“Alred, your core-!” She started, reaching for him. She didn’t touch him, of course, but she came up just short, her hands up like she might be able to touch him.
“Haven, you next,” Tanin said, gesturing with his head to her.
“I’m not going,” she repeated, needing to get past them.
“That was an order, Haven,” Tanin repeated. “Get in the shelter room.”
“No,” she said again. “I am not being a member of your crew. I am a prisoner. I do not obeying you. And I am not going in there. I’m going after Vytln.”
“Absolutely not.” Tanin shook his head. “Both of you, get inside, now. We can figure out the rest once we survive the explosion.”
“I’m not.”
“Me either,” Goldie agreed, her voice more desperate, less firm, than Haven’s. “I can’t. Alred! Your core!”
Alred gave her a sad smile, reaching up as though he was going to touch her cheek. But, of course, he couldn’t.
“My core is shielded,” he said. “It would likely survive an explosion.”
“Likely?!” She repeated, her voice high and terrified. “That’s not- Alred, let us bring your core in with us. You’re safer there.”
“My odds would be better in the shelter room, yes. But yours would be less. If there is anything left of the ship that is usable, I can only use it from outside the shelter. The only chance we have is if I stay out and try to find a way to summon help.”
“No! That’s not-” Her voice broke and she shook her head rapidly, trying to deny the logic of the only plan they could come up with.
The tight look on Tanin’s face spoke to his hard agreement with her sentiment. They’d spent the last day trying to think of something else. Vytln had already sacrificed himself. Tanin was risking losing a second crewmate by letting Alred stay behind.
But they had no choice. Once they were trapped in the shelter, they were essentially blind, deaf, and dumb. The only possible hope they had was that Alred would be able to do something with whatever remained of the ship. If his core survived. It was built to survive small explosions, but that didn’t guarantee it would be able to do so without some kind of damage. And this certainly wasn’t a small explosion.
Still, it was their best bet.
And Haven really meant theirs, because she wasn’t getting in that shelter.
The four of them stood there, staring at each other. Alred and Goldie with a soft smile and terror respectively; Tanin and Haven with hardened determination both.
“What exactly are you planning to do?” Tanin asked, like she was being foolish.
And maybe she was, but-
“I’m going after Vytln,” she declared, head held high. “I can getting into their ship. I knowing I can. I’ll finding him. I’ll getting him.”
“You are going to die,” he snarled, quills starting to raise. “And you will render the entire purpose of giving himself up as pointless.”
“No. He boughting us time. He was successful. I’ll taking advantage of it.” He opened his mouth again, but she cut him off. “You cannot stopping me. I’m going. Focusing on Goldie, because I willing not be changing my mind.”
“Me either!” Goldie shouted, tears swimming in her eyes, not looking away from Alred. “I won’t get in there without your core. I won’t do it!”
“You will,” he said calmly. “You will go, and I will keep you safe. However I must.”
“No!”
“Captain. Take her down.”
“Alred, please!” She wailed, even as Tanin took her by the shoulders and pulled her back. “W-We can figure this out. We can. Don’t do this!”
“You cannot stop me, my love,” he chuckled. “I cannot touch you. I cannot please you. I cannot do the things for you that a male normally could. But what I can do, and what I will do, is make sure that you are safe. And you will be. Go inside. I’m counting on you to get my core afterwards. I know you will take care of it.”
“No,” Goldie cried, burying her face in her hands.
