Chapter Text
Havve entered the dimly lit control room. He stood at the doorframe, listening intently to the gentle beeping. He wasn't alone. He knew that, though Sung was notably out of his line of sight. Havve flicked the overhead light on.
"GAH-" the chair stationed at the center console jostled and spun, sending the man in it crashing to the floor, "Shit! Little warning next time, huh?" Sung chuckled.
Havve spoke through the link, his head tilting to the side, staring at Sung, [… You really shouldn't sleep in here.]
"Yeah, well," Sung massaged the back of his neck as he stood, "I don't see that much harm in it," he adjusted his cone.
[Really?]
"Really! Wouldn't be a problem if you woke me up like a normal person…"
As much as a laugh could come from a robot without a voice box, a laugh came from Havve. It sounded more like metal and hydraulics more than anything else, but Sung knew Havve well enough to get the idea. He saw his shoulders rising and falling in succession, and that was enough.
"Alright, alright, laugh it up," Sung sat himself back in the chair, "I mean we've been out for a couple hours, it's what the night mode is for!"
[… Right.]
Sung rolled his eye, "Speaking of which, how far away are we from the destination? The caller said something about uh…" he yawned, "Something about Andromeda?" His fingers clicked around a couple buttons on the console, his eye drifted across the info-screens in front of him.
[Thirty minutes.]
"Hm..?"
[We'll make it there in thirty minutes. I think we should turn around.]
"Ahuh… Wait- what? Why?"
Havve stared him down, red eyes drilling through Sung's visor, [I don't trust it.]
"Don't trust… the gig?"
Havve nodded.
Sung thought for a second, "Any reason why?" He spun slightly to look Havve in the face.
[Some things just… Don't add up. Why would they call us all the way in a different galaxy?]
"Well they didn't know we were all the way out there,"
[Our usual station is Earth. In the Milky Way.]
"Andromeda and the Milky Way are sister galaxies, it's not that far of a stretch!"
[Sung.]
Sung paused, "Yeah, okay I see your point. A little late to bring this up though," he looked out the window, watching the stars rush past in ribbons of light.
[I know. I wanted to feel sure,] Havve pressed a few buttons, making a graphic pop up on the screen in front of them. It pictured info about the location they had been given, some kind of space station. [Have you ever even heard of this place?]
"Nah, but we haven't heard of lots of places. I don't get out to Andromeda often," he looked at the graphic for a while. Looked a little sketchy, but unless you were really paying attention it wasn't anything particularly out of the ordinary. Sung sighed, "Well we've made it this far. How about we scope it out and if it seems off, we bounce."
Havve apprehensively nodded. He figured it was about as good of a compromise as he was going to get. Really he was just glad Phobos and Meouch weren't on board in case anything went wrong.
"Okay. In the meantime.." Sung smiled, rolling a drawer out and pulling out a pack of playing cards, "Go fish?"
Cards littered the ground, gingerly being picked up by Havve's less than gentle mechanical hands. A card bent and popped out of his fingers, flipping in the air until pitifully hitting the floor. His eyes followed its trajectory as a mechanical sigh escaped him. Sung snorted, a chuckle forming in his throat.
[Don't start…] Havve picked the card back up and placed it with the rest of its kin.
Sung shook his head, giggles still threatening to erupt, "No, I don't—" laughs followed his words, "—I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Havve rolled his eyes. Overhead the speakers at the front of the room crackled.
A feminine voice came from the speakers, "Destination reached!"
Both of their heads shot up towards the front console. Sung grunted slightly as he lifted himself off the floor, Havve following suit immediately after.
"Alright… let's see this, yeah?" Sung smiled, clicking a few buttons on the console. The screen in front of them blinked to life, showing a view out the ship into space. Though, notably all they could see was the blank dark and distant stars, not a space station in sight. "Huh…" Sung leaned in closer, "It was here, right? We put in the right coordinates?"
Havve cocked his head to the side, [I'm sure we did.] He searched the console, confirming via the lower screens that this was, in fact, the correct location. So where was it?
Sung placed a curled finger to his lips, "Did it drift from its last position, maybe?"
[We'd still be able to see it. Or, at least the outline of it, if it lacks lights.]
"Right…" he sighed, resting both hands on the console, "So, did something happen to it?"
[No debris.]
"Uh… stolen?"
[A whole space station? And, when would that have happened.]
"Okay… there's gotta be a logical explanation here."
[We've been duped.]
Sung looked up at his companion, worry suddenly spreading to the corners of his eye, not that Havve could see it behind the visor, "But… then why take us here?"
[Deep space… nothing around…]
"You are not making things easier here, Havve"
[I'm not trying to,] Havve looked at him for a few moments, neither speaking, [We should leave. Now.]
Sung hesitated, his breath catching in his throat slightly, laced with just a twinge of fear, "…Alright. Alright, we'll head back. You were right." He pressed a few buttons and the screen collapsed the outside view, showing only their current ship specs instead. His fingers glazed over the buttons, inputting the return coordinates. Sector B, 2…6….8….3….4—
Before he could get the final inputs in, a loud bang rang through his ears, blistering heat emerged behind him in a grand explosion. Sung clutched the headphones on the sides of his helmet, ducking instinctively.
The feminine voice returned on the speakers, "Major hull damage identified! Emergency shields activated; wound sealed. Red Alert"
"Fuck!" Sung yelled, whipping around to witness a massive hole in the side of the control room, "What the hell is that!"
[Pretty sure it's a hole.]
"Yeah, no shit Havve!" Sung hopped up into his chair, gripping the manual steering at his control and sending the ship into its highest available speed. "C'mon- C'mon go!!"
Havve examined the hole in the side of the ship, the view of space glazed over with the clear blue of the emergency shields. As the ship began to zip away, Havve spotted a form in the distance. Something large, though not quite large enough to be the space station they had been looking for, and devoid of any lights, almost completely hidden away in the darkness of space had it not covered a wide patch of stars. [Shit…] Havve turned to look at Sung, [You getting any readings? Anything nearby?]
"Uh-" Sung started, his voice shaking slightly, "I haven't really been checking. Pretty sure we already know we've got company given the massive hole in my ship."
[Yeah, well unless my eyes aren't working right the company we've got is one massive son of a bitch.]
"So what I'm hearing is that we can probably outspeed them?"
[What I'm saying is we can't outgun them, and I don't think we're gonna get far without them following, even if we outspeed.]
"Okay… okay shit- what are our other options? Get far enough to hide out on some planet?" Sung sighed, "God I wish I was more familiar with this place."
[… It's worth a shot.]
"Well if you think so," Sung reached over and pressed a few buttons on the arm of his chair. The screen in front of him lit up with nearby readings. The ship scanned for a few seconds. Nothing appeared. "That can't be right…" he forced it to scan again, and then again, "Did our scanners blow out or what? Can you see if they're doing anything?"
[Not really… It seems like it's sitting still,] Havve leaned forward, placing his hand on the part of the inner wall that wasn't completely destroyed or burnt, [Why…?]
"Whatever. It's an opportunity to get the hell out of here isn't it?"
[But that doesn't make any sense, why would—] Havve took a step back as a blink of light suddenly appeared at the crown of the far away ship. It grew rapidly larger, swirls of light emanating from it and illuminating the previously pitch black form, [Hey, Doc?]
"Yeah?" Suddenly the ship screen lit up with readings from the sensors.
[Might wanna brace yourself. Up our speed if you can we've got uh… an attack of some kind coming our way.]
In a panic, Sung quickly diverted as much energy as he could towards the shields and thrusters. All lights on the ship quickly cut out, leaving the control room only dimly lit by Sung's prismatic core and the small screens dotting the center console.
The light from the distant ship swelled until eventually producing a beam, which, despite their rapidly increasing speed, still looked well on trajectory to hit. Havve's eyes brightened as if widening in surprise.
A loud shrieking whine filled the room as the beam hit the side of the hull, cutting directly though the shields and engulfing an entire section of the ship, not far from where Havve stood. The bridge and surrounding area were bathed in a cascade of light and heat, followed immediately by a deafening silence as the beam disappeared and all that was left in its wake was an empty void. All the air evacuated into the empty vacuum of space within a fraction of an instant, the same force pulling all loose objects in the surrounding area into the hole.
Two of those loose objects happened to be both Sung and Havve. With little time to react, Havve dug his metal fingers into the flooring and reached as best he could to grab on to Sung, who was quickly flying towards him. His hand caught Sung's arm firmly, though he could feel a distinct pop and snap in Sung's bones from the force.
Both of them hung off the edge of what remained of the bridge. The emergency shields reactivated after a second, plugging the hole back up, though abandoning the larger chunk of ship to its own auxiliary power, and also leaving it to drift endlessly in deep space without steering. Havve spent the opportunity hoisting Sung back up onto solid ground. The man's arm was thoroughly broken, though the adrenaline did good work of making sure he barely noticed the pain.
Sung's breathing was shallow and quickened as his eye darted across the scene, "What was that?"
[I don't know,] Havve placed his newly freed hand on the floor, attempting to get himself up as well, only to be promptly interrupted and thrown back down by the ship rumbling and shaking.
In a panic Sung grabbed on to Havve with his good arm, but it wasn't enough. Havve's grip was slipping, and if he fell he would be launched into the void of space.
[Sung,] panic flowed through the mind link, [Help. Please.]
"I'm trying!" Sung grunted, trying desperately to get the robot up one handed.
Havve's grip slipped further until he couldn't hold on any longer, his only saving grace being Sung quickly grabbing both of his hands. Sung yelped out in pain feeling his broken arm get pulled to its absolute limit. With all his might he pulled, unable to get Havve over the ledge. He sucked in as much air as he could through his gritted teeth. Sung's core began to glow brighter and brighter, sending energy flowing through and around him, granting just enough strength to his weakened form to lift Havve up onto him. To safety.
"Fucking hell…" Sung spoke, his eyes suddenly droopy and the world swirling around him.
[Doc,] Havve lifted his head slightly, though his usual swift movements had been limited to something much more choppy, [Doc? Stay with me Sung.]
He wanted to listen, but all energy had been drained from him. Sung mumbled something out, hearing something foggy from the other end of the link, before his mind went completely numb. His helmet clinked against the floor as he fell into a deep sleep.