4

Charlie sat in the Drake’s control room, back to the wall, brooding on the best course of action. He had been in the Drake’s bridge when the crash had happened, but, being a former space ranger, he was no stranger to spaceship crashes, and had come out of the incident with little more than a badly twisted, probably sprained ankle. Less fortunately, his Koppad had sustained some damage, and while it seemed to be receiving messages just fine- such as Alph’s call for assistance- Charlie was unable to send or reply to anything.

Which meant he had been unable to call for order on the ship, or ask for the statuses of any other crew members, or even call for any assistance of his own when he found the door refusing to open for him. He had tried the computer terminals, too, but something seemed to be wrong with them, and a technical genius he was not.

So currently, he was sitting, resting his leg, looking over the bridge for anything he could possibly use to lever open the door, and wondering if in doing so, he would risk causing more damage to the ship that could result in an oxygen leak.

He tried to keep from thinking about the others, and what situations they might be in. Experience in similar situations such as this had taught him that, in order to be of any use to anyone else, he first had to solve his own problem, and in order to do that, he shouldn't distract himself with other worries.

But it was hard not to think about his crew, hard to stifle his concerns for their safety-...

Right about then, the door finally slid open, and Alph cautiously stuck his head into the room. Then he saw Charlie and grinned. “Captain! You’re alright! When you weren’t answering your koppad…”

Charlie struggled to his feet, trying to keep his weight shifted to his right. “I think it’s broken. The koppad, I mean, not my leg. I can’t send any messages.”

“Oh,” Alph replied, brow furrowing a little. “I’ll have to take a look at that. Everything is all messed up around here, the crash did some real damage!”

Charlie looked to the smaller Koppaiate with concern. “Have you found anyone else? Do you know if B-“

“Yeah, they’re both okay! I mean, Olimar got a little banged up, and Brittany was in the cargo bay when it ruptured, but Olimar says the oxygen poisoning isn’t too bad-“

“Oxygen poisoning?! Is she okay?”

Alph nodded, and gestured placatingly. “Yeah. Like I said, she was in the cargo bay, but she managed to get out and seal the door behind her before she breathed too much in. Olimar was taking her down to the medbay, and sent me to find you.” Alph paused a little. “And it’s a good thing, too! The door’s internal mechanism was all jammed up, and half the wiring was ripped out of place! It took me a good twenty minutes to get it to work again.”

Charlie nodded a little. He was glad Brittany wasn’t in too bad condition, but the very fact that they had crashed so badly was concerning. “Any idea on how much damage was done to the Drake?”

“Not yet,” Alph admitted. “Olimar said we should focus on making sure everyone was okay first.”

Charlie gave another affirmative nod. “He’s a smart man. You said they were in the medbay?”

“That’s where Olimar said he was taking Brittany!”

“Let’s get going, then!”

Despite his limp, Charlie lead the way out of the bridge.

✿✿✿

On entering the Drake’s small medbay, Charlie almost immediately caught sight of Brittany. She was sitting with her back to the wall, her helmet on the floor beside her, looking pale and dazed, but otherwise okay. Nearby, Olimar was rifling around in some cabinets, looking for something.

“Brittany!” Charlie called, and though it elicited little response from the Koppaiate, the captain’s voice startled Olimar, who narrowly avoided banging his head on the cabinet door. “Are you alright?”

“Mh-hm.” Brittany’s response was slow in coming, though, and her lack of the usual quick, witty remark told Charlie she really must not have been feeling well. Not surprising, of course- Charlie had never had the misfortune to get oxygen poisoning himself, but he had seen its effects on a number of others before in his squad as a space ranger. It wasn’t pleasant, to say the least. Brittany must’ve been very strong to be in as good condition as she was, considering the poison.

“I think she’ll be okay,” Olimar spoke up, “the effects don’t seem too serious. She’ll probably be fine in a day or so.” He glanced back towards the cabinet he had been rummaging around in, and looking around, Charlie saw that most of the other cabinets seemed to be in similar disarray, likely from both the crash and Olimar’s hunt. “But I can’t seem to find any of the antidote tablets, or even any medication that could lessen the effects.” He paused, fixing the assembled Koppaiates with an accusatory look. “You… did pack all the medicine, right?”

Charlie, admittedly, felt a small flutter of panic in his chest at the thought. It wouldn’t be too surprising if they hadn’t; Koppaiates were legendary amongst the beings of the galaxy for their inability to plan ahead. But no, he distinctly remembered carrying a number of such labeled packages onto the Drake himself. But if they were’t in the medbay…

“Um,” Alph voiced the same thought that had just occurred to Charlie, “I think… I think I saw most of it… in the cargo bay?”

Olimar blinked a little, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You mean the cargo bay that’s currently sealed off on account of a hull breach.”

“Y-yeah. That one.”

Olimar just sighed. Charlie didn’t blame him.

“Well!” Charlie said, thinking quickly, as was required of him as captain. “There’s only one thing we can do! Olimar, Alph, you two go down to the cargo bay, and take your helmets! You’ll have to go in there and get the medicine. And since you’re both mechanics, it’ll give you an opportunity to asses the damage, and see how quickly we can repair the breach!”

“And what about you, Charlie?” Alph asked.

“I’ll stay here with Brittany, to make sure she doesn’t get any worse. And I have to make sure my ankle isn’t too bad- it could probably do with the rest, and an ice pack!”

“I’m sure,” Olimar replied, one eyebrow raised, apparently noting how Charlie was keeping most his weight on his right leg. Then Olimar just pointed to one of the disorderly cabinets. “I think I saw a couple ice packs over there. ...Anyway, come on Alph, we ought to go head down to the cargo bay.”

Alph just nodded and followed after Olimar as he headed for the door, leaving Brittany and Charlie behind.

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