It wasn't long after Kevej's broadcast that Maria made her way up to the bridge, but the [i]Lux Mea[/i] still hadn't received any response to their hails. The captain gave it a try;

“This is captain Maria Thorne of the cargo vessel [i]Veritas Lux Mea.[/i] Please identify yourself immediately or we will be forced to assume you are hostile, and blow you out of the sky.” 

It felt like the room was holding it's breath as the moments of silence went by. Kevej was trying to run through what the fight would be like with minimal engines in his head, and it likely wasn't going to be pretty.

Another moment passed, Kevej shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Maria took to the internal comms;

“Attention all hands, we’ve got a little bit of unfriendly behavior. Teg, get to the port turret. I’ll man the starboard. Socket, get me warp [b][i]right now.[/i][/b] Andrea, evasive maneuvers."

Kevej gave a distinctly alien curse. As first mate it was his job to make sure comms were relayed properly during combat, to make sure the turrets stayed full on ammo if their feeders went and to replace injured crew mates should they be too wounded to serve, and escort them to medical if they're too injured to walk. 

[i]It all sounded so simple[/i]

He switched to engine comms and was about to talk to Angsar when the ship rocked, hit by enemy fire. Instead he drew up a damage report and switched back to ship-wide channels. [color=violet]"Shields are holding!"[/color] with the silent addendum [i]not for much longer.[/i] Initial reports signalled that the munitions fired were of similar calibre and quantity to a ship the same class as the [i]Lux Mea[/i], so at least they had that going for them.

The comm chimed back in, this time it was Angsar. "All 'ands! Fuel line repair is in, give 'er a go. An' if I start hollerin', well, y' won't 'ave time to notice if I do."

Kevej tried to keep an optimistic tone as he commsed' back [color=violet]"Thanks, Angsar, booting it up now,"[/color] and kept his eyes fixed on the panel just in case any error messages popped up. He doubted he would have any chance at shutting the thing down in time if it went wrong but he wanted to have the best shot possible.

The steady thumping of ship-to-ship combat reached another crescendo as the enemy ship's main guns connected with the [i]Lux Mea's[/i] shields once more, and for the last time. Kevej relayed the text now splayed across his monitor via ship comms [color=violet]"Shields down!"[/color]. The shields being down wasn't a disaster, cargo ships like the [i]Veritas Lux Mea's[/i] main defense lay in it's armour and bulk, but things had certainly become a lot scarier and risky as the battle proceeded.