Warped Space - Chapter 4
By Misty Steppes

Things are slowly picking up, and yet only just beginning... enjoy!

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The room went silent in an instant. Heads snapped to the main doorway, where an imposing figure in the same black armor as always strode closer. Hands raised in clean salutes as he passed by each table, and as the man stopped right next to mine I dropped my fork and attempted a messy salute - I was doing my best. He smirked at me.

“So I hear we have a stowaway, Lieutenant. Give me one reason I shouldn’t throw him in the brig right this instant, and you with him for aiding him.” I just looked at him, eyes wide. Noooooot a good start. Amina sighed and rose to her feet, more than a foot shorter than the intimidating man, but not a smidge of fear or concern showed on her face.

“Commander, he’s not a stowaway. He’s a victim of a warp accident on a pre-spacer planet, and he was lucky enough to get caught in our inderdictor still in one piece.”

“I’d call him a spy, but I don’t think we even have any enemies who can warp personnel… Hell, I didn’t think anyone could enter Warp Space without a Drive and a Pathfinder.” The Commander, as Amina had called him, seemed confused. He glanced over at a nearby table, where a bunch of intellectual-looking types were poring over several datapads and muttering to one another quietly. One of them caught his eye, and shrugged slightly - the universal “no clue”. Amina took the opportunity to go in for the kill.

“Me neither, Commander, but here he is. FEC code dictates we provide hospitality for survivors of interstellar travel accidents, as well as language training for ascended pre-spacers. I believe both apply here - reference FEC Charter lines 118 and 143, Commander.”

“Ah. I see you’ve done your research, Lieutenant, so I don’t space the poor sod. Hmm, has our ship’s Princess developed a crush on the mysterious warpster?” The cafeteria broke out into laughter once again - it seemed the ship’s crew shared a similar sense of humor. The cool-headed Lieutenant simply raised an eyebrow at her superior officer.

“No sir, that would be in strict violation of the FEC fraternization policy.”

The Commander smirked again, raising an eyebrow of his own. “He’s not a member of the FEC, and even if he was, that policy was repealed at the last Council session…”

Amina’s neutral expression started to crack slightly, the pale white of her cheeks coloring oh so gently, but the Commander decided to be merciful and end their exchange.
“Anyway, since our lovely Lieutenant here has pointed out that we can’t exactly leave you to die, allow me to welcome you to your new home, at least until we make landfall in Known Space. In other words, welcome aboard the FEC Dawnrider.” His stoic face shifted slightly, sending a brief smile my way, and he reached out a hand to shake mine - I took the offered hand, of course, I’m not crazy. The surrounding crew offered some welcomes of their own, but the Commander quickly waved his hand to silence them.

“I don’t know if my slacking crew here already introduced me, but either way - I’m Commander Aldrich Lee’Zanh of the FEC Dawnrider, and more importantly the Chief Officer of the Epsilon Quadrant Charting Project. That’s what we’re doing out here in the middle of nowhere - plotting this unsettled region of space, dealing with any unknowns that come our way…” He gave me a meaningful look, “And eventually returning a full report of the zone to the Federation government back in Known Space.”

He paused. It looked like he was going over something in his head. After a moment, “Alright, I think that’s all the mandatory script stuff. Now then.” Commander Lee’Zanh gave me a wide, almost scary grin. “I may have to give you a place to stay, but no one freeloads on my ship. Lieutenant Del’Roux, newcomer, finish your meals. I expect both of you in my office in five minutes. As you were!”

The Commander spun on his heels and strode back the way he came, leaving the cafeteria in silence right until the doors closed. As the pneumatic hiss faded, the now familiar chatter returned. Amina and I just looked at each other, confused, before quickly going back to our meals.

~o~O~o~

The soft hiss of metallic doors and unnaturally white hallways were now at least somewhat familiar to me. Amina had led me over to a spacious elevator-like room, almost identical to the rest of the hallway, which took us up to another deck of the ship. The door slid open to reveal a wide open room, and not for the first time in the past day my jaw dropped straight through the floor. My feeling of awe looking out the plasma window of the Interdiction Chamber was dwarfed by the spread of windows that lay before me - the half dome at the far side of this room peered out into the void, twinkling stars the only intermittent variance in an otherwise infinite darkness.

I stumbled forward after receiving a sudden push from behind.
“Don’t just stand there,” Amina said with a gentle smile in my direction, “the Commander doesn’t take kindly to delays.”

Instead of proceeding on to the bridge proper, she shepherded me off to the right side of the floor, where a large jet black door denoted what I could only assume to be the Commander’s office. Amina tapped a clear card of some sort to a pad off to the side. The pad’s surface blinked a pale green, and the door itself hissed open, revealing the cramped office quarters that lay beyond.

“Come in, Lieutenant, Mister Not-A-Stowaway.” I suspected that was as much of an invitation as I was going to get.

A desk sat immediately opposite the entrance, but this one was empty - Maybe the captain’s desk? - another door to my left sat open, and I quickly ducked my head in. As I suspected, a similar desk greeted me again, but this time a familiar intimidating figure sat at its rear. The Commander’s clean-shaven visage was pretty similar to that of a stereotypical military man on Earth, but the armor made him a hundred times more intimidating than anyone back home could ever hope to be. He locked eyes with me, his black irises seeming to bore into my soul, and gestured casually to one of the two chairs opposite him. I hurriedly slid into the seat, and Amina followed suit, joining me to my left.

The commander looked at the two of us, leaning back in his chair.
“Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with you, Mister Not-A-Stowaway. Knowing your name would be a good start.”

“A-Aaron, sir,” I forced out, still intimidated by his piercing gaze. “Aaron Brewer.”

“Well, Mister Brewer, since I can’t just put you out the airlock, I might as well put you to some use.” He produced a datapad from under the desk, and slid it towards me. A file of some kind was already visible on the screen.

“Aldrich, you can’t conscript a fucking refugee!” My translator helpfully supplied the colorful expletives Amina was using, helpfully condensing them to a single English substitute. I hadn’t realized she had been looking over my shoulder, but indeed - in bold glyphs, the top of the datapad read “Exploratory Corps Articles of Conscription”, with several paragraphs of much smaller legalese following.

The Commander’s withering glare shifted to my guide. “I don’t recall giving you permission to use my name in the presence of Mister Brewer here, Lieutenant. And, as a matter of fact, I can - I can also throw him in the brig if he says no.”

I started scrolling through the document as Amina and the Commander began a heated exchange. Binding contract established for five years or until discharge... Standard introductory rank of Ensign... Variable duties, subject to superior officer’s discretion…

“...Well until we get back into Known Space I’m your superior officer, Lieutenant, so I’ll goddamn well not-” The Commander’s rant paused as he noticed me slide the datapad back to him, my crude signature in the Common alphabet scrawled along the bottom.

He grinned. “Well that settles that.” I glanced over at Amina, and it looked like she’d swallowed a lemon whole, but she stifled whatever she was about to say. Instead, I felt a death grip on my leg under the desk, hard enough to make me grit my teeth - She’s gonna leave a hand-shaped bruise.

“Anyway,” the Commander busily swiped through various screens on the datapad, too fast for me to actually see what was going on, “Welcome once again to the Dawnrider, and welcome to the Federation Exploratory Corps, Ensign Brewer. We’re in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere at the moment, which gives you plenty of time to get trained up, and actually be somewhat useful.”

The tablet slid back over to me again, this time with what looked like a schedule on it.
“As soon as we’re done here, you’re heading down to Requisition to get fitted with everything you’ll need. After that, you’re to follow this schedule for as long as we’re in empty space, unless otherwise specified by myself or the Captain.”

From what I could translate on the schedule, it looked like each time block had a different subject marked down - Small Arms, Electronics, Medical Basics... Starfighter Training? Before I had a chance to comment, though, he continued.

“And, of course, it only makes sense that our stowaway-harborer here serves her punishment in kind. Lieutenant, you’re on escort duty until further notice, playing guide for our newest Ensign here.”

Amina shot to her feet, temporarily towering over the seated Commander, a smirk now on his face as he looked up at her.
“Excuse me!?”