Fire Light (ON HOLD)

Arrangments

Most of the children stayed in the daycare room, so it was easy for Aauron to round them up (he and Mel assumed co-captain roles), and started his speech with Mel right beside him.

"I think... we need to do something with the flight deck. Anybody 13 and under just wait here, anybody over 13 come with us and give us a hand." Aauron announced. He and Mel turned and walked out the door and held it open for everyone who was coming out. Then they shut the door behind them.

"Everybody listen up!" Slowly, everybody turned to look at Mel. "If you look out to the flight deck, you will see our problem." A few heads turned out, then back to Mel. "We need to fix this problem. Now, if we put the all in one room, then nobody can go in there. Anyone have any suggestions on where to put them?" She looked out to the crowd, hopeful.

"We could put them in the sleeping quarters!"

"Then where would we sleep?"

"Uhh.."

"Yeah! Don't suggest stuff if you don't have a back up plan!"

"Don't pick on him!"

Everyone started yelling at each other, nobody could hear a defined voice among the crowd. The first two people who spoke started getting in each other's faces and one eventually threw a punch. As the kid dropped like a fly, everyone started egging them both on. Mel gasped and grabbed Aauron forearm, frozen for a moment, then she threw herself forward, trying to break up the fight.

Aauron sat back a moment, missing her touch, then he snapped himself out of it, and lurched forward after her. What was he thinking?

Mel got to the middle of the circle as the first boy got back to his feet, he wiped the blood off his nose and shot forward, attempting to tackle the guy who punched him. Aauron's arm pulling Mel back half a step was what saved her from being the one who got tackled. She felt grateful for a moment, then pulled away to intercept the fight before it got out of control. Well, more out of control.

Without thinking, Mel grabbed the guy on top's shoulders and tryed to pry him off the other guy. In a frenzy to get out of her grip, he pulled his arm back and his elbow caught her nose and she fell back, bumping into Aauron, who caught her and sat her on the ground. Her gasp stopped both guys and they both looked back to see her sitting on the ground clutching her nose. Everyone stopped cheering and stared in confusion at the scene.

Mel stood up shakily and looked down at them. "We're supposed to be working together. We need to clear the flight deck. And what are you two doing? Fighting like little kids. I will never understand the male species. You're parents would be ashamed of you both." Mel gave them both a death glare then turned and pushed her way out of the crowd, she practically ran to the bathroom, but once she got there she paused, looking at her shoes. She heard shoes shuffling in front of her and jumped out of the way, in fear someone was going to hit her. She looked up and saw a young women, obviously clueless to what happened with that crazy guy.

"Oh, hello there. You look too young to be a member of this crew!" The same couldn't be said about her. She looked young, but there were wrinkles beside her eyes and mouth, and she genuinely looked tired, like she worked too any shifts in her life.

"Uhh, I'm not a member, I'm the captain's daughter." Mel said, wondering how this lady avoided that crazy guy.

"Oh, yeah! Sometimes I forget there are kids on this ship! What was all that noise about ten minutes ago? It sounded like gunshots!" She looked at Mel expectantly, waiting for the answer Mel didn't want to give her.

Mel paused, thinking of something different she could tell her. But, she couldn't lie about all the people missing from the crew. As she tried to pick out something to say, the woman started to chuckle. Mel was snapped out of her thoughts, and looked at her in confusion.