Elyse looked around as she awaited an answer, watching the actions of the crew. They all seemed dedicated to their job, which was fortunate for her. When she had first met them, it was an oddly pleasant experience. Of course, the gruff ones came off as, well, gruff. The rest, though, seemed friendly. She glanced over at Rae, who was as calm and collected as usual. Rae was gorgeous, and Elyse already respected her as much as she respected Raymond.

[i]Eight minutes before jump?[/i] Elyse thought. It seemed longer than the last time, but Elyse guessed that since they’d been jumping more frequently than usual, the jump drive had to take longer to get itself ready after being exhausted the past three days. Technology like that wasn’t supposed to be used as much as it was being used now, even though using jump was necessary.

Elyse turned her attention back to Raymond as he glanced down at her, directing all of her attention towards his orders. She’d learnt quickly to listen closely to every command he gave. [i]Scan the ships and guns, look out for warming assault systems. Got it![/i] Elyse gave a nod. “Yes, Captain,” she replied, moving towards the front of the ship to look out of the window at the front.

Seeing infrared light was as easy as flipping a switch in her mind. She simply needed to blink, and the ability was put to use. Elyse looked over each ship closely. The void of space came off as black, with little blue blips, the galaxies and nebulae, dotting it. The ships came off as a cool green, with little spots of orange, yellow, and red where the space rats roamed. She loved using her ability, but the shape of these rats sent shivers down her spine. She wished she couldn’t see them. “There’s at least 30-40 of them to each ship!” She called out, finding Shasoon’s heat trace. She watched as he took out the back ships and jumped a bit as Shasoon’s voice interrupted her own thoughts. She still wasn’t used to the intrusion in her mind, but at least she didn’t yelp every time he did it now. Give or take one more week, and she would most likely be used to it… hopefully. Elyse let out a sigh. The mess of heat had been too much to tell if he had been bitten or not. She watched as many space rats began to lose their heat as they died.

Raymond’s voice caught her attention as her name was used, but she kept her eyes on the remaining ships. [i]Help the gunners? No problem. The ships are still crawling with the space vermin.[/i] “On it, Captain!” She responded. With her infrared vision tuned to perfection, Elyse turned and found Meghan, moving to join her in the gunner’s cock-pit. She watched in awe as Meghan took out multiple ships. “Wow,” she breathed, “You’re a great shot.” She pointed towards a ship on the outskirts that was warming up its assault systems. “Shoot that one at the bottom. That’s where their fuel is held. They’re about to blast us.”