Hazna stumbled laughingly through the ship’s corridors. Her crew had made a good haul, so they had celebrated. Heavily. The captain of the [i]Infinite Jest[/i] made way to her room, sobering with clomping each step. The satyr pirate wanted to fall asleep before she could think clearly. Hazna was still disoriented as she stepped into her darkened quarters and clumsily swung a fist at the wall terminal to turn on the lights. Her hand connected with nothing. She spun around and realized that the disorientation wasn’t from the liquor. She was surrounded by nothing but blackness. Nothing separated floor from ceiling, or ground from sky as the case maybe. She shook from chills as she saw the six floating green orbs a mere six feet from her. The eerie eyes belonged to the members of the Combine, her masters.

Hazna felt completely sober as their whispers overwhelmed her, “Longhorn Hazna of tribe Skaaremane of the planet Satyxis, do you honor your commitment to the Combine and agree to undertake a task for the Orphans of Korrok?”

Hazna sucked in the thin air as their whispers left her. She rubbed the ache forming in her forehead and responded angrily, “For fuck’s sake, what do you think?”

Hazna instantly regretted her choice of tone when as one set of green eyes narrowed. She “fell” to her knees as her body was wracked with shakes from an unworldly cold. She felt the darkness grip her and managed to give a weak “Yes” through chattering teeth. The Combine then continued, the other two seemingly unaware of the event, “You are tasked with locating a trade vessel currently residing in the space held by the Unified Coven of the Otherworlds. You are to visit the agriculture based colony of Vessen Prime to locate the location of the vessel. You are not to make any other stops or veer from the given course whatsoever. Failure to complete your task will result in termination.”

Hazna continued to shiver under the gaze of the Combine. Her mind reeled and her vision blurred. She croaked out a question, “What am I supposed to do with the ship?”

The dark figures answered, “Pillage the ship. Destroy nothing. Bring the ship to Satyxis and wait further instruction.”

Before the captain could ask “What ship” she was back in her room, puking into the sink. She gazed into the mirror as her vision returned to normal and noticed her first officer in her doorway. There was a look of concern in the shorthorn’s eyes as she repeated the word “Captain?” Hazna wiped her mouth on her glove and turned to the other satyr, “Yes, Nadia?” The first officer simply pointed to the blinking, yellow alert light on the wall. Hazna muttered to herself and removed her gloves, revealing her scarred arms.

 Nadia walked backwards as the captain angrily made her way to the bridge in order to report on the situation, “Sir, the ship received an encrypted transmission with Combine security features. It was-“ Nadia stumbled as the captain increased her pace, “It was a very large transmission. The Navigator locked us out of all terminals and won’t respond to prompts. All systems powered down for a moment and thrusters went online to stop our drift. I came to get you as soon as the warning light came on and the girls started getting unruly  OOF” Hazna pushed the officer into a branching corridor and sprinted the rest of the way to the bridge.

Hazna’s headache intensified as she came onto the bridge. The Navigator sat calmly amid chaos, hands clasped to its anchored form and mechanical appendages slowly pressed screens surrounding it. The former human seemed to be staring complacently at the large blank viewscreen, despite the metal plate covering its face. A shield had been erected around the Navigator, and for good reason. The chairs had been unbolted and tossed aside as the satyrs on deck shouted obscenities at the machine. A spanner flew across the room and bounced harmlessly off of the shield. It clattered amongst the other debris that shouldn’t be present on a bridge. Hazna grabbed the ensign who threw the tool by the back of the neck and shouted at rioting satyrs, “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU FAWNS THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

The bridge grew quiet, except for the gasping ensign, as they all turned and looked at their seething captain. Hazna threw the ensign aside and shouted at her crew, “What is wrong with you?! Settle down or start heading for the damn airlocks. You! Get these seats bolted back down. Get back to your places! MOVE OUT OF MY WAY.” She threw another satyr who had stopped to gape in front of the commander’s chair. The bridge hurried into order under Hazna’s watch. Nadia came into the room quietly and sat in her seat next to the captain. Hazna sighed and sat as well. Her seat had been battered and the arm rest fell at her touch. Hazna gritted her teeth and threw it at the nearest satyr, knocking them down with a shout. The captain rubbed her throbbing skull, the pain now having spread from the top of her nose to between her horns.

Hazna sighed again, and turned her attention to the Navigator while her crew worked to reverse their damage. The captain muttered, “Fucking stubbies” before addressing the Navigator, “Jest, shields down.”

The Navigator turned it’s head slightly as it identified the captain’s voice patterns before lowering the shields. A warm female voice sounded from the bridge speakers, “Good evening, Captain Hazna, I hope you are well?”

Hazna ground her teeth and continued, “I’m fucking wonderful Jest, what in Korrok’s name is going on with you? Report.”

The viewscreen came to life revealing pictures of a cargo ship and the warm voice responded, “I am well, Captain, but profanity-“

“JUST REPORT.”

“Very well. Databases are being updated from Combine command. Power scheduled to be rerouted from all non essential systems to external shields after the update is complete and you appear on the bridge. A briefing is prepared to be delivered in two hours.”

Nadia switched positions in her seat and asked, “Why is power being rerouted?”
The voice responded, “Unknown, First Officer Nadia.”

Hazna continued to rub her head and sighed, “We’ve been given a mission by the Combine. I think they are giving us a ‘push’ in the right direction.” As she spoke, the lights shut off in the bridge. The viewscreen and terminals, as well as the Navigator, went dark. The entire ship began to rattle then lurched, throwing the sanding crewman to the floor. Red warning lights flashed then went out as the ship groaned from an unknown stress. Soon Hazna was surrounded by the familiar impenetrable blackness and cold. Then, as suddenly as it started, the lights came back on. The crewmen looked at each other in confusion as the computer systems restarted.

Nadia turned the captain, “Are you alright… Is the ship alright? Jest, where are we?”

The Navigator spoke first, “We are stationary and two hours from orbit of Vessen Prime, colony world of the Unified Coven of the Otherworlds.”

Hazna got up as she replied, “Everything’s fine Nadia. I’m going to take a nap. Don’t wake me. You have full permission to gut any of the stubhorns. I’ll meet you in the conference room in two hours.” The satyr captain kicked one of the crewmen who was in her way, then clomped back to her quarters.