The ship on screen appeared as diseased as he imagined its crew would be. He squinted his eyes as he leaned forward to examine the image. Canting his head to the side as the Rubi edged closer as a cautious speed he debated just what exactly it was this reminded him of. Finally it settled on him.

“It’s like rust. But alive.”

“A most apt analogy Captain. It would appear whatever the organic component is, it is breakdown the alloy’s of the vessel.”

“What kind of risks are we looking at for a hull breach or structural collapse?”

The saurian at science swayed side to side in an almost jerky stop motion manner as he worked at his console. Tiberius guessed he was mentally playing a song of some type. Music always helped him focus too.

“Sensors indicate the compromised portions of the hall are as structurally sound as the non-compromised sections.”

Tib leaned back, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. “Any traces of the energy readings from off the surface?”

“Negative sir, nothing on the exterior. Trace readings from the interior but its difficult to say without a more thorough scan.”

“Anyway to boost the scan resolution?”

Vossk shook his head. “Our sensor suite is barely adequate at best, and insufficient at worst.”

“Point taken. We’ll just have to do the best we can with what we’ve got. We can let one of the more robust ships chew on the data.”

Tib leaned back in his seat, with little more left for him to do now but wait and let his crew do their jobs. The Rubidoux eased through space at what felt like to Tib a near glacial pace. Still, the caution was doubly merited in this situation. If they were coasting into pirate bait he wanted to be ready to run. If they were heading into a crisis situation, he wanted to make sure his people were best prepared to deal with it. They’d rehearsed for this kind of thing off and on, but now it was the real deal. Time to see how much all that practice was about to pay off.

The situation on the disabled pirate ship remained the same for the time being. The ship was largely disabled, rendered that way by whatever transformation or metamorphasis the hull was undergoing. His science officer felt like a hull breach was negligible. Both reassuring and concerning. Whatever exactly was happening to the marooned pirate vessel out there?

“Operations reports the first wave of shuttles are on their way.” Lt. Jel’kan said.

“Thank you, Lt. Please continue monitoring and reporting.”

The Rubidoux eased to a halt at its designated waypoint. Right down to the millimeter. Tib couldn’t help but smile. His brother Kyle would have helmed the ship like its aft end was on fire. What was it he said one time? Fly it like you stole it? Whatever that was supposed to mean. He suspected he needed to have a conversation with Kyle about his off work activities.

“Holding station at 500 kilometers.” Thorne said, turning back to give him a nod.

“Excellent work Lt. Keep the warp drive primed in case circumstances convince us to leave the system faster than planned.”

Thorne hesitated. “Um, sir?”

“What is it Lt?”

“It’s just that…Engineering has been very vocal about leaving the warp drive primed for too long.”

Tib smiled and nodded. He knew where this was going. Ms. Bennett’s hand at work no doubt. He was due for a trip to engineering anyway. And since Lorena needed some logged time with butt in seat on the bridge it freed him up to stretch his legs some. He stood up clapping his thighs and glanced to the XO, who eyed him curiously.

“XO, you have the bridge.”

“Sir?”

“You can handle the situation from here. Most of it will just be waiting on the medevac teams to extract the sick pirates and cart them back. Plenty of time to go stretch my legs and chat with our resident wrench turner.”

“Sir sometimes I honestly cannot follow what you’re saying.”

“You sit here, and watch them do the thing.” Tib said pointing at his chair and then the main screen. Lorena’s brow quirked as she rose and took a seat again.  Satisfied that things were as they should be strode to the lift. “The bridge is yours XO. Let me know if the situation changes. I’m going to go have a chat with our engine troll.”

“Don’t forget to pay the toll.” Lt. Thorne chimed in cheerily from her station.

Tib snapped and clapped his hands. “Thank you! Finally someone gets something I say.”

“You could always try making more sense and using less outdated cultural expressions?”

“Never!” Tib shouted playfully as the turbolift doors hissed shut before whisking him off into the bowels of the ship. A half minute or so later the doors parted open to reveal Main engineering. He always wondered the environmental hazards of taking a turbolift car ride along part of a nacelle, but ultimately, it had to be safe right? Most of engineering was thin personnel wise. His humanitarian aid mission had cannibalized Engineering as badly as any other department. That wasn’t going to be points in his favor, but he had a few aces in his sleeve he could play if he needed. He rounded the corner of the corridor and faced the main housing for the warp core, and stood before it like it’s own personal queen, Lt. Cmdr. Vix Bennett. She stood like a humanoid titan. He wasn’t deeply familiar with her people but knew they were built like human ogres. Most had the manners of one too. Tib was still feeling her out but felt like he’d a confident enough grasp that they got their jobs done.

He cleared his throat to get her attention. “Chief. I’ve got bad news.”

Vix turned her head at the sound of the captain’s voice. She hadn’t been on board long enough to get a read on him properly yet.

“We’ve stopped, but the bridge still has the drive primed.” It was a blunt statement as she turned to face Tiberius, one eyebrow raised. “Why would that be, sir?”

She let the question hang in the air as she met him look for look. He was just a last in a long line of captains she’d had to deal with, some more difficult than others. She hoped he wasn’t going to be one of the difficult ones. The Rubi was a nice little ship, with a few quirks, but Vix knew she could get her engineering systems purring like a kitten.

If the captain let her get on with it and didn’t make ridiculous requests like keeping the drive primed for way longer than it should sit at that level.

”We’re neck deep in pirate space on a medical rescue mission. Call me cautious but I’d like to make a hasty advance in the opposing direction if we get jumped.”

He wasn’t callous enough to ignore a distress beacon even if it made no sense. They were duty sworn to respond. But he couldn’t completely rule out the odds this was a trap.

“In a word? Prudence, Chief.”

Okay, that was a reasonable reason to keep the drive primed, so she inclined her head. “I’ll make sure we have enough in reserve.” She frowned as she thought, her mind already on which engineers she had where. There were routine maintenance jobs she could put back if she needed all hands on deck.

Then she focused on the captain again, and did her best not to glare at him. He was a handsome man, which meant she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. But that was a her problem, not a him problem, and from what she’d seen so far, he was a very capable captain… even if she couldn’t see what an officer of his experience and ability was doing on a Cali-class.

“I know the replicators on deck two are glitchy,” she added, anticipating what his next question was likely to be. “It’s on the list to be fixed.”

“Thanks Chief. I know it’s asking a lot, and I appreciate it. Given the circumstances I’m feeling extra cautious. Let me know if it’s too much of a tax on the system. We’ll try and figure something else out if we have to.”

He gave her a friendly smile and nodded. “Deck two’s always been a little more…special than the rest of the ship. While I’d like to say we have higher priorities atm, I think the crew would be more inclined to disagree with me. Though I did catch an improved game of handball taking advantage of the those twitchy grav plates. The hangtime was pretty solid.” Tiberius smiled when he caught himself straying. He shook his head as if to dislodge the tangent.

“I’m sure your teams will get to it as soon as they can, and that’s good enough for me. Is there anything I can do to ease the burdens?” Tib asked.

The tangent surprised her, and her lips twitched. “I’m more used to warball myself,” she commented lightly.

“Can’t get a team together though, there’s never enough of the crew that are hardy enough. And, no sir, thank you. Unless you’d like to pick up a spanner yourself?” She asked, reaching for a tool from her belt and flipping it over and back in her hand in the same way a soldier would a combat dagger.

Tiberius offered her the self same boyish grin his old man trademarked with the family name. “Tell you what. Let me deal with this plague and ship cancer business, and when we’re in the clear, I’d be happy to come down and pitch in. Maybe we can make an engineering clinic of it. Expand some of the crews knowledge base and reinforce those that do know. It could be a good learning experience and let the crew bond a little. I think we could all use some of that after recent events.”

He glanced off as if reviewing his statement on a padd and nodded in approval, turning his attention back to Bennett.

“What do ya say?”

He held his hand out to shake on. An old terran custom that he was completely oblivious to whether she got it or not. As he was with most of his expressions. They tended to just happen whether anyone was ready for them or not.

She flicked a glance down at his hand, but fortunately she was familiar enough with the terran gesture. Taking his hand, she shook it firmly, then offered a small grin.

“Sounds like a plan, sir. If you’re sure a pretty boy like you knows which end of a spanner is which…”

Tib bit back a chuckle at that. She had spunk. He could work with that. He figured the big bad chief bit was to dissuade junior officers and maybe even most senior officers from getting friendly.

It wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before. He reached into his pocket and fished a commanders coin out and tossed it to the Chief.

“The troll’s toll for engineering. I’ll let you decide if I can handle an engineering kit Chief. In due time.”

He turned back for the lift and gave a friendly wave over his shoulder.

”Thanks again Chief.”

Vix’s hand snapped out, and she caught the coin with ease. Turning it over in her fingers, she looked at the captain’s retreating back, her mouth agape for a second before she snapped it shut.

Had he seriously just called her a troll?

Then she chuckled and pocketed the coin. Fair was far, she had called him a pretty boy first.