On the Run XV

Sunrise could be dazzling on Paxus with all the glass and steel. Eric looked out over the Corporate sector from his glassed-in balcony, marveling as always at the view- the sky towers, the ever present traffic- and thought, not for the first time, how fortunate he was. Although, he had to admit, that fortune came with certain costs. Then again, it always does, right? He looked back at Anna, who was still asleep, and smiled. To think that after all they'd been through, the uncertainty and the risks, that they were here again. Home.

Two days ago they had been on Eridanus 4, on the other side of the galaxy- that alone blew his mind- and they stood on a beach in front of a gate that would take them home. If it worked properly. Neither Andreas nor Gillian were experts on gate-tech, and while he and Anna knew enough about how they worked from a field perspective, they relied on their handlers at Control to do the heavy lifting. And that was the problem- they were at the mercy of a team that had cut off contact, and who might even have been eliminated. Not a cheery thought.

In the end they made it through. Although not without a crisis at the last moment. Andreas had presented him and Anna with flex cuffs- they were his prisoners after all, and he was adamant they wear them.
"You've got to be kidding?" said Anna incredulously.

"You can go to hell," said Eric less diplomatically. It got a little unpleasant from there. Eric found himself looking at a pulse rifle, and the standoff was tense.
"You're going to have to shoot me if you want me to wear those," said Anna.
"That can be arranged," replied Gillian quietly.
In the end the flex cuffs went away and the four of them stepped through a gate that came alive with color. One moment they were on a beach with pink sand, as gentle waves rolled in from an unknown sea, and the next they were in a sterile, windowless room on Paxus. The welcoming committee consisted of a few familiar faces and a whole lot of pointed guns. Eric just sighed and raised his hands. Typical.

It was sorted out eventually, with Eric and Anna going into emergency debrief and Andreas leaving with the troopers. Andreas looked back once as he exited the room, but Eric couldn't be sure what the look signified. You never knew with him. He had been irritated when told that he and Anna were not to leave their quadrant- were they under house arrest?- but he had been assured it would all work out. And here they now were. Forced vacation. The one silver lining was that Moira hadn't been present. If no one knew she was involved then they still had a chance.

Moira knew more about gate-craft than anyone he knew, and he suspected it was her that had "found" him on that grass planet when he stood before a dormant gate, hoping it would awaken. With anyone else it would have been long odds, but Moira... she was something else again. The fact that she was involved at all told him they had patrons, otherwise she wouldn't have involved herself- but he didn't know enough about who those patrons might be. And Andreas' confidence had shaken him a bit- if whoever opposed them had sent a strike team with shoot-to-kill orders, who knew what they were facing?

Anna was up and came to the window, wrapping her arms around him. "Morning," she mumbled sleepily. "Are we really home, or am I dreaming?" He smiled. "If you're dreaming it, then I'm with you." "Mmm. So what's the plan?"
"Well, I'm thinking of going in today. This waiting is killing me."
"You know, they told us to sit tight. Give it some time, let things shake out. Maybe we should."
"I know, but you know me. I'm not good at waiting." Or letting other people fight my battles.
"Well it might inflame things if you show up. But I'm going with you, if you do."
"I expected no less," he smiled. "What I don't know is if someone is actively defending us, or if they're hanging us out and hoping it all goes away. And there are other teams. We've heard nothing."
"Yeah..." She looked like she was going to say more, but his comm chimed. His pulse spiked- was it news?- but when he reached the phone the call was anonymous. It was a short message.

"Watch your back."