Adventures of an Ancient Space Battleship

Telna Colony:

The young girl stayed by the curtain staring at the table of horrors for a bit. By now the woman turned medical drone had left quite a bit ago. Letting out a breath she finally started to move. Worries gnawed at her gut and she was now quite worried about Auntie and the twins.

Her mind flashed to that of a young woman in metal panties and bra standing there calling herself a drone. What struck her most was her face with that metal socket inserted where her left eye used to be. Seeing her with just one eye had been...

The girl’s thoughts trailed off and then she shook her head. The twins, what was going on with them? Fears and worries for her newborn nieces she slipped out from behind the curtain and peeked into the hall. She saw one “drone?” but it was walking away from her. A metal man to be specific, she didn’t see the woman from earlier. Likely doing whatever drone things the aliens had in mind for her.

With a clear path she hurried down the hall and slipped into the nursery. Now inside she could get a much clearer look at the beds. The girl noticed that a lot of them were empty. Feeling free to walk around given the lack of metal men in the room, she went from bed to bed looking for the twins hoping they were still here.

As she looked around, she started to notice a lack of baby boys. Not a single baby was male, all she saw were female babies. Some of them were crying, others were calm. All of them appeared to be naked. Weren’t the twins swaddled when the doctors took them? Why aren’t any of the babies wearing a diaper?

She didn’t see any alien tech in the room either, not like in the other one anyway. If there was any it was hidden. Some of the babies were even lying in their own messes and no one had come by to clean them up. It was horrible, these poor girls weren’t being cared for. Why wasn’t anyone monitoring them?

In one of the middle cribs, she finally found the twins, both of them. She recognized them instantly, the name tags on the beds merely confirmed it was them. She smiled as she looked in at them, unlike some of their neighbors the two of them were clean. That was nice to see, but she was a bit annoyed by their neighbor, a young girl who was particularly vocal. The girl rubbed her head, not sure what to do about all the crying. Trying to ignore them, she turned to the twins. Trying to play with them a bit, but they didn’t act like they did the last time she saw them. Instead they were somewhat fussy if she had to describe it.

Suddenly the door opened and she quickly hid behind a bed. Looking towards the door, she noticed it was the woman from earlier, but now she had an eye where previously there was only that socket. They had called themselves Medical Drone R23-G as the girl recalled.

The woman moved between the beds, speaking in low tones as she moved between beds. Quickly reaching the twins, where the young girl could hear her. R23-G leaned a bit over on the twins and spoke, “Batch subject 14, generally stable. Currently unfed, last feeding appears to have been three hours ago. Feeding not required at this time. Will check again in three hours.”

The girl looked at the woman appalled. Not fed? They aren’t feeding them? That was horrible. As if to confirm her thoughts, she moved on to the second twin, looked her over and spoke quietly, “Batch subject 15, generally stable. Currently unfed, last feeding appears to have been three hours ago. Feeding not required at this time. Will check again in three hours.”

It was like a machine, cold, clinical, unfeeling and just repeating the same words. That woman stepped to the next baby. Leaning over the bed, she took a moment to look over the very noisy girl as she wailed, lying in her own mess. “Batch subject 16, skin irritations, minor deterioration. Currently unfed, last feeding appears to have been six hours ago. Feeding is required to prevent further deterioration. Will check progress again in three hours.

Rather than feed her, she moved to the next baby. Unlike the last baby, she picked this one up and proceeded to clean her up. Then moved on, not one baby got fed by her, but a little after she left, the girl watched as a couple of women came in. Holding bottles, they went to some of the babies and fed them. The twins and the poor baby referred to as sixteen were left unfed. Leaving the girl wondering what was going on with these people. How could that woman be so cold? What was with the metal men?

Left with questions and no answers she watched the door for a bit, but when nobody new seemed to be coming she went back to the twins. Stroking their little faces, she spoke to them a bit, but didn’t really know what to do for them. She didn’t even know where the bottles came from, but she knew the twins needed food. She had to find Auntie, hopefully, she was still okay.

---

Anai’s Battleship drifting towards jump point:

Anai held her breath as she watched the screens. One of the alien cruisers had drawn closer to them. In the distance, she had seen them boarding vessels and cutting others apart with cutting beams. She was just hoping that they were content to pass her by. The vessel seemed to move past them at an agonizingly slow pace. Every second stretched on to last hours. With seeming eternities passing as she waited to know if they were to be attacked or left be for just a while longer.

Every little thump of debris striking the hull as she drifted nearly made her jump in fear of her crew reporting a boarding pod. Yet nothing ever came. A scanning beam rippled over the hull of her ship and then the cruiser moved on.

Anai let out a breath, feeling relieved but unsure what had happened. It felt like they had just been spared. At least for a while longer. Perhaps they would be back soon enough, she didn’t know.

Turning from the screen, she inquired, “How are the repairs coming?”

The engineer looked up, “Damage control teams are just about finished bracing the hull to compensate for the collapsed bulkhead. The fires on decks two, four and twelve are all out now. The fire on deck eight continues to burn, but containment teams report that it’s under control. They expect to have it out by the end of the hour. Damage control teams seven and eight are preparing temporary patches for the hull breaches, and teams nine and ten are now moving to patch the ruptured fuel lines.”

Glancing back at the screen, she was happy to see it was now heading to another ship. Drifting a fair distance away from them. Anai didn’t know what higher being decided to bless them with this good fortune, but she didn’t care. Just a bit further and they were home free.

Someone looked up from another console, “Sir I’m picking up a life pod.”

She blinked, “A pod? Why didn’t we see it before?”

“It was behind the hulk of the cruiser Fier’ku. Scans indicate a damaged transmitter, looks like it took some scoring when it was launched.”

“Anyone in it?”

“One life reading, stable.”

For now she thought, but it likely wouldn’t stay that way. Out here the poor bastard would likely drift until they expired. Either that or the aliens would notice them, but she wasn’t sure what that would mean. Likely death if she had to guess, but she couldn’t be sure. Their motives weren’t known. No one knew what they were doing or why they had attacked. With that in mind, she turned to the engineer, “Are the tractor beams operational?”

He nodded, “Yes sir. We have partial power to the lateral array. I would not recommend towing, but we can bring a life pod aboard.”

“Do it and have a medical team standing by.”

“Aye, sir.”

With so little to do, Anai glanced at her first officer telling her, “I’m going to go see to our guest. You have the bridge.”

Handing off command for now, she headed out of the bridge and down to the shuttle bay. By the time she arrived a few minutes later, the pod had already been brought aboard. A couple of engineers with plasma torches were burning the pod open. The main hatch had been fused shut due to damage, as there was a visible laceration across the hull of the pod and some scorching. It looked to have been from a glancing hit and maybe some damage from a detonation.

Thankfully the damage was confined to the outer layers, and the hatch came open a moment later. Medics rushed in and brought out a young girl in civilian garb. Anai figured she must have been from one of the transports the Fier’ku had been attempting to escort out of the area, which she did get three transports safely out, two of them weren’t so lucky. 

The medics quickly checked the girl over and then started to escort her to the medical bay. Anai followed along, from what she could tell the girl was somewhat shaken, had a few bruises and some lacerations. Nothing that seemed life-threatening, but she figured it was best that she received proper treatment. After that she could ask a couple of questions.

---

Telna Colony:

The young girl watched the metal man walk past her hiding spot. When he vanished out of sight a moment later, she darted for the door. It was the door to Auntie’s room, she recognized the number. She was hoping that Auntie would still be in the room, as she didn’t know where else to look.

Entering the room she was greeted to the familiar sight of the little kitchenette. She knew Auntie would be in the back if she was here, hearing something in the back she slowly approached the wall and peeked out. Her heart jumped when she saw Auntie still in her bed, she was still here, but then she took in the rest of the room.

Auntie was lying naked on the bed, the blanket had been pulled away. Left tossed in a pile in the corner. She was staring blankly at a wall, while a metal man stood over her. He had grasped one of her breasts and attached a weird device. Flowing out of a tube and into a collection bottle was a white fluid. He was milking her, but the young girl hadn’t seen a breast pump like that one. It certainly wasn’t the one Mom had gotten Auntie. Instead of a cup fitting over the breast, it seemed that the tube was just going right into the nipple.

She just stood there for a moment or two watching as the milk flowed into the bottle. After about a minute or two the flow started to slow and then eventually stopped. The bottle now full, the male drone turned and the young girl darted behind the wall.

A moment later the metal man walked past her and out the door. She let out a breath, feeling a bit of relief that she hadn’t just been caught. Taking a moment to compose herself, she sat there before heading further into the room. Auntie didn’t react when she came out from behind the wall, she simply continued to lay there on the bed. Not even covered by a blanket. Wasn’t she cold? What had the metal men done to her?

Drawing closer, she shivered a bit. It was cold in here, and with a bit of concern in her voice she inquired, “Auntie?”

For a moment she didn’t respond than slowly she spoke, “...Ruyi?”

Ruyi drew closer, “Are you feeling alright Auntie? Aren’t you cold?”

“...Not cold,.. Right boob hurts... full.”

She frowned, “Your boob hurts? Full?”

Auntie nodded, “... full of milk.”

Her eyes widened, “Didn’t the metal man just milk you?”

“...only left... boob. Needed milk for... testing.... Right boob left... full.”

Realizing what she was talking about, Ruyi thought about the pump her mother had gotten for Auntie. She had last seen that stuffed into Auntie’s purse. Glancing at the little dresser where it had been before she opened it. Only to find the purse gone, looking around she noticed the clothes brought for Auntie weren’t in the drawers either. In fact the dresser was empty. Frowning, she turned to Auntie, “What happened to that breast pump Mother got you?”

“... it was taken with... my clothing and... other stuff.”

Sighing she drew closer to Auntie. If she didn’t have the breast pump, there was only one other thing she could do. Pressing her lips to the nipple she began to suckle a bit and was soon rewarded with a bit of milk. Ruyi continued to suck until the flow started to lessen and then moved back, “Is that better Auntie?”

Her aunt was slow as usual and replied, “... yes”

Sighing she looked around, other than the missing stuff. The room seemed like before, maybe a little colder than before now that she thought about it. Auntie said she wasn’t cold though and didn’t seem to be shivering. Then she recalled the twins, “Auntie, the twins are back in the nursery and haven’t been fed. Can you help me?”

Her reply was strangely a little quicker than before, “, no.”

Frowning she asked, “Why not?”

“... I must, ... stay here.”

Ruyi glanced at the door, “What if I brought them here?”

“.. Don’t. They must, stay... in the nursery.”

Ruyi gave Auntie a look, what had they done to her? “But they haven’t been fed!?”

“Will... be fine.”

Slumping a little she changed tracks, “What have the metal men done to you?”

At first she was silent, it was a bit before she finally started, “... gave me... injection. Took... clothes... instructed me... to stay put... and not worry... about twins... that they must stay... in nursery. Will be... fine... must trust... no matter what. Visited a few... times for... tests... and assessments.”

Ruyi blinked, not sure what to make of the answer. How was she going to help the twins now? If she had a bottle that might help, but where was she going to find one? Somehow she didn’t think Auntie would be much help. So she headed off into the hall to look.