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"Crew to the bridge immediatly! Emergency! Crew to the bridge! That's everybody! Now!" came a voice across the intercom.

Rose sat up, and, swinging her legs over the side of the cot, thought that this had better be a real emergency to have had waked her up for the second time this night. She hurried out of her room, and fell in along with Tuli and Niko, also making a beeline for the bridge.

When she got there, Taran and Jaa were already there, and ANTIE-D was in the pilot's chair, flying the ship around chaotically, she tried to explain.

"Someone took the asteroid rock we were hiding behind and threw it at the Narpatians." ANTIE-D explained, dogding incoming fire. "The ship that did is friendly, and we can take harbor there: we need to provide cover though, as their shields have to be down for us to land."

Not willing to let ANTIE-D take control, Rose started issuing orders. "Taran, go man the guns. Try to draw their fire to us. I'll take co-pilot's chair, and Tuli, Jaa, Niko? You guys... go... find something useful to do." Rose said briskly. Taran and the animals left in a rush.

"I don't need any hel-" ANTIE-D started to reply.

"It's my ship, right?" Rose countered, sitting in the co-pilot's chair, and looking at all the controls around her. "I need to learn to pilot her, don't I?"

ANTIE-D had to conceed. "All right. Pay attention to me, though. Watch and try to learn. This is no time for trial and error."

Rose nodded, and watched ANTIE-D as they weaved around enemy fire. It didn't take Taran long to get to the guns, load up, and start firing, and Rose watched ANTIE-D and the enemy ships around them. Their own guns were truly no match for the weaponry of their enemies.

"We need to draw their fire more." ANTIE-D reported over the intercom. "They need to target us, so our friendly can let down their shields so we can dock!"

Rose watched as Taran tried to single out a ship and concentrate fire on it. That wasn't working, really. Only that one ship fired at them more.

Then Rose saw something that looked like a missle being fired from their ship. It flew straight at one of the ships on the far right. It hit the vessel directly, and there was a moment where it looked like the entire vessel was frozen solid. And then it exploded into bits. The Narpathian vessel nearest it was damaged by the blast, and the ship itself was utterly gone.

"What was that?" asked ANTIE-D, and Rose just stared at her, her own mouth agape.

"I was going to ask you the same thing..." Rose mumbled.

But they didn't get to ponder it any more. The missle had done more than destroy one ship. It made all the Narpathians pretty damn angry, and only about three seconds passed before they were firing solely at the Dragonfly. ANTIE-D started defense manuever flight, and they dodged and danced away and around and sometimes through incoming fire. They narrowly missed a missle, and got scraped by another. Rose tried to watch ANTIE-D's flying, but considering she hadn't buckled up, she was being tossed about the bridge animatedly.

But she could tell one thing. They were going to get obliterated if they stayed out there much longer. Taran's measely weapon was doing nothing major, and unless they got going fast, Rose was starting to think they wouldn't even make it to the safety of their friend ship.

Then Rose saw ANTIE-D pull down on a lever with a red arrow on it, ever so slightly, and they shot forward. From where she was plastered against the back wall of the bridge, Rose was certain they were about to crash into the back of the large friendly ship!

ANTIE-D let go of the lever, and they slowed somewhat. They were now seconds away from destructive impact on the friendly. ANTIE-D pulled back on the throttle, and the ship stalled. Still gliding dangerously fast toward the other ship, ANTIE-D restarted the engines in full reverse. They slowed, and cruised gently into the hatch before they came to a stop.

Rose picked herself up off of the floor, and could hear the back hatch of the ship they were now in closing behind them. She dusted herself off, and walked unsteadily (and wincingly.... she was bound to be covered in bruises after this) back to the co-pilot chair. She plopped down, and ANTIE-D turned to regard her.

"Want to pull that small yellow lever for me to drop the landing gear?" ANTIE-D asked.

Rose nodded, and complied. Then ANTIE-D settled the Dragonfly gently onto the floor of the bay. And then cut off all the engines.

"Wow." Rose mumbled. "We're... safe. Wait. Are we?" she asked ANTIE-D.

"Of course we are." replied ANTIE-D. "We'll need some repairs, of course, but most of those, I can manage."

"No. I mean, how well do we know this ship? Can we trust them?" Rose asked.

"Oh!" ANTIE-D replied, a thick layer of amusement plastered over her worried tone, which was not about to fool anybody. "This is the Altsoba. The Nerissa Altsoba. Dragon's ship."

Rose moaned, and she could hear the voice in her head named blue do the same.