Work Text:
Graecie had never heard of the 'indomitable human spirit' before she met Nom and Katie, which she supposed was fair. Graecie hadn't ever met a human who could tell her something like that.
According to the siblings, the indomitable human spirit was not something actually limited to Humans, which was why the 'human' didn't require capitalization. Humans simply referred to sapience and therefore inherent compassion as humanity. They saw it as the thing that set them apart from the non-sapient life forms on Terra, or as the Humans (those among them who spoke English, at least—two hundred languages was insane) would call their home planet, Earth.
…It was weirdly inspiring, from a species Graecie had always regarded as death-world barbarians. Obviously, she knew now that that was not the case.
Katie and Nom described the construct as a kind of determination, the instinct to never give up and never back down from a fight with fate if there was even the barest chance you could win it. It was the ability to challenge whatever stood in your way, and if you didn't beat it, to go down swinging.
It was… frustratingly admirable, their stubbornness. Nom and Katie certainly displayed such qualities—with the Arborum, Nom had torn apart any who tried to hurt Katie, and later, 4C. Katie had not once backed down from a fight first in all the time Graecie had known her. Both of them stayed cheerful and survived, even on a ship that they didn't know, with a crew that couldn't understand them and a captain who had pulled her gun the second she saw a Human because she thought he was a threat.
For a while after she asked, Graecie hadn't really put much faith in the concept; perhaps Nom and Katie were just particularly stubborn. It had certainly proved true thus far.
And then the mission happened.
Graecie had seen Nom and Katie in many forms—covered in blood and yet laughing, sobbing and yet smiling, cheering through the worst of the pain. She had yet to see them with broken spirits, up until they went on that mission.
Katie was on the floor of the dark, dark control room, curled into a ball, her entire body wracked with sobs. "We— How are we gonna make that!?" She demanded, pushing herself up off of the floor and stomping over to the controls. "We can't make it that far."
"We can," Nom protested, at her side in an instant. The rest of the crew, all gathered much the same, having done everything they'd thought to do, everything they could possibly manage to make this rescue happen. "We are going to save them if it's the last thing we do, Katie, do you hear me?"
She took a deep breath and wiped her tears. "I hear you. We can do this."
The rest of the crew, nearly exhausted of hope themselves, stared at them like they were crazy. And yet, and yet, when Katie started barking commands, no one defied her.
"4CVIT! Mae, Scott, Apo! On those fuel tanks as fast as you can manage! I want all of the rest of you, and yes, every single one of you unless you are Graecie or Mae and are navigating with Nom, and I will go with you, to prepare for guests. Food. Room and board, I want it done."
"Yes, ma'am," Graecie said without thinking, even though it was her ship and she was the captian.
They weren't expected to make it there in three Terran hours. No one would have blamed them in conditions like that, for a rescue mission they could be called too far to complete. No one, not a soul in the universe, would have said that was their fault.
In the midst of the chaos, when all that could be done was hope and pray and throw fuel into their fires, when the only ones still in the navigation room were Katie, Nom, Mae, and Graecie, Katie began to mutter, nonsensically and under her breath, "North like Hell. We go North like Hell, and may Satan himself fear the heat of our engines."
"Katie?" Mae asked, her tone confused even as Katie continued to whisper it like a prayer. "What does that mean?"
"It's an old phrase," She replied, likely glad for the distraction. "A quote. In Human history, one of the most famous sinkings ever was the Titanic, a sea ship said to be unsinkable. She struck an iceberg and went down. The Carpathia, a rival ship, was the only ship close enough to respond to the SOS and make it count. She melted three of her boilers and blew past her maximum speed. They should have made it there in four hours, and they made it there in three, saving seven hundred and five people." She recited it as if from memory, like this was a story she could never bear forgetting.
Graecie stared, her mouth practically agape. What an incredible story, a stunning display of such genuine care for other living beings, compassion she had never thought Humans to be capable of before she met Nom and Katie.
"The captain of the Carpathia was reported to have said something like, 'We go North like hell, and may Satan himself fear the heat of our engines.' Satan is considered the source of evil in the world in Humanity's biggest religion. He wanted the ruler of fire to fear the heat of a savior ship. He swore the ocean wouldn't hurt a ship coming to her sister's aid, an old sailor's tale, and he was right. It's one of the greatest stories of the indomitable human spirit out there."
The navigation room was quiet for a long, long time after that, except for directions. Nom stayed uncharacteristically silent, focused on the task at hand. Katie continued to mutter her sailor tales between the breaks, desperate and fervent and hoping for a stars be damned miracle.
And, by the stars, she got one. They made it.
Nom and Katie were off the ship looking for survivors nearly instantly, practically faster than light as they darted around looking to save people, innocents, from the fate they had suffered.
With both survivors and crewmates present, they told the full story of the Titanic and Carpathia, rival ships who had become sisters that night, and how the Carpathia went down six years later in wartime and yet she stayed afloat long enough for her passengers to evacuate.
Graecie was unashamed to say she cried.