Voideye Pt.2

Shortly thereafter, Jack, Mordred and Voideye made their way back to the ship.

As he was pretty exhausted from all the talking and Voideye looked comfortable enough with the other man, Jack planned to leave her introduction to the crew and ship to Mordred.

But when they entered the ship, a few members of the crew were already waiting for them. One of them tried to hug Voideye as a welcome. She obviously did not want that, as she evaded the touch and ran off into the bows of the ship.

Secretly Jack had to thank her for running off because it gave him an excuse to leave the gathering to Mordred and go looking for her.

After unsuccessfully searching her for some time, he went towards the cockpit to have the AI scan the ship.

...

Voideye was laying on a steel beam and looked out the window. The two humans who had brought her on the ship had been nice to her. She liked them, especially the one that shone as bright as the space around them. His friend somehow seemed to reflect the light far more than she had seen it in a long time. Also, she could take cover behind him, when she didn't want to look at the black masses that were the other humans.

She heard a door beneath her open and close. None of the black voids had moved in this direction so there was only one option, to who it was. Squinting her eyes she was able to make out the outlines of a person in the light. She grinned, satisfied, that she found him easily this time. After confirming, that nothing was interesting happening, she laid back down and stared into the Void again.

...

When the AI gave Jack the report of the Scan, he was surprised to find Voideye in the Cockpit with him. After a moment of confusion, he turned around, but could not find her. It took him far too long to realize, that she was laying on one of the hull structural beams, that were visible in the cockpit because he had never finished the interior design.

She lay on her stomach, one arm supporting her head, the other dangling down and was looking outside through half-closed eyes. She seemed content with her spot, so he simply turned his chair to face the window and looked into space as well.

It didn't take long for his mind to get to a dreamlike state, which helped him come to terms with things and also make decisions. With one of the keys now in his possession or Crew, to be correct, he didn't have to worry too much about the other ones. As finding them without Voideyes' help should be almost impossible.

The next thing he thought about was how he needed to get his act as a captain together. The more he thought about the rant earlier, the more embarrassed he became. The only good thing was, that only two of his crew had witnessed it and one of them didn't speak galactic common. Maybe he should look for recordings of other captains and their ships to learn from them. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded in his mind.

Suddenly full of energy, he jumped up and ran to Lyna's workplace. The door was closed, which was unusual, but he thought nothing of it and stepped in swingingly.

"Lyna, do you have time for me just now?"

The image that presented itself before his eyes made him freeze. The door had been closed because the woman was changing.

...

Lyna looked at the man, that had burst in on her switching suits and was now looking like a deer caught in headlights while being red as a beet.

"I never took you for a voyeur, Captain."

She smiled and continued to change, knowing that Jack would flee at any moment. And that's exactly what happened.

When she opened the door again five minutes later, a man entered who reminded her of a dog that had been scolded. He wanted to come in, but at the same time, he was afraid of getting into more trouble.

She had to smile again.

"Oh come on, it was just a stupid coincidence. What were you doing here anyway, Captain?"

He looked at her, still slightly unsure and she would have liked to cuddle him. Unfortunately, that would have resulted in his immediate escape, so she refrained for the time being.

"I, uh, was wondering if you could do me a favour."

"Sure, just tell me."

"I, well. I need records from other voidfarers. You know, like normal surveillance videos or something."

She tilted her head, that was an unusual request. She was about to ask why he needed the recordings when she remembered the new crew member. Mordred had mentioned that she didn't speak their language. She immediately made the connection.

"Ahh, for the new one to learn our language and the procedures on different ships right?"

Jack laughed, sounding a little relieved.

"Ha, yes exactly, for the new one."

"Ok, I can do that, shouldn't be too hard. I'll send it all to your wrist computer then."

"Thanks."

She was about to turn back to her work, but Jack was still standing in the room like he had been ordered and not picked up. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't know how to. She seized the opportunity, turned in her chair towards him, leaned forward and batted her eyes at him.

"Would you like me to make a record too, Captain? Wasn't the little sneak peek just enough?"

She blinked at him again.

This time he did flee.

...

After Running from Lyas Workspace, Jack was back in the cockpit, sitting in his chair with his feet on the controls. Voideye gave him a strange look, when he came in and locked the door, but got back to napping after that.

He on the other hand was replaying two scenes in his head over and over again. Both involved Lyna and both made him confused and embarrassed, but he could not put his finger no to what exactly was his problem. It was as she said an accident and also not like he hadn't already seen her in revealing clothes.

Before he could start overthinking things, his communicator went off. That was quick, even for her standards, he thought to himself, but when he picked up it was not Lyna but a Holo message from Maya.

He furrowed his brow. Both her private communicator and the ship's sensors were too weak to send a signal across the solar system. So whoever had sent this message must have had outstanding communications technology.

He pressed play and his good mood abruptly broke. After Maya had been visible for a few seconds, the princess he had met on Janus Bruch entered the picture. She began to say something, but Jack could only stare at Maya crouching on the floor in the background.

It was obvious that she had not been treated well. He could see swellings and bruises and dried blood stuck to her forehead.

Seeing her like this brought out feelings in him that he had never known with such intensity. Fear, worry and anger at those who had done this to her.

When the message was over, he slammed the communicator down so hard on the cradle that he could hear the glass crack. Maya was alive and would remain so if he brought the little princess back.

He would have liked to leave immediately, but of course, that was not possible. He relayed the message to Lyna and Mordred, then sat cross-legged on his chair and turned up his music so he could think.

...

Voideye woke up from her nap when the light around her started to change. Confused, she looked around until her gaze finally lingered on the man in the chair. His aura had changed; before it had been calm and balanced, like the light around her, now it was solid and intense, almost sharp as a sword.

The voice had also changed, normally there was always warmth in it, but now when he spoke into his communicator, the tone was cold and controlled.

He reminded her a little of herself so long ago. From her place on the beam, she watched as he turned on music, strange, aggressive sounds she thought, and then began to concentrate.

The light around him began to pulse in rhythm with the music, faster and faster and more and more intense until all at once he seemed to be holding a sun in his hand.

Voideye was so enthralled that she even forgot to breathe. Only when he closed his hand and the sun disappeared did she catch her breath and nearly fall off the beam.

...

Jack looked at the black dot, floating above his palm with cold eyes. Even an hour ago he had been afraid to call out to the Void, but not anymore. The dot slowly grew larger, eating away at the air in the Station.

Seconds later an alarm Sounded and the AI advised him of a potential hull breach nearby. He closed his fist and the black dot disappeared.

...

Far away in the vast darkness of space, a crack appeared. It opened and a massive yellow eye with slit pupils appeared. It looked around, before almost closing up again, like half asleep.

"And there I thought you had forgotten about me, dear Jack."