Ramson runs his hands over the controls of the ship. Simvan learn to commune with beasts, not machines.
I am no ordinary Simvan.
His armor's radio picks up Sa'Maku's message to the defeated crew.
Always the honorable one. Couldn't ask for a better First Mate. Or a better Crew.
Power slowly starts to come into the controls. Slowly, too slowly.
He closes his eyes, and remembers.
Remembers an adolescent Simvan, staring into the eyes of the Rhino-Buffalo, as he suborned it to his will. The trick was not to be master and slave, but to become one with the beast, to erase the boundaries between the two, until the animal and the Simvan were as one, aligned in purpose; then there was no need to issue a command at all, but simply to need, and that need would be shared.
That is what I need to do, here.
He knows others are capable of this feat. But Death Otter is tied up controlling most of the ship's other systems. This is going to require focus.
And sometimes, to rule a beast, one must feed it.
Using the last of his personal ISP, he renders himself proof against the Void, and then opens his armor's faceplate. He leaves the vambraces unpowered as he brings the blades up to his cheeks.
Small droplets of blood float in the air, and he allows them to contact his open palms, before smearing the blood on the control panel.
The ship has a body, a mind, a heart. It is a beast, and I am a Simvan. It may be a stranger beast than any in my tribe ever saw, but then, I have gone further than any of them ever did. Even those who first went to the Rift-world only went between two planets. Mother, Father; I have hunted across dozens of worlds, and it has been good.
His psyche begins to reach out to the ship's living heart, setting it to time with his own. Down below, the engines start to thrum and pulse to life. As they power up, and the ship begins to edge back from the brink of death, he can feel his own heart begin to slow.
Time for the Captain's Speech.
His voice comes over the comms and the ships systems both, and also through the psychic links that have been forged by Thissok and Fi.
"To all personnel on this ship. This is Ramson Gourdaine, captain of the crew of the Remorseless. Do not worry about that moon we're headed to; this ship is has no intention of letting anyone down that badly. She's a good vessel, and deserves a better commander than the coward who fled her defense. Sadly, I fear I shall not see her glory still to come, but I know it will be grand, as the new Remorseless."
The chill of space begins to seep in around the edges of his environmental protection.
Get to the important bits; stop being maudlin.
"Sa'Maku, you are my most trusted lieutenant, and I trust you one last time, to continue in that role. You are always reliable, always stable in a crisis. Fi, Brokner, Zarlo; I expect great things from each of you; do not disappoint me. And to those of you who wisely choose to accept the offer Sa'Maku made; you couldn't join a better crew than this one."
One more.
"That leaves Death Otter. Other than Sa'Maku, you are the longest standing member of the crew, and where he brings stability and loyalty, you provide drive and vision; those traits will be needed as you all blaze a new path, and thus my final order to you all. All hail Captain Death Otter. Sa'Maku--if she balks, tell her she can step down after she beats you in an arm-wrestling match. Captain, my first suggestion is that you find a professional gunner--some of the crew are good, but it's the one thing we lack."
Darkness began to seep in around his vision. He spared a few last, private thoughts with Thissok, and then issued his true, final command, to the ship itself.
There is no need for me to order you; this is what you want to do. So FLY!
And with that, the engines kick into full power, ship's systems and life support come fully back online, and the ship launches itself out of the orbit of the moon, heading to new vistas.