Story Collabs: Volume 1

The Captain

Written By: Nova X, Nelly B, avatoh O, turb 0, Nina Complex

Formatted By:  Nelly B

Captain Helene Holzer... At least that's what they called her, completely oblivious to the fact that the very organization that held her name so highly was one that she worked tirelessly to hide the truth from. They would never understand the complexity of her emotions, and why she had decided the path she was on... From their point of view, she wasn't being paid to have emotions. Her job was simply to transport shipments from station to station along the Vanelix Traderoute, no questions asked.

Then how was it possible that her heart could have been stolen by that short, thin, elegant yet abrasive space pirate? Never in her whole existence had she even entertained, let alone contemplated letting another person into her life. Yet as she sat on the main deck of her ship the VC Valkyrie sailing along the intergalactic trail, she couldn't help but reminisce. She remembered that night fondly, the night she finally caught the roving and elusive smuggler R'vani Camden. The night she let go of all reason, compromising every value her loyalist upbringing had given her, and let herself listen to the story of the woman before her. Knowingly, she ignored all the warnings of consequence, red lights flashed in her mind, but somehow, seeing the defeated R'vani pleading with her, she questioned whether bringing her to the so-called "justice" of the Vanelix Corporation was truly the right thing to do.

"Captain!" A voice pierced through her subconscious nostalgia trip.

"Holz, what's the plan?" Another voice echoed on the command deck. Turning to her left, she saw Iolanthe, her oldest friend, the ship's paramedic and probably the only person aboard who would dare to call her by her nickname. Holzer immediately reverted her attention to her position while shooting a dirty glare at Iolanthe for using such an informal tone. Speaking out clearly, "Ivarez, Martin, what's our status?" The two ship mechanics yelled back, "Communications are stable, Captain!" Followed by a louder, "Engines are running at half capacity, Captain! We seem to have caught space debris without noticing, we need to land immediately!" She nodded and took decisive action, "Jet, land us on Planet Epsilon 5-3-0," she ordered her pilot. Turning in his chair to look at her, "You sure cap? That's one of the uncharted in this quadrant." Banging her fist on her arm-rest, causing her metallic chair to make a loud noise, "Damn it Jet, did I stutter? We need to land and we need to land now! Iolanthe, I need you to run the Mechanics, get the sit-rep on Engine Repairs from Aroli and report back to me." Her instincts kicked in and she reminded herself and everyone aboard in that instant why she was the designated leader.

Jet had always been somewhat insubordinate. She knew he was after her position and wouldn't mind seeing her fail as a captain. Even if it put the crew at risk. Not to mention, he'd always had eyes for her, but Holzer didn't swing that way, nor was she one to accept failure. Regardless, as she slammed her fist, his head turned forwards and all he could say was, "Aye, Captain." Sitting, looking at the back of his stupid head with mirth, and not being able to contain a chuckle at the number of times he had tried to hit on her in the academy. He had always been shameless, but now she could pull rank on him - a dream come true for the youngest ship commander of the Corporation.

She felt her belly lurch as the ship took a practical nose-dive towards the nearest planet, a verdant land covered with 15% water, and very few mountains. 'This shouldn't be too bad,' It appeared not dissimilar from most other habitable planets....
Cloud systems, oxygen levels stable, flora and fauna among it all, "Ivarez, initiate landing sequence," she called out amidst her thoughts. The commands were second nature to her, almost instinctive. "Jet, what's our ETA?"
"Less than five minutes."

"OK, I'm stepping out back for a minute, I need to check something, Jet, I'm leaving you in command temporarily." She said verbally, all the while thinking, 'against my better judgement...'