Croft's Ark Part 3

Aragorn escorted Plisken to the room were Eric waited. Plisken had had his hands bound as soon as Aragorn had recovered his senses. Plisken saw no point in fighting as he was ‘too tired’. Aragorn, however, took pride in his capture of a strange new person and hoped to tell his mother someday. The door to the room slide open and Aragorn pushed Plisken in.
“Thank you, Yeoman,” said Eric.
“Thanks, Yeoman,” mimicked Plisken in a mocking tone. Eric guessed that he was not pleased that he had been bound and marched after saving someone. Aragorn stepped out of the room and it was the last time that Plisken and Aragorn would meet for a long time. The door slid shut and left Eric and Plisken alone.
“Who are you?” asked Plisken. Eric was surprised by the question; he thought he was supposed to ask the questions. Plisken took a seat, allowing Eric sometime to think of an answer. The seat was surprisingly soft and it was definitely the best thing he had sat on in recent years. Eric watched Plisken as he admired the chair. It was only a cheap office swivel seat but it seemed to please the long haired man.
“I’m Eric Croft and we are what remain of the crew of Blue Dwarf,” said Eric, satisfied that the answer would put off any further questions.
But Plisken looked up with a confused face, “No your not.”
The two men looked at each other for a while, not understanding each other. They both thought the same of each other: a raving idiot. But Eric was the one in charge here and he hardly had time to deal with a madman. He reached to an intercom. and called for someone to take Plisken away.
“Make sure you secure the edges of your settlement, Mr. Croft,” said Plisken, who was already planning on how to escape.
“What do you mean?” asked Eric, his interest piqued by the sudden advice.
“I’ve been out there for 3 years, Mr. Croft. There is a rise in Huzzard population and by my reckoning there shouldn’t be any Huzzards down here. When I came in, the only defence was that kid with the sword! A Huzzard could have eaten him for breakfast, had time to digest him and then moved his bowels before anyone would have noticed the kid’s disappearance.”
Eric thought long and hard about this. The man sure looked like he knew what he was talking about; the weathered look said it all. Plisken was a man trying to help, but why?
“Why are you helping me?” asked Eric, not sure if this man was for real or not.
“Look, I have seen your settlement from afar and I know what you are doing. I don’t really understand why you are doing it but I can see you mean good. If I can make a difference then I am willing to help.” Eric looked at him for a long while, trying to figure him out. “Do you not believe me? Fine, go to storage room six and you’ll find plans for the Star Drive you’ve been trying to build. Go to Room 1337 and use the code 4264 to open the door. You’ll find 20 Bazookoids and 30 clips of Ammo for each.”
Eric was stunned by the readiness to help that Plisken had. “Wait here and I’ll check these things out,” said Eric hurrying out of the room.
“Wait!” shouted Plisken as the door locked behind him. Plisken sighed and began to execute his escape plan. On his metal arm was a sharp piece of rusted metal that had bent from the surface. Plisken sawed through the bonds with ease and soon his arms were free. Plisken quickly jumped onto the desk and pulled of a ceiling panel, revealing an air duct that was more than large enough for comfortable crawling. Plisken jumped down of the desk again and rummaged around the room looking for something to write on. With a pen Plisken wrote down all the places of supplies that he had come across on his travels. He signed the paper and left it on the desk. Plisken jumped up into the air duct and continued his journey home.
It was not until long after midnight when Eric finally returned to the room. After inspecting the two locations that he had been provided, which meant disabling the Temporal Field, he had been called to the meeting with Gimli and inspected the Stargate research. Eric found the little note from Plisken and it helped greatly in the construction of the Ark.
Eric stepped out his daydream and found himself back in the room with his journal lying open on the surface. He picked up his bowie knife that was lodged in the table and walked to the Hanger were the Ark sat ready to be fired into space. It had taken longer than he had thought to get everyone into the Ark, taking everyone from the settlements and placing them on the ship was no easy task. And then the merchants wanted to take all their goods and then they wanted to have shops and then Dethenor began to spread slander again. Not to mention the constant Huzzard attacks that had now been getting into the Hanger itself. Had it not been for Plisken the Lower Decks would be completely overrun. Samwise greeted Eric as he neared the ship and he was dressed in his magnificent cloak.
“Eric my friend, the Stargate is finished! Both of them!” cried Samwise in joy. The Stargate allowed almost instantaneous travel between two gates. It was too complicated for either of the men to understand but if it worked, it worked.
“Has the first been set up?” asked Eric who began to walk towards to young men loitering near the generator room.
“Yes, yes. Everything is ready to go. All we need are the last few things put on board and we are ready.”
“Good,” said Eric, turning his attention to the young men, “Gentlemen, could you fetch my belongings and place them onboard?” Without a word the young men saluted smartly and hurried to complete their task.
Several hours later it was time for take-off. Eric sat in the bridge, though not in the captain’s chair. That was reserved for Captain Picard, the foremost expert on spacecraft piloting that they had. His first mate, Commander Janeway, sat smartly beside him, her legs crossed and hair in a tight bun. At the helm was Boromir, the son Dethenor and at the communications station was Lieutenant Uhura. Eric felt a bit out of place among such professional people.
“I hope Sisko’s blueprints were good,” mumbled the captain.
Uhura spun in her chair and faced the captain, “Bel’anna says that Engineering is ready to go, sir” relayed officer.
“Very well, engage,” commanded Picard, motioning forward with his hand as he spoke. The ship juddered as the engines began to work at full power. Boromir eased the massive ship out of the hanger, leaving only one object behind, the ring of Naquadah that was the Stargate. Soon the ship had left the body of the Blue Dwarf, taking its first steps in the cold void. It was a graceful sight as the sleek body of the ship poured out the hanger and its green painted exterior contrasting violently with the black of space. The faint blue from the engines glowed like a holy aura and the bridge shone like s crown, its many lights twinkling. The ship was a success. The crew of Blue Dwarf, high up near the Drive Room, hardly noticed the Ark leaving. Only Plisken thought of it as he was examined by Phi. Not even Holly noticed its leaving. It was as if the ship snuck out at night and went to explore. Eric felt pleased with himself; he could now be part of a society were there was next to no corruption and no influence from the outside world. He thought he had created the perfect world.

<OCC> - I wrote this mainly because I thought it would be quite fun to do and because I thought that if the crew of Blue Dwarf ever needed a helping hand then there would be someone to make a timely arrival and help save the day.