The Aeolus Aurora

The side panel was closed tightly on the outside of the ship as Lulu, a violet-eyed girl with medium-length choppy black hair, finished her repairs on the hyperdrive.

“She’s all patched up, Marley,” she said into the communicator. “I’ll go through de-cam, and we can continue to the salvage zone.”

“Excellent. I thank you, Lulu, and Minnie thanks you,” Marley’s voice crackled through the communicator.

“Well, I’m just glad somebody in the universe appreciates my work.”

“Oh hush, you big baby. Plenty of scavvers in this galaxy and the next would kill to have you in their service. Now get back on the ship before I jump with you still outside.”

“Yes, Captain,” Lulu replied sarcastically. She turned off her communicator and maneuvered her way to one of the ship’s airlocks.

While the Minnie Mariona was not a large ship, even as far as scavenging ships were concerned, she was big enough to grab Lulu’s attention as a mechanic-for-hire. Or at least, that’s what Marley’s impression was. No, Lulu O’Hannigan’s main reason for joining the extremely small crew was Marley herself. The dark-skinned, brown-eyed, ball of pent-up enthusiasm that was Minnie’s captain offered Lulu something she had never even considered: job security. It was Marley’s goal in life to traverse more than just the known galaxies, but instead the universe in its entirety.

So here she was, a Scottish-Korean intergalactic mechanic, floating through space to fix a junky hyperdrive that had shit out on them three times since they left Arris. And not once did she think to complain.

The airlock hissed as it opened, and Lulu pushed herself in. Five or six buttons later, the airlock hissed shut.

“Airlock engaged. Preparing artificial gravity.” chimed the Minnie Mariona’s artificial intelligence. As

Lulu’s feet finally touched the ground, Minnie chimed in again. “Stand by for decontamination.”

A pale-colored mist sprayed out in all directions in the airlock. The mechanic spread her arms in her spacesuit and closed her eyes. She couldn’t smell anything while she was in the suit, but she knew what the chemicals in the de-cam smelt like from practically bathing in them every time she went to do repairs anywhere near the engines. The scent reminded her of a combination of a hospital and a garden in full bloom, and it was by far the most calming thing she had experienced. In a way, the smell was that of prosperity, joy, and satisfaction.

When the mist stopped, a gas built up in the airlock. Lulu sighed, this was the worst part of de-cam. The gas ensured that nothing living passed through the airlock that wasn’t supposed to be there.

“Decontamination complete. Please remain three feet away from door until seal is broken.”

A loud clunk, followed by the sound of air hissing, signaled the opening of the door to the ship. Once the door was open all the way, Lulu stepped through the doorway and pushed a few buttons on the wall, causing the door to the airlock to close.

“Airlock sealed.”

Lulu removed the helmet to her spacesuit and took a deep breath of recycled air. As she exhaled, she looked up at the ceiling of the room. “Thanks, Minnie.”

Suddenly, as she continued to remove her suit, the door opened. Marley, dressed in jeans, an orange tank top, and brown boots, walked into the room. She smiled at Lulu as she stripped down.

“Glad to see you’re back in one piece. I was starting to get worried.”

Lulu chuckled and shook her head. “Please. You never worry about me. Just the position.”

“C’mon, Lulu, you don’t really think that little of me, do you?” When Lulu didn’t answer right away, which Marley didn’t give her much of a chance in the first place, she sat down on one of the benches. “Lulu, you and I both know that you’re one of the best interstellar mechanics on Arris, and definitely the best to ever grace the Minnie. On top of that, you’re one of the best people I’ve ever met. And even if none of those things were true, you’re still one of the sexiest humans I’ve laid eyes on, so that’s a bonus.”

Lulu couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Okay, okay, fair enough.”

Marley smiled as the mechanic took off the last few pieces of her spacesuit, leaving her in only a cami and a pair of very short shorts. “Better believe it, O’Hannigan.”

“Oh, I do, Zhao. Just as I believe that you would’ve tried to seduce me if I hadn’t told you that I was asexual.”

“Oh for sure. But I respect your genetics and your life choices.”

Before Lulu could respond, the ship’s intercom chimed. “Captain Zhao to the bridge, please. Marley, to the bridge.”

Marley smirked as she stood up. “That must be Merritt. Go write up your report on the repairs, and I’ll catch ya later.”

Lulu nodded. “For sure.”

Marley nodded back and left the locker room. She didn’t get more than 10 footsteps from the door before her communicator beeped three times, signaling that someone was trying to get in touch with her. She sighed and pushed a button on her earpiece. “This is Captain Zhao.”

“Marley, it’s Banner-”

“Banner, if you’re about to repeat your husband and beg me to meet him on the bridge, I swear to god-”

“My apologies, Captain. As the navigator, I thought it was...imperative that you know.”

Marley stopped in her tracks. “‘Imperative?’ Why?”

Banner paused for a moment. “Maybe you should just come up here.”

“I’m on my way,” she said quickly before turning off the communicator. Her stroll to the bridge became a jog, and a million different scenarios played in her head. What could be so wrong that the pilot and the navigator would feel the need to rush her to the bridge?

As she entered the room, the first thing she noticed was Banner standing behind Merritt, looking over his shoulder. Both men had long, shaggy hair and beards which still threw Marley off, despite the fact that both had been working with Marley since the Minnie Mariona left Arris for the first time.

“Gentlemen,” Marley said matter-of-factly, trying to appear calm. “What’s going on?”

Merritt and Banner shared a quick look before looking back at Marley. “You’re really not going to like
it,” Banner replied nervously.

“Why?”

“No, really, you’re not going to like it,” Merritt added.

“Seriously, why?”

“Trust us, it’s not great,” said Banner.

“Jesus, just tell me what it is!”

Merritt and Banner shared another look, but this time, they looked smug. “Well, it’s just that it just happens to be someone’s birthday,” Banner started.

“And you know how much we love throwing parties,” Merritt continued.

Suddenly, realization dawned on her. “Oh no. No, you fuckers did not.”

“Oh yes we did,” Banner replied with a smile as he reached across Merritt and grabbed a small, wrapped package with a red bow. “And you’re going to enjoy it.”

Marley rolled her eyes, trying to hide her smile, and turned around to leave the bridge only to be stopped by Lulu with a round ice-cream cake. ‘Happy Birthday, Captain Marley’ was written across the top in pink gel and was surrounded by pink and purple sprinkles.

“Oh my god, you assholes!” Marley exclaimed with a giant smile plastered across her face. “For real, you guys are such assholes! You know I hate parties!”

“Yes, but it’s just the four of us. Maybe five if we can get Jay down from their cave,” Merritt replied.

“But that seems highly unlikely,” added Banner.

“Yes, so just the four of us.”

Marley felt overwhelmed with joy. “You guys are the fucking worst. I mean, you’re actually the best, but the fucking worst.”

Merritt and Lulu laughed, Banner shook his head and smiled. He then passed the gift to Marley with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Open it,” he mouthed to her.

Marley looked at the package in her hands. It was small, the box was probably just big enough to hold an apple inside of it, and the wrapping was composed of plain brown paper. And then the bow; a beautiful, handmade, metallic red bow sat on top of the package as the ribbon is was made from wrapped around the gift.

“Okay,” she finally muttered. “Who picked the gift and who did the wrapping?”

“It was a group effort,” Lulu said as she set the cake down on the counsel. “But Merritt made the bow, if you were wondering.”

Marley smiled down at the gift in her hand before gently untying the bow. She clutched the ribbon in her hand as she pulled away the brown paper to reveal a small, white box. She let the paper fall to the floor as she lifted the lid of the box. Inside, there was red tissue paper.

“Good god, guys,” Marley said. “Y’all don’t go half-assed on anything, do you?”

She didn’t wait for a response, and pulled out the tissue paper. Beneath the paper was a giant iridescent crystal, about the size of Marley’s palm, that glittered in the low-light of the bridge.

“Oh my god, it’s beautiful!” she breathed. She looked away from the crystal and glanced from crew member to crew member. “Where in the universe did you guys find this?”

“Well, before we left Arris, Merritt and I did some research,” Banner started, looking lovingly and his husband. “We knew that this was one of the last missing pieces of your collection, and we wanted to find it for you.”

“So we tracked down the largest distributor of rare gems, space minerals, and crystals. Fast forward to weeks of negotiations and lots of bribes to Jay to have them allow the crystal to be delivered in their food drop, and here we are.”

“Jay also made the ice cream cake, so you can thank them for that as well,” Lulu added.

Marley smiled down at the crystal, then at her crew. “You guys are perfectly amazing assholes. For real. Thank you.”

Merritt, Banner, and Lulu encircled Marley and pulled her into a big group hug. She felt warm and loved, which a feeling she had not felt in years since her mother’s passing. It felt amazing, nearly
perfect, to be enveloped in a friendly embrace.

“Okay, okay, enough chick-flick moments,” Marley muttered as she wiggled her way out of the group hug. “I’m gonna put this pretty space rock in my room with the others. Don’t eat too much cake without me.”

As the captain opened the door to the bridge and walked out, she heard Lulu call after her. “No promises, Captain!”

Marley chuckled and shook her head as she walked down the series of ladders down to her quarters.

When she finally arrived, she felt at home. There were rugs of various sizes and colors littering the floor leading up to her bed which was just a mattress and boxspring stacked on the ground. Polaroid photos of Marley, her friends, family, and crew during various walks of life were clipped to strings of holiday lights and were pinned to the walls with thumbtacks and sewing pins. In the back of her quarters was a shrine hidden behind a large Buddhist tapestry. The shrine was filled with candles, incense, crystals, and ceramic figurines of gods and goddesses from different cultures from Earth, Arris, and alien worlds that spoke to Marley.

She ducked under the tapestry and took a moment to enjoy her place of worship. She sighed and placed the crystal on the shelf in between a fairly large chunk of rose quartz and a small statue of Venus.

“Perfect,” she mumbled to herself. “It’s just about done.”

Feeling proud of herself, she emerged from the shrine and maneuvered her way back to the bridge.

When she finally arrived, she immediately went to the ice cream cake.

“Okay, guys, what’s the plan for this party you fuckers have planned?”
Nobody answered, which Marley didn’t find weird at first.

“Guys, c’mon, what’s going on?” Marley repeated as she put her slice of cake on a plate. She stood upright and turned towards the front of the bridge. She had planned on grilling the crew one more time, but what she saw stole the words from her mouth. “My god,” she muttered.

On the hologram projector, there stood a beautiful woman with pale brown hair, porcelain complexion, and a powder-blue uniform. She had an earpiece in her ear and a faint red diamond on her forehead. But what left Marley practically speechless was the look on the woman’s face: pure terror.

“Repeat: my name is Pia Seelenfreund, First Astronomer for the Federation space station, the Aeolus Aurora. The station is currently under attack by a hostile force, and we are in desperate need of rescue. Embedded in this distress call are the coordinates for the station’s current location.” The woman paused, looked down, and sighed. After a moment or two, she looked back up. “This message will repeat in five seconds.” She stared forward, seemingly into nothingness. Then, an explosion rocked the recording device and knocked Pia over. She let out a brief shriek, which was cut off when the recording repeated.

Merritt slowly and quietly muted the recording. Pia continued to plead for help, but the bridge was dead silent as the whole crew tried to decide what to say and what to do.

Captain?” Lulu asked sheepishly.

Marley, still holding a plate of ice cream cake, continued to stare at the First Astronomer. She couldn’t take her eyes off her and she couldn’t find any words to say.

“Captain?” Lulu asked again.

Another few moments of silence saturated the room.

“Marley!” Banner exclaimed, just to get the captain’s attention.

Marley jumped, nearly dropping her plate. “Huh?”

“What do we do?” Merritt asked.

Marley looked from each crew member to Pia’s hologram. “Oh god,” she muttered. “I...I don’t know.”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Lulu stated.

“What’s obvious?” Jay asked as they walked onto the bridge. “I saw there was a new hologram on
file. What’s going on?”

The crew was quiet. How do the say what they just saw?

“There was...a distress signal,” Marley muttered.

“A distress signal?”

“From a Federation ship called the Aeolus Aurora. We’re trying to decide what to do,” she continued.

“Lulu’s right,” Jay said matter-of-factly, and they crossed their arms across their chest. “It’s obvious. We can’t go help.”

“What?!” Lulu practically shouted.

“You can’t be serious,” Banner added.

“Come on, guys, let’s get real. For one, it’s a Federation space station. In case you’ve forgotten, we are so close to being outlaws that if those fuckers catch us anywhere one of their ships, we’re as good as arrested. For two, it’s a distress call! The root of that phrase is distress! And I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I want nothing to do with intergalactic danger. I mean, it’s just a preference of mine.”

“You’re kidding,” Merritt muttered, shaking his head. “We can’t just let them die.”

“Speak for yourself,” Jay replied. “I think we can. What’s the point in putting ourselves in danger?”

“Marley?” Banner asked, finally pulling her back into the conversation.

She took a couple breaths, looking from one crew member to the next. She was supposed to protect them, but she couldn’t just let someone die when they could be easily saved.

“Banner, how close are we to the coordinates?”

“Very,” he replied.

She sighed. “Jay, we have a duty to the universe.”

“You’re shitting me,” Jay muttered under their breath in disbelief and frustration.

“Listen, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay on the ship!” Marley snapped. “But I am the captain of this ship. I’m in charge of the Minnie and the entire crew. We’re going to help.”

Jay rolled their eyes and left the bridge in a huff. When the cook left, Lulu stepped closer to Marley.

“What do you think Jay is going to do?”

“Jay is either going to help, stay on the ship, or go home on the next Federation ship to come anywhere near us. It’s their choice at this point,” she said. “But we’re going to the Aeolus Aurora. We’re gonna save Pia.”