Eh. I'll figure this out later

[KraytKing]

Was feeling inspired, this just sort of came out. I don't know what I'm planning to do with it, if anything. I have a lot of thoughts about where it could go if I do keep it up. If you have any thoughts on my writing or what bits of setting I've left around, or if you have ideas, tell me about them. Always looking to improve my writing. Obviously, I haven't found a good title, so that would be one great area for input.

Also, there's a bit of an easter egg in here. I wasn't feeling creative, so I used something familiar. If you recognize it, I'll give you a cookie.




Captain Harburik of the Stormbringer stood still as death as the blue whorls of hyperspace shifted outside the viewports. He gazed impassively outwards, ignoring the various sounds of flight in favor of quiet introspection. He considered, not for the first time, that perhaps this grand plan of his was simply a fool’s errand, that he was flying to his and his crew’s doom. On this occasion, however, the point was moot: his course had been set. To victory or death they flew.

His first officer was not so composed; Lieutenant Hightman paced restlessly around the crew pits, checking consoles and crewers. He lieutenant glanced over towards his captain, noting not for the first time how much more professional the superior officer seemed. Also not for the first time, he attempted to replicate that professionalism, moving away from the crewer he had been observing and towards the center viewport. Not a moment after he assumed this position, however, one of the technicians from the pit called out.

“Captain, we are nearing the Transitory Mists. Dropping out of hyperspace in 0.5 hours, Sir.”

Captain Harburik paused for a moment, considering his response before speaking. Lieutenant Hightman possessed no such self-restraint, and responded immediately.

“Excellent. Sound general quarters. Prepare for combat. Send crews to their stations and prepare the flight decks.”

Captain Harburik remained impassive. While his lieutenant may have been somewhat overzealous, nothing was particularly wrong with his actions. The bridge crew seemed to be reacting positively to his silence, so he decided he could maintain the aura of mystery a bit longer. Satisfied, he returned to considering the possible futures spread before him. The sounds of Lieutenant Hightman preparing the ship for combat gradually grew silent. His meditation deepened: sounds were followed by sights in the deepening abyss, the graceful curves of hyperspace and the harsh lines of the Imperial bridge disappearing before his eyes. The faint smell of recent welds had persisted from the Stormbringer’s emergency repairs weeks previous, but now it had become intangible to the captain. Finally, the taste of saliva and the feeling of faint air currents brushing against skin dissolved into abstract concepts. Captain Arkaev Harburik of the Allegiance-class battlecruiser Stormbringer suddenly became alien, unattached to the consciousness that now wandered freely about the halls of his mind.

This disembodied sapience went from imagined room to room, pausing in each one to glance at its content. Each room contained the physical imagining of a plan: the battles that could be playing out for the observer. Some were more detailed than others, and some were closer to the truth. The thing that had been Harburik watched each one, and knew the moment it diverged from what reality would come to be. The hall lengthened as simulation after simulation was discarded, the rational ones disappearing as the ever less likely contingencies came to pass. And suddenly, there it was: the perfect plan. The free entity knew instantly that this was the one. Every imagined possibility was exactly correct, down to the freighters that would drop unexpectedly from hyperspace. Some part of the entity that was still Harburik began calling, its mission complete. Reluctantly, the rest of the free being heeded the call, returning to its host.

“Captain Harburik, the Stormbringer is preparing to fall out of hyperspace. Crew is at general quarters. Reactor at optimal capacity. Turbolasers prepared for firing solution. Orders?"

He paused for a moment. His lieutenant, as expected, spoke up.

“None. Continue with present course.”

Harburik resisted the urge to sigh. Hightman would need to learn his place. But now was no time for discipline among crew. There was a battle to win.

EDIT: There are a bunch of italices that don't copy over and I couldn't be bothered to deal with them. All the parts that are usually italicized (ship names) should be.