Ultra Solar Tales 01 05
“Are you prepared to take command of the ship?”
Alanua doesn’t respond to Titan and busies herself with pushes water streams and buttons while speaking to her twin, Aya.
Aya is identical to her sister, the only differing feature is that she is slightly smaller.
Titan can only tell them apart when they’re sitting next to each other. Titan once insisted they wear different clothing from eachother but was super casual about not letting on why she wanted that. Ha ha ha. And being as revered as Titan is has it’s perks.
Aya shrinks even smaller as Titan stares at them waiting for her answer.
Titan’s voice is piped into their partition making her sound like she’s miles way, “Alanua?”
Alanua reaches a tentacle out to the partition. Her squid-like arm points toward Titan as it rests on the plastic-ish substance. As Babaca don’t have a front and a back side to their bodies, Titan never really knows where to look when speaking to them.
Alanua adjusts her tentacles on the partition and makes the ‘I will follow your orders’ sign at Titan.
“Yes, Mira. We are all ready.”
“Good.”
She pushes buttons and transmits her voice throughout the ship.
“Brace for impact.”
Titan has always worried that if she drops dead her first officer will not have the strength or . . . . forcefulness to keep everyone safe. Of the seven species on board Sky Heaven, the Babaca are by far the most intelligent, and the only ones capable and experienced in space flight. But they are not leaders. After all these years Alanua is Titan’s best, and only, hope. When the day comes that I lose Titan . . I do not know what I will do. I feel that I will be more lost than anyone.
On the bridge there is a moment of silence.
The ship is struck with a loud crack and every being on board is thrown.
The six giant spiders, who’ve been hanging from the walls, are the only ones not fazed by the jolt. The Aazz use their sharpened legs and razor sharp hooks to dig into the special walls that have been designed for them. Titan wanted her pet spider to feel comfortable in such a strange environment and the strips of tektite across the ceiling and in dark corners would make him the happiest.
Most Aazz can turn invisible when attached to these strips but Titan has made them brutally aware that being invisible on a spaceship is dangerous to everyone on board. Their bodies are lethal and can do massive damage to organic lifeforms. They are not allowed to cause any distractions to ship functions. My sensors are not even fully capable of detecting them at all times. It makes me nervous but Titan has been teaching me about this thing she calls “a show of good faith.”
Wicket, Titan’s pet, is a bit of a spoiled brat but he’s the defacto leader of all the Aazz on board and takes it upon himself to keep his comrades in line.
I watch Titan look fiercely around the bridge. “Damages?”
Being in the emergency compartments was unnerving to Titan. Her pulse rises and she starts to sweat, even during practice drills.
It was deathly quiet with everyone in their pods. Only occasional translated words got to her, the computer wasn’t sending it all the audible data because it was overwhelming. When in emergency mode the bridge crew worked fairly independently of each other. Most of them worked damage control of their own sections. A few kept the ship on coarse.
And only the helmsman and Alanua threw ideas at Titan.
