[h3]Fihlyn Numosath[/h3]
[i]Bridge of the ESS 3822-01[/i]
[hr]
[i]“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.”[/i]

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.

[i]It must have been awful.[/i]

“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.”