Book 5 chapter 21: Frying pans and Fires

(A few more grammatical errors  to work out but otherwise, enjoy the final chapter! ~Squiggles)

Jasmine's body was thrown to the ground, taking several servants to pin her down while the error message continued to blare around them, repeating itself in over a dozen different languages. It was hectic, the servants scrambled to hold her, crushing her face into the floor, she could barely breathe as she struggled to fight back.

“Unknown variants such as yourself are almost more trouble than you’re worth… almost,” the Lady’s voice rattled in her ears, “If I had the authority I’d have you incinerated for the jeopardy you put my mission in, but the emissary had other ideas-”

“LET ME GO YOU CRAZY BITCH!-” Jasmine screamed, she felt the amalgamation’s grip falter, enough to kick and scramble from under them.

The error message paused, the red screen fading to black, horror washed over Jasmine as she realised that the monsters didnt need light to see.

“My authority will not be overturned by an unregistered candidate!”

The reverence the Lady held for humans was no longer directed towards Jasmine, her orders dripping with vitriol and disgust. All at once the servant's attention was redirected, swarming over to Itsuki and Xant.

Itsuki aimed the pistol in the dark with both hands and fired, it was deafeningly loud, the recoil unexpected, but the shot was dead on. A servant's head exploded with blood and partiuclates, its body falling limp to the floor, but it didn't stop the dozen others clamouring towards them. Xant did his best, swinging the bat in hand while his tail knocked down any that came close. Itsuki didn't go down without a fight, flashes of light lit up the room for every shot fired before the pistol ran out, but there was nothing the pair could do against the sheer overwhelming numbers.

it took seven servants to wrestle the gun from Itsuki’s hand and to hold him still enough for the scanner to read his code.

The sky lit up once more, everything that made Itsuki a person was presented on screen in a calm blue spreadsheet: Age, sex, height, weight, blood type, along with weird things like favourite colour, teeth condition and education. Underneath that was a list of physical injuries, repairs made and ‘enhancements’ ready for approval.

(check numbers)Self Destructive, Anti-social, Hallucinations, Classification: Weapon…

A scan of Itsuki’s body was shown on screen, an x-ray of the implanted alien organ translator highlighted in his skull.

“At least the candidate you brought with you can be salvaged, once I remove the inferior peripherals that have been installed. Place the candidates in Containment, destroy the insect.” The lady’s order was loud and clear, ringing through everyone's heads.

The servants all snapped to attention, and those not holding down prisoners swarmed towards Letu. The knight stood on shaking legs, stamina and nerves stretched to breaking point, there was only so long he could hold off an enemy that did not suffer from overworked nerves and being ‘stiffed’.

The plasma blades, like their knight, began to suffer from use, for every limb they sliced off the edge spluttered, overheating its power source until its light died. Leaving him with simple sharp swords.

Human hands reached for him, ripping out wings and tearing limbs from their sockets, the pain dulled by shock, and his body fell limp to the floor.

The other servants dragged their kicking and screaming prisoners to the far side of the room, the floor opened up and black-coated stasis pods were open and empty, awaiting new contents.

Jasmine's fight response flew into overdrive.

Words failed her as she just kicked and screamed in response, she was willing to hurt herself in order to get free, willing to injure the servants to stop them. Her actions sent Itsuki in a likewise frantic state, the pair became vicious, unremorseful, desperate. Their Freq was pure instinct at this point and Xant struggled to hold his own against it.

The shockwaves that ran through his body were painful, the limit of what he could withstand, his nerves were on fire… reminding him of a time when he was as desperate as they were.

Emotions weren't the only electrical signals that ran through nerves, muscles followed the same organic infrastructure. The memory of the Vassal’s open maw on Jothram forever burned in his psyche, he struggled to wrench a hand free.

The act had both saved and almost destroyed his life years ago, he was willing to risk the same again.

This time, he wouldn't be the only survivor.

Xant focused with all his being and sent the signal for his captor's muscles to seize.

The moment was enough, with the servant's bodies immobilized the humans broke free, ripping away from the monsters. Jasmine ran to free Xant, while Itsuki unleashed as much violence as he could in the opportunity the doctor provided them.

He salvaged the aluminium bat and began to swing with reckless abandon, breaking bones, bodies and eventually the bat itself.

Jasmine lifted the ailing Xant, who was holding the physical Freq pulse for as long as he could but didn't have the capacity to move at the same time. She frantically scanned their surroundings, but was unable to see anything in the dim.

“The door!” Jasmine screamed, desperate for the way out, but all four of them were ultimately lost in the darkness. She let out one last primal scream, hoping that it could help in any way…

Her prayer was answered.

A light pierced the dark with a determined roar.

A fist punched through the holographic screen from the outside.

Captain Rynard burst through, breaking the door from its framework and allowing the chaos in. His power armour covered in blood and scratched, Rynard's left arm had been dislocated in the breakthrough, it hung from its socket but his hand still clenched open when needed.

he had fought hell and back to reach them. His onboard computer scanned the room and pinpointed the Namegiver and her companions immediately. He widened his stance and with all the strength his body and suit provided he charged through with purpose. His mission directives were clear and uncompromising:

1) scoop up the Namegiver and companions.

And 2) stomp on any servants not fast enough to get out of his way.

“Stop it! Stop it immediately!!” the Lady wailed, but her servants just ended up as red paste under the dinosaur's steel boots.

“Hold on!” Rynard roared as Jasmine and Xant clamoured and clung to the giant’s arm, he shifted them onto his back as he swung around to pick up the blood-covered and exhausted Itsuki. Xant held onto Rynards back with the help of his power armour, one hand clamped to Rynards the other securing Itsuki in place. Jasmine planted herself on the right shoulder, getting her barings and preparing for a ride as Rynard sprinted towards the exit.

“Wait! Letu!” Jasmine called out, pointing to the fallen knight's body across the bridge. Rynard let out a small huff.

“Hold on!” he roared.

The magnets in his right boot activated, sticking to the floor and allowing him to make a sudden and excruciating 180 turn. There was a sickening crunch as his ankle absolutely broke in the endeavour, but the suit held his body weight through the manouver and the mad dash to reach Letu. Rynard swerved and leaned in close to the ground, scraping Letus's body off the floor,  as he made his round lap out of the bridge. The poor Arvas didnt have any limbs left at all, he was barely moments away from bleeding out.

“Brace!” Rynard warned his friends as he prepared to bash through the opening he created. He ran at full speed turning to his left at the last moment his dislocated arm acting as a shield as shattered glass and silicone scratched them all.

The captain jumped down the entire stairway to heaven, landing with a force that could crush cars and shatter bones.

They could breath a short sigh of relief, knowing they had left the immediate clutches of the Lady.

Jasmine, Xant and itsuki fell off their saviour, scrambling up against the wall behind him for safety. Rynard put Letu’s body down allowing Xant to hastily patch up the knight's wounds with medi-gel onboard his suit. Jasmine ripped off her blue silk scarf, offering it to Itsuki to clean what wounds he had obtained, turning to look at the room beyond after the scarf had been graciously accepted.

It was mayhem.

The entire gallery was destroyed, the army that had followed her into the gates of hell had indeed, unleashed it. Without the advantage of an ambush, the council soldiers were able to hold their ground against the Lady’s artistic abominations. Those monsters that were not still fighting were slowly melting in the acid fire, the soldiers and knights dispatching them with brutal efficiency.

“I tried to get to you sooner,” Rynard explained, as he reached for his left arm, “but we had to take care of these guys first,” with a quick and sickening crunch the arm yanked back into its socket,  “it would have taken longer, but thankfully we had back up,”

The captain pointed over the far side of the battle, the organised and uniformed soldiers were far and few between, instead helped by hundreds of irregular aliens.

The pirates had come into the fray.

“Wait, if the pirates are here that means-” Itsuki started only for Jasmine to scream over him,

“BEAU! WHERE ARE YOU!?”

They all searched the chaotic crowd but should have been looking up.

The Red Ash Admiral was flying overhead, a swarm of escorts behind her and riding on her back was the Master Chief, taking potshots with a melter gun in hand.

The swarm descended, drawn to the Namegivers presence and creating a protective barrier around the humans. They turned their backs, allowing their leader to land in the secured space. Aralukia and Beau landed in spectacular fashion, a buzzing, electrical energy coming from the both of them, adrenaline in the heat of battle.

“You’re alive!” Beau greeted the lot of them, arms open wide and a relieved wave of affection flowing from him.

“Barely,” Itsuki replied bittersweetly, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

Jasmine closed the gap, resting a hand on Beau's shoulder and her forehead on his chest, her freq giving out a pulse of relief that they were all safe, but her words contradicted the sentiment.

“Shits fucked,” she breathed, still processing the sheer insanity of it all, “We have to get out of here, the ship is alive and she’s fucking crazy,-”

There was a loud and paralyzing shriek overhead, running through their bodies like the harsh winter wind.

“Unelightened heathens!” their skin felt like they were being scraped over a million shards of coloured glass, their nerves pulled into thousands of different threds, “I shall render your components down to their base sugars and rebuild my menagerie! For the glory of the stars will be returned to their rightful heirs!” The lady’s voice sharpened with hate.

Beau and Aralukia stared up in disbelief, shaking the immaterial shards from their presence.

“The Rajavan ship, talks?!” Aralukia exclaimed, Jasmine nodded to confirm, but before she could give a proper answer there was an earth shaking rumble and the tunnel entrance closed, locking them all within the bowels of the ship.

“The Rajavan has a consciousness,” Xant explained, while busily tending to the broken and battered Letu, “it is without the ability to rationalise or be reasoned with, we must evacuate,”

“The opportunity may be past us,” Aralukia replied somberly, “Without an immediate exit, we lose precious time and the council still plans on vaporising the Rajavan, us on board or not,”

The Lady’s servant amalgamations began to pour out from the stairway to heaven, Aralukia’s escort rushed to defend them, more knights, Rangers, and dozens of pirates quickly rushed to take on the swarm of faceless servants, another front to the chaotic battle.

“Then what are our options?” Jasmine asked, desperate for a plan as time slipped through their fingers.

“We must take command of the Rajavan ship,” Aralukia stated, “it is a vessel like any other, overpower and command the ship brain and it will fly where we tell it to go”

“With the lady awake I’m not sure how to do that,” Jasmine sighed, frustrated the answer was not an easy one.

“So we kill her,” Itsuki replied bluntly, handing back Jasmine's bloodied but folded scarf.

“We cannot kill her,” Xant responded, dabbing the last of the medi-gel onto Letu’s carapace, “To kill the ship brain destroys the ship, we would be as vassals without a commander, no control,”

“How did it wake up?” Beau asked, trying to follow the conversation while keeping an eye on the battle before them, “and can't we just put her back to sleep?”

Xant's ears stood on end.

He stood and turned to the group, eyes on Jasmine as his idea began to turn into a plan.

“Perhaps… The Lady did say that Jasmine was the one to immobilise her,”

Jasmine shook her head.

“No way, I was basically screaming my head off in there, my freq did nothing to her,”

“It might be different if you were connected to her…” Xant removed his regalia glove, allowing the nerves to protrude out of his fingertips “...directly.”

“You want to mind meld, with the ship?” Jasmine asked incredulously.

“I want to make a direct connection so you can render the lady unconscious,” Xant replied, “I am simply the conduit,”

“Would it even work?” she breathed, hope returning to her voice.

“Better to act without evidence, than to lament a lost opportunity,” Xant answered proverbially. His words resonated within, the sentiment one that rang true across all species in the universe.

“Right!” Jasmine grinned determined, “crazy is as crazy does!” she slapped both cheeks, invigorating herself into action, “let's put this bitch to sleep!”

“What?!” Beaus asked, looking between the two, his attention drawn from the battlefield.

“However,”Xant continued, ignoring beaus response, “We will need to return to the bridge,” Xant pointed out, looking sheepishly at Rynard.

The captain raised an eyebrow.

“But I just got you out of that grub nest!”

“And we need to go back,” Xant reiterated, “I’m sure her brain is in there somewhere, below the bridge,”

“Her pulses were strongest underfoot,” Itsuki nodded in agreement, and turned to Beau “They’ll need protection in there, the faceless zombies will eat them alive otherwise,” he pointed to the scrapes on his face.

“My crew and I can handle that,” Aralukia boasted, flaring out her wings and having her sword at the ready, “Chief, you handle the fight in here, I will take care of the one in there,”

“As long as you all come back alive!” Beau warned, turning the dial on the melter gun to full force, “I didn't survive this long to be turned into space dust!”

Rynard rolled his shoulders and scooped up Xant and Jasmine in each hand.

“No time to waste,” he smirked and charged back up the stairs.

The Pirate admiral left shockwaves as she went airborne, her orders understood intrinsically as she thrust her sword arm in front of her.

Clear my path.

Aralukia’s men were true to their commander's word, dispatching enemies on the stairway allowing Rynard to freely make his way back into the bridge.

The Lady’s voice could be heard, wailing and muttering to herself as Rynard landed back in the middle of the broken screen room. It was eerily empty, screens flickered in distress, images and words jumbled together in a frantic montage of incoherence.

The floor was steel-plated, but they could still feel the shimmering, shattered glass-like pulses beneath them.

“The brain is here,” Xant confirmed, “now how do to get-”

Jasmine dashed across the room, picking up her dropped segmenter sword and rushing back, turning the dial to plasma cutter and plunging it into the steel plate.

“What are you doing?!” the Lady wailed, having her attention caught, “Cease your transgressions immediately!”

“Surround the voidsinger and zenthi!” Aralukia ordered her escort, “Defend them with your lives!”

The pirate warriors were quick to fall in a circle, Rynard prepped a clawed fist, ready to tear open the plate once Jasmine had made a big enough hole.

The plate unbuckled easily, popping off with pressurised force and underneath was the writhing and pulsating brain, red and blue veins twisted and squirmed as Xant put his ungloved hand into the mass.

His other hand reached out to Jasmine.

“Are you ready?” Xant held his hand to her ear.

“As I’ll ever be,” she gulped, trying desperately to block out the screams of the oncoming servant onslaught and focus on the nerve endings connecting with her own.

Xant took a deep breath, praying to the One, the Universe, Akira and any other who would be listening, that he could withstand being in the middle of two such powerful entities-