Jiri pushed the button to open the hanger bay doors. He hoped that there was at least enough emergency power left to open the hanger and keep the forcefields going, until he was at least able to get aboard the Ninbus.
The Ninbus retracted its landing gears and hit the deck, its walkway lowering as Jiri hurried in. He was greeted by Roruk who patted Jiri on the shoulder as he passed, then helped Jiri up when he stumbled.
Roruk led Jiri into the cockpit of the ship. Plex was sitting at the helm. 'How many do you owe me now? It's a shame I'm not charging you, I'd be a very rich woman'.
Jiri sat in the co-pilots seat still struggling for breath. Plex looked at him with concern, 'what happened?' Jiri motioned outside the ship towards the remnants of the battle. She peered outside, the lights were not functioning, but then they flickered on for a brief moment. She covered her mouth when she saw it. Her eyes looked in horror at all the bodies. 'What… what happened in here?'.
Jiri was still recovering, but offered what explanation he could. 'It was Cypher'. Plex looked even more horrified, 'what? You told me you killed him'. Jiri nodded, 'yeah, I did… and he told me that I did too, but here he was, killing everyone left on the station, and as I could tell he was far from being dead'.
Plex hesitated before asking, 'Lyn?'. Jiri's eyes dropped. It was enough to give Plex her answer. A tear fell down her cheek.
'Cypher…', Plex begun, 'Cypher did all of this?'. Jiri nodded. 'It was…', he struggled to find the words to explain what he saw, 'it was… beyond anything I have seen, or even imagined. He killed a room full of people like… like it was nothing…'.
A silence fell over the cockpit as the three of them surveyed the devastation in front of them.
Jiri broke the silence, 'wait, how… how did you guys get here so fast? Didn't you leave?'.
Roruk roared in Plex's direction. Plex responded, 'yeah, yeah i'll tell him. Look, after you and I… chatted Jiri, and I stormed off, Roruk wanted to know what happened'. Roruk growled in acknowledgement. Plex continued, 'so we hit the cloaking on the Ninbus and begun to argue about it. We must have been arguing for hours…'. Plex looked towards Roruk, who put his paw on Plex's shoulder.
Plex continued, 'then a few hours of arguments, this massive fleet jumped out of hyperspace, we didn't know what was going on. Before we knew it, a massive battle was happening outside the station'.
Jiri asked, 'you didn't join in?'.
Plex reminded him, 'this ship has no weapons or shields, remember? It's the price we pay for the cloaking'. She sighed as she went on, 'we sat and watched the station ships get decimated by the incoming fleet. Then they regrouped and jumped away. Then we heard your SOS, you know what happened after that'.
Jiri was at a loss for words. He left the cockpit silently. Plex and Roruk exchanged a silent look. Plex got out of her seat and spoke to Roruk, 'get her in the air and off the station, just in case anyone comes looking, we'd rather not be here'. Roruk roared, Plex replied, 'it doesn't matter, just anywhere but here'. She left the room after Jiri as the Ninbus took to the air.
She found Jiri sitting in the medbay, head in his hands. She took a seat next to him. 'Everything alright?' she asked. 'I've…', he struggled to get his answer out, 'I've never felt so powerless. A room full of men and women died right in front of me, and I could do nothing to stop it'.
Plex begun to console him, 'hey look, you made it. At least you got out alive'. Jiri's head stayed low, 'and that's something that I almost regret'. Plex was startled, 'wh.. what?'.
Jiri continued, 'a lot of good people just died, Lyn was one of them. She believed in something. Something bigger than herself, a better life for everyone. She believed it right up until the moment Cypher killed her. Every one of those people believed it…'. He paused to collect himself before continuing, 'and now they are all dead, and I am alive'. He added in a sombre tone, 'and what am I?'.
Plex put her finger underneath his chin, pulling his face up to meet her own. 'You… are a good man. You are one of the best men I've ever met. Lyn and I disagreed on a lot, but one of the things we both agreed on was how precious life is. Don't decide that yours in meaningless for any reason'.
Jiri's eyes looked on blankly, Plex was unsure if he had heard her or not. Then he focused in on Plex's eyes, they locked gazes for a moment. Jiri moved in to hug Plex, she hugged back. They embraced for a few moments.
They parted, Jiri spoke, 'thanks', Plex replied, 'sure'.
Then silence. They looked directly into each others eyes for a few moments. Jiri's instincts took over, he moved in without thinking. He pressed his lips against Plex's. She was slightly surprised by this, but then she found her hand moving to his face as the kiss continued.
Suddenly Roruk burst into the room speaking in his wookie dialect. Jiri and Plex parted suddenly, Roruk looked at them in shock. His angry roar echoed throughout the ship. He moved in aggressively. Plex jumped up and put her arms into the wookie's chest, trying to push him away, 'Roruk, what are you doing? Get out!'.
Roruk started to grunt, apparently reasoning with Plex. She replied, 'no he wasn't hurting me, he was kissing me and I happened to be enjoying it until you came in!' More roars followed while Plex continued to try and push the wookie out of the room. Plex answered the wookie's protests, 'yes I know you are just looking out for me, but the best thing you can do for me now is make yourself scarce!'
The wookie left, growling something. Plex called out in reply, 'yes! Thank you!', before closing the door, and hurrying over to her spot next to Jiri.
Jiri was trying to contain his grin. He asked, 'so… you liked it did you?'. Plex met his gaze, responding, 'what gave you that impression?'.
They both burst into a smile. Plex jumped on Jiri, pressing her lips against his and her arms around her neck. He brushed the side of her face with his hand as he kissed her, pressing her face ino his own. She wrapped her arms around his back as she melted into his embrace.
The wookie's voice came in over the comms, communicating something. Jiri and Plex held their bodies close as they listened to the wookie.
After the growling over the comms stopped, Jiri asked Plex, 'what was that about?'.
Plex met his gaze, 'apparently your little friends on Spirious want to see you again'.
Jiri was slightly confused by this, 'wait, what? Those robed little dudes? Roruk, are they on the comms now?'. Jiri had learned enough about how the wookie communicated to hear an affirmative answer, and that is what he got. He gently let go of Plex, promising as he did, 'we'll finish this later'. She smiled in response, 'we'd better'.
Jiri made his way into the cockpit, the short robed alien, Xhal was on the view screen. Jiri asked, 'what do you want?'.
The robed alien gave his reply, 'the time of reckoning has arrived. Please return to our planet, it is time for you to forfill the prophecy and put an end to the evil that plagues the galaxy'.
The view screen terminated before Jiri had a chance to respond.
There was silence as the three of them sat there. Plex looked to Jiri, 'to the planet then?'.
Jiri shrugged, 'we don't have much else to go on at this stage, and I get the feeling the alien knows more than he's letting on. Punch it Roruk!'. The wookie growled happily in acknowledgement as the ships hyperspace drive fired up and shot them into space.