PROJECT: CAYRO

Cayro Bracton:

August 26, 2025

20:30 EST

The Autumn

Atlantic Ocean: 26˚49’22” N-74˚00’31” W

I had spent the last few hours helping Star work on her damaged skycar after she had nearly murdered me twice—once with a wrench and again with another wrench. Then, there was that… intense moment that could have easily escalated into something much more than just fixing a vehicle. Seeing her naked from the waist up had unlocked something primal in me, something that took over my senses and pushed me to claim her as… mine. When she licked my back, it had sent me spiraling, struggling to keep my mind from completely unraveling. Even now, as I stood outside the hangar, the taste of her skin lingered on my tongue.

Closing my eyes, I let the memory of her flavor wash over me: the fresh, clean air of the sky with a hint of stormy ozone, mingling with the scent of books and paper. But the most striking flavor was that of home—spices, cooking, engine grease, and my grandparents. It was bizarre; she had never been to my house, yet here she was, reminding me of everything I associated with home. She was the first woman I had ever seen naked, and my body had reacted like it had a mind of its own.

I’m no stranger to arousal, but this was different. She wasn’t just beautiful; she was etched into my mind, her alabaster skin warm under my touch, and those amethyst eyes burning into the deepest parts of me. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to clear my mind of her image.

We had worked mostly in silence, speaking only when necessary to ask for tools. I was too embarrassed to say much more. But I knew she was right—I wasn’t a monster. She hadn’t stripped her shirt and bra to arouse me, though that was exactly what had happened. She did it to show me that I wasn’t alone, that she had gone through the same operation I had. We were the same, and our scars were proof of that. She wasn’t a monster any more than I was, and in her own way, she helped me see that. I had really screwed up, saying those things to the Captain when she walked in.

Leaning against the bulkhead outside the hangar, I opened my eyes and noticed the wrench still impaled in the corridor bulkhead. Damn, she was strong. She’d have to be, to keep up with the crew. Walking over to the wrench, I reached up and, with some effort, yanked it out of the bulkhead. It came out with a groan as metal ground against metal. I stared at the wrench in my hand, realizing that if she had been aiming to hit me, she wouldn’t have missed. The thought made me raise an eyebrow. If she had wanted to, she could have killed me with this damn thing. Placing the wrench next to the hangar door, I decided it was time to find the Captain and let him know that Star and I were done working on the skycar for the day. There was still plenty of work left, which meant I had something to look forward to.

Following the corridor the Captain had led me down earlier, I eventually found the medical bay. Poking my head in, I noticed it was empty and spotless. With no sign of anyone, I continued down the corridor, hoping to find either the Captain or a clue leading to his office. After a short while, I found a sign pointing toward the bridge. I followed it, my mind slipping back to thoughts of Star. This time, I was reflecting on how she had known about everything for years yet managed to live as normal a life as possible. Maybe I could do the same, once the Captain completed whatever procedure he had planned for me.

As I passed a few doors, likely crew quarters, I spotted the entrance to the bridge up ahead. That’s when I heard the Captain call out from behind me.

“Cayro, follow me to my office,” he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

He walked past me onto the bridge, then descended a flight of stairs leading to the lower bridge deck. I trailed after him as he entered a door beneath the upper portion of the bridge, stepping into a spacious office. The far-right wall was dominated by monitors stretching from floor to ceiling, displaying various ship statuses and camera feeds. A large oak desk was positioned strategically to allow the Captain a full view of the screens.

What caught my eye was the high-end pink gaming chair behind the desk. The Captain paused, eyeing the chair with clear suspicion. It was obvious this wasn’t his usual setup, and he knew exactly who was responsible for the switch. Several comfortable chairs were arranged in front of the desk, likely for crew meetings or visitors. The wall behind the desk was adorned with mounted skyboards, and the back wall featured a dry bar and bookshelves filled with awards, books, and assorted items. It was clear this was where the Captain spent most of his time.

He walked around the desk and, with a resigned sigh, sat in the pink chair. I raised an eyebrow, questioning his choice without words.

“Don’t ask, just sit down,” he ordered, gesturing to a chair directly in front of him. I complied, sitting down while noticing the scowl etched on his face.

“I don’t know if I should reprimand you, Cayro, or if I should be praising you,” he growled, the tension thick in his voice.

Sensing it was best to keep quiet, I let him continue.

“What you did was reckless and stupid. Flying into the middle of that dogfight could have gotten you killed. I didn’t risk my ship and crew to come back for you and the C Drive just to watch you die. Do you understand me?” His growl intensified, each word a hammer striking down.

“Yes, sir, I do,” I replied, my gaze dropping to the desk.

“You were damn lucky the laser cannon didn’t hit you at the last moment. We can handle a couple of fighter jets—this wasn’t our first dogfight. Your mission was simple: get to the Autumn safely. Now, we have a severely damaged skycar, and you were nearly killed, almost costing us the C Drive.” His tone sharpened, the mention of the C Drive carrying an edge that didn’t sit well with me.

Something about his focus on the C Drive, almost to the exclusion of everything else, grated on my nerves.

“Do you have anything you want to say?” he demanded, his eyes locking onto mine.

Straightening my spine, I returned his glare. “Yeah, why does it seem like the C Drive is all you care about?” I snapped, unable to hold back the frustration any longer.

His back straightened, his expression darkening into a scowl.

“Excuse me?” he replied, his voice dangerously calm, the kind of calm that signaled a brewing storm.

“All I’ve heard so far is you chastising me about my recklessness and how I could have destroyed the C Drive,” I snapped, the frustration boiling over. “No thank you for finding it. No concern for how I’m feeling about all this. Are you okay? Instead, I just got yelled at by Star and now by you—for the second time today. The only one who seems to give a damn about me, who seems to understand that my entire life has been a lie flipped upside down by this whole damn mess, is Star. And she’s the one who’s lived with this knowledge her whole life.”

My voice rose as I vented, the anger and confusion spilling out. “So yeah, I have a lot to say. First and foremost, I didn’t mean to fly into that dogfight. My goal was to reach the Autumn. The government had the media announce they were going to deal with you, so my grandparents and I thought it would be best if I left before you arrived.”

I realized I was now standing, gripping the Captain’s desk so hard I heard the wood cracking. I looked down to see that my hands had actually begun to splinter the wood. My stomach dropped as I quickly let go, stepping back and sinking into the chair, avoiding his gaze.

The Captain took a deep breath and sighed, his tone softening. “Well, looks like I’ll need to get another desk again.”

That made me look up, confused. “Again?” I asked, my voice laced with curiosity.

“Yes,” he replied with a faint smirk. “Star damaged the last one a couple of years ago when I had to reprimand her.”

“Oh,” I muttered, glancing at the damage I had done. Did I really just do that with my bare hands?

“Listen, Cayro,” the Captain began, his tone measured, “I understand that your life has been turned upside down. You’re now living on board a ship, cut off from everything familiar, dealing with a life-altering event that was kept from you for your own protection. But what you need to understand about the C Drive is that without it, you and Star will die within the next couple of years. Even if you didn’t make it, we still need it to help her. That’s the reality. It’s not just your life at stake—it’s Star’s too.”

The weight of his words hit me like a ton of bricks. The realization that Star’s life had been in my hands—and that I could have jeopardized it—made my blood run cold. My shoulders slumped as the gravity of the situation sank in.

“I’m sorry, Captain,” I managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper, rough with guilt.

“Now that we’ve cleared the air, can we talk about less harsh subjects?” he asked, the tension in his voice easing.

I looked up, noticing the shift in his demeanor. He was no longer glaring but rather looked at me with the same cool kindness he had shown the first time we met.

“So… how did your conversation with Star go?” he asked, his tone patient, almost curious.

My face flushed as memories of our earlier encounter flooded back. “Uh… I thought she was going to kill me after you left, sir,” I admitted, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks.

“Well, you’re not dead, nor beaten to a bloody pulp, so I’m guessing you two worked out your differences?” he inquired, leaning back slightly, his fingers steepled.

“Yes, she had some valid points that I hadn’t considered,” I conceded, my tone softer now, more reflective.

“Good,” he said with a nod. “She needs someone her age to connect with. Maybe you can be that someone,” he added cheerfully, a hint of optimism in his voice.

I felt my mouth drop open at the Captain’s statement. It was completely out of left field. Was he giving me the okay to be with Star? Wasn’t he like her father or something? The thoughts from earlier flooded my mind, imagining the possibilities of having her as my girlfriend. I needed to say something before the Captain could figure out where my mind was going.

“Sure, I’ll do the best I can to be her friend,” I finally managed to say, though the words felt hollow, a poorly wrapped lie. I swear I saw a twinkle of something in his eye as I agreed to be "just friends" with Star.

“Good,” he replied, grinning like a cat who had caught a canary. Oh… he knew exactly what I was thinking, and I bet my entire savings account he’d use it against me.

“Now, do you have any other questions for me?” he asked, leaning back slightly in the chair.

“Um, yeah,” I began, bracing myself. “Why does the military want me dead?”

The Captain’s expression shifted to something more serious, his tone grave as he answered. “Well, it’s not the entire military that wants you dead. It’s one person: Sebastian Sirnic, the commander of the Special Operations Force at Langley Air Force Base. Your father and Sirnic hated each other with a burning passion. Sirnic tried several times to sabotage the project your father created, driven by jealousy and anger.”

As he spoke, the story began to unfold, painting a picture of rivalry and betrayal. “Sirnic originally studied bioengineering technologies on humans—the same field as your father. They were rivals throughout their careers. But your father, Captain Bracton, was chosen for a special bioengineering group that Sirnic desperately wanted to join. Instead, Sirnic was assigned under the Special Operations Force at Langley, under Colonel Lawrence Martin. Sirnic never forgave your father for what he saw as stealing his position. Years later, your father was promoted to Captain, while Sirnic fast-tracked to Major, eventually replacing Martin as the commander of the Special Operations Force.”

The Captain paused, letting the weight of the rivalry settle in before continuing. “At the same time, your father’s work was integrated into the SOF, which only fueled Sirnic’s rage. From that point on, Sirnic did everything in his power to destroy your father’s work. He finally succeeded on the day of the operation that forced your father to make an unimaginable choice—he had to kill eight children.”

I stared at him, shock plastered across my face. “Who were they?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“They were all orphans, chosen to become part of a superhuman team your father was tasked with creating for the military,” the Captain replied, his voice heavy with the weight of the past.

“As you already know, you and Star are the only survivors. Your father couldn’t bring himself to kill the two of you, so he forged paperwork to make it look as if you both died during the implant procedures. He managed to complete most of your operation and brought you aboard the Autumn before Sirnic discovered the truth. Sirnic believed he had shut down the project, but he underestimated your father. Your dad made copies of everything, hiding them in the Autumn’s programming and throughout the world. His final hint to us was to find the C Drive. It supposedly unlocks all the coding needed to run the Autumn at its full potential—a power so immense it could take out entire cities.”

My jaw hit the floor. The Autumn capable of destroying entire cities? And what did he mean by the implant procedure? This wasn’t the first time I heard something about implants.

“So, Star and I both have implants in our bodies?” I asked, still struggling to wrap my mind around everything.

“That’s correct. You have several,” the Captain replied, his tone factual as he began to point them out.

“You’ve got one on the left side of your head above your ear, one at the base of your skull, one in each hand, and several more along your spine. There are also implants embedded within your internal organs. These implants are designed to interlink you with a technological interface. To put it simply, you can interface directly with a computer,” he explained.

I blinked, trying to process the information, but it only left me more confused. My expression must have shown it because the Captain added, “Try not to think too hard about it. It’ll only give you a headache.”

“But…” I started, still grappling with the implications.

“Damnit, kid, I’m a Captain, not a biological engineer,” he growled, cutting me off. “All I know is that we need the C Drive to finish your augmentation so that these implants don’t end up killing you. If you want more details, talk to Star. She’s spent the last few years studying all the notes her father managed to find and gather.”

I nodded slowly, the enormity of the situation weighing heavily on me. “You mentioned that this ship is capable of destroying an entire city? What about the weapons on board now? You said the C Drive unlocks them?”

“Yes, we have functional weapons, but it’s the hidden systems that the C Drive controls,” he explained, his tone shifting slightly as he spoke about the ship’s armament. “The weapons you see now—fifty calibers, laser cannons, a few rockets—are all bought off the black market and added by us. We’ve tried countless times to activate the ship’s primary weapons, but it’s impossible without the C Drive. When fully operational, the Autumn can channel its cold fusion power through the main armaments. It’s a power unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

I stared at him, speechless. This was far beyond anything I could have imagined—far beyond what I could comprehend right now. My grandfather’s words echoed in my mind: This is above your pay grade. Feeling a headache creeping in, I decided I needed some time to think.

“Captain, I need some time to wrap my head around all of this. If I have more questions, I’ll come find you,” I said, rising from my seat.

“I understand,” he replied, his tone softening slightly. “I suggest you and Star talk about the implants when you’re ready. I’ll ask her to help you find a room to stay in.”

I nodded, then paused. Pulling my bag off my shoulder, I reached inside and pulled out my father’s journal. I opened the spine, took out the C Drive, and placed it on the Captain’s desk. Without saying another word, I shoved the journal back into my bag and walked out of his office, leaving the weight of everything behind me, at least for the moment.