A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 69

I entered the Bridge and saw that the Officers from both the day and evening shift were present. All of them looked relieved to see me. Tanya stood up and came over with a look of faint concern. "Are you okay?"

I smiled reassuringly at her. "I am fine. Cynthia was also unharmed."

She sighed in relief. "You had us worried there."

"That was not the way I had planned to spend my evening..."

The Weapons Officer snorted faintly. "I hope not. Half of the crew was ready to grab weapons and forceshields before storming the place."

Tanya leaned against the wall since the evening Navigations Officer had claimed her seat at the console. I sat down in my chair as I responded, "I kind of gathered that the crew got more than a bit upset at the news. It took me over an hour to get from the main access door to the elevator because they all wanted to make sure I was all right."

The Weapons Officer's eyes softened as he regarded me. "You put a lot of effort into making them forget your rank and relate to you on a personal level. Surely you didn't think that they wouldn't react if something happened to you."

I inclined my head at the truth of his words. "I didn't expect to see such a strong reaction this soon."

"You seem to have picked a loyal bunch."

I shrugged slightly. "To be honest, Starsong has done all of the hiring. I just welcome them on board."

The Weapons Officer tried to enlighten me. "We all know Starsong is present, but we can't really see him. It can be hard to relate to someone you can't see. However, we can see you, so you are the one we form a connection with."

I considered it and concluded that he was very likely correct. I inquired, "And just how did you fare with Starsong giving the orders in my absence?"

The Officers looked at one another, waiting for someone else to answer. I rested my chin on my hand as I waited for someone to break the silence.

The Weapons Officer eventually spoke, although his words came slowly, as if he was reluctant to answer this question. "It was different. And it was certainly a learning curve. He was able to display things on our consoles to show us exactly what he wanted. Not that we did much besides make unreasonable demands of every official on the docking station. Astra was the one who launched all of the strikes."

Something about his wording worried me. I spoke with trepidation, although I suspected that I didn't want to know the answer. "What do you mean by making unreasonable demands of every official?"

The Communications Officer responded to that question, "Ronan managed to ambush one of the men who remained in the market after forcing you into the shuttle. He stole his phone and found a message from the Deviant Monitoring Group hiring them to kidnap you. It specifically told them to use another crew member as a hostage to ensure your good behavior."

He paused. "We got... quite aggressive with a number of the higher ranking people in the docking station and city regarding the Elite Destroyers that had attacked us, while also demanding to know what role they might have had to play in this kidnapping. It would be safe to say that we have them thoroughly rattled, never mind how the news stations and local social media are going ballistic over the unprovoked attack and the message granting permission to kidnap a Captain."

I closed my eyes and took a slow breath before muttering, "I somehow doubt I will be able to show my face in public on this planet again..."

The Weapons Officer commented, "We haven't even gotten to the part where Tobias arrived and the Planetary Defenses tried to attack because he wasn't listening to the Space Traffic Control's demands."