21 (DSV Nautica) Unforgiven
Lyn did the best she could to stumbled out into the airlock. It was hard to move. Everything felt tight, and she was getting light headed. She tried to shake it off, forming a shield around herself so she could begin spacewalking."Ash..open...the airlock..."The door slid open and blew her out into space. Ash shut the door and initiated erasure protocol. All the ships polymer access points began to melt and disintegrate into nothing. The worm they had introduced destroyed itself as well.Ash detatched and rocketed off the hull of the Nautica, toward Lyn, who weakly struggled to get away. He used the mindlink to 'see' her, and help her limp back to the ship."Erebus...we are coming...we got out of the ship. We did not get a chance to see the AI core."Aki cursed slightly at the news, pacing back and forth. "De'an, maneuver out to get them. If the conduits are gonna fail I want to be very far away from here.""Understood...but the propulsion conduits are shut down by Zhi to conserve power." De'an wasn't even trying to hide the stress in his voice. As the pilot of the ship, he felt helpless in the situation. He didn't respond well to that. No one did, but De'an could get nasty.
"Zhi, power up the conduits for propulsion. We need to get a couple protectors whom appear to be injured. May'ael, get to the launch bay. We are gonna have incoming wounded."May'ael was already hurrying to the launch bay, but Zhi was about to raise hell."Captain, the ships cloak will fail if we divert any power! Unless we fix the problem first.""Zhi, the ship can handle it. Im not asking for battle maneuvers. Im asking to crawl toward our wounded-""We can't do it!"Zhi had never talked to her like that before. He sounded borderline desperate. Aki bit her lower lip, clenching her hand shut on itself."Align...for FTL speeds."De'an entered the overrides and steered the ship, aligning for the coordinates that Aki had entered. The Erebus began accelerating, as Zhi began to panic in the engineering. He believed the ship couldn't take it. There was another way though.Zhi sighed and entered the emergency diagnostic code for all propulsion systems. That would force them offline for a good amount of time. Long enough to get enough power back and stabilize the cloak and central power conduits. The room began to glow red, as confused looks shot across the room, the engineers not having been prepared for this. The mind link rang with Aki's irate voice.
"What the hell is going on down there?!"Ba'yr was the one to answer her, slightly intimidated."Captain, the ship seems to be performing an emergency diagnostic of the engines. There's no way to stop it."The silence was deafening. The entire crew didn't know who was to blame.
But Aki knew. And she wasn't going to let the issue rest. She leaned forward and tapped De'an on the shoulder, silently commanding him to get up and follow her. He obeyed, unplugging as the various tendrils pulled from his body, his suit morphing back onto him as he followed her off the bridge. They silently moved, De'an curious where they were going. They wound up leading straight to her private quarters. The doors slid shut. De'an could feel the anger radiating off of her."What do I do with him?""Its not my pla-""I asked you a question."De'an had his issues with the captain. But he decided it would be less fatal to him to bring them up at a later time. She might make an acceptable captain after all."Report him. You have no official grounds to punish him on. The council will however. They can take appropriate action. In the mean time, appoint Ba'yr as chief engineer."
Aki flinched slightly, not liking that name. The man had an overly large ego, and an air of inappropriateness about him. Not to mention an insatiable sexual appetite. She knew this from hearing stories she would rather forget from Ka'ya."He is hardly chief engineer material.""If you have a better solution, go with it. You asked my input." De'an felt smugness inside for the first time, especially in her presence. Before he just felt slight annoyance.Aki dismissed him with a final order. "As soon as it finishes, enter FTL.""Yes, captain.""You have the bridge...I have some business to attend to."Aki stepped outside, as De'an headed toward the bridge. He smiled to himself, silently summoning Ka'ya. He had a message to deliver.Aki summoned two protectors to follow her toward engineering. She felt a lump in her throat and had a heavy heart, but she was the captain, and Zhi had done something she couldn't just ignore. She had to do this.The halls of the curator were silent. There was a foreboding in the air, as if something terrible, unspeakable had happened. The acolytes sat in silence. The star map was blinking, indicating a point in far space.