“Charlie, Eoin, you need to get out of there!”

The mantis cringed at the Captain’s voice screaming through his earpiece, which was more than a little too loud for his liking. He turned to his companion, a fearsome gray lanius who was taking quite a bit of satisfaction from destroying his surroundings.

“But Captain,” Charlie gleefully chuckled as he ripped a control panel out of the wall, “Eoin and I are having so much fun! Such work is indeed its own reward.”

“Speak for yourself, buddy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- you need a different hobby,” Eoin grumbled. The mantis lifted one of his green claws to the side of his head, adjusting his earpiece as he addressed the captain. “Prior, beam us back anytime. By anytime I mean now.”

Back on The Stardust, Captain Leopold Prior let a small smile shine through, a rarity as of late. It was nice to have another crew member, albeit one who was not human like himself, who shared his wit on this starship, but the incredible responsibility of saving the entire United Federation had dulled his own sense of humor. His fingers flew across the HUD in front of him, pressing various floating buttons as he glanced back and forth between several displays of his ship’s adversary- the Rebel Flagship, an enormous monstrosity that was the cornerstone of the Rebel Fleet.

“Teleporter’s still cooling down, but you’ll be out soon. Boyega, how are the weapons looking?”

Major Thaddeus Boyega was similarly engaged in his own controls in the weapons room. “Burst laser and breach missile fully charged. Permission to fire?”

“Let ‘er have it, try to hit their shield system and their piloting.”

Boyega frowned, always logical and always solemn. “Prior, I don’t believe this is the best course of action at the moment. I’d suggest we eliminate their shields and their mind control system instead.”

Before, Prior would have either dismissed Boyega’s advice with a humorous remark or angrily ignored it. However, the journey to the Federation Base and the current battle had changed his demeanor considerably. “Whatever you think is best. Just make sure to hit them hard.” Nodding, Boyega set the targets of the weapons on his computer and fired.

Outside of the ship, The Stardust’s weaponry let loose. A huge rocket fired from a launcher attached to the hull, followed quickly by three short laser bursts. The rocket hit the Flagship with a spectacular soundless explosion, completely eliminating its remaining shields. One of the lasers missed its target, but the other two hit the part of the Flagship’s hull covering its mind control system, disabling it.

A faint whoosh alerted Prior that Charlie and Eoin had been successfully beamed back from the Flagship. Unfortunately, this was the least of his concerns, as red letters flashed repeatedly on the screen in front of him as sirens accompanied by an automated voice sounded throughout the ship.

WARNING: POWER SURGE DETECTED

Prior hurriedly attempted to activate the ship’s cloaking function, but to no avail- the system was still cooling down from the last time he had used it. Cursing, he turned on communications for the entire ship so that the entire crew could hear him.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to tough this one out, guys. Brace! Diaz, get ready to dodge.”

Jessica Diaz, the ship’s engineer, was too nervous to reply. Formerly a Federation linguist and expert of alien culture, she was beginning to have some regrets about joining the crew all those sectors ago. But she had been friends with Prior at the Federation Academy, and journeying across the stars certainly had been the experience of a lifetime. She had made numerous new friends and discovered bravery within herself she had never known existed. So she did what Prior said and braced.

The captain could only watch as innumerable small cannons popped out of the Flagship’s hull, glowing bright with energy. At once, they fired, several green bolts flying towards The Stardust. Prior grasped at the manual controls of the ship. Some of the bolts hit harmlessly against the ship’s shields, while the captain managed to evade others. Two managed to find their way to the hull, rattling the entire ship and almost knocking Prior off of his feet. Adjusting himself, Prior glanced at the HUD and noticed with alarm that the shield operation room was on fire.

Dr. Jones attempted to get up, barely managing to straighten himself against the wall. The dazed engi looked around at the destruction before him. Several fires blazed around the shield operation room, destroying machinery and slowly lowering the power of The Stardust’s shields.

“Jones, put out those fires, now!”

Jones, usually the cheery sort, found difficulty finding positivity in this situation. “Task impossible, resubmit request at a later time.”

His optimism was soon restored as a door on the wall opened to reveal a zoltan woman carrying two fire extinguishers, one of which she tossed to Jones. He gratefully caught it and, despite not being able to smile, the engi’s voice brimmed with gratitude.

“Envoy!”

The zoltan known only as Envoy smiled, always happy to see the unassuming engi. However, as there were more pressing matters at hand, she turned back to the fire and began to spray the extinguishing agent it as Jones did the same, slowly but surely putting out the inferno.

As the fires began to die down, Envoy glanced over at Jones to see that some of his mechanical plating was charred. Even then, the engi was still attempting to repair the damage done.

“Jones, you’re being ridiculous. Get healed up.”

“Negative. Adequate health to continue repairs.”

“Get to the medbay or those burns won’t be the only thing hurting you.”

Jones nervously looked up at the zoltan. “Meaning acknowledged,” was all he said before he sprinted to the medbay surprisingly quickly for someone who was injured as Envoy chuckled to herself.

Once inside, Jones relaxed as the medbay’s healing nanomachines flooded through his body and repaired the damage done by the fire. Also present was fellow engi Starger, who had sustained damage from the second bolt of energy that had hit the ship.

Starger was a bit more cynical than Dr. Jones. “Mission progress = satisfactory, agreed?” he muttered sarcastically.

If engi were able to create facial expressions, Jones would have smiled. “Hope is valuable in such situations. Compensation for when ability is not adequate.”

Back in the pilot’s room, Captain Prior glanced at the display that showed the various systems and subsystems of the Rebel Flagship. Just as in The Stardust’s shield room, fires blazed in the Flagship’s systems, but to a much greater extent. It had sustained quite a bit of damage, more damage than any ship should be able to. But if the readings before Prior were correct, the ship’s hull integrity was very low…

He didn’t want to believe it until he saw the Flagship crumble with his own two eyes. “Boyega, give me some good news on the weapons!”

“Lasers and missile almost fully charged. Give me the order and I’ll fire.”

Prior knew that he should give the order now, but his old ego crept back and he took a moment to admire. Admire everything that had come before, all that his crew had accomplished. All brilliant, brave, and more than any captain could have asked for. He would certainly miss the adventures of The Stardust, and yet he knew that he would carry all that he had gained from their journey for the rest of his life. And so he spoke.

“Let’s blow ‘em out of the water, Boyega. Open fire.”

In reality, the missile was all that was truly needed. Regardless, both it and the laser bursts struck the hull of the Rebel Flagship until it could take no more. Fissures appeared throughout the enormous ship, numerous explosions bursting and almost immediately extinguishing themselves in the vacuum of space. Hunks of metal flew in random trajectories from the ship as it was consumed by the heavy damage it had sustained, until finally it shattered completely into several pieces.

It was over. The Flagship was destroyed. The Federation was saved.

There were a few seconds of silence. The crew of The Stardust stared at the screens in their rooms, dumbfounded at the spectacular scene of destruction before them.

Then cheers resounded through the communications mixed with the laughter of those who had faced death and had done something truly great as a result. Listening to all of this, Prior simply leaned back in his captain’s chair and smiled.

A quick, hasty thing I wrote after my most recent return to FTL: Faster than Light. I had decided to return to it because I was bothered that none of my high scores were with the Kestrel Type A ship, which being the nerd that I am I consider to be the "canon" ship. So I decided to try again to create the playthrough that would be the definitive FTL game for myself.

The Stardust succeeded pretty well, blowing my other high scores away at 5150 (playing on Normal)- 300+ more than my previous high score. In addition, one of my crew, Dr. Jones, claimed the spot of Most Repairs at 55. Also I managed to collect exactly 2300 scrap, somehow.

More than that, I connected with the crew in a way I haven't in a while, which is something that really got my creative gears going and will hopefully help me with a more ambitious original writing project that you'll see some of soon.

Now to destroy the Flagship with the three ship types with which I have yet to beat the game...