Supernova Blitz

Chapter 42: The First Cave Princess

"Gyeck."

It was a strange sound, but it found its way through a deep fog of sleep. It takes a moment for the fog to clear, during which the sound repeats, but a little differently. "Geeyeck!" It's a tiny, unassuming sound. The fleet is full of strange sounds from valves opening and closing, the engines speeding up or slowing down, cannon fire –if cannons are firing-, and now all the way to the many noisy sounds of repair.

This sound is nothing like those sounds. She isn't sure why, but she knows it's not mechanical. "Gyeck! Gyeck!" It repeats twice, quickly.

Jessica rubs her eyes and sits up, listening more intently. Everyone else is sleeping peacefully, including Angelica, who is sharing her bed. Jessica has no idea when Angelica crawled into bed, as the auburn-haired Captain is often quite busy. She's probably walked the length of every ship multiple times in the last two weeks since the battle with the Zarakyssns and her 'Supernova Blitz', as many Marines are calling it. She's paid respects to hundreds of fallen soldiers, civilians, and Grodrrns who died in the battle, as well as laid her own eyes upon the damages of the battle and her maneuvers. Jessica worries her beloved older sister is beating herself up, but the Captain insists she's okay, and is using it as both motivation and learning in order to prevent a repeat.

Fortunately, the fleet is in a jump right now, hosted by the Argonaut. Nothing can really happen during jumps, so the crews take the time to rest.

"Gyeck!" She looks down at her waist. She can feel squirming in the pouch she carries with her, and the sound definitely emanated from that direction. She carefully opens the protective leather flap and extracts the transparent silicone pouch inside. The tiny being inside of a translucent purple orb seems to be coiling her tiny, thread-like appendages and positioning them. And, all at once, the tiny figure stretches straight with a tiny, adorably, "Gyeck!", flexing the orb into an uneven shape.

Jessica watches several such movements, with brief pauses in between and squirming and coiling in seeming frustration. The tiny alien has never moved like this before, but then, there was a first time the tiny little being sung a bird-like tune from within her egg, squirmed against Jessica's abdomen from inside the case, and sucked on the tip or coil of one of her tiny tentacles like a baby sucking its thumb.

It's at the moment Jessica really SEES how hard her tiny princess is trying that she understands what's happening. She murmurs, "Sh-She's hatching..." The statement makes it more real, and the teen can't contain herself. "SHE'S HATCHING! SHE'S HATCHING!" This startles the two veterans out of their slumber, while Tanya and Little Bird shift. Grey is the fastest up, looking around before seeing Jessica.

The teen exclaims, "Chief! She's hatching!"

Everyone watches the glowing orb distort with "Gyeck!" before it sinks in. Little Bird squeaks excitedly, falling cutely out of bed to scramble over and into Jessica's and Angelica's. Angelica sits up, her hair messy and face weary, but she manages to smile.

The two girls cheer, "You can do it, Princess! We're here!"

The tiny alien strains again, but doesn't seem to make progress. Chief Grey remarks dryly, "Of course she picks night time."

Angelica chuckles warmly, saying, "How does she know, though?"

Grey stretches, and Tanya replies playfully, "She gets to sleep all day."

Jessica squeaks nervously. "She-She's struggling, though! Sh-Should I help her?"

Grey stands up, limping to the kitchen to get a drink. He growls out, "Absolutely not."

"B-But Chief...!"

"No buts. Normal circumstances, there would be no helping."

"But, w-what if she drowns!? H-Her egg... It's so small!"