Chapter Three

The Leviathan wasn't what Cale had expected when he first heard the name of the ship he and Korso were now crossing the loading dock to. He had expected a giant, colossal ship. The kind of ship that would strike fear in to the hearts of anyone misfortunate enough to cross paths with it. Giant guns, shields a bull elephant couldn't break through, shining and threatening no mater how you looked at it. What Cale was seeing, though, as the doors slid open for him and Korso, was quite possibly the exact opposite. The ship was old, very old, and small, smaller then the Valkyrie - half the size of the Valkyrie, if even that.

But the interior of the ship gave off an entirely different feel then that of a small, old ship. From the inside the thing looked as though it was state of the art. Brand new. Cale gawked at the blinking lights and shining metal - it was hard to think of this place as the tiny, space drifting prison Korso was forcing him into when it looked like it did. The blond could hear the gentle hum of working systems from beneath his feet as Korso knowingly walked ahead of him into the control room, flipping switches and pushing buttons on the panels like he knew what he was doing... Cale supposed he did know what he was doing, though, or at least knew more about it then he did. The flashing lights confused him, but Korso's hands worked over them like he had done this a million times before, knew where everything was without having to look first.

Cale grumbled moodily as he watched, arms crossed defensively across his chest. He hated how impressive the man was right now, how impressed he felt while watching him work like the old pro he was.

"There's a kitchenette of sorts down the way," Korso said over his shoulder, not bothering to look at Cale as he spoke, "I had some friends stock it up earlier before we got on board. Go see if they got us anything worth eating."

Cale snorted, "Friends?"

"Believe it or not, I happen to have a few." Korso smirked.

"Right." Cale glared at the back of the captain's head, "What'd you have to do to get them to agree to that? Hold them at gun point?"

The blond watched Korso sigh, shoulders lifting and dropping with the force of it as he shook his head. Almost like he was exasperated by the situation already. "Just go find us some food, Cale." He glanced back at his younger companion, smirking like his old self again when he heard the other turn to do as asked after a moment's hesitation. "And I know how badly you must want to, but try to refrain from poisoning whatever you bring back for me."

Cale just glared at the older man, stomping off and leaving Korso to chuckle and smirk at the blond's expense in the control room. The blond drifted, taking his time with getting around, inspecting everything he came upon - opening doors and peering inside, watching blinking lights and daring to push a few now and then, just to see what would happen. He found two separate sleeping quarters like that, a bathroom between them, navigation, a handful of storage rooms and, eventually, the kitchenette Korso had originally sent him to find. He looked around at first, taking in the sight of all the boxes that had been left sitting around by those 'friends' of Korso's.

The blond sighed, heading over to one of the boxes and crouched down to start rummaging through it in search of something worth eating.

All during his exploration of the Leviathan, Cale couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. Abnormally quiet. The blond swiftly decided he didn't much like it - on the Valkyrie there had always been something going on around him: Stith raising cain about this or that, Gune squawking like the crazy...thing he was, Preed being Preed with his slack-jaw insults, or Akima's -

Cale stopped in the middle of his searching, hands frozen in their grip around a bag of freeze dried vegetables. Akima... Akima with her fascination in human gadgets, sharp tongue, and beautiful smile. It'd only been a day and he already missed her. Guilt weighed him down - he should have gotten her to the door faster, should have stopped Preed, he should have protected her better. If nothing else, he should be trying to stop Korso somehow now, but instead he was hunting down something for the traitor to eat while he prepared the ship for take-off.

The blond scowled, throwing the bag he held back in the box angrily. He was disgusted with himself. What was he doing? Korso was the enemy now, not the older man he looked up to anymore. It was a disgrace to Akima to not be making this man's life a living hell after what he's done.

"Bastard..." Cale grit out, kicking a box over and jarring his wounded leg as he stormed out of the kitchenette and straight into Korso.

"Hey," Korso's grin only made Cale's scowl deepen, "nothing worth eating or you just get lost?"

"Get it yourself, asshole." Cale snapped, shoving past Korso in the direction of one of those sleeping quarters he had found earlier. He ignored the way Korso watched him walk away, scowling, and locking the door down once he was in the room he had decided was his upon entering.

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Cale didn't hear another sound from Korso throughout the afternoon and into the evening, keeping himself locked up in his new room so he wouldn't have to even see the older man. It was juvenile of him, he knew, but maturity was the last thing on his mind at the moment. More important things were filling his head, things like Akima and how she and the rest of the crew were fairing back on the Valkyrie - he doubted he'd be hearing from them again anytime soon, if he did ever again. And he prayed Akima was well, prayed nothing had happened to complicate her wound. He prayed Stith would make good on her words and seriously kill Preed... the traitor deserved as much in Cale's opinion.

Lifting his hand to stare at the gold band on his finger, Cale felt a heavy sigh leave his chest. Giving pause to really think about this whole situation, Cale realized with a heavy sinking of his heart that this was all his fault. Akima was hurt, possibly dying, all because of him and the damnable ring he wore. If he wasn't around there would be no map, no Korso betraying them all, no Drej hot on their trail.

"I should just get rid of it..." Cale spoke aloud to himself, frowning at the seemingly innocent band of gold that was causing so much distress.

He nodded to himself; yes... he should just get rid of it. He should throw it away. If he threw it away there would be no map, no way to find the Titan, no reason left for Korso to be in cahoots with the Drej. If he got rid of the ring, everything could go back to the way it was - Akima could get the help she needed, she and Cale could be together again. That and he and Korso could be pals again, like before. Sitting around, drinking and talking about stupid things that didn't matter, but seemed so important while they talked about them like they once had...

"No. What the hell am I thinking?" Cale asked himself, sitting up and twisting the ring around on his middle finger. He ran a rough hand through his blond hair, tugging on the thick strands. "Things would never be the same. Even if I got rid of the ring, things wouldn't be the same."

Cale felt himself frowning at this, actually really quite saddened by the realization. It seemed so wrong, so alien to feel obligated to think of Korso as an enemy, as the bad guy. He hated it. But, even if he got rid of the source of the problem at hand, new ones would erupt in its place. If he got rid of the ring, got rid of the map, the Titan would be lost forever - Akima would probably hate him for throwing away humanity's last hope, and the Drej wouldn't stop pursuing them just because he'd gotten rid of the ring. No, they would probably double their efforts out of anger, kill them all for spite. And then there was the problem with Korso himself... Cale knew better then to think that by throwing out the ring Korso would suddenly change his mind and just be ok with it. He'd be furious! The man wanted his money, his riches, far too badly to just turn the other cheek while Cale tossed the key to his success out with the trash.

Then there was the issue of just how he would have gotten rid of the thing in the first place.

"Can't just hide it. Korso's too smart to never find it." He sighed, scowling at the map glowing on his palm as he thought aloud, "Can't give it away. No telling who'd get a hold of it or who'd they give it to for the right price..."

"Could always have it jettisoned," He reasoned, brows lifting over hazel eyes as he said it. He yanked off the ring, letting it roll in his palm a moment while he considered, "Doubt anyone'd ever find it. Universe is too big to go looking for it anyway. Where would someone even start...?"

He sighed, slipping the band back onto his finger and looking at the map intensely, like it held more then the location of the Titan. Like it might tell him what to do next, how to solve this problem of his. It didn't tell him anything, not that he had figured it actually would... his father had been a smart man, he'd been told so by so many, but he couldn't have been smart enough to know his son would end up like this. There was no hidden secret to making things end happily for him glowing on his palm.

"Jettison. Yeah. I guess that's how I'd do it..." He nodded to himself, laying back on his bunk and staring up at the ceiling of his quarters. Not that he had the guts to ever actually go through with it.

Cale snorted harshly to himself, rubbing his palms over his face with a groan. "Jesus, now I'm talking to myself. I must be worse off then I thought."

Not really. He was fine all around - his leg still hurt, pulsed when he strained it now and then, but he was fine otherwise. Physically. The silence around him, though, was starting to have an effect on him. Even back on Tau-14 he'd never felt this alone before. At least back then he'd had Tek around to keep him company, but now... locking himself away to avoid Korso as they drifted off towards the Andali Nebula, to the place the map had pointed them to while on Sesharrim with the Gaoul, Cale felt utterly alone.

He didn't like it. Being lonely messed with his head and that was never a good thing.