“Star,” Jazin muttered as he fought between his responsibility to his warship and to his mate.
“I will go check on her,” Jar said as he released his grip on the railing. “I will let you know immediately.”
“Thank you, my friend,” Jazin said with a nod. “Tell her I would have come myself but I have to make sure the ship is safe first.”
“I will,” Jar said as he stepped closer to the door. It didn’t open at first. Jar gripped it at the seam and pulled it open as if he was tearing paper from a box.
Jazin looked down at the men moving down below him. Two warriors were removing the body of the man who fell. The crew members who could were working on repairing the equipment at their stations while others were helping those who were injured. Jazin ordered the alarms off. Lights began to flicker back on as the emergency teams worked to restore order. Jazin ordered the comlink repaired as soon as possible. They needed to rescue as many Tearnats as they could before the second warship disintegrated.
*.*.*
Jar worked his way down to deck four. Along the way he passed several injured warriors. He paused long enough to record their location and submitted it to the emergency medical team closest to them. He was not hampered by the limitation of the communication’s systems as he could by-pass it and patch directly into the warship’s computer system. That was how he contacted Dakar and Armet.
“How long before you are able to get the systems back online?” Jar asked as he patched into their comlink.
“Us?” Dakar growled out. “You’re the one with the computer brain. Why don’t you just fix the damn thing?”
“I am good but I am not that good,” Jar said seriously. “I will begin bringing what systems I can online but I do not want to override my own systems.”
“We are in the landing bay. Two of the shuttles broke loose and slammed into another. It is going to take a while to get the equipment we need to pull them off the one,” Armet cursed.
Jar paused for a moment before he pushed open the door to the emergency hatch leading to the lower level. “Was the Tearnat starship damaged?”
“It sustained some minor damage when the front end of one of the shuttles hit it,” Armet said. “It will take a few hours to repair but it should be fine.”
Jar grabbed the handrails on each side of the ladder leading down and slid down to the next level. “Very well. I am checking on Jazin’s little warrior.”
“Gods,” Armet cursed again. “I didn’t even think about her. Fine Captain of the Guard I am,” he said in disgust. “I’m on my way up.”
“I will inform her,” Jar said signing off.
He walked down the corridor noticing it was empty. That was not unusual as this level contained the living quarters of some of the officers and several relaxation lounges for the crew. He stopped in front of the door to Jazin and Star’s living quarters unsure of the protocol of asking for admittance when there was no automatic alert. He raised his hand and knocked loudly several times. When he didn’t receive an answer, he became concerned that perhaps the little warrior had been knocked unconscious or hurt badly.
He gripped the door and pulled it open. He immediately knew she was not in the room. He stepped inside and breathed deeply. His senses immediately picked up the scent of the little female. He also picked up the faint scent of Jazin. What concerned him was the scent of two unfamiliar males. His eyes narrowed and he scanned the room. He stopped when he came to the moisture on the floor near the door. He bent down and swiped his finger through the liquid. He touched the tip of his finger to his tongue. Immediately, the taste of an herbal tea with all chemical compounds flowed through his brain. He stood and quickly searched the rooms. He returned to the area. His eyes glowed as he changed his field of vision. Near the replicator was the footprint of one of the males. Jar scanned the handle of the cleansing unit, documenting the fingerprints on the handle to the processor in his brain. His mind scanned the crew documents and discovered the man had just transferred over from the disabled warship an hour before they departed Elpidios.
Jar carefully opened the cleansing unit and discovered a cracked cup sitting on the top shelf. His mind processed the information in rapid order and he drew a conclusion that sent an unusual shiver of emotion through him. He tapped into the warship’s computer system again and did a ship wide scan for the little female. Deck after deck, department after department came up with a negative. He finally sent a command to retrieve her last known location. Within seconds, the disposal bay responded. He sent one more request even as he dreaded the response he knew he would get.