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Escape from Pascoforta

Walking through the dark tunnel was not enough to make a horror movie scenario, yet the dark interior of the previously lit colony made an eerie atmosphere, all because it was night on the surface and the sea had darkened without any sunlight. There were still some damaged lights for illumination. The colony started to collapse and sea water started pouring down from the ceiling. Dairyu wished his spaceship was alright. He didn't want to get stranded in a colony with dead bodies around him.

He faintly remembered the way 'Aldnoah' was directing, yet when he wanted to go to the supposed Mayor office, the road was blocked with a collapsed section of the colony.

"Not good," said Dairyu trying to dig through. "This place is falling apart, and I haven't even been to this colony before."

"I know the way to the commercial area. I intended to retrieve some of my goods before leaving this place," said Capisa.

While along the dimly lit corridor, the shark alien started to say, "Hey, do you think it's because of the red stone we saw earlier?"

"It may be so. This colony holds more secret than both of us know. I've met dangerous feral aliens in my journey, but something about this situation feels strange for me."

"But you can conceal yourself in the dark, right? I mean, with that black scale color, you can come out with a dangerous sneak attack from the shadows."

"Yeah...." Yet Dairyu didn't take that as a joke. He knew the situation called for the same strategy he would do, which would be disadvantageous since he needed to protect Capisa, who had a lighter bluish hue due to his age.

It didn't need a long journey before Capisa found the commercial area. Unlike the corridors, it was still lit with slightly damaged lights of all colors, but the damage to the other parts of the area was apparent, with most of the area darkened by the lack of operational lights. The lights were the only thing that saved them, actually, since Dairyu could see a body being dragged into the darkness by some unknown being. Capisa didn't see anything.

"Ah, at least the rations are still intact," said Capisa with a big grin a shark usually made. "Unfortunately, I can't sell a shit of these things, so why don't we take some for the journey?"

Dairyu nodded and after taking what's still intact, they started they journey to the hangar. With little electricity, they couldn't find a way to restart the elevator, so they wanted to find the stair, which wasn't inside the elevator shaft due to the cylindrical aquarium-like tunnel and the new model.

They turned to another place to find anything useful, or maybe a stair to get to the surface. The lights were still sufficient for them to find the way, and it helped a lot with the fire around them, with the primary concern of losing breathable atmosphere air.

"By the way, Dairyu..."

"Just call me Ryu, Capisa. Most aliens I met prefer 'Warrior' than my name."

"I just want to ask you about how you fare in this situation. If I'm alone I might've freaked out before getting myself safe."

"Says someone who mercilessly kills a whole army by poisoning them."

"It's not that I wanted it!" exclaimed Capisa. "They're the bad ones, so I just help you since you're the nice guy and all."

"But have you ever considered that they might still have someone waiting for them back at home? I know the moment I drew my blade that the enemies I cut down still had those they loved. If you have ever been in a war, kid, you might know how it's going to haunt you for the rest of your life."

"I...didn't think about it," said Capisa when he realized what he had done. "By Leviathan, what have I done?"

"In my world, Leviathan is a deep sea demon, but it's just in legends."

"Aqura have it as a generous god," said Capisa. "But..."

A knocking noise returned them to the reality. The noise came from a glass just beside them, with a room now submerged after a flood. The noise's source was a lone Aquros who was desperately trying to break the glass, sometimes watching his back. While Capisa wanted to help, Dairyu stopped him and said, "If you break this glass, I won't be able to survive, and you won't be protected by a potential danger.

"But this Aquros..."

"He can help himself. There's no case that an Aquros can drown, right?"

But right then, the Aquros started panicking, and he tried to swim as fast as he could to the other side of the room, possibly to the open sea, when a tentacle suddenly jumped out from the darkness and caught him by the neck. He tried to wrestle free, but another one pulled his leg and it started dragging him into the darkness. Just halfway before he was completely inside the darkness, he made a gesture of screaming and the next moment both of them saw, the Aquros started to drew blood, and his insides floated around him. His body gradually disappeared, and in a last scene of horror, he disappeared, leaving traces of blood, innards, and organs in the room. Then, his head was thrown away, and it caught Capisa and Dairyu by surprise that it scared the young Aquros.

"What is that thing?" said Capisa trembling beside Dairyu. "Oh my god, that's..."

"Shit, so there's a feral alien native to this colony," said Dairyu while pulling out a sword. "But, it's in the water, while the previous victims were inside this tunnel."

"W-we gotta find the stairs and get the hell out of here! I've had enough of this gore-fest!"

Dairyu nodded. Everything in the colony had fallen to pieces. Staying in a dark underwater colony wouldn't do much justice for their survival. The problem in their current situation, apparently, was Capisa's slow descent into panic. While he somehow had no fear in killing someone, he couldn't stand excessive violence.

Following the intact map to find their way back to the surface landing pad, Dairyu tried his best to avoid any dark places around the colony, while wondering on how the colony could be destroyed in a matter of hours. Did this alien life form actually have a vicious nature enough to wreck anything into that extend?

Yet, while he was deep thinking, he found a light, which he immediately tried to approach. It was safe, but then he realized it was a dangerous mistake.

When he went to the light, there was the alien, now in plain view. While it didn't look monstrous, it was still a dangerous one due to the tentacle appendages it had. Its lean body was hunching, eating what remains of an Aquros under him. His head was a cross between a reptilian snout and some more aquatic head, with gills and fins decorating its head. It was pitch black in color, and was somewhat an aquatic life form due to the fins and its face, which made Dairyu troubled.

It then noticed them, and turned around, swinging its tail about. Just then Dairyu realized what happened, due to the tail. It was a horrible fate.

"It isn't a new alien race," said Dairyu. "It's a parasite alien."

The alien roared, and judging the change on the air, he was calling for his friends, feasting on the two survivors. Dairyu acted fast. He quickly grabbed Capisa and hoisted him to his back, then ran as fast as he could through the corridor while being chased.

"Ryu, shoot the goddamn things already!" exclaimed Capisa.

"Sometimes, you cannot win in battles, even if you're a special soldier," said Dairyu while running. "We don't know what the parasite is capable of but we must get off this planet and tell the federation of what's going on!"

They managed to run towards an elevator which was still running. Punching a floor on the dial, the door of the elevator started to close, which prompted the alien-Aquros hybrid to speed up its pace. The elevator was of an older model and the door was slow. The alien managed to run to them and tried to bite Capisa. Dairyu then quickly held out his hand and shouted "Razor Wind" when a gust of wind suddenly came around and caused the alien to be split in half by the unseen razor.

The door slammed shut, and the elevator song started playing, albeit distorted. Both of them exhaled in relief when Capisa said, "What the hell was that? It looks a lot like an Aquros."

"Parasitic aliens," said Dairyu panting. "They infect a host and made a hybrid from it."

"But then how's that going to help us? We might be infected at this point."

"We won't know for sure...fuck, it's been a while since I use that high-level nature technique."

Suddenly the elevator stopped, and all the electricity went out. There was a total silence and they were thrown into darkness. It was hard to see except to see the faint light from the sea, yet it was still so dark they couldn't see.

"Shit...if we got attacked here we're screwed."

True to Dairyu's word, an alien burst from the ceiling door, and they were saved from death only because of Dairyu's quick reaction. He pulled out his sword and imbued it with magic, cutting the alien in half, spraying them with blood.

"I'll gonna need a goddamn shower after this," said Dairyu while grabbing Capisa. "I'm going to do a very dangerous stunt. Make sure you grab on me real tight or you'll fall a long fall."

After saying that, Capisa quickly grabbed Dairyu, as the Orient jumped to the hatch above. They were surprised by the alien that suddenly jumped on them, yet Dairyu's reaction was quick; he pulled his own dagger and with precision he cut the alien's eye, which prompted it to make a horrible shriek that deafened both of them. Using this chance, Dairyu kicked the alien away and used his Razor Wind Technique again to cut the cable off the elevator, which prompted them to be pulled by the cable retracting after it lost its weight. Both of them were propelled high up that it became hard for Dairyu to hold the cable. Luckily, they managed to reach the top door ahead from the aliens. Dairyu jumped to the opened door moments before the cable hit the ceiling.

"That's one hell of a convenience," said Dairyu. "At what best yet, we're outside, and that's my ship!"

Dairyu's spaceship was still parked neatly with no apparent alterations. The shield was still intact, but the fact that it's visible is because currently there was someone or something attacking the ship, which was dropping the shield's energy. The warrior found the source, which was a lone infected shark alien. Dairyu made a quick word of it before dropping the shield and quickly jumped inside. The aliens had finished scaling the elevator shaft and was ready to board the plane when Dairyu used a cannon to put them where they were. When they were clear from the platform, Dairyu punched the emergency button and the door closed with a snap.

The overboard computer welcomed them to the ship, but Dairyu knew there was no time to waste.

"Computer, initiate automatic take-off to the space!"

"Initiating take-off."

"Capisa, hold on to something!"

The Aquros quickly sat on the pilot console and used seatbelts with Dairyu beside him. The thrusters made an explosion sound when they were pushed with a speed exceeding that of sound, helping them to get off the colony's atmosphere and into the space.

Yet what awaited them outside was even more terrifying that the horror in the colony.

A massive organic-looking spaceship was in front of them with smaller spaceships around it, ready to blast anything that went out of the planet's atmosphere. Some had been shooting lasers to some space fighters, which were not as big as the spaceship. The spaceship had no definitive shape except some mounted weapons around its hull, which started firing at them along with the smaller spaceships, putting them in a pinch.

"They're firing at us!"

"Just stay calm, Capisa. Let me maneuver this out of the battlefield and FTL us out of here."

But Dairyu knew he couldn't do anything. Using a high-level nature magic with his current state was burdening his body enough that he couldn't concentrate. He was out of shape because of the technologies given to him as a warrior.

Capisa knew Dairyu's condition, and said, "Ryu, give me access and voice recognition for this ship. I'll help us out."

"Capisa? But this is my ship, and one hell of an old model! And you're a goddamn trader, not a fighter! Just let me rest for a moment. The shield is strong enough to withstand small photon lasers..."

He talked too soon, for when he saw the massive spaceship; it had an eye-like structure that was turning red. Both knew the danger of a giant laser penetrating their hull and destroying their ship.

"Now, Ryu, or we'll both become space junks!"

"It's better than being a sitting duck.... Computer, open access to Voice #2, code 'Crescent Moon'."

"Voice recognition complete for voice #2," said the computer after two seconds. "Voice #2, you have access to navigation control and computer assistance."

"Computer, change control scheme for Aquros."

After saying that, Dairyu noticed a difference at the control panel in front of Capisa. It changed from a Terran language to an alien language, possibly an Aquros one. Capisa seemed ready to pilot the ship, but Dairyu hadn't known Capisa's piloting skill, until...

The spaceship made a sudden jerk to the side just when the laser was shot, narrowly missing it by inches. Capisa pulled some levers and made choices with the panels, which suddenly made the spaceship turned and made a very dangerous maneuver through the battle. Lasers flew around them, missing them by inches. Debris as big as the ship itself came right at them, but Capisa's piloting skill prevented them from colliding. His maneuvers were not of a first-timer or a casual piloting, which intrigued Dairyu.

"Computer, initiate FTL charge," said Capisa while turning to the right.

This command in particular made Dairyu surprised. He attempted to charge an FTL while they were still not out of the enemy's range of fire? It would be too risky.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" asked Dairyu. "We aren't cleared from the attacks."

"Don't worry, I've got a plan. Arm the missiles and wait for my input, then make a sharp 90 degrees turn to the left."

There was a 5 minutes delay between his command input and the 90 degrees turn. Just then, an explosion occurred very close to the ship, which came from a small fighter ship in front of them, which shattered to bits. It was only a moment's view, for the suddenly made a strong turn to the left, making a barrel roll maneuver as a result. It was then Dairyu realized what Capisa had been planning.

After they turned, they were facing the vastness of space, with no obstruction at all, while behind the fights raged on. Some more reinforcements came for the doomed space fighters. It proved to be a new distraction for them to escape.

"Activate FTL to Space sector A5, now!"

The ship's speed became so great that it pushed both of them to the seats behind them. The stars blurred to lines as they made their FTL flight. In just a second, the stars became lines that made a long tunnel-like vision in front of them, which mean that they were clear from Pascoforta.

Both made an exhale, relieved that they managed to get away from danger.

"We're in FTL...thank the guardians...," said Dairyu.

"Not flying a fighter ship for a while can get the controls rusty," said Capisa while changing the control scheme to autopilot. "But, aren't we like, running from a mess we start?"

"It's better than playing hero and getting yourself killed without having a chance to save billions of lives throughout the galaxy. So, what's in sector A5?"

"Don't you know? The Federation Space Station is there. We can talk to the Federation about Pascoforta."

And so, they followed the course given by the computer to the federation space. As it was many light years from Pascoforta, they didn't have anything to worry about (no ships could intercept others when in FTL), and resorted to rest before appearing at the Federation court. Dairyu then contemplated about the Federation, which troubled his mind.

"The Feds, huh? Never thought I'll be involved in politics."