Hellfire
Posted on February 17th, 2021 by Linxi Jude

Creak…

Groan…

Neron Jude had absolutely no idea what was making these noises as he crawled through a jefferies tube. They were not normal, at least not for this ship. The ship seemed to be complaining about something. Just what about, the engineer had no idea. He heard the scrambling of his combadge and pressed it. “Jude to Engineering. What is going on?”

There was no response, only a loud static. This worried Neron, who’s team was very prompt in their responses. What could possibly be going on where there was radio silence? Even if there was a battle, which was unlikely considering this was a science vessel, someone would still respond to him.

Thump….

BANG.

How odd… Neron turned around to face the direction of the noise, shock growing rapidly in his eyes as an explosive fire swept through the jefferies tube.

 

Lieutenant Commander Neron Jude was in and out of consciousness. He had to be revived more than once. Medical staff could not keep him stable. His entire body was covered in severe burns. Some extremities even having been burned away entirely. The prognosis was… not good.

 

No- absolutely not. This couldn’t be real, this couldn’t be. Linxi frantically checked her PADD for updates on her father, increasingly growing distressed as the news grew worse. Her emotional restraint wore down, which increasingly projected her emotions on the crew in the vicinity.

A pendulum of news was thrown at Linxi, ranging from he is awake to we had to revive him again, with no light at the end of the tunnel. By the time the message came, Linxi was numb. After being emotionally thrown about for hours, she had practically no energy left. She laid on the floor of her quarters and stared at the ceiling, PADD next to her.

Nothing was supposed to be wrong. What happened? What happened? There wasn’t even a battle, not an enemy to be found. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a day of collecting data from a primitive planet. So why him?

This ship, Atlantis, was so much more dangerous, yet she somehow always got away scot free. Why dad? There were dangers to Starfleet, and Linxi fully knew that. But now she couldn’t shake that newly embedded fear of something devastating happening even on a seemingly ordinary day.

Linxi was then the only one left who could give her youngest brother the support he needed. He wouldn’t be able to leave the confines of their mother’s traditional ideals without her. If something were to happen to her on this ship, it would be an utter failure on her part. What if they had never left the Gencodian planet? What if instead of surviving, each battle with an enemy had resulted in defeat?

No. The burden of her four younger siblings now rested on her shoulders. She had a choice to make. Family, or the Final Frontier?