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“No, ma’am.” Those eyes were like pitch. He didn’t bother to look in her direction. When Toke said a Mosin would serve on board, she never… she never believed it. Then he’d came. A hairless, strangely gray tinged, humanoid who seemed to lack eyelids. Unblinking, unwavering in how it looked, she’d been reminded of nothingness every time she talked to the man. Still, as First Mate, she’d been friendly, accommodating.
“Kira! What’s happening out there?!” Hues shouted, rage and flame in his very voice as it cracked.
The blaster moved subtly. One shot and the comms were down.
“I’ve been waiting, rather patiently, for this,” Yaris spoke so calmly, so evenly, as if he were ordering his lunch rather than betraying the whole crew.
Keep him talking, Kira thought. She knew she had to distract him in order to get the blaster.
“Oxygen levels at thirty percent.”
“For what?” Gloat, please gloat.
The darkened tip of the weapon moved her direction, aimed squarely at her. Ten feet between them, she wouldn’t make it.
“For a chance at Hues,” Yaris said, all while manipulating the console. The line for the oxygen levels on a bar chart behind him. One could lower them by raising the section up which would show the changes in the other concentrations. “I’ve got nothing against you. Not even against Watson or Ipson, but this… this was too perfect, too… optimal.”
Her translator took his words and made them into the common tongue widely accepted, but beneath it, she could hear him. The guttural vowels strung together in barely discernible variances.
“You won’t make it off this ship alive, Yaris, not if you continue. Just lower the levels and we can talk about this.”
“I don’t intend to make it anywhere.”
The engineering officer, who’d been so quiet, took his chance. He leaped forward, but Yaris had wide vision, too wide and unparalleled senses. The man went down before he’d made it halfway through the air, a burning gaping hole in the center of his abdomen.
Kira took her chances, too. A shot went off. It singed the hair beside her ear. Intense ringing overtook her hearing. The only reason she could still hear him was because of the translator.
“Enough games,” he barked.
“Oxygen levels 100%.” The computer system stated in its monotone, uncaring way.
It exploded.
The doors did their best to contain the breach, but there was very little that could be done as the vents flooded, as the ship flooded. Maxim on the bridge immediately purged the surrounding rooms, sending everything into lockdown.
The air left her very lungs, collapsing them together with the force as she fell to the floor, unconscious instantly.
Bright lights circled overhead when she opened her eyes. An oxygen mask placed over her nose and mouth. Ripping it off and thrusting it aside, she shot to a seated position.
“Whoa, steady Ma’am.” A young female medical officer was at her side, already attempting to replace the mask. “You need this. Your lungs collapsed in the explosion. It’s putting pressure back in to keep them open. We don’t have the surfactant needed to do it without. They’re synthesizing some now.”
“Yaris,” choking out the word, it was half a cough.
“Lieutenant Yaris did not survive the explosion.”
Kira flopped back, relieved, trying to focus her gaze on the attendant. The woman was petite. A quick glance revealed that, short, mousy brown hair but eyes, eyes like Watson’s, that same sort of blue. Opening her mouth like a gaping fish out of water, nothing came out.
“You might not be able to speak much,” the girl informed her. “My name is Bre. I’m in charge of your care. You’re on the Callistar.”
Scanning the room, she discovered it was large, and open. Several other beds were nearby with thick screens of glass that were frosted to protect some privacy. The bands on the mask were put back into place as Bre spoke. “I know you have a lot of questions, so I’ll do my best to answer them. When we arrived at the Hellaris, it was in shambles. The ship’s been brought into the bay, but there’s talk of decommissioning it. Officer Maxim brought it in. I’ve been told you were the First Mate?”
Kira nodded.
“One of the other crew said that you wouldn’t rest until I told you. Captain Hues is dead, as well as Officer Ipson. Officer Watson made it through and was brought aboard, but I’m afraid he’s worse for wear at the moment. We’re doing everything we can for him.”
She blinked.
“You need to rest and keep this mask on. The surfactant should be ready in about an hour. Once it is administered, you’ll be able to move about more freely.”
