Space Pirates

The First Mate: Tagiri Yafeu

The pressurized suit wasn't the problem. It was the stench trapped inside the airtight helmet. Clearly past time for a shower. Yafeu's scalp itched in a place impossible access, not unless he wanted die gasping. That didn't stop his hand from rubbing the outside of his helmet over the spot. Trying to ignore the unsatisfying scratch, he focused on the environmental readings, constantly fluctuating in the corner of his interior screen.

Artificial gravity returned to normal. Oxygen still too low to sustain human life.

Using his foot, Yafeu pushed the full grown male out of his path. It was a hard way to die, but the Zeretti's method was efficient. Had they boarded the ship any other way, they'd face retaliation. Thankfully the cargo hull had been vacant except for two bodies. One of a small girl, laying face down after falling from the walkway above. Her body twisted and broken. Yafeu shook the questions of how many more child casualties there were from his head. It shouldn't matter, he had to remind himself. Sympathizing with the target is a sign of weakness and would only make what he had to do more difficult.

"Yafeu," Captain Zeretti's smooth alto voice resonated in Yafeu's helmet. "Any survivors?"

"Doesn't look like it." He answered firmly.

"Good. Then I don't have to review my no prisoner policy with you again." Her voice held a sharp edge to it yet she moved on quickly. "And the ship's condition?"

"They routed all power to the engine room. We're headed there to analyze the damage."

"Ten minutes," the Captain responded. Her words accompanied a sigh that sent a trill through Yafeu's forearms.

He motioned for his comrade Dabuki to follow him down the lower hallway. Neither of them had been on a Colony Cargo Ship before. It seemed to have the basic set up so just as he thought, the hallway he'd chosen ended and opened up into a disarray of wires, engine parts, and gears.

Engine room found.

Another body, wearing a loose t-shirt, suspenders, and gray pants, lay on the floor. The young man was streaked with grease. His mousy brown hair matted over his asphyxiated expression.

"He might have been helpful," Dabuki said, his speech heavily accented. He placed a large case on the flattest surface and from it retrieved the portable generator. "Why don't we just tow this thing to a habitable planet before doing this? It'd be easier to fix without the suit."

"Restoring minor system power will make towing her easier." Yafeu answered. He took a cable from the generator and hooked it into the main power supply. "Crank it up." Dabuki followed the order. He cranked it until the small hum sparked the engine, which returned a hint of life to the burnt out ship.

Dabuki crouched low to look at the rotator, "Okay. I'll run a diagnostic to be sure but it doesn't look like they damaged it any. Probably hoping we'd leave it when we were through and they'd be able to come back and pick it up." He said.

"Focus on the life support system. I'll make my way up to the control bridge." Yafeu said. He left Dabuki to do his work.

Yafeu checked the open doors as he made his way up the stairs. Belongings were scattered across the metal floors. He reached a partly open escape hatch. They were designed to airlock after the shuttle had detached. This shuttle did not detach. The doors had been forced apart giving him a clear view into the stalled shuttle.

His stomach churned low in his gut at the sight. Nine, at least and one was a girl as young as six.

He opened his comm channel to the DeTarin's pilot seat. "German, how many shuttles does this ship carry?"

"Twelve." She responded, and knowing exactly what he was going to ask next she continued. "Ten successfully launched. One is floating aimlessly off the port side, possibly dead ... er lacking a pilot, I'm sure."

She had amended that for his benefit. She often did that.

"Yafeu," German said again. "Nine are successfully moving away there rescue beacons strong. Someone will find them."

He closed the channel. Though the information brought him comfort he didn't dare verbally confirm that.

He turned away from the shuttle along with its deceased occupants and returned to his search for the Control Bridge. Thank the stars, it was where he expected it to be. Close to the front and up high.

The bridge was clear. No Captain who decided to go down with the ship. The traditional belief is poetic, but humans are survivors. If they have the chance to escape, any human would easily take that over a space death.

"Life support is up and running." Dabuki announced over the communicator. Though it took a minute for Yafeu's environmental computer to agree, eventually it flashed green in the corner of his visor. Oxygen and temperature, levels sustainable.

With a whoosh of relief, similar to the sound of his decompressing suit, Yafeu lifted his helmet from his head. He placed it on the navigations console. The pilots controls looked undamaged. The main systems power had been turned off, thus he set to work reactivating each one. A few systems buzzed back to life however most gave mo sign of life.

"If the controls are sharp we have basic propulsion systems still intact," Dabuki explained over the comm. "Though the A-phyxed Engineer succeeded in burning all the fuel in one go."

Yafeu was again impressed. With the size of the colony ship, no one expected it to accelerate as it did. Yet, somehow this colony crew had employed a skilled mechanic, as well as a pilot. Not many pilots could make German swear the way she did when she missed that first shot. Truth be told, five minutes more and Captain Zeretti would have scrapped the heist.

Stray wires on the ground caught Yafeu's eye. He dropped to his knees for a better visual beneath the main pilots console. "Sharp controls are not an options, Dabuki." He slipped into the pilots seat and attempted a basic launch sequence. Subsequently a black screen stared back in return.

"Smart man." Yafeu mumbled.

"Is it fixable?" asked Dabuki's, though his question was tainted with unfavorable conjecture.

"Even for you, it'll take hours. The pilot shredded the flight console and the nav-panel."

"Great," Debuki said sarcastically.

With a crackle German joined their link, "Captain's coming to do a cargo sweep. Yafeu, she'll meet down below."

He quickly left the cockpit. By the time he reached the open cargo hull, three crew members shifted crates to see what treasures they had inherited.

The full grown man Yafeu passed upon entering the ship, was still on the ground. It appeared that this man had forced open the shuttle door when the launch malfunctioned, which killed the rest of the occupants inside. Some might argue his death was appropriate retribution. However had they been alive, Yafeu would have been ordered to despose of them.

Yafeu turned around to where the girl had fallen to find the spot vacant.

He tapped the button oh his suit, twice, to open a channel to the pilot. "German? Did someone already jettison the dead?" He asked.

"Not me," she joked seeing as she never left the ship. "With The Captain coming on, may have begun disposal."

He shook the image of the girls twisted body from his head. He couldn't show any weakness today. He still hadn't gained the Captain's full approval. Yafeu swallowed hard, set his jaw, and prepared for her arrival.