Codename Alpha: Intervention

I was instantly appalled by my own thoughts, quickly remembering what David had said to me earlier. Even if our apparent friendship was just coming from the fact that we were both alien, in both a literal and metaphorical sense, to each other, I didn't want to die, even just for his sake. I had to be there for Falco and Eric too, despite the fact that Eric had seemingly lost his mind recently.

Even though the thought of intentionally trying to die or something like that was hideous, there was still the nagging thought of whether or not it'd really be the worst if I was shot by a mutineer once fighting would likely break out later. I shook my head and groaned, realizing that now was not the time or place for this kind of thought. Even then, that question still lingered - "would they really mind if I were to be killed by a mutineer?"

I stopped for a few seconds, and just listened to the room trying to get my mind out of that dark corner. For some reason, I was expecting the intercom to chime. Instead, there was simply eerie silence. Typically, when someone was in their quarters, it'd be in the morning or night, alongside everyone else. Even though the ship's walls had remarkable soundproofing, you could still often hear muffled loud conversations and laughing, or the rushing of water through pipes in the walls. Now, there was none. The absence of even the quiet ambient hum of the warp engine certainly didn't help, making it so the only notable sounds were the slight, barely-audible creaking of the ship's damaged structure and air going through the vents.

I was gazing absentmindedly at my loft bed, thinking about how just a few hours ago I'd been hanging out there with David playing computer games. For whatever reason, though, the thought suddenly occurred that he and the other humans were probably bored, and that to alleviate that boredom, I might be able to lend them my laptop or something to watch movies on. Of course, this would all depend on Yashina, but I couldn't think of many reasons he'd say no.

I could also potentially play it strategically, suggesting some specific films which might reinforce the idea that the mutineers are absolutely not qualified to represent our civilization. With that in mind, I unhooked the radio from my belt, and pressed one of the buttons to open the quick-select menu, skimming through the list of names which then resulted to find Yashina's. I pressed the selection button, and then the transmit one, and began to speak. "Yashina, this is Nowicki Minor. Are you free to talk?"

There were a few seconds of static as I held the button down, awaiting a response. Soon enough, there was a click, and he too began to speak. "Sure, Nowicki. Go ahead." He was putting on that calm voice from the ready room meeting earlier, which oddly did bring some comfort to me.

"Sir, I'd like to bring a laptop to the mess hall so the humans can watch some movies or shows. They seemed bored when I came in, and... well, even if there are guards in there, it's still probably best to at least keep them distracted. Plus, you-" He cut me off before I could continue, which was probably for the best.

"Sure. Just set up some... parental controls or something to make sure they can't access the ship's library beyond recreational media. I don't want these people researching how to make improvised weapons, understand?"

"Yes, sir," I said, nodding, even though I was alone in my own quarters. "Thank you, sir." I let go of the transmit button and quietly laughed to myself. There was some obvious irony about the last part of his statement.

Regardless, I realized that after I gave them a laptop, I could head over to the shuttlebay control room and observe the security arrangements there before I made any further plans to retake the ship. I easily decided to simply bring them my own laptop - at this point, I had bigger things to worry about than whether or not they'd find my writings or something like that. Plus, with the guards in the room and orders for me to restrict their access to the ship's libraries, any typing or really any use of the laptop would look pretty suspicious. I didn't really want to waste time setting up parental controls, either.