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"Don't worry Captain, its not like we'll never see each other again."
Lili Marquette heard Agent Ronald Sandoval's voice nearby. There was a sharp, cold, prick on her right arm. She felt a hand brush a damp lock of her dark hair that the blue tank solution had plastered to her forehead out of the way, but she was too exhausted to so much as open her eyes to see who. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep again was hearing the power up sequence of the shuttle engines.
When she opened her eyes again, she was instantly aware of only a few things: she was cold, hungry, laying in her shuttle and that her right arm felt like it was on fire. She wrapped the thick blanket tighter around her to conserve body heat, but her toes persistently refused to thaw. After a minute of visual searching she was surprised to find a pair of socks in a black gym bag behind the seat.
Then she saw Sandoval's black jacket draped casually across the seat with a tiny disk perched on top and faced a rush of memories: the arrest, the ensuing interrogation, the blue tank. Of them all, the blue tank was the worst. She was completely helpless and not at all comforted by the knowledge that Boone had died in that very tank seven months ago.
Seven months, it seemed like a lifetime. Ironically it was a lifetime, at least for Liam. Lili remembered her last conversation with him over the global. She was not a very religious person, but she uttered a silent prayer that God would watch over him, Doors and Augur. It was frightening not to know what had happened to them. Or to her, for that matter. She thought she knew what her fate was to be when she tried to sabotage the main power unit on the Mothership, but the alarms and Zo'or's override had prevented that future from occurring.
She dressed quickly, trying to move her aching right arm as little as possible. Then she picked up the disk on top of Sandoval's jacket and inserted it into the receptacle. She listened to the attache's even voice describe something she never imagined the two of them would agree on, much less be party to.
"...lastly, though I ask your help because neither of us really has any choice in this matter," Sandoval finished.
"You're wrong Sandoval," Lili told the video. "There is always a choice."
She could override the autopilot with ease and take the shuttle on an intercept course to the nearest star or turn it right back around and deal with the welcome party she certain to encounter. Neither option would be very pleasant, but she relished the illusion of choice. Finally, she reprogrammed the shuttle's course to take her to the first coordinates on Sandoval's list. As she maneuvered the shuttle away and into ID space, Lili settled into the seat to take a nap. By now the pain had moved from just her right arm to each of her hands. In spite of the agony she slept, unaware of the faint red diamond marks forming on her palms that sputtered into a tiny light for a moment while she was in the midst of REM sleep.