The Evergreen Files: Banshee; Book One
Chapter Two

As the sun rose and cast its loving light across the mountains of the northern area of The United Kingdom, the birds cheerfully singing in a new day, Solomon awoke in his command chair, his head ringing with bells from his headache and his mouth dry as the deserts of Earth. Groaning in pain as his dehydrated body tried to move. His eyes aching inside their sockets with the simplest thought of movement. “Never...again...” he struggled to whisper, smiling to himself at the blatant lie. With his eyes still closed and his stomach churning, he tried to remember the night before, he suddenly remembered something very important: he suddenly had to vomit! Quickly looking around he noticed a medical bucket already at his side, Solomon vomited not so elegantly, whilst fighting a grin at the thoughtfulness of whoever had brought him the bucket as he drunkenly slept.

A sudden movement and zombie like groan could be heard from the second tier of consoles. Solomon had forgotten about Sandra. He assumed she had gone home but the rank smell of Solomon’s stomach contents made her do the exact same and found another bucket next to her, followed by three neatly lined large bottles of water each. “And how are you this fi-” Solomon had to stop and burp, to stop himself vomiting again “... this fine Sunday morning?” he asked whilst rubbing his aching eyes. The robot let out an almost human laugh before replying “I’m doing better than you, by the look of it, Solomon!” boasted the Eve. Sandra was pulling her heavy body to the console so she could lean against it with her blonde hair, no longer flowing, but as messy as a tumble weed. Solomon then noticed something bizarre. Sandra’s vibrant blue sparkling dress was untidily thrown on Kyril’s seat, next to him. Solomon blinked confused for a moment whilst his aching brain processed the information slowly, not daring to cast an eye over to Sandra.

‘what’s her dress doing there? Is she naked? Where’s Kyril? Shall I be sick again?’ began running through his lazy skull. “Oh, she’s dressed Sol” came the familiar deep voice of Kyril followed by a dry chuckle as he mimicked Solomon’s stiff posture. Sandra must have changed during the night after Solomon passed out.

Kyril walked the two hungover zombies off the ship and down to the base mess hall, where a fine meal of beans, sausages, bacon, sunny eggs and hash browns awaited them, still hot, fresh and crispy. Solomon helped himself to a second helping as Sandra blankly stared at her delicious breakfast as it slowly aired cold. No doubt contemplating if she needed another sick bucket or not. Once Solomon and Kyril had finished their beautiful breakfast, positively full, they again helped Sandra to her feet and helped her to her quarters occasionally stopping at the toilets for her or Solomon to be sick, at one point, they both shared the single toilet in one of the corridor’s restroom, doing a half and half thing. Every single person who ventured past that particular toilet that day pitied the cleaners very much.

That day, Solomon found it exceedingly difficult to perform the simplest of tasks, after failing to adequately handle his weapon at the firing range and missed every single target, he decided to go back to his bunk room and sleep off his self-inflicted illness. It was soon eight o’clock the next morning and Solomon drowsily could sense eyes staring at him. opened one eye, only to see, although through blurry eyes, he could make out most of the men in his bunk room had awoken with the bright lights and left him to sleep. They were staring straight at him. Solomon sat up, much too quickly for his swirling head to feel anything other than nausea, clueless, glaring at his soldiers who, as far as Solomon cared, had woken him up. Decius stood almost naked, holding only a towel hastily placed to cover his pride, the towel had fallen from the neat knot he had used cover himself, and Decius caught it, but it was already revealing most of his body, much to his fear. Solomon studied Decius’s face for a long moment, his brain working sluggishly to keep up, wondering why he was so worried about the other soldiers seeing him, especially when they had seen it all before. It didn’t take long before he noticed that every soldier’s eyes were not staring at him, but staring past him. Turning his head to see the slim figure of a woman in olive base fatigues, stood with her arms folded and a playful grin on her face “Come now, Lieutenant Commander. Have you forgotten already?” said Sandra. Solomon stared at her blankly, suddenly needing his sick bucket again, “Because, if you have, that’s fine, I can stay here and take in the sights!” she added playfully smiling at Decius. Solomon had promised to give Sandra a full tour of The Evergreen, one of his fantastically regretful drunken ideas.

Once again, with a heavy ringing head and a soft stomach, Solomon swore at his inability to get over a hangover faster than minor surgery, they began their ascension into the belly of the beautiful vessel as Solomon scribbled something onto a scrap of paper, once again they began their walk down the warm delightfully metal corridors and made their way towards the bridge, Sandra could recall some of the path from the night before. They reached the familiar handle-less silver door, but Solomon didn’t speak his code. He turned to face Sandra and handed her a piece of small paper with a note scribbled on it: ‘SanKen-two-two-three-six’ Sandra spoke the code and the door pulled itself open revealing the beautifully decorated Command Bridge that had recently been cleaned to remove the stale alcohol and vomit stench. The red strip of soft carpet softened the noise of their footsteps, much to Solomon’s benefit as his head was constantly banging, why did his heart have to beat so loud? Solomon walked over to the seat where he had pulled the wine and champaign from the night before and spun the large leather seat and sat on it. Turning to his control console, the lights hurting his eyes, he dumbly fingers the buttons that fired up the Bridge and suddenly a Printer next to the Gunners Console sprang into life and spat out multiple sheets of paper. Solomon struggled to keep his stomach inside as he walked over to the printer and gathered up the paper, some of which had floated to the floor as he forgot to bring out the extended paper holder. stapling them all together in order with a wince of the headache and handed them to Sandra with a laboured smile and tired eyes. “Your schedule” he explained. “And also, a map of the ship, deck, by deck, room by room” he motioned her to walk with him as he set off through the Silver door and into the mouth of the corridor, pointing at the wall and he continued “medical room’s are highlighted in white on the map and follow the white line on the walls to get to them.” Solomon pointed at the Wall on the left side that held multiple lines, all a different colour. “Every line starts at one room and ends at another, so whichever way you go, you will find one. Food and refreshments are in yellow, Dormitories are in Blue, Red is the Armoury and Firearms Training, purple is the Research Area and Library. Mechanical and Engines are in Green...Oh and the Bridges follow the Brown Arrows, not lines. The solid brown arrow is for the Battle Bridge, the golden lined brown arrows are for the Command Bridge, which is where we are now.”

Solomon’s smile faded as he spoke. “I’m sorry, but I must go through my Pre-Launch Checks before tomorrow, it’ll take me around three hours, so if you want to explore the ship and get up to mischief, you can. However, I need to remain on the bridge for now.” Solomon slowly walked over to his leather chair, running his fingers through his short hair, and groaning before speaking to Eve and beginning his work. Sandra said goodbye and set off through the ship. She walked clutching the coloured map of The Evergreen, not yet deciding where she would venture first, which colour to follow, which rooms to explore.

As she walked down the metal corridors, passing few members of the ship’s maintenance crew, some stood to allow her to pass as they worked in the corridors, checking pipes and wires, but some seemed rushed. Occasionally Sandra would have to carefully pass a walkway with the floor removed to allow the crew to test the ships readiness. ‘Purple’ thought the young woman and began to follow the purple lines. “Ah, miss Ken, how are you liking me, so far?” asked Evergreen making Sandra jump as she passed a red and yellow stripped frame of a corridors mouth with an open door. Sandra stopped to answer Eve, “you are, er... very... beautiful Evergreen!” said Sandra trying not to sound too presumptuous.

“Thank you, you’re very kind, I only dispatch the cleaning crews once every two days to keep things in order, however Miss Ken unfortunately this is not a social call, the door you’re standing next to, it’s a restricted area”

Sandra looked to her left and saw the red and yellow striped entrance and raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I can see that, Eve. It says ‘Restricted’ on the bulkhead.” Said Sandra, “but if it’s restricted, then why is it open?” she asked slowly whilst she began to feel uneasy from the fresh cold air that came from the dark daunting open room. “My security measures appear to have been disabled in that room and I have no control over the entrance.” Answered Eve. “Miss Ken, may I ask you to keep guard of this entrance until security can arrive to secure the room? They have been alerted and should only be three minutes. Maintenance crew are also on their way” Eve asked promptly in a soothing voice, Sandra answered “Sure” without really thinking. The entrance was dark and motionless, unlike the corridor that Sandra was standing in, it was bathed in light, after less than a minute Sandra heard echoing footsteps that came to a sudden halt with the sound of metal crashing to the floor followed by the growl of a man swearing, Sandra stood in the Entrance scanning the darkness for the signs and source of the noise.

Nothing.

Eve’s silky voice came again “Miss Ken, Security teams are on their way, are you still there? I have lost visuals in that entire corridor” Sandra told Eve that she was fine and began to tell her about the noises she had been hearing but was cut off abruptly by a hard object colliding with the back of her skull. Sandra heard the sickening wet and crack and then her body fall to the cold metal ground but did not see anything through the blackness. Forcing a little vision from her now blurry eyes, she could process only part of what she could see. Dark black Boots and Olive pants walking away from her calmly with a slight limp.

Hasty footsteps could be heard hitting the floor from the other direction, Sandra Lazily turned her head with great effort and with the expense of the last of her energy, she could only make out a voice, but she could not place it as the footsteps quickened. “No... no, Sandra! Please don’t be dead!” and all was black and silent.

Sandra awoke in a warm soft white bed with a nurse sat in a chair working on a datapad, the Nurse had auburn hair and a thin face that showed magnificent beauty, her eyes hazel and kind, she shot straight to Sandra the moment she moved. “Ah” she said in a soft voice. “How’re you feeling, love? You took quite a knock to your head and have been out for three hours now. Eve, please inform Lieutenant Commander Gordon that Miss Ken is awake.” Eve responded to the nurse with an almost worried tone but abided and contacted Solomon.

On the Command Bridge, the now full crew worked fast on their controls with ease, making sure that everything is functioning correctly after the security breach. A team of security armed with smooth white rifles walked into the side room behind the Gunners terminals into a room marked ‘Captains Conference Room’, inside stood Solomon and Kyril, both reading reports from Eve on her self diagnostics of the Restricted Room and the whole ship, both men holding inches of thick paper containing log after log of readings, temperature, moisture. Everything they had to read, will be poured through. “Sergeant, I need two teams to inspect the L.R.W. see if someone wants us grounded or worse.” commanded Kyril. Solomon cast a grave look in his Captains direction, opening his mouth to speak, however thought better of it. “Captain, Commander.” said Eve “Medical has just informed me that, Miss Ken is now conscious, and is willing to give an account of her experience.” Solomon straightened up, neatly folding his diagnostics into his leg pocket that left it bulging and asked if he could interview her himself, Kyril nodded, still bending over the table at his own diagnostics. He had far too much work to do, to worry about sorting an interview out.

Solomon entered the White entrance chamber to the medical bay, he walked through the sliding doors revealing the medical room. To Solomon’s surprise, Sandra was not the only patient in the room. Two soldiers and one of the ships mechanics were sat on the beds, talking to the medical staff.

Decius sat on the far bed nearest to the Nurses Office, with his left foot and ankle bandaged, Solomon could see him throwing his head back taking pills from a paper cup, probably pain killers and shuddering as they defiantly slid down his throat. A soldier from the Second Company that Solomon did not know by name was holding an icepack to the bottom of his knee while Doctor Fredrick checked for concussions with his pen-torch, and the mechanic seemed to have a rather nasty burn across her forearm, she was self-applying a cooling gel to the skin. Doctor Fredrick looked up and acknowledged Solomon as he entered. Fredrick’s white coat always seemed to swallow the man’s small frame always dressed in his olive base fatigues, he always brought a smile to Solomon’s face, even the thought of the man made him smile. It was his childlike voice, always too high, almost squeaky, it usually did bring your mood up when he was telling you things, as they sounded like a little boy telling you a professional opinion.

Sandra sat up with a smile of relief spreading across her face at the sight of Solomon entering. The auburn-haired nurse taking notes of Sandra’s Vitals and checking her for concussions with her pen-torch. “Solomon, I’m so sorry, I didn’t stop whoever it was.” she burst out before Solomon could even cover half of the distance from the door to her bed. Solomon quickened his pace as she began to record what she heard and saw about the man banging into something and limping away before she passed out. Solomon raised an eyebrow and cast an eye over to Decius who let out a groan after falling back onto his bed from trying to walk, and then over to the soldier from the second company holding the icepack. “Wearing Olive Base... so Military or at least Posing as Military staying at this station...” Muttered Solomon thinking, not wanting to instantly incriminate his new team member, or somebody from the Second Company so easily “So, he limped away from you after he struck you? And that was after you heard a loud noise and him swearing... so he hurt himself...” said Solomon looking up towards the Nurses Office to where Decius was limping to the sliding window to sign himself out. “Who’s to say it wasn’t a she? Women can do bad things too, Lieutenant Commander.” smirked the Nurse with the auburn hair as she folded away her vitals datapad. Doctor Frederick came over to check on Sandra, “I concur Lieutenant Commander, you can’t rule out either.” He said in his youthful boyish voice “Eve, contact Captain Sinderman and get a security team to position themselves outside the Med bay, just as a precaution.” said Solomon in a low voice, Sandra squirmed uneasily with Solomon sounding suddenly very serious with a hint of hurt in his voice. Decius limped towards the Exit of the Medical Bay, almost eager to leave the room as Solomon smoothly placed himself between him and the way out. “Good morning, Private, how did you manage to hurt yourself?”

Decius looked guiltily up at Solomon, not wanting to meet his stare, and tried to limp past him, but Solomon easily placed himself in his way once again “Er... Sir, I...Erm... was inside the Armoury and dropped an ammo can on my foot” said Decius in a breaking voice. Solomon looked at him questionably “and at what time? about three hours ago?” Decius blankly stared at Solomon before saying “Must be, yes, about that, why?” Solomon asked Eve if Decius was speaking the truth. “Standby, checking now.” Decius was taken aback by the voice. “She’s checking if you were there today and at a specific time an incident took place.” explained Solomon folding his arms. Captain Sinderman entered the Room walking fast. “Eve said you wanted me down here, what’s with the security team outside?” asked Kyril. Before Solomon could answer his Commanding Officer, Eve came back. “I can confirm that Decius Quil has not entered the Armoury, he is awaiting to be assigned his clearance code from command. I am unable to find Private Decius Quil’s whereabouts for the given incident, however, Sergeant Miller of the second company is accounted for on mechanical floor six, sector three during the incident. My apologies Sir.” Kyril looked from Solomon to Decius before saying “Mr Quil, you are to be held in the Ships Brig until you either tell us the truth and confess what you have done to my ship, or until we figure this thing out ourselves. Security Team Echo, take him away.”

A team of six soldiers wearing white combat fatigues and navy-blue long-sleeved tops, supporting black combat harnesses entered the room, their helmets attached at their waists and white rifles lowered. “Come with us, Sir.” said the lead soldier. Decius stammered trying to get too many words out at once but could only manage “B-but... but... w-what?” he said in a shaken voice limping down the room escorted by the security. Solomon shared his worry with Kyril about the functionality of the ship. “Sir, he’s assigned to my Company... he’s fresh, new in. And does not seem to possess many talents of a military or strategy nature yet... I fear, someone has put him up to this. Unless we find out exactly what he has done to this ship, we will not be able to be on our way.”

Solomon said goodbye to Sandra and told her he would see the doctor later tonight and see if he could get her out and about from the medical bay. The auburn-haired nurse assured Solomon that she should be ready to leave as soon as the tests get back in two hours, assuming there was nothing wrong with them. Solomon and Kyril made their way back to the Command Bridge to inspect their Diagnostics once more. Kyril was halfway through his work, when he sat down with a great sigh. “Sol... we’re going to have to put off the expedition until we can sort this nightmare out. Inform the other Captains for me, please?” asked Kyril in a tired voice, rubbing his eyes. “Yes, sir.” breathed Solomon defeated, and skulked away.

Within the hour Solomon had spoken to the other six captains of the voyage, all of which gave their opinions on how they should fix his ship and fix his crew. One of the Captains, Captain Hyphon, Commander of The Judgement had even suggested they make voyage without The Evergreen. He was instantly shot down by the others. “We should wait! It won’t take them that long!” spat Captain Gee of The Infinity. Seven ships are to make voyage into the traitorous paths of space towards the Merriden system, a thirty-three-day haul through the void of unknown dangers. Solomon knew they would need every ship they could get, to safely make it to the Merriden system. Rogues and Pirates make small convoys of vessels easy targets for their blood thirst. Solomon understood the reasons for staying, but he couldn’t help but feel selfish, he wanted to just leave with them if they’d let him, but he couldn’t leave The Evergreen. He quickly dismissed the selfish thoughts, it would be like cheating on a true love, like burning your own home. Unspeakable.

A new sun had risen since the Evergreen had been grounded. Solomon awoke in a foul mood; he could still feel the annoyance towards Decius for tampering with his beautiful ship. It was the swelling hatred in his brain that prompted him to visit Decius in the brig. Automatically directing himself through the complex maze of metal corridors of the Evergreen, Solomon finally reached the Brig doors. He stood at the face of the door, breathing heavily. He hadn’t received permission to see Decius, in fact he hadn’t asked. It was his soldier, basically as far as the military was concerned, Decius was Solomon’s property, metaphorically speaking. “SolGord-one-one-three-one” he uttered to the door, but it didn’t open, but instead gave a deep beep of unconformity.

“Eve. Why isn’t my code working?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I have been given strict instructions to not allow any person access to Private Decius.”

“Eve...”

“I’m sorry Solomon. This order comes from High Advisor T. Winslow, and frankly, and unfortunately, he outranks you whilst we are still on site at Base Superior, sir.”

“Eve, I’m sorry, but I’m bypassing your circuits, I know I said I wouldn’t do it again after that last time, but I need this. Inform Captain Sinderman of my actions if you must”

Eve fell silent as Solomon removed the silvery metal panel at the side of the silver door frame. His fingers shifting wires as he searched for the correct terminals on the correct circuit board. after a minute of poking and pulling, the door slide opened with a satisfying hissing sound. Solomon got to his feet, grinning as his personal communicator opened.

“Solomon, what the hell’s going on!?”

“Sorry, Captain. I need to see why my newest team member did this.”

“Hold the phone... you just bypassed MY Eve... to talk to Decius?”

Solomon paused in his steps and answered slowly before continuing “...yes...sir..”

“Well, why didn’t you ask Eve to open the damn door?”

“I did. She told me, she was under Strict instructions from High Advisor Winslow, not to allow any person to see the prisoner. And apparently, that idiot outranks me.” Responded Solomon waiting a few seconds to add “Sir” at the end.

There was a tense moment of silence, Solomon continued to make his way through the brighter than usual corridor, his boots echoing with a thud against the hollow grill floor to the inner door and started to bypass that circuit board too. “Solomon!” Barked Captain Kyril over the headset “Stop bloody taking my ship apart! I’ll open the sodding door for you myself!” Solomon ceased his actions as the inner door turned green and opened. “I’m on my way down to you. Do not dismantle anything else! It took nearly a week to put right last time you stuck your grubby fingers in my Eve!” came Captain Sindermans irritated voice over the radio.

Solomon squared himself up to Decius’s cell door. The bars cold and solid, unwavering, and unyielding. Decius instantly stood with a salute to his commander. His eyes swollen and watery, his lip fat and quivering. Water streams could be seen carving their way through the dirt on the young man’s smooth face.

Solomon stood like stone, deliberately not returning the salute of his soldier, this would always be seen as an insult to any person in the military. “Sir, I swear! It isn’t me who’s done this!” said Decius through fresh tears, Solomon stood firmer, watching the man break down into a sobbing mess onto the wet metal floor. Decius’s whole body began to quiver as he started hyperventilating into his cupped hands. Solomon watched, trying to find a reason Decius would lie to him, but he didn’t know Decius that well, in fact, he’d only formally met him not long before he threw bread at Deeph. If Decius had not done anything wrong, why would he lie about where he was? Solomon was deep in thought when he heard the inner door slide open and heavy feet make their way inside. “That was quick Captain” said Solomon over his shoulder but turned when he heard a very distinctive grunt. Lucius Deeph stood before him, the monstrously large man dressed in his constant combat armour of an olive combat pants and jacket, covered in a midnight blue armour chest plate. His eyes fixed on Solomon.

“Captain Deeph.... why are you here, may I ask?”

Lucius merely growled lightly and dismissively at the Lieutenant Commander as he passed and swiped his card over the Cells key-reader. The light changed from red to green with a beep. Of course, his bloody card would work, but the second in command of the damned ship and primary ground forces commanders wouldn’t! “Lucius... what the hell are you doing?” asked Solomon hastily. Lucius Ignored his superior officer and entered the cell, pulling the tiny shivering prisoner from his corner that he had begun to cower in from the approaching beast. Lucius stood Decius in front of Solomon and growled into Decius’s ear. “It’s okay. Tell him where you were.” Solomon was taken aback for a moment. “I...I... was fighting with Captain Deeph...he saw...” whimpered Decius but was cut off by the Inner Door sliding open once more. Captain Sinderman entered the room proudly, however surprised by the presence of Captain Deeph, and the whimpering prisoner, no longer in his sealed cell. A moment passed as all the men stared at Sinderman, and Sinderman stared back. “Well... this ’ought to be good...” he said resting a shoulder on the nearest wall, folding his arms, and raising his eyebrows.

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