The forging of a new path Part 3

As work continued and the forward decks neared completion, there were certain decisions that couldn't be put off any longer. So Captain Miller sent word for all hands to gather in the newly completed briefing room.

"Gentlemen," he said as the last crew member filed in and took a seat.

He stood at the head of the conference table and tried to get a general sense of the condition of his crew. Time off the ship had clearly done them all some good. But knowing that they would soon be confined to it once more was weighing on them. Some, like Captain Kilpack, were bearing the burden admirably. Others... were straining under it.

"Alright people, let's begin with a progress update," he said and tapped a panel set into the table.

A black and green schematic of the ship appeared on a monitor set into the wall behind him.

"Repairs are a little more than eighty percent complete. Several of the outermost compartments are still being assembled, the bridge doesn't have power yet, you get the idea," he said.

One of Kilpack's men raised a hand, "What about the entity? Is it confined to the engineering section?"

Miller shook his head, "Sadly, no. With every passing moment, its presence creeps further up the central corridor. Eventually, it'll infest the foredecks as well. My ability to communicate with it is... limited. But so far as I can tell, it can't actually help it. It would be akin to telling a child not to grow."

"Some fucking child!" someone called out.

Miller let out a long sigh... Poor choice of words.

"For what its worth, I will keep it in check just as I have," he offered.

Some seemed to take comfort from that, others not.

"Anyway, we've come to a point where we have to decide what to do with ourselves. Home is a very, very long ways away. And worse yet, according to the chronometer, it doesn't even exist yet. We've traveled to the distant past, as well. Whether or not the gravity drive can be used to overcome this, I don't know," he said.

The room was quiet for a long moment. Some, like himself had no one waiting on them back home. Others, like Peters had children.

"What about Dr. Weir?" someone asked.

"I...," Miller had hoped against hope that noone would bring up that lunatic.

But it was an inevitability and he HAD prepared a response...

...which would be cut short as a chime sounded overhead, indicating that someone was at the airlock. He glanced at Kilpack.

The man shrugged, "No one's scheduled to be coming across."

With a raised eyebrow, Miller typed a new command into the desk panel. The ship schematic vanished off the wall and was replaced by an overhead camera feed from the airlock. A lone figure stood there in a cloak and hood. They clearly weren't part of Vrox's work crews. So who was it?

"John, Smitty, you're with me," Miller said.

OOC: CaptainBang, feel free to make your intro here. If I have any issues, I'll let you know.