A nervous sort of laugh bubbled out of Leta’s lips, though it faded off awkwardly. Arms master? Meanwhile she continued to shake Corra’s hand for an unnecessarily long stretch of time. Finally realizing, she dropped her hand, blinked and said, “I’m Leta. And I don’t know how long I’ll be aboard. Actually. But your captain does need treatment and … “

“Fraid you ain’t gonna be treatin’ anything til we’re airborne,” Corra told her briskly. “And if we’re gonna make it airborne, better get strapped in. I was gonna head up to the bridge. Some seats up there to hold on to. ‘Sides. If the cap’n was right and we’re gettin’ tailed, should be a mighty fine show and no denyin’ they’re the best seats in the house.”

Turning around, the girl gestured merrily for Leta to follow along as if they were headed out the door for a picnic. Without much else to do, Leta irked an eyebrow, stared, and then started after. Beneath her feet, the floor was beginning to lightly tremble, humming to life. Trying to ignore the unpleasant swoop in her stomach, she carefully followed on Corra’s heels through the narrow hallway and up a short staircase toward the bridge.

Leta had never been in a ship’s bridge before. She would have imagined it quite a bit larger, but then again, the only ships she’d ever been on were commercial travel vessels. This cabin had only two chairs, a half-moon dashboard of controls, and it would’ve fit a handful of people. Presently it held just one, the infected captain, at the controls. Once Leta and Corra halted in the doorway, he turned around in his chair and said bluntly, “Can I help you?”

“The passenger seats are broken,” Corra informed him, folding down one of the cockpit chairs hidden in the back wall. He just stared back at her blankly. “Needed a place to strap in so you don’t kill us.” His expression shifted toward a glare. Corra smirked in return. “How’s the fever?”

“It’s fine,” he snapped, and then spun back round in his chair, away from them.

“Not gonna go all crazy again, right?” Corra continued to tease, though the smirk in her lips was a little cruel. Fiearius didn’t even bother to look around or respond so she just went on. “But if you do, it’s all right, I brought the doctor along.” She looked back at Leta and gestured for her to have a seat next to her in the other chair. “Strap yourself in, chika, gonna be a bumpy ride. You been on a ship like this before? Let me rephrase that, you felt like you’re gonna die before? Basically the same thing.”

Apparently determined to ignore the both of them, Fiearius picked up the intercom and spoke into it, “You ready for this, little brother? I’m counting on you.”

There was a long pause before Cyrus’ muffled voice filled the room, rather bitterly. “Ready when you are, captain.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Fiearius said brightly, putting the intercom back in its place and adding, “Hold onto your seatbelts, ladies,” while he seized the main controls.  On the console screen above his head, six red dots appeared on the radar. Even from the door of the bridge, Leta could feel the power of his smirk as he said, “And the fun begins.”