Rescued p.5

Posted on Sat 8th Feb, 2025 @ 12:54pm by Captain Izwyx 'Lo

825 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Phoenix Gamble
Location: 1.5LY from SB109

"That does," Alidade said. "The assailants I assailed earlier," she was going back to the battle, "did I help to 'prematurely' conclude the lives of anyone?" Before Fouran had a chance to answer, Alidade returned. "But they seemed determined to prematurely conclude yours. And then they fled soon after I arrived upon the desired 3-dimensional coordinates and assailed them." Alidade's voice took on a stern expression as she sounded as though she had realized an unfortunate truth. "Could the assailants be returning before we get to 'base'?"

He stammered, fear catching his anxiety off guard and stuttering his words, “Yes they are likely on their way now if we get to our home, they cant attack us.”

Somehow, during all of this, Izzy was listening in. She approved of the flow of conversation, approved of Fouran's programming and automation protocols giving them computer basics control. She had asked him to make her combat ready but part of that was a Captains job as well.

"Fouran... continue your work here please by all means but I can take this one."

With a curt nod he graciously offered, "Alidade, sometimes its best to get the answer from the source. Responsibility over the decisions of life and death is something beyond my capabilities."

Izzy took over quickly, "Commanders take on that responsibility as a great burden and must exercise their command over others wisely. Yes you did end the assailants on their timeline progression, but those choices had been already made before you came along. They chose to attack people, they committed themselves into a decision matrix that involved the potential for their deaths, as well as the potential for their own personal gain. You see we all have choices, and we must deal with the consequences. I chose to wake up this... well yesterday....

She realized its had been three days since sleep, shower, real food, by god she was thirsty too...

Barely a beat passed before she rambled on, "...well a few days ago I woke up to face my world and make it better. I deal with those consequences gladly. They chose to fill their day with a desire to take what isn't theirs and kill anyone who tried to stop them. They must deal with those consequences which involve us defending our right to exist, our right to continue on the timeline. I don't seek their demise, but I will not allow them to do as they want without facing justice."

She pointed to the display of the damages to both Thunderchild and Ticonderoga. There was more yellow than red thankfully, but the red zones of high damage were in vital spots.

"You upheld our timelines, when we needed help you answered that call, and that makes you one of us in my book. Starfleet saves the day, we don't start fights, but we damn well end them."

"I...cannot say that I fully understand everything you just vocalized but I feel I understand your meaning. It sounds like, without me, you all would have met your premature conclusions. I am happy to have prevented that."

Izzy laughed, “Same here. We will find a way to get you back to where you come from. For now we will look after each other.”

"Engineering to Bridge," came another voice over the comms. "It is a mess down here, but many primary functions are coming back online. You should have nearly full Bridge functionality now to include viewscreen."

Though the viewscreen was damaged with various cracks snaking about, it flicked on and an avatar of Alidade filled the screen. At first, the avatar was nude. Featureless, but nude all the same. Alidade quickly made her avatar take on a uniform. Using Izwyx as an example, Alidade even gave herself a red uniform. And possessed the 4 pips.

Izzy eyeballed the pips, but the pants were on her seat firmly so this could wait to a better time. The nudity had been intriguing as well

"Also, Captain," said Alidade, "it seems your assailants are returning to the 3-dimensional coordinates we currently occupy."

“Alrighty, keep your pants on.” She winked at the optical feed as she surveyed the developing scene.

The avatar of Alidade slid to the side and the right half of the damaged viewscreen showed a grid layout of the region of space. The dots appeared from empty space seemingly out of nowhere.

“How are they doing that?” She knew the cadence of cloak and decloak, this was simple addition. More ships kept appearing, but from where?

"My long-range sensors are back online and..." Alidade's voice ceased but the grid display showed red dots moving in on their location. A crack in the viewscreen distorted the image but everyone could draw the same conclusion still.

Numerous sights of gold filled the view screen as ships from two quadrants poured into the small area around them.

Izzy didnt hesitate, “Red Alert, here we go!”

-To Be concluded soon…-

 

RSS Feed