AUTHORS NOTE:
Time Equivalent
So this will be necessary in this chapter. I struggled a bit over whether I should use our own time-calculatives, but thought that strange since it is based on rotation of earth and rotation around the sun, this doesn't make sense for inter-galactic societies, so this is the general standard of that the galaxy uses.
I decided to use the way we split up time however, as I already think using new concepts is complicated enough as it is. Please let me know if this doesn't make sense, and I'll try to explain better.
Seconds - mic = 90.9 seconds in a micra
Minutes - micra = 90.9 minutes in a macra
Hours - macra = 36.36 hours in a day
Days - da-mic
Months - da-mac = 45,5 da-mic in a month
Year - dacra = 19,5 da-mac in a year
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CHAPTER START:
Brulok heard the scraping of metal and loud clanking and clonking noises as the hatch got dented from the brute forces at display on the other side. He shivered slightly as he walked over to the Devishian, and began pulling her along again; there was a med-bay on the ship, but it wasn't particularly good.
"You'd think a pirate would'a had a decent medical bay, wouldn't ya lass?" he mumbled to himself hoarsely as he dragged the semi-conscious Devishian along.
. . . .
[…OVERY 75%, COMPLETE] A metallic voice rang out, awakening Azreth. she opened her eyes slowly, as she was still groggy from the torture and fighting, the mental strain almost as bad as the physical which she had been suffering.
She was lying down on a soft surfaced medical slab; she could see her own reflection from the icy blue glass lid that covered the bed. Thin yellowish gas surrounded her, and a small metallic sliding arm moved up and down patching her up and releasing liquids and cooling on different parts of her body. It was quite the archaic healing compared to the pods that she had used when she was in the military.
Her mind went over what had happened, it was all quite blurry still, but a few key-points stuck out to her, for one she was no longer a prisoner! This was the most important part; secondly the Terran was a shapeshifter? This was news to her, she didn't know much about Terra, but before she had entered the solar system, she had investigated the local intelligent life and from the report that she had heard, there shouldn't be any advanced life-forms on earth, only humanoids that were nowhere near interstellar capabilities. Regardless, the man was dangerous, and clearly not always in control.
It was a strange feeling of comfort and pain that ran over her body in intervals, however she waited, and endured, eventually the robotic voice ran out again:
[RECOVERY 80%, COMPLETE]
The voice had barely rung out when all of a sudden the yellow gas began vacuuming into the holes from whence it came.
[RECOVERY 20%, INCOMPLETE, TERMINATION ACTIVATED]
Azreth couldn't help but frown as the lid popped open and she saw the Grafiigraan standing there impatiently, his back turned towards her. She slowly sat up, and saw that some clothes was laying on a small metal table next her, with a pair of shoes on top of them. It was a pair of grey female pants and a white long-sleeve t-shirt, and some clean undergarments; she took of the torn and worn tank-top she was wearing and her underpants, and quickly got dressed. In the army there had often been mixed locker rooms and baths, changing in front of the Grafiigraan was not a bother. She looked around the med-bay as she put on the white pair of shoes; clearly this was a patient's outfit.
The med-bay was small, and as expected it didn't have a healing pod or advanced healing slabs, instead it had just three recovery slabs, several metallic cabinets, and a small yellow round robot, working the recovery slabs.
"Why did you get me out now when I'm not fully healed?" she asked annoyed, whilst feeling her face, the bruising still there, although to a much lesser degree, she could still feel the imperceptible bio-stitching from the machine, it would disappear in days.
"We need to go and get the Terran!" Brulok said whilst turning around "I tried communicating through the sealed hallway, and I didn't get a response…" his small hand clenched in frustration.
"Riiiight, Terran…" she murmured as she followed the small warthog who had started power-walking in the direction of the skirmish that they had just survived "I need a weapon if we are opening those doors, even though I have recovered quite well, I'm not sure I could handle that…thing!" she spat.
The small man stopped, his nostrils releasing air in heavy breaths "You listen here lass! He didn't have to get involved" he turned around with restrained fury visible in his eyes "with his ability I'm sure he could've found a safer way to get out of this situation, but he buckled up for us, the least we owe him is to make sure that he is alive" he grunted, releasing a bit of air out of his nostrils before he continued more calmly, as he said shamelessly "of course we are getting our weapons, the boyo didn't exactly scream confidence towards the end" a droplet of sweat ran down his furred brow as he reminisced the snarling creature.
. . . .
The dented hatch struggled to open, and only succeeded in doing so half-way. The red light was still blinking, and faint sparks of electricity were emitted from multiple fractured areas in the space that had been sealed off. Brulok had to give it to Mana'a, at least she chose a non-essential part of the vessel to have the battle it hardly seemed to have affected the operations of the ship.
With careful steps the two walked forward, Azreth had her rifle at the ready just in case. It was hard to see anything with the faint red light blinking. However they certainly smelled it, blood and gore, the entire floor was covered in it; both Ki'rilian and the red Terran blood, pieces of Mana'a could be seen lying around. The smell of dead and guts was strong, and they both couldn't help but grimace at the scene.
It was the faint hissing of labored breathing that revealed the location of the Terran. Naked and injured he lay in a pool of his own blood. Ribs were broken and sticking out, his left leg looked mangled, and his lower left arm was all but gone, blood seeped out from him like a watering can. Yet miraculously he was still breathing.
Gone was the man of confidence and ability, replaced was he with all but a shell of himself.
It took but a moment before Brulok rushed over to the Terran, his hand lifted, in it a small vial, but he hesitated, would the fluid heal the man or poison him? He knew nothing of Terrans, they were not a galaxy faring race, hence nothing was optimized for them, of course there were humanoids, but even if they looked the same, their genetic makeup could be widely different. In the end he lowered his hand, and grabbed the right arm of the man, he began pulling whilst yelling "Lass! Get over here and help"
With slight hesitation she lowered her rifle and slung it over her back, she then proceeded to grab the hand of the Terran and pulled him along.
. . . .
The medical robot began running diagnostics on the Terran on the recovery slab, and treatment quickly began. After a short period of time it spoke up.
[100% DNA CONFIRMATION OF TERRAN LIFE-FORM, TWO ANOMALIES FOUND, HEIGHTENED LEVELS OF HEALING AND DENSER STRUCTURE OF ALL OUTER AND INTERNAL PARTS]
"So he is a Terran after all? This is very strange, can all Terran's shapeshift?" Brulok asked aloud.
Azreth sat on one of the recovery slabs with a similarly inquisitive look on her face "We'll know soon enough, I know that we'll be going back to Terra with these passengers, but before that I need to be put off at my carrier, it is located on the fourth planet from the sun, you can find the coordinates from one of my jacket pockets, it is in the cell that I was held at" her gaze hardened slightly "it might not be comfortable for the Terrans but we should leave them locked up, their planet is technically not supposed to get visitors from higher-life-forms, and them running around might prove more trouble than it is worth" she glanced at the injured man next to her "especially if they are all like this one…".
. . . .
The final sentence was still lingering in his mind as he walked past the Terran cell, they all reacted when they saw him passing them by, and they were all observing intently as he picked up the jacket from the other cell, only to disappear again shortly afterwards.
Not long after Brulok found himself on the empty bridge of the ship, the entire cargo ship was empty, it was an eerie feeling, aside from a few maintenance robots there were no one else around. Although he wasn't a trained pilot, he hardly needed to be, most travels could be done quite simply, as long as he didn't have to fly a fighter plane, or run maneuvers with the cargo ship, it should be fine.
The large empty captain's seat was towering over him as he walked to the navigation desk, he quickly found that they had long since left the solar system, it would take a couple of da-mic's before they could make it back, he tabbed a few different sections on the screen, and soon the new destination was set.
With a mischievous smile he walked up to the large seat, and calmly sat down, he pulled out a thin licorice looking root and lit it on fire, he then leaned back restfully the smoke escaping the root, he was at complete peace in that moment, awash with joy and comfort.
With an impossibly long puff he released all of his pent-up stress, vengeance was his, whatever consequences this might have in the future for him, he would find out then, for now he would relish in the deed.
. . . .
[RECOVERY COMPLETE] A metallic voice rang out as the lid over Azreth's recovery slab opened up. She sat up slowly and stretched out her dark red arms, she could still feel the thin bio-stitches sown in all over her body, but they were hardly visible, and would soon disappear without a trace. She moved her hands over her now recovered face; it was smooth and free of bruising and breakage. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of the grotesque ending the Ki'rilian had met at the hands of the Terran, she glanced over at the recovery slab, the screen visible on the lid wrote that he had only recovered by 25.79%.
A complicated look passed over her, she wasn't sure as to how to feel about the Terran, she still had her doubts about him being one, even if the machine told her he was, if Terrans were so fearful she would surely know as she had met Terran slaves before. She shook her head slightly as she got dressed. Instead of the t-shirt she found a black tank-top in the patient outfit locker, it hugged her body as she picked up her dark purple bomber jacket and put it on. She cut off some black gauze and tied up her hair in a ponytail, a few loose strands hanging down in front of her face.
Without a second glance at the Terran, she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets as she left the med-bay, her footsteps echoing out through the empty hallways.
. . . .
"…1 more da-mic approximately before we reach the coordinates on the fourth planet as ye requested lass" Brulok grunted whilst he was chewing down some thick meat stew in the lounge-room.
Azreth sat in front of him, with a similar bowl of stew, after da-mics of torture and porridge this was a welcome addition, and she shoveled down the stew eagerly, it wasn't until she had finished the bowl that she leaned back in her chair and answered the warthog "Alright… now I'm planning to leave afterwards, I have…" she hesitated for a moment as she eyed the Grafigraan "certain matters to conclude, which I would rather not divulge" her right pointy finger tabbed the armrest thoughtfully, she wasn't completely shameless, she knew that her fate might not have been good had it not been for the warthog "Mana'a's crew back on Ki��rilia Red won't be happy when they find out what happened to her" she scratched her head in annoyance, as she stubbornly continued "but I owe you a favour Brulok, so after I have taken care of business you can find me on the sand-crystal moon of Hooniim in sector 7, go to the Dark Dunes Dive and ask for Boreal" she didn't generally rely on or let other people rely on her, but favours needed to be paid back, this was a matter of principle.
Brulok had been observing the woman speak, and seen her internal struggle expressed externally, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself at the youngster "Lass, I appreciate that, but I have my own ideas of how to stay alive, hopefully I won't need to cash in this favour of yours" he spoke candidly, much to the relief of the Devishian.
. . . .
Red dust whisked along the surface of the planet, rushing against and past a small planetary expedition vessel. Azreth exited wearing a sleek blue spacesuit, the helmet face-covering completely white, it emitted an automatic scan at all times, measuring the atmosphere. She slowly walked forward, and stopped in front of a flagpole connected to a metallic box, which had been drilled into the ground. She quietly looked at the flag that was wafting in the air it was dark purple and triangular, inside the middle there was a white circle with a white triangle in the middle.
Several micras passed by before she moved again, she opened up the box, inside of which was a small note, her hands trembled in anger as she picked it up and crumpled it.
With momentous indignation she walked back to the small vessel, its simple square structure and worn down plating didn't exactly boast confidence.
The small hatch closed to the outside, and she took off the small helmet, and went over to where Brulok was sitting in confusion, this was supposed to be goodbye after all, but he wasn't blind, he had seen the flag of the Devishian Empire, he knew something had happened.
He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Azreth "We are NOT leaving for planet Terra!".