He glares at me for a long moment before stepping out of the cell. "How is Nicholas?"

"Killa is tending to him. And he needs a diet."

"What?"

"Like I said, Killa is taking care of him."

Orion gives me a weird look before turning away. "Well, since she has Nicholas, I'll take care of Wayta."

We continue to size each other up.

Until the ship shakes violently, sending Orion flying against the wall, and making my hologram fade in and out of view.

He turns to me. "What was that?"

I enter the ship's reading and give them a chance to reboot.

But I don't like the answer they're sending, so I run it through the system again in case it got a bit scrambled.

Of course, the only thing that would so effectively scramble the systems would be what I'm hoping isn't the actual cause of all this.

"Alicia Ivy?"

I turn to him. "Sir, it was a solar flare."

His expression darkens. Then he takes off running toward the cockpit. "Maybe it was a one-time hit. I don't remember getting any readings for a solar storm-"

The ship rattles again, sending him sprawling forward.

"Readings aren't always exact," I offer.

"But we can't afford to mess up here," Orion says, still stumbling toward the cockpit. "We need to put the ship in stasis and hunker down."

Another ray hits us. This time, Orion manages to keep himself upright. "Put up the shields, Alicia Ivy!"

"I did," I answer.

He turns to look at me, eyes wide. "How did we not get readings for a storm this strong?!"

"It is because it was so strong that it was too fast for our reading," I answer.

Orion continues to stumble toward the cockpit. "The shields should protect us from most of the radiation, but we can't risk moving and getting a power outage."

"We have enough supplies to sustain us for a hold-up," I offer. "Even with three new passengers and a prisoner."

His tension levels seem to drop, but he continues his trek toward the cockpit.

-Banner by cannibalisticnecro

-Signature by -krystallite