Aurora Dancing With The Sky: Chapter 6

Chapter 6
The following weeks passed with rapidity. The welcome they had received when the Demi-God had recovered the escape pods had been astonishing. There seemed to be around a hundred people all cheering and congratulating them as they came aboard.
The Demi-God had quickly forced the surrender of the two blind harbingers. Captain Nether had put men aboard either ship and had confirmed their capture. It had taken the three ships just over a week of slow none dark shift travel before a merchant ship had gotten close enough to be able to be hailed and requested to take a message to the admiralty telling them of the captured Harbingers.
It was barely two days later the Demi-God joined by a small fleet dispatched from Titan Harbour Bastion. Sky and his crew had been ordered to stay in a cargo bay of the Demi-God. His crew had done nothing, but complain about the fact that Captain Nether had appointed his officers to the command of the captured enemy vessels and left their commander in a cargo hold.
Sky had expected nothing less. The idea of giving a newly promoted Lieutenant Commander priority when giving command of a captured enemy ship would be something abhorrent to Captain Nether, especially when the priority would be over officers from his own crew. He also knew that admitting it had been the insane bravery of the HSS Bolt's crew that had made the capture of the two enemy Harbingers possible, would be equally impossible.
Rather than letting his crew sit a stew of the injustice of their current position, Sky had set about training them further in close combat. For the first few days the crew went through the training diligently enough but were still disgruntled. However on the third day there was a change in their attitude. They became more enthusiastic and Sky saw a sudden drastic improvement in their performances. The training method's he was using were a modified form of the lightening step training. He knew his crew would never be able to approximate his speed, but he could make it so they would beat anyone else.
Over the following days the crew the remaining crew of the HSS Bolt gained an audience. The off watch members of the Demi-God would come to watch the crew train. They would cheer when someone won a match and applaud good moves.
Sky was annoyed by the intrusions, but realising he essentially had no real rank on this ship he could do nothing. He was brought no news of what was happening in the fleet or was invited to dine with the officers of the Demi-God at their nightly meal.
It was getting to the point where he thought he had been forgotten when he received a message from Captain Nether. "Come to the officer’s mess at once." It took him a few minutes to travel to the officer’s mess, but he had made sure he looked the absolute best he could before entering.
He saw that Captain Nether sat alone at the head of the table looking hard at him as the door closed behind him. "Sit down Commander." Nether said sharply his tone was one of sharp annoyance. Sky did as he was ordered. "Commander Praetora, you will adhere to the orders given to you by your superior officers or face charges of insubordination is that understood!" He was taken aback; he hadn't disobeyed any orders to his knowledge so he simply responded. "Yes sir." Captain Nether stood and started walking around the table. "Your ship was lost your vessel in our last engagement did you not commander?!" The words would have normally been considered a question however the tone showed they were not. "No doubt due to your actions before the loss of your vessel you expect to gain a new command. This will not be the case." Sky gripped his katana's hilt tightly to control the sudden surge of anger he felt. "This is the report you will submit to the admiralty as soon when you are called to give account of your actions in the battle. They are supported by the new sensor logs on the Demi-God and the captured Harbingers. You know as well as I, that if you contradict the reports you will be branded a liar and insubordinate. Those are your orders. Now leave." Sky stood rage coursing through his veins and it took all his will power to not draw his katana to end the man before him. "This is not over Captain Nether." Sky said before taking the report and storming out of the mess. He knew Captain Nether would be laughing at him, but he would make sure it wasn't for long.
When he stormed back into the cargo bay every single person could sense his anger. Only one felt brave enough to approach him and it was Harmony. "Is everything alright sir?" Sky's head snapped up and the look in his eyes removed the shred of bravery Harmony had been feeling. "No they are not lieutenant, but as there is nothing you can do about it I will not burden you with the knowledge of it." Harmony simply nodded and walked away.
There was a burst of laughter from the door and everyone looked to see that it was the temporary first officer of the Demi-God. He was watching Sky and laughing at him. Sky stood grasping his sword ready to challenge the man to a duel; when the man suddenly shouted in pain.
Everyone looked around to see a young woman with long dark hair containing a streak of electric blue seemingly fussing about the formerly laughing man's feet. "I'm sorry sir let me pick it up." She turned around and picked up the heavy toolbox which she had dropped on his foot. As she raised it up the man squealed like a stuck pig and the toolbox struck him in the crotch. Hearing the sound the girl spun around and the tool box smacked the man in the head. The first officer lay on the floor whimpering and not moving a muscle. Sky felt his anger dissipating at the practically slapstick way in which the first officer had been silenced. The woman pulled a shocked face and dropped their toolbox again. It landed inches away from the man's face. "You should get to the infirmary sir." The woman said and the first officer wasted no time in dragging himself away from the woman who had become a walking disaster zone.
The woman watched him crawl away before turning and walking into the cargo bay. She walked straight over to Sky and threw up a quick half hearted salute. "Deputy Chief Engineer Azlynn Dara, reporting to fix a damaged transportation crate sir." Sky's looked at the woman incredulously. "Repair a damaged cargo crate?" He asked. Azlynn nodded "Yes sir. That one you've been sitting on." She walked passed him and put down a small box on top of the crate before putting a medical sticking plaster on the crate's corner. "All done sir" She threw up another little salute and started walking away. Sky looked at the crate then to the woman and back. She had left the small box on the crate. He picked it up "You've left your box here Deputy Chief." Azlynn spun around and didn't even look at the box. "No sir, that's definitely something that belongs to you." She flashed a quick smiled and ran out of the cargo bay.
Sky was at a complete loss. He opened the box and what he saw inside made his jaw drop. It was three sensor data drives and one was Hereclisan and the other two were almost definitely of Tongalin origin. "Mr Soren to me," Soren ran across to his leader. "I need you to acquire something that can read this for me." He showed the data drive to Soren who nodded and went to leave the bay. "I need it acquired secretly Mr Soren." Soren nodded again and was gone. Thanks to Azlynn Dara they weren't beaten yet, Sky thought and smiled.
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