Sparks flew from the open panel. Instinctively Dallan dropped to his knees and began connecting the faulty wires, trying to ignore the two yelling trolls behind him. The nurse had tried to grab the controls away from the highblood, and the two were now beginning to fight over control of the tiny craft as it flew ever upward. Slamming the panel shut, Dallan stood to his feet. "We're gonna be within their ship's range soon," he yelled. "Rhozari ships have really long range, we can't be here!"
"How long do we have before we're in range?" yelled the highblood, finally wresting the controls from the other. Turning to a secondary navigation panel, Dallan read out "About four seconds." Four seconds on a tiny, untested scouting ship, versus four big fighter ships. This… wasn't going to end well. Shades of the revengineer trials began to flicker in the young troll's mind. He knew what needed to be done then. This was no different. This is what a revengineer DOES, after all. It was his job to make sure the ship didn't fall apart, no matter how crazy the captaining was. It was his job to make sure they all escaped this fight.
Of course, back then he actually had someone to fight for.
Trying unsuccessfully to push thoughts from his mind, Dallan turned to another metal panel and pried it open. Quickly he began fiddling with the inner workings of the little craft, unbeknownst to the other two trolls. He had an idea, but it might just get him killed. What if the highblood got mad at him? As he turned the thought over in his head, it slowly began to dawn on him that… well, maybe it really didn't matter what happened to him. Maybe this was just how he was gonna die. Maybe no one even c– GAH!
He'd reached into the panel again without looking, slicing his hand open and pouring teal blood on the floor. Almost instantly the nurse was upon him, grabbing his wrist roughly with one hand and spreading the fingers of the other. Nimbly she began sewing the cut closed as Dallan watched in amazement.
"You two might want to hold on…" the voice of the highblood came. Dallan turned to look at the viewscreen just in time to see the little ship hurtling toward one of the fighters. And as horrible luck would have it, it was the one fighter that hadn't dropped its bomb yet.
At least, it hadn't until now.
"TURN! TURN!" screamed Dallan, running to the highblood and shoving the controls. But it was too late, and the bomb slammed full-force into the tiny craft, engulfing it in flames and black smoke, rendering it invisible from the planet's surface.
Good thing Dallan had boosted those shields.
"Why won't my weapons work?" yelled the highblood, whirling around and turning on Dallan. "It says energy weapons are at 5%. Fix it. NOW."
Dallan's hands balled into fists. "No."
"…what did you say to me?"
"I said NO! I cut weapon power and put it in shields! We would have died!"
"We're being fired on!" yelled the nurse, reading the screens. "It says 'Hull integrity: 25 percent.' Dallan… that's bad, isn't it?"
For a moment, the three trolls stood there in that small room, looking at each other.
The graceful, arrogant dancer, his breath short and his face full of anger.
The sharp-minded surgeon, her mind only on comforting the hurting, even now.
And Dallan. The hopeful tinkerer who was out of ideas.
Except one.
"We're all going to die here," he said quietly. We're all going to die, unless…" His voice trailed off, his eyes went floorward, and he began to shake. "Unless what? You can tell us." The soft voice of the nurse came at just the right time, and Dallan looked up to see her hand fall lightly on his shoulder. "But you have to tell us now, okay?"
Dallan took a deep breath and spoke, his voice as shaky as he was. "I… I installed the hyperdrive this morning. W-we can try it. It's the only way out now."
"Do it!" the highblood rushed over, grabbing Dallan by the shoulders. Where is it? Tears began to form up in Dallan's eyes. "We might not come back."
Another moment of silence fell, seconds before the little ship was rocked by another impact. "11 percent!" the nurse yelled! "Dallan… it's up to you."
Slowly, Dallan walked to a small touchscreen panel and began entering commands. A large button on the panel began to glow a bright, piercing red.
"DO IT!"
"Don't rush him!"
"We have to! There's no time!"
"It's HIS choice!"
Dallan's tears were covering his vision, his eyes now seeing only in vague tints of teal. And looking down, shades of bright, beautiful red broke through the light blue veil. Old memories began to play in his mind as he looked down. A familiar voice now began dancing in his mind.
"Be careful, okay?" the voice said softly.
"I'm sorry," he choked out, before slamming his hand on the button.
