Book 5 Chapter 22 - Near Escape (draft)

(I'm sorry it has taken this long, hope to have the series finished before the end of the year, happy holidays everyone!~squiggles )

It was too damn loud.

Itsuki stood with his back against the wall, watching the chaos unfold around him.

The pirates and rangers fought against the soulless amalgamation fueled by their collective rage and anger, emotions they stored away and unleashed for this very purpose.

After finally silencing his own disparaging voices, to hear a constant chorus of fury, only served to bring his anger issues to the surface.

He was still weak.

He had been useless in the fight against the Lady, even screaming out his natural voice did nothing to sway her zombie-like servants. Itsuki watched and listened as the aliens ravaged the unyielding stream of servants, every pulse was different, each drawing on their own memories to use against the enemy.

‘-I hate them! I hate them all!-’

‘-I was abandoned, and they will pay-’

‘-My friends are dead because of you!-’

‘-hurt you like you hurt me-’

Each thought was twisted to focus on the being in front of them. They weren't angry with the enemy, they were angry at the enemy. Itsuki peeled himself from the safety of the wall, a human hand pulled him back. Oskar, his brow filled with fear and concern.

“What are you doing?!” he exclaimed “Chief told us to stay here!”

Itsuki pulled himself back but responded with a more measured tone.

“I going to help,”

“Help how?!”

“However I can.”

He reached for a piece of debris, a bent metal pipe and channelled all his resentments into the pipe matching the intensity of the battle around him.

He caught the attention of a servant, its black mirrored head twisted towards the youth, charging at him with full force and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Itsuki came face to face with his own reflection, and unfortunately for the unthinking creature, there wasn't anyone Itsuki hated more than himself.

He smashed the pipe directly into the servant's skull, the surface cracked like glass and the second strike shattered what was left. The body dropped like a stone as the third strike came down, then another and another.

Soon it became a blur.

He gave into the intoxication, violence without repercussion, allowed his hatred to consume him and in return, those around him went berserk.

To know others hurt and hated as much as he did ease the pain a little, the catharsis he sorely needed.

The pipe became bloody and bent further, crushed into the palm of his hands as the bodies of servants surrounded him. Waves of acid, blood and plasma burnt the inside of his nose, his arms tingling from exertion, his lungs aching from his roars of frenzy when a wave of second-hand panic snapped him from his trance.

A tsunami rushed the shore.

Sunshine was awake.

Itsuki dropped his pipe and rushed up the stairway to heaven, answering her call for help.

Jasmine knelt in the centre of the bridge, surrounded by Aralukia's personal guard and holding a knife in front of her face.

Itsuki dashed as fast as he could, compelled unconsciously to her side and collapsing on his knees to catch his breath.

“You called?” he asked, realising the absurdity of what he had just gone through.

Jasmine looked between him and the kitchen knife, she was pale, shaking.

“Xant disconnected me,” she explained, “I need to reconnect before-”

“He does something stupid?” Itsuki blurted out, even amidst a battle for survival she still gave him a glare of disapproval. She closed her eyes and raised the knife to her ear. Itsuki slapped it away.

“Don't add to the stupid!”

“I need to reconnect his nerves to my translator!” she snapped back, “We’ll lose him if I don't!”

Panic, worry, desperation.

Itsuki stared at her a moment, she was willing to slice her ear off if it meant she could save him.

“Wait…” he stammered, eyes darting as he thought. Even if she did cut her ear off, the hole would have been too narrow for him to help connect the nerves, “open your suit,”

Jasmine blinked.

“What?”

“Open your suit!”

Jasmine's eyes widened as she remembered the pain, but slammed down her knife and quickly turned her back towards him.

“Be quick (please don't fuck this up)” she pleaded with him. Itsuki gulped, picking up Xant's limp hand, fine nerve tendrils swaying in the air.

She drew in a deep breath and tapped the collar of her suit. The little blue light blinked several times before the command.

Jasmine screamed through clenched teeth as her suit unfurled, revealing the long, open needle wounds the suit used to connect to her nervous system.

Itsuki had to cover his mouth.

Red blood wept from the dozens of holes in her back, her naked body shivering from the pain and cold. He had to force himself through the second-hand shock and pain her freq was throwing into the air.

He grabbed her blue scarf, wiping away what he could of the blood while frantically remembering what he could from watching Xant fix Beau's translator.

He threaded the finger nerves down into the cavities of her spine, he knew he made a connection when she jolted with pain. The nerves were so fine, like wet cotton into a filled straw, he had to be delicate so he didn't destroy either end.

“Last one,” he assured her.

She nodded in acknowledgement, speech lost due to concentration.

He pressed Xant's hand into her back as the last nerve fell into place.

The burning sun dimmed and Jasmine's head slumped forward, itsuki had to grab her whilst also keeping Xant's hand in place.

And they were both really heavy.

He struggled.

Her panicked.

But he did call for help.

A signal sent out was answered.

Alien hands came to his rescue, Aralukia's honour guard steadied the bodied, lifting them up from their sliding positions.

Itsuki was startled, he didn't think he had the power to order anyone around, then he noticed it wasn't just Jasmine's presence that had dimmed, the battle itself had begun to wane.

The servants had stopped in place, and whatever signal they had been receiving stalled.

Xant's plan was working!

But Jasmine was losing a lot of blood.

Itsuki called out for help again, to stabilise her wounds and to his shock, pirates, rangers and knights all came rushing to his aid. But it was not them who reached him first.

“Stand down!” Beau's voice boomed over the confusion. He came over and began redirecting their efforts, pulling off his leadership cape to slow the bleeding.

Calm and discreet Beau looked to Itsuki.

“We need medi-gel or whatever coagulant the aliens have on hand-”

Jasmine's head jerked up, a long-suffering scream escaped her lungs as she began to weep out of exhaustion, pain, and desperation.

The honour guard holding her up backed off immediately, Beau and Itsuki were the only ones able to withstand the blast.

They comforted her as she sobbed.

“(I dont know…) her minds voice raced “(I dont know if I got to him in time… Darkness, it was so hard to see, I couldnt breath…)

Beau took ahold of her face, using the edge of the cape to wipe it clean.

“You did all you could, you hear?” he encouraged “You got through it, you're still alive, we’re going to get you patched up.” Warmth and inner strength radiated from his body,

“(but what about?-)”

“He’s still alive,” Itsuki told her, his hand on top of Xant’s “I can still feel him a little,”

A trickling stream in the black.

The doctor took in a deep breath, his body shuddered awake.

Xant woke up.

Jasmine chided him, Xant sheepishly pulled his nerves back into his hand. His arm dropped like a stone once they were disconnected, Beau helped Jasmine back into her suit and she squeezed his and Itsuki’s hands as the biomechanical monstrosity reconnected the nerve needles back into her body.

She collapsed with instant relief once it was complete.

Itsuki looked around but he didn’t hear a word, everyone stood still, the servants were motionless, and the aliens stared back at him in shock. In the moment of silence, he spoke up.

“Did it work?”

Aralukia’s cape swept past him, she took the command position in the centre of the bridge.

“SHIPBRAIN!” she boomed with authority, “START ENGINE SEQUENCE!”

The holographic screen activated, text blinked red and the whole ship shuddered. The pirate admiral stood proud, her hands up in triumph.

“The ship is ours!!”

-*-

Beau breathed a sigh of relief.

The oppressive air inside the ship lifted. the presence of the lady vanishing they were no longer under the shadow of the lady but in her absence, Aralukia stood as a beacon.

Jasmine and Xant, as powerful as they were, their latest stunt granted them their freedom but it took a considerable toll mentally and physically.

Itsuki faired a little better, the kid had seen and been through a lot these past few weeks. He was still a  little shaken as he tried to clean the blood from his hands.

Beau reached out, a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Look after these two for me,” he told the young man, “I'm going to make sure we're not left out to dry,”

Itsuki nodded, confidence returning.

“Sure thing… Chief,”

With that taken care of, Beau set his sights on Aralukia.

The red ash admiral towered over all she stood in the middle of the bridge as others swarmed around doing her bidding, getting ready to launch.

At least, that's what he expected.

The admiral's triumph was short-lived.

Two sets of arms crossed her body under a tattered cape, eyes focused on the hologram above.

“Shipbrain! Start! Engines!” she ordered again but it was all in vain. The holographic text just continued to blink red.

As Beau approached Aralukia's honour guard silently parted, allowing him through, their recognition of his importance was a nice change of pace.

Aralukia glanced down at the short being. She felt the humid memories of confidence, iron and salt.

“Cheif,” she acknowledged, “I believe I announced our victory too soon,”

“What makes you say that?” he asked.

“The shipbrain is not responding to my commands,” she answered frustrated, “it should automatically recognise my authority. If we do not have control of the ship-”

“Branch will vaporise us,” he reiterated, a wry smile pulling the corner of his lips as he looked up at the hologram. The text was human, English to be precise.

‘New commander detected, voice input required’

Beau couldn't help it, he cleared his throat and gave his first command.

“Shipbrain, start engines!”

The text refreshed,

‘Acknowledged, Commander in Chief’

The whole ship began to vibrate, the roar of the engines spurring to life.

“Oh, a man could get used to this…” he said to himself, looking around for a captains chair. All the equipment was human-sized, human language was up on the screen, and it wasnt a stretch that this ship was, biologically, human in some ways…

“It only accepts human input,” Beau stated to Aralukia, “what's our port of call, admiral?”

She looked down at him with curiosity.

“We need to leave this system, the further we are from Branch the better, there are no ‘secure’ co-ordinates in the reclamation,” she fixed her cape, “we can navigate later, for now, we just need to get away,”

Beau looked out to the void before him.

Pirate ships swarmed around the Rajavan vessel, Branch’s own fighters retaliating fire, dog fights amongst the stars.

“Can you reach your people?” he asked.

“Not until you command the ship to do so,” she replied with a hint of snark “for the second time in as many [hours], I find myself at a void-singers mercy.” she did not sound entirely happy at the revelation, beau on the other hand, no longer needed to worry about his expendablity.

“Shipbrain, open all communication channels”

‘Yes, commander in chief’ the ship acknowledged, and hundreds, if not thousands of icons filled the screen, the ship was broadcasting to everyone.

Beau took a step back, allowing the admiral to give her speech.

“Pirates of the Red Ash Fleet!” she boomed, drawing her blade for the presentation, “we have taken the genestealer ship! Return to Lukia! Our victory will be assured with your survival! Rise from the ashes of the burned world!”

A roar of cheers erupted from the hall behind them and in the bridge.

Beau closed the channels and ordered their departure.

“Shipbrain, take up a safe jumping distance from Branch,”

Branch’s segments had already broken off from their whole and surrounded the rajavan ship.

The ship intuitively began its start-up sequence, when Xant's panicked voice called out.

“No… Jumping!” he panted, Itsuki propped him up as the scientist clamoured over to Beau and Aralukia.

“The frequency emitted… is dangerous to humans!”

Beau raised an eyebrow,

“How dangerous?”

“It will scramble your subconsciousness…,” he replied a finger circling his temple, “coma.”

Beau frowned,

“The ship has been very accommodating to humans this far,” he replied, but then knew better than to dismiss the doctor's concerns, “Is there anything we can do to prevent it?”

Xant shook his head, ears tucked down,”

“I… I don’t know,” he confessed, “we haven't had the chance to test anything,”

Itsuki turned his head to the doctor.

“But we made it through a jump…” his eyes glimmered with realisation, “I was awake during a jump from the research facility to Branch, I had a headache the entire time!”

“Because your nerves are wired differently…” Xant nodded, then shook his head, “but that doesn't protect either Beau or Jasmine, you both will have to go into stasis,”

The ship lurched forward, picking up speed as they left Branches orbit.

Beaus perused his lips, he didn't like the sound of that and really didn't like the idea of leaving Itsuki alone as the only means of communication.

“Doctor,” he said firmly, “ready the stasis pods, if I don't find anything that secures our safety without a shadow of a doubt…” he sighed, beau was sure there was a counter measure aboard the ship, they just had to find it.