"FTL charged!" Lisandra spoke to Notch in the Weapons Room through the speakers. "Ready?"

"Yes, Capt'n!" Notch shouted back.

"Ready!" Magmar clicked from the shields.

"Alright." The ship began to emit a high-powered whirr. "Glory through violence!"

"Glory through violence!" The crew shouted back, and in a split second the noise began to die down again. They were at a new beacon; almost immediately the ship's sensors picked up a nearby ship, broadcasting an image to the weapons screen Notch was in front of.

Lisandra was keeping up a constant commentary. "Rebel rigger on starboard! She's a two-shielder with nothing but a dual laser, easy target! She sees our pirate markings – concentrate burst laser on their shields so we can beam 'em out with our halberd!"

Notch quickly targeted the desired system. It began to charge, charge...

"Jump!" Magmar warned.

"No, no, they're jumping! Laser to the helm!"

Flustered by the sudden order, Notch wasn't quite fast enough to redirect fire. Two slammed into the shields and the third ripped into the shield systems, no doubt causing a small amount of havoc inside.

"Notch!" The sharp tone made the Mantis cringe. "I told you to fire at the helm!"

"I tried to, but-"

"Jump now!" Magmar interrupted. The ship was most likely only a few seconds away from escape.

Lisandra growled. "Fine. Redirect power to the teleporter and I'll deal with this mess."

"But-" Notch heard a beep as the comms system was shut off. With a groan, they took power out of the weapons to work the teleporter and beamed their captain aboard.

Then they could only sit back and watch the screens. Their sensors couldn't quite pick up the inside of the enemy ship but they did detect four life signatures after the teleporter fired.

For a long moment, everything remained the same. The jump warning was still in place. Then:

FTL JUMP DELAYED. 3 LIFE SIGS ON BOARD.

Notch let out a hiss of relief just as another notification popped up.

FTL JUMP DELAYED. 2 LIFE SI-

FTL JUMP DELAYED. 1 LIFE SIGS ON BOARD.

Then the enemy ship began to hail them. Judging by the fact it was no longer attempting a jump, Notch assumed the best and opened communications.

Lisandra's rather displeased face showed up on the screen. They had some sort of dark liquid sprayed around their mandibles – no prizes for guessing what it was.

"The humans have been taken care of." Lisandra spoke curtly. "Notch, teleport over and help me scrap this ship. Magmar, stay and guard. Lisandra out."

Notch left their position and skittered over to the teleporter. They stood in place and in a matter of moments were teleported over to the ship. They landed in what appeared to be a large Medbay fitted with an equally large system. Everything appeared normal except for a limp hand stuck between one of the doors.

There they paused, unsure of what to do until a door slid open from behind and startled them.

"There you are." Lisandra stalked into the room. One of their arms was completely covered up to the elbow in half-dried blood, and the rest of their body was still heavily smattered by the stuff.

Notch immediately started talking. "Capt'n, I can explain! The lasers were just firing when I tried to switch to the helm. It would have been impossible to-"

"Are you saying you're too slow for a fight?" Lisandra shot back.

"No! I-"

"Then you should've hit the helm!" In a burst of rage, the Mantis struck out at the Medical system. It sparked and whirred and clunked and died. Notch recoiled.

"Mantis, are born to fight." Lisandra spoke slowly, heavily. "A Mantis, who cannot fight, should not have been born. Do you understand, Notch?"

"Yes, Capt'n!" Notch immediately answered. "I completely understand. It won't happen again!"

Lisandra turned, suddenly seeming a lot more pleased than a split second ago. They held their bloody arm up to the ceiling. "Glory though violence!"

"Glory through violence!" Notch repeated, raising their arm as well. Lisandra laughed.

"Good. You learn quickly for such a young Mantis." They trotted out through the door the hand had been trapped in. "Now 'elp me scrap this ship, will ya?"

~Line Break~

The two Mantis were just beginning to scrap the Engine Room when their Mantis ship began to hail them. Magmar appeared on the screen.

"Breach." They clicked.

"There's a hull breach?" Lisandra asked. "Where?"

"Hold."

"Again? Argh... we'll have to investigate this later. For now; Notch!"

"Yes, Capt'n!"

"You're on repair duty. Beam 'em back, Mag."

Magmar teleported the young Mantis back, who immediately made their way back to the Engine Room. They saw down in the hold that the Zoltan was glowing again, but this time they switched on the light.

Sem cracked open their eyes at this disturbance. "Greetings, Mantis."

"Uh, hello." Notch spotted the breach in exactly the same place as before and made their way over.

"So, you hit the shields when you were supposed to hit the helm." The Zoltan's words made Notch jump.

"What? How did you know that?"

"You shout your orders."

"Oh, right." They hesitated. "So?"

"It was simply an observation. Continue."

Notch shuffled to the breach and examined it. It appeared that the piece of scrap welded over the hole had come loose and somehow punctured the duct tape seal. There was nothing for it but to redo the procedure with a little more care than last time.

After repairing the breach, Sem spoke again.

"Mantis, do you happen to have any sustenance on board?"

"Suste-what?"

"Food. I haven't eaten since my capture."

Notch stood up, suddenly realising the truth of this statement. "Ah. I'll- we have... meat?"

"That will not do."

"We don't have anything else!" They snapped.

"Calm down, I meant no insult by that statement." Sem looked over at the rest of the hold. "Perhaps there is some salvage that would be useful. Rebel ships contain three months' worth emergency rations in their Medbays each."

"They do?"

"They are the oval-shaped capsules implanted in aluminium sheets."

"Those are rations?" Notch distinctly remembered using those as throwing projectiles when they were attacking an Engi ship, to great effect. Now very curious, the Mantis skittered over to the smashed Medbay system they had looted and opened a draw. They carefully drew out what appeared to be a baking tray and handed it to the Zoltan.

"My thanks." Sem took it, poked a hole in the sheet and drew out one of the capsules. Notch watched them break it in half and put one end in their mouth, chewing quickly and swallowing. They then looked up at the Mantis. "Are you also in need of sustenance?"

"No, no! Just... how does your mouth do that?"

Sem blinked. "I do not know. I never had a particular interest in anatomy."

"Anatomy?"

"A study of the body." The Zoltan paused. "You are a very curious Mantis. What is your name?"

Notch cocked their head. "Why do you keep asking me that? It's not important."

"How intriguing! In Zoltan space, a name is one of the first things one is told about a person. It is extremely important."

The Mantis blinked. "My name is-"

"Notch!" There was a shout from upstairs, and the two saw Lisandra at the top of the steps. They were carrying a large hunk of scrap. "Whatta you doing?"

Notch backed up, lost for words. A calm voice spoke for them.

"This Mantis was merely offering me food." Sem motioned towards the ration tray. "They realised I would starve before we reached the Slug nebula and-"

"Shut up, Zoltan!" Lisandra snarled, then looked to Notch. "Is this true?"

Notch nodded quickly. They watched their captain put down the scrap and turn to face them.

"Notch." They hissed, and the young Mantis bowed their head in shame. "That's... brilliant!"

Notch's head shot back up. "Huh?"

"I never would have remembered to keep this Zoltan alive! And you finally found out a use for those strange rebel bullet things!" They nudged the young Mantis as they passed back up the stairs. "Talk about a turnaround. Now come on, I'll need some 'elp carrying the engines..."

Lisandra disappeared, leaving the Mantis and the Zoltan alone again. The two looked at each other.

"My name is, uh, Notch." Notch backed up to the stairs and skittered away.