Daniel produced his key-card and was about to unlock his quarter’s door when he heard a faint banging sound in the distance. He walked towards the sound and found himself in the engine room with Bill.

“Hi,” Daniel called over the noise. Bill stopped banging away at the piping he was working on.

“And what ye think ye be a doin’ in ‘ere laddie?” he demanded. Before Daniel could respond, the dwarf cut him off. “Never ye be mindin’. Do us a wee favour an’ grab that there ‘ammer,” Daniel processed the heavy accent in his head and figured that he wanted the meaty hammer that was lying a few metres out of his reach. Daniel handed it to Bill, who used it to finish bashing the copper pipe into place. “There. Now we be gettin’ a wee bit o’ heat in them wa’er machines.” Daniel assumed Bill was talking about the showers. He started to say something again, but Bill bet him to it. “Speakin’ of heats, ‘ave ye noticed that ol’ dragun gettin’ a wee bit frisky? Bit odd if ye be askin’ me expert opinion.” Bill laughed heartily at Daniel’s expression. He slapped him on the back playfully, barely managing to reach it on Daniel’s tall build. “Never ye be mindin’,” he said again. Bill waddled over to his tool kit and packed his bits and pieces away. Daniel was about to ask him about the ‘frisky dragun’ he had mentioned, when yet again Bill interrupted him. “So what was it ye wanted again lad? If it be ‘bout the ol’ power outlets, don’t be blaming me. Go get that fancy glasses lad with the wee computer in ‘is eye.” Daniel sighed inwardly. This was going to get irritating. Before Bill could think of something else to say, Daniel quickly seized his opportunity.

“What were you saying about Valek?” Bill winked at him.

“Never ye be mindin’ laddie.” Then Bill left the room. Daniel groaned, not in annoyance though. Bill did that on purpose, it was a playful thing, and it made Daniel smile. He shook his head, his troubles momentarily forgotten. On his way out he bumped into Karen, who was too engrossed with something on his computer glasses to look where he was going. He fell over and dropped the data-pad he was holding, which Daniel luckily caught. Daniel offered the strange man a hand up. He accepted, even though he could easily have picked himself up, having four arms.

“Sorry,” Karen murmured. Daniel dismissed it.

“Just make sure you don’t go doing that to Valek.” They shared a laugh, before Karen turned serious suddenly.

“Have you noticed how strange she’s been acting lately?” Daniel gave him a look. “Oh! Right! You don’t know the normal her... anyway, she’s been really weird. Dunno what could have triggered it. Perhaps she doesn’t like humans; she was fine before you arrived...” Karen suddenly realised what he had just said. “I didn’t mean it like that! I-I’m not blaming you or anything! It’s just... too much of a coincidence for someone like me to ignore.” Daniel assured him it was all right and handed him his data-pad back. “Oh, no no no,” Karen waved it away. “It’s for you. I was just on my way to give you it when I was informed someone had hijacked the waterline from the backup generator.” Karen tapped his computer-glass. Daniel suppressed an embarrassed blush as he realised he had just helped with that. Janet popped round the corner and swerved to avoid the road block they were causing.

“Oi,” she yipped. “Which one of you twits broke the backup generator?” Daniel was surprised at how quietly she could move around. He would have expected hooves to make a bit more noise on a metal floor. Out of politeness though, he didn’t mention this.

“I’ll bet it’s Bill again, for a Dwarf he certainly does like his showers,” Karen guessed. Daniel knew this was so, but avoided pointing that out as he knew this was something he probably didn’t want to get involved with.

“Aye. That midget-man does love to fool around with that he shouldn’t,” Janet agreed. “You best watch that man human, he’ll nick yer stuff.” Daniel nodded and told her he would. Janet smiled and moved off into the engine room. “Bloody hell!” she yelled seconds later. Daniel and Karen looked at each other, then moved in behind her. “He’s bashed the bloody thing with a hammer!” she cried in exasperation. Karen groaned.

“One day we’re gonna need that power,” he grumbled. They both walked away, chatting about how they should put Bill on a leash, leaving Daniel to inspect his ‘data-pad’. He leaned against the nearest wall and started tapping at the touch-screen. The small device was barely larger than Daniel’s two hands put together, and yet had more ‘apps’ then he could count on his fingers. Having grown up poor and orphaned, he had never seen such technology before. He was amazed by it. After half an hour, he decided he should put it away and do a bit more exploring. He heard a thump. He stared at the door next to him. It was much more heavy duty than the rest of the doors, and after further inspection, Daniel found a small panel dotted with various buttons that was labelled ‘AIRLOCK CONTROLS’. Obviously, it was a docking station for other space ships to dock with. But then the noise must have come from space... Daniel approached the door and looked through the window at the top of the door. All he could see was a small room with a few space suits hanging on a rack, then a second door. The second door slid open. Four armed men stepped in silently. Daniel peered at the guns they were holding, and they certainly weren’t stunners. Daniel quickly scanned the array of buttons. He slammed his hand down on the one labelled ‘LOCKDOWN’. Large reinforced shutters fell on either side of the heavy door. Daniel laughed. There was no way they were getting through that. The metal started glowing red, then sparks leapt from it. A laser cutter...? Daniel ran to his quarters and threw a metal box down onto the floor. Inside as an array of guns. He grabbed a pistol and stunner, then shoved them into his belt. He then grabbed an ‘Enforcer’ which was basically a light machine gun and as much ammo as he could. Why doesn’t this ship have a panic button? He wondered frantically. He sprinted back to the airlock, only to find a circular hole in the door and an empty room beyond. Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If I was assaulting a ship, where would I go first? The bridge. Then you would have absolute control of the entire ship. Daniel grabbed the stunner from his belt. The small weapon was about the size of a pistol and was much like a metallic-grey flintlock in appearance, except the handle was bulkier so as to store a clip of metal pellets that were charged with electricity when fired. He then made his way to the bridge. He surprised himself when he realised he actually knew the way. He passed through the navigations centre. In the middle of the floor was the slumped body of Jeff. Daniel checked him. He was alive, but he had a pretty bad injury to the back of his head. Daniel stormed over to the bridge and slammed his hand on the door button. Tyler was standing next to the pilot’s seat with his hands in the air. All four of the men who had broken into the ship had their weapons aimed at him, but they all whirled around when Daniel entered. Thinking fast, Daniel whipped up his stunner and emptied the clip into the crowd. Four of the shots missed, while the last two managed to strike the same person, causing him to fall to the ground spasming. Daniel realised he was a terrible shot. He ducked behind the door as phaser rounds struck the frame next to him. He reloaded his non-lethal gun and took a deep breath. He dived to the floor and, while rolling to the other side of the doorway, emptied his clip again. He downed another invader and barely missed another. Now wiser to him, one of them grabbed Tyler and pressed their gun into his neck.

“Come out with your hands up or he dies!” he cried. Daniel froze. He stepped out into the doorway and slowly placed his weapons on the floor. “Now get over here,” the hijacker ordered. Daniel complied sadly. “Now,” he continued, swapping Tyler for Daniel. “Unlock the console or I kill your useless guardian.” Tyler grimaced. Daniel frowned as he caught sight of something flashing past the doorway. The men were ignorant to it, as they were facing the wrong way. Valek emerged from it holding Daniel’s Enforcer.

“Oh shit!” Daniel cried, managing to break free of his captor long enough to dive to that ground, pulling Tyler with him. A barrage of ‘crude projectiles’ (the modern name for ballistics), burst forth and buried themselves in the hijackers. They were dead before they hit the ground. Tyler cautiously rose from the floor and glanced at the control panel. He counted seventeen bullet holes.

“Karen’s gonna kill me,” he moaned.