A second wave of blasts slammed into the ship and Scott barely managed to keep his feet under him. Shields were already at 72%?! Damn these guys hit hard! Scott subtly shook his head no at the suggestion of returning fire; they were outgunned. That was a bad idea.<br/><br/>Scott stared hard at Dr. Heath; he was afraid she had frozen under the stress and he was just about to take command when she spoke up with her plan. Surrender. For a second he thought it was an example of the folly of allowing civilians to command a military engagement. But he could see the look on her face. He had seen the look of surrender before; it didn’t look like that. A smile crept across his face as he nodded his head in new found respect for this doctor in charge. He glanced at Dr. Randall with a small smile still on his face. “Yeah, it’s ok.” He whispered back without elaboration.<br/><br/>The ships had ceased firing upon them and then the word ‘Accept’ appeared on the com screen. His arms tingled and he took a deep breath as the adrenaline dumped into his system. However; the relief of knowing they were going to be able to jump to safety was quickly overtaken by another fear as he saw the smaller ships heading for the planet below them. Heading for Alianne and her people…<br/><br/>Without thinking, he put his arm around Dr. Randall in an effort to comfort her as well as calm his own fears. She started speaking and it was if he suddenly realized he had his arm around a beautiful co-worker; he released her and stepped back to create a small amount of space between them but his expression of shared fear did not change. He nodded in agreement with her. “I know.” He said quietly when she mentioned the invasion below. He tilted his head when she said she envied Alianne and the others. He really had trouble putting words to their experience on the planet, let alone wrapping his head around it. He knew how he felt and that was all. And he understood exactly what Dr. Randall was saying. Her eyes revealed a compassion he hadn’t expected to see for some reason.<br/><br/>Scott smiled at her, not a smile of joy but of shared pain and worry; and shared compassion. “I know.” He practically whispered to her. Scott was hardly a master of words.<br/><br/>They waited quietly, hardly anyone moved or spoke as the minutes ticked by at a snails pace. Finally, the clock showed two more minutes till the jump. Everyone seemed to jolt awake at the same time when a message flashed on the comm. “Exit now!” A demand. Dr. Heath shook her head before anyone even asked what to do. “Ignore it. All power to the shields.” Another minute crawled by and as everyone stared at the seconds vanishing on the clock the enemy ships opened fire again. This time their blasts hit empty space as the Discovery darted into the jump. They were safe.<br/><br/>Scott took a deep breath and looked at Dr. Randall. He wanted to hug her, in fact he started to, but he also wanted to kiss her and neither one of those was very professional. Instead he smiled warmly at her; this time a smile of relief. He glanced around the room at the faces of the crew and smiled. They had been through quite a bit but he was impressed at how well they worked together. His eyes met Dr. Heath’s and his smile brightened. He nodded his approval and his respect. He doubted she needed anything of the sort from him but he gave it nonetheless.<br/>