Chapter Text
The Aurora floats through the void between galaxies, the darkness from the absence of stars feeling oppressive on her and the crew. As they pass over a stray moon, her scanners pick up signs of life. Most of it is clearly from the natural lifeforms in the blood oceans on the moon but then a signal of human life comes through the scanners. Aurora immediately sends the signal to Brian on the bridge. Brian gets up and goes to the common area where the rest of the crew sit.
“The ship has picked up signs of human life in the oceans on the moon below us. She is already heading down to the surface.” He says, preparing himself for fighting and arguments from the crew. Ashes raises an eyebrow “and how do you propose we rescue this person? Are they floating or on a ship?” Brian sighs and looks at Nastya “It’s a blood ocean, does Aurora have any way to-” He pauses. “I don’t know, x-ray, the ocean?”
Nastya furrows her eyebrows, thinking. “I can probably hook up the x-ray from the lab to the scanner. However, it would deplete a lot of Aurora's energy and we're 2,000 light years away from the next planet. Plus, the person would be mortal so we would need to use a wormhole to get to a planet once they're on board.” Nastya frowns, not wanting to deplete her lover's energy too far before being able to land.
Brian taps his foot in thought. “What if we only used it once? Pinpoint the signal and run a scan? It wouldn't use up too much energy.”
Nastya nods, agreeing that it could work. She walks down to the lab with Raphaella and Marius to help her get the x-ray machine down into the hull.
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Down in the SM-13, Simon has lost contact with the Consolidation after the line snapped. As he tries to make his way back up to the ocean’s surface, he feels something latch onto the back of the sub, beginning to pull him up.
“Oh, thank god. They’re pulling me up.” Simon stands up and yells into the speaker. “Hello! Can someone hear me!?” He shouts, desperate for a response and for freedom. “Am I done? Am I free?” Simon waits for a response, the feeling of hopelessness returning. The speaker crackles as the light turns on.
“Yes, we can hear you. We’re pulling you up into our ship.” The voice of the drumbot comes through the speaker. Simon stares, confused. He hadn’t heard that voice in the Coalition before.
“Wait. Who is this? Where is the other guy? If… if he left because of the radiation blast. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know it wasn’t a normal camera.” Simon says, once again feeling guilty about using an x-ray blast on the crew of the Coalition.
“We are a different ship. We haven’t seen any other ships or stations circling this moon, I'm sorry.” Brian sighs. “I know what it's like to be betrayed and sent to die by those I trusted.”
Simon shakes his head before remembering that the person on the other end can’t see him. “Oh, they weren’t my- nevermind.” He trails off, shaking his head before clearing his throat. “Who are you? Are you part of the COI? Or… or Eden?" His hand holds the seed from the tree on his wrist when he allows himself to believe one of his brothers or another member from Filament Station survived.
“We Are The Crew of The Starship Aurora!” Another voice cuts in, oddly cheerful before the speaker cuts out. The original voice comes back. “Sorry about our first mate. TS is like that.” Brian pauses. “May I ask your name?” Simon blinks, he hasn’t been called his name since he was put in prison, either called ‘The Butcher’ or ‘Convict’. “Simon. I’m Simon.”
“Well Simon, hold on. You’re about to be pulled up onto the Aurora.” Brian says before turning the radio off. Simon looks towards the window in the hull. Once the SM-13 stops moving, he opens the window shield to see a woman with almost grey skin looking back at him.
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Naysta finishes pulling up the bloody sub. She begins to look for a door when the window hatch on the front opens. “Hey! They welded me in here! There’s no way out without cutting me out.” The man inside shouts, before realizing the window is cracked and that she could hear him without yelling.
Once the SM-13 is opened, Simon takes his first steps out of the sub for the first time in days, realizing that he is now free.