"El stat report!" Captain McCullers shouted as she watched the screen light up in front of her, indicating the ship had been hit multiple times.

"Impact reported on sectors B4, B6 and D8, shields still holding," El's computerised voice belittling the urgency of the situation.

"They're shooting the power supply areas" Paige said in disbelief, "How the fuck do they know that?!" She turned to the temporary Navigator who had no answer.

"Captain, your orders?"

"Focus all fire on the largest ship, it's hitting us too hard!" The officers sitting at the four consoles around the room began swiping and tapping at their screens in a flurry.

A low rumble could be heard as The Mako's guns started firing.

"I need to get to the control room, El get the Fighter Crew out there" Paige left the Navigation room in a sprint. The few people still hurrying around the hall stopped and saluted as she passed.

"Forget that, get to your red stations now!" They didn't hesitate to follow her order.

Making their way to whatever station they had been assigned to, depending on their duties on the ship.

She entered the hall leading to the Control Room, which also lead to her room and Emily's.

"Paige!" It felt strange, hearing her name instead of 'Captain' at this point in time and she almost didn't respond to it, if it wasn't for the voice calling it out.

"What's going on? I heard the alarm," Emily was walking towards her with a fearful expression.

Paige turned in the doorway "Emily, stay in your room."

"Are we under attack?' Emily ignored the Captain's order.

"Yes we are, please stay in your room, its the safest place."

Emily shook her head "By who?"

"Emily I don't have time for this!" Paige said frustrated and a little forceful.

"Please Paige, I want to stay with you." The brunette's voice was almost desperate and Paige saw fear in her eyes. She realised the other girl was probably experiencing something similar to when she had been taken by Daniel Jones and all she wanted to do was take Emily away and make her feel safe for the rest of her life.

It was overwhelming and she couldn't bare it.

Paige stepped forward, took Emily's face in her hands and kissed her.

Emily stiffened as the kiss took her by surprise but quickly returned the affection.

It wasn't the romantic kiss Paige had always fantasised about but it didn't stop every nerve in her body from tingling, her senses on alert as she felt Emily lean into her. She slipped her hand down to Emily's lower back as her other hand found itself tangled in her hair. Paige's hands gripped tighter as she tried to let Emily know, simply by her touch, that she was safe.

Emily's arms were wrapped firmly around her waist and their lips were pressed hard against each other and Paige almost forgot where she was until El's voice sounded from the room behind her.

"Fighter crew awaiting orders."

Paige pulled back from the kiss and ran her thumb over Emily's cheek.

"I won't let anything happen to you."

Emily's eyes fluttered open as she caught her breath, she was a little dazed from what had just happened. Her eyes flicked to Paige's lips then back to her brown eyes as she nodded and followed the Captain into the room.

Paige lead Emily to a chair in front of the Control Panel and turned to the holographic map in the middle of the room.

"Fighter Crew report" The Captain tapped the map causing it to enlarge on a fighter crew of 15 blue dots surrounding enemy ships of 3 large red dots.

"Captain we're directing all fire to the main ships weapon...we're taking fire from the second ship! Taking evasive action!." The voice of the pilot crackled into the room.

Paige watched the 3D projection in front of her, as the Fighter crew attack ships adjusted their position.

"Fighters, keep that formation tight on the main ship, I want it down! Nav room, back them up".

"Roger Captain"

Paige gripped the bench in anger as she glanced over The Mako's stats flashing on screen.

"El, what the fuck is going on with our shields?"

"Shields are critical Captain." Paige almost laughed in frustration at the computers obvious statement.

"No shit! Get me Private Rivers."

There was a small pause and then Caleb's face filled a small screen above her, he began talking immediately.

"Captain, our shields are experiencing a high magnetic pulse with a signature I've never seen before, I can't program the generators to counteract it!".

Paige frowned "What can we do to strengthen them?"

Caleb ran his hand through his hair "I don't know, this pulse, its like nothing I've ever seen, its strong Cap... the shields won't take much more, they'll be down within the hour if we can't boost them".

The Captain stood straight as the reality of what would happen if the shields fell filled her mind.

"Caleb I want you to direct all power to the generators and leave the external lights on, I don't want them to know what we're doing"

The Tech officer stopped typing and looked up "Captain?...All power?".

"Yes everything but the weapons and external, this ship has enough power to last months without refuelling, that should boost the shields enough."

Caleb open his mouth to reply but closed it quickly when he noticed the expression on Paige's face. "Yes Captain!" he said before the screen blinked off.

"El send out a blackout warning across all decks"

Paige looked over to Emily who was focused on the holographic projection of the main enemy ship.

"It's about to get really dark in here..." She barely finished the sentence as the lights switched off.

El's voice sounded but was softer and in a lower tone than usual,

"Emergency power activated."

A few buttons and switches stayed lit up, flashing in a rhythmic pattern but were unable to shed any light into the now completely blacked out room.

Paige held her hand out instinctively as she heard Emily stand up, she felt the other girl take hold and move to stand close beside her.

"Shields at 56% and holding" El reported.

Paige let out a breath and she felt Emily turn towards her.

"Paige, those ships...I think I know what they are doing, I mean, I've seen this tactic before...".

Even though she couldn't see her face, Emily knew Paige was frowning and wanted to reach up and smooth over the small crinkle that formed at the top of her nose.

"You've seen it before? Where did..." Paige paused for a second as the realisation hit her.

"Oh shit are you telling me these are Daniels men?".

"Yes, I think so, I've seen them do this before, the big ship is actually a decoy, it fires hard and gives the illusion it's the main force but while we focus our offence on it the smaller ships take down the shields with The Pulse... and by the time the main ship is down, it's to late".

"The Pulse?" Paige questioned not liking the sound of it.

"Yes, the way The Mako's shields fell so fast, I don't think it could be anything else".

"Ok, what exactly is it and how can I stop it?".

Emily took a breath before speaking.

"It's tech given to Daniel by the Shibions a few years ago. They were planning on taking as many military ships as they could in a combined attack on the Corps. I don't know the fine details but The Pulse is a weapon designed specifically to take down Corps ships like The Mako by targeting the power source of the shields while remaining undetected. If Caleb wasn't so good at his job you probably wouldn't have even known the generators were the target".

Emily felt the tension running through the Captain's body.

"Fucking Shibions!" Paige let go of Emily's hand and strode over to a small green button lit up in the darkness, the manual communication button, and pressed it.

"Fighters, get on what ever smaller ship has the lowest heat reading, this is a critical order".

"Roger Captain, we've taken out the main ships primary weapon".

"Five by five crew but it's not the main ship, the smaller one generating the least power output is your priority, The Mako will take care of the rest".

"Target acquired Captain, we're moving in for the kill".

Emily moved to Paige's side and took her hand again and the Captain turned to her in the darkness.

"I assumed the ship holding The Pulse would be trying to go under the radar by seeming less powerful, turning its externals and cosmetic power off".

Emily nodded even though Paige could not see her.

"You assumed right. This tactic was talked about a lot but they never actually got use The Pulse before you arrested Daniel. The guys on these ships are usually lost without him, you must have really pissed them off to get them out here".

Paige huffed dismissively "Good", she pressed the button once more, "Nav room take out the large ship's secondary".

A distant hum could be heard as The Mako's guns moved to change target.

"Captain the target has been disabled and it seems the second small ship is pulling away, orders?". The fighter's voice was almost dulled out by the other fighters cheers on the channel.

"Let them go, I want that disabled ship, rope it and bring it into the ship dock"

"Roger that".

It was only moments before another voice filled the room.

"Captain the large ship is defenceless and on the brink of shut-down, are you wanting a take over? Shall we board her?".

Paige had known it wouldn't take long for The Mako to pick off the decoy ship and had made her decision when making the order.

"No, I want it in pieces, I want anyone on board to know nothing but fear in the last moments of their life. They dealt with Shibions and against us and this is the consequence". She spoke directly and her tone so clam Emily felt a little unnerved.

The Navigator was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Captain, they've surrendered..."

Paige let go of Emily's hand and moved away from her.

"Take them down, now".

The Navigator knew better than to continue questioning the orders.

It was silent in the room for a few moments before it lit up with a flash of white light as the enemy ship began imploding into pieces.

Emily was taken back by what she saw in the split second, Paige was standing looking into the black space beyond the window, her eyes dark and face devoid of all emotion.

Emily stepped towards the taller woman but stopped as the room was flooded with light as the power buzzed back into the ship.

Caleb's face filled the screen once more.

"Power is being directed normally and shields at 100%, there is a little damage externally but nothing we can't travel with until Curo", he looked up "Nice one Cap...oh hey Emily." He smiled as he noticed the brunette in the room.

"Hey" She smiled back but it was obvious her attention was on Paige, who continued to stand still as she spoke.

"I want double radar out until we dock, there's no excuse why those ships caught us off guard like that Private".

The smile fell from Caleb's face "Right Captain, I'll stay on it" The screen went black without any of the usual conversation.

Emily fought past her anxiety and moved to Paige, taking her hand again, running her thumb over her knuckles.

"Paige" She wanted the other girl to look at her. "Paige" She put her hand on the side of her face and turned her head until their eyes met.

Paige blinked and looked as though she was surprised to see Emily.

"Paige, talk to me." Emily spoke softly. She had an idea what had caused the change in the Captain.

Emotion was once again in her brown eyes as Paige sighed.

"Emily, it's safe to go back to your room now, so you can leave." She tried hard to be dismissive but failed as her voiced cracked as she spoke.

Emily shook her head "I'm not going anywhere."

Paige stepped backwards, away from the brunette,

"I have to be like this from now on, I just ordered go knows how many people to their deaths, the ones who just attacked a military ship will be on-board and I have to do things that most people wouldn't consider decent, I can't be your friend, I can't be anything to you right now." Paige tried to move further away but Emily pulled her close.

"I don't think it's possible for you to not be anything to to me. I don't care what you have to do"

Paige swallowed and tried not to let the emotional conflict going on in her head affect her actions.

"Em...I can't.."

"Shhh" Emily stopped her and rested her head on the taller girls chest. "Just promise you'll come back to me."

Paige closed her eyes as she tried to imprint every detail of this moment into her memory. Emily's warm body pressed against her, the smell of her hair, the beat of her heart against her own.

She didn't want to remember the heavy silence between them and the promise she knew she could not make.