(Furi'ken) Prologue - Into Darkness We Go! Part 2

[Kalshion]

Furi'ken, FTL

Chi'ka sat cross-legged at her console, a pen balanced on the bridge of her nose while deep in thought. "It's been a week since we launched, no ceremony thanks to those fuckers," she remarked with a minor scowl. It had taken three extra days for them to root out what was left of the terrorists that had plagued the school city and even then there were still reports of sporadic fighting, but at least those reports also said that that the youth corp were at the forefront of fighting these pockets and that the navy was able to pull their own forces back.

With a sigh the shipmistress leaned forward and looked at the translucent display in front of her, a text pad opened up and the words 'journal entry' displayed above it. "Not much to really write about, things have been uneventful," as she spoke, the words would appear in the pad. "The crew seems to be in decent spirits, although I've noticed some worried about what this attack might mean."

"We still don't know how they managed to get past the defenses originally," she rubbed her chin. "Nor how they were able to disable some of the anti-air batteries so close to the perimeter, it's a mystery but one I hope is solved in the near future. If not by the forces on the ground, then by us," she grinned.

It was at this point that she turned to look at the cabin window, eyes peering at the white lines that quickly passed by as the ship traveled through FTL. For a moment she just stared, then noticed something strange about the space beyond, a swirling like motion in the background. She was about half way out of her chair when suddenly her cabin, and the entire ship, shook violently.

[Aria]

Aiu idly flipped through her datapad for probably the fifth time. She sat at her desk in the medbay with her chin resting on her propped-up left hand. Silence hung over the med bay, with only Aiu and Barbanov as the only two people not sleeping in a bed. The first few days after the terrorist attack had been busy and flew by quickly, but now most people were either discharged from the med bay or waiting to heal. She had already made a few rounds to check on patients, but there wasn't anything left to do.

Aiu still felt really embarrassed about crying in Barbanov's arms after just meeting. She said a few really unthoughtful words as well she wished she could take back. But now, here they were, working alone together in the same facility. She couldn't bring herself to talk to him just yet outside of work, so she just made herself look constantly busy. If Barbanov looked closely enough, he might have seen her eyes had stopped moving and she just blankly stared as she scrolled through her datapad that sat on her desk.

Her mind wandered to that day where she hugged him and rubbed his head in reassurance like she did her brother. She remembered the feeling of Barb's soft, fluffy, golden hair. It took her a second to realize her right hand had stopped scrolling and had been mimicking that gentle gesture. She quickly pulled her hand back to her.

I never even got to bandage his hand, she thought with a frown. Augh! I can't stand this anymore! she thought, suddenly slamming her hands on her desk and standing up. She wasn't the type to mope. She had to do something.

"Barb!" she nearly shouted, partially to psych herself up. But just before she reached him, the ship's violent shutter knocked her off her feet.

[SirSkully]

The other half of the medical team in question was neatly arranging medical supplies in a nearby compartment for what must have been about the fifth time today as he let out a small sigh, one ear twitched at the slightest sound in the hallway outside because hell - it was a lot nicer to focus on than the awkward silence that was currently filling this room.

Had he fucked up in some way? Barbanov just thought he was helping out a distraught crew-mate and fellow medic birthed from a pit of gore but something had gone wrong, maybe she just misread his intentions and acted accordingly? though no, Barb assumed he had fucked up in some way and now the cute medic with a floppy ear didn't even want to talk to him... though he respected her wishes and tried to not get in the way too much, dipping his chin to avoid eye contact when they passed each other and such.

Both fuzzy ears, that had lazily been resting forward on Barbanov's head of golden-brown hair, sat bolt upright at the attentive mention of his name and the lad whipped around to greet Aiu before something knocked the boy to the ground. First was confusion, the hell was that? then worry as he saw Aiu also fall over - deciding to scurry across to her on all fours quickly and kneel down as he began checking her over for injuries.

"Aiu! are you okay?" the boy inquired with a look of worry as his ears retook their drooping position, fearing the worst as Barbanov gently began sweeping across the fellow medical fox for any sustained injuries.

[Aria]

Aiu suddenly found herself on the floor for some reason she couldn't remember. It seemed weird to her that she'd nap on such a rough floor. She heard someone talking above her and glanced up, but her vision blurred and all she could make out was a puff of golden hair and two drooping ears. She looked at Barb with a blank stare for a few seconds as gears slowly turned.

"Don't be sad, Icaro," she said sweetly, reaching her hand up and rubbing the sad fox's head. It took a few seconds for her to realize this wasn't her brother, but Barbanov. Her hand seized up and she shot upright.

"S-sor-" she began, but her head swooned and her vision momentarily blacked out. She fell backwards, but caught herself with one arm. A small trickle of blood ran down her face from a bruise that continued to swell.

[club24]

Micalio had retreated to the engineering bay since they boarded the ship, going through FTL was no engineering walk in the park and she was doing everything she could to keep the systems in the green, an issue during FTL travel could be disastrous. As though to voice her thoughts the ship shuddered violently around the red haired Daur who, luckily had enough practice in these situations not to go sprawling to the floor although she did stumble. "Engineering to bridge, what's going on up there?" She quickly called through, checking over the various readouts on her end to see if anything was out of whack or damaged.

[Soresu]

Ay'indri, the short, stoic agent of Or'ion had retreated to the CIC. If she couldn't get at the enemy physically, she would have to settle for gathering intelligence. She murmured to an analyst in thanks as reports on the city's attack flowed to her screen. Looking at it caused her to frown. Just how had they managed it? The question prickled at the back of her mind. They likely had help that much was a given. But that opened its own can of worms.

Muttering to herself, Ay'indri spared a moment to lean back in her chair and stretch. A stretch that normally didn't involve one flying backward out of their seat. She didn't stay down long, but soon likely found herself the proud new owner of several bruises and bumps. Using her chair to brace herself as the agent shook her head. Multi-colored spots swam in her vision and shaking only seemed to intensify the ache in her neck and the back of her head.

While others worried over their comrades, picking them up and assessing possible injuries, Ay'indri slipped out from the CIC onto the bridge proper to see if she could help.

[SirSkully]

"I~" Barb let out as a sound of confusion at the gentle hand on his fluffy head but quickly realized it was the floppy-eared-medic being delusional, understandable due to her sustained head wound but it didn't seem like her neck was broken so that was a good start - additionally there may have been some blood and swelling but he was pretty sure there weren't any breaks or fractures in her skull after his examination.

"No, no it's okay~ just try not to move too much," the boy tried to comfort Aiu with a weak yet reassuring smile as he moved to gently support her head on his knelt legs, tail subconsciously falling over the girl's chest without his knowing as some kind of instinct to protect her kicked in - making sure to not jostle the girl too much Barb moved to pull some sterile gloves onto his hands and then free a length of gauze that he held over the wound, attempting to apply the right amount of pressure with one hand as the other began carefully converting it to a compression bandage with what little wrappings the medical pouch on his belt held.

 "Uhm~ talk to me Aiu! tell me about this Icaro," Barbanov suggested, trying to get her talking to both ease nerves and judge how much additional care he would need to provide, afterall he seemed to be the only able-bodied medic in the entirety of this med-bay and there were a lot of injured people - so any help would be appreciated.

[Aria]

Aiu let out a series of subdued complaining noises as her head was lowered into Barb's lap. "I just got a bit dizzy," she began to protest, but her situation became clear as Barb reached for his medical tools.

Ah, I must have gotten a minor concussion somehow, she thought. She couldn't believe that made her mistake Barb for her brother though! She came over to apologize for being clingy and saying terrible things only to be right back in his arms again. She closed her eyes to avoid awkwardly looking at him, hoping any blushing would be excused as part of the concussion.

"About Icaro?" Aiu muttered. She noted her medical training and figured he wanted to make sure she was coherent. She'd have to tell a good story to escape his warm lap. Maybe I should stay quiet for a little bit, she briefly thought before pushing that idea away.

"Icaro is my little brother," she began. "He's a few years younger than me and would always cling to me whenever we ran around outside. He enjoyed climbing trees and jumping over rocks like I did, but he'd cry at the slightest bit of pain. I used to rub his head to reassure him like I did to you just now. His hair's a pure, brilliant white. Fluffy like mine but cut a little shorter. He'll always be my innocent, happy brother."

"But, he changed a little bit after I was attacked. I tried to protect a Daur from bullying Laibes, but I ended up taking the beating for that Daur instead. That's where I broke my ear. I have no regrets and was more than glad to bear that pain for someone else, but Icaro took it harder. My family practically made me learn the sword to defend myself at that point and Icaro learned as well. I just focused on learning defense, but Icaro pushed himself to exhaustion to get better. He continued to follow me around, but more like a bodyguard protecting me. He felt more aggressive, more quick to assume bad in others after that. As I joined the navy, he promised to follow me in a few years. I'm worried about what he may become. When you yelled at the terrorist the other day, it felt like my worst fears were coming to life. So I said some terrible things to you, unloading my feelings for my brother onto you. I'm sorry, it really wasn't fair. You're a good person, I know it. And I also felt bad about breaking down in your arms right after meeting you, I didn't meant to latch onto the first person I ran into."

Aiu slowly propped herself up, feeling the well-done bandage wrapped around her head. She felt a little dizzy, but should be okay to work.

"I hope we can still be friends, Barb."

[Kalshion]

Engineering

The ship shuddered as klaxon's blared. Damage screens began to flicker to life in engineering, showing multiple levels of damage across the ships outer hull including a number of hull breaches.

Infirmary

Right away medical reports began to come in, people reporting of injuries brought about by the sudden violent shaking of the ship - which had only continued and was gradually getting worse as the minutes ticked by.

~"Mess Hall here! We have multiple injured crew!"~ one report came over the loud speaker, it was interspersed with a number of other reports which were quickly drowning each other out.

Bridge

The bridge looked like it had been through harsh combat, multiple terminals were either destroyed or actively on fire, several of the crew lay prone on the ground - either dead or unconscious. Since it was the day shift, there weren't that many crew on the bridge so perhaps it would be considered a saving grace.

The view screen showed that ship was in a tumble, bolts of purplish lighting danced outside and every so often the screen would turn into static.

[SirSkully]

It was, more than he had expected, to say the least - what Barbanov had thought was a simple question with a short answer ended up snowballing into a story about Aiu's life, he wasn't complaining though because it served to both ensure she wasn't injured too badly from whatever had happened and also furthered his understanding of the adorably floppy-eared Medic.

"I~" Combat Medic DePolanskaya began once more before he was cut off by the comms system, which he turned towards before bringing his attention back to Aiu, carefully helping the other medical fox onto her feet and steady her with an understanding nod.

"Of course, Aiu~ always, but we have a job to right now so we'll discuss this later yeah?" Barb reassured her, giving one of he girl's paws a friendly squeeze before breaking off to gather up what he could and stuff it in a nearby duffle bag - people needed saving!

[Aria]

"Ah, thanks," Aiu said as Barb slowly helped her to her feet. Maybe I've been overthinking everything, he doesn't seem to be mad at me for what I said. I feel like my mouth just runs when I'm with him. It took Aiu a moment to notice him holding her hand a moment longer than needed and giving it a gentle squeeze. She jumped a little just as he began to jog away.

"D-don't forget, we'll continue this later!" she shouted after him. She felt a strange warmth in her as she watched his fluffy hair and large ears bounce in tune with his swaying tail. She caught herself smiling awkwardly for a second before she snapped out of it with a shake of her head. Sadly the sudden shaking reminded her of the pain in her head. She jogged over to her medical pack, took some pain killers to help with the headache, then stuffed extra bandages and other supplies into her pack.

"Let's split up, I'll head to the mess hall if you want to check out one of the other calls. Keep in sync with me over comms so we can get to everyone. We can recruit able-bodied crew to carry stable patients back here. Good luck!" With a smile and a wave, Aiu jogged out of the med bay and towards the mess hall.

[Soresu]

Ay'indri seemed to walk into chaos. Screens and stations sparked or displaying their innards through cracked casings. The smell of ozone, blood, and burnt flesh wafted about her. It was the sort of thing that could cause one's gorge to rise if not properly prepared. At that moment the agent almost lost it amidst the chaos. But it was not to be, as she forced herself to hold it down. With a shake of her head to try and clear it, Ay'indri staggered along to the closest of the injured while gingerly touching the knot forming on the back of her head.

Kneeling, Ay'indri tried to assess the poor soul's injuries.

[club24]

Engineering

Micalio didn't like the look of all those damage screens popping up at once, hull breaches, coolant leaks, thankfully no depressurisation or major failures yet. The lack of response from the bridge suggested to the red haired Daur that they were probably dealing with their fair share of issues up there too. Setting to work the engineer strapped herself up with all manner of tools and equipment before sending the damage reports to her HUD, slipping on the helmet she'd kept around for this purpose.

With the botched up helmet on serving as her engineer triage map Micalio ran out of the bay and towards the nearest critical damage, a set of blown pressure locks on the coolant lines close by to the engineering bay. "Engineering to Bridge, I'm moving to begin internal repairs, please advise."

[Kalshion]

Medical

The flow of injured gradually increased, although with it with other crew that served as reserved healers. Overhead lights flickered and consoles were barely operational, with the way things looked, the healers would have to make-do with whatever they could since they wouldn't have access to any of the advanced tech that they had on the ship.

At a near by vent on the opposite side of the medical bay, wisps of smoke started to come out.

Mess-hall

It was a mess getting to the mess hall, many of the hallways were either blocked or so choked with debris that they might as well have been blocked. Once Aiu got to the mess hall though she'd find that the bulkhead doors were sealed with a flickering holographic word over it: "Danger"

CiC

Ay'indri's checks would reveal that while the person was alive, their breathing was shallow, they also had a metal pipe that had gone through the lower right side of their chest. The person's left leg was crushed beneath some debris.

There were others in CiC, some moaning and groaning, others trying to put out fires. Two sat at still intact consoles trying to assess whatever weapons they still had, while a few more were trying to pry open a door - a door that had small amounts of smoke coming out of the seams.

[Aria]

Aiu sprinted through the chaotic hallways, each moment passing making her more desperate to reach the mess hall. She continued running despite dead ends and ragged rubble. Her foot slipped on loose debris, but she caught herself and clutched her medical bag tightly against her. I can't let myself get hurt again. As her muscles began to beg for rest, she finally turned the corner to the mess hall.

Her heart sank. Tremendously tough doors sealed her away from those she came to save. Aiu ran up to the door anyway and pounded like an abandoned child.

"Please! Open the door! I'm here to help, I just need in!" After a few moments of dead silence, her hands slid down the smooth, cold door. I can't just give up on them, but what can I do!? Then she remembered the communicator in her bag. She thrashed around inside until she found it and tried to operate it through shaking hands.

"Bridge, this is Aiu'tarou," she began, forgetting about rank. "Do you read me? I need access to the mess hall to help injured crew, please open the blast doors!"