[ WP ] The officers commanding a starship are honorable and ethical examples of humanity . Write a story about the lower-level and more ... .regular members of the crew .

`` Gate control, this is shuttle *Nobilium* returning from mission zero-two-four-alpha. Requesting docking procedure,'' the transmission chimed through the console. Still resting his chin on one hand, Mickey Ananta pushed his fingers across the hologrammatic display hovering half an inch above the surface, sending a confirmation request in response. 
 
 `` Shuttle *Nobilium*, this is Gate Control. Request confirmed,'' he declared into the microphone, shutting the transmission off again as another swipe unlocked the vast plating of the hangar doors. A distant shudder ripple through his as the motors revved up, and through the cupola he could see a seam appear between the hatch and the bulkhead, throwing the outer void into sight. 
 
 The shuttle was a distant smudge against the endless backdrop, the one variant in amongst the distant spots of light. He briefly wondered which one was home, but soon turned his attention back to the shuttle as it came into greater clarity, flickering lights at its edges blinking in sequence. 
 
 Approaching slowly, the shuttle squeezed carefully through the gap, small jets of gas puffing out into barely visible clouds in the vacuum, dissipating as soon as they had been created. In the silence, the hull rotated, the shuttle orientating to align with the airlock, exposing the scorched underbelly, black streaks marking its surface. 
 
 Mickey did not give it any more thought than a passing glance as the airlock clicked home, the system chiming again to alert him of the connection. With the hull rapidly repressurising, he thumbed the transmitter again. 
 
 `` Shuttle *Nobilium*, you are locked and ready for disembarking,'' he announced. 
 
 The shuttle remained silent, and the man to Mickey's left leaned in towards the cupola, regarding the attached shuttle carefully. No further transmission came from the ship and the computer showed that the system had not changed. 
 
 `` Come on, you bastards,'' he groaned, `` Get out so we can finish this shift.'' 
 
 `` Shuttle *Nobilium*,'' Mickey repeated, `` I say again, you are locked and ready for disembarking.'' 
 
 `` Why do they never pay attention?'' Alex lamented, flicking his middle finger out towards the shuttle, `` You would have thought a little grati-'' 
 
 His sentence was cut short by the shockwave as the shuttle blossomed into vibrant orange and yellow flowers, on the fringes of turning white. Shrapnel erupted across the hangar as the system screamed at him, shrieking warnings of pressure loss, trying to stifle the worst of the damage. 
 
 *Why the fuck did the shuttle just explode? * he just about managed to think as molten spheres of bubbling melted danced through the space outside the cupola, sending waves of heat radiating outwards, partially scorching his face. 
 
 Blinking away the blur from his eyes, he cast his gaze outwards to the shuttle again. The gantry had been torn from its housing, dispelling several crew members into the vacuum. Those who had not been fortunate enough to be incinerated in the initial blast now screamed noiselessly as their flesh swelled and blood vessels boiled. 
 
 `` Some fucker rigged them up with a bomb,'' Alex muttered under his breath, staring wide-eyed through into the hangar. 
 
 It was only when the flowers had wilted that the other ships began to appear from the beyond.
