Angelwing Nine

[Neon]

This thread will house my story, "Angelwing Nine."
Some of it is already up on Shrinkingman, but I intend to copy-paste it all here, too, so it's all caught up.

It is my first attempt at Science Fiction, though I have read plenty of sci-fi before.

The focus of the story will be the nine human characters (reason for the title, yeah?), and their interactions with an alien race. Yes, it sounds so terribly cliche when that part of the plot is laid out plain like that, and I'm sorry. I will do my best to keep it original.

Update length varies, sorry about that. It may seem like it takes a long time to get to the main storyline, but exposition is important to me. My stories are rarely rushed through.

Please enjoy, and know that I very much appreciate constructive criticism.

[Neon]

Lydia sat in her small quarters, on the edge of the small bed. The dark green covers were made smoothly, looking all too inviting after the long day she’d had. The small metal lamp on the nightstand sent a dim glow around the room, which was very sparsely decorated. It was about 8 feet by 10, with the bed against the back wall and the nightstand next to it. The smallish expanse of green carpet was uncluttered. Opposite the bed was a sliding door with a small window at an adult’s eye level. On the adjacent wall to this door was another door that led to the washroom. Opposite the washroom door was the dresser. Lydia eyed the photo frame on the dresser before lying back on the covers. She reached over and switched the lamp off, not bothering to even change out of her uniform before falling into a deep sleep.

Her dreams were littered with fragmented images of almost a year ago. Back when the Halo had been attacked by the Raltians, long-time enemies of the Human Race. The images captured the chaos as, out of nowhere, the Ralthian ships attacked the huge vessel and sent its 400-some passengers into a panic. Lydia’s family was among the first captured and killed. Lydia was the only member to hold her own against the savage Ralthians and flee to warn the rest of the ship. The battle that ensued onboard and off the Halo wore on for hours. She had been 15 at the time.

Lydia sat up in bed, breathing heavily, her dark-brown hair matted to her forehead in a cold sweat. The last image she’d been treated to by her nightmares was that of her young brother, Noah, slashed upon the claws of a vicious Ralthian. A few tears streaked down her otherwise passive face and she turned to step off the bed. The covers barely looked disturbed. She shuffled silently into her washroom, and stood at the mirror while her hands searched in the semi-darkness for the light switch. Fluorescent light filled the small white-tile-and-chrome room and she blinked. The mirror showed a tired-looking pair of dull brown eyes staring back at her from a thin but defined face. The collar of her storm-grey uniform was crooked and unkempt from her sleeping on it. Lydia blinked blearily as she slowly undid the buttons.

After a brief shower, Lydia padded back into her room and retrieved a new uniform from the small dresser. She pulled it on quickly over her plain black tank top and undershorts, shivering slightly as the air conditioning caught her wet hair. She then returned to the washroom and combed through her hair, dried it and finally tied it back in a ponytail. Her finely-angled face now held a cool, determined look.

As Lydia sat on her bed and finished the last lace of her shin-length black boots, a knock came at her door. “Lydia! Are you up? C’mon, Lydia!” came the voice of someone who wasn’t quite tall enough to see through the window.

“Come on in, Jerrin,” Lydia answered, and as if in response, her door slid open with a small hiss. A young boy of 11 bounded into the room, wearing a somewhat baggy but otherwise matching uniform of storm grey. His bright blue eyes already wore a smile, and his short blond hair was spiked as usual. He smiled warmly at Lydia as she stood, returning the greeting with a faint smile of her own.

“G’morning, Lydia! Howareya?” Jerrin asked as the two left the room, the door making another hiss as it slid closed. They headed down the hall to the left; the right led to the other living quarters and then storage.

“I’m just fine,” Lydia answered quietly, her thoughts on her dreams at the moment. Jerrin recognized her introspective moments, and so chose to leave her in silence as they walked through the ship’s hall, decorated in white and dark green.

They passed the medical rooms of the ship, before coming to what they all called the “Atrium.” It was a small room with seats in rows of three at either side, a porthole at each row, with a view of space beyond. In the front left of the room was a kitchen area, and the front right housed a handful of dining tables and chairs, all in chrome and white steel. The middle of the room, though, had a near-invisible rectangular seam that was the ramp leading off the ship were it to land.

Jerrin and Lydia crossed the empty Atrium and stepped up to the double doors opposite the way they came in. Lydia placed her hand on a blue light pad on the wall beside the doors, causing it to emit a series of beeps and flash once before the doors whizzed open with another hiss, admitting the two onto the bridge.

~~~~~
Darius sat at the front of the bridge, in the chair on the right, looking absently out the bridge window into the blackness of space. The chair on his left remained empty, but he figured Lydia would be in at any moment to fill it. Behind him and somewhere to his left, he heard Melody at her chair at the communications board, adjusting her headphones and pressing various switches. The two 17-year-olds were the only ones on the bridge so far.

Darius leaned forward slightly in his chair and pressed on of the many buttons littering the main console. A small microphone peeped up from a seamless slot next to a speaker near the button. Shaking a black lock of shaggy hair from his green eyes, Darius spoke into the microphone. “Max, Joy, either of you in the main engineering room yet?”

A short moment later, a crackling noise came from the speaker as someone activated their own com button. “Oui, monsieur Price, this is Max,” came the thinly accented voice of the 21-year-old man.

“How’s the ship looking this morning, Max?” Darius asked the technician.

“Very good, Darius, things are running as smoothly as ever.”

“Thank you,” Darius replied, before releasing the com button. He glanced at one of the screens off to his right in front of an empty chair and saw that Leona Lakes was already in her office back in medical. The other screens showed various areas of the ship, and Darius noted the lack of activity. Then, he saw motion in the Atrium screen, and swiveled his chair around to greet the two approaching.

Lydia and Jerrin entered through the double doors, striding across the bridge, around the raised podium in the middle for navigations, and right up to the main console. Darius noted that Jerrin was full of his usual energy and vigor, and that Lydia was rather stoic, as always. It was another average day.

Lydia leaned over the console without sitting in her chair, and Darius swiveled around to face it likewise. Jerrin watched from the side, though he couldn’t understand the readings and many controls yet. Lydia glanced over everything with a practiced gaze. As she viewed all the readings and controls, Jerrin wandered over to greet Melody.

“Sleep well, captain?” Darius asked, though he wasn’t fully sure why he placed particular emphasis on the word ‘captain.’

Lydia turned her head to look at him instead of the console. If Darius was a more caring kind of person, he’d regret asking. There was that pain in her eyes that few could recognize but answered his question enough. Even though she answered “Yes,” in a murmur, Darius knew it was just the opposite.

Jerrin returned to her side and tapped her shoulder. “Lydia, I’m going to go find Jenny and take breakfast around. You want anything?”

Darius almost scoffed to see the light smile on Lydia’s face. It was unusual to him. She answered after a short moment of thought. “Yes, pick something out for me, Jerrin,” she answered. Jerrin nodded enthusiastically, then turned to Darius, opening his mouth to ask, but Darius interrupted.

“Just coffee for me, Jerrin, if there’s any.”

Jerrin nodded. “Yes, sir! Seeya later!” He waved briefly and jogged out of the bridge.

Lydia then stepped around her chair to sit down in it, finally. Then, after a pause, she turned to Darius and asked, “And how did you sleep, Darius?”

He shrugged and turned back to the console nonchalantly. “No complaints,” he answered in a business-like tone. He was used to her aloofness towards him.

~~~~~
(c) Neon

It begins.
There will be nine total points of view in this, switched in no particular order.

[Neon]

Melody hummed a broken tune as she sat at her transmissions console. She was catching various galactic news feeds, as well as a handful of signals advertising traveling commercial ships, tourist attractions, and the next models of various ships. The different alien languages were automatically translated to her through the ship’s computer. Otherwise the transmissions would just be so much noise.

Jerrin had left a few moments ago to run breakfast to everyone. He was a spunky kid. Melody always had to smile to see his energetic face. Everyone did, even Captain Lydia.

Melody turned a dial on one of the signals and ran a general scan. She fiddled with one of her many dark, tight braids, twisting it in her fingers absently. She glanced up through the bridge window into the dark, beautiful vastness of space. She could also see the vague reflection she cast into the window. Her skin was almost dark enough to blend in with the space superimposed in the window behind it. The whites of her dark eyes were like pale moons in comparison.

In the middle of her scan, Melody heard startled voices at the front of the bridge. In one deft movement, she pulled her headphones off and turned her chair around to face the pilots’ chairs. She was halfway out of her chair before she just sat back down, laughing.

~~~~~
Lydia blushed as she heard the laughter. Ian, Jerrin’s older brother, stood back from her chair, chuckling. His bright blue eyes were a mirror of Jerrin’s, but his hair was a slightly dirtier blond and he had a more developed, handsome face. He skipped backwards and sat at the Navigations podium, blowing a kiss at her obnoxiously.

“Morning, captain, didn’t mean to scare you,” he said gleefully.

“Ian, you shouldn’t sneak up on a girl like that,” Melody said from her chair, and Lydia glanced to her. The girl’s mouth was stretched in a grin, showing off her white teeth against her dark skin. “Much as you like her, it ain’t nice.”

Lydia just sighed and turned back to the console, ignoring the fading laughter. She was embarrassed; Ian had only come up from behind and hugged her. It was really a harmless gesture, but she’d been deep enough in thought to be completely startled. Her eyes widened slightly at the chuckled to her right. She looked to see that Darius was leaning back in his chair and smirking. He wouldn’t look at her, though. Lydia’s gaze snapped back to the window and she tried to stop blushing.

~~~~~
“Catch me if you can!” Jerrin cried gleefully as he ran across a metal bridge on the lower level of the ship. On his shoulder he carried a canvas bag that had a number of breakfast items. But his focus right now was on the 10-year-old girl running along the bridge behind him, calling after him to stop.

Jenny was Darius’s little sister and she looked like it. Her black hair flowed behind her as she ran, and her green eyes shone with the thrill of competition as she raced after Jerrin. She wore a pink jumper and leggings instead of the uniform everyone else wore.

Jerrin reached the end of the bridge and made a hard turn to the right, ducking around thick pipes that criss-crossed all over in the engineering level. He had to stop short, though, for in his path stood a tall, imposing, tower of a man. Jerrin grinned sheepishly as Jenny then caught up with him and also stopped.

“’Ello, children, you weren’t just running around down ‘ere again, were you?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow over his hazel eyes. His dark hair was slicked back and tied in a very small ponytail.

Jerrin shook his head quickly, but Jenny nodded at the same time. They looked at each other, shrugged, and giggled briefly. Then, Jenny stepped forward and opened a bag that hung on her shoulder, matching Jerrin’s. She pulled out two croissants wrapped in wax paper and handed them to the big man, undaunted by his height. “Here’s your breakfast, Mister Max,” she said. “Where’s Miss Joy?”

Max shrugged. “She’s around ‘ere somewhere, I imagine. You two get back up to control level, though. It’s not safe for you down 'ere.” He smiled jovially and made a small shooing movement with his free hand.

Jerrin and Jenny headed back the way they came, across the metal bridge. They still had to stop by in medical to see Jerrin’s mother and give her some breakfast before they could go to the bridge.

“Jerrin, d’you think we’ll land on a planet sometime soon?” Jenny asked as they navigated the engineering level.

Jerrin shrugged. “I dunno. I bet so, though. We haven’t stopped for supplies for a while. We should ask Lydia when we go back upstairs.”

Jenny was quiet for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, she asked, “Why is Lydia so sad all the time?”

Jerrin raised his eyebrows. “Um, well, I don’t know exactly. I think mostly she just misses her family.” Jerrin did find himself wondering the same thing. He was closer to Lydia than anyone on the ship, but she was still a mystery to him.

~~~~~
Joy Kratyr wiped some sweat from her brow. The bronze skin of her arms glistened from the heat of the pipes around her. She cast her brown eyes up to see Jerrin and Jenny crossing one of the bridges higher up. She smirked lightly to see them talking together. She figured they’d just brought breakfast down, and thought she’d go to find Max after she finished tending to the pipes.

Joy stepped deftly around and over the many intertwined pipes, navigating her way around expertly. She came to a ladder and started to climb it. She reached the top rung and looked up to see her husband, Max, standing there waiting for her. She smiled as he knelt to help her up the last few rungs. They embraced for a moment, then he handed her a croissant wrapped in wax paper.

“Gracias, Max,” Joy said softly. The two found a railing to lean against while they ate. They figured soon they’d need to go and report to the bridge. They tossed the papers over the railing, and it disappeared somewhere among the many pipes, boilers, and railings. Joy lightly took her husband’s large hand in her petite one, and they stayed there together for a while.

~~~~~
Leona, a plump woman of 33, bustled about her office in the medical wing. She sang a little song to herself as she worked to make sure all of the equipment was in order. Being the only doctor on board, she had to make sure that all of the medical supplies were in tip-top shape. Medicine and bandages seemed to go out somewhat regularly.

As she was just finishing checking the inventory in the computer, she heard the hiss of the door from the Atrium. She stepped out of the windowed office and smiled to see her younger son and Jenny there. Jerrin came forward and hugged her, and she ruffled his hair. After he’d stepped back, Jenny came to hug her, too, and also handed her a wrapped breakfast roll.

“Thank you, dears. Almost done with your rounds?” Leona asked.

Jenny nodded. “We’re about to take breakfast to the bridge now. Wanna come with us?”

Leona smiled warmly. “Certainly—just let me finish up here.”

The children waited near the door as Leona returned to her office, set the computer to automatic, and turned the light off. She adjusted the hat to her special white uniform as she left the office. When they saw her, the kids turned and left the medical wing, and she followed through the sliding doors into the Atrium.

~~~~~
Ian sat smirking at his Navigations panel. He deftly tapped parts of the screen there, zooming them in. Using a special electric pen, he marked the top of this map with mathematical symbols and equations. It was basic stuff, to him. Calculating angles and things was child’s play. That’s why Navigations was his job.

Ian glanced toward the left pilot’s chair. Lydia sat there. Beautiful Lydia ... he’d been taken with her since the day they met, back on the Halo. He looked back to his map, thinking on that chaotic day.


All of the Halo’s passengers had holed up in the aft chamber. The Angelwing, an escape pod meant for the government and their families, was being prepped for deployment. But it wasn’t going to carry the government officials. The Angelwing was going to be sent off as a decoy, to perhaps draw the Ralthians away.

Ian’s mother had volunteered to go along, to be the senior medical officer for those operating the ship until it could rendezvous back with the Halo. He and Jerrin followed her aboard, and he glanced back at the frightened faces of the last of his species looking at him. Ian couldn’t resist blowing a kiss at a group of girls his age before turning to run onto the ship.

The great ship was shaped a bit like a shark. It was about 80 ft long from nose to tail, and its widest was about 30 ft across, and about 40 ft tall. It had wide wings stretching about 20 ft out from each side. It also had a number of cosmic wind fins that pulled up like sails along the top middle of the ship. The whole thing was built for two things: speed and safety. It had state-of-the-art everything, and as frightening as things were, Ian was excited to get his hands on the Navconsole.

The nine volunteers met on the bridge. There was Lydia, named the captain, briefing them on their decoy mission. Next to her stood Darius, who looked somewhat disappointed but at the same time prepped for action. On Lydia’s other side was Melody, who seemed to already long to sit at the transmissions console. Joy and Max stood next to Melody, holding hands. Darius’s sister, whom he refused to leave on the Halo, sat in one of the pilot’s chairs, lounging.

Once given their assignments, the group split up to their posts. Jerrin and Darius’s sister went to wait in the Atrium as the ship was prepped for takeoff. Ian remembered with pride as he deftly entered the proper numbers to the navigation keys. The ship was released into open space under the massive Halo. Halo immediately started in one direction, and Lydia and Darius piloted the ship in the other direction. Ian admired the captain and her sheer focus on her job. He barely noticed the redness in her eyes and the streaks of tears on her face. She was intense—she was beautiful to him. Ian had to smile, even as the ship rocked back and forth.

“Everyone get tied down!” Darius had cried over the intercom. They were forced to roll the ship this way and that to avoid the Ralthians’ attacks.

“It’s working!” Melody had said. “They’re pulling back from Halo and following Angelwing!”

Ian couldn’t help but whoop for joy. The others barely spared him a glance. “We ain’t out yet,” Darius had said through clenched teeth.

“I have confirmed message from Halo,” Melody said, “and they’re going to portal jump in 5, 4, 3—“ Her words had died in her throat as Lydia pulled the ship around in a double roll to avoid a dangerously close laser attack by a Ralthian ship.

“They’re gone!” Ian exclaimed, watching the camera screens off to Darius’s right. “They did it!”

Lydia flicked her gaze to the screen to see, and a triumphant look came to her face. She turned her head and paused a moment to look into Ian’s eyes and his heart did a flip. She then looked to Melody. “Alright, I’m assuming you’re getting no more signals from the Halo, so get on weapons and take out as many Ralthians as we can.”

“You got it, girl,” Melody said as she switched to another chair and began to operate the sleek weapons that seamlessly folded out from the hull. “Firing at will.”

“Dudes, we got a message,” Ian said, going to the now abandoned signals console. “They sound pissed,” he said after listening for a moment to the angry signals coming from the Ralthians’ ships.

“Mister Lakes, get back to the Navconsole and prepare for a portal jump!” Lydia shouted.

Ian rushed back to his console and strapped in. He looked about at the instruments on the navconsole. “Uh, hey, this thing ain’t got a Gate Drive. We can’t do a jump without a Spacegate.”

Lydia swore. Then, she slammed down the intercom button. “Everyone report to the bridge or Atrium now. Max, Joy, prep the engines for a portal jump.”

Just when she released the com button, the ship was rocked by a hit by one of the Ralthian ships. She swore again and Darius steered the ship out of range of more attack.

When everyone had rushed into the bridge and strapped into the chairs at consoles or the extras in the back, Ian began to enter the proper codes and logistics for a jump. The pilots continued to evade, Melody kept firing at will, and Ian’s equations flew through his mind.

“Ready, captain?” Ian said. “We could end up anywhere, y’know.”

“Just enter the command, dammit! There are children aboard this ship and I will not just allow us to be captured and killed.”

“Sure thing.” Ian had said, then pressed the button and the Angelwing hurtled across space at random, away from the danger.


Ian came out of his reverie to hear the bridge doors open. He turned to see Jerrin and Jenny enter, followed closely by his mother. He threw them a peace sign before Jenny brought him his coffee. He thanked her and she then went to follow along behind Jerrin as he handed out breakfast to the rest of them. Ian’s mother sat at the extra chair of the Navconsole next to him and smiled. “Morning, dear,” she said quietly.

~~~~~
Darius boredly watched the main console. He turned his attention to Lydia, though, when she stood to address the room. The only ones not on the bridge were Max and Joy. Darius wondered what she’d have to say; the chick rarely said anything to all of them at once.

“It’s been one year today that we left the Halo,” she started. Everyone’s expression seemed to tighten in remembrance. “We haven’t received any messages from them, right, Melody?”

The African girl nodded. “Got that right, girl.”

Lydia nodded once, glumly. “We made it to the planet Goler-Od, the rendezvous point, and they were not there. The authorities there confirmed their arrival, though. We have to assume that the Halo survives. However, in space there is no guarantee of finding them.”

“What’s the point of this little speech, Lydia, to kill all our hope?” Darius asked, not hiding the annoyance in his voice. It was so typical of her to be such a pessimist.

The captain turned to him slowly, looking at him blankly. “No, Mister Price.” She answered passively. “It’s to propose a new plan. We cannot continue to search blindly in the dark here. I was going to suggest we make a more permanent landing somewhere, and perhaps find a longer-range communications tower to contact the Halo.”

Darius looked away, admittedly humbled by her answer. It made a lot of sense. They hadn’t found a single trace of the Halo since leaving Goler-Od, though the Golians had insisted they stay longer, perhaps wait for a return check.

“Ian,” Lydia then said, moving on from that subject quickly. Darius noted that the boy looked up quickly with a smile at her voice. Ignoring his enthusiasm, Lydia asked, “Where do you suggest we land next? There we will figure out a more practical plan.”

Ian leaned over his navconsole, tapping keys and the screen with impressive speed. He started to answer, but Melody silenced him when she stood up with wide eyes, holding her headphones tightly.

(c) Neon

Italics in bloc like that will indicate flashback.
In this we are introduced to one of my "favorite" characters (shame on me for picking favorites, I love them all), Ian. At least, he's the most fun to write most of the time.

[Neon]

Lydia went to Melody, glancing at her confusing transmission console before asking, “What is it? What do you hear?”

“No matter what she hears, it’s coming from that!” Jerrin cried out, pointing out of the bridge’s window. Lydia followed his gaze, and paled at what was in sight. About 10 miles out was a huge Ralthian ship, and a number of smaller ones in constant orbit around it. It was turning its prow and unmistakably heading towards the Angelwing.

“They want to talk to the captain,” Melody said in a hushed tone, still watching the formidable ship.

“Put them on,” Lydia ordered, going to stand in front of the Navconsole in the middle of the bridge, trying to look confident. A holograph appeared on the middle window, and the unnerving, yet nearly-humanoid face of a Ralthian filled their view.

“Hello, humans. You tricked us very well a long time ago ... but now you are the only ones not under official protection of the Destrian Empire ... And you will feel our ... annoyance.”

Lydia took a deep breath. “Perhaps we can work out a deal. Just allow us to—“

The Ralthian’s high-pitched laugh interrupted her. “Silly human female. You have nothing to bargain with but your life. And it is your life I’d like to see end.”

Lydia clenched her jaw. Jenny started to cry behind her. Jerrin tried to comfort her. Lydia didn’t need to look to see the somberness in the faces of her crew. “I ask that you spare my crew, and hold me, the captain, responsible for your frustration. I led this ship away from the Halo.”

“I will consider it. If any of you live after we’ve attacked your ship, I may be merciful. But ... maybe not. Goodbye, humans.” He smiled nastily, and the holograph blinked out.

The atmosphere in the bridge was tense. Lydia then turned to the room. “Jerrin, Jenny, go and wait in the Atrium. Leona, go with them. Melody, get on signals again. Darius, for God’s sake, turn this ship around!”

Everyone immediately did as they were told. Lydia was glad that Darius didn’t even have a snide remark for her. This was too serious. They all knew the Ralthians would never show them mercy. Lydia held her footing as the ship swung around and throttled away from the quickly-advancing Ralthian armada.

Lydia thought of the last time she’d been in a pursuit like this. Her adrenaline had been pumping just as much. She’d just lost her family. And now she was very close to losing her new family. She wasn’t going to let that happen without a fight. With a frustrated cry, she whirled around, and slammed the com button down for intercom. “Joy! Max! Report to the bridge immediately. Everyone prepare for a portal jump.”

Then, Lydia turned to the Navconsole to tell Ian to enter the codes, but he was already quick at work doing just so. He gave her an absentminded thumbs-up and said, “Way ahead of you, babe,” as he entered his calculations.

Lydia sat in her pilot’s chair and began to assist Darius in their escape. She vaguely heard Joy and Max’s entrance as they went to empty consoles to help and strapped into their chairs.

“Portal jump ready in 15 seconds ...”

A Ralthian ship matching Angelwing in size came up alongside, and another on the other side. Both had huge cannons charging up on the top of their hulls ....

“Ten seconds ...”

Lydia and Darius pulled the ship into a wide loop, and a number of surprised screams were heard. Out the bridge window, and no doubt out the Atrium windows, the great light from the cannons exploded in the sky.

“Five seconds ...”

Four more ships were in formation around them now, all prepping their cannons.

The Angelwing was surrounded by a rainbow spectrum of speeding lights as the Portal Jump initiated. Seconds ticked by, and they were all nearly frozen in their chairs as the instant transport had its effect on them. Lydia thought it might be lasting too long when, with a tremendous flash of bright white, the ship stopped moving and hovered in space.

~~~~~
Ian breathed deeply. They’d done it. His equations were pretty out there, but he was sure he’d gotten them far, far away from any Ralthian. This was confirmed when he looked at the star map before him. “Not in Kansas anymore,” he muttered.

Everyone looked around shakily. Leona, Jerrin, and Jenny came in from the Atrium, all pale faced. Then, slowly, everyone broke into smiles. A few laughs sounded. Max and Joy kissed each other. Jenny ran to Darius and they held a short hug. Ian stood and went to his mother and brother, and they shared a family embrace. They’d escaped. Not once, but twice they had escaped bloodthirsty Ralthians.

Ian turned to see Lydia slumped in her chair, one hand over her eyes. She was trembling all over. He went to stand next to her. “I’d like to thank you on behalf of the crew of the Angelwing. Thanks a lot for saving our asses, again. Quick thinking, and all that.” She looked up at him blearily. Ian grinned. “So how about you be my girl? We’ve got a lot in common, bonded by trauma, yada-yada-yada ...”

Lydia’s face changed, becoming bemused but still dominated by relief. She stood and stepped deftly around Ian. “Work on your pick-up lines, Ian.”

(c) Neon

This update is the catalyst for the rest of the story. In other words, had this not happened, the remainder would never have a reason to play out, see?

[Neon]

The next few days were very exciting for Jerrin. They were in unknown space, far out of range of any human knowledge. They were probably the only humans for tens of thousands of light years around. Before bed every night, Ian talked excitedly of the freshness of the star maps he encountered now. Melody was working on configuring the computer to be able to recognize the language of the signals she got now. All of them were gibberish even through the translators.

Lydia was as stoic as ever, but she seemed to retain her relief at their escape. Jerrin often wondered what she was thinking. She made an effort to smile at them all now, even Darius, who was utterly perplexed. It still seemed a bit forced, but she was making the effort. Something about leaving known space behind had released her from some of her sadness.

One day, as everyone sat in the Atrium eating dinner, Lydia actually laughed. No one remembered who’d said the joke, as suddenly all eyes were on the captain. It was utterly surprising, though it was really only a small chuckle.

“Music to my ears,” Jerrin heard his brother say to her with a grin as the conversation started up again.

~~~~~
Melody smiled with pride. She’d finally finished it—a new configuration for their translation filters. She soon ran it through the computer, and it in turn scanned the new information to the filter implants in the crew’s ears. Then, she pushed out of her chair on the bridge. It was late. Everyone else had gone to bed. She noticed a blinking red light on one of the consoles before leaving the bridge, but dismissed it. It’d be making more of a fuss if it were important. She made it to her quarters in the tail of the ship and went to sleep deeply.

She was woken by a beeping alarm that rang in the halls. She recognized it as a call to the bridge. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and changed into a new uniform. Using a hairtie, she pulled all of her little braids back out of her face. She hoped it wasn’t so urgent that she couldn’t come back and take a quick shower.

Melody arrived on the bridge to see that things were mostly normal. Something that wasn’t was that Max was there, in all his impressive size, conversing with Darius. Lydia sat at her chair, piloting the ship carefully through a cosmic dust field. It was then that Melody noticed the more pronounced rocking back-and-forth the ship was exhibiting. She realized with a start that Lydia must be driving using the Cosmic-Wind Fins instead of the engine thrusters.

Max was telling Darius of a burned out cell on one of the engines. It had been damaged in the prolonged Portal Jump, and last night had finally died out. Darius nodded grimly. Max shook his head as he talked about what it would need to be repaired.

“Until we can communicate with someone around ‘ere, we are without that engine power,” Max said quietly.

Melody came up to them, indicating with her expression that she wished to speak. They turned to listen. “Yo, last night I just finished recalibrating the translators. We can talk to anyone in this region of space with little trouble.”

Lydia called from the main console. “Good, Melody, excellent, in fact. We need to get the engine back as soon as possible. The cosmic winds around here are dangerously fickle ... hard to pilot this boat. Get on signals and see if you can’t contact someone nearby for help, eh?”

Melody nodded and went to her chair and slipped the headphones on. She immediately began sending out general distress calls, hoping for someone to pick them up and send a reply.

~~~~~
Darius patted Max on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get supplies soon, thanks to Melody. Just do what you can, okay?” The big man nodded, smiled lightly, and left the bridge to return to the engineering level.

Darius walked back to his seat next to Lydia. He took his controls, carefully helping her to navigate the dust field. He shared her discomfort with using the fins. They shuddered and wavered and made travel far less smooth. They were good as a resort for situations like the one they were in, but other than that he saw no good in them.

“Captain,” Melody said from her console. The urgency in her voice prompted not only Lydia but Darius and Ian to turn to look at her.

“Yes, Melody?” Lydia asked tentatively.

“Well, I got someone to reply to our distress calls, but the signal strength is through the roof. Whatever’s coming is big.”

Lydia considered this. “Well, that just means it’s more likely they’ll have something for us. Ian, give her the coordinates so she can send them.”

~~~~~
Jenny sat in one of the Atrium seats, looking out the window. On her lap sat a pad of paper and a pencil, with some random sketches and doodles. She enjoyed sitting and just watching space float by sometimes. It was peaceful. Even with the slight rocking of the fins, she felt very relaxed. In fact, at one point she dozed off to sleep.

When she woke, Jenny gasped to see what was now outside the porthole. An absolutely massive ship filled her view. It appeared to be hundreds of times larger than the Angelwing. It was grey, and had an occasional blacked-out window. Jenny felt chills running down her spine at the sheer impressive size of the vessel. She abandoned her sketch pad at the seat and ran to the bridge to ask what was up.

Jenny walked onto the bridge to see a somewhat chaotic scene. Ian was rapidly entering his calculations, though they seemed to be more out of nerves than any practicality. Melody was constantly speaking into her communications mic, but seemed to be getting no reply. Lydia and Darius struggled at the controls but couldn’t seem to make the ship move at all. Jenny approached the main console tentatively.

“Um, brother, what’s happening?” she asked.

Darius didn’t even look at her. “We got someone to answer our distress call about the engine ... and now they won’t reply anymore. And they’ve got us stuck in some sort of magnetic ... field, that’s stopping us from backing up.”

Jenny’s eyes widened as she looked out the bridge window at the suddenly far more intimidating ship. The size of it was nearly unfathomable. And its occupants had apparently decided to capture their ship, tiny in comparison. Jenny only hoped it was because of the distress call.

~~~~~
Max worked alongside Joy in the engineering nerve center, so to speak. They were trying their best to repair the dead engine cell with the supplies they had. Darius had assured Max that they’d be getting help soon, but Max was nervous about calling unknown ships to them without their full power to protect them. He was muttering his misgivings about this to his wife when, all of a sudden, the whole ship jerked nauseatingly, and the two had to grasp a nearby railing to avoid sliding along down the floor. The ship’s internal gravity drives caught up with the movement in a few seconds, and they were able to let go.

“Dios mio! Something’s wrong, Max,” Joy said with surprise. “We need to get to the bridge now, find out why the hell they’re driving so bad.”

“Oui, good idea,” Max replied. The two technicians left the engine cell and all of their tools where they were and hurried towards the stair that would lead to control level. They emerged on the significantly cooler upper level of the ship, in the very tail end, where supplies were stored. They hurried out of storage, and down the quarters hall, rushing to the bridge’s double doors. Max noticed the two young ones in the Atrium, each peering avidly out a porthole, and his suspicion of trouble was confirmed. Jerrin never seemed so fearful.

They entered the bridge and both stood staring agape at the massive ship filling the bridge window view. Then, before they could ask anyone, the ship shuddered again and started to move. Max’s heart beat like a drum as he realized the Angelwing was being pulled towards this huge, strange ship.

Lydia and Darius strained against the magnetic force of whatever it was that pulled the ship closer to the strange one. Ian sat at his Navconsole, looking grave and reflective. He was not making any calculations, and that was a bad sign. Leona sat next to him, patting his back and murmuring encouragement. Melody was frantically sending out signal after signal, many of which were towards the big ship.

Max went to the main console and leaned forward against it, straining to see from one end of the other ship to the other. It looked like it could house enough humans to populate a continent back on Earth, easy. He wondered with apprehension what exactly piloted this behemoth. He heard Joy talking to Leona and Ian quietly behind him. He then turned to Darius and Lydia, who continued to try to steer the ship out of the magnetic field.

“Can’t we just Portal Jump again?” Max asked.

Lydia just vigorously shook her head, but Darius, through clenched teeth, forced out a response. “No .... would tear off the fins ... ruin more power cells.” His knuckles were white against the shaky controls of the cosmic wind fins. Max saw that Lydia’s were the same.

Max shook his head. “Well, monsieur, the fins won’t take much more abuse from that field. Per’aps you should retract them?”

“Hah, and get reeled in like a guppy? I think not!” Lydia answered, her eyes wide.

Jerrin and Jenny entered the bridge, both holding hands and looking scared. “What’s gonna happen?” Jenny asked fearfully. The ship bucked again, more violently than before, and everyone who wasn’t strapped down was tossed toward the back of the bridge. Max narrowly missed cracking his head on the Navconsole. He stood and saw Joy already helping Jerrin and Jenny up and to some seats. They were shaken, but not harmed.

Max turned back to the pilots, and was surprised to see that Lydia was now the only one holding onto the fin controls. Darius held his left wrist and winced. “D*mn ... that one sprained it or something ...”

“Get off the controls, captain,” Max said gruffly, then. He walked to Lydia’s side, and, despite her ordered protests, pulled her arms from the fin controls. They immediately began to move every which way along with the ones at Darius’s seat. Max searched the console a moment and smacked the switch that retracted the fins. The ship’s shuddering stopped and so did the controls as the resistance was ended.

Lydia looked absolutely livid, but didn’t look like she’d try to redeploy the fins. Max let go of her arms and stepped back. She turned her chair around to glare at him. “You just let us get captured!” she said indignantly.

“That is better than shaking the ship to pieces out in open space,” Max countered. Lydia raised her chin defiantly but didn’t argue. It was tough to argue such a point with an expert technician.

“So what do we do now?” Darius asked, as the Angelwing began a smoother trip towards the other ship.

“We wait.” Was Max’s grim reply.
~~~~~

(c) Neon

The plot thickens.
Don't try to guess too hard at what's on the other ship, 'kay?

[nocturnalbirdie]

yay! Im so glad that this story made it way here..Ive been watching this on SM and its one of
the only stories worth reading there...^^; ..but welcome Neon! XD

[Neon]

Leona was a bit afraid, but her dominant emotion was curiosity. She prayed and prayed to herself that whoever was reeling them in wasn’t hostile. Perhaps their unresponsiveness to Melody only signified their hurry to help.

She stood up, patting Ian once more on the back before striding as steadily as she could to the front where Max stood behind the two pilots’ chairs. Lydia stared blankly ahead as the Angelwing was pulled along. Darius, however, was injured, and it was he that Leona had come to tend to. She pulled a roll of bandaging out of the front pocket of her uniform, and gestured for him to hold out his wrist. He looked warily pained, but nonetheless held out his injured arm. Leona delicately took it in her own hands, lightly testing to see what was damaged.

“Lucky boy ... it’s just a sprain,” she told him as she began to wrap it. Darius winced and muttered something about 'lucky', but she ignored it. When she’d finished, he pulled his hand back gingerly.

“Thank you, Leona,” Darius answered after testing the bandage. It would hold, and it was tight enough that it dulled some of the pain.

“Now don’t you go fighting the controls again anytime soon,” she warned.

A gasp from Lydia drew all eyes back to the bridge window. Melody gaped, her headphones forgotten, as an airlock began to open on the giant ship. As it opened wider, it revealed a chamber big enough to be a docking bay for a small fleet of Halos. The pull began to accelerate. Leona retreated to a seat and buckled in. They were truly entering unknown territory now.

~~~~~
Lydia felt her muscles tighten as the Angelwing passed into the gaping maw of the other ship. She hunched over in her seat as she heard the gigantic doors closing behind them. She told herself over and over that they weren’t going to be harmed, the ship was big, sure, but they’d be just fine. She looked up in time to see that the ship was now being lowered slowly to the floor of this great cargo bay of a room, and she glanced behind to see that most everyone was seated and buckled.

“Max, sit down,” she ordered quietly, glad to hear him go to the seat at Darius’s right and comply. Then, quickly, she activated a few switches to deploy the landing feet of the ship. That way, they could actually use the ramp should they decide to exit the ship.

Even with the impact-absorbing landing gear out, the ship jostled clumsily when it touched the floor. They all heard the sound of pressure refilling the chamber after the huge outer doors closed. Lydia waited with apprehension, but also scanned the huge room for the doors their captors would come through. She couldn’t see any.

Then, they all realized with horror what kind of ship they were on, when one of the doors that Lydia couldn’t see opened. She’d been thinking too small; a door about 100 feet high slid open, and everyone on the bridge cried out in fear of what they saw.

Two giant aliens were now in the room, wearing grey-blue uniforms with red stripes down the side seams. They were humanoid, but had pale skin that seemed to have a bluish tint to it, eyes with jagged pupils, and shockingly orange hair. Both appeared to be male, judging by the square shoulders and angular faces. And, both were about 80 ft tall.

The Angelwing was little bigger than a dog compared to them. These guys were as tall as it was long, and standing there on its landing gear it only came up to half their height. Lydia’s heart beat a tattoo inside her ribcage, and she heard the others on the bridge muttering disbelief, prayers, or curses.

The two aliens approached the ship, looking very surprised. Lydia didn’t need to do any guessing about why they were surprised; they could see in to the nine tiny beings in the ship they’d reeled in.

“Hell, no!” Darius cried angrily as they came nearer. With his good hand he punched a quick command in the console and the window shields started to roll over the bridge window, covering it in a layer of steel. Lydia’s heart skipped a beat when one of the giants rushed forward with a hand outstretched as if to stop the shield’s progress, but her view of him was cut off as it sealed shut.

“Everyone, back of the bridge, now. Stay away from the windows; don’t go in the Atrium, that’s where the ramp is.” Darius stood and ordered everyone. Lydia didn’t argue. She wanted to be as far away from the menacing giants just outside the window as she could. Jenny and Jerrin huddled together in their seats, and Leona sat next to them, comforting them. Max and Joy sat together on the opposite seats, holding hands. Ian sat leaning against the back wall, looking ready to go into shock.

“Melody, come on!” Lydia urged as she passed the woman at her console.

~~~~~
“Girl, they sent a message,” Melody answered back. “I’m putting them on intercom.” She pressed a button on her console and the intercom crackled to life.

“Greetings, small, unknown life forms. Please do not be alarmed. We wish to speak with a representative.” Came the calm voice of the message, though whether it belonged to one of the aliens waiting outside, they couldn’t tell.

Lydia went to Melody’s console, and leaned over it to press the button for external speakers. “How do we know to trust you?” she asked, managing to keep her passive tone, even though her stomach tied itself in knots as she felt the vibrations of the aliens moving about outside.

Melody felt her heart racing. She looked back at the others huddled in the back of the bridge. She thought she’d never been so scared in her life. Now the size of this ship made sense to her. It carried massive beings on it! She dreaded the thought of their fate. They were all small enough to be squashed by one of these creatures’ swatting hands.

After a pause, a new voice came on the intercom. It did not sound nearly as cool or friendly as the first. “You can send out a representative, alien ship, or we can dismantle your hull and force you all out in the open. What’ll it be?”

Lydia’s jaw almost dropped in sheer indignation at being addressed that way. Finally, she stepped back from the console and nodded at Melody. Melody spoke the reply this time. “A’ight, we’re sending someone,” she answered quietly.

Lydia went to the main console and entered a control. All of them felt the ship hum as its shape changed to deploy the ramp. The engineering level and the control level seemed to split from each other, while remaining closed spaces, just enough for the ramp in the Atrium to extend to the edge of the engineering level before more steeply extending to the floor. Melody hoped the giants wouldn’t be alarmed or try to do anything to the ship for its sudden movement.

Lydia turned to head for the bridge doors to see that Darius stood waiting by them. In an unspoken communication, they both nodded once. Lydia went back to Melody’s console and spoke once more through the external speakers. “I am the captain of this ship. I will be coming out promptly and bringing my first officer. I want a promise that nothing will be done to my ship or my crew in my absence.”

A lengthy pause followed before the first voice from before replied, “Your crew may remain on the ship until we reach whatever conclusion in negotiations. You have our word.”

“Thank you.” Lydia said briefly before cutting the transmission. As she walked to the door, she told Max, “You pull the ramp back up as soon as we’re on the ground, got it? I don’t want them trying to reach up in here.” Max nodded once. Melody watched with apprehension as the two commanding officers left the bridge, the doors hissing closed behind them.

~~~~~
Darius felt every muscle in his body quiver with adrenaline as they stepped into the Atrium. It had changed, most notably the center of the floor now tilted down and out of sight beneath them. They rounded to the top of the ramp and started down it, then paused. Lydia went to a small shelf to the left and returned with two small handguns and holsters. The two buckled the weapons on and felt a miniscule amount safer. Darius took a deep breath as he walked alongside her down the ramp. The air that rushed in smelled sweet and artificial at the same time. He couldn’t see much outside the ship yet.

They reached the point where the ramp was much steeper. They walked down the ramp slowly, looking around warily. The giants no longer stood directly in front of the ship, but Darius could see their massive boots farther away, about the length of a football stadium. He tensed as they reached the floor, still under the shadow of the Angelwing. Both he and Lydia flinched as the ramp withdrew back into the ship and it assumed its normal shape.

“Step out from under the ship, aliens,” came a booming command, causing them both to flinch. Still, they stepped forward to comply, and Darius found himself craning his neck to look up at the faces of the two giants across the room. He almost wanted to turn and run right back to the ship, but there was no escape that way.

One of the giants stepped forward slowly, and Lydia suddenly grabbed Darius’s arm. He glanced at her in surprise but didn’t say anything. He was scared just about as badly, after all. The giant bent over slightly, casting his shadow over them. He pulled a small device out of his uniform pocket and held it up beside his face. Darius realized it was a flashlight of sorts when suddenly a bright light emitted from it and engulfed himself and Lydia. Both of them looked down and put their arms over their eyes.

When they looked back up a few seconds later, the giant took a few steps back and turned off his light. Then, he looked up and nodded, towards someone that had been hidden next to the ship. Darius turned quickly to see something quickly descending towards himself and Lydia. He quickly drew his weapon and heard her draw her own, too. Still, they were too late as the third giant, dressed in a white uniform with the same red stripes, scooped them both into a cylindrical glass container.

~~~~~
Jerrin cried out with surprise. Somehow the third giant had evaded the view of the ship’s side cameras, and he was utterly startled to see it swoop down into his view of Darius and Lydia. “No!” he shouted as they were both unceremoniously swept up into a glass container. The giants started to exit the room, but paused when they heard Melody start in on the speakers.

“You great cheating sons-a-bitches, that’s a dirty trick, you let them go you two-faced—“ she was cut off as Joy crossed to the console and slapped the off button. But the outburst had done enough to irk the giants, apparently, for one of them had stepped back to the ship. Jerrin watched through the camera view as it pulled a hand back to give the hull a hearty smack, and braced himself for the impact, but it never came. The other had placed a hand on its shoulder and led it back away from the ship.

Jerrin turned away from the screens. “What do we do now? It really was all a trick! We have to go and help them!”

Leona shook her head. “For now, we need to wait. We’ve no guarantee what they’re going to do. That may be just a precaution on their part. They don’t know anything about us, after all.”

Jerrin returned his view to the screens. The three giants had left, and the Angelwing was now alone in the airlock. It was anyone’s guess where Lydia and Darius were being taken, and Jerrin didn’t like that one bit. His best friend had just been carried off in a devious trap. That, and it was incredibly disrespectful to treat a captain of a ship that way, regardless of size difference.

“What if they hurt them?” came Jenny’s voice from the back of the bridge. Jerrin turned to see that she was trying hard to hold back tears. Her brother was gone, Jerrin realized with a frown. He walked away from the screens and sat next to her, giving her a brief hug and patting her back.

“I hear they hurt them and I’m on the weapons console like that,” Melody interjected, snapping her fingers for emphasis.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Joy answered grimly.

~~~~~

(c) Neon

Oh no, really big blue aliens, what will the brave crew do? They'll stay safe and secure on their ship, that's what they'll do. =P
I didn't want the characters to be all at the same degree of fear, hopefully I pulled that off. Some of them aren't as scared as the others, though that will be more obvious later.
Also, my spacial reasoning in real life is kind of awful, so if at any point the scale in this story is weird, I'm really really sorry. >.<

[Neon]

Lydia felt like the floor had been jostled out from under her, and her perception wasn’t far off. She’d had little warning of what was coming, when Darius had looked to the right and drawn his weapon in alarm. Lydia had drawn hers too, but just in time for them both to be knocked from their feet as the glass container scooped them up. They tumbled head over heels, dropping the guns at one point, before landing in a heap at the white metal bottom of the container.

Lydia blushed slightly as she and Darius disentangled themselves from each other; she’d never been that close to anyone. They looked up from where they sat to see that a lid matching the floor of the container was being fixed overhead. The whole container was about the size of a small van turned on one end; it was perfectly cylindrical, with a six-foot diameter and a ten-foot height. Lydia imagined it was meant for creatures slightly bigger than humans.

They both stood shakily, retrieving their weapons from the floor. The swaying motion of the chamber as the giant alien carried it was very disorienting. Lydia stared out through the glass just in time to see them leave the room. She felt her heart sag to be taken away from her ship like that. But her mind was brought quickly back to the present situation.

“Lydia, I’m going to try firing a short laser shot into the side,” Darius said, changing a setting on his gun. She nodded and went to stand beside him, to avoid any possible deflections. He held up the gun, aimed, and fired a small red laser burst at the opposite wall, right in the middle. The glass seemed to absorb it—the color rippled out from the point of impact before fading, leaving the glass unmarred.

“Dammit,” Lydia muttered. She was about to say more as to figuring out a new plan, but a jerk of the container caused them both to fall over again.

Lydia got up again, but stayed kneeling on the floor to avoid falling again. She looked out through the glass to see that one of the two aliens walking beside their captor was bent over slightly to watch them curiously. She shuddered under the gaze of those huge eyes. It said something to one of its cohorts, and Lydia was surprised to hear a mess of gibberish—it seemed the container scrambled the translator implants. She glanced at Darius, who was kneeling like her, and they exchanged a worried look.

Lydia swayed with the motion of the container as they were carried farther and farther into the ship. She shuddered on the occasion that they passed other aliens. They all had to stop and stare. In some cases they followed for a time, getting a look at the tiny beings.

“Dammit, I won’t have this,” Darius said suddenly. He stood again, and walked to the glass side of the container, the one facing away from their captor. Lydia watched with surprise as he started to pound the handle of his gun against the glass. She stood to pull him back. It wouldn’t do any good to beat on the glass, not with such a small weapon, if a laser burst didn’t have any effect.

“Darius, stop, you need to stop panicking,” she said quietly as she tried to pull him away from the glass. She was vaguely aware that some of the giants were laughing, no doubt at the scene playing out in the glass container.

“I won’t let them just do as they please!” Darius growled. “And I won’t just leave my sister alone in that airlock! I won’t—“

Lydia reached out and slapped him on the side of the face. It wasn’t enough to hurt, not even to sting or leave a mark. But it surprised him enough to stop beating the pointless weapon on the glass and look at her. “First off, she’s not alone, there are six other crew members there to make sure she’s okay,” Lydia said, taking on the most authority in her tone as she could. “Second, we need to stay calm. Panicking like this may make them underestimate us. We haven’t been harmed yet. Try to keep it that way, Price.”

Darius just stared at her for a moment, looking surprised. It was a lot of words for her to say in one statement, so the surprise was valid. Then, he weakly let the gun fall to the floor. They swayed there for a moment, then both stepped away from the glass to sink to the floor. Lydia didn’t feel as confident as she was trying to sound, but she wasn’t about to give that away, not to Darius or anyone. She was going to do her best as captain to make sure her crew came to no harm.

~~~~~
Ian sat against the back wall of the bridge, staring blankly at the shielded windows across from him. He couldn’t grasp what he’d seen outside those windows just before the shields had been drawn up. And now, the very same things had walked off with two of their crew like kids in a toystore. Ian had a feeling they might all be captured eventually. After all, what was to stop the giant aliens from picking them up, stepping on them, or even worse? Ian shuddered at the thought.

He stood and went to the navconsole. He began absently running calculations and statistics. They barely calmed his nerves. He slumped into his chair, a hand over his face. Lydia was captured. He couldn’t do a d*mn thing about it. He worried for Darius too, off course, but his thoughts were mostly on Lydia at the moment. He wanted to help her, he did, but he could see no way to do it. Leaving the ship wasn’t an option. He’d just be snatched up like Lydia and Darius had been.

He was somewhat startled out of his reverie by a hand patting his back. He looked up to see Melody standing there, a sympathetic smile on her face. “Listen, Ian, I know you’re worried about her, but the captain’s strong. And she’s got Darius to help her out, you know.”

Ian nodded, trying to return a wan smile. “Yeah. It’s all just so ... freaky. Who knew there’d be a giant ship just floating around out here?”

“You tell me, hon, you’re the expert on Portal Jumps.”

Ian looked at his navconsole and shrugged. The star map held no hidden answer for him. He was lost in this reflection for a moment when suddenly the ship rocked slowly. Jenny screamed in surprise. Max, Jerrin, and Leona ran to the screens on the right console at the same time. Melody, Ian, Jenny, and Joy watched from where they were, waiting for someone to say what had rocked the ship.

Max looked utterly surprised and opened his mouth to say something, but paused when the ship rocked again, more violently. Ian felt strange as the back end seemed to lift up, the gravity drive slowly compensating for the tilt. “They are lifting up the ship!” Max exclaimed. Jenny covered her face in her hands, even as the front end of the ship lifted now, leveling it off.

“Oh, hell, no,” Melody answered vehemently. She turned and marched back to her console shakily; they all felt the room sway as the giants began to carry the ship. Jerrin lost his balance and had to grip the edge of the screen console to keep from sliding around on the floor. Max took him by the arm and pulled him to one of the seats near that console. Then he stumbled back to his seat by Joy, as Leona returned to sit next to Jenny.

“You listen up real good, giants,” Melody said into her mic, and Ian turned to see she was holding her headphones on with one hand while steadying herself on the console with the other. “You can put this ship down now ...” Ian heard a muffled response in the headphones, no doubt a return signal from whoever had contacted them before. “Don’t you tell me to calm down, there are children on board this ship and I will not let you endanger them, dammit! I—augh!” She was interrupted as the whole ship shook abruptly, then stopped moving. They all heard an apology from one of the giants outside the ship, but Melody wasn’t satisfied. She turned on the external speakers instead and yelled, “How about just putting the ship down, huh?” she insisted, glancing once around the bridge at all of the faces fixed on her. “You promised the captain that the crew and passengers would be let alone,” she added.

Ian admired her spunkiness, despite the danger these aliens presented. He wondered whether she’d talk so bravely to one if she wasn’t safely in the ship.

“What?” Melody spoke again into just the message signal mic. “A’ight, fine, do your thing, but once we’re clear of the airlock you put this ship down, hear? Thanks”

“What’s going on?” Jenny asked after Melody had discarded her headphones again.

Melody sighed and ran a hand back through her tied-back braids. “They just wanted to get the ship out of the airlock, said it ain’t safe in there. Could have sent a d*mn warning, though, the great idiots ...” She shook her head and sat down. They all sighed with relief when they felt the ship once again come back down to the ground.

~~~~~
Darius sighed with relief when, after a multitude of doors, rooms, and twisting halls, he and Lydia were placed on a solid surface in what appeared to be the captain’s study. The desk was made of a dark, metal-like substance, and littered with papers, massive electronics, and writing utensils. The room was decorated in greys and muddled blue. Behind the desk sat a lightly cushioned chair that matched the desk. Behind the chair, filling the wall, was a huge window with a view to what appeared be a massive center of all operations and paths across the ship. The amount of giant aliens walking about on that level below was awe-inspiring. A few here and there did not appear to be the same species as whatever their captors were.

Darius flinched at the sound of a tap on the glass from outside, coming from behind him. He and Lydia turned to get a view of one of their captors’ faces, the one who’d had the light earlier. He was kneeling to look in the glass at them. When he saw he had their attention, he said something in a semi whisper that still sounded like he was yelling. Darius rolled his eyes, and before Lydia could respond to the giant, he stepped forward in their prison and tapped his ear to show he didn’t understand. Darius didn’t care at the moment about the somewhat reproachful look he got from Lydia for that.

The giant frowned slightly, then turned to his two colleagues and asked something. He didn’t quiet his voice this time, and that coupled with how close he was made both Darius and Lydia clap their hands to their ears in surprise at the noise. The other giant shrugged and backed off. The one kneeling looked back at them once more before standing, his towering form sliding high above them. The three went to stand at the very back of the study, waiting for who knew what.

Darius turned away and returned to the other side of their container to look absently at the objects strewn about the desk, his arms crossed. Lydia joined him, a dull look in her eyes. “Guess we’ll have to wait a while for our audience with their captain,” she said passively. Darius wished he knew whether or not she was as scared as he was.

They didn’t have to wait for very long. The noise of the door opening behind them came within ten minutes. Darius and Lydia turned to see that an alien male had entered the room. He wore a fancier uniform in comparison to the other giants. He matched them all in height, but he was wider in the shoulders. His skin was a slightly darker shade of blue than the others, too, but not by much. His hair was a striking red, at least what they could see of it beneath the hat he wore.

Darius noted that Lydia stood at ease army-style as the other captain approached, staring openly at the two of them. Darius assumed the same pose, attempting to strengthen their appearance to the giants. He heard Lydia mutter a thank-you out of the corner of her mouth. He shrugged his shoulders slightly in response.

The two humans stood still as the giant captain stopped in front of his desk, then knelt to look at them in awe. He turned his head slightly to ask something of the three still standing by the door, and they answered, but the whole time his eyes were locked on the tiny creatures before him. Darius resisted the urge to cover his ears from the sound that reverberated through the glass container.

The captain stood up again and quickly stepped around his desk to sit in the chair. Darius felt the vibrations from his steps come up through the container and into him. He and Lydia turned as the captain walked, keeping him in their sights the whole time. Still, they couldn’t help but flinch as he reached out and took the glass container in his hands, grasping it on either side, and lifted it closer to his face to scrutinize them. He held it at enough of an angle that Darius and Lydia had to abandon at-ease and simply lean against the far side of the container.

Darius frowned as the seconds ticked by with little change. The giant made no move to release them from their prison, or to put it down at all. He just stared at them with that almost awkward fascination. Finally, Lydia stepped forward, keeping her balance on the angled surface precariously. She stopped at about the center of the container, her feet set shoulder length apart and her arms crossed. After a few seconds, after she’d made sure the giant was focusing on just her, she pointed downward to the ground beside her in an abrupt gesture. Her face remained authoritative yet expressionless, and her demeanor made it clear that she demanded they be put down.

The giant captain raised his eyebrows, looking surprised, but all the same set the container down slowly in front of him. Darius looked up as the metal lid was removed. He felt a rush of fresh air and took a deep breath, realizing that they may have suffocated had the lid been left on for too much longer.

Darius was about to call out and point out that neither he nor Lydia could get out of the container, its sides being about ten feet high. His complaint died in his throat, though, as the captain grasped one side of the top edge of the container and started to tip it over. It was enough of a surprise that Darius and Lydia weren’t able to maintain footing as the cylinder was laid on its side. Before they stood to exit it, both of them picked up their weapons and holstered them.

Lydia was taking hesitant steps, so Darius stepped past her. When they’d both alighted on the metal desktop, the captain pulled the container aside and set it back upright. Then, he clasped his hands and leaned forward on the desk, leaning his head down closer to them. Darius took a few healthy steps back, and Lydia shuffled backwards along with him. He felt his heart beating heavily again. He felt he was far too close to this dangerously large alien, but there wasn’t anything he could really do without angering or offending him.

Darius tensed when the alien captain spoke, in a somewhat subdued but still amazingly loud voice. “Greetings, little creatures. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?”

~~~~~
(c) Neon

And so begins the shaky diplomacy between the two races. I apologize that this isn't a very thrilling installment, but stages are being set, I promise.
For Lydia, the situation hasn't fully registered yet. As for Darius, he's pretty scared but at the moment his ego is telling him otherwise.
The aliens are not much more advanced technologically than humans. They have some things that are more improved, while at the same time some of their technology isn't as good as human tech. Hopefully that's helpful in understanding what sort of societies are coming head to head here. Other than the obvious.
Also, the aliens aren't quiiiite ready to take the humans seriously. But the captain there is trying to be polite, at least. He's of course fascinated.

[Neon]

Jerrin absently spun his chair on the bridge. Everyone seemed equally restless in their concern. No one had any idea how long Lydia and Darius would be away. The giants had set the ship down in a small waiting area of sorts just outside of the airlock, and two uniformed aliens now sat in massive chairs on either side of the ship, guarding it. Jerrin suspected the only reason they didn’t take it any further was because of Melody’s stubborn insistence. Right now, Melody sat with her arms crossed at her console, glaring absently at the headphones resting atop the switchboard.

Jerrin stood from his chair and started walking towards the doors to the Atrium. Max reached out from his chair and placed a halting hand on his shoulder. “Where are you going, Jerrin?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jerrin tried to shrug away from him. “Just need a trip to the restroom, is all,” he admitted. Max paused for a moment, but then shrugged and let Jerrin go, waving his hand.

“Come back quickly,” Jerrin heard his mother warn from behind him.

“Don’t worry mom,” he answered even as the bridge doors opened with a hiss.

He briskly walked through the Atrium, crossing it to the quartering hall. His room was the third on the ship’s starboard side. He entered and slipped right past into the washroom. It felt strangely spooky to be alone, especially with such a tense situation going on.

He left his room and started to hurry back towards the bridge. He was walking through the Atrium when his gaze was drawn to one of the portholes at the side of the ship. He was incredibly curious, though tentatively so. He glanced at the bridge doors, then crept towards the right of the Atrium. He crawled onto one of the passenger seats there, pushing aside a sketchbook that had been discarded on the seat. His eyes widened at the view outside the small window.

Just fifty or sixty feet away from the ship, there sat one of their so-called guards. He was leaning back boredly in his seat, facing the one that Jerrin knew sat on the other side of the ship. This one looked to be about 75 feet tall, give or take. His skin was a light, porcelain-blue, though it was slightly greyer around his bright yellow eyes. Jerrin watched with some awe as the giant stretched where he sat. Then, abruptly, one of those yellow eyes glanced in his direction, and Jerrin froze where he sat.

A faint smile came to the giant’s face. He very slowly left his seat, muttering an answer to the question from his comrade. Jerrin wanted to bolt away from the window as the giant approached and stood on his knees to look closer. Still, he was glued to the seat as the great eye met him at the window. The iris was about as big as a basketball, Jerrin noticed with new alarm.

Jerrin gulped once, his eyes still wide. Still, he leaned back from the window slightly and raised a hand to wave weakly. The giant pulled its face back a bit, and Jerrin saw a smile on its face now as it raised a hand to wave back.

~~~~~
Leona stood and started to pace absently, restless. She was unused to being in the bridge so much. She felt like she should be getting something done in the medical office. There was always something to take care of. She glanced around at the group sitting around the bridge. Ian scribbled on a graph paper notepad. Max and Joy had their heads together and were talking quietly to each other. Melody had dozed off at her console, her arms still crossed stubbornly. Jenny lay across two seats, sleeping peacefully.

Leona was about to start wondering what was taking Jerrin so long when she passed the camera screens on the right console. With wide eyes she saw through multiple views that one of their giant guards was standing on his knees not even a stone’s throw from the ship, staring in one of the windows. Leona huffed with frustration as she turned to exit the bridge.

She came into the Atrium and looked to her left to see that Jerrin was sitting in one of the passenger seats, leaning up against the porthole and staring out. “Jerrin!” she called warningly. He turned around quickly, his face taking on that sheepish expression that was usual of one caught in the act. “Come away from there, we don’t know how safe they are!” Leona walked over to where he sat to take his arm.

A tapping on the window nearly gave her a heart attack, and she stepped back in surprise, staring out the window as the giant pulled his hand back after tapping the hull with his finger. Leona stared warily as the giant smiled and waved at her. The niceness of it was comforting, but all the same she didn’t feel comfortable. “Come on, Jerrin,” she muttered without taking her eyes off of that face looking in through the window. She led him quickly back to the bridge. They all felt the slight vibrations as the giant retreated back to his chair. They also heard it say something to its comrade and laugh.
~~~~~

(c) Neon

This little exchange is cute to me, does anyone else think so? Jerrin is by far the bravest one in the group. Here's to hoping his attitude can spread quickly.
Also, the new friend out the window will be properly introduced later, 'kay? He's a fun character.

[Neon]

Lydia took a deep breath before answering the giant. “I am Captain Lydia Greene of the ship Angelwing, escape cruiser of the ship Halo—“

“Aha, you mean to say the captain is a female? How strange,” remarked the giant, chuckling. Lydia’s face reddened and her eyes widened with the blatant disrespect in such a statement.

“Sir, regardless of your customs, a female is perfectly capable of captaining a ship in our case,” Lydia answered, choosing her words delicately. She didn’t want to offend the customs around here. She sent a glance to Darius, who was blinking rapidly at the giant, seeming perplexed at his bluntness.

“Yes, of course,” the giant captain responded, though the amusement lingered in his expression. “I apologize for being rude.”

Darius shook his head, then spoke up. “What, just now, or when you captured our ship without a good reason?” Lydia looked at him warningly, but he was expertly ignoring her.

Another chuckle sounded deep in the giant’s large chest as she scratched his chin. Then, he answered, “We have reason enough to tow in an unauthorized, completely unknown ship crewed by an unknown species. And who are you, by the way?”

“Darius Price, First Officer of the Angelwing,” Darius answered snappishly. Lydia didn’t pay much heed to his lack of formality, brooding more on what the giant had said.

“And who are you, sir?” Lydia asked. She noticed that the other captain had raised an eyebrow at Darius’s tone, and hoped to distract him.

“Oh? I am Captain Reniven Bliche, of this ship the Sun Rainer. Pleased to meet you.”

Darius nodded once. “Great, now that the formalities are through with, mind telling us why you reeled our ship in unprovoked and without proper warning, Captain?” he asked. Lydia would have stomped on his foot if she could have hidden the action.

Reniven still looked amused, but Lydia thought she also saw a sort of calculating look flash across his face. He shifted one of the arms he leaned on to bring it closer to Lydia and Darius, both of whom stepped back in alarm at the motion. But, he was only pointing a finger at Darius warningly. “It is protocol to detain unknowns in this territory, little one. Don’t question me when I’m just doing my job.”

Darius stared at the large digit pointed at him, humbled for the moment. Lydia watched it for a moment, too, to make sure no moves would be made against her or Darius. When Reniven withdrew his hand, she relaxed. Then, speaking up, she answered, “I’m sure my first officer meant no offense, sir. However, we would perhaps have appreciated more communication on your intent. Our Transmissions officer was rather frantic when you stopped responding.”

Reniven chuckled at that. “Yes, I heard from our techs that you had a very stubborn individual at transmissions. I am sorry, but we were all a bit excited at the prospect of this new discovery. It was a detain first, questions later issue.”

Lydia frowned slightly. That still didn’t seem like a good enough excuse to just drop communications entirely. She might have complied if they’d asked nicely to board the larger ship. “Alright, I’ll buy that. Now, about my ship—“

Reniven shook his head to silence her. “Talk of that later. I have a few more questions for you.” Lydia remained silent. Arguing with a giant could get her nowhere good. “First off, what is your mission in these areas of space?”

Darius scoffed. “What is this, an inquisition? We’re not a threat at all here,” he jeered. “In all honesty, you’re the dangerous ones.”

Lydia turned to him and narrowed her eyes. “Darius—“ but once again she was interrupted by Reniven. However, this time he moved quickly, reaching out swiftly. Lydia quickly dodged back, but she wasn’t the target. Reniven lifted Darius off the desk easily, holding the back of his uniform in his forefinger and thumb. Darius cried out and struggled as he was held up about twelve feet off the surface of the desk.

Lydia drew her gun and pointed it at Reniven’s wrist quickly. “Let him down,” she said sternly. She heard one or more of the giants that had been keeping vigil at the back of the room start forward. In the time it took her to glance to them and back to Reniven, he’d reached out with his free hand and plucked the gun right out of her hands with no trouble whatsoever. She took another step back, now fearful, watching Darius as he twisted and turned in attempt to escape.

“Both of you, relax, please,” Reniven insisted, while tossing Lydia’s gun into the glass container at his side. “And you,” he said, addressing Darius and giving him a small, gentle shake to get his attention, “the attitude won’t get you released any sooner.”

“Alright, alright, just let me down, dammit!” Darius answered quickly. Reniven complied, lowering him back onto the surface of the desk. Lydia sent him a small glare as he stumbled upon regaining his feet and hurried to her side, turning back to face the giant again.

“Now, your mission around here, please,” Reniven repeated, clasping his hands in front of him again.

Lydia sent a glare at Darius before speaking up her answer. She briefly explained the Ralthian attack, and their ungated Portal Jump. Then, she explained how their engine cell had failed, prompting them to send out distress calls as soon as they’d decoded the signals in this region. “And that’s the only reason we’re here,” she finished with.

Reniven thought on this for a second. “An ungated Portal Jump, huh? I suppose that was the best option at the time. But I must say I’ve never heard a single thing about Ralthians or ... Humans, as you call yourselves. You must be a long way from home.”

Darius nodded. “Our Navigations expert confirmed that almost right away.”

Reniven smirked. “Tell me, is the rest of your crew as young as you two are? If I’m correct in assuming, you are adolescents, correct?”

Lydia answered this one. “Four of us are adolescents, three are adults, and there are two children on the ship as well.” She wasn’t going to explain the circumstances surrounding such an oddly assembled crew. She was sworn to secrecy on that one.

“Oh, really? So then there are nine of you in total,” Reniven said, though it seemed to be more to himself. “Well, that’s manageable. You see, we know nothing of your ship and helping you repair it will go slowly. You’ll have to stay on our ship until we can—“

“We have our own technicians,” Darius offered. He didn’t look overly rude at that, but all the same Reniven raised an eyebrow at him for interrupting.

“Until we can help you fix it, and until I receive orders on what to do with you. I have to send in a report to the government, you know, to notify them of our discovery of a new species.”

Lydia didn’t like the sound of that. “Do you mean to tell me, Captain, that you are going to hold us all prisoner?”

Reniven sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Only if you want to look at it that way. And, seeing as your ship is broken, I don’t see that you have too much of a choice.”

Lydia shook her head to clear it. “One moment, please,” she said, then turned to Darius. They turned away and leaned in closer so they could whisper.

“I don’t like it, Lydia,” Darius insisted.

“I don’t either,” she replied. “But he’s right—we don’t have much choice. And I’m worried they might not be so cordial if we have to be forced to comply.”

“What if we managed to get the ship in the open—“

“Darius. We’d have only the fins to navigate on. And you’ve already sprained a wrist fighting the controls against their magnetic reeling device.” Darius frowned at her reasoning, but knew it was the most logical choice, and the best for the welfare of the crew.

The two turned back to Reniven to see him patiently watching them. Lydia spoke up to him again, having returned completely to her monotone, passive self. “We’ll agree to stay without a fight, providing you promise no harm on any of the crew.”

Both Lydia and Darius were surprised as Reniven stood suddenly, smiling. As he stood over them, he said “That’s excellent. Now, I’m very eager to meet this crew of yours.”

~~~~~
(c) Neon

Meet Reniven. He's one of the more outgoing giants here. Don't worry--he may seem like a bit of a condescending jerk here but he has good intentions.
This makes Darius the first one to make direct physical contact (the glass container doesn't count) with the aliens. Too bad it had to make him kind of hate the guy.

[Neon]

Joy was anxious. Darius and Lydia had been gone for a while. She squeezed Max’s hand lightly. He was dozing in the chair next to her. Seemed like she was the only one left awake besides Ian and Jerrin; they were playing slow games of tic-tac-toe on one of Ian’s notepads at the Navconsole.

Joy stood to stretch her legs. She started to walk around the bridge absently; she started to feel a bit of a chill. She was used to the heat of the engineering level. She stopped at the camera viewing console to watch the huge room the ship rested in. Nothing really interesting was going on; there were plenty of interesting gadgets about the room aside from the aliens sitting at guard on either side of the ship.

Then, somewhat startling Joy, a door opened in the room and a more formally uniformed alien entered, both of his hands held up at about waist level for some reason. Then, as she watched for a moment, Joy realized what the alien was holding.

“Everyone, get up! Lydia and Darius are back!” Joy cried to the room. The response was a number of people startling awake. Then, Max, Melody, Leona, and Ian rushed to join her at the viewing console. Melody made a strange, indignant noise at what she saw.

The fancily-dressed giant held Lydia and Darius, one in each hand, and neither of them looked at all comfortable with it. He walked to stand in front of the ship, and the two on guard stood at attention. The one holding Lydia and Darius knelt before the ship. He lowered them to the ground, and they both took a number of quick steps away from his hands when released.

“Please, welcome back your Captain and First Officer,” said the giant loudly.

“D*mn,” Melody muttered.

“I am going to lower the ramp, everyone,” Max warned as he went to the main console. Everyone braced themselves as the ship split itself oddly again. Joy watched on the cameras as Lydia and Darius quickly scaled the ramp as soon as it had touched the ground. In minutes, everyone turned around to see just as the bridge doors opened and they reentered.

“Leave the ramp down, Max,” Lydia said glumly as Max reached to enter the command. “We’re going to all be exiting the ship soon.”

“Brother, what happened, are you guys alright?” Jenny asked as she got up and hugged Darius. “Why did miss Lydia say we’re all getting off the ship?”

Darius sighed. “Because we’ve become the prisoners of these guys until they can get their orders on what to do about this,” he answered grudgingly, narrowing his eyes at Lydia’s back.

“We don’t have much choice,” Lydia asserted. Please just trust me on this, everyone. They’ve promised not to harm us.”

Jerrin walked up to her. “I trust you Lydia. They don’t seem mean at all. Are we all going now?”

Lydia nodded, and Joy saw a concern linger on her face despite her confidence. Her heart went out to the girl. She had a big decision to make. And the onlooking giants probably did nothing for her nerves. Joy walked over to her and patted her shoulder encouragingly.

After a moment, Lydia told everyone, “The captain told us that it’s their protocol to detain unknowns in their territory. That’s all. We can at least accommodate that, so long as they make no move to harm any of us.” Darius rolled his eyes, but no one paid him any heed.

Lydia paused, as everyone was gathering in a rough circle in the bridge to face her and Darius. Jerrin went to stand by her side, which got her to smile faintly before continuing, “The captain wishes to meet everyone. He gave us ten minutes to prepare ourselves.”

Melody crossed her arms. “I don’t like the idea of walking out there and getting grabbed up by some giant unknown alien.”

Lydia turned her head to look at Melody, and Joy saw in her eyes that she felt similarly. “I’d rather not give them any reason to tear the ship apart trying to force us out.”

“These guys might do it, too,” Darius chimed in with a scoff.

The room was tensely silent for a moment. Everyone still watched Lydia, but there seemed to be a sense of distance between them all now; she was somehow a world apart. Joy didn’t like that. “I trust your judgment, m’ija,” she spoke up.

Jerrin and Ian both nodded, and Ian added, “Me too, Lydia. You did what you could.”

“So’re we going to go meet the big aliens now?” Jenny asked.

“In about ten minutes, yes.” Darius answered tersely.

~~~~~
Ian felt like his skin was crawling. He was, in about ten minutes, going to come face to face with a being over 70 ft tall. That was nerve-racking. But he supposed it wouldn’t be as scary as it must have been when Darius and Lydia had been grabbed up without warning. Ian only hoped that wouldn’t happen to the rest of them. The giants had promised not to, but ...

He, Darius, and Lydia were the only ones left on the bridge. Everyone else had gone to make sure things would be in order while the ship was unmanned. Leona, Jenny, and Jerrin had gone to clean up medical and get a field kit prepared, and Joy and Max had made a quick run down to engineering to turn the engines to standby to not waste fuel. Melody had left the bridge in a huff, not bothering to hide her animosity towards Lydia’s decision. She’d probably gone to her room to cool off.

Darius sat absently in one of the chairs by the bridge doors. Lydia leaned over the Navconsole, looking over the star map without really seeing anything. Ian sauntered over to stand by her side, pretending to be interested in the star map. However, he was looking at her profile. That strained face—her expression was barely visible, but Ian could tell she was stressed.

“You okay?” Ian asked quietly.

Lydia looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “I’m as good as one can be in such a situation,” she replied.

Ian nodded. “Yeah, understandable. So, what happened to your gun?” he asked, gesturing to the empty holster at her hip.

She made a face. “The captain took it. I don’t know where it is now.” She answered shortly.

“Well, that stinks.” Was Ian’s only answer.

After a pause in which they both just looked at the star map, Lydia shook her head and furrowed her brow. Ian looked at her questioningly, and she looked up to him with a somewhat frantic expression in her brown eyes. “Ian, I’ve led everyone into a disaster,” she whispered.

“What? No, of course not—“ he started to object.

“Yes, I have. We Portal Jumped right into the clutches of giant, unknown aliens that are going to keep us prisoner for who knows how long, and it’s my fault.” She hissed in response.

Ian shook his head, taking on a more incredulous look. “No, it’s not your fault. We all knew the risk of a portal jump without a gate. And you kept it all together long enough for us to escape the Ralthians—for the second time. It’s rare for the same crew to ever manage that if the Ralthians really want to catch them.”

Lydia looked at him for a while, as if searching for something in his aryan face. Finally, she stood up straight, her face returning to the confident, passive expression Ian knew well. He grinned at that, then clapped a hand on her shoulder. “That’s the spirit.”

They all met later in the bridge, when the ten minutes was almost up. Ian noticed that both Joy and Melody appeared to have showered and changed uniforms. Jerrin and his mother came to stand by him while they waited for everyone else to get back. Leona had a small shoulder bag with a little red cross embroidered on one corner. Max entered the room last, just after Jenny had come in and gone straight to her brother. His hair hung loose instead of in his usual ponytail.

Darius was about to say something to the crew, but they all froze to hear the giants talking outside. There were two voices conversing harshly, as if arguing. They couldn’t hear enough for their translators to matter, but it sounded as if at least one more giant had joined the three already in the room. Ian wondered how they’d managed to muffle the vibrations of their steps.

Melody, who stood off to the side, her arms crossed, nearest the right console, glanced at the view screens. “There’s two more in here. One of the new ones is dressed up all fancy like that captain, and they’re arguing now,” she told the room.

“Should we wait until they’ve stopped shouting?” Leona asked.

Lydia shrugged. “They’re not shouting, if they were we’d definitely be able to hear.”

“Whatever they doing, should we wait ‘til they’re done?” Melody asked contemptuously. Lydia looked in her direction expressionlessly before turning away at the stubborn girl’s glare.

Ian smirked and shrugged. “Guess we ought to just ask, eh?” he said as he walked over to Melody’s console. He pressed the button for external speakers and dictated his question into the mic. “What’s with all the noise out there?” he asked casually, as if conversing with an old buddy on the phone.

The voices outside stopped. Then, the captain spoke more loudly, rather than find a way to transmit his answer directly into the ship. “Ah, no trouble at all, little ones. Are you all ready to come out? I’m eager to meet you.”

Ian looked to Lydia, who nodded once. He turned back and answered into the mic, “Yep, we’ll be out in just a bit,” and then turned off the speakers.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Darius said, leading the way to the bridge doors. Everyone followed, except Max, who went to a panel on the wall next to the right console. He opened the panel and started entering codes. The other consoles dimmed and turned off, and the lights reduced to basic lighting enough so they could see to walk.

“The ramp is set to retract once we are off the ship; I remember the code for the panel on the hull, too.” Max explained to those watching him curiously, including Ian. Then, he strode over to follow them all out of the bridge.

They all walked carefully around the edge of the ramp opening in the Atrium. Ian’s heart was hammering an increasingly fast beat in his chest. He noticed his brother seemed very curious despite the situation, and that their mother held tightly to Jerrin’s hand. Jenny held Darius’s hand, too, but she was shying closer to her brother for safety. Max and Joy walked close together. Melody walked alone, her arms still crossed in her bad mood.

Ian shuffled over to stand directly at Lydia’s right at the top of the ramp. They all hesitated there. Then, Ian took Lydia’s hand. She didn’t frown or pull away like she usually would. She hardly seemed to notice at all, she was so focused. Then, she led the way down the ramp, and Ian couldn’t help but smile as she let him walk in step with her.
~~~~~
(c) Neon

Into the unknown, indeed.

[Neon]

Melody considered refusing to go. She considered just standing right where she was in the Atrium. Let them all go right into what she viewed as hostile territory. But, as she watched them all start down the ramp, she got a short vision in her mind’s eye of one of the giants tearing the ship in two to get her. She shook her head to dispel the fearsome image, and started down the ramp after the rest of them.

She gulped and shuddered to see the five huge pairs of boots come into view under the roof the upper level of the ship made over her. She stared at the ground as she headed down the steeper portion of the ramp. She was the last to step off the ramp. Almost immediately the ship made a number of sounds behind her as the ramp retracted and the Angelwing assumed its normal shape.

Melody hurried to stay in the bunched group as they all walked out from under the ship. She gasped to see how tall the aliens really were. It was a very different experience viewing them through glass. They all watched the little creatures at their feet avidly, too.

The first nicely dressed one knelt quickly, and Melody’s heart flipped as his face rushed down towards them, and a whoosh of displaced air brushed past her. The other stayed standing up straight, staring down at them almost calculatingly.

“Hello, little ones,” the captain said in a somewhat subdued but still loud tone. “I am Captain Reniven Bliche. May I be introduced to you all?” After they all stood hesitant, glancing fearfully around the room, Reniven added, “Come now, don’t be shy, little ones. Now, I’ve already met miss Lydia, and Darius, so why don’t the rest of you tell me your names?”

Melody saw Darius roll his eyes, and thought in the back of her mind that that was almost her reaction. Then, seeing that no one was going to answer anytime soon, she spoke up. “Yo. I’m Melody Lyon, Transmissions and Weapons Expert for the Angelwing.” She wasn’t formal about it, really, just kept her arms crossed and her face set. She kept her gaze on the giant captain’s face as he looked to her, unblinkingly looking right back up at him.

“Ah, so you’re the one they talked about; you had our transmissions experts feeling a bit intimidated by how serious you are about the job.” Reniven boomed in reply, chuckling. Melody couldn’t help the smile that twitched for just an instant at her full lips.

~~~~~
After Melody introduced herself, Max was sort of pulled out of his awe. He’d been watching the five giants apprehensively but curiously, but the good-natured reply of the captain seemed to break some of his fear away. He spoke up next. “I am Maximilian Kratyr, monsieur, and this is my wife, Joy. We are the technicians of the Angelwing.”

Reniven nodded at the two of them, and Max squeezed Joy’s hand slightly when she waved in mute reply. Then, Reniven asked, “What is that ‘monsieur’? It did not translate.” He seemed absolutely fascinated by that fact.

“Oh,” Max replied, surprised. “I guess our translators don’t send a signal out for my ‘ome language,” he replied, guessing. He turned his head to look over at Melody, who gave him a slight nod. It seemed she’d done that on purpose.

“How wonderful,” Reniven answered. Then, “So now I know five of you, good, good, how about the rest?”

~~~~~
Leona was nervous for her children’s welfare, but decided to be optimistic. So far the giants had kept their word. She stepped forward, her hand still clutching Jerrin’s. “My name is Leona Lakes,” she spoke up. “This is my son Jerrin,” she continued, indicating the wide-eyed eleven-year-old at her side, “and that one there is my first son, Ian.” When she’d begun speaking Ian had turned to look at her. When he was mentioned, he looked up at the captain and waved weakly. Then, he discreetly let go of Lydia’s hand to come and join Jerrin at Leona’s side.

“Ah, so you really do have children with you,” Reniven commented, smiling down at Jerrin. “How do you do?” he asked.

Jerrin paused, then grinned up at the giant. “Hi!” he answered jovially. Leona smiled faintly, though she noticed the surprise in some of the others’ faces. She was proud that her son was the first to seemingly show no apprehension towards the giants.

Reniven smiled genuinely, then asked, “What are your jobs on the crew, sons-of-Leona?”

Ian answered first. “I’m the Navigations Expert,” he said somewhat proudly. The other giant that had argued with the captain earlier made the first motion he had in a while, shifting where he stood and cocking an eyebrow for a second.

“Impressive, for one so young,” Reniven complimented.

Jerrin managed to let go of Leona’s hand before stepping forward and answering, “I’m not old enough to be a real part of crew but I help with everything,” he answered, trying to muster up the same prideful tone his brother had spoken in.

Reniven smiled again. “Well, good job, I bet you’ll make a fine member of your crew someday.” He paused, as if counting them all. Then, his eyes found Jenny, who clung to her brother shyly. “What is your name, young lady?” he asked politely.

Jenny paused, just staring at the giant. Then, she looked up to Darius, who looked back at her and shrugged. His expression wasn’t one of encouragement, but more one that promised he’d protect her. He wasn’t about to make her answer, though. She turned a bit pink and pulled herself closer to her older brother.

Before Reniven had time to even start to frown, though, Jerrin had answered. “That’s Jenny,” he said. “She’s just a little scared, is all.”

“I am not!” Jenny retorted suddenly, mock-glaring at Jerrin and sticking her tongue out at him for a brief moment. This little exchange got a chuckle out of the three uniformed giants and from Reniven. Jenny glanced around at them, giggled sheepishly, and returned to being quietly shy.
~~~~~
(c) Neon

Jenny is fairly brave, just so you know. She's not shy because they're giant aliens ... she's shy because they're strangers. It's kind of ironic that the kids are the least worried about the size difference.

[Neon]

Lydia was quiet throughout all of the introductions. Having led the group out into the open, she was closest now to Reniven. She was somewhat nervous by that fact. She worried in the back of her mind that he might try to pick her up again; the feeling of being carried had been a frightening ordeal. She constantly flicked her gaze around to the other four giants in the room, making sure they stayed where they were. She was conscious of the fact that she had no weapon and could do nothing if they did decide to do something.

When all nine of them were introduced, Reniven smiled, nodded, and then stood back up with a grunt. Lydia thought she noticed a few of her crew drawing back as the giant’s full height revealed itself. Now they really had to crane their necks.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you all, crew of the ‘Angelwing,’” Reniven told them with a slight nod of his head. Then, he indicated the other nicely-dressed man next to him, who still looked less than happy. “This is General Whyren Zhane, a regional commander whom we are so honored to board on the Sun Rainer.” Zhane looked at them all as if he felt they needed no introduction, but nodded tersely at them as they stared up. He made Lydia nervous with his rather cold expression. His skin contrasted a bit with the others’, as it was more of a greyish-blue, and his hair was more of a bleached-out orange, as if it were fading. His eyes were a sharp shade of red, though.

“It must be him that ordered we be detained so fast,” Lydia heard Darius mutter. She felt fortunate that she was the only one who heard.

Reniven made a sweeping motion with his hand to indicate the other three giants in the room. “These are some of my crew, I’m sure you’ll all get to know each other eventually. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything we need to know ... “

“Wrong, Captain, with all due respect.” Zhane cut in smoothly. His voice was as gruff as Lydia expected it to be. “I have spoken with Dr. Koya, and he agrees that priority now is to get these creatures tested. They may have brought disease with them.”

~~~~~
Darius hoped to see doubt in Reniven’s face, but he only stared at the general for a moment. Darius narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t believe this. With a frustrated huff, he stepped forward slightly, calling up to the two well-dressed giant aliens. “Listen, big guys, we received a promise from you a while ago, y’know. What happened to us not being messed with, huh?” Reniven looked down at him with familiar bemusement, but the general just widened his eyes slightly, as if indignant.

“No need to worry, Darius,” Reniven answered plainly. “We have some of the best medical officers in their field on this ship. It’s just a precaution, see.”

“To hell with your precautions, we’re not lab rats!” Darius spat. He kept his eyes on Reniven, who paused at that. General Zhane almost scoffed, and Darius heard one of the other crewmembers in the room make a small noise of surprise at his boldness.

Lydia turned sharply and strode the few steps to Darius to stop very close, her gaze intense. Though he had a few inches over her in height, Darius raised his eyebrows at her commanding presence. “You will never win an argument against these guys, Darius. It will end one of two ways: you back out or they force you to shut up, understand?” It wasn’t a captain’s order. It was different. Darius realized that her tone, while authoritative, conveyed a concern for his welfare and that of the rest of them.

When Lydia turned back to face the two giants, she and Darius noticed that Reniven was lowering himself to the floor again, resting on one knee. Darius worried for a split second that he was going to pick him up again like he had in the office. He almost took a small step backwards, but controlled himself. He just stared defiantly at the giant for a moment, before Reniven spoke. “I understand your reasons to be untrusting. We failed to communicate properly, and I will take responsibility for that mistake. However, I have a crew and passengers to keep safe, too, young Darius.”

Darius pursed his lips as he thought on that point. It was hard to argue with, though he was tempted to send back a clipped retort. After a pause, in which Lydia turned her head to look at him warningly, Darius nodded once. He stepped back to stand with Jenny, who’d watched the exchange quietly.

~~~~~
Leona also felt nervous by the General’s insistence that they be tested. But at least she could somehow be a help. She spoke up, taking advantage of the fact that Reniven was now at a better level to hear her. “I will assist with what I can, with my medical knowledge of humans.” She offered, also patting the bag hanging on her shoulder lightly.

Reniven looked to her, and smiled. “I was thinking of asking you, actually. I think your crew would be immensely more comfortable with the process if you were to supervise it all, yes?” The last part was clearly addressed to the rest of the crew as well as Leona. Most of them nodded, and Leona heard someone behind her mutter a “Damn right.”

Reniven stood again and turned to the General, who had adopted a more plainly cold look. “That should be satisfactory. They’ll be tested for disease, and then needn’t be bothered for anything more, right?”

Zhane paused. Then, almost grudgingly, Leona noted, he answered, “I suppose not. Not until we receive further orders, anyway.”

“Good,” Reniven answered. Then, turning his head back to look down at the nine humans on the floor before him, he continued. “Alright, let’s get you all to the Medical wing to get this over with.”

~~~~~
(c) Neon

Introducing Zhane. The jerk.

(Thought I'd post a new one while I'm already moving the whole story over ... what's the difference one more post of copypasta can make?)

[giantblackcat]

You're a very good writer, Neon!! XDXDXDD

[natalie]

Yahoo!! this is awesome, Very very good!!

[Neon]

Thanks very much to both of you.

[Amayasama]

O.O Oh my Neon, you have me wrapped around your little finger. ^^ This is very well done and I'm glad to see you've moved your story from SM to here as well. :3 Thanks so much and welcome to the site!

[Neon]

(Thanks for the nice welcome, Amayasama. C: )

Jerrin felt his adrenaline pumping. He was a bit excited to learn more about these giants. They were nice, except for that grumpy general, he thought. He recognized the giant who’d waved at him as that one came forward, keeping a safe distance around the group of humans, to whisper a question in the captain’s ear. Reniven just shook his head and shrugged.

“My crewman, one of your guardians, actually, has presented a small problem. Now, I know you may not like this idea, but it’s true that it’s not safe for you all to just walk there on your own. It’s too far and dangerous for ... well. You know.” Reniven chose his words slowly, and Jerrin noticed his gaze lingered almost amusedly on Darius. Jerrin looked at the first officer to see his face was red with holding back the desire to shoot off some snide remark.

It was Lydia who spoke. “What is it you are suggesting, Captain?” she asked tentatively.

Reniven chuckled. “Well, we’ll have to carry you, Captain.” Jerrin heard multiple gasps and also heard Max mutter a string of French at Joy, who’d huffed indignantly. Reniven noticed the wave of discontent go through the small group of humans, and held his hands up calmingly. “It doesn’t have to be in our hands, of course, we can find a container for you if you all prefer.”

Jerrin saw that Lydia winced slightly. He thought he knew why she was hesitant. Neither option would go very well with most of the crew. Whichever she said, someone would object. Finally, she came up with a reply. “Pardon me. I’d like a moment to converse with my crew on this issue, if there’s time.”

Reniven nodded, but General Zhane interrupted any reply he might have had. “Hurry up.” Lydia frowned slightly and turned her back hurriedly on the giant general’s tone.

The humans gathered in a tight circle, and they all focused on Lydia. In a hushed tone, she asked, “I know what you’re all thinking. That I’d be mad to just go along with this.”

“You’re a mind reader, girl,” Melody answered sourly, her arms still crossed and her eyes still glaring. Jerrin frowned at her animosity.

Lydia was blank-faced for a moment, staring at Melody, before continuing. “I’d rather we be allowed to keep as many choices as we have left. Rather than having them decide for us, what do you think?” she asked, though now, as her gaze lingered on each of them in turn, she left Melody out of her question.

Max was the first to answer. “Personally I think a container or something is a better idea,” he said quietly. “They might not be careful enough without one.”

“Si, I agree,” Joy added.

Jerrin spoke next. “I don’t really care. I mean, we’re being carried around in either case, right?” A few of the others shrugged.

“I don’t want to be in a closed space,” Ian muttered then. “Don’t like the idea of a sealed container.” Jerrin noticed that his brother was almost as relaxed as he was. Even so, the way he talked of a sealed container did remind Jerrin of Ian’s mild claustrophobia. That also seemed to resonate a bit with the others.

Leona, noting that, added, “And the air quality would be detrimental to our health,” she reasoned. “I have little doubt that we’d be sealed in, if they’re worried about disease.”

“That’s what they did before,” Darius responded, now frowning. He looked down at Jenny, who clung to his hand. Then, looking back up at the group, “We came closer to suffocating than I’d like to get again.”

“Looks like we have our vote, then,” Jerrin said to the group. “They’ll probably be careful,” he added, looking at Max, who was still clearly doubtful. He avoided Melody’s gaze, though, because at the moment she seemed quite unapproachable.

Lydia paused. Her vote would have been against either option, Jerrin could tell. Still, she then told the group, “Okay, I will tell him what the decision seems to be.”

As they separated from their tight circle, Jerrin shuffled to stand by Lydia’s side. He wanted to make sure she knew that she wasn’t alone in this daunting situation. She glanced down to him and smiled faintly before looking back up at Reniven, who had watched the group politely. “My crew has put it to a vote of sorts,” she called up to him. “They’ve decided that they’d rather not be carried in a container.” She finished, and waited for the other captain’s reply.
~~~~~
(c) Neon

It's a short update (sorry!). But the next one will be a bit longer, so that's okay, right?
As a side note, the characters democratically voted on this story path. But the author's laziness also played a part. I didn't want to write about them waiting around even more. Because there's enough of that anyway.
Grr, Zhane is such a mean old man. Even I don't like him. XP
And it makes me sad when friends are at odds, so I don't like writing Melody's attitude here.

[giantblackcat]

I can't wait the next update!! >w<!!

[Amayasama]

x3 Can I kick Zhane's butt? I bet I can have one of my giants do it *flails* ^^ And you're welcome dear <3 We're happy to have new people