Mayday

Captain Leach stared out at the swirling mosaic of Hyperspace in awe. The sight never ceased to amaze him, even despite his years of service in the Republic Navy. The vibrant blues of the dimension pulsed and flowed in intricate designs, creating and destroying patterns in a blink of an eye. There was something so captivating about the sight that Leach always found himself here, a few minutes before the start of his shift, staring out the viewport as he sipped his tea.

Or, in this case, caf. He grimaced as the black drink crawled down his throat; the alure of Hyperspace wasn't quite enough to distract him from the awful bitterness. He'd much rather be nursing a mug of tea, especially with some Alderaanian jam, but this was his unfortunate lot in life. He swiftly threw his head back and drained what was left of the mug, right as his SIC entered the bridge.

He has the timing of a clock, Leach mused as his chrono vibrated faintly on his wrist, alerting him that his shift had officially started. There was a chorus of 'Captain in charge!" from the various officers scattered amongst their posts, and the secondary command staff were relieved.

Captain Leach turned to watch his SIC efficiently make his way across the bridge. Unlike Leach, Commander Red was an impressively large man, his muscled bulk would normally cut him an imposing figure amongst a human crowd- though on the bridge of a Venator Class warship surrounded by crew members that were each identical to Red, the novelty was somewhat lost.

"Good morning, Commander. Sleep well?"

"Like a vat baby, sir." Red crisply nodded, before shifting into a more professional stance, shoulders back and eyes straight ahead. "The entire Section is on course, on time, and at full Half Readiness. We should exit Hyperspace above Felucia in precisely four hours, Captain."

"That is good news, Commander." Leach nodded, turning back towards the viewport. A frown still pulled on his face, however. "Ensure that the Section is at Full Readiness when we drop out. General Secura and Commander Bly have already begun their march, and I fear we may very well sail straight into a full fleet engagement."

Leach did not need to see his SIC to know he was frowning too. In his credit, he took a few moments to respond, to ensure his legendary temper was under control. "That," he began slowly, "bring to us an unnecessary risk, sir. I was under the impression that the ground forces were going to wait for our supplies and firepower before threatening the stalemate."

The Captain nodded but refused to rise to the bait. "Unfortunately, it is now out of our control. We will arrive late, and we must be prepared to run the gauntlet and ensure these supplies make it to the surface. Ready shields and armaments, and ensure we exit at full speed. If the enemy shall pose as an obstacle, we must provide enough of a distraction for the frigates to safely bypass them and make landfall."

"You want us to come out guns blazin' and engines roarin', sir?" Leach turned around to find Red grinning like a hungry lion despite his concern.

"Precisely. One does not make it to Cruiser Command by being cautious with every engagement, Commander." The Captain gave a smile of his own back, though his looked more like a loth-cat catching a mouse.

"I will go alert the commands of the change of plans, sir."

Leach dismissed him with a nod, before returning to the viewport. He quickly lost himself in the view and background noise of the bridge. There was little else that demanded his attention now; his ship was a well-oiled machine and required little direct oversight from him. He listened as the crew went about their work, preparing the section for a fast exit from Hyperspace. While dangerous, he trusted that his crew, and those of the following frigates, would pull it off without a hitch.

As Captain Leach gazed at the swirling tunnel of Hyperspace, he knew something was wrong. While there was not a discernible pattern to Hyperspace, it flowed in a certain way. And as Leach watched, something interrupted that flow. A soft rumble could be felt under his boots, something that did not belong to the ship's normal operations. He frowned, staring intently out the viewport as he noticed the soft blues of the other dimension suddenly start to shift to red.

"Captain! Something's wrong with ship! We're dropping out of Hyperspace!"

The rumbling grew in pitch and severity.

"Brace for unexpected Hyperspace exit!" Leach commanded as the rest of the bridge started to report in.

"The rest of the section is reporting green sir! It's only effecting us!"

Alarm klaxons began wailing, adding to the crescendo.

"We've lost control of the hyperdrive! It's not accepting inputs!"

The bridge was almost entirely engulfed in a red hue as the Hyperspace tunnel suddenly brightened dramatically.

"The ship's trying to tumble! I'm barely maintaining our heading!"

Leach watched as the stars suddenly began to snap back into singularities, and the unnatural red color was replaced with the black void.

Directly in their path stood an enemy ship.

Please let me know what you think! I'm new to writing, and my muse is very fickle. Any thoughts, ideas, criticisms, or suggestions would be very welcome!