Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you want to head out to space, Captain? With all due respect, you've heard all the reports about ships being attacked during their missions, right? Or even worse, the ships not even returning?" Gabriel met Hadrian's gaze. His face was laced with concern, yet their Captain didn't seem to pick up on it.

"That's not our problem, Commander, we have a mission from central command." The words seemed to make Gabriel wilter. "Now, if you'll set our coordinates and get into position, we're set to depart at 0900 hours." The man grumbled dismissively.

He didn't particularly enjoy it either, but they needed to collect samples from a far off sector of space, and there was no way he’d defy those above him. He took his job as the ship's captain very seriously, and he'd do anything to maintain it.

Mevia slowly lifted her head to watch the two from behind her control panel, glancing over at Gabriel as he slowly nodded to Hadrian's response. Nobody else seemed to say anything to oppose their captain, and she was not about to jump on the nonexistent bandwagon. Everyone just seemed so on edge lately, and for good reason.

"... As you wish, sir." The man moved over to his control panel with a suppressed sigh.

As the ship was released from its docking clamps, it began slowly creeping away from the station it had been getting repairs in, and left enough space between it in order to engage in warp.

Despite what would have been common belief, travelling in space was not at all silent. Well, at least not during lunchtime in the cafeteria, where most of the crew was located.

Hadrian sat in the corner, glancing over the small tablet in his hand, taking a sip of his coffee. He would occasionally take a moment to glance up at the others in the room, before looking back down, not particularly set on making eye contact with anybody.

This crew was new to him, put together by Central Command to hopefully be able to withstand any challenges they faced. They were the best of the best.

… Or at least, he had hoped so. He vaguely knew most of them, and was aware that some had known each other before the assignment, but he felt the need to get to know them better. He had a sneaking suspicion that Central Command was well aware of the recent space attacks even if they refused to acknowledge it. Why else would this team be put together just to retrieve some samples?

There was Soren, Magnus and Ivor, sitting at one table, all the while discussing something he couldn't quite pick up on. Hadrian remembered Soren from some time ago, but they had grown distant. It was interesting to see the man was a doctor now, much less friends with a Head Combat Pilot that wouldn't stop twitching, and a Chief Science Officer that seemed deathly pale, with a deadly attitude.

Mevia and Ellegaard sat at another table, playfully nudging each other. He felt his eyes linger as he stared at them oddly. He had known Mevia quite well, for quite some time, and he was certain that she was definitely up to something. Said Chief of Security kept on shoving at the Communications Officer's arm, until she laughed and poked her shoulder back.

Eyes moving back down to his tablet, Hadrian took another sip of his coffee, noting how the log reports indicated tha Harper and Otto were at their stations. Otto, the Chief Navigator, would help the ship cross the large expanse to reach its final destination. Perhaps he was adjusting everything to make sure it worked well.

Harper was certainly doing that as the Chief Engineer. First day out must be extremely time consuming for her, dashing about to make sure everything was in place.

Hadrian's eyes narrowed at a certain profile presented to him, and he cautiously clicked on it. A special passenger, a small child called Jesse. That was odd, he'd never had children aboard his ships. And the person designated as his caretaker was-

Hadrian let out a startled gasp as he gazed up from the tablet, so lost in his reading that he didn't even notice how said caretaker was in his face.

"What are you doing?!" He hissed, swatting Gabriel away.

The man blinked slowly, his head tilting slightly.

"I saw you all alone in the corner. I thought something was wrong."

"Nothing is wrong! Just-" He could feel his heart still hammering out of his chest, and the stares of the others in the room weren't helping. "Just get out of my face."

"Oh. Sorry about that, Captain."

Hadrian watched him go, practically swallowing his tongue. He sure hoped his burning face wasn't visible, because he was pretty sure he was going into shock over the embarrassment of the scare. At least his coffee hadn't spilled.

Ellegaard, who had been watching the encounter, sighed and shook her head. She offered Mevia a small smile.

"I should probably get going."

"What for? Does somebody need a good talking to?" She smirked, watching her get up.

"That's not what my job is, and you know that." The Communications Officer couldn't help but let a laugh escape her lips.

Mevia hummed in affirmation as the other walked away from the table, and her finger trailed around the rim of the empty cup in front of her. She should probably get to her job too. This ship wasn't all fun and games.

Mevia’s boots clicked as she strolled down the long corridor, softly humming to herself. Her shift as Chief of Security included patrolling around the ship to make sure everything was in order and no one was misbehaving, which was fine, but rather boring if she was honest.

She was in a massive starship in the middle of nowhere, the stars, even if they were still faint specks splattered across a galaxy, seemed closer and more tangible than they had back on their home planet. Where was the adventure? Pacing about on a ship for weeks on end?

Her strolling came to a sudden halt, when she blinked slowly, and took a couple of steps back.

Peering into the room she had just passed, something had caught her eye in there that she had missed the first time around.

Face immediately dropping, Mevia rushed over to Ellegaard, who lay unconscious on the floor, her body seemingly discarded where it lay. Hurriedly scanning over her for any sign of injuries, Mevia could feel her voice shaking and her heart pounding.

"Ellegaard? Ellie, can you hear me?"

With no response from her, Mevia glanced around the empty room, and groaned, lifting the woman up into her arms with ease. Getting to her feet, she began rushing down the corridors towards Medbay, gazing at Ellegaard’s soft resting face with concern.

"You're lucky. You only have a few cuts and abrasions on your arms. From what I could gather, this could have been far worse." Soren put the disinfectant spray back in its designated spot and sighed, rather let down that someone had gotten injured so soon into their trip.

To be fair, he really didn't want to have to do his job at all if it meant that somebody was hurt.

Ellegaard shook her head.

"The thing was- It was massive, I'm telling you. It had massive tentacles and- and- it disappeared down the vent as quickly as it came. I think hearing Mevia walking down the corridor scared it off."

Having turned his back to the two, Soren aligned his tools and listened oddly. He thought her injuries were due to a working accident, not some- 'thing' aboard the ship.

Mevia gently held Ellegaard's hand as the woman lay on the bed inside the Medbay. As she gently ran her thumb over the other's knuckles, Mevia lowered her gaze to the side.

"... I guess we have one of those monsters on our ship."

The rumours from other lost ships certainly hadn't been lost to them. Each of them had heard of the tales and whispers of beasts that picked off crews one by one. It didn't stop them from doing their jobs, but it certainly made it more difficult to stay focused.

Soren's face dropped. It had barely been a day, and yet they were already under attack.

"A monster? How are we going to defend ourselves? I'm not very good at fighting, you know." He gulped, knowing he played a crucial role as the only doctor on the ship. If something happened to him, who else would help the crew?

"... I had better go inform the Captain. Get better soon." Mevia smiled softly at Ellegaard, before walking out of the room, making her way down the corridors to Navigation.

It pained her to know that everything had become so much more serious. Not only was she in charge of security, which meant she had the obligation to protect everyone from these monsters, but she also had to witness everyone get hurt until they were caught.

What if she was caught? Who knows what would happen if the crew was left without her, she was certainly their best line of defence.

As she entered Navigation, she paused at the clear lack of Hadrian. Otto sat comfortably at the course charter, chatting to Magnus and Gabriel, who sat on the other seats.

The view out of the open window was one that was both stunningly beautiful, and terrifyingly cosmic. Yet Mevia had no time to contemplate either of those.

"Hey, have you seen the Captain?" Mevia questioned, watching as the three turned to glance at her. "I thought I would find him here."

"He left ten minutes ago, said he wasn't feeling too well. Why?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to let him know that uh… Ellegaard was attacked just a moment ago." Her voice went quiet, staring at the man. She couldn't help but wonder what the chances of Hadrian not being around the same time Ellegaard was attacked were. Though, it was probably a coincidence.

Shaking her head, she immediately cleared her mind of the thought. The Captain would never do anything like that, much less to a crewman of his.

"What?" Gabriel's eyes widened. "Who did this?"

"Is she alright?" Otto anxiously peered at her.

"She's okay, she just needs to rest in Medbay for a bit, but uh… We don't really know who did it." She swallowed awkwardly. "I- I have to go, sorry."

The three watched as she quickly left, exchanging concerned glances.

Mevia gently knocked on the door to Hadrian's cabin. A part of her just wanted to inform the Captain of the status of his Communications Officer and leave it at that, but another part held some serious questions for the man.

When there wasn't a response, she knocked again, this time more firmly.

"Captain? Are you in there?" After a long pause, she opened the door, faltering at the sight of the man slouched over his desk.

Cautiously moving up to him, her head tilted in worry.

"... Is everything okay, Captain?"

"I'm fine. What do you want?" He muttered, not looking up at her. His white, slicked back hair had several loose strands that refused to stay gelled down, and his Captain's outfit seemed dishevelled.

She absolutely refused to believe that he was ‘fine’ for one second. This man was the pinnacle of the word presentable, with how he always guaranteed he was well-kept and orderly, this was just wrong.

"You look… Terrible." Her voice trailed off as the man glared at her out of the corner of his eyes. She probably wouldn't have said those words to any other authority figure, but this man was her friend, and she could tell something was wrong.

"I told you I'm alright." He sat up, leaning back in his seat. His face indicated that he was indeed, not actually fine.

Mevia sighed, relaxing her tone.

"You can talk to me, Hadrian."

The man gazed back over to his desk, and over at his hat that he had put down on the corner. Slowly reaching out for it, he exhaled and pulled it back, glancing down at it from his lap.

His thumb gently stroked the rim and his face dropped slightly.

"Do you… Ever feel like you made a mistake? Something you can never admit to because no one would ever look at you the same way?"

"... You can tell me."

Hadrian slowly shook his head, ignoring her response.

"... I suppose it doesn't quite matter, does it? A bit late for that." He took a deep breath and placed his hat over his messy hair, offering her a forced smile.

Mevia returned a fake smile, worry now consuming her. What exactly was their captain hiding?

Chapter Text

The silence seemed to make both Ellegaard and Soren awkwardly avert eye contact.

Soren knew he was supposed to engage in friendly conversation with patients to liven up the mood, but it was difficult when he didn’t really know if she felt like talking in the first place. Perhaps it wasn’t his best idea to become a doctor when he was filled to the brim with social awkwardness and anxiety.

“So… Chief Mevia, huh?” He could feel his voice cracking. What in the world was he doing? What was this conversation he was trying to have?

Ellegaard glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, not quite sure what he was trying to get at.

“Yes, she’s rather good at her job. I’m sure I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her.”

He offered a small smile in return, gazing away as it formed into a grimace. He regretted every bit of that attempt at conversing.

The sound of the automatic doors opening was a massive relief to him, happy he didn't have to carry the empty conversation.

As Ellegaard glanced over at the doors in hope, it faded away as soon as it had arrived. It wasn't Mevia, returning to check in on her even though she never said she would, instead it was their Captain. Of course, she wasn't disappointed to see their… Ever so heroic Captain, and she definitely didn't prefer the security officer to him, but…

His stony gaze washed over her, before it shifted to a more warmer, accommodating look.

"Chief. I heard you had been attacked." Mevia had basically forced him out of his room and told him to stop moping about because more serious matters were happening.

"Yes, sir." She let out a small grunt as she sat up.

He opened his mouth, unsure of how to phrase his next sentences. She was probably in pain, but she was still rather needed at her station. It was awkward trying to justify how valuable all effort was aboard this ship and how they needed Ellegaard back at her station.

"How long until she's fit to go back on duty?" He turned his gaze to meet Soren's concerned look.

Soren eyed Ellegaard, noticing her dreading look that told him she clearly didn't want to be sent back to work immediately, and scrunched his nose.

She did seem to be extremely fatigued, and he definitely wouldn't be lying if he said she needed the time off.

"Well… Perhaps another day?" Hadrian's stare seemed to be dissatisfied. "But uh… What about you, sir? You seem to be tired."

Although it was a slight distraction, Soren seemed to justify himself by expressing just how tired Hadrian also seemed to look. It was their second day in transit after all, so it was no surprise that it might've been taking a hit on the crew.

Their Captain's eyes narrowed slightly, and one eyebrow arched.

"Sorry?"

"The bags under your eyes. Have you been sleeping well?"

"We've just gotten out to space, I just need some time to adjust." He shrugged, feeling himself grow more tense.

"And adjusting is right, it can take a considerable amount of time to get used to the different environment for some people. You need to remember to properly exercise and continue eating healthy foods so your body doesn't deteriorate in space." Weakness in muscle and bone strength was no joke. "Also continuing to engage in social activities is a good way to keep your morale up."

Soren offered an awkward beam, the corners of his mouth lifting into his rosy cheeks. He just hoped it was enough to keep their Captain preoccupied.

"I'm fine." He scoffed, not honouring the other with even a look. "Just… Send the officer up when she's better." The man turned around and trudged out of the Medbay in a half-dignified strut.

Ellegaard eyed the Doctor with expressed relief, glad he was able to keep her from being sent back.

"... Thank you. What's got him so ruffled up?"

"Maybe he's space sick?" He shrugged, turning to recount his equipment and make sure everything was in its correct position. That man was always worked up, and sure he was acting slightly odd right now, but wouldn't anybody if they found out they had a monster on board their ship?

"I thought he was the most experienced Captain around?" Ellegaard mused, relaxing in the bed slightly. If anything, she felt like taking a good long nap right now.

"I mean, he has been at his job for a while. Maybe he's growing tired." Soren exhaled, quickly noticing her more exhausted gaze. "Go to sleep. You need your rest."

She did not need to argue with that.

"Welcome back Captain." Otto nodded.

Navigation seemed more crowded, with everybody but Soren, Ellegaard, Gabriel and Jesse not present. It all seemed to be going rather smoothly, yet that meant either everyone was pretending everything was fine, or they felt out of place bringing up the issue of the monster when they were all on duty.

Hadrian gave a firm nod, sitting himself in the Captain's seat, being handed a tablet by Harper. He scanned over it briefly, raising an eyebrow.

"The wiring's already broken?"

"I know. I need to go fix it, or we risk it damaging other vital systems." She shrugged, sighing at how the ship seemed less competent than first thought.

He held out the tablet back to her.

"Very well, be careful not to leave the box open."

The Engineer gave a forced chuckle, trying not to let out a groan. Of course she knew how to do her job, she wasn't a rookie. But she most certainly wasn't going to talk back to the Captain, and left it at that as she walked out of Navigation.

Hadrian gazed over at Mevia, raising an eyebrow.

"... Where's Gabriel?"

"I think he went to check in with Jesse in their room. He didn't want to bring them to Navigation and bother the others while they were working." She mused, thinking about what she had overheard from the others. The man had probably left while she had gone to explain their current status to the Captain.

It made sense that Gabriel was concerned, after all, his child was on board and even though he couldn't be with them all the time, he did his best to look after them.

He let out a disappointed hum, while Mevia's gaze remained focused on him oddly.

Ivor moved up to where Hadrian sat in the Captain's chair and also extended out a tablet. The man took it and carefully read it,

"... Very well, Chief, just be cautious."

The man nodded and walked out with the tablet back in his hand.

Hadrian loosely intertwined his fingers and rested his hands on his lap. Lips thinning out, he glanced over at the three others that were left in the room.

Sitting at the navigation station, Otto was keeping a careful eye on their chart, making sure to take in factors as they changed.

Magnus sat at the adjacent station, trying to hide the fact that he was guzzling down a pack of chips instead of keeping a lookout. It wasn't his fault that his role as combat pilot wasn't really needed for now, but Hadrian couldn't seem to be bothered telling him to knock off eating.

His mind was focused elsewhere, on both the attack that was now jeopardising his ship, and a very certain crewmate he couldn't seem to get his mind off of.

Turning to look at Mevia once more, he noticed she was still staring at him with a dull expression from the chair next to him.

"So… About Gabriel-"

"Why do you keep on doing that?" She promptly interrupted.

His face seemed to drop, and his brows furrowed.

"Wh- I'm concerned- I am in charge of his safety, and he's the only one with a child on board and-"

"No, I mean, he's the only one you call by his name."

"No he's not."

There was no way she was backing down, she was absolutely prepared to challenge the Captain.

"You just did it right then!"

"You- You probably misheard!" He huffed, eyes drifting towards the other two in the room, who he found were also looking at him.

Otto remained silent, but Magnus didn't seem to mind cutting into a conversation he wasn't part of.

"I heard it too!"

"You! Stop eating at your station! It's filthy!" Hadrian barked, glaring at him with fury.

Magnus’s eyes widened, and he scrambled to find somewhere to hide his exposed bag of chips, his fingers a greasy, salty mess.

Otto sighed as the other ended up placing it inside a small cupboard, which was very notably full of other confectionery wrappers. If this was the man he had to work beside for the next few weeks, he wasn't particularly excited for it.

Mevia, who could tell Hadrian was panicking, simply gave a smirk.

"You're probably right, Captain. I must be overthinking things." She stood up, ready to begin her next lap of the ship for her shift, yet before she did so, she gave a firm pat on the man's shoulder.

He glared at her with the level of tolerance he'd only give his close friends, and boy was she lucky that he let her get away with things. If anything, he would probably kill anyone else who tried pushing his buttons.

A small knock at Gabriel's door made him glance away from Jesse. He knew very well who it was immediately, and gave a small smile towards Jesse.

"Continue drawing, alright?"

The small child beamed, sitting on the ground in between the coffee table and couch - where Gabriel had just been sitting - while they scribbled on a paper with their brightly coloured pencils. It was supposed to be Gabriel in his astronaut suit, but it looked more like a mess of bright blues, along a dark blue background with yellow stars speckled everywhere.

Moving up to the door, Gabriel leaned against the frame as it slid open.

"You do know we have chimes for our doors, right?"

"Nobody uses them anyway." Hadrian scoffed, thinking about the only other person who liked to slam her fist on the door, Mevia. But he wasn't going to let Gabriel prove his point. "Permission to… Enter?"

He gave a slight smirk.

"Of course."

Jesse's head perked up from their drawing, watching as the new man walked into their cabin. They could immediately recognise the other's uniform as the Captain's, and for a moment a sparkle was visible in their eyes.

"This must be little Jesse. I've read a lot about you." At the look Hadrian was getting from Gabriel beside him, he immediately let out an embarrassed snort. "I mean- not that I read about you two or anything, just my role as the- well, you know, as the Captain, I have a sworn duty to stay well informed about, erm, well, you know, my crew, because it's- it's vital I know all about their strengths and weaknesses, and how I can help them. As the Captain. Because I am the- I am the Captain."

He found himself swallowing a large lump in his throat as he wondered if his burning face was visible.

"... Would you like some tea?" Gabriel smirked, already having moved away from the stammering man to the replicator.

"Er- I'll just, I'll have a coffee. Café noir, if you don't mind."

Gabriel blankly stared at him.

"You can't just say black coffee?"

"It just- I think it just sounds fancier." He shrugged, folding his arms over his chest awkwardly as Gabriel moved away.

Keeping the same strained look upon his face until he felt something tugging at his spacesuit's pant leg, Hadrian made eye contact with the small child at his feet.

"Er… Hello."

"Are you really the Captain?"

He blinked slightly, before his face relaxed and he uncrossed his arms.

"Of course. Have you been enjoying your time on board?"

Jesse let out a hum, pursing their lips.

"It's okay, but it's kinda boring being in this room a lot." They shuffled back to where they had been sitting before, staring at the papers that were spread out. "Can I draw you?"

Hadrian let out an awkward chuckle, deciding to carefully sit down on the end of the couch. To be honest, he only wanted to pop by for a quick visit and now here he was, getting a drink, sitting, and having a kid want to scribble his portrait on a paper.

Admittedly, the only reason he had decided to come was because the Doctor had suggested that it would be better for him to socialise. So he would.

"Very well."

They almost immediately picked up the purple and began scratching out his spacesuit, trying to get the shapes as accurate as possible.

Hadrian watched them with curiosity, only at one point catching a glimpse of Gabriel out of the corner of his eye.

"Having fun?"

The white-haired man practically jumped out of his skin, not realising he was standing right there. Gabriel didn't seem fazed by the old man nearly dying of a heart attack (for the second time in their trip), so he simply stood there with the cup of coffee extended, and waited for Hadrian to regain himself.

Neither of them said anything as their hands brushed, and Hadrian sat with the cup in his lap silently.

"... Thank you."

"I've got to say, I'm curious. Why did you come to visit?"

Attempting to stall, the man brought the coffee up to his lips, taking a sip of the piping hot liquid. He forced a pained smile with his numb lips as he looked over at the other.

"It's… My duty to check up on everybody. The rest of the crew still seems shaken up, and I just want to make sure that you're doing alright. All by yourself."

"And how's that going? Is your… Mission successful?" He smirked, knowing fully well this wasn't a casual check-in.

"I suppose so." Hadrian chuckled under his breath. "... Are you sure you and Jesse here are safe?" His voice lowered to a whisper.

This prompted Gabriel to raise an eyebrow, unsure of what the other was entirely suggesting.

"I would figure we would be the safest in this room. Would we not?"

His lips thinned out.

"... I'm not entirely sure of its capabilities." He whispered, simply because he was afraid of Jesse listening in. "Gabe– Commander, I think it would be best if you stay close to Jesse, especially with all these recent events. Just for now, at least."

Gabriel slowly gazed over to Jesse as they focused on scribbling excitedly.

"... Do you mean bringing them along to my tasks, or staying with them in the room all the time? You're not relieving me of my duties over one incident, are you?" His voice quickly turned to panic over how isolating and miserable it would be to do nothing for however long this trip would take.

"Er- No, of course not! You could bring them about if you wish, all I'm saying is that I'm concerned…" He made brief eye contact with the other and grew tense. "-For the safety of the crew, and the last thing I want to happen is for my youngest member to get injured, or worse."

Gabriel offered a tender smile, simply watching as the Captain blew on his coffee, and took another taste of it. It was certainly nice, but Hadrian supposed it was no substitute for sleep, which he felt like he was missing.

By the time he had almost finished the cup, Jesse had quickly tossed down their pencil on the table and held up the piece of paper. Their finger tapped on the masses of shapes, to point out the various details, and Hadrian couldn't help but smile.

Perhaps the Doctor had been right after all.