Pirates vs Scientist

Naera read and re-read the message. It’d come in as soon as they’d dropped out of the weave, just a handful of words but… She’d made the captain flustered. That had to mean something right? And Emely was doing such a great job, it’d surely just be a matter of time before that idiot realized that it was okay to pick her up and take her wherever he wanted. Thinking about the Feliax woman dragged Naera out of her Dustin-flavoured reverie in time to lock her tablet carefully, an internal thought of “can’t let Meli’a or Trea’k see my messages” accompanying her as she crossed the room briskly to stand in front of one of the ovens.

“Any minute now…” she hummed softly, right as the timer started to sound. Moving quickly, she popped the door, retrieving the tray inside and setting it gingerly on the counter. “Don’t collapse, don’t collapse, don’t collapse” she muttered to herself, watching the amber dish carefully. Everything seemed to be stable, the fluffy dessert was holding up nicely, it had worked… then a rippling wave passed through the air in the galley, heading straight for her. Before she could react, the wave hit the tray; the food exploded as it was shaken apart by conflicting air currents before they passed on, the ripples knocking her backwards onto her rear. “What. The. Fuck.”

As she yelled out in confusion, pieces of destroyed souffle rained down around her like confetti as the red alert lights flickered on and the alarms began to sound. “A little too bloody late” Naera grumbled, scrambling up and looking around at the upturned kitchen; more than just the chef and her dessert had been knocked flying by some kind of inertial dampening failure. “Fuck, it’s going to take ages to put this right. And just what the hell was that? Oh to hell with it, Dustin says I’m senior crew, I’m going to the bridge.” It took her a minute or two to scramble over and under upended pans, tables and other kitchenware that the weird air gust had sent flying before she could make her way to the nearest lift and take the trip up to the command deck.

Meli was sitting grim faced in Dustin’s chair when she entered; the Velca woman was glaring at the screen. “How long until the inertial dampening is reset?” She barked at one of the others present - a scientist Naera recognised as having been trained up by Rye to help run engineering in the bunny girl’s absence. “Another ten minutes” came the reply, followed by Trea’k’s voice. “Multiple shuttle launches detected. Meli, I think they’re going to try and board us.” Out of the corner of her eye, Meli must have spotted Naera because her next words were addressed to the Caenii. “Chef, get to the empty station and monitor how close those shuttles get. Trea’k, forward the data to her. Yell out when they’re within two hundred meters. Yril’k, firing solutions as they close.”

Blinking in alarm, Naera darted to the only free console which flickered for a moment before showing an outline of Sola with red dots moving in. “Sola, have you got a weapons lock on that hulk yet?” the Velca’s voice was emotionless and terse; she was really focusing, Naera thought briefly before doing the same and reducing her world to the gauges in front of her. “Railcannon lock confirmed. Ready to fire on your order, Chief Science Officer.” The AI’s voice was clear, cutting through the alarm to ensure it could be heard. Meli tapped her fingers on the armrest of the chair for a moment, and Naera was sure she felt the other woman’s eyes drilling into the back of her head. “First one just crossed two hundred meters” she said, yelling to make sure it carried over the din.

“All stations, fire!” Meli’s order came out in a bark, and the first wave of red dots vanished from the screen. Glancing up briefly to the main viewscreen, Naera’s breath hitched in her throat as she watched fire blossom on a truly gigantic craft. For a moment, she had a flashback to the terror that had destroyed her home - but then gritted her teeth, shaking that fear away. Their weapons had hurt this thing - and looking closer, it wasn’t one ship but several seemingly welded together. Forcing her heart to calm, she turned her gaze back to her station. “Next wave, three hundred and fifty and closing”.

Ten minutes later, the voice of a shell-shocked scientist echoed in the quiet left by the alarms ceasing to sound. “Inertial dampeners back on. We’re free to safely move again, Chief Science Officer.” From behind Naera, Meli visibly relaxed, her shoulders sagging as the stress left her. “Excellent.” Then, she thumbed the shipwide communications. “All stations, sound in to Sola, report any and all damages. We’ve dealt with the threat, now lets make sure the ship’s in good working order before we start on our mission.” Her next words were not shipwide, and caused the Caenii to jump slightly. “Yril’k, you have the bridge. Naera, Trea’k, I need to speak with you in the ready room.”

The three women entered Dustin’s ambassadorial suite a short while later; Meli hesitated a few paces in the doorway. “Oh, right. We forgot to close up after ourselves. No matter, take a seat please both of you.” Naera glanced around her and did her best not to grin at the massive mattress covered room exposed by the hole in the wall. Emely had told her about it of course - that had been a fun evening, she’d made Caenii firesticks for them both and the fox girl had hinted at enough things going on in there that she’d not been able to sleep for thinking about it. Hoping her expression didn’t show her thoughts, the silver-haired short-stack took her usual place at the table, Trea’k sitting nearby.

Meli sagged into the captain’s usual chair, her expression blank but her ears drooping in what even someone untrained in Velcan emotive expression could read as a morose mood. “I promised my li’ah’a that we would be fine, and we got attacked.” She said, seemingly to the world at large. “And by a hulk made from derelict ships no less. We **** them into weave-jumping away, but that much dead weight meant hitting all their reactors or their drives was impossible with the guns I have access to. Sola? Would a hit from the main gun have done anything?” The AI’s voice crackled a bit through the speakers as she replied. “Estimated probability of target disabling with primary weapon, seventy three point two nine percent.”

The Velca sighed and ran one hand down her face. “Maybe we should have run. Or waited until Dustin was done with his tourney before coming here. I could have pushed him to delay.” Trea’k’s hand gently took the brunette’s. “It was the captain’s decision to arrange things this way. There are no records of pirates using a vessel of that scale at any time that I am aware of. And you **** them to withdraw, destroyed many of their boarding parties. Sola is running wide scan sweeps of weave access points, so we will be safe to conduct our scientific research, and we can sent a high priority communication regarding the incident to the nearest council fleet. You have done fine leading us, and our love will tell you so when we see him next.” As she finished her speech, the Vex’ess envoy released Meli’s hand before pulling her in for a hug.

Naera coughed awkwardly; the affection between the two women was quite apparent, and she felt equal parts a third wheel, jealous, and wanting to offer her own reassurances to the normally collected Velca. The sound drew the attention of the other two, who turned their heads to face her. Trea’k blinked all four eyes; not for the first time Naera felt she should be freaked out by the insect woman but for some reason she found the action kind of cute. Meli meanwhile… Naera rubbed her ears, she had to have been daydreaming, didn’t she? “Sorry, what was that?” she asked. Meli sighed and beckoned with one hand. “Come over here. We might have both been busy with the firefight, but the way you flinched when that hulk came on screen was obvious to both of us. It reminded you of the monsters that destroyed the colony, didn’t it?”

The Caenii nodded, moving forward a little unsteadily, tears she hadn’t known she’d been suppressing starting to fill her eyes. Meli’s hand grasped hers, and suddenly she was pulled in to the middle of the other two women, arms wrapping around her on both sides. Tears rapidly turned into sobs as emotions she had thought she had a hold of sprang free, her thoughts descending into a puddle of feelings. Above her head, she was dimly aware of Trea’k saying something, and Meli answering; one set of arms around her tightened slightly - the science officer’s, she thought hazily through the sobs. Another statement - Meli this time, and a hesitant but affirmative sounding answer from Trea’k. She wished she could focus - something about it seemed important, but before she could get her thoughts in order the sorrow welled up again and she lost herself in the comforting warmth of the women holding her.