"Well, sir," the medic stammered nervously, "he was out like a light until a few minutes ago when he suddenly stood up and somewhat went berserk. It's a fairly normal reaction to the stress of a long-term coldsleep. He just needs to be knocked back to his senses."

Haze watched the doctor flinch as a particularly large piece of equipment hit the forcefield, momentarily blinding everyone with the burst of gold light.

"Though his silence is rather uncommon..." the medic trailed off uncertainly.
Indeed, the survivor was completely silent, not shouting, screaming or any other signs of panic. His methods of destruction seemed almost calculated, almost rational.

"Why didn't someone pick up their phaser and just shock him out of it?" The captain asked impatiently. The medic regarded him in a slightly frightened manner.

"Because, sir, we wanted your approval before we went ahead."

Or in other words:
We were scared shitless and we know that only you can make it all better.

Haze sighed and pulled out his phaser casually.
"Prepare to lower the forcefield." he called out as he came closer to the prisoner, who was still ignoring everyone. At the captain's signal, the air where the forcefield was seemed to waver, making an odd warbling noise before stilling again. Haze lifted his phaser, set it to Low Stun and, taking careful aim, shot at the prisoner twice. The survivor recoiled backwards as each bolt hit him, almost staggering to his knees. Then he shook his head slightly and looked around the room in confusion, taking a wary stance.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" the prisoner shouted. "Where am I?" When he made like he was going to bolt, Haze signaled for the medic at the forcefield controls to put up the invisible wall again. The tall pirate tried to move quickly but stopped himself when he noticed the golden glow flowing up around him. He scowled and threw a dark look at the captain.

"What the hell do you want?" the pirate said bluntly to Haze, his blue-green eyes snapping with anger. Haze regarded the prisoner coolly for a moment, not saying anything. After a moment, the blond man began looking a little nervous, not sure how to handle the icy silence from the captain.

"Have you a name, pirate?" Haze said emotionlessly, not even expressing real curiosity. The tall prisoner merely glared at him for a moment, but he was obviously confused by the question. Most people didn't care about your name, they just wanted information.

"My name is Tail," the pirate said proudly, after a minute, "cos I'm always behind you , you can never lose me and I'm always waggin', " the prisoner laughed at his own cleverness, a grin crossing his face that might have been purely mischievous on anyone else. Everyone in the room took a collective step backwards in reaction to that smile. Except for the captain, who stood unmoved and unmoving.
Haze merely raised an eyebrow, a part in the back of his mind buzzing dimly at the slang the pirate used. Something familiar about it...

The dark-haired captain mentally shook himself, annoyed that he kept drifting off.

"So, Mr. Tail was it?" Haze inquired calmly "what are you doing in this sector of space?"

"I ain't no Mister Tail ," the pirate said scornfully "My name is Tail and it ain't none of your business why I'm anywhere!" He assumed a pose of complete hostility and belligerence, hands on his hips and his chin stuck out slightly. Haze studied Tail for a moment, then turned to the medic at the room controls.

"Transport the prisoner to the brig," he ordered, completely ignoring the angry pirate "perhaps if he has some time to think about his decision..." Tail's eyes widened and he started to protest loudly and creatively, stating impossible heritages and sexual liaisons of the captain and crew. The medic at the controls turned on the transport somewhat hesitantly and everyone watched as the pirate began to sparkle and fade.

"-goddamned bastard!" was the last thing Tail managed to get out before he disappeared from the room entirely.

Captain Haze returned to his quarters and ordered himself some tea from the replicators. He sat in his favourite chair and idly sipped the Earl Grey, trying to sort out this whole pirate situation. Haze would never let anyone else know that today, when he ordered his crew to not blow up the pirate escape pod, he had surprised himself as well as everyone else. What was it about this one pirate that made the captain spare his wretched life? Finding pirate life capsules in the edge of known space had never stopped him before, and Haze had a slight premonition that his officers knew that quite well. The captain had always been remorseless in his private campaign, destroying his chosen prey in a manner that was sometimes quite cold-blooded. They deserved nothing less for what they had done to him and his family...

Haze closed his eyes against the sudden torrent of memories that flooded his thoughts.

...His father smiling down in approval and pride as Darren showed him a particularly hard puzzle he had finished......his brother's loud laughter as Darren played the clown and jester, to keep his little sibling from crying....his mother singing softly to him, a lullaby to wash away his fears as the family hid from the unexpected invaders, her arms around him tightening a little in unconscious effort to protect her oldest child.....

He didn't want to remember them, he didn't need to; they were all etched on his soul in acid. Haze gritted his teeth and grimaced for a moment, but he was otherwise stony-faced, his eyes not even glimmering. He had run out of tears a long time ago, when his rescuers had found a dry-eyed little boy sitting perfectly still in his last hiding place. They assumed he was in shock, but Haze had drained away the last of his tears watching his family die right in front of him. The captain methodically closed the doors to every painful memory, locking them away deep inside, where they were not supposed to escape from.

There is something I'm missing here, Haze thought, ignoring his emotions again there has to be a logical reason to why I must interrogate him. The captain did not trust his feelings but he always trusted his instincts, and they were telling him there was something more to this situation than he thought. Perhaps Tail knew the location of the pirate homeworld, the place that was a safe haven for criminals and was also, so far, impossible to find. Most people thought it was only a rumor, but it was too much of a risk to dismiss out of hand. It would hurt no one to ask the pirate its location. Except maybe the pirate.
That must be it. No sense wasting time. Haze got up again and left the room, leaving a barely-touched cup of tea to grow cold on his chair.

Captain Haze moved like a dark spirit through the ship's corridors, giving a brief nod to the brig guards who snapped to attention when they saw him approach.

"Any problems?" Haze asked quietly. One of the stiff-spined guards cleared his throat nervously and spoke up.

"Um, not really, sir. The prisoner just seems to be yelling a lot, uh, cursing, sir." The youth somewhat trailed off, seeming to be a little disconcerted by the strength of the captain's gaze, even when it was merely idle. Haze nodded a little absently and entered the prison room.

Keeping his gaze from the pirate for a moment, the captain turned and dismissed the interior guards. They gave him a slightly doubtful look that faded as they remembered it was the captain who was asking. He would be fine, capable of dealing with any situation. The guards left the room without even a backwards glance.

Haze turned towards the prisoner and studied him for a long while, maintaining his cool silence. Tail seemed to have been sent through the phaser cleanser but had somehow managed to keep his sparkly blue outfit with him, which wasn't exactly normal prison uniform. He moved in and out of the shadows of the cell, pacing back and forth. The prisoner strongly resembled a captured wolf, his lean frame filled with pent-up energy and implied strength.

Haze was about to conclude he was oblivious to everything when Tail suddenly stopped, glowering at the captain.

"Come to gloat over your prize, have you?" the prisoner muttered resentfully. Haze's lips quirked into a cold smile.

"Not at all. You're not much of a prize, much too gaunt and scruffy, pirate." he replied sardonically. Tail's eyes blazed and he started forward angrily, only to rebound against the forcefield. This brought on a frenzy of curses as the pirate struggled to his feet, fighting off the electrical shock. The captain waited out the verbal storm patiently.
A discreet little beeping caught his attention and Haze turned his attention away from Tail for a moment. He tapped his comlink button.

"Yes?"

"Sir, the scanners have detected an unknown anomaly in the area. It resembles an Earth hurricane somewhat but we cannot tell what it really is from this distance. What are your orders, captain?" The helmsman Colbsone politely inquired.

Haze's brow furrowed a little in confusion. An unknown anomaly? They may be in a far off region of space but it was charted territory. No mention of any anomalies, known or unknown.

"Move in closer. Study this 'space hurricane.' Report your findings as they come." The captain replied thoughtfully. He turned off the comlink and looked again at the pirate prisoner, who was once again scrowling at him.

"You don't happen to know anything about this, do you, pirate?" Haze asked lightly. Tail rolled his eyes and made a rude noise.

"You're outta your tree, captain. Why the hell should I know anything bout a stupid space blip?" The prisoner answered scornfully, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well," Haze continued in that same light tone, "it seems a little suspicious to find a lone pirate floating quietly around a unknown space twist. Makes one wonder why that pirate is there in the first place, perhaps he's consorting with his fellows plasma-eaters to some foul end."

"WHAT?!?" Tail exclaimed angrily "You are fucking nuts! If you must know, Captain Suspicious, my fucking spaceship broke, life support died and I didn't feel like dying with it! I got in the fucking pod, turning the fucking thing on and floated for god knows how long to god knows where, only to have you brass space goofs pick me up and shove me in this fucking box!" The pirate had moved as close to the forcefield as he dared, fairly radiating hostility.

Haze frowned and was preparing to make a sharp retort when another beeping from his comlink button interrupted him, somehow sounding urgent. Keeping one eye on the enraged pirate, who had a rather vicious and mad gleam in his eyes, the captain answered.

"What is it now?" he demanded impatiently. But, to his surprise and alarm, the first thing he heard was a loud crackle. Comlink never crackles.

"Sir! We have a big -crackle-lem, we gotten -crackle-oo close and having problems pulling away from -crackle- the storm's gravity!" Haze could hear the nervous tinge to the helmsman's voice. The captain cursed under his breath.

"Siphon all available power to the engines. Reinforce shielding." He replied tersely. But as soon as he had signed off, the ship shuddered and shook, making frightening wrenching sounds and almost causing Tail and Haze to fall over. Lights flickered on and off so fast that Haze almost missed it.

"Captain!" came the helmsman's voice again, the nervous tinge deepening into a full panic that coloured his words. " We've -CRACKLE-een struck -CRACKLE- large lash -CRACKLE- lightening! -CRACKLE- Massive pow-CRACKLE- failures! -CRACKLE- free of -CRACKLE-orm but -CRACKLE- dead! Everything -CRACKLE- -CRACKLE-!!!" The transmission abruptly cut off with a last long crackle. Haze watched as the lights began to flicker with longer intervals between power restoration. And, as he turned to check on the prisoner, Haze stared in alarm as the gold forcefield wavered then disappeared with a weak blip!

Tail leapt at the captain like a tightly-coiled spring, like he had been waiting for such an opportunity. He crashed into Haze before the captain knew what was happening. They fell to the ground and the pirate got his hands around Haze's neck and began to squeeze.
Haze tried to break Tail's hold but he had been taken completely by surprise and couldn't move effectively under the prisoner's iron grip. His thrashing started to weaken and the captain's vision was filled with stars and coloured flashes. Things began to go black and his mind went chaotic.

"Let..me..go," Haze managed in a strangled whisper " let..me..go..dan.."
Tail's eyes went wide as saucers and he let go of the captain like he had been burnt. He stared in shock at Haze.

"What did you say??" the pirate demanded incredulously. But Haze was already unconscious.

He was standing in front of someone. Someone familiar. Haze stood puzzled for a moment, then realized it was his younger brother. But he was all grown up now, taller than Haze but with similar features. And those features were contorted with anger and sadness. They stared each other down for a long while, Haze feeling confused and his brother looking more angry by the second.
"You've forgotten me, haven't you?" His brother said quietly, his voice full of accusation. Haze gaped at him and struggled to reply.
"N-no! I can never forget you! All of you, I think of you everyday! Haven't you seen the vengeance I've done, for you and Mum and Dad?"
His brother merely looked at him with despair and frustration.
"Death is never the answer, Darren. I never asked you to do this. To kill unknowing people, regardless of who they really are.." he said sadly, turning away from Haze and crossing his arms over his chest. Haze was at a loss for words. He gawked at his brother's unrelenting back.
"But they deserved it. Who they are doesn't matter. That justice is served does matter. Nothing else." he finally managed, trying to maintain his normal calm, to recapture pain that wanted out.
"Oh, Darren," his brother whispered, turning around again "what have they done to you? I can barely recognize you!" he searched Haze's face intently, desperately. Haze also stared, for his brother's face had changed. The grey eyes and dark hair were gone. But Haze wasn't sure who it was, even though he knew it wasn't a complete stranger. The person's face grew anguished.
"Why can't you remember me?"......

Haze woke slowly, trying to sort out where he was. What had happened. He vaguely remembered a dream, talking to his brother, but not his brother...
Haze blinked but otherwise still didn't move. Something was wrong with his body, he hurt all over. Especially his neck.
At that thought, the events that led to his loss of consciousness came flooding back and Haze quickly sat up from the sprawl he had been laying in. He cautiously looked around him but Tail was on the other side of the room.
He had a chance to kill me but he didn't. I wonder why.

The captain used this time as an opportunity to study the sleeping pirate without him knowing. Tail's face was relaxed, erasing lines of stress, made him look a lot younger and less hardened. A youngster playing make-believe by wearing an eyepatch. He looked exhausted but his colour was improving: his skin was faintly tanned and his hair appeared more healthy, looked less brown and more blond. Tail was still rather thin but his well-muscled body told Haze that it was not a result of starvation or sleep-capsule.

Eventually Haze turned away and quietly walked to the nearest vidscreen. It flickered uncertainly once in a while but otherwise seemed to work fine. He checked how extensive the damage was and the findings were grim indeed. No life signs could be found anywhere on the ship. Engines were down. Almost all power was down. Life-support was fairly functional and, miraculously, now only worked on their level. All other levels were sealed off because of hull breaches or system failures. Ironic that the prison, designed to best keep people in it, not out, was the most secure and protected spot on the whole ship. There was only the two of them left on the entire ship, and who knew how long they could survive before help arrived. They were, after all, in the outermost regions of space.

Haze rested his forehead on the cool plastic of the screen and tried to think.
I'm stuck with a lawless pirate who almost killed me once already.
A faint noise behind him caused Haze to spin around and both men froze in defensive postures, Tail caught in the middle of getting up. The captain's hand went to his phaser and the pirate's hands went up at the same time. Neither of them moved, eyes cautiously watching each other.

"Look, you daft bugger," Tail said quietly after a long moment "I was just sitting up, that's what people do when they wake up. I'd like to put my arms down now."

Haze regarded him silently then slowly began to take his hands off the gun. The tall pirate relaxed and lowered his arms, idly shaking them. Haze offered no apology and continued to watch Tail with suspicion. The pirate was halfway to the food replicator when he turned and grimaced at Haze.

"Would you stop looking at me like I'm gonna escape or kill you!" he exclaimed.

"You already tried to kill me, remember? What stopped you last time?" Haze replied dryly. To the captain's surprise, Tail went white for a brief moment, then recovered and shrugged.

"You know how this ship works," the pirate said nonchalantly "You could be useful, no reason to kill you."

"That didn't stop you before!" Haze replied heatedly, feeling the bruises on his neck. Haze watched Tail clench his fists and flush with anger.

"That's because I was sick you acting all high-and-mighty, looking down your nose at me, you arrogant prick! Do you treat everyone else like worms or was I just lucky today?" the pirate taunted. Haze eyes lit with cold fury and he was at the Tail's throat in a second, slamming his balled fist into the pirate's jaw. Tail staggered back then scrambled up and threw himself at Haze. The two of them exchanged blows, shoving and struggling, but both felt a strange reluctance to do any serious injury to each other. Abruptly they broke it off and leaned against a nearby wall, glaring at each other and breathing heavily, filled with frustration.

"You cunt. You have it so fucking easy," Tail rasped out of the blue, wiping blood off a small cut on his lip. "Everything handed to you on a silver platter. You think I enjoy creeping around the edges of space? That I get some sort of thrill out of 'plundering' and taking only what people don't want?"
Haze stared at him for a moment, then laughed; a sickly laugh, totally devoid of any real humor.
"Yes, my life was so terribly easy," he replied with a mirthless smile. "it was so easy cramming myself into ventilation tunnels, staying perfectly still even though your seven-year-old's muscles are yelling at you for relief, but movement meant death. It was no task at all to watch my belongings and memories get brutally destroyed only for the chance that they might be worth something to your pirate brothers and sisters. And it was so very easy to watch my family die one by one, tortured and dying slowly, crying out to me that everything will be alright BUT I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP THEM!" Haze closed his eyes and tried to calm down. But Tail's voice startled him into opening them again.

"They were not my brothers and sisters," he said bitterly "I've never had a family. I've been alone longer than you have, you lucky bastard." Tail paused for a moment wipe a little more blood from the clotting wound on his lip.

"You're not the only one who's suffered through misery, you know. So quit acting like you have some right to act all pretentious to the rest of us, like you won a fucking medal or something. Cos everyone's got one just like you."
And with that, Tail closed his eyes and turned his back to Haze.

Things had been quiet for so long that the lean pirate finally got curious and slowly turned back around. To his surprise, Tail found that the captain had slipped off into sleep again. An uneasy sleep, judging from the little frown line between his eyebrows.
Not too surprising, considering you almost strangled him then tried to beat him up.
Tail crushed that little sympathetic voice with irritation. Why the hell couldn't he just hate the man across from him? Things would be a lot easier if he could.

But that was the point of the matter; beyond the first wave of blinding anger, Tail was finding it increasingly hard to just be mad at Captain Haze. Especially when he was distracted more and more by a vague feeling of recollection about the man sleeping nearby.

Of course, I know him by reputation, every pirate does, whether the talk about him with scorn or fear. But his face, so very familiar, yet I've never met him in person before...
Tail's gaze wandered to Haze's face, studying his features and trying to puzzle out the sense of knowing the captain. While he slept, Haze let down his defenses and his face was not the cold mask he showed the rest of the world. He looked almost unbearably young, with his full lips, that women would have called sensuous, slightly open and his long dark eyelashes laying upon his pale cheeks. His short, almost savagely cut black hair seemed out of place with his childlike face.

Haze stirred slightly and Tail realized that was because he himself had started humming again. Ever since he had found himself on Captain Haze's ship, Tail had found his thoughts filled with melodies that were both achingly familiar and totally foreign. The tall pirate had never considered himself musical, though he never really knew for sure; he had never found any need to try to compose. But Tail had never heard music like the stuff in his head in any port or spaceship. Was his mind unconsciously creating it? But why now? Bugger it, what is with this ship that's messing with my mind? Maybe a gas pipe cracked when we were hit.

Tail absently ran a hand through his spiky hair and looked around the fairly small room. The scar on his face, poorly hidden behind a gaudy eyepatch, was beginning to ache, telling the pirate that he was stressing out. Tail grimaced and gently massaged the old wound. He hadn't been kidding when he said his life wasn't easy, the laser scar had taken much too long to heal and had never really healed properly in the first place.
I can't stand it. I don't want to be in this room with him any longer. I need out.
The pirate got up as quietly as he could and began feeling the walls of the room, trying to find a loose panel or poorly-shod joint. He began tapping lightly, looking for hollow places that he could somehow drill through.

"Leaving here won't get you very far," Haze said in a calm voice without opening his eyes, causing Tail to whirl around in startlement. "this is the only deck that functions and has life support. Everything and everyone else is dead."
A cold chill ran down Tail's spine.
Everything and everyone else is dead.

The pirate could only stare at Haze for a long time, before shaking himself like a dog shedding water. The captain watched with slight amazement as a look of panic spread across Tail's face before the pirate spun around and looked resolutely at nothing.
A spacer with a case of claustrophobia. What a concept.
But no, that really didn't fit what Haze had gathered about Tail. There was something he was missing. Something vital.
While Haze mulled it over, the pirate began pacing again, that same caged-wolf stalk, back and forth.

It was unlikely that Tail was afraid of dying, not with an occupation like his. Also, unless the replicators and converters became damaged, they could live indefinitely in their room. Everything, water and waste, would be recycled. Not a pleasant concept but neither was being cooped up in a small room with a stranger for an unknown amount of time.
At least I think he's a stranger. I could have sworn I've met him before. But since when do I ever converse with pirates long enough for them to survive the encounter?

"Dammit I need a drink," Tail suddenly muttered, swinging around to the replicator and ordering a cold beer.
He always did like to drink in times of stress, came the amused and indulgent thought in Haze's head, without warning. The captain struggled to not let any of his shock show on his face.
How do I know that? It took a lot to rattle Haze but this whole feeling of deja vu and familiarity with a complete stranger was rather unnerving.

"What is wrong with you?" came the unexpected question from Tail, only a little sulkily. Haze blinked and frowned at the pirate.

"Nothing." he answered coldly. Tail snorted and lazily sat down again, slowly gulping down his beer.

"You can cut the robot-man, I-feel-no-pain shit, cos I'm not buying it. Either your ice-face is melting or you've decided to act human for a bit," he drawled in reply.

"Oh, like your gritty, amoral, macho-man pirate gruff is any more realistic," Haze retorted, feeling not quite stung.
Dammit I never cared before what anybody thought. Why does his opinion of me bother me so much? Haze was starting to feel irritated with himself and the situation. Trying to cover his irritation, the captain got up and walked over to the replicators. He also ordered a drink but his was merely mineral water, not alcohol. Haze didn't like the loss of control that came from drinking beer.

The captain decided the best way to keep his composure would be to distract himself with a task of some sort. Perhaps first-hand investigation of the ship-deck was in order.
With Tail watching him curiously, Haze walked over to the brig doors and tried the verbal opening command. No response. He opened a hidden panel by the left door's side, pressed a series of buttons and, after a few minutes of waiting, the doors complainingly opened. Haze turned to see Tail gaping at him slightly, and the captain's lips quirked into a small smile before he could stop them.

"You think a captain wouldn't know the dirty secrets of his own ship?" he asked in an amused tone before walking out the door.

A slightly uneasy truce seemed to have appeared between the two men; Tail did not seem to be looking for ways to do the captain in and Haze didn't seem to care what Tail did anymore. It was not a relaxation of awareness, merely a step down in alertness, for it was very stressful and hard to be on guard all the time.

They wandered around the width and length of the ship, looking into empty rooms and avoiding the dead bodies which seemed to be, luckily, very few. There also seemed to be very few useful things lying about; apart from the brig, the deck they were on was merely full of the normal engine equipment and other assorted maintenance objects. The only other thing on their deck that was interesting was the one-person escape pod. Perhaps wisely, both men avoided talking or thinking about the pod; Tail wasn't ready to back into one and Haze didn't want to abandon his ship just yet.

So they drifted through the next few days, trying to make use of run-of-the-mill, mechanical pieces, eating when they felt hungry and falling into uneasy sleep only when fatigue caught up with them. Days on a spaceship are not really days; there is no sun to make daytime and no horizon to signal nightfall. The tension level rose again, but not for the same reasons; the unspoken treaty between captain and pirate still held. No, it seemed to the two men that their ship was haunted. Not by real phantoms but by phantom memories, thoughts and feelings. Certain emotions would pop up in irrelevant situations and faint past remembrances that had never been remembered before would startle both of them. They never spoke of these phantoms, but each could see the brief look of fright that passed on the other's face, in turn making each other more nervous as time passed. Madness in such close quarters meant eventual harm or death.

Finally, about 5 days later, Tail snapped under the pressure. He and Haze had been vainly trying to piece together some sort of communication device, something more to pass the time than any real hope of rescue, when Tail suddenly cried out angrily and flung an offending bit of machinery across the room. Wanting to sob in frustration, the pirate let himself fall to the ground and pulled his arms around his knees, oblivious to the wary and watchful stance Haze had taken behind him.

"Fuck, I hate this ship," Tail muttered unevenly, letting his growing blond hair fall into his green-blue eyes. Pushed by some inner prompting, the captain careful moved closer until he was beside Tail but not very close. That same inner prompting told Haze he should pat him on the shoulder in sympathy but their grudging friendship was too new for that. Also, a part of Haze, embedded deep down, still warned him again such trust or reaching. Still, the pirate needed to be pushed back from the brink of going mad.

"I must agree, this ship has been a bit of a nuisance lately," Haze said in a purposely off-hand way, causing Tail to throw a quick, confused look in the captain's direction. But that comment had shaken the tall pirate out of his dangerous trance. Tail relaxed marginally and managed a weak grin in Haze's direction. That startled both of them, neither had felt relaxed or amiable enough to make any friendly gestures towards each other, until now.

Tail stood up quickly and brushed imaginary dust from his shirt, not liking his instinctive wanting to let down his guard around Haze. He needed some time alone, to figure himself out and try to repair his emotional shields. The captain wasn't the only who preferred to wear a mask.

"I'm going to doze off for a while. Maybe I will be able to stand this pile of scrap better after." Tail said shortly. Haze nodded his agreement and went back to trying to sort metal, leaving Tail free to leave. Shaking his head slightly, the pirate strode out of the room.

Haze continued his efforts for a while longer, alternately humming and muttering curses. The curses were for the humming, which seemed to resume every time Haze stopped paying attention to it. He couldn't seem to stop it and any loss of control made Haze a little irritated. He was also a little bothered by the fact that he could almost recognize the tunes he was humming, but it was rather like seeing a familiar face but having their name escape you entirely.
Eventually, the captain put down the electronic piece he had been fiddling with and sat thinking.

Maybe Tail is right and this ship haunted by musical ghosts, trying to drive us out of our minds. Or maybe the 'space hurricane' did this to us. Too many possibilities.
Haze sighed and let his mind go blank, hoping the answer just might come to him. Then he froze, as a faint, unrecognizable noise floated towards him. Haze strained his ears, trying to figure out where the sound is coming from. It sounded like someone was whimpering.
Wait, there is no one on this ship anymore except for myself and Tail....Tail!

Haze pulled himself up and quickly but quietly made his way to where Tail was sleeping. Peering through the doorway, Haze tried to make sense of what he was seeing. The pirate was thrashing on the board bed, his face full of terror but his eyes tightly shut. And indeed the sounds of distress were coming from Tail, cries filled with denial and alarm.

He's having a nightmare! Haze realized. Without thinking about his actions, the captain moved forward and began to shake Tail by the shoulders, wondering what horrible dreams could produce such fear in a hardened pirate. Suddenly the pirate's eyes flew open and he sat up, panting in huge, gulping breaths. He closed his eyes again for a moment and shivered, then opened them again.
Tail turned his gaze in Haze's direction and stared at him in apparent confusion, which in turn confused Haze. The pirate blinked and hesitantly cleared his throat, still staring at Haze.

"Daz?" he breathed, his voice sounding young with wonder and confusion.

Time seemed to slow as Haze was frozen by that one word.

Reality itself seemed to quiver as two parts of Haze's soul became aware of each other, a feeling both meltingly sweet and shudderingly painful. Something cracked and fell apart inside him, a sound like ice shattering in a blaze, like doors being wrenched off their hinges, like crying out into the depths of personal darkness. Haze closed his eyes and trembled as he was caught up in a sudden torrent of memories, happy times and feelings that the captain had never felt before.

...He was in fine form tonight, his voice sounding pure and true, everything blending in perfection. He was totally in his element, smiling down at ecstatic fans twisting and jumping with the beat of the music. He turned and grinned at his guitared partner, who grinned in reply, threw his head back and laughed in sheer pleasure of the moment....

Haze grimaced and covered the ears of his lowered head with his hands, in a futile effort to stop the frightening flow of memories. But still they came.

...He sat contented in his seat, soothed by the quiet hum of the plane. It had been a busy week, recording and writing, but very rewarding. A small snore caught his attention and he turned am amused eye in the direction of his sleeping companion. Smiling, he fondly watched his friend as he slouched in his seat, looking somewhat rumpled and squashed because of his tall and lanky form. Chuckling, he turned on his walkman and joined his friend in slumber...

He tried to stagger away from Tail but only managed to fall backwards. Haze somehow crawled into a corner and curled up with his back to the room, shivering with his mouth hung slightly open in shock.
No no no! This cannot be me! I never did these things! Haze closed his eyes even tighter in denial. But then he felt a hesitant hand on his shoulder and turned unwillingly, found himself face to face with a frightened Tail. The pirate looked to be almost in the same condition as himself, Haze could see him fighting things that flickered in his eyes. But Tail seemed to be more worried about Haze than himself and the captain felt another memory surfacing at the pirate's concerned look, a remembrance stronger than all the past ones. Haze half-sobbed as it struck him.

...He blinked in surprise and looked down at the small decorated package in his lap. His blond friend sat beside him, fidgeting with nervousness.
"Go ahead, open it," his friend said impatiently, poking the present a little. He looked at the blond man in confusion.
"You didn't have to get me a present, it's only my birthday," he said awkwardly. His friend merely snorted and urged him again to open it.
It was a pair of tickets. For Australia. His partner smiled in satisfaction.
"See, you can go home for a visit. You can go see your mum and family. I'll come too, it'll be a real birthday bash!" he said proudly.
He blinked rapidly as he felt his eyes well with tears. He had been so very homesick lately but felt it was his responsibility to finish their tour. Now he could go home.
Immediately his friend's happy look turned to a concerned one.
"Darren, are you ok?" he asked worriedly, putting his hands on Darren's shoulders. Darren wiped away his tears and smiled tremendously at his partner.
"Yeah, Dan, I'm fine. I'm better than fine. This is the best present I've ever gotten. You are too good to me, Dan!" Daniel smiled even wider than Darren and put his arm around Darren affectionately.
"Darren, you're my best friend in the world. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. You totally deserve this." ....

Haze felt like his heart was breaking into a million tiny, jagged pieces. Anything that was left of his composure or cold mask had been horribly shredded beyond repair. Everything was painfully crystal clear to him now, things falling into place in horrible crunches. All he could do was hug his knees and sob his misery out, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

My best friend! Daniel was my best friend! And now he's Tail, the pirate. And I'm Captain Haze, the ruthless killer of pirates.
I almost killed him! My Best Friend!
I'M A MONSTER!!
What happened to me? I used to be a singer, songwriter, entertainer, Daniel was my partner, My Other Half! We created, not destroyed!

Haze felt wracked with self-loathing. A part of him ached, like an old, deep wound, for the idyllic life he had lead. A life that was lost to him now, leaving him with only regret and despair. Haze felt scalding tears run down his face, tasted saltiness of them and the lip he had bitten through. Ironic that the first time Haze had cried since he was young be for a time that child had never seen. He whimpered and tried to curl into a tighter ball, tried to disappear from the harsh reality he had been struck by.
Your life is a lie, Mr. Haze, said the younger part of him, the innocent pop-star, bewildered at what he had become A legacy of revenge, not justice, is all you have now. Are you proud of what you've accomplished?
If he could have mustered the energy, Haze would have grabbed his phaser and bolted his brain then and there. But he failed to do even that, only able to lie in a tangled heap of agony, vainly holding his breath and wishing for his heart to cease beating.

Stop beating, damn you. Let me die now, I can't stand what I am.

"No," came a quiet voice beside him, almost as if Haze had said his wish out loud. Startled, Haze opened his eyes to find them met by a pair of determined green-blue ones, eyes that seemed to be made up layers and depths. He was surprised to see the same layers shone out of his own eyes, reflected in Tail's as the pirate knelt over him.

"I won't lose you again. Not after losing you for so long," Tail said calmly, firmly. Haze weakly tried to reach for his phaser but Tail beat him to it, quickly flinging the gun across the room.

"Dammit, Daniel why won't you let me die?? I'm a fucking killing machine! You almost killed me before, why can't you just finish me off now?!?" Haze wailed angrily, missing the startled look on Tail's face at the use of his old name. Still lying prone on the floor of the corner of the room, Haze moaned and covered his face with still-shaking hands.
But once again Tail interfered with his misery, pulling Haze's hands away from his face gently.

"Listen to me, Darren," the pirate said steadily "you didn't know who I was, I didn't know who you were. Nobody did, how could they? We both have done things we couldn't have stopped, actions that we can't change now."
Haze watched a flash of regret and sadness pass over Tail's face.

"I've also done things I'm not proud of but I didn't know better. Our souls may stay the same but it is our lives that shape us," Tail finished softly. Haze shook his head and spoke bitterly.

"Daniel, I killed people! Murdered them. I didn't even have the decency to give them a fighting chance! Death in cold blood and knifes in the dark is all I've ever known! It... is..no..one's...fault...but..my...own!" Haze was sobbing again, thoughts of his vengeance jarring against the innocent memories of his past life, like salt in a wound.

Then Tail was beside him, gathering him up in an embrace of comfort. Burying his face into the pirate's chest, Darren cried broken-heartedly, like the child whose tears that had been locked away for so long, now finally given freedom.

"They didn't deserve to die," Haze murmured sadly, words made indistinct by Tail's shirt. "I did."
He wasn't even sure if he meant the pirates or his own family.
In response, Tail merely tightened his arms around the softly-crying figure and lulled his inconsolable partner to sleep, dulling his agony with the warmth of his newly-remembered love and friendship.

The room where the pirate had been resting in was once again quiet. Haze had fallen into a doze, though it looked more like he had passed out than succumbed to fatigue. Tail still sat in the corner by the board-bed, with Haze's heavy weight leaning on him. The pirate didn't want to move, didn't want to rob Haze of his escape from the real world, no matter how tiny or fleeting it may be. He slowly smoothed the captain's dark hair with one hand, trying to soothe the pain the seemed to follow Haze even into slumber.
It had been harrowing for Tail too; waking up in an utter daze and suddenly remembering who Haze really was. And being too dream-muddled to realize that it really wasn't Darren anymore. Not as Daniel had known him. But then again he wasn't exactly Daniel anymore either.

It really had been too much at once. More than a person should ever have to deal with in one lifetime, let alone all at once. It was having intimate thoughts you didn't know you had shoved into your cortex, like being caught in a ferocious flood, like finding yourself stuck in a sort of Clockwork Orange movie.
Not that Tail really knew what Clockwork Orange was. But Daniel did.
Tail sighed quietly, still trying to adjust to the concept of having two sets of memories. Memories that didn't always get along. No wonder Haze had collapsed in shock. It must have been like tossing a bucket of acid on a passing innocent.
But Darren was always the more sensitive one. And he always felt things deeply, never half-heartedly. Must make for feelings and memories that seem to have a life of their own. A life where Darren could never seem himself ever doing the things he's done in this one. He was always his own worst critic.
Tail regarded his limp companion and shook his head faintly.
Poor Darren, he thought sadly, memories are designed to fade, or else we could never live our lives fully. No one was meant to remember everything with such clarity.
It's not surprising he built such a icy wall around himself. But is it really better to avoid any pain by feeling nothing at all?

Tail sighed again with resignation, shifting his weight slightly in an effort to feel a little more comfortable. Haze muttered unintelligibly and rolled on his side, moving slightly closer to the pirate in reaction to an unconcious fear of being alone again. Tail's heart melted at the sight and he let the captain settle again.
I may not have any answers to all of this but I will not let Darren get hurt again. I won't lose him again, like I did the last time. I can protect him from all of this and from himself. What else could I do for my best mate?

Haze woke up slowly, rubbing gritty eyes and blinking slowly. He was in an unfamiliar position and he tried to make his muddled mind work properly, tried to figure out what was going on. Haze glanced up and grew still, realizing that he was reclined against Tail's chest. Bracing himself, the captain managed not to wince as he remembered what had happened to the both of them, remembered the memories that had struck them down.
No, they only struck me down. Daniel to have adjusted well enough, he doesn't seem to hate himself , Haze thought a little sadly. But he didn't think anything Tail had done was as awful as what the captain himself had done.

Haze's thoughts kept turning inward, comparing and reliving memories like someone with a loose tooth: it hurt to push it but you just had to do it anyway. It was hard not to be ashamed of himself; Haze had thought he was strong, that he was ready for anything but it had taken so little to knock him down. Tail should have, rightly, viewed him with disgust at his crumbling but for some reason all Haze had seen in Tail's green-blue eyes was concern and understanding. It was a little bewildering.

What did I do to deserve such a loyal friend? A friendship of a past life would be so easy to disregard but Daniel doesn't want to. His friendship now is the only thing that kept me from sending a bolt to my brain.
Haze mulled that over for a while, trying not to wake up a sleeping Tail. He wanted to repay Tail somehow, to give something back, for he felt so guilty at the price his life had taken on others, on the pirate beside him that Haze had almost killed.

I must be crushing Daniel with my weight, I should get up Haze decided, moving slowly in order not to jostle Tail. But the minute he lifted his body away, Tail's eyes flashed open and focused on the captain. Both men sat perfectly still without moving, studying each other and absorbing how different their situation was now. Realizing that they were once again together but their partnership was not what it once was. Nothing could ever be like it was before.

"Gods, Daniel I've missed you." Haze whispered and realized it was true. He had always been filled with a void in his soul, an ache so old and eternal it had always been the background noise of his spirit. Haze had thought it was all from his family's death but it was from missing his other half and not even knowing it.

Tail smiled tentatively and Haze felt himself smile in return, something the captain could not remember doing since he was little. Their smiles were silent messages, reassuring each other so that Haze felt a small ember of happiness flicker within him. Not much, but enough.

Haze got up and walked over to the replicator and ordered two chocolate nutrient bars. He offered one to Tail, who took it with a grateful grin. The two of them sat in companionable silence while they ate, taking simple pleasure from doing a such a normal thing together. But both of them secretly knew that they were merely stalling for time, reluctant to bring up the one thing that had a big impact on their lives. Namely, how exactly were they going to get home? Neither of them was looking forward to living out a lifetime in a broken tomb of a spaceship.

Tail cleared his throat and hesitantly said, "Darren, what are we going to do now? How are we going to get off this ship? Is it possible we can get it running again?"
Haze merely shook his head and sighed.

"There really is no way we can," he said regretfully, "the brig was purposely put on a deck without any navigation or engine rooms so that escaped criminals couldn't easily take over the ship."

Tail digested this in silence, looking around the room absently. Then he perked up and ran out the room back into the one filled with amassed equipment, Haze dutifully following behind him.

"There must be something we something we can do with this stuff!" Tail exclaimed "We could make something to fix the ship or even get off it." He began energetically rummaging through the chaos of junk.

"Dan, we have been going through this stuff for a week, there is nothing we can do with it." Haze replied a little impatiently. Tail stopped his search and turn to face the unmoving captain.

"So what can we do then, Darren?" the pirate demanded, putting his hands on his hips.
Haze seemed to hesitate, then answered.

"We do have that one-man space pod," he said softly. Tail stared at him for a long moment then began to shake his head quickly.

"If you are implying that I should take the pod, you can forget it." Tail said sternly "I'm not leaving you here!" Darren gave him an exasperated look and bent down, idly sorting out some pipes and gears that lay on the floor.

"Daniel, one of us needs to get out of this alive, you have experience with space pods." he replied.

"Yeah, one almost killed me! If anyone should go, it would be you, Darren. You are in better shape than I and have a better chance of surviving," Tail retorted, somewhat angrily.

"No, Dan," Haze said quietly, "you would survive. You were always stronger than I am. You would live."

"Who says I would want to live?" Tail answered bitterly "How could I live with myself after knowing I've abandoned you? You have a future to return to, Darren, you're a famous and successful captain. I'm just a scruffy space pirate leeching off a society of innocent people. Nobody will miss me." The pirate turned away with his shoulder's stooped dispiritedly.

In a blinding flash of insight, Haze knew what he had to do. He silently stood up and advanced on Tail, and before the pirate knew what was happening, Haze carefully struck Tail in the back of his head. The tall man slid bonelessly to the floor without a sound and Haze gently picked him up.

"You're wrong, Daniel," he said sadly, his eyes shiny with tears, "I'm going to miss you."

Tail opened his eyes and came to life groggily, groaning in pain and scrambling to get up. After a few tries, the pirate managed to get to his feet and look blearily around.
Wha's goin' on? Tail wondered, his thoughts all fuzzy. Last thing I 'member was talkin' to Darren and arguin'

Wincing, Tail reached to the back of his head and gingerly touched a large goose-egg on his scalp.
That explains how I passed out, Tail decided, his thoughts becoming clearer question now is how exactly did I get it?
He looked around the room, realizing that he wasn't familiar with this part of the ship. Had he somehow gotten to another deck? Shaking his head, Tail concluded that wasn't possible, there was only one deck still functioning on the otherwise dead ship. The room he was in was very small, consisting of an odd contraption and door with a small, round window.

I know where I am, Tail thought, suddenly feeling cold I'm in the space pod. Darren must have knocked me out then dragged me in here!
Flinging himself towards the window, Tail desperately peered into it and gave a little sigh of relief when he saw that the pod was still attached to the spaceship. A shadow passed in front of the window and Tail realized that Haze was now looking into the pod.

"Darren, let me out of here!" Tail demanded. Haze smiled an odd, sad smile and shook his head slightly.

"Nice to see you're up. I can't let you out Daniel, you are going to use this pod to get home," Haze said calmly.

"I don't want to go home, Darren, I want to stay here with you!" Tail shouted "You're the only thing that really matters in my life, I have nothing to go back to!" He began pacing the small floor of the pod, with that caged-wolf gait that tugged at Haze's heart with it's familiarity.

"Daniel, I have to do this, I have to make up for all the wrong I've done to this world. For all the deaths I caused and could have prevented." Haze said steadily, keeping his face close to the window, his eyes following Tail's every move. "I owe this to you for all the love and friendship you've shown me. You saved me from despair and showed me the world is not completely ruthless. You helped me to learn to care again, even after I almost killed you. What better way can I repay you than to save your life?"

Tail spun around and threw himself again at the window, trying to get as close to Haze as he could.
"DAMMIT, DARREN I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!" Tail roared, his face filled with anguish "I lost you the first time and I cannot abandon you after searching for you for so long and finally finding you! I need you and I can't let you do this to yourself! LET. ME. OUT." The pirate pounded on the doorway with his fists, causing the frame to shudder slightly under the impact. Haze watched him try to get out with a wistful, sad look on his face but didn't move from his spot.

"I can't let you out, Daniel" Haze said softly, "You are not abandoning me. I'm sorry you lost me the first time but that wasn't your fault. That was a whole lifetime ago. Please go sit in the sleep capsule. Please."

Tail stubbornly didn't move, bracing himself against the doorway and staring Haze down through the window. Stared at his best friend whose eyes were filled with entreaty and sadness but also resolution.

"Please, Daniel," Haze said coaxingly, "For my sake, please do what I ask. This will be my last request, the last thing I want from you."

Shaking with emotion, Tail slowly gave in to Haze's plea and backed up, lowering himself to the seat of the sleep capsule. He watched Haze's arm move as the captain typed in the commands to start up the sleep capsule process but otherwise he didn't move, his eyes glued on Tail. The pirate knew he had little time before he was taken into oblivion.

"Darren, I don't want to leave you." Tail whispered at last, tears slipping unheeded down his despairing face. Haze smiled once again that sad smile and shook his head.

"You never will, Daniel, you'll always be right here." Haze replied warmly, tapping the space over his heart. "I'll keep you there forever, I can never forget a friend like you. I love you, Dan."

Biting his lip, Tail nodded, "I love you too."

Haze pressed another button and the pod began to float away slowly from the ship. Tail fiercely fought against the chemicals trying to make him sleep as he struggled to watch Haze as long as he could. He saw the dark-haired captain raise his hand in farewell and Tail managed to lift his arm and do the same.

The last thing Tail saw before he succumbed to the capsule was the ship and its captain shrinking from view, being swallowed up by the void of uncaring stars. By the silence of space in all its cruelty. Then the world faded from view as Tail fell into a deep sleep, the tears on his face freezing into tiny crystals of despair.