and the stars will be their guides (hermitcraft space au)

dogfight (ten)

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~ hold my hand tight, we'll make it another night ~

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TWs: A dogfight (whoa who could've guessed?? its not like I said that in the title or anything)

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Etho woke up when he was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. He opened his eyes, expecting to see that Bdubs or Grian had pushed him off the bed, but was met with an empty room and a pitching spaceship.

With a hand on the wall, Etho staggered around the spaceship, trying to find someone to ask about what was going on. The halls were eerily quiet and barren. Etho continued walking, looking around everywhere for clues to where everyone else was. Before long, he found that he had unconsciously wandered over to Beef's room. He slowly opened the door, expecting the room to be empty. 

It wasn't empty. Beef was there, looking out of his window, so enthralled that he hadn't noticed Etho yet. 

"What's going on?" Etho asked, his voice coming out small and quiet. He winced at how similar he sounded to the boy who would wake up his parents in the middle of a thundersnow storm, clinging onto a stuffed animal with one hand. 

He was older and braver than that now, so why did he still sound so scared?

Beef jumped and turned around. "Jeez, Etho, I didn't hear you come in!" He took a second to recover, then . . . stared at Etho. 

"Beef?" 

The mentioned person snapped out of his little trance. "Oh sorry, what was your question again?"

"What's going on?" Etho repeated. His voice (thankfully) wasn't as timid this time. 

"We're in a dogfight with an alien vessel," Beef explained. "Well, it's more of a battle of maneuverability right now. Nobody's fired a shot yet." 

"Oh," Etho said, sitting down next to Beef. He peered out the window. Every once in a while, he could see an alien spaceship dart past. Luckily, it didn't look to be a frostling ship.

Beef quietly snaked an arm around Etho's shoulders. Etho held his breath and looked over at his friend, but he was staring nonchalantly out of the window. After considering his options, Etho leaned against Beef, his heart in his throat. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Etho saw Beef softly smile. His stomach filled with warmth, and he relaxed, grinning lazily beneath his mask. 

That's when the actual fighting started. 

Both Beef and Etho jumped at the sound of a lazer bullet hitting the Hermit-Craft's belly. Three or four shots rang out in return, and Etho could see them zipping towards the enemy ship out of Beef's window. Two of them hit, and the rest went on to travel through space until they dissolved in five to ten minutes. (The dissolving was a safety feature to keep stray shots from floating around indefinitely and possibly harming an innocent ship or planet.)

As they watched, the alien spaceship moved out of view.

"Do you think they're surrendering?" Beef asked. Etho shrugged, but he already knew the answer was no. Those shots hadn't hit anything vitally important to alien ships. 

Not long after, while Beef and Etho were still peering eagerly out the window, another few shots hit the Hermit-Craft in rapid succession. The ship jolted, but it seemed to be fine, which earned a sigh of relief. 

The Hermit-Craft's lazer guns fired again. Since they couldn't see the spacecraft or the shots, Etho and Beef waited with bated breath. Would the enemy ship continue fighting, or would it surrender?