Recovery: Chapter Two
#5 of Kalysta
"Get out of my face!" Jessie Halen warned the large husky as he smacked a hand away from his face.
"Awe c'mon little foxie, to afraid to fight?" The husky laughed.
A trio of drunk Canine Troopers had been stumbling around the stations mess hall for a bit causing a bit of rabble, but now it was later and the mess hall had emptied out. The few remaining patrons were averting their eyes. The husky gave him a hit in the shoulder, knocking him back slightly. Jessie straightened his body, getting into position.
"One more time big guy...try and hit me." Jessie taunted, knowing full well the drunk couldnt resist.
"Oh, fuck you foxie!" The husky took a swing while his buddies watched. The punch was aimed at Jessie's jaw, but before it could hit, he moved his head, avoiding the hit and bringing his arm up behind the husky's. In a few swift movements he propelled the huskies paw into the wall, busting a bone, and used his other paw to grab the huskies other paw. Moving him like a puppet he twirled the husky around until he finally used his momentum to smash the dogs face into the steel wall. Before he let go of the unconscious dog, Jessie yanked the husky's paw behind his back and pulled, popping the shoulder out of place. He finally let go, his adrenaline waning.
"Fuck man..." The other dog yelled as he and his pal half stumbled, half ran away from his friends incapacitated body.
Jessie straigtened his medical suit and calmly walked out of the mess hall.
"God Jessie your a dolt!" Nurse Lily yelled at the lean fox, "You can't just seriously injure someone and not expect me to hear about it! I'm a nurse!"
"He attacked me!" Jessie pleaded in his defense.
Lily closed her eyes, rubbing her temples, she wondered how she could tame an ambitious fox.
"Jessie, take this medicine to Patient 11-0, her names Kalysta. Your in charge of her for this afternoon." She said forelornly. Maybe it would just be best to get him out of her hair for the afternoon.
Jessie, looked surprised, "No punishment? No extra duties?"
Lily laughed tiredly, "Oh trust me, this IS your punishment." Last time she had tried to take care of Kalysta she had been attacked and the guards had to put her under.
Jessie shrugged, a smile on his snout, "Ok then."
Jessie held the medical tray in his hands, observing the large number of pills neatly covering it.
Jeez, this girl had serious issues if she needs THIS much medication. He thought to himself, amazed that she didn't overdose from taking all of them.
"Excussse me..." A voice whispered behind him.
Shit... the snake voice...it couldnt be... It was.
Jessie turned to see the large Boa (well known around the station as High Commands representative) slither up behind him, raising itself higher, his head looking up from the height of Jessies chest.
"Yes?" Jessie swallowed as the snakes tongue flicked out, most likely smelling his unrest.
"You have been warned once if I remember correctly, I sent the messssage mysssssself." The small beady eyes glared at him, unblinking, "I will not tollerate your inssssssubordination in this facility again, whether it be attacking a higher ranking officer-"
Wait, the husky I attacked was an officer!?
"-or simply failing to get up in the morning. If I hear one more sssssssscratch from you that doesn't feel like it's in the right place, I will make your life a living hell..." The snake began to slither away, "for a total of ten sssssseconds...then you'll be dead."
Soon he rounded a corner and disappeared, leaving Jessie scratching against the burning drop of poison that the snake had slyly left on his paw.
Kalysta awoke to the sound of music. A canine-like orchestra seemed to be playing nearby, as if they were in the room. She looked around the white sterile room. No speakers, no headphones, no music playing devices of any kind. Suddenly it switched, to the exotic drum heavy beats of her homeland. Then it stopped.
"Kalysta?" A male voice called to her from far away, from one mountain to another. Then whoosh.
"Hello?" A paw waved in front of her face, "Anyone home?"
"Ya, I'm here." She pushed the paw away, "Who are you?" She asked spying the red fox cautiously.
"Jessie Halen, I'm a temporary orderly here." His face was kind, but his eyes showed something different.
"You don't like reptiles, do you?" She asked, knowing the asnwer already.
He looked at her cooly, then leaned in and whispered into her ear, "I think your kind deserves to die. Your all souless demons and all I want right now is to get back into my ARON module and continue killing your kind until the only reptile you'll find on this sind of the galaxy is in a museum. That answer your question?"
Kalysta gulped loudly, "Yes." She stuttered.
"Good." He leaned back out, "Now take your medicine or do I have to shove it down your throat?"
Adamus slithered down the hallway of Station 5's medical ward, examining each room carefully for any sign of anything amiss. He biefly wondered how Lily was holding up, but then shoved that thought to the back of his brain. This was duty, he could worry about personal issues later.
Suddenly, his head mounted communicator beeped, informing him of a call.
"Adamusssss speaking." He answered formally with his usual snake accent.
"High Officer Adamus, we have a major issue and we need you up in High Command immediatly. HC out."
Adamus was briefly alarmed. It could be serious, most likely not...but it COULD be. He remembered something Lily had told him once.
If all you do is think about what COULD happen, you'll never know whats actually happening.
Wise words from his sweetheart. Some people thought he was incapable of love. Some people thought that reptiles, snakes in particular, were incapable of love. Yet, Adamus was a living specimen of a snake that could love, he loved Lily very dearly.
He slithered on his way to the command deck, solemnly lost in thought.
"Captain!" Captain Yars Eyist slipped from unconciousness to his rank being called, "Captain! Wake up!"
His eyes opened and he saw the small gecko male above trying to wake him up.
"What happened?" He asked, rubbing his head as he raised himself up.
"You got hit by some debris during the last attack. Can you walk?" The gecko technician asked, concerned.
"Yes yes, I'm fine, thank you." He shook the gecko free and brought himself to his full height, "Status report!"
The circular command deck went into a buzz with answers.
"General Status reporting. The two canine cruisers following us are still in hot pursuit, but we've managed to pull out of their weapons range for now." One crewman informed him, "Though due to battle damage, in about 30 minutes our engines will fail and we'll be completely vulnerable."
The situation looked grim.
"Ordinace and supply reporting. Most of our weapons systems have been severaly damaged and our combat efficiency is dwindling to about 20 percent." Another tech reported.
"Navigation here. We have enough ionium fuel for one last warp jump, but considering the satus of the hull, theres no garantee that we'll even hold together."
Grim was an understatement. The captain sighed, running a claw down his face forelornly. What could they do? They were the last reptile ship orbiting this godsforsaken planet and even then, they we're orbiing by divine intervention. They could turn and go out fighting, but its unlikely that they would even dent the gigantic Coalition Cruisers following them, considering that each one was about 5 times their size.
"Captain! Enemy Orbital, dead ahead. It seems unarmed." A crewman reported from nearby.
Finally, a target! If their ship was going down, they were going to take the enemy orbital with them.
"Logistics, list off the weapons we have at our disposal! hurry!" He ordered.
"Aye," a small lizard took a look at his screen, "2 HaMMer Missiles, 6 clusters of BAIL Rockets and 3 Tactical Ordinance Delivery Shells, other than that, nothing."
The captian thought for a moment, wieghing his options. Death was certain, but the Alliance training centers had tought him to hold death as the highest reward for his services to the Alliance. He craved it, like a good dragon captain must. But maybe they would'nt have to die today.
"Logistics, I wan't those TODS loaded with the rest of our concentrated ionium fuel and in the tubes in ten minutes!" He ordered, suddenly springing into action.
"But captain! That would put us in range of the cruisers sooner than we can fire!"
"Then leave as much as you need and fill the rest of the shell with conventional explosives." He remedied as the lizards went to work.
His second in command approached him, standing by his side with his hands clasped behind his back.
"What, um, what is the plan here sir? I don't see the point in all of this. We could just keep the shells loaded with the standard sodium solution."
The captain turned, "The sodium sollution would burn a hole right through the station, killing everyone, yes, but leaving the station mainly intact. With the concentrated ionium fuel and conventional explosives we can shatter the station into bits, creating a large mass of debris that will crash to the surface."
The other dragon understood, "We can disappear in the debris if we get their in time. But how can we get their in time? We can't coax that kind of power from the engines."
The captain chuckled, "Mathematics. If you lower the input, the output will lower as well. Less ionium-"
"Smaller jump." The other dragon looked impressed, "I commend you captain."
He set his claw on the captains shoulder, "I'f we don't get through this-"
"No time for that talk," He shrugged off the dragons claw, "I have a ship to crash."
Lily hurredly rushed her belongings into a polymer bag and rushed out of her office just as hundereds of others were doing around the station. An evacuation order had been given and the entire station was in a panic, packing their one allowed bag and rushing to the escape barges.
"Lily!" She heard a static filled voice call to her from her desk, "Lily! It's Adamussss!"
"Adam!" She cried as she picked up the communicator on the desk, "Whats going on?"
There was a pause, and a burst of static filled the air, but then Adam's voice rang through, "Lily! Lisssten to me! I have my own private shuttle waiting in the ssssstation hangar! Get to sssssection 3-J in the departure bay! Go! I'll meet you there!"
The communicator emitted a beeping sound, indicating the call had been ended. But she was already running down the packed hallway. As she ran, she saw that the guards on duty we're helping with the evacuation of the wounded, and she briefly considered staying to see them through, but she couldn't. She had to find Adam. As she passed empty medical room after empty medical room, she noticed that the guards had already evacuated this area.
Suddenly she heard a voice, "Help...help me please..." It was Kalysta!
"Kalysta?!" She called out, wondering why she didn't get evacuated like all the others, "Kalysta where are you?"
"In here..." The weak voice called from a nearby room. As lily walked inside she beheld a spectacle that would cause her to tear up even just remembering.
Kalysta had been overlooked by the guards (she was a reptile), and had woken up shortly after they had evacuated her area. Hearing the sirens she paniced and, not knowing what was going on, tried to escape by herself. She was still to weak to use her once broken legs and as soon as she got up she fell, smashing her already damaged face into the ground. After suffering through that ordeal, she had (delusioned and somewhat acting on instict) tried to crawl away using her claws... ripping the IV out of her skin inadvertantly (and also taking a patch of scales with it) and tangled her feet up in some medical tubing, further dooming her. She was know weakly trying to crawl away, her claws cutting grooves in the floor, her eyes staring forward like some crazed animal.
"Kalysta!" Lily ran to her side, untangling her from the medical tubing and holding the thin gecko's upper body in her arms.
"Please...don't let me die...don't let me die here with the sirens..." Kalysta pleaded, tears streaming out of her eyes.
"No, no I wont." Lily said, holding the gecko close, "I'm going to get you out of here."
"Captain, the TOD shells are loaded and ready to fire at your command. We'll be within weapons range in about 5 minutes. However, the gap between our weapons range and the cruisers weapon range will be very slim. It's a long shot, but we might just make it."
The captain sighed tiredly, it was almost over, but so much could go wrong, but if it meant saving himself and his crew, then he would take that chance.
"Sir, communications here, the station is hailing us. Should we respond?"
The captain chuckled. He wanted to hear them beg for mercy before he destroyed them.
"Yes, let the station through." He reponded.
Suddenly a giant screen slid up from the front of the command deck, showing a very reptile looking face. A snake.
"Greetingsssss captain." The snake spoke, his beady eyes giving away nothing.
"Hello." The captain responded simply. His actions would do the talking.
"It is my undersssssstanding that you wish to dessstroy usssss." The snake spoke again, still very plain, "I musssssst warn you, if you desssstroy this station now, you rissssk killing sssseveral of your own."
The captain paused. Hostages? No, they must have defected. Why else would a reptile be answering on a canine channel?
"Snake, I'm sorry, I really truly am. I'n a few moments, my missiles will be on their way to destroy your pathetic little station, and we will go down in a blaze of glory with it, just as we have all been taught." The captain smiled, knowing that every reptile on his ship would die for the Alliance at a moment notice.
"But sssssir, we are your own people! You wont really desssstroy us with the dogs will you?" The snake, responded, looking slightly worried now.
A button flashed on the captains console and he looked down, a sinister smile spreading accross his face.
"Watch me." He said as he pressed the flashing button.
A tech turned and informed him, "That's three away, on target and approaching fast."
Lily reached the hanger with moments to spare. As she pulled Kalysta's limp body up the ramp of the shuttle, she expected to see Adamus waiting there for her.When she spotted two large black labs, she was relieved.
"Oh good! you must be Adam's guards! Help me get her into the shuttle, hurry!"
When niether of them responded, she stood their uneasily., "Hello? C'mon! Help me!"
Suddenly, they went into action, one of them pulled Kalysta up the ramp while the other grabbed Lily and pinched the nape of her neck, causing her to yelp for a moment before she fell unconscious.
The last thing she remembered was the violent shuddering of the station as it was blown to bits.
4:14 Am -.-
Well guys, hope it suffices.