Anna wouldn't train him, not until Doc looked at his leg. He tried to convince her, saying there would be time he'd have to fight injured, but she wouldn't hear of it. As he left he heard her contact Rebecca, so he knew not to bother with her either.

    He headed to the infirmary, where Doc ran more scans then he felt were needed. He figured all he needed was some muscle menders, maybe something to ensure his bone didn't have any small fracture. She injected him with something, then forbid him to do any hard work for three days.

    He argued with her. He couldn't sit around for three days, he had to prepare himself for when Anders decided to take him out. He had to start training. Like Anna, she wouldn't listen. She sent him to his cabin to rest. Alex went, because Will was still with him and didn't give him a chance to go anywhere else.

    He sat there alone, Will having gone back to his duties. Alex didn't want to sit around, He wanted to do something. He didn't want to have the time to think about what had happened.

    About how much of an idiot he had been to believe Anders had wanted to be his friend. How could he not have seen through him? Who else one the ship was only pretending to be his friend?

    Had Will really sold the Defender by mistake? Or had he acted that way because Alex had caught him? Would he try to sell it again? Was he really safe staying in this room with the other man? Was he safe? Was there anywhere he could be safe?

    Alex ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. At least in there no one could jump him. If he stopped interacting with anyone, he wouldn't have to worry about betrayals.

    He heard movement in the room, and realized he'd left the Defender there. He almost burst out of the bathroom, but what if he surprised Will stealing it, and got shot? But he couldn't let him take it again.

    Unable to make himself move, he listened as someone lifted one of the beds, objects clinked, the bed was lowered again. The outside door opened and closed. Silence.

    Alex waited a minute before peeking in the room. No one. He couldn't see the Defender either. His heart racing he went to his bed, and saw the case on the floor where he'd left it, as soon as he cleared the doorway. He didn't calm down, that was just the case, it could be empty.

    He was on his knees, hands trembling as he reached for the case, and stopped. If he opened it and it was empty, he'd know Will had betrayed him. Did he want to know that? Wouldn't it be easier to not check and keep the hope alive?

    But he had to know, he couldn't bring the case to Jack and find out it was empty then, what would Jack think? Losing the Defender would be the ultimate proof Alex hadn't cared enough about him to rescue him.

    He placed his hand on the case, pressing against it to force the shaking to stop. He had one more moment of hesitation, then he unlatched it and pulled the sides apart.

    He saw the statue, and started breathing again.

    He had one moment of irrational fear that it was a fake, but how would Will have done that? Still he picked it up and looked it over from all angles until he was satisfied it was real. He put it back and close the case.

    He was shaking again, but he was calmer. He'd over reacted, to the thought he'd lost the Defender, to the idea he couldn't trust Will. The Defender being here wasn't proof Will was trust worthy.

    He closed his eyes and forced himself to think. He was on a ship of pirates, criminals, but was he safe? He chuckled, the answer was no, but he'd stopped being safe the moment he left Luminex and the company's protection.

    The question was, was he safe from the crew?

    Anders was a problem, for some weird reason, Alex made that man insecure, and he had lashed out, tried to control him through a false friendship. He was going to be a problem, definitely no safe.

    What of Will? Will hadn't done anything to indicate he had ulterior motives toward Alex. In fact, Alex thought the young man was the most transparent person he'd ever met, but if it was an act, would Alex be able to tell?

    Okay, he couldn't think that way.

    Did he have anything Will might want? The only thing he had of value on the ship was the Defender, and he had to believe it had been an accident. If Will had wanted the money from it, he could have delayed finding it. Alex wouldn't have known to ask Lea. Will could have kept Alex running around until the ship left, if he'd wanted.

    So yes, Will was safe.

    Was there anyone else? Terry? Anna? Asyr? Rebecca? Doc?

    They were the only people Alex really knew, and except for Doc, he'd met the others through Will. They had acted as a deterrent against Anders, and none of them had shown signs of wanting something from him. Well, except for Asyr, but she wanted to learn from him, so she needed him around and in good shape.

    Doc had been the one to make sure Alex was looked after, so she couldn't have nefarious plans for him. She was the one making sure he healed properly now, instead of letting him continue to hurt himself as his anger at Anders' betrayal burned.

    He couldn't know about the rest of the crew, but Alex decided he did have a close circle of people he could depend on. That was enough for him. He put the case away, lay down and slept.

    * * * * *

    Three days later, Doc gave him the all clear, and Alex threw himself into training. He wanted to get Anna, Rebecca, and the knife expert, Louis Smith, to train him every day, but they wouldn't do it. He had to take a break, they insisted. So each took one day, and the fourth was for him to rest.

    What they couldn't get him to take easy, was the weight training. Alex did that everyday. Will tried to get him to take it slow, but Alex wanted to be ready for Anders. In fact, anytime he didn't feel like working out, Alex would remember how he felt when he'd realized Anders had told Oustalo about his part in the theft.

    The next three subjective months went by quickly. When Alex wasn't training or working out, he was working on reintegrating the ship's computer, and using the time to teach Asyr the basis of Coercion. She was a good student.

    He now had fifty percent of the systems integrated, all the small ones, except for internal sensors, which he did as soon as the ship out of the station. He didn't want to have to run around asking where someone was again.

    The only interruptions were when the captain got him to help on jobs. After that first time, the captain didn't want to waste resources taking a ship by force, and Alex found he enjoyed going up against ship and people who's livelihood depended on beating him. It made his opponents more determined.

    Back at Luminex, it had just been his day job, as that of the people at the companies he infiltrated. He'd always done his best, but neither side was at risk of being fired for failing. Now, if he didn't pull it off, the crew would get hurt, the captain might decide Alex wasn't pulling his weight and dump him off at the next station. Each coercion had an urgency to them they never did at Luminex.

    He liked that rush, the adrenaline as he had to come up with a program on the fly. Those times when it looked like the other ship's coercionist might beat him, only for Alex to find a flaw in his code. Alex was always exhausted by the time it was over, but after seven more jobs, Alex loved doing it.

    * * * * *

    Alex got out of the shower, dried and with the towel around his waist he was halfway out of the bathroom when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He stopped and stared.

    "Something wrong?" Will asked, entering their room.

    Alex looked at him, he hadn't heard the door open, and for a moment he couldn't make sense of the question. Will most have seen that on his face, because he spoke again.

    "You look like you just found your oxy tank's half full." 

    Alex shook his head and looked at the mirror again. "I have abs."

    Will snorted. "Hope so. You been working hard enough for them."

    Alex ran a hand over his stomach. Their weren't as defined as most he'd seen working out, but no one could say he was overweight anymore. He turned and flexed his arm. His bicep bulged and stretched his skin slightly.  

    He chuckled. "I never thought I'd look like this." 

    "Your guy won't recognize you when you see him." 

    Alex smiled at that. "Jack will know me."

    He lay down and pull the armband from the wall. This was his fifth time in cryo, and he'd found the less clothing he wore, the easier it was for him to wake up on the other side. Now he showered and went under wearing a towel and no more.

    "Any idea what the job is going to be on the other side?"

    Will smirked. "I clean the floors, the captain don't tell me that stuff. You're the important one in this room. You'll tell me what the job is."

    "I'm not that important yet," Alex said, clamping the band around his bicep. His hard bicep, he appreciated. A moment later the machine in the wall whirled and he closed his eyes. Watching his blood being pulled out through the clear tube made him queasy. He felt himself fall unconscious.