Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren swore a rather crude insult in her native language that may have been broadcast as she ran a big grapplingly great wrench in her door shield ramming a ichor covered metal beam through its skull with a very crude technique that however did kill the metacar and leave her stomping a heavy metal suit foot to smash its carcass off her weapon as she breathed heavily. The door was solid. Now it had great slashes, she could see through it and they were holding small numbers at choke points and even then they were giving them a fight with only 1 marine, crew and a power loader to hold them back.

If they had made a big push it might have been swarmed. With time, the defense was not great and most of them were just regular people doing their best. “Trying to Unlatch whoever took out the damn power fraked the bloody systems, we are doing it the hard way… Miss corpo and the others doing their best, going to try and detonate the explosive bolts at the station side so the systems will allow us to lock down properly.” Another voice came though the sound of machinery, shouting, weapons fire and a muffled thud and sound of machinery being stressed beyond its material limits.

A small warning alert at the bridge announced the use of emergency measures to try and break the docking link with the station at the cargo tunnel. The heavy outer door began to slowly start to close again, once the system recognised a potential manager but the outage station side had taken a while for everything on the crew's side to be able to take over from the sudden loss of power and computer cores aboard the space station.

Several load crew were preparing a defense in depth at the next secure hatch way, got past the first line they would try to bring it down. For a bunch of strangers and random groups they had out of desperation formed a fairly effective method of working. Desperate but everyone had a task, and long as they did theirs, it would help the others do their own.

“We have back up power back, but its gonna take time to get closed and break the link. Unless anyone's got a better plan” Ren asked across the general circuit audibly breathing hard and a sound of tearing steel as a claw rammed into a makeshift barricade. The sound of weapons fire intensifying and warnings to mind the red zone for the doors powered track.

“And whoever blew up the station with us attached must be crazy.” Ren added between the sounds of a heavy suit being pushed back grinding metal on metal and other noises.

Velia had secured herself back into her seat. Her knee bounced up and down nervously as she considered what to do, "How about this... suggest they seal the shuttle and cargo bays off then launch, venting those spaces. Then we dock with them and jump out of here."

John pondered for a half second the viability of turning the shuttle around. Trying his luck with another orbital or perhaps hailing another ship. They had at least a week's worth of life support and twice that in supplies. Potentially a better gamble then an infested colony ship.

A blinking indicator however drew his attention. A frown formed under his helmet as he stabbed the offending console; the shuttle tech's had messed up something with their ad-hoc maintenance. The experimental shuttle apparently too alien for them to properly adjust around. The rapidly failing left engine spoke of his diminishing options.

With a sigh he opened his comm back to the colony ship. Relaying Velia's instructions as he adjusted the still functioning engine to the best intercept course.

He just hoped this decision worked out.

***********

It was to little fanfare that John brought the shuttle into the colony ship's respective landing bay. The twitching corpses of a few Metacer's scattered; victim's of the hasty depressurization. John still kept an eye on them as the shuttle nestled into the dock; the assault shuttle larger then the usual spec of shuttle so it's dimensions took up nearly the entire bay. Though the landing gear was standard; hooking into place with a satisfying thump; his console showing the green of a good dock.

"We're hooked. Clear to disembark." John started the shut down procedures, taking care to check the failing engine, filing away that problem until after he drove a colony ship for the first time in his life.

Velia was off the ship after, "Uurgh!" she grunted as she eyeballed one of the dead metacer, "I've never seen one of them up close before... gross."

She paused, her face registering a mix of nausea, curiosity and disgust before she shook her head as if clearing it, "I should get back up to the bridge and see what this people did to my ship while I was gone."

Vitiafa of Endiohon

---

The priestess had just managed to make it back into the boarding tunnel to hear the heavy, rapid footfalls echo off the floor and down the boarding tunnel which seemed to stretch for a kilometer in a moment. Within a few breaths, the first panicked souls had already made the turn into the metal corridor.

The horror was clear on their contorted grimaces and bug-eyes as they ran, some well past the point of normal exhaustion. She knew their pain well.

Vitiafa's eyes widened in turn when she realized that no force would calm or rally this particular crowd. She did her best about-face, much to the disagreement of her leg, and all but threw herself into the safety of the craft's cockpit. She tumbled to the floor with a grunt and without an ounce of grace. She wasted no time before painfully and awkwardly climbing up off the floor, and just as quickly claimed one of the open seats. The kiel sighed in relief as she activated her communications unit again.

“Lopez, send some more robots to the passenger boarding corridor as fast as you can. Ease the pressure on the crowd.” she ordered. "And we need more hands to guide those coming aboard."

She paused for a moment, clicking off her own communicator and taking a deep breath. She turned her head to face the quessir at the helm. “Keep that tunnel open until we need to crush a bug with it.”

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren was shunted backwards with a sound of sparks as the metal feet of her suit found no grip on the metal surface. The shield she had was useless, torn by great claws and rented by great blows. The metal bar was bent and soaked with ichor. Ren was backing up and swinging, it was difficult to find bugs off with a suit that was hardly tuned for any kind of combat!

“Sealing, not much longer now” someone shouted as the doors finally began to close and narrow the gap into the darkness of the now dead station. “Get your ass clear, because that door ain't stopping for anyone.”

“Bloody….” Ren swung out randomly and panicked as a bug tried to flank her suit, past her reach. The suit was strong and powerful but it was not agile and hardly designed for combat. Boom echoed out as another came round with a heavily energy slug loaded blaster and sent big parts flying all over as he racked the slides rapidly driving it back till it was a steaming mess on the deck. “Im all for the barbarian, but this better.” The crewman joked as he rapidly loaded energy slugs, panic, calm, humour.. and Ren could not help but laugh at the crazy she found herself in.

“Sealed…we are sealed!” Came a few minutes later as the great doors closed…the place was an utter mess, 2 men were wounded to some degrees and at least 2 were fatal. Several others provided medical aid and others worked to shove dead bugs out of the way so they could clear the access way to the inner holds. “Bridge. This is hanger bay. We are secure. Casualties. Some dead. We are secure.” The voice was tired, drained and realising that they had not all made it. “Whoever blew that station frak 'em” they retorted as they cut the line and looked about. The place was a mess and the battle had been tense. Had they both lost power it would have been way faster.

“You aint bad for a corpo” one said as Ren dropped down from her suit.

…

Ren made her way out the area, seeing signs that lead up and away onto a wide array of decks and areas of the ship. Damn… did this thing have a damage control plan, they always had plans for damage control and they had the deck and area planning boards. She found a plan, follow that way to the bridge…hard to miss right, until you find 3 cryo control stations, a children's classroom and 2 rec rooms instead!

“Damnit… left…at the corridor split right..” she said recalling the last damage control board she saw.

…

The bridge was … about what she imagined, a space with large consoles and thick doors that closed behind Ren. Crew were gathered about or whatever could be called a crew for what they had and available anyways. Ren needed to find out what was going on? What on earth was going on? The station lost all power, bugs, and more happening in a matter of hours.

Rens light armour she wore was dashed with ichor, she had a stain of leaked hydraulic oil and dirt and so of the last few days, eyes tired Ren had left most of her bags in a pile by the bridge door. Whatever she had been able to save, loot or acquire to help stay alive for one more day. The young woman for her race looked about and took a drink of water from a canteen she had. Ren was not young by human years, but her own kind…she was barely out of her training.

“What's going on? Cargo bay is secure, and not without cost. Bloody crazy folk took out power to whole linked station and took longer to close the doors and reset a fault.” Ren was annoyed, whatever had happened it had fucked up alot of things.

Vitiafa of Endiohon

---

“Lopez, send some more robots to the passenger boarding corridor as fast as you can. Ease the pressure on the crowd.” she ordered. "And we need more hands to guide those coming aboard."

She paused for a moment, clicking off her own communicator and taking a deep breath. She turned her head to face the quessir at the helm. “Keep that tunnel open until we need to crush a bug with it.”

---

“Engineering copies,” Mark muttered into the headset, not even looking up as he shoved another warning window aside. “I’ll push what I can. Just don’t expect miracles.”

He kicked over to the drone panel and dragged three more units into the active queue. The interface lagged, too many manual threads, too much going on at once—but he forced them into sync anyway.

“Alright… single-follow mode,” he grumbled, thumb tapping through configuration menus that should have been automatic.

The lead drone chirped to life and rolled forward, the others clattering along in a loose formation behind it. Their cameras relayed flickering, shaky feeds as they entered the upper corridors. Civilians rushed past them, panicked and disorganized, but the machines carved out a thin bubble of space just by being big, loud, and obviously not human.

“Boarding corridor, follow the person in front of you, go by the side, keep moving!" Mark's voice came through the drones speakers.

The first bug appeared at a junction, mandibles wide, legs scraping metal. Mark forced his focus into the control link and rammed the drone forward. The steel claw caught the creature center-mass, slammed it into the wall, and crushed it in two jerking pumps.

He didn’t breathe until the feed stopped shaking.

He logged onto another drone in the back, chasing motion and into anothed Metacer, shoving its claw straight into the thing’s mouth, and firing its flare. The bug lit up like a bonfire, thrashing out of frame before collapsing in a smoking heap.

“That… works,” Mark muttered, wiping sweat from his jaw.

He forced three more drones to split down different branches, herding civilians toward the ship and creating pockets where people could breathe without getting trampled.

“Vitiafa, you should see them on your end now,” he said, shifting to her channel. “They’re clearing the choke points. I can keep this up as long as the grid holds, but I’ve gotta hop between units manually. One drone at a time. The rest just mimic it. If you need a drone somewhere specific, shout. Otherwise I’m playing whack-a-bug down here.”

Bridge of the ESS 3822-01

---

The bridge of the ESS 3822-01 felt cavernous without the command staff. Consoles that should have been manned by half a dozen officers sat dark, their chairs pushed back in the haste of evacuation. Fihlyn moved among them with brisk precision, but the emptiness made every footfall sound too loud.

Focus, Fihlyn. Do the next step. Then the next.

“Primary systems alignment is progressing,” she murmured. Talking aloud steadied her nerves and kept the silence at bay. “Navigation lattice…” she frowned at the instrument, “you will cooperate now, please.” A gentle tap coaxed the flickering indicator into proper calibration. “Excellent. Thank you.”

A soft chime rose through the stillness. Her link to the orbital station was still active, although the connection seemed to be intermittent. As far as she could tell, there was only a single controller still at their station. “Station control, this is 3822. We are receiving you. Things are still well, yes?”

The reply arrived through a wash of static. The young voice quivered behind a forced smile. “Y-yes, I’m still here. Sorry, the power grid’s fluctuating again. We just lost two more decks. I’m rerouting, but nothing’s staying up for long.”

Fihlyn softened her tone. She felt a pang of empathy for the young man on the other side of the comms. She got the impression that she was one of the only other voices still on the line for him to talk to. “You are doing wonderfully. Let us look together, perhaps I can help. I am sending you my sensor telemetry.”

She brought the ship’s planetary-survey array online. It felt strange to turn it toward an inhabited station, but today nothing resembled normal procedure. The station’s internal layout blossomed across her screen, a lattice of red and amber warnings causing her to wince.

“The reactor on deck seven is over-heating. It may be that the grid cannot handle it with all the damage.” She didn’t want to think about what anyone on that deck might be experiencing. That reactor would probably melt down in the next few hours. Assuming the station itself was still around by then.

“The reactor?” There was a pause. “I - I don’t know anything about that. Lois was in charge of that, but now she’s…” The voice trailed off, but Fihlyn could hear the man’s breathing become quicker and heavier.

She hastily filled the silence, not wanting him to completely succumb to panic. “How about you tell me what you see?”

Hearing her voice seemed to bring the man back to the present. “Right, yeah. I’m seeing an error saying something about the coolant manifolds not responding.”

“Ok, do not worry. I can guide you.” Fihlyn said firmly, trying to keep her tone calm. “You should be able to divert power from some redundant systems to stabilize the grid. Is the station still providing power to my ship? We do not need it, so that could be a good place to start.”

“Trying it.” The tech’s voice wavered. A series of frantic clicks sounded through the channel, along with hurried whispers she could not quite make out.

Fihlyn continued her own work while offering reassurance. She moved from console to console, validating autopilot parameters and thruster alignment. Her hands operated with trained precision, even as she kept half her attention on the trembling voice in her ear.

“You are doing very well,” she said as the reactor temperature began to dip on her scans. “Truly, we are making a good team, yes?”

The tech gave a short, breathless laugh. “Thanks.” There was a nervous pause. “Honestly, I’m not even supposed to be on comms. I just started about a week ago.”

The line went quiet for a moment. Then the tech inhaled, steadier than before.

“By the way, my name’s -”

Light bloomed across Fihlyn’s screens before the sentence finished. A brief, violent flare. Her console flooded with shock readings and a harsh burst of static that strangled the comm link. She felt the ship shake beneath her, as her scan reported a series of explosions erupting along one side of the station.

“Station Control, please respond.” Fihlyn leaned forward, adjusting the channel. “Your signal is fading. Answer if you are able.”

No response. Not even background hum. The silence felt absolute.

How close was Station Control to that explosion? If it started on deck three, then…

No. That train of thought wasn’t going to help anyone now.

Red alerts blinked across multiple displays, demanding her attention as she heard the sound of groaning metal reverberate through the hull. The structure of 3822 wouldn’t have been harmed by an explosion like that, which meant that she was hearing the pained echoes of something else. A quick glance at her scans told her all that she needed to know: the station had been crippled. Life support, power, thrusters, they were all shutting down, one by one. The anti-gravity docking clamps that had held the colony ship in place were all failing, gradually putting more and more load onto the physical docking tubes - thin metal cylinders, never designed to hold a ship as massive as 3822 on their own.

Others began to enter the bridge as Fihlyn frantically tried to coordinate the ship’s thrusters and control systems. The kiel priestess from before practically dived through the doors before clambering into one of the cockpit stations.

“Keep that tunnel open until we need to crush a bug with it.”

Fihlyn glanced over towards the woman, nodding firmly as she focused on her task. Having a sister of the faith aboard helped to steel her resolve, but it also threatened to bring some of her feelings of panic to the surface.

The longer she kept the ship in concert with the station, the more time any survivors had to reach safety. But she could only delay the inevitable. At some point, something would nudge either the ship or the station too hard for the thrusters to account for, at which point the docking tubes would be ripped apart. There’d be nothing between anyone unfortunate enough to be inside them, and the cold vacuum.

Another kiel entered not too long after, clearly fatigued and with a shocking amount of ichor staining her uniform. It sounded like the external doors were nearly all sealed, which meant that it wouldn’t be long until they were able to depart from the station. It would be none too soon, as the degrading state of the station made it harder and harder for Fihlyn to hold the colony ship in its position.

A voice crackled over the comms.

"We're hooked. Clear to disembark."

Her fingers hovered for a heartbeat before she confirmed the command, almost allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief. Activating her ship-wide comms, she broadcast a message as she felt the ship start to accelerate beneath her.

“Attention all crew, we are departing from the station.”

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren felt as much as saw how the dying station began to affect them, the clamps and locks let go and the whole ship tilted a fraction, no longer anchored to such a large static point and exposed to gravity and forces of the planet, space and so on.

The … whoever it was was preparing to break orbit and much as she looked down upon a planet now lost to the bugs. There was no way the station might have lasted a while if they had not blown something up and killed its power. The days, weeks..months events began to crash on Ren harder and harder. She was already at a limit when this day started and now her limit was past that, fighting a battle, loading goods, running to only run again… Ren was well and truly beaten. The tired and messy Kael rested her head and silver lime hair against a post, cool metal and sighed with a deep satisfaction as she had been so overheated for hours on the station. “Im going to…med bay, yes. Get. A pick me. up.” Ren almost stumbled a little, her brain, her body she needed a painkiller or to find a place to crash for a bit. “im Ren…I work.. guess I'm unemployed now… My job is at a nuclear crater.” She said and it was way funnier than it should have ever been as she walked out following the med icon with a hand against the wall.

…

The bright sign led her to the infirmary and she saw a Dr present, Ren probably looked a state but also felt a state tbh. She needed something even if just some pain killers to help her keep going a little longer. “Hey Doc, got anything to keep me on my…feet… I'm flagging after beating up some bugs and saving plushy sharks. Till I can rest.”

Ren's mind, bullied, abused, tried and such did make a rather tenuous link to the past. A past back when she was attending a rather fun medical conference, she was to compare human and Xeno biological medicines and compatibility. She had been talking to a man in a bar after a few glasses of wine, champagne and some boozy chocolate pudding. It had been a rather interesting evening and presentation on human and xeno proteins. Drinks followed and the fancy hotel she had been put at on site had no limit corporate bar tab. Good wine, from the southern poles.

Things had gotten flirty, friendly and the business card with a room number … only she got ghosted… What was the point of a conference when you do not enjoy a few bonus extras to make up for the long waits and stale coffee. She even had got an especially nice dress or 3 for that event, a cream and gold toga dress in particular with matching jewellery, shoes, underwear and accessories.

“Hey, wait…” Ren paused to rest a hand against a surface as she paused and got her balance.

“Ya, You where…i know you. Com…comfrence, starcity. , ” The short Kiel said as she recalled and why… Did she remember that at this time? Who knew but now she could not forget it. “You flirted with me half a night, a whole bottle of wine. and ghosted me… I thought you liked my ears… I was in a white and gold toga dress. It took me an hour to just braid my hair." She said remembering how she felt after being ghosted despite the feeling she might get lucky. Ren had really dressed up for that night.

“Um. Yeah…so you got some painkillers?… make up for that.” She asked with a tilt of her head. “Just something to keep me on my feet till we are safe.” the tired, over heated and ichor stained kiel asked.

Mentions
@Bentus@Flarbinia

John was the last out of the shuttle, clambering out of the side hatch and eyeing the nearest Metacer husk with wary trepidation. It was dead, vacuum killed everything, but it still looked fresh enough that it might spring into motion at any time.

"I should get back up to the bridge and see what this people did to my ship while I was gone."

John popped his helmet seals, and pulled the breather away from his face. Voice now free of its filter.

"I should probably get back to trying to pilot this thing. Unless she can pilot this tub without me."

John was holding out hope that there might be no need for him to learn to pilot a star faring vessel on the job. Especially after it was recovering from what was certainly a non-standard shakedown.

Speaking of non-standard..

"You make it out alright?" John gave a look at Virginia as he made to leave the shuttle bay. Making sure the person he had accidentally shot a anti-ship missile at wasn't too messed up.

Least he could do after all.

"Look, we are in triage right now. You will have to wait until patients with more severe injuries have been treated before receiving painkillers." Doctor Raphael Vitella said to Ren before turning his attention to a patient who was flatlining, not looking at her the whole time. "Do what you can for the patient. If resuscitation fails, report time of death and move the body to cold storage before you start tending to another patient. We need to make room for any incoming patients." Doctor Vitella said to those tending to the patient before turning his attention back to Ren. "Lay down so that I can perform some scans. I need to make sure that you don't have any internal injuries." Raphael Vitella said to Ren before taking out a scanner. "No Internal Injuries detected." Raph said to Ren before walking away to tend to a patient with a large gash in the side of his arm.

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren frowned, he did not even have a chance to tell her where the pain killers were kept so she could grab one and find a sofa for five minutes? Bug casualties could not be that bad surely? They barely had a dozen on the lower decks and yes, wounded but they surely had more than one doctor aboard this boat?

No internal injuries, yes she felt like she had been ran over though as the adrenaline began to ramp down and her system began to process all the last few hours. She was not dying but he'll, she felt like got hit pretty damn hard if she was honest. Who the hell had blown the station, this evacuation was downright chaos worse than her station's final hours.

“Fine, you have a sofa in back. Yeah, I'll take a nap then. Be more use , head not spinning and walls moving. Your bedside manner and bed manner are the same it seems.” Ren said and leaned against the wall and made way to a dim back office space to crash on a sofa curling up under a thin blanket.

Disaster and her high sagged as she closed her eyes and made self comfortable on a cushion as a pillow. Even with all the noise she was soon asleep and resting, her sleep was mentally peaceful but it was sleep.

@Flarbinia

Whatever answer the, rather shellshocked, engineer had died as the ship gently rumbled beneath their boots.

Her fingers hovered for a heartbeat before she confirmed the command, almost allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief. Activating her ship-wide comms, she broadcast a message as she felt the ship start to accelerate beneath her.

“Attention all crew, we are departing from the station.”

John tilted his head as if he could divine thee heading through the ship’s ceiling and gave a sigh.

“Guess I better make sure I’m not needed.” His pace wasn’t exactly a jog but one couldn’t call it a leisurely walk either.

His tac pad and its downloaded manual helpfully guiding him when the placards on the wall were insufficient.

Well… that and the comm officer following in his wake managed to keep him from making a wrong turn.

So it was with little delay that the shuttle crew, impromptu as it was, entered the bridge.

John taking in the scene with an eye used to crewing congrats and not space faring vessels.

The ship was moving that was not in question. The manner of its movement however was the concerning part.

The being manning the helm, Fihlyn, was doing an approximation of attempting to pilot a ground car with a stick while simultaneously playing a piano. In that she was doing the function of six stations from one.

And succeeding to a point.

John left his deeper analysis for later as he moved to his station.

The absurdity of already having a station wasn’t lost on him.

The manual pulled up even as he hurriedly crunched the numbers. Space flight was space flight but physics was an unforgiving mistress. Overcorrections or undercorrections could lead to a collision with the station or worse; getting caught in the planet’s pull.

For the ship’s normal helmsman correcting the ship’s off-tilter spin would have been easy. For John it took a minute of second guessing the inputted values before he triggered the thrusters.

A hair of overcorrection but it arrested the lazy roll and gave the ship a clear path forward.

“We have a heading or destination?” He glanced at Fihlyn. Fingers pulling up the correct menu on his screen to begin their acceleration vector.

Vitaifa watched in painful silence on the bridge as the ship drifted away from the station. Physically, her leg burned from the exertion, making its complaint known as the limb begged for rest.

Her mind was on the unfortunates, however few, who were still aboard the station. They were doomed, and, with any luck, it would hopefully be quick. The crew had done what they could, that would have to serve as solace enough for the time being. Still, she wiped the few trailing tears as she muttered a prayer for them.

The arrival of Lockman broke the silence that hung over the two women, and Vitaifa quickly turned her attention to the pilot claiming his station. There was a slight nagging to find a space of her own, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the bridge quite yet.

"We don't have a destination, Mister Lockman," Vitiafa answered with a sniffle from her own claimed chair in the bridge. "I suppose that's a conversation to have once we have gained our new bearings. I can't imagine Miss Larci was thinking this far ahead when she brought us aboard."

Vitiafa's features darked slightly as she stole a glance up at a vent before she continued, "And we should probably have someone search the vents for any metacer stowing away. for the safety of all the souls now aboard."

Velia had seated herself at the communications station, pulling on a headset which, presumably wasn't receiving anything other than static, "If I can make a suggestion," she piped up, "There are a number of star systems within a few weeks of here that are unexplored but believed to have the potential for life. If we can put as many people into cryo as possible, we can pilot the ship towards the nearest one of those. We may find somewhere we can set down and start building civilisation again."

"Roll a dice and head for one," she concluded.

"Sir, everyone who is in serious need of painkillers has received them." Doctor Ferdinand said to Doctor Raphael Vitella before tending to another patient. "Excellent." Doctor Vitella replied before grabbing some painkillers and heading to Ren. "Here. These should tide you over until we head to the nearest planet." Raphael Vitella said to Ren before heading back to tend to any patients that required his attention. "Status update." Doctor Vitella said to one of the medical personnel. "We've had a couple of fatalities, but other than that, we only need to patch up a few more patients and most of us should be able to take the rest of the day off." The subordinate replied as he looked at the list of patients. "Once everyone has been treated, any patient who doesn't need to spend at least a night in the Med-Bay is to be sent to Quarters or Cryostasis. That should free up bed for wounded medical personnel." Doctor Raphael Vitella said to the subordinate before turning his attention back to Ren.

"Do you have any skills that might be useful in the Med-Bay? I can't have you lounging around here for the entire trip." Doctor Raphael Vitella said to Ren.

@PrinceAlexus

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren was doing her best to rest and get a nap in when she was interrupted and tried to fight it, tried to go back to sleep even if that sleep was full of claws, bugs and running. The flames, chaos and leaving on the last wave of transports on her orbital station. She hoped her friend made it. He had been a good friend even if they did not know each other long during the time holding the place together and helping to keep bugs out as long as they could ... .they did. In the end they held until only the doom cultists remained and those mentally unable to carry on.

Her eyes cracked open and she gave him a tired look, turning her head and grumbling that she needed sleep in her native language. “Dr, Xeno, Bio Sciences. I have as much time as you and less grey, you liked me at that bar. My head is spinning far too much for post apocalypse romance this miniute.." She said with a little snark for being woken up, the small for her race Keiller woman was not the best running on this little energy and a pounding skull.

“worked for bio. Security, I just need a nap… walls where moving, tired, heat. Fight.” She said with a slow pace, forcing her brain to work even despite the feeling like she got hit by a truck. Closing her eyes she breathed slowly and tried to calm down her mind and focus, making a slow count as she completed her little ritual. “I do not know the ship, maybe a hydroponics bay… Xeno stuff, not even sure who or what here. I barely escaped my station before it fell. Then I had to flee again.” She said more with it, more like Ren's normal speech, though she had to slow her pace and keep breathing softly to help keep her thoughts in neat lines.

“Right now I'm just alive. I have no idea what we even doing.” Ren said as she did her best to maintain her ability to keep kinda intelligent.

@Flarbinia

"We don't have a destination, Mister Lockman," Vitiafa answered with a sniffle from her own claimed chair in the bridge. "I suppose that's a conversation to have once we have gained our new bearings. I can't imagine Miss Larci was thinking this far ahead when she brought us aboard."

John felt his frustrations began to boil through. Perhaps not righteous or reasonable but he was still buzzed, covered in blood that wasn’t his and definite feeling the multiple adrenaline dumps he had endured today. His tone was somewhat bitter as he scrolled through the unfamiliar menus for a some kind of navigation chart.

“So maybe someone can figure where we have to go. Then we can head that way so we don’t have to wait in orbit for years and get thawed out by some inept salvage crew.”

Velia cut in then. Their comm officer who had given them the keys to the kingdom so to speak.

"Roll a dice and head for one," she concluded.

“Roll a dice…” John’s helmet was off so the bridge could see the disbelieving look on his face. Staring at Velia before it morphed to spiteful acceptance. “Fine I’ll just set out last functioning starship in a random jump point and hope me and her…” A nod at Filhyn’s direction. “… can handle this beast. Why not?”

He was still looking at Velia as he stabbed at a random option on the nav chart. Selecting a jump point at random; the suggested course, approach angle and speed bow displayed for the bridge. A soft green overlay saying the nav computer found the selected option within its capabilities.

“There, heading is locked in. Two and a half hours to jump point. Anything else Captain?”

John

...

“Roll a dice…” John’s helmet was off so the bridge could see the disbelieving look on his face. Staring at Velia before it morphed to spiteful acceptance. “Fine I’ll just set out last functioning starship in a random jump point and hope me and her…” A nod at Filhyn’s direction. “… can handle this beast. Why not?”

He was still looking at Velia as he stabbed at a random option on the nav chart. Selecting a jump point at random
; the suggested course, approach angle and speed bow displayed for the bridge. A soft green overlay saying the nav computer found the selected option within its capabilities.

“There heading is locked in. Two and a half hours to jump point. Anything else Captain?”

The comment drew a raised eyebrow from Velia, "Well if you have any star charts that mark good places to reestablish civilisation, then we can use those, but I can only operate on what we have, which is nothing. We don't have the luxury of sending out explorer's first. They're all dead or have left us for dead. We are all that's left! This ship is it," She was becoming a little shrill towards the end. She was scared, though she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself and when she next spoke up she sounded more composed.

"I'm not the Captain. The Captain is dead. I'm the Comms Officer... BUT, we need to get everyone who isn't essential to the running of the ship into cryosleep so that we don't run out of supplies. I have no idea how long we're going to be up here before we get any more food. It would be terribly droll if we survived getting eaten by bugs only to starve to death on the ship. We'll also need to do a sweep for bugs onboard. Because if they build a colony in here without us noticing until its too late, we're also all dead."

John could admit that he wasn’t thinking clearly as of late. The situation they had found themselves in was dangerous in so many varying ways. Tensions were obviously high.

He just didn’t expect the comm officer to crack slightly. His eye brow raising as Velia composed herself at the end of her spiel. Adopting her previous tone.

"I'm not the Captain. The Captain is dead. I'm the Comms Officer... BUT, we need to get everyone who isn't essential to the running of the ship into cryosleep so that we don't run out of supplies. I have no idea how long we're going to be up here before we get any more food. It would be terribly droll if we survived getting eaten by bugs only to starve to death on the ship. We'll also need to do a sweep for bugs onboard. Because if they build a colony in here without us noticing until its too late, we're also all dead."

“Alright then… Let’s not announce we have no Captain yet right away then.” John’s mind was thinking the wheels turning. “Make an announcement for cryo on Captain’s orders; keep the bridge sealed for the Metacer threat. And we keep everything locked down till we have all the civvies on ice and the ship swept…

He paused. A frown on his face.

“Do we have any trigger pullers or space ape types on board? Or did they all get left behind?”

The pilot looked around the bridge. Taking in the various ‘crew’ that had filled up the needed seats. If the rest of the ship looked like this; there was going to be a lot of double duty in this cruise.

Bridge of the ESS 3822-01

---

“So maybe someone can figure where we have to go. Then we can head that way so we don’t have to wait in orbit for years and get thawed out by some inept salvage crew.”

Beneath her helmet, Fihlyn winced. The bitterness in the pilot’s tone stung, even though she knew his frustration wasn’t truly aimed at her. She was their navigator, and the responsibility for their lack of heading rested squarely on her shoulders. A part of her wanted to offer an apology, to explain herself, but she hesitated when she met his bloodied, exhausted gaze.

Instead, she turned back to her instruments and began running projections on the system he had chosen at random. It was one of several possibilities she had short-listed during their rushed preparations: a small, poorly documented system on the fringes of Eden’s exploratory reach. Sparse surveys, minimal data, and ultimately deemed unsuitable for colonization.

But all that wasn't what she was looking for in a destination, anyway.

The Metacer had not confined themselves to Eden. They had swept across all of colonized space, moving from world to world with terrifying ease. Any system that Eden’s explorers had catalogued was, by definition, within reach of the hive. Settling anywhere familiar might buy them a few decades, perhaps a generation, but no more. If this ship was to be more than a delayed death sentence, their refuge would have to lie far beyond known space, somewhere cold, distant, and forgotten.

Velia’s comment about the captain being dead felt like another twist in her chest. A part of her had silently believed that the man could have made it onto another escape craft, or that he was stowed away somewhere on the ship, unable to make it to the bridge before their departure. But with the immediate danger behind them, she could look at their situation with a clearer head. Only she and the comms officer remained of the original command crew.

As Velia and John had their exchange, Fihlyn glanced around the bridge. She didn’t know any of her new crewmates beyond the experience of the past few hours. They all looked like they had been through hell. Fihlyn could only imagine what they had endured, while she had remained safe behind consoles and bulkheads. She stole another glance at the pilot’s bloodied uniform.

It must have been awful.

“If you all wish to rest,” Fihlyn said at last, her voice gentle but steady, “I should be able to manage the vessel until we reach the jump point.” She offered a faint smile, an invitation rather than an order. It’s not like they had anything like a chain of command at this point, anyway. “You have done more than enough for one day.”