The captain’s chair on the deck of the Darkstorm was a sleek and beautiful design. It was the perfect height to lean over and look at all the monitors from the different control stations. It also stood a single step above the other stations, a little elevated so even if the captain was shorter, they would be looking down at the rest of the ship deck.

With the Darkstorm’s AI as the only source of light, the chair looked like it was floating, a throne in the middle of space. The hologram motioned to it impatiently and Charyd took a moment to think about it before finally finding purchase with one foot and pushing towards the chair. He floated across the deck, grabbed the arm of the chair, and swung over. As soon as his ass was back in that perfect indent he had created, the safety belts snapped out and over his body, anchoring him down so the lack of gravity wouldn’t have him floating about.

Alice appeared in the glow of the hologram for a moment and then settled at one of the stations.

This time, when the ship started spinning from another hit, both Charyd and Alice were spinning as well. He noticed Posey’s limp form floating in the air and then the hologram was right in front of him, directing him back to where his attention was needed.

“Now, Captain.” The AI’s voice sounded impatient.

“Yes, yes. Tell me what to do.”

The hologram rolled its eyes and let out a sigh so heavy that it looked almost real. Whoever programmed the AI was good.

“Okay. I’m turning all essentials on, but please, stop messing with things you don’t know.”

“How would I know I don’t know it until I start messing with it?”

“Charyd!” This time, it was Alice who growled out his name in anger.

The viewport in front of them flashed for a moment, particles of all known colours, some not even visible to Charyd’s morphed eyes, appeared. The wave looked like a giant tentacle made of sparkles and light as it approached them at an incredible speed. It disappeared shortly before it hit them again.

“Now, Captain!” the AI shouted. The entire deck lit up in red and the alarms went off, the hit had touched something important.

“Alright. Alice, plot a point to aim for outside of this field. Tony, give me full flight control and do your… opening thing you did for Posey. Also, let me make an announcement.”

“Essentials only, captain,” the AI gritted out and the voice sounded less and less mechanical the more the alarms blared.

“Then turn that fucking thing off,” he reached for the controls that appeared in front of the chair, the hologram a more mechanical blue than the AI’s projection right behind it.

The blue of the hologram and red of the alarm clashed something fierce and tried to force a headache. The alarm turned off, at least, so that helped a little.

Then Tony stepped forward into the flight controls Charyd was pulling up. Charyd felt like he was going to throw up when his fingers started dancing between the hologram’s controls and Tony’s innards. Not that he could see actual organs, but it still looked horrible.

“Not there, there,” the hologram chided him when he touched one control that caused the ship to spin without it being hit. When Charyd touched the right one, the ship floated to the left. The only reason Charyd knew it was to the left was because another wave became visible for only a second and then it disappeared to the right of the viewport before the light of the particles faded away.

Calculating the speed in his head along with the shout of their position in space from Alice, Charyd inputted a new flight command. The hologram in front of him helpfully lit up a green innard right past the speed controls.

This time, the ship jumped up and then spun around and right into another wave that had not become visible.

“Sorry, sorry, that was on me,” the AI said and lit up a few different sections in green. “Fuck, this is hard.”

Charyd snorted. “Alice, how far are we out of safe space?”

“Not close enough,” she replied, her tone nasally from the broken nose.

“What the fuck are you all doing?” and there was Posey, back to being awake.

Charyd cursed but then Tony’s innards lit up green quickly, one after another, and it felt like a game, trying to chase the lights down to activate the proper controls.

The ship shook and there was a screech right above them that sounded too much like the hull being breached. Charyd froze and looked into the hologram’s eyes.

“We’re good. For now.”

“Tony, what are you doing?” Posey flung across the deck and caught herself right over one of the stations, far enough away to be safe but close enough for Charyd to see her angry face and inflamed crown.

“Now’s not the time, Captain,” the AI replied with a growl and then the hologram glitched, all controls disappearing out from under Charyd’s fingers for a solid second before they returned. “Fuck. Something’s wrong with my systems.”

“That’s because he’s not doing it right!”

“Do you want to do it?” Charyd snapped out at her.

Posey glared at him and then looked around. If she was even thinking about looking for her gun, Charyd would be so pissed.

Alice was already half unbuckled, glaring at the military captain.

“Alice, I need you to do my calculations. Do not leave that seat,” it was the Darkstorm’s AI that was ordering her around. “Captain, can you help?”

“I’m trying!”

“Fuck no.”

Both Charyd and Posey replied at the same time. Posey glared at him and though Charyd wanted to launch across the small space between them and tackle her back into unconsciousness, Tony’s hologram innards were lighting up again.

“No, no. Not that!” Posey said right before the entire ship lurched up as if they were back in gravity and trying to leave the atmosphere without any dampening shields.

Charyd felt himself sinking further into the seat but Posey slammed to the ground on her feet and then knees. The ship righted itself after a moment and she started flying again. Tony’s hologram disappeared completely. The captain’s control hologram did as well. It was a solid seven seconds before both returned though Tony seemed to be glitching, looking as if someone erased random lines of code on him.

Charyd tried to ignore that and reached into the controls again.

“You’re doing it all wrong! The waves interfere with all calculations by a factor of up to 1.8!”

“Well, that would have been nice to know earlier!”

“If you had ever paid attention–”

“If you would ever stop being such a bitch–”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“--then maybe you’d actually learn–”

“--and share some of your precious–”

“Captain!” Alice called out.

Both Posey and Charyd turned to face her with a matching angry “what?” before they noticed the web of waves that appeared in front of them. It disappeared shortly after but it was headed in their direction. That would not be a single hit. That would tear the ship apart.

Charyd snapped the safety belts off and pushed so he floated out of the chair faster.

“Posey, take over!”

“What? No!”

“Do it!”

“No!!”

“We’re all going to die if you don’t!”

“I’d rather we all die than see the Darkstorm back in your hands.”

“Captain,” the AI’s hologram finally decided to join in the argument though the voice sounded weird, glitching, each syllable at a different volume. “My uplink is down.”

“What? Forget that! We can get data later! Survive now!” Charyd snarled and pushed a random control, shoving the ship into a flight to the side. The ship lurched just in time to see another flash of the web coming at them. Charyd pushed against the chair towards Posey, intent on getting her into that seat if he had to force her down and hold her there.

Posey, however, froze. Her entire face paled and her mouth dropped open, her large fangs looked almost comical with that expression.

“Are… are you sure?”

“What are you–”

Then Posey pushed off, flying right past Charyd and turning in mid-air so she hit the seat of the captain’s chair with her back. The safety belts snapped over her shoulders without prompting and then her hands were flying through the mixed holograms in front of her, working with the glitching Tony and flight controls without even the green light guiding her.

Charyd hit one of the stations from his earlier push and then changed direction. He made it back into the flight officer seat and had to manually pull the safety belts on so he wouldn’t fly out of the seat as the ship twisted, turned, leapt, and at one point it felt like it was dropping back to the planet’s surface.

The rolling was worse than the amusement park rides back on CDR-PT88 with the wooden beams and barely any safety nets.

The ship was hit twice more, though those felt like glancing blows rather than full-on, and then the red light on the deck disappeared.

Everything went dark.

Tony’s hologram was gone and even the hologram with controls in front of Posey was gone.

Charyd had the horrible thought that power went out and that was it, they were done.

The emergency safety lights turned to illuminate the path out. Then he noticed Posey let out a heavy sigh of relief and relaxed back into the chair, head thrown back and revealing her long throat.

Charyd swallowed.

“Alice?” he said quietly.

Alice unbuckled herself and floated for barely a meter across the deck before gravity returned. She landed in a crouch and the click of metal hitting the floor made Charyd look over. Alice picked up the gun and pointed it at Posey.

“Are we safe?” Charyd asked, raising a hand toward Alice in a silent order to keep her from shooting.

Posey scoffed but refused to open her eyes. “For now.”

Charyd nodded and dropped his hand.

“You’re coming with me,” Alice growled out, reaching to unbuckle Posey’s safety straps and then hauling the woman out of the chair.

“Why is the power out?”

“Essentials only. Air. Filtration. Gravity…” They all knew gravity was not essential but then Posey tacked on, “Tony’s servers need it to function in emergency situations.”

“Get her out of here,” Charyd ordered Alice with a wave of his hand.

“I need to fix Tony,” Posey replied and finally opened her eyes.

“Fix what?”

“You broke him.”

“It. It’s a fucking machine. It can fix itself.”

“Captain?” The tentative voice outside had him looking towards the door where Squilla was still clinging to the walls, her face contorted in worry, but she was at least conscious and here. “The AI? I… umm… I kind of did a block thingy and… the terminal I used is down. I don’t know how to fix it.”

“What block thingy?”

“I thought he’d try to stop us from leaving orbit so I kind of… put him… behind a wall. Of a sort. Something like that.”

Charyd rolled his eyes to the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh. He loved his crew. He loved his crew. He loved his crew.

“What do you need?” he asked and though he wasn’t looking at anyone, both Alice and Squilla knew he was directing the question at Posey. His two crew members remained quiet.

“Firstly, we have to fix your fucking mistakes,” Posey pushed off the captain’s chair with grace and immediately headed off the deck. With every step, her stride became longer and more focused. She was on a mission. And she clearly didn’t care about the weapons pointed at her.

Alice gave Charyd a confused look. She was unused to somebody not being afraid of her. Or a gun. Charyd started following Posey as she sped up until the military woman was running down the hall.

“Where are you going?” Charyd shouted after her. His lungs were constricting from having to run and shout.

Posey ignored him and took off in a full sprint, stopping briefly at the ladder below the Lightning Strike to grab a toolbox.

Alice followed just as quickly, gun raised, and Squilla was scurrying along the walls, but Charyd was limping behind. He did not feel like the captain at all.

“Hey -”

“I’m focused on Tony.” She did not even pause to look at him or wait for him. The box jangled at her side as she ran to the same room where Charyd had been handcuffed earlier. It slowed her down enough for him to keep up with her in his current state.

She scanned her biometrics in and held the door open so he could take a step in.

Alice glared at her through eyes already swelling red. “Give me the gun. Go get patched up,” Charyd ordered and Alice only grumbled a little before leaving. Squilla spun her head between the two and Charyd motioned with a hand for her to follow then said, “I got this.”

Squilla nodded, scurried away, and then Charyd looked back at Posey to ask, “Why all this high-end security for a server room and basic prison security?”

“You don’t have the clearance for that.”

The room was a mess. The green liquid gently trickled out of the tube that Charyd had broken to escape. The monitors and the ridiculously large server box were covered with the slime, its viscous material slowly globbing down onto the ground. Charyd stood up straight afraid of slip-and-sliding with one wrong step and placed both hands on the gun pointing at Posey as she shoved the toolbox close to the server box. He refused to get back in there or to land back on his ass.

Fans were circulating the air creating an odd tang on Charyd’s taste buds and nose. “I’m the captain now. I have the clearance.”

“You’re not a captain.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No,” Posey growled out the single word.

“How big of a server does a ship like this need, anyway?”

Posey did not reply.

“Seriously. So much tech and advancements in making things smaller and then bam. This thing.” He waved the gun in the direction of the giant server box.

Posey stiffened when she saw him but said nothing. Instead, she walked through the green slime as if she was walking on solid and not slippery ground. Her feet did not slip at all. How!?

“And since when does a military Captain know how to fix things? Where’s your tech?”

Posey remained silent, not even her typical grinding of her fangs as she opened the toolbox and began cutting off more of the insulation around the tube. The liquid unphased her as it was absorbed into her uniform.

“You aren’t one for talking.”

As if only to contradict him, Posey spoke, though it wasn’t directed at him. “Tony, I need you to lower the temperature further in here.”

“It will risk freezing the system.”

“Do it.”

The fans took off at a higher speed, even causing ripples in the green liquid. Pops were heard in the vents as the rush of cold air hit the metal. Posey pulled out a new thick tube. “For your nerves, I need to use a cutter to prepare the tubing. Don’t get trigger-happy.”

“Don’t make me.” Charyd watched as she slowly and deliberately sliced the bad tube away and pulled out a new set. Her hand dug through the box and sifted through a shelf, all while he watched, expecting her to throw something at him. The whole time Charyd kept his thumb fingered over his favorite setting on the gun, stun, and aimed it at her. She paused holding something, her eyes glancing at him, then she clamped the shape to both sides of the tube.

“Tony, turn off the pump now.”

The guzzling of the tube stopped. She cut the tube to fit to size, placing the cutter up on the box as she shimmied the tube into place, but then her back shifted, blocking the view of her hands to him. He watched her shoulders as they worked, the woman was clearly strong. The monitors lit up suddenly with a bright message. His eyes darted over to them for a moment, a warning of overheating. That could not be possible, his current body if anything felt nippy.

“What are you doing?”

He looked down at the ground, debating about taking a step in the mess, the handcuffs for him were missing. He backed up again. “Answer me.” His finger danced on the trigger as it began to charge.

“Tony, turn the pump back on.”

She leaned back over, pointing at the clear tube, and a green liquid began to climb up the line. Shacors were not known for smiling, which made them perfect for the military, but seeing one with a wide gleam and holding a cutter in their hands sent shivers down Charyd’s spine. Charyd had to remind himself how much he fucking hated her. Mostly, because he wasn't sure whether to be scared or turned on.