>>5553282>>5553086>>5553082>Prioritise Investigation.You roll your shoulders, attempting to loosen the tension in them as Kiro hops down. The Marrok looks quite crestfallen, his initial elation at having won the battle tempered by the grisly reminder that not all the crew made it out so unscathed. Cleo too stands rigidly, staring at the bisected body of a security officer who was not missed by one of the Crab’s scything energy weapons as she so fortunately was.
“Skyeskal, La’afette, Clifton,” You begin formally, once again donning your metaphorical Captain’s hat, “we need to ensure that boarding craft will be of no further threat to the ship before we can deal with our other problems.”
Kiro drags his wide eyes away from the dead man to look up at you, returning somewhat to his usual affable demeanour with your offered distraction. “Speaking of other problems, Sir, I’ve kept track of the time since we fired on the boarding craft and…” His eyes cross slightly, looking at something on his visor’s HUD. “yep, it looks like they’re seeing our first shots as we speak. Ah… approximately five more minutes before light lag lets us see their immediate response.” He nods, satisfied his quick estimate is accurate enough.
<span class="mu-b"> Tactical: With your voidship under no acceleration, the first hint of that response you receive may well be a directed energy weapon to the hull. More typically, an enemy would expect you to begin evasive manoeuvres and respond with long range torpedoes - something you could detect a lot earlier with a full powered sensor sweep.</span>
“We won’t have long to sweep the vessel.” Coen remarks, approaching you as he unslings your discarded SMG from his back. He appears to consider handing you back the weapon, but instead places his pistol in your waiting hands. “Protocol demands that outside of emergency situations, the Captain must not risk himself unnecessarily.” He recites the regulations in an almost bored tone. “Allow us to take point, Sir. Losing the only member of <span class="mu-i">the blood</span> left on board would cause an immediate ship wide lockdown.”
“That and we’d all miss you of course.” Cleo chimes in with a wink, her close proximity letting you once again hear the wild incongruence between her low growling language and the translator’s girlish interpretation. “Maybe you should see how the WEAVERs are doing with the power situation while we go looking for trouble.” She brandishes her shotgun and racks a shell dramatically.
You scowl, unwilling to be side-lined so easily while your crew potentially walks into the mouth of danger. But as you stare up into the yawning entrance to the boarding craft, your eyes seem to slip over the details - unable to comprehend what exactly you're seeing. You try to concentrate on what is just inside the threshold but it's as if your vision has holes in it, or your still-addled memory cannot retain any information you see.
