Welcome Home
24 Mar 2022Fallharbor
This is a direct continuation of "Looking for Home" and "Homecoming" _________________________________________________________________________
The carrier shook and groaned through Witchspace as I sprinted out of the Berserker towards the lifts. I watched the Arbmos get in to bay 12 but it wasn't Jen's usual flying; something must have happened and the Arbmos didn't look so good. I could only think the worst while taking the hangar lift.
"Jen, it's me. Come in." I called through the comms but there was no response. "Jen! Please respond!"
It was a rough ride in the lift. I'm not sure it should have even been working while traversing hyperspace. The doors opened and I ran towards the Arbmos. The landing gear wasn't down and the ship was just laying on the hangar floor crashed into the far side wall. I ran and jumped on top of the cockpit and saw Jen sitting at helm. She was bleeding and unconscious. I took out my tormentor to shoot through the glass but before I could fire the first shot I was thrown off the cockpit a few meters away and fell to the floor.
Hyperspace jump complete. Carrier Services are now being reinsta-reinstat-reinst-
I shook off the fall, limped my way back to the cockpit and began shooting. The cracked canopy gave rather quickly and I jumped in to grab hold of Jen. I sighed in relief confirming she was still breathing. Well, she was wheezing more than breathing. Her injury was from shrapnel off the dashboard splattered across her torso. A quick look around and I noticed the huge hole in the ship. A railgun must of gone through and blew out the dash. I was surprised the ship could even land. I opened a comm to Hecate's called out.
"Hecate's Rest, this is Commander Fallharbor. If there are any available medical personnel on board, please report to to bay 12. We are in need of immediate medical assistance. She's got shrapnel and is-"
"Commander Fallharbor, this is Captain England, we are requiring everyone in need of medical assistance to report to the med bay on their own. We unfortunately don't have enough crew to get-"
"I understand Captain. I would appreciate someone meet me half way with a stretcher. She's not doing so well."
"Understood, head to med bay, England out."
I ran to my cabin in search of sheets to bandage Jen as much as possible when I heard a soft mew from under the bed.
"Freyja!" I called out. "Freyja, it's ok baby come out!" I continued to call until she crawled out, both her tails fully alert.
"Mew?"
I picked her up and gave her a quick squeeze to calm her down. "Jen's hurt Freyja. We need to get her to help, come on." I put her down and ran back to Jen, bandaged her up and hobbled our way to the lifts, Freyja followed close behind. The lift opened and two nurses at the ready immediately took Jen. I began to follow but was stopped by a third nurse who shook their head.
"Unless you also need medical assistance or can provide it, I will have to ask you to leave. There are too many people here already."
"I...understand, just please keep me informed of her status." I responded with a nod and took the lift back to the concourse. I glanced at the Far God symbol on the doors again before entering. The main hallway was empty now but I heard talking coming from the lounge. Before I could head there my comms beeped.
"Commander Fallharbor, this is Captain England. Please report to the bridge immediately. There are some details we need to discuss..."
"On my way."
I continued past the lounge to the bow of the ship and noticed smaller versions of the Far God emblem in the areas where the chanting people were gathered before. To my knowledge, the order doesn't interact with non-members so...why would they be here? I reached the lift to the bridge where the same soldier from earlier nodded me through. The bridge was busy and Captain England sat at her chair typing and swiping on the console as frantically as the others were at theirs.
"Captain England, you requested me?"
"Wait for me in the ready room" she said without turning from the console and pointed to the doors nearby.
I walked in and was surprised by how bare it all was. The desk was barren of any items, the coffee machine looked like it wasn't refilled in decades. I walked over to the window and stared out into space. Memories of this same room flooded my mind. Mother and father would come up to talk to the Captain and I'd just sit here. I'd watch the stars and the occasionally ship flyby dreaming of being out there one day...
"Commander Fallharbor," England said as she walked in and took a seat behind the desk. She motioned me to sit across her. "I wanted to thank you personally for your help. I'm not sure we would have made it out of that attack without your distraction."
I walked over and sat across her placing my helmet on the seat next to mine. "There's no need to thank me. I'm just glad I found you all when I did," I said as I put on my glasses.
England gave me a curious look.
"It's an old habit from before the eye replacements. They remind me of my father."
"Polus...Polus Fallharbor."
My eyes widened at hearing the name. "You knew my father? Is he..is my mother still...are they both on board?"
England looked down and shook her head, "No, I'm sorry. They are no longer with us..." She looked back up and locked eyes with me. "My condolences."
I sighed and looked down for a moment and then towards the window. "I figured it was a long shot. I thought the whole ship gone honestly," I looked back to her, "but it's still here."
"Barely..."
"How did you know my parents? You look too young to have been the Captain from back then..."
England chuckled and walked over to the window. "I grew up with them in charge. I was here the day of that first attack. I assume they jettisoned you with some of the other escape pods. They'd be happy to know you survived. We lost a lot of people that day. The Thargoid scouts finished off the dredgers that attacked us but then began to target us. They wanted the Guardian items we had picked up or...they just didn't want us to have it. The ship took heavy caustic damage before we could bypass the mass lock and jump away. Navigation hasn't worked properly since then."
"So they...you all survived..." I said as I walked to join her by the window.
"Some of us survived...much of the caustic damage corroded the hull and stripped it during the jump. People were...ripped out of the ship...it was...it was devesting. And to top it off, we had no idea where we jumped to." She sighed and sat on the couch. I joined her and sat across. "After that we started repairs on the ship as much as we could. With the immense loss of people and ships, everyone chipped in. Unfortunately, the navigation module was harder to fix without an expert. Captain Barley had died during the attack and so did most of the upper leadership. Your mother took the chair as acting Captain. Your parents took anyone left with ship knowledge as their bridge crew and well from there we jumped when we could trying to get back home. Unfortunately, we never made it to civilized space. Your father wanted to continue his Thargoid and Guardian research so anywhere we jumped we stayed for a while. Most of the crew was ok with this but after a few years people began to get impatient. They wanted to go home..." With a sad look in her eyes she turned to the window. "Your parents died in the mutiny. There were mutineers in the bridge crew who we thought we could trust. I-I'm sorry... I couldn't save them in time." She covered her face with her hands to hide her tears.
"I don't blame you for their deaths, Captain England." I say as I leaned closer to her.
England composed herself and continued, "We didn't live under Fordham's rule for too long. Those of us-"
"Fordham? Robert Fordham?" I interrupted.
"No. His daughter, Amara."
"Amara? She was like family. All the Fordham's were..."
"Robert died on an excursion to some Guardian ruins. Amara blamed your father and that was reason enough for her to...kill them and take the ship."
I sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Amara..."
"It was only a few months later I could get enough people to muster the courage to take back the ship. Amara escaped with a few others and have been following us ever since. They've been tracking us by the S.O.S but obviously we can jump farther and...randomly. That kept the attacks to a minimum until we finally jumped into civilized space after all this time. The FSD had taken a hit with that jump so we pinged the S.O.S. We were able to connect with the nearby station and found out we were in Tamar but before they could send help Amara jumped into the system and attacked. And well, the rest you know..."
I looked at her for a few moments taking in all the information. She continued to look out the window before getting up and walked over to the desk. She picked up her data pad to type something in. Mine beeped after she swiped something over. It was the title of the ship giving me full ownership and control. I immediately got up in shock and looked at her.
"She's yours. I'm not a Captain and honestly I'm tired. The ship hasn't been the same since your mother was acting Captain."
"I-I mean I'm honored but I can't accept this..."
England walked over to me and stood not a foot away. She took my hands and with her eyes glazed over said, "Then just help us at least. Please."
I hesitated for a moment but Freyja mewed and walked around my ankles and then hers. I sighed and nodded, "I'll help but we're both in charge."
She gave a slight smile and nodded "Very well, Captain-"
"Ah, no I'm still Commander."
"I will not be a Captain!" she let go of my hands and retorted in frustration.
"It's fine. Be my deck officer. There will be no Captain."
She nodded in agreement. "Well then Commander, we've got a lot of work to do" she said grabbing her pad and walked out back to the bridge.
I sat back down on the couch and stared out into the stars again. "Welcome home Vidal...Welcome home."
