Chapter Text
“Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching.” Miyoung, the communications officer on board, reported.
The cyan captain hummed. “Do we have visuals of it?”
“Bringing it up, Boss.” Leslie gave a thumbs up from her seat at navigation.
It took a few moments but soon enough on the larger screen in the navigational room there appeared a clear picture of the spaceship continuing towards them. There were no visible weapons ready to fire that the crew could see but neither was there any incoming communications from the mysterious ship claiming who they were. Toast tapped his side lightly, thinking. It was clear to him, based on the last reported location and the exterior colors, what ship they were dealing with.
“Toast?” His second in command, Rae, questioned. She straightened her back, her face wiped of its usual carefree expression and replaced with a mask of seriousness. Her ability to switch effortlessly from play to work was one of the many qualities he appreciated from her. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
He let out a breath. “Only if you think that the ship is the Crewfu that was last heard from a month ago.”
“Wait, the Crewfu ?” Leslie raised an eyebrow. “Captain Hafu’s crew? Weren’t they hijacked by an imposter and a jester that wiped half of them out?”
“Including Captain Hafu.” Miyoung added pointedly with a glance back at Toast.
The crew all knew Toast and Hafu were old friends. They had entered the academy at the same time, studied together, trained together. The two had made it a competition to see who would climb the rank fast enough and earn bragging rights to Captaincy. Unfortunately for Hafu it would be Toast who would beat her by six months. Something that Toast had wasted no time rubbing in her face. Now he would never get the chance again.
Rae studied her captain, looking for any crack in his usual aloof facade he wore when in charge. Having been his commander for just over a year, she liked to think she knew him well enough by now to know when something wasn’t okay with him. She remembered a month ago when Miyoung had broken the news about the death of Hafu along with others from her crew. Toast had remained stoic in front of the others but in the right light Rae could see the glossy sheen on unshed tears in his eyes that refused to even acknowledge. He had made his excuses and left the room within ten minutes of Miyoung’s announcement, most likely to mourn or even contact Hafu’s fiance, David.
Wasn’t that a sad thought? Forever a widowed fiance, never becoming a husband. It left a sick feeling in Rae’s stomach to think about it. To think you have forever with someone only for it to be snatched away from them before you can even promise yourself to each other. It reminded Rae how dangerous their line of work can be. That nothing was promised, not even the next day.
“Yes, including Hafu.” Toast confirmed, uncharacteristically forging her title. He resisted the urge to run a hand through his hair, a nervous tick, and kept his hands to his sides. “From Admiral Scarra though, we were told acting captain 5up would be leading his crew to the nearest ship which was supposed to be the DSMP but when captain Dream didn’t receive any word from the Crewfu they were labeled MIA.”
“I wonder what happened.” Leslie mused aloud. “Seems suspicious, doesn’t it? They had already taken care of their imposter problem back on Polus, it should’ve been an easy decision for the rest of them to make their way to safety.” She leaned back in her seat, relaxed. “All this secrecy and paranoia from them seems a bit overkill.”
“Unless there was more than one imposter.” Rae said, her brow furrowed in thought. It wasn’t unusual to find out there was more than one imposter on a crew and it would’ve been easy to slip behind the cracks if the crewmates already thought they were safe. It would be a lazy justification for missing a second imposter, completely against the vigilance and training they were given as cadets, but a justification all the same.
Toast hummed thoughtfully before adding: “I briefly met 5up before he became a commander — he’s young but smart. He’s earned his rank and I’m sure he would’ve taken any precautions necessary.” His gaze shifted towards Miyoung. “Miyoung, I want you to try and make contact with the ship. Report to me immediately when you receive a response — or lack of one."
Miyoung was already nodding and starting to the doors by the time Toast had finished, not delaying for a second. She knew time was of the essence, the ship would be close enough to board within the hour.
“Leslie, I want you to steer away from the ship until we have some kind of contact with the others on board but stay close enough for a fast transfer with them in case.”
Leslie saluted eagerly, “On it boss.”
Finally, Toast turned to Rae, “Commander, inform the rest of the crew of what’s happening. Have them prepared for the best and worst case scenario,” He went on to list: “Have Lily ready on weapons, Corpse watching the shields, and Poki on stand by with her medical gear in the cafeteria. The rest of the crew is to stand watch in the cafeteria in case anyone tries to board without authorization. Got it?”
“Loud and clear, Captain.”
Toast turned to the screen in front of him, staring at the ship that had once been under his old friend’s/rival’s command. He had studied the report 5up had given shortly after the Crewfu had left Polus. According to him, a crewmate named DumbDog had waited until they arrived on the cold planet before killing at least two other crewmates. Then DumbDog had been killed — they had thrown the imposter into the volcano pit. They had thought they were safe — Hafu thought they were safe — but another, lower crewmate (Ellium? Elly?) had succumbed to the jester sickness and had taken Hafu’s life right before the Captain had killed him.
It seemed straight forward. A negligent Captain had caused not only her own demise but the deaths of innocent crewmates. It left a bitter taste in Toast’s mouth though. That was not the Hafu he knew. Something about the report didn’t sit right with him.
The Hafu he knew was vigilant, combing through every detail given to her until there was nothing but bone to be picked. It could easily be attributed to a high stress situation but Hafu thrived in that kind of environment. It seemed unlikely to him that there would be so many careless mistakes made by her.
The buzz of his comm going off interrupted his thoughts and he was quick to answer the call.
Miyoung’s voice came through his ear, “Captain, I’ve tried several times to hail the other ship believed to be the Crewfu but I’ve received no response. Leslie reports that the ship is still coming towards us.”
“Continue to try and reach the ship, Miyoung.” Toast ordered, sweeping onto his feet and out of navigation. “Stress that if they refuse to identify themselves we will have no choice but to use deadly force to defend ourselves.”
Miyoung acknowledged his order and signed off the comm. He had a feeling she would not be able to get any kind of reply from the ship but maybe the threat of attack would change their minds. If there was anyone actually alive on the ship.
When Toast reached the cafeteria he was greeted with the remainder of his crew that weren’t at their ordered positions standing at attention, patiently awaiting their orders. His crew didn’t have one of the best numbers for nothing. He ran a tight ship when the situation called for it and he expected those on board to fall in line accordingly. Thankfully, letting Rae pick his crew hadn’t been a mistake.
“I assume the Commander has filled you all in at the situation at hand,” Toast started, “What’s expected of you is to do whatever necessary to protect the integrity of this ship. We have an undeclared vessel coming towards us with no idea of their intentions despite repeated attempts to contact them.”
Toast pressed him comm. “Lily, are the guns aimed and ready?”
“Ready and waiting on your order, Captain.”
“Good.” He ended the call.
“Captain, sir?” Sykkuno hesitated, “The.. the ship — we assume this is the Crewfu , right?”
“Correct. We believe this is the ship formerly under the command of Captain Hafu that was recently declared MIA.”
“That’s where Tina was transferred, wasn’t it?”
Toast let out a breath. Glancing at Rae, they both shared a look.
It was true Tina had transferred to Hafu’s ship about four months ago, something Toast had been both proud and sad about. He had taken Tina under his wing even before he earned his Captain rank. She had been a shy, small cadet both eager to prove herself and hide beneath the shadows, much to his distaste. He disliked wasted talent and while, usually, he would’ve just dismissed Tina from his mind as just another amateur cadet, there had been something about her that he noticed and admired.
Most likely he had taken notice back when he was a younger, less experienced Commander, he had ignored Tina’s initial recommendations she had to maximize crew time on their daily task. What would she know? She had only been on the ship for two weeks before she thought she could just walk up to him, a Commander, and demand his time.
But Tina had been persistent, bothering him any time he had free time, which already was very little. It was almost like she was crawling through the ventilation system, able to spy on him and know when he was available. It had finally boiled over once where she yelled at him for a good five minutes, in front of multiple crewmates. Calling him an egotistical prick for a Commander and that a monkey with half a brain would’ve been a better listener than him.
Toast had stood there, absolutely shocked this young cadet had yelled at him, not expecting it at all. But he finally swallowed his pride, albeit only to avoid the threat of being embarrassed again, and listened to her ideas. She actually had some good ideas, a better system for assigning tasks that was put in place with their Captain’s approval almost immediately.
From then on, Toast had taken her on as his protege, realizing her potential and appreciating her intuition. He had trained her on his own for nearly a year, treating her like a little sister, before she had put in for a transfer one day seemingly out of the blue. Tina claimed that she needed to spread her wings if she was ever going to make it on command track on her own and have her own ship one day. She didn’t want to be known for achieving things because she was associated with high up and coming new Captain, Toast, famous for his elaborate tricks catching imposters. And while it had hurt Toast at the time, he ultimately understood.
She was gone within a week. He hadn’t heard much from her since.
Both he and Rae knew that if Tina were onboard the ship it could potentially be a conflict within his crew. They all knew Tina. They all loved her like a little sister, minus Corpse who was younger than her but loved her like a sibling nonetheless. If she was trapped or held hostage on that ship then the worry would be how emotionally compromised they would be to protect someone they consider family.
Or the fall out if they found out if she were dead.
“There is a possibility Tina could be aboard. But with no contact with the ship there’s simply no way to know for sure.” Rae said.
“Nor is it something we should dwell on,” Toast added, “Our first priority is protecting this ship and ourselves. We have no idea why the Crewfu is not responding to us — and none of the reasons inspire any logical justification for it. We need to be on high alert and wary about anything.”
Sykkuno seemed to deflate at the response, obviously not the answer he wanted to hear but didn’t say anything more.
Ludwig and Ryan were standing at the cafeteria windows, watching the ship approach.
“It’s smaller than what I expected,” Ryan commented, “Also more… put together than what I pictured.”
Ludwig snorted. “Did you think it was going to look like a broken mess of parts? Their fight was on Polus, not the ship. Of course the ship is going to look fine.”
“Hey!” Ryan said indignantly, “That ship had been MIA for a month, who knows why. I don’t expect it to have proper maintenance, especially with only a crew of five. Supposedly only a crew of five.”
Toast cocked his head to the side at the observation. Looking fine on the outside was no indication of how it looked on the inside.
Rae voiced his thoughts aloud, always on the same page they were, “Who’s to say the maintenance inside has been taken care of. You can only tell so much from the exterior.” Toast nodded approvingly.
He felt the buzz of his comm going off and quickly answered, “Leslie, report.”
“Sir, The unidentified vessel is nearing with no indication of stopping anytime soon. Corpse has the shields up and running and Miyoung has informed me that she still has had no response from the other ship.” Leslie took an audible breath, “What’re your orders?”
Toast turned his gaze to his crew, thoughts twisting in his head knowing every second mattered.
“Rae.” She stepped forward, “Comm Lily, on my say I want her to fire.”
Within seconds their weapons expert was on the line, waiting for the final order that would shoot their mystery ship.
“Three.”
“Two”
“O—”
The frantic movement of his comm buzzing interrupted him.
“Miyoung what—”
“Captain, sir, the ship — the Crewfu — they’ve made contact.”