Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Homeworld - Tales of the Vjel-Amaj: Aira's Quest - Part I ❯ Chapter 12 – Eerie ( Chapter 12 )

With all eyes staring upon the main screens, the entire crew of the bridge remained startled as they observed the live feed images revealing several large but closed docking gateways.
Only a selected few have ever seen a mothership - but this one was nothing alike. They all underestimated its true size and were surprised how diminutive and puny the cruiser seemed compared to the hulk.
The edge of the sunlight was already out of sight, leaving the lone cruiser among the darkness of the dense graveyard. Unlike others, Fenna's fear of the mischievous black did grow despite the company of the bridge crew behind her.
Ever since the captain returned to the bridge, he repeatedly told everybody to maintain calm... Fenna knew he had to be kidding her. Still slowly piercing through this vast field of debris, junk and darkness, the distinct cruiser threw a small number of searchlights and invisible scan beams among the rather dead metallic skin of mothership.

Meanwhile onboard, one of the many bridge operatives approached the captain from the side. The male operative held a small printed page with a row of names and was not pleased at all.
“Petty Officer Evin?”
“Sir... This is the CR update according... according to the events that took place during our time in the comet...”
Receiving the page, the captain noticed the trembling hand of the operative. His face was pale but firm. Approaching the two, Orelis asked, “Is this the casualty report, sir?”
“Aye.”
Many names were on the list, but foremost, it was the familiar names that held the thought of the captain and the operative in hesitation.
“... So many deaths in this whole rescue operation...”, Orelis insisted to add, “Frell, I know they fell while doing their job, but... These deaths could have been avoided if that one fool had --”
“Enough.”, the captain intervened, “Mr. Evin. Thank you, please return to your post. And one more thing: No word to the rest of crew. Not yet. I will handle this on my own.”
`Yes sir' was all the operative said with a low voice and left the two superiors.

“Helm, status.”
“M-Maintaining a constant distance of two hundred meters away from the vessel. This is approximately the position from where the beacon's signal had emitted before, Captain”, Fenna's slightly unsure voice said from ahead, “The beacon stopped its transmission just recently but approximately from this position. I... I do not know what to do now, sir.”
“Full stop.”
“Aye, sir.”

“Hmm”, Orelis said from the side of the Captain and moved closer to the main screen, “Wait, what is that over there? That... Green stuff. No, over there. Right there - hold it right there. It's spread everywhere among the hull. Doesn't look like it belongs there. Actually - it doesn't even look natural.”
“Rough scans show it is of dead organic material. Cannot really tell what it is - Seems like some kind of... leak rupturing the hull. Maybe from its life support fluids?”, Kenta assumed, “I am not sure, but there is a lot more of it spread all around this area, but our angle to them is too steep and close.”
“Leak of life support fluids? Well, it looks pretty damn biological than synthetic to me... Too biological.”
“We are performing a deep scan right of what is available. Should not take to long.”

The captain pinched his eyes together. Though he did not seem as worried as the others, something did tell Orelis that the captain had noticed something disturbing, yet he did not insist to bother him by questioning. However, it was clear for Orelis that the captain seemed to have recognized something.
“Ensign Fenna. Yaw to port. 90° counterclockwise.”
“S-sir?”
“Ensign. Do not mistake this ship with the appearance Kushan Mothership. The Imperial Taiidan Mothership was naturally horizontally built, not vertically. Unlike the ship of our ancestors, it was said that the wide and broad construction allowed more volume and warfare segments.”
“I see. Yes, sir - altering angle of yaw.”
“Captain. I must remind you that the current shift has exceeded its capacity. We must concur to calling in the replacement shift, sir. Many of them - and I must say, I too - are exhausted due to the long period of activeness. It may be a bad suggestion, but shall we take medication, sir?”, Orelis reminded him, “Also, despite my concern of this being a trap, shall we have marine teams be ready to maintain guard at all entries of our ship if we are to dock?”
“Yes. But more to that later.”
“Are we to stay on the ship?”, somebody else asked from the side of the bridge.
“Sounds like a bad idea if you ask me...”, another one quietly sneered.

Following the movement of his captain with his eyes, Orelis stared at the chief-in-command who took several slow steps among the bridge. The captain knew a lot more of this ship. Yes, he was surprised of this historical hulk, but there was something else about it - something that disturbed him.

“Comm'”, the captain called out, using the slang term of the communication station.
Surprisingly answering by habit, Kelsea's voice responded from the sensory station above, mistakenly, “Yes, sir - Comm' standing by -... Err... Oh... oops...!”
She slapped her forehead.
“Kelsea - You're our eyes for now - not ears.”, Orelis reminded her.
“Yes, sir - What can we do for you?”, one of the communication operatives recalled to the captain from below.
“Prepare a public announcement to the whole ship for me.”
“Underway.”

“Captain?! Look! Something is happening ahead...”, Fenna yelled to the back.
According to her speech, everybody threw his or her view to the main screen, soon to observe an occurring event. Faint signal lights began to illuminate but flickered several times while others only glowed weakly.
Along to this, what caused Fenna's astonishment were the vast gateways slowly opening their massive vaults... soon to reveal a single small object floating at the center behind them. At first, the signal lights flickered again and again, many of the erratically before they instantly shut down at once.
Another moment went by until they charged up again, flickered but then began to show a periodical algorithm. The signals began to reveal a path to the inner region of the ship. But to her, this entrance was more like an open mouth of a monster wanting to devour the whole ship.
“Fenna, calm down”, Orelis demanded to her.
Fenna indeed reacted too nervous. Using her left hand, she rubbed her face and strained eyes several times. Anxiety already flew through her veins. Though unease, she apologized for her tense reactions.
“It's ok. Well... What now? Is this some kind of... invitation?”
“Any word from the voice? From the persona called Shodanii?”, the captain asked.
“Negative, sir”, one of the communication officers replied, “But I am sure it is her. I assume this is an invitation as the X-O presumed.”
“Captain, P.A. request is completed. Your signal is locked to the frequency to be transmitted throughout our ship.”
“Thank you, I will do so shortly, but I need all of you to listen to what I have to say now.”

“Captain. I have... received a single message just now - originating somewhere from that ship.”
“Must be Shodanii. What is her message?”
“Not much. The only thing I was able to receive was `Proceed...'.”

Everybody immediately seized their current interactions in order to listen carefully.
“All of you. What I am about to say will sound troublesome, but I please you to remain calm. We are not in danger. We shall remain cautious but shall not fear the worse. I do recognize the biological matter that is spread among this small region of the hull and the remains of these destroyed ships. Probably, there is more of it all around the ship...”
Orelis crossed his arms. The captain did in fact notice something.
“... This biomass what we all can see here is the dead remains of the Beast.”
A few startled faces, but the many did not seem to understand what their superior officer was referring to.
“As I said before, we are witnessing historical remains of the kushan-taiidan conflict. I cannot explain how this is possible, but the Beast I mentioned is the same biomechanical menace that threatened our ancestors several centuries ago. Historically, it is the Kiith Somtaaw we are to thank for our souls to exist today.”
“What...?!”, a few questioned, beginning to understand his words.
“... The red Beast as it once was, was an infesting parasitic being that could assimilate both organic and mechanical or technological hosts and objects. The Beast terrorized many systems throughout the Hiigaran Empire. Even the Bentusi feared this dangerous creature. I do not recall much of this, but all I can remember accordingly to history is that the Kiith Somtaaw Mothership `Kuun-Lan' bravely strived throughout space to stop the dreadful menace. Despite all fear, they brought victory over the Beast and claimed the title of `Beast-Killer' to the Kiith Somtaaw. That is not all, though. Remaining ships of the Beast's still existed back then but both the Kiithid of Hiigara and the Bentusi engineered the technology and the vaccine that effectively could sterilize the remaining vessels, the people and ships from further infection for good. Vaccinated remnants were no longer red but green... As we can see here, it seems as if this taiidan vessel was infested - or intruded - by the remains. I cannot say from here what truly happened back then but I am able to see that remains are dead. Their synaptic connections would still glow as natural sign of activity but they are all dead. Again, while we do need to remain cautious, there is no need to fear the Beast. By now, the vaccine's effect would have already killed the remains. The chronological connection between this ship and the Beast's remains however remains a mystery to me. As of this ship graveyard, I am able to recognize both derelicts of imperial taiidan and... turanic raider ships as well...”
It became clear that many of the operatives feared the stories of the turanic raiders. Only a few had ever met these so-called space pirates.
“Whoa... I mean... Wow”, Orelis insisted to say, “That makes that two... no... three historical things on one place... in this forsaken star system. Well, all of this is starting to sound like some cheap made-up story somebody is making up. Anyways, I do recall some of that history, sir. Frell, that explains why the Kiith Somtaaw are doing well on their own - I don't even remember seeing any somtaaw delegate in our councils. Alas, with all need of respect, sir, but this assignment we've taken over is frakked up beyond all good.”

“Sir”, one deck operative asked from rear section of the bridge, “If I may ask: What... What are the turanics doing so far out and away from `turanic space'? Why are there remains within these taiidan remains?”
“Those are questions I can only answer partially. The historians assumed the imperials formed a silent non-aggression pact back then due to the frequent confrontations of our wayfaring ancestors with both. Bear in mind that these turanic ships have been destroyed since ages. No need to fear them now.”
Turanics had always been known for their violence. There were distinct nomad factions among amaji space, but they all had similar ways of feared aggressions. Some would either ambush convoys of ships or even raid stations just for the loot and helpless people to enslave or worse. Foremost, the female operatives of the crew seemed to be more affected by this discovery - for they were the most valuable and primary `good' to loot for turanic raiding parties.

“Orders, sir?”

“We are going to dock nonetheless, X-O. Shelter within this ship is the best we are to find for now. “Prepare standard docking procedure. I assume we are to follow that object floating at the gateway. For now, I need to perform an announcement.”
“Affirmative. Well, Ensign. You heard the Captain. Approach the gateway and retract all exteriors. We are going to dock. To all stations, `Status: Blue'. We're bringing her in. Observatory, I would like two high level drones and one com-sat probe to be dispatched and to maintain close orbit to the mothership. They should allow us to maintain an overview within and among a limited region around this ship.”
“Right away, sir.”

Clearing his throat, the captain turned away and pressed a key upon his communication unit that caused it to end standby and lock on the readied frequency to conduct the announcement that was soon to be heard throughout the whole ship:
“”*Click* Attention to all decks. This is the captain. This announcement will explain the state our current status and further intentions. As some have noticed, we have emerged from hyperspace too early and have discovered a lone taiidan mothership-class vessel. An unknown persona has summoned us to its position to dock onboard and I am willing to concur. The intention of this taiidani persona is not seen as hostile. As of this situation, we shall remain calm but cautious. Concealment from further dangers in this system and repairs among the ship needs to be fulfilled. Due to the current status of our ship, our crew is forced to share quarters with the rescued refugees as well. I please all of you to remain calm, nonetheless. Additionally, I have decided to have a base camp to be erected at point-blank range once we are docked and expeditionary groups to conduct explorations for information gatherings after security teams have secured the adjacency among the ship. Despite all caution, we shall take this opportunity to have the crew to recover from the events of our strenuous journey throughout this dangerous system as well. In other words, I am also ordering to allow shore leave and rest to those in need of personal recreation. Replacement shifts are soon needed to take over the operation of the ship. Lastly, please standby for any instructions considering the shore leave. Thank you. Bridge, out. *click*””

Approaching Fenna's station again, Orelis leaned down and said, “It's all up to you, Ensign. Are you ready for this?”
“To be honest... no... sir.”
“Remember, you are not alone. We will support you the best we can.”
The young amaji woman sunk into her seat again. For Orelis, it was easily noticeable that Fenna was not as brave as Hailynn though explainable due to her lack of experience. All of the responsibility and the trouble in this system was enough of a shock for her... and it was not even end of it.
Though this young woman was a freighter pilot formerly with a flawed record, she still was a greenhorn in piloting larger vessels. On the other hand and besides a selected few, nearly the whole crew was green. Orelis knew that she was tired and actually beyond the point of staying awake, easily seen by her strained eyes that burned with each second they remained open.
It was slightly misleading though; She was under intense stress right now and just the word `turanic' already gave her an adrenaline rush. He did feel sorry for her and for now he needed to show her consideration and support.
Making nervous movements, Fenna leaned over to one of the intercom transmitter units from the side of her station. Orelis threw a startled face as he observed her doing, what was she up to?
Her jumpy voice spoke over the speakers of the bridge, “To - to all decks. Brace yourself - this approach might get... bumpy. Fe-Fenna out. *click*”
Without any other word, the young pilot laid the transmitter back to its spot and slowly laid her grips back upon the main controls.
“Good thinking, Ensign. But next time, set it to the whole ship and not just the bridge.”
Wide eyes met his.

Slowly approaching the side of the captain, it seemed as if Pethera had something intentional to say. Noticing her approach, the captain made a short look before he spoke, “Pride, Dr.Pethera. I expected you to come.”
“Is that so...?”
“Yes. But before you tell me what you like to say, I would appreciate the help of your subordinates. Our ship possesses a datalink library and with the help of your research team, I am sure some of your scientists will find anything useful. We require any information you can find from those history chips and datalinks about the taiidan and specifically why we are witnessing a second vessel of such type.”
Surprisingly to a few who eavesdropped, Pethera accepted the rather suddenly given task, “I shall deal with it.”
“Now then. What is it you wish to say?”
“Thank you... Captain. As you may have assumed already, I would like my associating teams to be side by side with your expeditionary crew. We will of course offer all of our equipment to support you.”
The captain nodded silently, “That is possible, but please inform your teams that they shall remain behind our marines...”
At the very moment the captain ended his sentence, one of the communication operatives suddenly discovered an unusual signal emitting from the colossal vessel, “Sir, contact!”

“Report.”
“It seems to-- be some sort of short-wave communication uplink. Emitting from...”, the operative added, but ended his speech as his face pointed ahead to the main screen, “It's a data uplink, to be precise. I can't tell what it really is - could be a program of some sort...”
“Or some virus to take control...”
“No. I doubt that.”, the captain noted, “I doubt it to be harmful. That must be Shodanii, I suppose. Have the uplink to be granted and patch it through to us.”


Chapter 12 - Eerie

Drifting into the inner world of the taiidani mothership, the `Vjel-Amaj' slowly made its way as it followed the row of signals and the drone that took lead. Alike a spacious maze, the interior offered much space for minor vessels to bypass.
But as accordingly noticed to the exterior looks and presumed age of this enormous mothership, both time and battle have left their traces. Even within this region, minor patches of debris floated around, some of them bouncing against the hull of the cruiser. Along to this rather unpleasant inner world, the appearance of the whole area threw a threatening and disturbing shroud of mystery.
A dusty gray and blue haze that held the visibility range low, only slowly revealing what was ahead as the ship drifted along. Faraway regions within this broad but foggy area glowed up weakly, probably affected by power fluctuations.

Due to out sticking valves, severely damaged industrial segments and interrupted connections, the amaji cruiser often needed to alter both yaw and course - and that often in a very unprofessional manner... and sometimes with unwanted contacts that was felt several times throughout the ship.
During the drift, some have discovered abandoned but cruelly smashed and destructed objects that probably resembled the remains of differently sized taiidan ships spread among the region of the outer scaffold. The most frightening for many of the crew was the amount of remaining floating objects... surely resembling the remains of thousands of corpses floating everywhere throughout the outer scaffold and its vast space. A disgusting view indeed.

“Well, I'll be damned. A taiidan missile destroyer”, an operative said from the rear section of the bridge. But alike the rest of the ships, they were all either busted by imminent decompression or by an unknown cause of rupture.
“This place is not only a graveyard... An onslaught happened here.”

“Any... response, comm'?”
“Nothing, Captain. Uplink has been established. Whatever sent it is able to listen.”
“Maybe it is we who have to do the first step. Open a channel to allow me to interact with the taiidan persona.”
“Yes, sir. One moment-- Ready.”
Receiving word, the captain made a hand signal to others to remain quiet as he began speech, “This is the captain of the `Vjel-Amaj' cruiser calling out to `Shodanii'. We do not quite know your intentions. However, we assure you that our presence is not of hostile intent. The navigator of our ship was guided here by the cause of ... your... deed. Please respond.”

Many of the bridge crew anxiously awaited whomever to reply. Finally, within a short moment, the voice responded though accompanied by loud interferes, overlaying digital beeps, tones and broadband noise that gave more weight to theory that the overall communication array of the mothership was just as severely damaged as the rest of it,

“”*mmmrhrhrhzzzbeepbzeppp* Kushans. This... am... Shodanii...*ffshhhhhzzt*””
The crew looked at each other. It seemed as if the `galactic common' language was slightly different before their time.
“Shodanii. Greetings,” the captain replied but paused, not knowing what to say next at first,“ There are... so many... questions to ask. I do not know where to start.”

“”Questions... I endeavor to answer. My being seeks answers and favor as well. Questions... Kushan may... contin--mmeezzrrrzh...””
Another group of the crew looked at each other. The transmitted voice did at first sounded like a woman but in between, a computerized portion completed part of her individual words.
As if an AI of some sort was accompanying her speech.
“Very well, Shodanii. Let us being with the following: I will explain our situation. Although our ancestors are of kharakian heritage and thus kushan, today, we are now known as `hiigarans'. Specifically, we are hiigarans of the Kiith Amaj. Our ancestors have reclaimed Hiigara as our true homeworld and caused the fall of the emperor, his mothership alike this one you are situated on, and the imperial taiidan regime. This event however has occurred nearly a century ago - which leads us to question why we are speaking to each other now. This cruiser, the `Vjel-Amaj', was dispatched to this distant star system as the only ship available to respond to those in desperate need of rescue. We have encountered many hardships among our way that forced us to remain within this system, including the encounter with the remnants of the Vaygr, a warrior race whom our people fought barely a few years ago. If I may ask: Who are you, Shodanii, and where are you leading us to?”

“”*Mmmhrreeep* Hiigarans... I see. The imperial taiidan regime no longer... existsss - Brethren knews of this... Incident Cause of All - Do not fear, Hiigaranzzz. I am of no threat.*brreeep* I am Shodanii... Or... I am... What is left. Much is to explain... Thiszz vessel is third of only three motherships*szzmhhrhrvheep* in szzzerrvice, deep ssspace colony shiprrrrhhez. V.Z.Dash.Seven.Seven.Nine.H.Zero.Three. But time am scarce of thizzz transmission, Hiigaran. Transmission - my presence is not able to uphold for long. My guidance to your lead: To the inner scaffold... Drydocks... Vjel-of-Amaj seeks refuge. Pressurized. Maintanenzzzz unitsshzzhhshh and compone-*ssmsdoffnnv* availablhhz. Close to Hydroponics, Recreational... My presence offers refuge. Hiigaran, caution muszzt prevail. Decompressed sectors throughout thiszzzhshhs ship. Fearrhhsh not the noise of hull... Last of my presence conssshtantly am maintaining integrrrrty...*svhsh*””
“We understand. Shodanii, we have discovered that this vessel has sustained severe damage and casualties over the past years. Were the turanics the cause of this? What is this you call `Incident Cause of All'? Can you explain?”
Everybody listened carefully but they all had difficulties understanding her distorted voice and the indeed flawed lingual expression.

“”I szzzhall explain this tragic inciihzzehent once you have rrrresched my presenzzzhnz. Hiigaran... Turanicnzzz I fear - Perhapzz time wills it in between to essxplanation... *fffhsh* Where is the... `young unbound mind'*zzrreeeep*?””

Kenta rose her head and asked, “Young mind? Is she referring to Aira?”.
“For sure *sigh*”, Pethera replied with a bored voice.

“You must mean our youngest crewmember, Aira. Yes, she is currently unconscious and is resting at sickbay. She is unavailable at this moment.”
“”Understandings... I do.*rrrmmheeeep* . My presences can communicationzzes better with the `young mind'. My fear, time izzh coming to an end... Hiigaran, you muszzt-t seek way to my presence within this ship. *mththehehee* The young mind must find my presence --... The girl must follohhhhrhz the zzsong... I shall give her the guidance she needs to find my presenssszzzzz- Please Hiigaran. I seek serenity as favor...””
“I do not understand quite, Shodanii, but we will try to do as you demand and seek your... `presence'.”
“”Inforzzemation am transszferring. The information offerz the pathhzzz. The decksfsch. Time has come to ending... My presence shall return... Seek. Please - Seek...*vrrsshhhhhsczzs - veeeep*””

With the sudden, the transmission abruptly ended with the noise.
“Comm', what happened?”
“Not sure, sir. I guess her time was limited. I think it is plausible that her communication system does not possess enough power or efficiency to uphold her signal for all too long. However, sir, we are receiving some additional data. Our systems are not able to comply, but we will figure something out. I am afraid that we will require the support of the scientists onboard, too... I ensure to maintain a sentry program that will keep aware of her return.”
Making a short look over to Pethera, she simply made a slight shrug rather than nodding. She did seem to accept but did not really care; her interests had something else in mind. Orelis rose himself from Fenna's station and turned around with a confused face, “Excuse my interruption, but am I the only one who didn't understand a word she said? - Actually, turanics was what I understood... and I don't like it at all...”

“There will be enough time for explanations, X-O, yet I wish to have our security teams to disembark and establish a forward camp as soon as possible. While engineering begins with repairs and maintenances, we will need to encrypt the received data and see how it can support us in bringing us to the `presence'.”
“Presence? Now you are sounding like her, captain. Oh well, guess this place is not a ghost ship after all.”

“Heads up, X-O. As for the rest of you, all of you will be dismissed from duty to recreate yourselves as said before.”
“C-Captain?”, Kelsea's voice called from above, “I apologize for my interruption, but with us being so long in this system, isn't it likely that Amaji Fleet Command will sooner or later send a search fleet, Captain? We clearly have already bypassed the deadline of return or report... and with turanics so far out h-here --”
“Remain calm. However, that is not likely. I strictly denied any supplementary dispatch during the briefing. We may have underestimated this system and this mission, but if something were to happen to us, it would be reckless to send any other ships for seeking us... especially to this dead gas giant.”
Kelsea did not reply as she slowly laid her back upon her seat while surrounded by a few holographic symbols and images.

Ten minutes later... somewhere within the taiidan mothership.
The drydocks was another dark but spacious pressurized and semi-gravitated section of the ship's enormous hangar. Led and later abandoned by the guiding drone of Shodanii and after the cruiser had undergone the transfer from the decompressed sector to this sector, the slightly frozen ship drifted downwards, approaching the metallic field with scaffolds that offered enough vacant space for a destroyer to land.
Again, the whole operation was in hands of Fenna, who anxiously tried to keep hold of landing. For hours had she been messing with yaw controls, yaw rates, thrust inducers, gravity controls and many other systems with any possible name for maneuverability...
“Keep her steady, Ensign”, Orelis said, “Slow down. Okay - You got her angled right but the rate of descent is a bit too great.”
Fenna wanted to grab the right control but hesitated as she tried to find it. Due to the weariness in her mind, her confusion held her hand at place. Too late, feeling the not so gentle impact upon ground, the entire crew became aware that the ship has finally landed - hard...
“S-Sorry.”
“It's all right, Ensign Fenna”, the captain said from afar, “We made it. Ops, let us not waste any time: Dispatch marine teams one through three to secure the area.”
“Roger, sir.”

Amidst the belly of the ship, three small groups of armed marines exited the access airlock. Several groups of light beams scanned the dark surroundings frequently. All beams frequently met the floor and walls of the section, showing nothing but old metal. Despite their strength, the beams were not capable of revealing how high the whole section was.
The area was not totally empty as presumed before, though. All teams discovered many sealed crates, very old looking vehicles and other things laid spread everywhere. Scaffold railings and other cargo-loading units rested quietly among their surroundings.
After five minutes of securing, skeptical checks and scouting, it seemed that the men were not going to find anything hostile. Using the opportunity, the commanding marine called out, “Team Beta, Cisco. Report in.”
“”Negative. Nothing to report - other than the disgusting smell - Over.””
“”Team Cisco. All clear, over.””
“Understood.” Resetting his frequency, the superior marine called out again, “Bridge Command. This is Teamleader. We have discovered nothing out here. The sector is only filled with machines and crates, over.”
“”Copy that, TL. Is the region clear for settlement?””
“Affirmative. We should still keep our eyes open for anything. I strongly advise to have those people out here to be armed and have their radio units to be auto-locked on once they disembark.”
“”Roger, TL. Commencing settlement teams to disembark. Maintain security. Bridge, over and out.””


“Helm. Engineering. Disengage all propulsion and main powering systems. ”, the Captain commanded.
Doing as said, both Fenna and the available engineers upon the bridge conducted several procedures. Opening one of the panels to her side, Fenna flipped several switches down and pressed a row of keys above her.
Within moments, the constant humming of the ship began to calm down as other operatives announced the shutdown of the systems each by their names. Parallel to the event, several status lights of ship went dark gray and it did not take long until all lights and displays changed to standby. The bridge lighting dimmed as well. A few of the bridge crew began to leave their stations.
Fenna threw her head upon the seat again and looked upwards. With a long sigh, she quietly said, “We... made it... I don't believe it...”
“No. You made it, Ensign. Good job.”, Orelis corrected her with a calm voice.
“Th-Thank you, sir. I guess I will rest here and -”
“What?! Frell, no, woman.”
“S-sir?”, she asked, surprised by his expression.
“You've been here long enough. You need to rest like many of us - Leave your station and get some sleep, you are dismissed.”
“But... but who is going to fly us out of here if something happens upon this... ghost ship?”
“No talking about it. It will be our bad luck then. IF we must, we will kick you and Hailynn out of bed and pump both of you up with enough drugs to stay awake for the next week!”
There was note of sarcasm in his voice, but his words did cause her to think they might do such a thing...


Meanwhile, deep within the `Vjel-Amaj'.
Noticed among the corridor, everybody made space for the tall, masked, dark skinned man in the heavy flight suit. The corridor was filled hiigaran officers, crewmen of the ship and countless numbers of refugee families and people being coordinating and announcing groups.
Those who were in the way swayed away slightly, smiled and greeted him. Others thanked him and even a few of them wanted to shake his hand. He spotted many familiar faces. These loving families were mixed, both hiigarans and vaygr. All of them were those he pledged to protect with his life, despite being the last of the lone `warriors' who stayed true to their roots. The crusade of the Scay'Gra has killed all of his kind, preferably those who were able to fight. Some who heard of his new name began to call out “Ray, Ray, Ray” cheerfully.
Walking by, he noticed that they listened to officers speaking loudly, talking about some sort of get-together. Never was he used to crowds. At first, he wanted to stay at his fighter, but the mechanics told him that he needed to leave the cargo bay for them to consult full maintenance.
Not really knowing where to go, it became clear to Ray that he was... sort of lost. Hands kept patting his back, even more shook his hands.
“Hey, you. Mister -”, a woman's voice said from behind, “You there, Mr. `Ray'. Is that you?”
A rather small but graceful hiigaran officer who held a strange bag approached him, “You seem to be the one I was supposed to keep a look out for. You were not easy to find despite your size - heh-heh-heh”
Ray's eyes looked beyond his oxygen mask down upon her and did not say a word. His manner did scare her chuckling, although it was unintentional by him - He simply did not know what to say. This woman did seem familiar, alike a low ranked woman she had once seen at the bridge - however this one wore with a totally different uniform and higher ranking.

“Eh-eh-Excuse me for that one. You really need to get an ID signal so we can find you easier. Nonetheless, Mr. Ray - I was assigned to look for you and guide you to a designated quarter. Please, follow me.”
Moving along, Ray walked beside the woman, “Ma'am? I do not understand.”

Again, the woman began to talk much, “You might have noticed, Mr. Vaygr -I mean, Ray, that the ship is not really that large. Okay - wait, it's the largest of what we call `civiltary' cruiser of the Kiith Amaj but with certain decks needing to be locked down and the large amount of people taken onboard, we needed to do something about it. The superiors insisted to have the people to share quarters. If you ask me, it is a very good idea so the people would not have to be cramped in the cargo bay. You have no idea how troublesome it was for us logistic officers to maintain a steady leave for humanitarian things. I even have my own vaygr roommate, too. I am a bit... anxious... about it - but this will be interesting. They said this whole operation was going to have that special something, but this caught everybody off-guard... Frell, even me. *chuckles*”

During the long walk and rides through certain corridors and decks, the woman frequently spoke about many other things that made Ray wonder why she had to so much to say. She spoke so much that his mind even wandered off shortly as he followed her. Other hiigaran and vaygr refugees were being directed to nearby quarters as well.

“... but anyways. This is the place...”
“Hmm.”
“Let's see if anybody's home - shall we?”, she said and pressed a certain key on the pad. Ray heard a single, calm but unknown tone to Ray.
“Is this an acoustic alarm?”
“Alarm - ? hah-ha-ha - No, no. Just nothing else but a doorbell. More of an... acoustic warning for an unexpected roommate, I would say.”
Pressing the key a second time and waiting a bit longer, it seemed that nobody was available.
“Heh... She's not home.”, the woman said. Suddenly she turned away and whispered, “Well, this will be a surprise... heh-heh.”
“Ma'am?”
“Err - nothing. This is the place you will need to stay at, big guy - eh, Ray, yeah, Ray. It's a quarter not like the huge officer ones though, but it has enough space for two people. At least better than those standard ones like on other hiigaran ships with shared bunks. I'm sure you two will get along.”
As the female logistics officer spoke further, she pressed a few other keys on the small access pad, causing the access door to the quarters to open by override.
“Is it right to intrude, ma'am? I insist to wait outside.”

“Ahh, don't worry, she loves company”, the officer snickered and tossed the large bag inside, “That'll be your stuff, Ray. No need for a tall man like you to be shy - c'mon!”
Feeling rather pushed in, the small woman forced Ray deep into the room.
“I need to go now, Ray. You just wait here in the bed room - all riiiight?”
“Ma'am, this is the sleeping quarters of somebody else. I insist not to -”
“Enjoooy...” - Having the last word, the doors of the quarters closed, leaving the tall man in the space suit in an unfamiliar and unwanted situation. Insisting to do and touch nothing else, the vaygr pilot remained at his place within the bedroom, standing several steps away from the entrance to the living room - Yet another test of vaygr patience and endurance, he supposed.

Almost ten minutes later...
Eavesdropping to the speech as she rode downwards within the pretty tight lift, Fenna quietly listened to the few crewmen that shared gossips of the ship - and to her surprise, they were well informed about what happened to Hailynn, Aira - and even the events within the comet. Bad news and gossips always spread fast.
What made all matters worse was the fact that they were making many rumors up as well. By each second, the truth was being shoved off the edge for more lies. She needed to stop this. Taking several deep breaths, the young pilot formed both of her hands into fists - but just as Fenna gathered enough courage to say something, the selected few crewmembers exited the lift, leaving her alone.
Fenna frowned... Well, at least there was more space now. As she stood alone, the ride that only took a few seconds to the desired deck was long enough for her mind to recall what has happened so far.
The harsh excitement of her duty was over for now, but she was so worn out that it took her a while to figure her way to the crew quarters section. If there was one thing for sure, she could not wait to throw herself in bed and dream of returning to Hiigara for vacation. Fenna woke up from her daydream as she stood in front of an access door. Pressing the access number on the pad, it frequently gave an access denied tone.
“What the frakk - Oh, c'mon”, she said to herself and gave the number several times again and again. Had she forgotten the number?
Other crewmembers walked by, somehow surprised of her doings. Though one wanted to say something, the others held him back as they smirked `let her figure it out' or something alike.
“My gods... Don't tell me need to call a log'...”, she said again to herself, rubbed her strained eyes and as she looked down, she discovered the name tag upon the pad, revealing the wrong name upon it. Fenna turned around with a sleepy but annoyed face. Obviously, she was so fatigued that she even did not notice that she stood in front of the wrong door. Although she seemed annoyed at first, she simply moved away to the right one.
Hitting the key sequence again, the door opened straight at once. `Lone, sweet, home' she whispered. Making an able movement with both hands as she walked into the living room, Fenna opened her chignon, uniformed jacket, shirt and the vest beneath. As usual, she threw the jacket upon the table, which immediately slipped to the floor.
Finally, at home - or at least the place she wanted to be for now. There was no better feeling for her than feeling of being off-duty. It did not take long until she removed the belt holster, its sidearm, her communication gear and the pants. Stretching several times and moving around with her vest wide open, Fenna walked into the bedroom... soon to be surprised by the tall dark figure that stood right there like a statue.
Fenna immediately threw both hands over her chest as she fell to the ground... Having not the slightest idea who it was, her mind immediately assumed it was some kind of taiidan or turanic wanting to attack her. Unfortunately shocked by the sudden appearance of the tall masked man staring upon her, Fenna gave a short but loud scream and fell upon her back. It was a breathtaking and stunning surprise indeed.
Raising both hands up, Ray calmly said, “Ma'am, please. I did not want to surprise you.”
“WHO THE FRELL ARE... *startled* R-Ray, is that you!”
“...That is how the others call me...”
Fenna curled her legs together... Needless to say how embarrassed she felt to be seen half-naked by this stranger.
“Y-You *pants* wanna give me a heart attack?! I had enough surprises from those last gods-know-how-many shifts!”
“I apologize.”
Fenna shook her head frequently. This surprise gave her another rush that she was too jumpy to even calm down, “Wha- *gasps* Where - How... What the frell are you doing here?!”
“An officer woman of Amaj said it was needed to... `get together', that is what she has said. A woman who looks astounding alike to you, ma'am. ”
Hiding her bra under her vest again, Fenna got up to her legs again.
“I deeply apologize for my intrusion. I did not want to scare you, amaji. I insisted to wait outside, but the officer woman denied that and had me locked in here. I assumed it was an usual procedure of hiigarans for strangers onboard.”
“That is not your fault... Nnngh - DAMN you, Deena!”, she suddenly said and formed a tight fist in front of her face. Fenna began to mumble words to herself - rather cursing the woman who left this surprise for her.
“Who?”
“The rather evil minded version of me. ”, the young amaji woman said with a very annoyed voice, “Twin sister.”
“Sister?”
Fenna turned around to him, “Twin sister. You know...”, unable to find words, she shrugged, “I see. I only have... male brethren.”
“...”
Both paused and stared at each other, and as they did, Ray observed her carefully. Indeed, this Fenna-woman was a rather small and slender hiigaran of the Kiith Amaj. And there she stood, with short but messed up hair, an open shirt and bare legs and feet. Compared to Commander Hailynn Delixa, Fenna was nowhere near the strength, height or military knowledge of Hailynn. Ray was very well in perception.
Weariness began to fill her mind again. Unable to resist, Fenna gave a long yawn.
“-ehh *sigh*... `xcuse me...”, she said and rubbed her eyes, “Well... Ray - You have no idea how embarrassing this is... But we are grown-ups... If I weren't so tired, I'd be on the way to my sister to beat her up.”
“I am not used to... roommates, ma'am. I strongly recommend to have me transferred alone to a place elsewhere.”
She sighed again.
Though red as melon, half-exposed but tired, she shook her head, “Look. It's pretty late. I understand it was not your fault - but we will handle this. First of all - Stop calling me, ma'am. We are roommates - I'm just an Ensign if you want to see it that way, but I'm actually just a mortal hiigaran in the lowest caste of the Kiith. Nobody special - Nobody important. Secondly, just call me Fenna or Fen'.”
“Understood.”
Fenna laid both hands upon her rather open hips. Suddenly, both heard several metallic streaks of sounds transmitting through the hull of the whole ship - and as she heard the sounds, Fenna was constantly scared by the sudden noise that frequently hollowed above and below them.
The sound did become weaker, but it was still at present and there was no sign of an end. Despite the fact that she knew it was caused by the mothership maintaining its hull integrity - or whatever -, her innermost phobia slowly overcame her again. She feared and hated everything that had to do with derelicts, ghost ships and all eerie noises that sounded alike to deforming hull platings. Instinctively, Fenna curled her arms around her head and went to the bed. Ray, on the other hand, did not move a muscle at all. He just stood there, cool and quiet as usual.
“Y-You vaygr are afraid of nothing - huh?”
“...We all have fears.”
“...I-I cannot stand that... noise...”
“Ma'am. I find it appropriate for me to leave now. You need rest. I will find a place of rest elsewhere.”
But just as the tall vaygr man wanted to make the first step, Fenna's voice suddenly sounded behind him, “W-Wait... Pl-Please, don't leave me alone here.”
He stopped and turned his head towards her.
“I know this sounds - childish... but I wouldn't find rest alone - not with this... dr-dreaded noise.” Her voice was full of fear. Ray paused.
An unfamiliar situation for him, indeed... but she did seem to be in need of... company. She was not a child, he knew that - but it was easy to see that she was a phobic young woman frightened by a cause in her past.
“If that is what you wish, I shall concur.”
Though detaching some of the bulky components of his suit, most of Ray's body did remain in the suit. Resting was probably the best to do for now. It did not take long until she felt heavy weight on the other side of the bed.
“R-Ray...”, Fenna said and slightly moved herself under his strong arm. “Yes.”
“P-Please don't tell anybody about this... Okay?”
He looked up upon the ceiling.
“Agreed.”
“Don't leave...” - within a short moment, Fenna fell into deep sleep while he continuously stared upon the gray ceiling that hollowed eerie noises.