For a few days The Comet had been pushing through the fringe of patrolled space and into pirate controlled space, within the next few hours they would leave behind all hope of reinforcement from populated worlds. Cedric could tell the edge the bridge crew had about them become sharper and sharper the closer they became to 'The Boundary'.
"Captain, some of my scientists are beginning to get... uneasy from the way the crew is acting" Cedric said to Captain Rainbow.
"They should be, we haven't had any problems yet" She said back.
"Is that indicative of some superstition?" he asked her.
"No superstition, reality, something will go wrong, the longer it takes and the further we are from reinforcement and dock the worse it'll be for us" She looked back toward one of the screens showing the operation of some system or another "Dismissed"
Cedric took the hint and made it just past the bulkhead of the bridge when the entire ship lurched knocking him nearly off his feet. Once he regained balance the red lights had already turned on and sirens started blaring. "ALL HANDS BATTLE STATIONS, ANTI BOARDING MEASURES" The Captains' voice practically roared from the intercom. He rushed back to the bridge to find it locked, and through the window could see the once nervous edge of the crew having already been honed into the razor edge of a weapon. Captain Rainbow was even grinning while giving orders, she looked like a tigress, laughing at prey trying to hunt 'her' instead.
Cedric soon remembered that he was outside the bridge bulkhead and there were still sirens blaring in the hallways. Starting a mad scramble to reach his own cabin he made it about half way before another great shudder from the ship threw him sideways into the wall leaving him stunned on the ground as the world swam around him. By the time he was able to stand the sirens had gone off but the red lights were still on, Cedric breathed a sigh of relief and nearly threw up. He realized that he needed to go to medical as a splitting migraine started to set in.
He slowly made his way down to medical along with several others who also appeared a little battered from slamming into something or other. By the time he realized he had made it to medical he had already been put in an MRI and a nurse was standing near him reading the results.
The nurse smiled at him patted him on the chest and said "Dr. Heidel, you have a concussion and we recommend you spend a few days without a lot of mental or physical activity and then gradually increase your activity until you are fully able once again"
"Okay?" Cedric replied, not sure that he would remember that in the coming days, or even if he could with everything going on.
"I'll help you to your room Dr. Heidel, let's get you up"
To Cedric the walk, that was probably very slow, seemed to blur past him as they made it to his cabin. The door opened and she led him to his bed and got him settled.
"Press this if you need anything" she said as she left a box with a button on the stand next to his bed. Nearly as soon as the lights were out and the door closed he was asleep.