The bridge kept a tense vibe during the ordeal of the domino disaster. The Captain had ordered a complete ship evacuation, and her senior staff resisted this idea. For valid reasons, the most obvious one is that their Captain was under the influence of the blood dilithium effects. The affection made the captain liable to give her crew reasonable commands. The other reason was that the ship was in quite a bad shape after being hit by an explosion and a shockwave that made the Blood Crystalline Entity appear. 

There was a particular standoff at the bridge. Adrián had just announced that the order was crazy. It would place the crew in unavoidable danger or at least the ship’s state. Other crew members were looking at the showdown that was about to happen. Sazra was looking at Silina, who had conversations about personal and professional degrees with her Captain. 

“Well?” Sazra finally broke the silence on the bridge. “We are losing time. The civilian ship is not going to hold out any longer” She looked back at the screen where the devastating power of the entity was being shown upon the civilian ship. 

Looking over her shoulder to Adrián, Silina shrugged slightly and then looked at Sazra, who remained calm and kept her eyes locked onto the screen. “Listen to your Captain, Commander Valerio. She gave a direct order if that doesn’t help you.” She looked back at him. “Then I repeat that order, evacuate the Damascus now” Silina narrowed her eyes. She had made her choice to this time not repeat the same mistake and back up her Captain. 

“Are you out of your mind?” Adrián couldn’t believe what he was hearing now. “You are seriously backing her up with this crazy idea? The ship can be repaired. We can’t send our crew away without a proper explanation here!?” He was not going to break his stand, in his opinion. He wanted to know what Sazra was up to. He needed to be sure that it would not be suicidal. His attention went to Sazra. “So Captain, tell us your idea, or else there is no evacuation, and yes, I will go to freaking court marshal if I have to. We deserve a proper explanation here!” 

“Hehe, I told you he became a rebel over the years” Sazra mutters loud enough for Silina to hear. She nods to herself and turns around so that her red eyes meet that of Adrián. Taking a deep breath, “Alright, you desire validation of my idea. The current situation is fubar, which means we are in deep trouble. Commander Valerio, you have already figured out the options in this situation. We fix the ship and get out of here, or at least attempt and hope that either the Devore ship or that crystal demon behind us won’t hunt us. Which, spoiler alert, will happen” 

Taking a second to continue, “The second option you already presumed also use our last fighting ability and strength to save that transport. But we all know that this ship was not built for war. So it is a miracle we are still standing in the given situation” She raised three fingers with her right hand “But there is a third option. You all had noticed what happened to me when the shields dropped. What you all didn’t know is that I had a …” Sazra tried to find the right word for it “….an episode of illusions and flashbacks of my memories. In those episodes, a being was part of it, showing great interest in who I am, what I can” 

“Are you going to tell us now that you had a weird ass dream and want to evacuate the ship because of that?” Rami was confused right now.

Silina looked at Rami “This would be the moment to keep quiet, Lieutenant, let your Captain talk” Even thought Silina had the same concern and questioned herself. She wanted to know what else Sazra had experienced and how this tied in with the overall idea or plan. 

Shrugged at that comment and command, Rami nodded to Silina. “My apologies for my interruption. Please continue, Captain.” 

Giving a brief nod to Rami “Right, thank you. It might sound crazy to you all, but I am sane enough to ID if something in my head is my own. This being was profiling me and even started to show interest in me. The last line it spoke was that I had to drop my walls and embrace it all” Meanwhile, Sazra had already dropped her fingers. “The scientific side of myself and what is left of my reasonable and logical thinking came to one conclusion. I need to drop the shield and accept the full might of the blood dilithium. That is why I asked the doctor to the bridge to moderate me” 

Everyone was quiet for a brief moment as Rami shrugged. “But you might die if we do that, Captain” It was a vital and painful reality. “The last time it happened, you blacked out and were gone for a few hours.” Some bridge crew nodded to the same concern they also had. “What help does it take if you evacuate the ship, you black out, and no one can help you? You need us here” 

Sazra looked at Rami with her red eyes, she felt the waves of pain surge pierce in her head, and she knew what she was asking of them.  I understand what you are saying. That is why I am asking only a handful of officers to remain here. Because I believe that the moment the shields are dropped, that monster out there” Sazra points at the screen where the Blood Crystallized Entity was. “Will notice me and approach the Damascus full force to get to me. That means that you all need to be off this ship. If I can avoid unnecessary deaths, I will make that order any day” Sazra made that point very clear to all of them. 

There was a certain calm and relief through the bridge for an unknown reason. Even Adrián looked more relaxed. He knew now that their Captain was, in her core, still their Captain. He nodded to himself. “Alright, I will volunteer to stay here” He made up his mind. If these were the final moments, then he is at his Captain’s side. They had seen too many things together.

“Thanks, Adrián” Sazra said, giving him a nod. “I can see in your faces that you all wish to stay here, that my words convinced you. But you have to know that my mind is unstable, I am compromised, and I don’t know what will happen when the shields go down. So I want to keep it limited to three people that stay here” Sazra looked at Silina. “Commander Ruslanovna” Seeing Silina gave the nod to her as a confirmation as her head looked back at Adrián “Commander Valerio and Lieutenant Th’shrithel will stay with me. Lieutenant Shew, you will lead the evacuation of the crew when out of range of the grid. You will send out the SOS signal to Starfleet so that the survivors of the Damascus will be rescued if things go south here.” 

He wanted to protest against the idea, but he knew that Sazra had this already planned out. “Alright, I will take them out there. But you better get back for us as this is our new home” Rami smiled at her and started to tap on the console. “The command” He spoke, looking at the command team. 

“Computer, start the evacuation, direct order of Captain Sazra Praugol. 5-Sigma- 22-Alpha” Sazra spoke, looking around, only hearing a bleep. 

“Commander Silina Ruslanovna, support the order of Captain Praugol, 88-Delta-134- Bravo” Another beep came. 

“Lieutenant Commander Adrián Valerio, support the order of Captain Praugol, 71-Gamma-15-Omega” The final beep came as the alert started to sound through the ship to evacuate the ship. 

“Computer designated leader of the evacuation team is Lieutenant Rami Shew. The people that remain onboard the Damascus are Commander Ruslanovna, Commander Valerio, Lieutenant Th’shrithel, and myself” The computer bleeped again in confirmation. Sazra took a deep breath and nodded. “Commander contact the doctor to get his ass up here before he is in the escape pod” Everyone started to leave the bridge as Sazra looked over his shoulder to K’Nala “Ensign?” 

She stood there with her hands over each other, looking sad at her “I ….wish to stay at yourrr side Captain” She spoke nervously.

Turning around and placing her hand on her shoulder, “While I believe with whole my heart that you belong on the Damascus. I believe your story shouldn’t end here if things go south here” Without a moment to give her to respond, Sazra pulled her to her and embraced her. “Your aunt will be proud of you for standing up like this. I am sure of that. Now please go to the escape pod and make sure you are safe” Sazra whispered to her, and then let us go. “Don’t forget to implant all the navigation points. hurry”

Seeing K’Nala rushing off the bridge as Rami stepped into it at last and closed the door, “Good luck” he managed to state before it closed. 

The three stood on the bridge for a moment to realize how quiet it had now suddenly become. The crew was about to leave, and then the game was to proceed. The door opened, and the Andorian stepped onto the bridge. “Would you mind telling me why we are staying here on the ship while everyone else is going to the escape pods?” Kossaal moved onto the bridge, placing down his bag of equipment.

“We will execute a dangerous task that requires your medical expertise. See this as an opportunity to learn what blood dilithium really does to a person of telepathic sensitivity” Sazra looked at Kossaal with a serious facial expression.

“What are you talking about? We all know by now that your last attempt was almost suicidal” Kossaal crossed his arms, not amused with the Captain’s suggestion. 

Adrián shrugged “Sadly. She is not suggesting it. She is about to do it. The moment we drop the shields, the Blood Crystalline Entity will shift its attention to us, then the civilian ship will be safe” Adrián blinked and looked at Sazra. “What will happen then?” 

“Well, I need you guys to moderate my medical status, the Damascus status. I will ask a lot of you….I know, but I require you guys to buy me time. This time I will go full into the potential of this entity’s mind…if it has one” Sazra looked at the screen where the monster was still feasting “Time is running out for them” 

Silina looked at the screen now as well “So basically, we are the black sheep”