Chapter 2
Blinking sluggishly, Ak'kel wondered if he’d died and found himself waking in the afterlife.
A blinding, white light shined down from above him.
Maybe he hadn’t entered the afterlife quite yet, maybe he was in process of crossing over to Celestraxia.
Slowly, his mind righted itself, coming out of a thick haze as he blinked.
No, this wasn’t Celestraxia. He was aboard a ship.
The scent of recycled air and hum of an engine reached him only cementing his assumption of being on a ship.
His lungs felt overworked and tired after his near-death experience.
With a groan, Ak'kel slowly rose and swung his feet off the bed, wincing at the stiffness in his muscles. His mind wasn’t the only part of him that’d suffered from oxygen deprivation.
His gaze fell to his legs to find a pair of too tight pants pressing against him uncomfortably. Someone had dressed him. A spark of irritation at his moment of vulnerability pierced him.
The last thing he remembered he'd been in a space suite floating alone without a hope of rescue. Unless... Haldon had spotted him and brought him onboard. He wouldn't put it past Haldon to rescue him only so he could kill him again.
Ak’kel’s jaw clenched as he growled. Rising, he wobbled a bit as he slowly found his balance. Not a huge surprise. After passing out from oxygen deprivation in his space suite he'd been as close to death as never before.
Clenching his fists, he ground his teeth. Haldon should have finished him off while he’d been passed out. Grinning darkly, he let a moment of enjoyment flow through him. He’d be sure to make Haldon pay.
"Where are you, bastard!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed off the metal walls of his cell.
Pausing, Ak’kel listened and waited a few minutes, but when no one entered the brig, he hollered again, “Show yourself, Haldon! I’m not finished yet!”
As the minutes passed by, still no one entered the brig, to Ak’kel’s growing frustration. With each passing minute, he grew louder. There was no doubt in his mind the people onboard heard him. He doubted their patience would outlast his stubbornness, however.
With a smirk, he reached out a hand and touched the air in front of him.
Immediately, the blue flicker of a force field flickered to life in front of him, shocking him.
Bringing his finger back, he narrowed his eyes on the force field as it faded and once more it looked like nothing but air in front of him.
"You won't keep me trapped here forever, Haldon.
" Ak’kel growled, his every word dripping with menace.
He turned to drumming his hands on the metal walls.
With enough noise, he knew he'd draw someone out at some point. “You can bet on me finding a way out of this cell eventually. I’ll tear this ship apart if I have to.” He promised darkly.
Ak’kel’s lips split with a smirk. He enjoyed a good challenge. With determination, he banged his fists harder and harder against the metal walls.
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Sara zipped down one of the corridors, her boots echoing softly against the metal floors of her ship.
The door of the cargo bay hissed open, and she entered, founding the crew hard at work digging through the debris they’d gathered from the wreckage.
Their many hands made quick work of the shredded metal, shattered electronics, and twisted hull fragments.
Pausing at the entrance, she watched her crew members working hard. After they pulled what they wanted, they’d simply blow the rest back into space and take off before another scavenger ship arrived to sift through the debris field.
“Come to help us dig through it all?” Phillip remarked when he spotted Sara watching the crew. He leaned up against a battered crate, a grin tugging at the edges of his lips.
Sara stepped up to him, with a hand on her hip. “Lazing about again?”
“Nope.” Phillip handed her a pair of gloves.
She slipped the pair of heavy-duty gloves onto her hands. “It’s been a bit since I dug through debris, and although I adore being the captain of our small crew,” Sara’s voice turned nostalgic. “I miss being down here finding something worth selling at a salvage yard.”
“Well, you’re welcome any time.” Mark pitched in with a broad smile from where he knelt near a pile of debris.
One of their shuttles glided through the force field, depositing a large mound of debris in the cargo hold with a soft thud as the metal tumbled onto itself.
Once the shuttle withdrew, the crew surged forward to begin the process of digging through the pile, searching for any technology that could be resold or any valuable metals.
Sara moved quickly, her trained gaze scanning each piece.
She knew exactly what held worth- the gleaming case of a capacitor, or the intricate circuity of a power core.
Soon, another shuttle arrived, deposited a fresh load of debris before zipping back out to collect more.
Their small, well-oiled team worked seamlessly, the perfect scavenger crew.
Hours passed, the crew in the cargo bay continued to sift through the debris, while the crew on the bridge monitored for any other approaching ships.
“Definitely a warship.” Phillip announced, kicking aside the fragment of a plasma gun casing with the toe of his boot. “Look at the size of it. This ship would have had the fire power to destroy almost anything. And yet, something else took it out.”
“Must’ve been one heck of a firefight.” Mark shook his head. “This thing is massive. I’d guess at least twice the size of our ship.”
“With the Sri’thaen war, I think we should all get ready to see more warship debris fields.
” Sara said as she hefted a large chunk of hull out of the way and tossed it to the side.
Underneath she found an unharmed coil. That would give them quite a few credits.
“Phillip, help me lift this thing.” She said as she crouched down next to it.
Phillip rushed over and whistled softly. “Nice find. Looks valuable.”
Each of them grabbed onto the end of the coil, their knees bent as they lifted the coil, with effort. Despite its deceptively small size, the coil was dense, almost like a solid tube of lead, impossible for one person to lift alone. They carefully carried it over to the growing keep pile.
Once they placed it down, Sara smiled at Phillip before clapping him on the back with a gloved hand. “If we can find just one more of those, it’ll make this whole debris field worth it.”
“Let’s keep sifting through these heaps then.” Phillip smiled back, the excitement of their find contagious.
Several more hours passed, and eventually the crew manning the shuttles had to stop collecting junk and come back to help with sifting through the debris. There was no room at current to bring any more of it onboard.
Taking a small break, Sara walked over to a folding table Bridget had brought down and set up with some food. A simple but welcome spread after so much hard work.
Reaching for the comm panel, she hailed the bridge, “Any sign of other ships yet, Berg?”
“Nothing yet, Captain.” Berg replied. “Things have been quiet up here. Why? Got a funny feeling?”
“Not particularly.” Sara frowned as she watched her crew continuing to sift through everything.
“We have a lot of stuff in our cargo bay. I just want to make sure we have enough time to ditch it if another ship suddenly drops out of subspace and surprises us. We won’t get far laden down with this much debris. ”
“Let me know what you want to do.” Berg said, always ready to stand beside her decisions.
“We found one coil. I say if we find another, we ditch everything else and move on. Too much time spent here means that we run the risk of another ship finding us, and we don’t have the firepower for a fight.”
“Let me know.” Berg responded.
Sara ended the call, picked up cup of water and took a swig, and then- jerked- spilling some of her water on herself.
The Vrak’rir’s hollering carried through the ship, blasting their ears.
Damn the big blue alien. She glanced down her shirt where the water had dribbled down the front.
With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she placed her cup down. So much for a peaceful break.
____________________________
"Fucker better shut his mouth or I'll go down there with a plasma pistol and shut him up myself." Cat growled between clenched teeth, her voice barely containing the venom boiling up inside her.
Sara understood Cat’s simmering frustration with their new guest. This Vrak'rir had been causing quite the racket since they'd picked him up with his banging and hollering. He’d made it his personal mission to annoy the hell out of them, and so far, he was succeeding spectacularly.
"Ignore him." Sara sighed. The only one who seemed to have a grasp on her inner calm. "No blasting a possible credit bank. Whoever blew that ship might want him dead, but I’m guessing they’d prefer to do it. He might be worth more alive than dead."
"Could have been a grunt that no one cares about." Cat grumbled.
"True,” Sara nodded her head lightly as she agreed, “but until we find out, we keep him alive. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Berg said from his console, not even looking up, but listening all the same.
Cat shot him a glance, a mischievous smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. "As long as you promise I get to shoot him if he turns out to be worthless.”
"Sure." Sara shrugged with a roll of her eyes. Like she cared if Cat killed the Vrak’rir if he turned out to be worthless. He’d been a nuisance in their butt since he’d woken up.
Pushing a button on her armrest, she activated the comm. "Hunter, can you please bring some food to our guest?"
"Sure thing." Hunter responded almost immediately, his tone professional but light and easy.