"Shut everything down. I want everything not crucial to life support offline. Now." Erik's voice held a sternness that would be expected coming from an experienced
starship commander. The type of commander with a warm disposition and scars under his beard that blends authority and was born to lead. Erik, however, defied that description. He taught himself to exude the requisite authority for a situation when needed, but it never came naturally. He had to teach himself to be a Captain. Most people promoted to his position were large in stature; they usually had a physically imposing presence that indicated the type of person the Ministry wouldn't mind having make difficult or strange decisions in a combat situation. For example, Ran Akwai was always that stereotypical Captain with bloated muscles and a square jaw. Erik sometimes wondered if he were part of the breeding program that The Ministry used to fill out ranks for its ground forces.
Erik was the skinny kid. He had the mind and patience for command, but it was packaged in an unorthodox way. He excelled through the use of logic, not force. He often felt like he was faking the rest - fooling everyone into thinking he was Captain material. Forcing his cool, he tried his best to hide his fear from his bridge crew as the Rostran shuttle drifted toward the Hellbender.
Ursa's shaky hands obeyed his order, settling the nervous ship into a deep sleep. Soon after, a modulation of noises swept over the bridge like a yawn.
"What's our plan now?" Yuriel said to Erik. Her tone suggested that maybe she hoped there was something brilliant cooking in his head.
Erik's nerves rattled as he thought through possible scenarios.
Are we really being hijacked? Seriously?
Suddenly, things began to fall into place in his mind. He was about to answer when Ursa motioned for his assistance. She was still orienting herself with the Hellbender’s control systems, and since she was the least experienced on the bridge Erik had been helping her become acquainted with the ship as he learned it himself.
"We can't fight them," Erik said, helping Ursa shut down transport systems. "I didn't ask about what we can't do, Erik. Besides, you lured them."
"That helps though, doesn't it? Have you ever seen a Rostran being up close?" "No, but is that relevant?"
"Yes it is, trust me. We can't fight them in the light.” He grabbed Yuriel by the shoulders and pulled her in close, dramatically.
"Erik, what th-"
Before she could finish, he kissed her. Or at least he tried. When she realized what he was doing, she turned her head and stomped the top of his foot. Two sensations overloaded his brain. They were embarrassment and pain.
"Bad timing?" Erik said as Yuriel pushed him away.
She only replied with a look of extreme disbelief and annoyance. After the dust between them settled, Erik said, "I need you to rally the rest of the human crew. For fear of interception, we use organic communication. They can't know there is anyone else on the ship. Get to the escape pod bays and wait."
"The escape pods are locked down. The bays have been sealed off," Ursa informed the room.
"Great. Do you think that will stop a Rostran boarding party?"
"Would that stop a Ministry boarding party?"
"Point taken. We need to act quickly. Let's message the Ministry."
Yuriel, still taken aback by the sudden change in Erik’s behavior, still somewhat
angry, snapped herself out of her feelings and quickly opened a line of communication with the Defense Ministry.
"Any time you're ready," she told him.
Erik sat back down in his chair, cleared his throat and began to speak urgently. "This is Captain Mal of the Hellbender. We require immediate assistance. Upon
entry of Rostran warspace, we were confronted by Rostran ships that are now threatening to take my ship and crew. I repeat, this is a possible emergency situation." Erik sat back as his message delivered. He looked toward Yuriel, who silently confirmed release of the transmission while doing her best to avoid eye contact.
"Do you think they'll come for us?" Yuriel asked after a sigh.
"It's likely the message won't be received in time. In truth, that message was mainly for the benefit of our new friends on board the Ros Altanna."
"So we have no options?" Ursa asked.
"It seems that way," Yuriel muttered to nobody in particular.
"Come with me to gather the crew,” she then said, noticing Ursa’s apparent
nervousness and attempting to calm her down.
"Alright," Ursa said, standing. "Will you guys be fine here?"
"Don't worry about us," Erik told her while glancing at Alsin, who was stoically
showing no emotion in stark contrast to Ursa's obvious emotional distress. Ursa needed to hide. Alsin was the type for confrontation.
"What about him?" Yuriel said, making her way to Martin Ulrich's unconscious body.
"Just leave him here. There's no time to move him."
"I at least want to prop him up against the wall or something. We shouldn't leave him on the floor.”
Reluctantly giving in, Erik walked across the bridge to where Yuriel was struggling to lift a man who was about twice her size.
"At least he's breathing," Erik said.
"Yeah, for now."
Yuriel's seemingly defeatist attitude bothered Erik a little. He couldn’t help but take
it personally, so it felt to him like a direct lack of faith in his abilities as Captain to keep his crew safe. It might not even be personal to him, but it affected him as such. He secretly hoped it reflected a feeling of disdain for the Ministry as a whole, which Erik, as a Captain, might share but would not dare discuss on this bridge.
They heaved Ulrich into Ursa's unoccupied chair. He slumped over instantly when they let go of him, almost falling head-first back onto the floor. Ulrich was about two and a half times Yuriel's size, so when she moved to catch him she was very lucky he didn't crush her. She was also lucky Erik was still standing behind her, taking the weight of the other man mostly upon himself.
"You need to go now. We can't afford to waste any more time."
"Right," Yuriel said. Her eyes showed both focus and uncertainty. "Follow me." Upon the command, Ursa followed Yuriel off the bridge. Erik watched her leave,
listening to her steps until the echo upon the metal finally faded.
"Any communication from the Ministry?" he asked Alsin after all signs of Yuriel faded.
"Still nothing,” she replied, “I wonder if our signal is being jammed somehow." She bit her lip gently as she spoke. It was funny, Erik thought, that Yuriel had a similar habit of biting her lip when uncomfortable as well. As a Ministry pilot, she had probably come face to face with imminent death more than Erik had. Her coolness reinforced it. Erik knew he was lucky to have her skill at the helm.
"That's a good question," Erik said, resuming his position in his Captain's chair. The Rostran cruisers had completely surrounded the Hellbender. "I don't think it matters much now though."
"Why not? We can let command know that The Rostran are acting unexpectedly, they will come to our aid. We are a Ministry ship. That's how it works, right?"
"Ideally, yes. And that's what you were taught in Academy. And that's what you were promised when you assumed your post on this ship. You have been reassured that the Ministry has your back, and that may be true, but right now, I have your back. And you mine. It works that way for everyone on board this ship. If the Ministry comes to our aid, we will be better off for it, but right now-" he paused to indicate Ursa's control panel. It had a flashing red light that reflected off of Martin Ulrich's heavy eyelids.
"The Hellbender has been breached. Are you ready?" he said.
