Group Hug

Akane's breathing was a little more heavy than usual. Her throat felt dry, and she couldn't seem to stop fidgeting. She turned her head to any little movement coming from the upper floor of the crew car, but never saw anything. Even the crew's most intense planet-side missions hadn't managed to get her this worked up. 

Boingo almost always came back to the ship with an injury or two, so why was this time any different? She knew why, of course. But Akane didn't want to admit that, deep down, she was afraid the captain wasn't going to make it out alive this time. 

After what felt like hours, the promising sound of footsteps on the floorboards above drew her attention. Rendknave's shadow loomed over her as he came down the stairs, carrying a bundle of rags that smelled like they had been soaked in rocket fuel. Akane couldn't help herself from perking up and almost sprinting over to her crewmate. He turned to her, expression as unreadable as ever. 

"Is he going to be okay?" She asked, and was a little shocked to actually hear the desperation in her voice. Rendknave's pause before answering only worried her more. When he finally spoke, it was with his usual monotone, but his outwardly stoic appearance was betrayed by his words, "Worried. It seems they still are not awake, and that is to be expected with the wound they have received. Hopeful. However, Akio says that they are recovering, if slowly. Relieved. The captain is lucky that they had Akio and Ethoxy with them this time, I am sure that their combined knowledge of medicine and novakid biology saved Boingo's life this time around. Akio would probably let you go see them if you wanted to, the captain appears to be in stable condition." 

Akane let out a huge sigh of relief, one she didn't even realize she was holding in. Shooting a quick thank you and a slightly forced smile to Rendknave, she bolted up the stairs and almost ran directly into Akio as she made her way to the bed where Boingo was being kept. Akio let out a little squeak as he jumped out of the way, he was much shorter than Akane (and most of the other crew members) but was always very sure of himself. His current jumpy, stressed out state had Akane more than a little concerned. 

"O-oh Akane! I didn't think you were going to come up here! I mean, I should have guessed, since Rendknave was just here and you've been waiting downstairs the whole time and you were pretty close to Boingo and all..." he stammered and trailed off, a far cry from his usually confident and relaxed way of speaking when dealing with patients. Akane supposed that Boingo being this badly injured was affecting the crew a lot more than she would have anticipated. 

"So, what happened down there? Do you think he's going to be alright?" Akane asked quietly, her face beginning to take on a very worried expression. Akio swallowed, wringing his hands and looking towards the unconscious captain, unable to make eye contact, "Well, Ethoxy says he's probably going to make it, and that he hasn't lost too much fuel yet... I'm really glad she's here, even if she hasn't said much." Akane hummed in response and glanced towards the other novakid in the room. Ethoxy was usually very bright and vibrant (literally), but at this moment her color and light had faded significantly, and an almost imperceptible amount of steam was emanating off of her. Akane still wasn't the best at reading novakids, but it was clear to her that seeing Boingo like this had Ethoxy pretty shaken up too. 

"Akio, it's alright if you don't want to tell me what happened, but I'm just worried about him, you know?" Akane didn't enjoy pressing like this, but her concern for Boingo was overwhelming. "Ah, no, it's alright. I understand." Akio said suddenly, shaking his head to clear his mind. He took a deep breath in and out, "Boingo thought there might be a novakid village on one of the planets we were going to do some mining on, so he wanted us to stop and check it out. You know how he is about potential novakid meetups, hah. But, I- I guess these ones weren't happy to see intruders though, because right as he went up to talk to one of them, they started yelling and- " Akio broke off briefly to calm himself down, " - and one of them shot him. Right in the chest." He put a hand over his mouth, eyes beginning to water. 

"It was so scary Akane... Me and Ethoxy knew something was wrong as soon as all the shouting started but... we didn't think they would just attack like that. I've never seen a novakid look so intense, and I don't think Boingo had either. He- he kind of just stood there for a second before he passed out. We were lucky we all made it out of there alive." Akio rambled, his voice awfully quiet by the end of his recounting. The two hylotl just stood there for a second, Akio was taking deep breaths, shaking only slightly, and the sick feeling Akane felt earlier in her gut was only becoming worse. Suddenly, a quiet voice cut through the silence in the room. "Don't- don't let Afrash and Necatl see Boingo like this, alright?" Ethoxy said, almost in a whisper. 

Akane turned towards her, surprised at the sudden statement. "At this point his condition is stable enough. I'm sure he's going to make it, but I don't want to think about how they'd react." Ethoxy's glow was returning, and she was speaking a little louder now. Akane gave her and Akio a smile, "Man, I honestly can't thank you two enough for taking care of him, if the rest of the crew were here I'm sure they'd say the same," she muttered. 

Barely holding back tears, Akane pulled her crewmates into a hug, mostly ignoring the smell of fuel. She couldn't say for certain, but she was pretty sure that Ethoxy started to warm up again.