Adventures of an Ancient Space Battleship

Ruyi closed the door. It was another dud, she didn’t really know where the metal people would be keeping the milk and bottles, but she figured it would need to be close to the nursery. So far she had found several birthing rooms like Auntie’s, a couple of operating rooms like the one in which R23-G became a medical drone. Ruyi still wasn’t sure what to think about that cold clinical woman. How could she act that way towards babies?

Sighing, she walked over to the next door in this hall, and turned the knob. Inside she found what was basically a closet. Several cabinets against the one wall, a large fridge at the rear. Along with a counter with neatly arranged trays of medical tools. Syringes, surgical lasers, a couple of those weird things that the doctors used to heal scrapes and cuts, and even a first aid kit hanging on a hook.

She smiled, this seemed promising. It seemed they were keeping just about anything they might need in here. With that in mind she went inside. Checking the various cabinets, she found a few that were empty, entire shelves with nothing in them. Others had vials and jars full of liquids. They had labels, but they might as well have been written in another language for all the sense she could make of them.

Near the fridge she found a number of bottles, the same kind she had seen the metal men bring in when they fed some of the babies. She smiled and then checked the fridge. Where she expected to find milk stored, what she found were a number of empty jugs. She blinked, where was the milk? For a moment or two she just stared. The milk should be here, it was clearly the milk fridge, but it was empty. Why keep baby bottles near a fridge with no milk? How was she supposed to help the twins? Her thoughts spiraled as she stood before the empty fridge. As the cool air chilled her skin.

Behind her she heard a sound and quickly hid in a nearby empty cabinet. Just barely managing to get into it and close the fridge before the door opened. Peaking out, she watched R23-G enter the room with a couple of drones. The group approached a cabinet, cleared it out and started to take it apart. While R23-G supervised them, then new drones came in with some alien tech, which they installed in the newly freed space. One of them then yanked out the empty fridge, carting it out of the room. An alien device was soon installed where it was.

As the drones filtered out, R23-G checked the new equipment and used it to fill a couple of bottles before stuffing them in an alien cabinet that came with the tech. Quietly she pronounced, “New milk storage is working properly and is ready to accept automatic milk feeds.”

When R23-G left the room, Ruyi slipped out of the cabinet. Walking to the hall door, she glanced out. A few drones were in the hall, but none were coming this way. It was weird how sometimes none would be in sight and at other times she would see a few. Right now they were carrying stuff out of that office she hid in when she first came to this floor. It seemed they were getting more active.

Feeling safe, she walked back to the new milk machine and filled a couple of bottles in the same fashion R23-G did. Finding them coming out warm. Didn’t mom say it was supposed to be warm when you give it to a baby? That seemed perfect. Two bottles in hand, she looked out again.

There were still drones out there but none seemed to be looking her way. For a moment she just stood there, but the nursery wasn’t that far. The twins needed her, with those thoughts in mind she took the risk. Moving from one hiding spot to the next towards the nursery. None of the metal men moved to stop her so she figured she got away with it.

Her gaze turned to the glass. Wishing it wasn’t there but she didn’t know what to do about that. Thankfully they seemed too busy to look in here and the noise she was making was masked by the crying babies. Approaching the twins she picked the one up and started to feed her. Eagerly she latched onto the bottle and drained it. Ruyi smiled at that and then did the other. Happy to see them fed, she walked over to the glass and peered out to watch. Office items went out, alien tech went in. After a while the drones were done with whatever they were doing and basically vanished. 

A yawn escaped her as she was reminded that it was a long day. Feeling tired, the young girl left the nursery and made her way back to Auntie. She shivered a bit when she headed on in. The room felt colder to her than the other rooms but Auntie said she was fine.

Auntie didn’t even respond as she picked up the discarded blanket and shuffled off into the empty closet. Climbing into the empty trunk, with the blanket she curled up and let the darkness take her.

Anai shifted in her seat, while the young girl they had rescued lounged on the medical bed. For the last hour, she had been getting to know the girl and her story. She was fourteen, her mother was one of the medical staff at the local starbase. When everything went to shit, the girl and her mother boarded a transport headed out of the system. Given the chaos, it seemed she had been missed in the passenger manifest, but that was expected.

She sighed, “So Reyna, what are you going to do?”

The girl stared at the ceiling. No answer seemed to be coming. After a bit she finally said, “I don’t know.”

Anai didn’t blame the girl for not knowing. Poor Reyna didn’t even know if her mother was alive or dead. Everything she knew had just gone up in flames. The girl was even a little puffy around the eyes, but at least she seemed to be holding up. Reyna seemed to be a strong kid.

Slipping out of her seat she drew closer, “Well you will have plenty of time to figure it out. In the meantime, let’s find you somewhere to stay.”

As she gave the girl a hug Reyna started to nod. With that settled she helped the girl up and out of the room. It was time to get her settled. For how long was a toss up, but then something came over the intercom.

“All hands brace for hyperspace jump. Repeat all hands brace for hyperspace jump.”

She paused as she heard that. They had reached the jump point. A smile graced her lips as her heart beat just a little faster. Reyna gave her a look, as internally she was celebrating. They were free. In just a moment they would be leaving this system behind, the aliens, the destruction and sadly an entire colony to whatever fate this mysterious enemy had in mind for them. However for all the loss, she had a small victory right here, she had made it out of the system, her crew would live another day and they would limp back to port.

Grabbing Reyna, she pulled her closer before bracing herself with a nearby handrail. Just as the air itself seemed to hum. The world spun for a moment and her stomach leapt into her chest before doing flips. Hyperspace jumps weren’t usually this bad, but with all the damage something must have gone a little wrong. Of course it was natural for the process to be a little disorienting. You were shifting between normal space and an otherworldly layer where the laws of physics were just slightly different. Not so different that life couldn’t exist, but different enough to allow a ship to travel faster.

It took her longer than usual after the jump to get her head right and when she did she realized she was on the floor. While Reyna was looking her in the eyes. “Are you alright Ma’am?”

She blinked, “Just a little dizzy. Hyperspace compensators must be shot. How about you?”

“Everything looks... wrong, but I’m fine I think”

Anai sighed, “Hopefully it will pass. If not we might be in for a bit of hyperspace sickness, but I will take that any day if it means getting somewhere safe.”

Reyna gave a long blank look before nodding, “I hope Mom is alright.”

“I wish I could tell you,” replied Anai, but she suspected the woman was likely dead. Either that or the aliens had her. Once again she wondered what that fate would mean. Likely not anything good, but she didn’t have any way to know for certain.

Pulling herself off the floor she led her new charge down the hall. Into one of the working lifts and up a couple of decks. As they stepped off, “This deck is normally reserved for officers and VIPs, but I figure there isn’t any harm in an exception.” She gestured at a door just a few doors to the right, “That door over there is mine and that,” she gestured at a door not far from it, “It’s the room I'm thinking of giving to you. It’s not far from mine, so if you need anything just knock.”

The girl nodded, as Anai led her to the room in question. Opening the door they were greeted to a reasonably sized main room with a large bed and some nice furnishings. Including a carpet on the floor, a nice nightstand bolted to the floor, a sturdy looking dresser and a large desk in the corner. A side door led into a bathroom, which came with a full sized bathtub, and a separate shower stall.

The girl’s expression changed when she saw the room and she started looking around. “Are you sure? This is better than what Mom and I had on the transport.”

Anai smiled, “Would you like me to stay for a bit or would you prefer to be left alone?”

Reyna pulled her into the room, “Please...”

Anai chose to stay a bit and help the girl settle in. It seemed she needed her, at least for now. In the end, she would end up spending the night with her. Come morning they would still be in hyperspace, but Reyna did seem better.