Frontieria - Part 3

Science officer Linik Artrin lounged in the medbay, clinging to a rail on the “ceiling” with his tail- a trademark of his parareptilian heritage as a rimor. There wasn't much he could do to help with preparations, and in any case the doc wasn’t particularly keen on others touching his stuff. "You sure there's nothing I can do to help?"
"As a matter of fact," Foxwell mumbled, running a hand through his shock of auburn hair while rummaging through a drawer, "you could start to prepare the oxygen masks, over there." He pointed to a corner where several tubes emerged from the wall and connected to clear plastic nose-and-mouth masks. "Sterilise each of them and turn on the primary flow valve." He looked up from his search and stared pointedly at the small reptilian. "Carefully."
"Doc, I am always careful," Linik snorted. He was a chemist, after all.
Foxwell sighed. "I apologize for being accusatory. I just want to make sure nothing goes wrong because of negligence on our end. Aha!" He fished a set of surgical tongs from the drawer and did a brief happy jig in the null-G.
Linik drifted over to the corner and began wiping them down with sanitizer. "Any clue what the crew of this other ship is like?" Artrin asked as he worked on the oxygen masks.
"Given the current location and intended destination,” Foxwell mused, “I'd place their vector as originating from six-eighteen, which is a station system within this constellation. Probably most, if not all, humans. Maybe a shyxaure or two."
“No shells?”
Merlin laughed. “Nah. The Xib Zjhar tend to keep to themselves, and their vessel architecture is quite distinct.”
Moreva’s message echoed through the intercom. Doc looked up and sighed. "I'm still not done... Artrin, grab the field med kit and go with them. I need to stay back here to make sure everything is in place."
The chemist nodded before unhooking the field kit from its place on the wall. He couldn't say much, considering his mouth was full with the handle of the kit. He made sure he had a good enough grip on it before bounding off.
Linik nearly collided with communications officer Kirrt Surr as he reached an intersection leading to the docks. Kirrt yelped in panicked surprise. "CHEEEE! Oh, it's just you, Artrin." They dusted themself off and wobbled their eyestalk a little. "Do you think it might be possible for me to get out of-"
"Out of what, a rescue op?" a voice snarked from just behind Surr.
The ziirb almost fainted. "CHEEEAAUGH!!! DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!"
The ship’s software technician, Jae Chong, snickered at Surr’s reaction.
Linik nudged Jae with the field kit, hoping they would take it so he could speak. Jae grabbed it before hauling Surr along by the collar of their uniform. "Come on, lazy. You're not getting out of this one."
Surr flailed momentarily before reluctantly submitting. "I'm not lazy, I'm just highly concerned about the impact this particular situation might have on my-"
"Stow it, gusano," engineer Diego Castorra snapped as he floated past with a large toolbox. "Chuck needs you to run back to the comms room and send our new amigos a hail." He bid Chong to free the alien from their grasp. "JJ, when was the last time you checked the shuttles' sync systems?"
"Ehh...last week?" Jae replied as they let Surr go. "Go on, listen to Castorra. No whining," they said as they nudged the ziirb. Surr raced away, their nine tentacular appendages providing impressive speed along the wall in zero-gravity. "The shuttles should be fine,” they assured. “They haven't been damaged yet. Maintenance bots are doing their jobs pretty well.”
"Good," Diego nodded. "You two catch up. I'm headed to the foredeck to make sure we don't bleed out all our air while you're playing red rover in a space hailstorm."

—

Ness reached out a hand as Wings darted down the portside shuttle pylon. "Fletcher! Wait for-"
Too late.
"-the rest of us." She tugged at her short, platinum hair in frustration as the science officers arrived. "Slight change of plans. Wings went off by herself, so everyone is shuttle-pooling with me."
Patel rolled her eyes while Solari hid a smile. John just clicked his jaws in confusion. "Have we even sent a hail yet?"
"No."
"Oh, this'll be good."
Linik drifted into the room and glanced around. "Looks like a party in here. Remind me of why we all need to go?" he asked as he hooked his tail around a handle.
"We need as many hands as possible to make sure that all the civilians get out and are cared for," Ness explained. And to find out what exactly caused that power failure, she thought to herself.
Jae simply hung on the doorframe, holding the field kit. "Damn, I can hear all the micrometeors plinking off the shields… I wonder what a civilian ship is doing out here. You would think they would know this area is prone to storms."
"I'd wager this is just a standard civ transport," Patel suggested. "Probably making a return trip from a supply drop."
"Not to be rude," Solari interjected in her soft but commanding voice, "but can we save the hypothesizing for the shuttle ride over, please? People are in danger."
"Agreed," Moreva said. "Chuck?"
"Just locked into position on the leeward side of the deadship," the AI confirmed. "Ready for launch. Surr, Foxwell, and the engineers are staying here."
"Copy that. Pile in, crew!"