Welcome to the first installment of an on-going story entitled Captain’s Journey. I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it.

***

The emergency klaxons are screaming their warning all across the bridge. The amber and red lights indicating the ship has been damaged strobe relentlessly with the rhythm of the klaxons. The screams of Reyez from the station behind me and the constant crackling of electricity from the damaged panels on the bridge add another layer to the chaos that has erupted on my ship.

The ship strains at my control as I struggle to keep it from beginning to spin madly. I mentally flip open all the coms on the ship.

“What the fuck just happened? I have lost all data feeds up here and I’m flying blind! Reyez is is injured and and I need info. Report!”

It feels like an eternity as I wait to hear any response to my panicked command. I can sense the rest of the crew there in my head but it feels like some sort of veil has been cast over me keeping me from contacting them to ascertain their situations. Waiting to hear something I normally can find out at a moments notice is nerve-racking.

“This is Damber! Sensors are out! everything is just a big pile of slag in here. If  shields hadn’t been up life support would have been toast as well. Why do I have to tell you this over coms? Why can’t I hear anybody’s voice in my head anymore? Everyone’s gone black Jax! The door is locked and manual override isn’t working!” Damber’s voice is cracking as the com goes silent. She is quickly losing it. She has never worked with a normal crew so this sudden loss of mental rapport with the everyone is alien to her. The sound of her voice though has provided a point of contact for me and I’m able to push through the veil that is keeping me from contacting the crew directly a little. She is bruised and battered but physically OK for now. Her mental state is rapidly deteriorating but I can not reach her to stabilize her status.

The com crackles to life but the sound is broken and difficult to make out. “This is Farns! I’m stuck in engineering. The drive is still functioning but some of the power conduits have been fused so not everything is getting power. What ever hit us was targeting sensors and life supports. Damber’s right when she says the shields are the only thing that saved us from losing a whole lot more. The Tesla drive is reporting a field of some sort enveloping the ship. With the field in place, it’s impossible to drop into slipspace and escape.”

As before, the sound of Farns voice allows me reestablish some contact with him. There was no hint of it in his voice over the com but he is badly injured. The contact I have is to tenuous for me to be able to tell more than he is losing blood. “For fuck’s sake Farns, You’re injured!” The com crackles as he comes back on and now that I know he is hurt I can hear the quaver in his voice. ” I know captain. I took a piece of a control panel to the leg and it is bleeding something fierce.” It takes less than a second for me to access my mental manifest of the ship and determine where the med drones are in engineering. I muster all the energy I can spare and put into the words I start shouting. “Listen to me Farns! There is a red and green button a foot below the com panel. Hit the button and the med drone will get the bleeding stopped and get you stabilized until Shaela  can get to you to put things right. Do it right now!”

controlling the ship while trying to monitor Farns through the veil about the ship is taxing everything I have but I have to know that he has done what I ordered. My entire body is covered in sweat from the strain. What seems like hours pass as I am strung out between the madly struggling ship and the rapidly deteriorating life signs of Farns. When he stabilizes I let go of the contact with him and everything else comes back into focus.

The ship is flipping end over end and I can hear screaming coming across the com. I clamp down on the ship and feel a trickle of blood from nose going into my mouth from the exertion. With the ship righted I can finally focus on the screams and figure out that they are saying. “Captain, Captain…Jaxx! What the hell happened?” I quickly interrupt. ” Shaela, I need to you calm down. I don’t know what’s going on. Something is blocking mental connections so I can’t tell what is going on where you are at. You have to tell me or I won’t be able to help you.” I can here her taking big gulping breaths over the coms as she tries pulls herself together. “I’m in the hallway between engineering and the storage bay. Ambris is with me but he is trapped under a bulk head that fell during the start of all this. I’ve got him stable and am keeping him unconscious to make it easier to maintain his vitals.”

She breaks down into sobs as the ship is rocked by another blast. The pilot console flashes back to life as Farns comes back on the com. “I was able to route some power to the piloting so should be getting a feed now captain! I can’t reach anything else and I’m having trouble seeing now.” My guts clench with the news and I struggle to keep my voice calm. “You did great buddy. You just lay there and try to remember the meditation drill I taught you. It should help you to stay stable. Promise me you’ll do the drill right now!” I’ve got no energy to spare to make that into a command. I can feel the tears coming to mix with the blood that is already pouring down my face as I wait for an answer. His voice is weak but he manages, “I will Jaxx. ”

The ship is rocked by blast after blast. The open com becomes nothing but screaming and even I add my voice at the crescendo.

Then all is darkness…

****

The scream echoes off the soft white walls of my room. The lights come up slowly as my voice breaks and I am left with my head in my hands and the tears just flow.

The voice of the room is soft and mellifluous. “The nightmare is over Jaxx. All is well. You have recovered sufficiently enough that you can see the rest of that memory if you choose.”

“What would you like to do?”