[right][b]Amara and William[/b]
[sub]Written by [@Subject Zero] and [@Sep][/sub][/right]

Chaos.

Amara wasn't sure what she had expected during the exodus of the Sol system but for some reason she just hadn't expected the panic that seemed to course through the people aboard the Vitae ark. The more she thought about it though, the more she wondered why she hadn't expected such a thing. These people were in the process of leaving the only home they had ever known, aboard a city sized spaceship, for destinations unknown while an alien race bent on their utter destruction simultaneously chased them and annihilated the rest of the human race left behind.

The more she thought about it, the more she wondered why she didn't feel like that.

Until she did.

She had been running on pure adrenaline. Even before the launch, she could feel the adrenaline coursing through her. Given everything that was going on, it was understandable. During the launch, she was kept busy with patients, running around without a second to think about anything else. When the devastators attacked, all she could think about was helping whoever needed her. She didn't have the time to stop and think about what was happening outside the ship because there was simply too much going on inside.

It was only now, while she stood alone in an elevator that she had a moment to stop and think. There was still blood on her hands from her last patient. During the warp jump he had stumbled and fallen, cracking his head on a console as he went. It seemed such a random and stupid injury, considering everything else that was going on. But there was significant trauma and his brain was already beginning to swell. There was a chance he wouldn't make it. When Amara had left him with Doc Jakande and his staff in the med bay. He had assured her that the patient would be fine but the look of concern he gave her said otherwise.

Devastators.

All of their weapons and strength. All the things that could possibly happen on this adventure...and a bump to the head could kill this man. Such a small thing that made Amara stop and think about how easily someone could be taken away. It made her realize that everything about what they were doing here was dangerous. It made her think about death and everyone that had died to ensure that she and everyone aboard this ship could live. She thought about the possibilities of what might happen. What might have already happened to people she cared about while she was elsewhere.

All of it hit her at once and she could barely contain her heartbreak. She felt a lump form in her throat and her eyes begin to fill with tears but did her best to keep them where they were. [i]”Don't cry, damn it!”[/i] she thought to herself as the elevator doors whooshed open.

She barely thought about where she was or where she was going as she stepped out onto the bridge of the Vitae with her eyes locked on the ground. She stopped for a brief moment as people scurried around her, rushing from one console to another. She heard voices, yelling for reports and status updates. No one paid her any attention. They were all too busy to even notice her.

Slowly, Amara raised her head to look around until she spotted him and forgot to breath for a second. The air caught in her throat and caused her to gasp slightly as she watched her father. She forced her mouth shut, almost hurting herself with how tightly she clenched her jaw but in the process lost control of all that emotion built up in her eyes and she felt a tear escape.

Never show weakness. It was a philosophy she lived by. But when she saw the old man, saw that he was alright, she simply couldn't control herself. She was so relieved.

She stood there, watching him, eyes wide and desperately trying not to lose it entirely.

William stood poring through reports from Security, Engineering, Production and almost every system there was that could make a report. He rubbed his face, covering up his eye as he did so before lowering his hand again. He brushed the eye patch on the way down as a silent reminder. At least he didn’t lose another eye in his second ever engagement against the Devastators. Having casualty reports was never a good sign though, the manual docking had caused the ship to shake more than predicted. They weren’t looking at any deaths yet but that was apparently a possibility they had to prepare for. He sighed, it had been a long day. He turned to Joanne, “Commander, you have the con.”

“Aye Sir, I have the con.” With that he turned to leave, he was in need of a shower and a bite to eat. Maybe a stiff drink. He turned and walked up out of the pit and as he looked at the door he smiled as he saw Amara standing there waiting, watching him apparently. 

“Amara!” He raised both his arms out in a welcoming gesture. “You have perfect timing, the Commander just took the con until the relief crew takes over for the night. You eaten yet?”

Amara forced a small smile onto her face as her father approached, suddenly desperate to not look like a complete wreck. He was the one person she normally felt like she could be completely open with but in that moment, surrounded by all these people, she tried to bottle it all back up again. She was relieved when he embraced her in a hug. For a brief moment, she felt like a little girl again, wrapped in her fathers arms. That was always her safe place. When he was with her, she couldn't be hurt. She wrapped her arms around him and held onto him, hoping the blood on her hands had finally dried and she wouldn't stain his uniform.

As she dug her chin gently into his shoulder, she held onto the hug a fraction of a second longer than she really should have. Half to just enjoy it, relieved as she was that she could still do it, and half to give herself time to regain her composure.

When she finally pulled away, she had regained her normally stoic look with the slightest hint of a smile curling up the corners of her mouth. She held onto his arms as she looked up at him, pondering his question for a second. It was only then that she realized she hadn't eaten all day. She was too busy. Too amped. Too afraid.

As though her entire body had just come to the same realisation that her brain had come to, she felt hunger set in. Her stomach churned from it, making her feel slightly nauseated. But she didn't let that show either. Instead, she simply smiled at her father and answered “I could eat.”

William chuckled as she let go and answered to his question, indicating for them to leave the bridge. “I’m sure we can find something to your particular tastes. You were always into the more exotic foods than I am, I guess I’m just old fashioned.” He turned down a side corridor, a guard following his movements. He knew it was a necessity especially as he wasn’t just in charge of the ship but he was a figurehead and a rallying figure for everyone aboard. Though due to his training in the special forces he almost constantly had alarm bells going off in his head every time he noticed him out of the corner of his eye. That was probably why he was standing on his left side, so that William could see him. Good guy.

“It’s been an interesting day, we’ve fought the biggest Devastator ship we’ve ever seen, been swarmed by fighters and we’ve had some form of experimental stowaway in engineering. Hell, if it was busy today it’s going to be worse tomorrow with all the reports coming in.” As they entered the transit system and he sat down on the bus, moving to ensure that she had plenty of room to sit next to him he turned to her. “What about you? Busy day?”

These were the moments he fought for, had Amara not been in the picture he probably wouldn’t even have taken the assignment. Though him being here ensured that she was here, and that she had a future no matter what happened. He had tried to convince her to go in cryo, after all there was no telling how long they’d be drifting through the vastness of space and he didn’t want that for her. Though she was as stubborn as her mother and wanted to help people so here she was. At least this way they could have these moments, almost normal. He had always valued them on the run up to the launch but now he realized just how truly special they were. 

Amara's light smile seemed to fade to nothing as he told her about everything he had dealt with. She had gotten some of the details from Deacon already, not to mention the general scuttlebutt that was being passed throughout the ship as they went, but she hadn't realised the immensity of the Devastator ship until William confirmed that it was the largest they had ever seen.

When he asked how her day had been, she hesitated for a brief second before replying “Pretty busy...But it's nothing compared to everything you've had to deal with today.”

And she believed that. Everything going on outside of her own little world was so much bigger. The most she had to worry about was losing a patient or two. Her father had to worry about the fate of the entire human race. She decided not to gripe about her own mental anguish. Instead, as they sat together in transit to wherever the hell they were going, Amara simply wrapped her arms around William's much larger arm and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I'm proud of you dad.” she said with a smile. “You may be getting old but you're still kind of a bad ass.”