Board Thread:The Company/@comment-24930445-20140615054833/@comment-24930445-20140621204235

Aftermath

“Son of a bitch!” Travers’ fist connected with the wall over Alex’s head causing the Krita’s comms officer to duck into his console.

“Don’t shoot the messenger! Good god, I’m just telling you what Vextis said.” Alex grumbled over his shoulder.

Jack strode over to his brother, concern on his face at his Travers’ outburst. “Do I want to know?”

“No. You most decidedly do not want to know, but you’ll find out anyway. Kat’s on a one woman rescue mission. Seems Aerli was taken and she’s gone after her.” Travers growled, his anger bubbling over once again.

Alex ducked as Jack swore. “Will you guys take that shit somewhere else? Not in the mood to dodge you both all day. I’ve got more important things to do.” He punched buttons and growled into his head-link at whomever answered the other end.

“Engineering says it’ll be at least another day or so before we’re back online.” Travers rubbed his forehead frantically, his eyes closed. The stress headache would not go away.

“I thought main power was restored.”

“It is, but the computers are still offline. Whatever they hit us with scrambled main memory. They’re doing a complete rebuild.”

“Why didn’t Ryax stop her?” Jack’s mood was just as dark as his brother’s.

“He couldn’t. He’s in the Inferno right now along with Ilrea. He’s messed up pretty bad. The girl, not as much. Dante found them both in a hallway unconscious. Ry looked like he’d been on the losing end of a fight. Brandy said he and Axin were intent on killing each other hand to hand when some big guy showed up, metal and flesh. Kat freaked out. Something about him terrified her, according to Brandy. Then all hell broke lose. He ran, grabbing up Aerli on the way. Weird part is, Axin went after them with Kat on his tail. Brandy said Ilrea made him promise to bring her sister back… and he agreed.”

Travers hadn’t noticed Jack’s concerned frown at the description of Aerli’s kidnapper. Shaking his head, he muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“I said it couldn’t be. He’s dead.” Jack growled, his concern growing. “He’s dead, right Dev? You saw him die.”

Travers blinked then shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about, Jack?”

“Darrak. You saw him die, right?” Jack looked at his brother, his eyes haunted.

“What the.. where did that come from?” Travers frowned, confused.

“Describe the girl’s kidnapper, Dev. Tell me what he looked like.”

Travers’ eyes opened wide in shock. “Bloody hell. He’s dead, Jack. I swear by it.”

Jack arched an eyebrow before replying. “So was I, Dev.”

Travers growled again. “He was dust, Jack. There wasn’t anything left to bring back. No way that was Darrak.”

________________________

Dante’s Inferno; Med Bay

“It was Darrak. I’m not sure how, but I know it was him.” Ry sighed from his bed.

Jack and Travers both cursed in Gaelic.

“Are you guys freaking kidding me?!” Joke, his hands bandaged from the severe burns he sustained when the suppressor Larry had supplied him with finally reached its limit. Although he had been successful in removing it from his back by the third blaster hit, a fourth caused the thing to explode in his hands before he could throw it at his attacker. He was currently sitting on an empty hospital bed, glowering at nothing.

“And she went after him?! What the hell was she thinking?” Jack exploded.

“She was thinking about our daughter. An eleven year old girl in the clutches of tha’ monster. She was thinking of her family.” Ry growled. He couldn’t help that last dig. He had seen how she had suffered at Jack’s betrayal and it still angered him.

“Shut up you two. We need to figure out how to get our people back. Reports have come in that seventy people have gone on the missing.” Travers stood between the glaring men.

“Seventy five.” LaeAnne stepped through the door, her hand resting on her blaster as she felt the tension in the room. “Tarrin, Vee and some customer were taken from the office and adding Kat and Aerli, the count is at seventy five missing and about a hundred dead or injured. I hate to say it, but no one’s seen or heard from Ben either, though there’s no confirmation he’s been taken… or worse.”

Ry threw the covers back and tried to get up, wincing in pain. Red was immediately at his side. “There’s nothing you can do in this condition. Give your body time to regenerate while they get the ship back in working order. Please. You can’t help her like this Ry. You can’t help any of them.”

Dante had been in hours before to speak with Ry privately. Dante was concerned by the damage Ry had taken from his battle with Axin. The bruised and cracked ribs as well as the damage to his eye would all regenerate in time. Even the broken ribs and internal bleeding, though disconcerting, he would eventually return to normal. What had bothered Dante was that Axin had shattered one of Ry’s ribs, sending shards of bone into his heart. If Dante and his crew hadn’t got there when they had, Ry would have died. Dante informed Ry he would be running a full work up on him with or without his permission. Surprisingly, Ry agreed, but informed the doctor that he would only sit still until the action started. Any tests not completed by then would have to wait. Dante worked fast.

“Daddy please.” Ilrea’s voice drifted from the bed next to him. At his insistence, the med team had kept her close to him even though she had only suffered a mild concussion and sprained knee. He smiled at his daughter and Brandy, who had never left her side, then rested against the mattress again.

Ry had been disturbed by Axin’s superior maneuvers. He remembered thinking in the middle of battle he’d been slacking on his training, but he didn’t think it had been that badly. Axin had been faster and hit harder and, if things hadn’t happened the way they had, Ry was sure he would had definitely died by his other’s hands. As it was, he came too close anyway. He made a promise to himself that he would regain his advantage.

“Looks like this is command central for the moment. Alright. What d’we know and what’s th’ plan?”