The Nautican Gambit
The Nautican Gambit
"I fly her! She's my ship!" Watt rebutted.
"How about I'm both of yours!" came a feminine robotic voice from the ceiling above. "If you don't mind returning your focus to the tasks at hand, I would prefer to make it to the end of this day in one piece. Not crudely dismantled by Nautican scavengers, one panel at a time!"
"Don't worry, Stella, you know I'd never let it come to that." Core spoke confidently to the ship. "I'll just fix this little issue real quick and then my lunk of a brother can fly us out of here."
"Lunk of a brother!?" Watt repeated. "I'll show you a lunk..."
Watt shoved the yoke forward and then yanked it back quickly. At the same time, the ship dipped down and then popped back up in a sharp, sudden motion. Core tripped forward, banging his his face on the control panel in front of him.
"Owww!!!" Core screamed, rubbing his forehead. "You did that on purpose, Watler!"
"Don't call me Watler, Corvin!"
Core flipped through the wires in his hand, finding the one that controlled the reverse thrusters.
"Two can play at that game..." he laughed to himself, getting ready to press the thruster wire into the power core and give Watt a similar forehead-knocking jolt.
"Boys, please don't!" the ship begged them.
But they did... Watt was anticipating some sort of retaliation from his brother, so he yanked back on the yoke, once more, to try and stop him. He didn't realize that Core had the entire bundle of wires in his hand. As the ship suddenly veered straight up, Core fell backwards, wires in hand, and pulled the entire bundle out of the control panel. Every fuse blew and the entire ship went dark. It was completely powerless except for Stella and some basic radio communications. Star Whisperer was an unresponsive hulk, floating out there in the dark of space.
"I can't believe you did that!!!" both brothers yelled at each other at the same time.
"Me? That was you!" they both continued.
"That was both of you," Stella chided them. "Do you not realize what you've done? You just guaranteed that we will be caught by the Nauticans. The two of you will be taken aboard their cruiser and interrogated. Might I remind you that Nauticans don't interrogate with words... I, on the other hand... I'll be stowed in their hangar and... *gulp*... scrapped!"
"Wait a minute..." Core interrupted. "Did you actually gulp? Or did you just play a recording of one?"
"Leave her alone!" Watt yelled down to Core. "She can gulp if she wants!"
