The Key

by Brian Fisher

  Chapter 42

  The planet looked serene from space. Lush green jungles and vivid blue oceans covered the planet. The jungles were thickest around the equator, and thinning down to the northern and southern polar caps.

  T'Sula watched the viewer intently, longing for the feel of soil under her feet, and the fresh air in her lungs. She braced herself as she heard Corin say, "This is going to be a rough landing, so be prepared." Her straps were tight, and she was as secure as she could get.

  Vengeance slipped through space and entered the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Seconds passed without incident while the ship sank deeper towards the lush green planet.

  "Corin, the hull is starting to get too hot." Kamira's voice rang through the tiny bridge like a bell. "We need to reduce the friction."

  "Alright, hold on." Corin strained against the controls, bringing the ship into a better trim for the descent. The stringers and longerons screamed under the immense strain, before some of them finally snapped.

  "Temperature is stabilizing." the Engineer reported, the relief audible in her voice. "We will be out of the rough stuff in thirty seconds." Kam watched as a console shook loose next to her.

  "Alright, we're almost through." Corin began just as the power died on the bridge. Vengeance began to spin wildly out of control, blind and falling faster and faster. It took mere seconds for the ship to reach terminal velocity. Only her engines could now keep them alive.

  Striving to hold back the panic, Kamira worked in the dark. She unstrapped herself, and crawled under her console. Yanking free the access panel, her hands flew across the exposed wires and circuits of her broken console.

  "Get me power!" Corin yelled, a hint of panic tinged his voice.

  "I'm working on it!" Kamira yelled back. A spark flew from her console an instant before the power was restored. The bridge was in shambles. Consoles lay strewn about the deck, cables dangled and sparked as they swung wildly about the bridge.

  "Brace yourselves!" T'Sula yelled. She was looking at the sporadic images on the main viewer. Without drawing any notice, T'Sula activated a program on her armor. Instantly she was completely covered in the durable polycarbonate armor. Not even her eyes were unprotected.

  Massive mountains covered in lush green vegetation loomed ahead. Giant trees that were larger around than the ship was long covered the beautiful landscape.

  "Oh, this is going to hurt." Corin muttered, straining to keep the nose of his ship up for a belly landing.

  Vengeance tore mercilessly through kilometers of trees, leaving charred parts and debris in her wake. Smoke and fire followed the crippled ship, before she finally lurched to a stop. A trough of burning, ruined greenery scarred the otherwise pristine landscape, forever marking the passage of the little ship.

  There was no noise when T'Sula finally opened her eyes. Everything was dark, save for the sporadic blue spark of bare wires arcing against a ground. She could move, but barely. Her restraints had held her firm against her seat, but the seat now pressed against her shattered console.

  It seemed that she had activated her armor just in time. T'Sula was pinned, but she was uninjured. She fumbled in the dark for a moment, and then finally her fingers found the catch on her restraint harness. Deftly, she released her restraints, and wriggled free of her temporary prison.

  After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, T'Sula stood and looked around the bridge. It was as she had feared. The ship had not survived. Bulkheads were buckled. The deck was just as bad. Every monitor was shattered, and all of the instruments that she could see were destroyed.

  In the center of the bridge, Corin lay unmoving in his seat. It took T'Sula only a moment to check him and see that he would be alright; at least he would be until she killed him.

  T'Sula gasped and spun on her heals to find Kamira. Her cousin lay sprawled across a broken console on the other side of the bridge. Kamira's arms hung limp with her fingers slightly twitching. Her body was slashed and torn in too many places to count. A steady trickle of blood dripped from her hair onto the deck. Kamira was dying.

  T'Sula knew instinctively that Kamira had multiple fractures and internal injuries. That was the only possible result of her body position. Quickly and methodically T'Sula checked her cousin. Her years of training took over as she ran her hands over Kamira's broken body. Kamira's heartbeat was weak and sporadic, but it was there. She was still alive.

  Corin groaned, interrupting T'Sula's thoughts. "Where is your Emergency Medical Kit?" T'Sula asked, striding over to the wounded man.

  "It should be by the door." Corin sat up and quickly examined himself. Nothing was broken, only deeply bruised. "How's Kam?" he managed to get out before he saw her draped across the console.

  "T'Sula, there's a DioBed with an independent power supply by Engineering. We should get her there." Corin stumbled to his feet and made his way to Kamira.

  "If we move her right now, she'll probably die." T'Sula's voice was cold, devoid of feeling. She forced herself to focus on finding the med kit. If only she could find that kit, she might be able to save her cousin's life. She might be able to save her family.

  T’Sula’s hand found the medical kit exactly where Corin said it would be.

  "How's Brutus?" Corin asked just before the med kit came flying at his head.

  "How's your cat?!" T'Sula screamed. "I don't care one bit about your cat! My cousin is lying at your side, dying, and you want to know about a cat?" T'Sula forced herself to regain a small measure of composure as she stalked toward Corin.

  As calmly as she could manage, T'Sula grabbed Corin by his throat, and lifted him free of the deck. Her stare burned into his soul with a passion that even T'Sula did not know. "You get this straight right now. If she dies, I will kill you very slowly." T'Sula dropped Corin to the deck and watched as he gasped for air. Only anger showed through her eyes. "Now, get that DioBed ready for Kamira, or you will never see that cat again."

  Corin nodded, and without speaking, left the bridge. T'Sula didn't watch him go. She had seen the concern and fear in his eyes. She dismissed her would be captor and turned to the task at hand. Kamira had to be stabilized before she could be moved. After that was done, then she could worry about other things.

  T'Sula located the med kit that she had flung in a fit of rage. She chastised herself for her actions, and then moved on. First T'Sula gave her cousin an injection to stabilize her heart rate, and then she worked to stop the bleeding.

  Kamira had multiple wounds. There was a gash across her scalp that was bleeding profusely, but other than that it was superficial. Both of her arms were broken in multiple places, as well as one leg. T'Sula expertly splinted the fractures and then found the worst injuries of all.

  Kamira was bleeding internally. There was nothing else that T'Sula could do with a mere emergency medical kit. She had to get Kam to the DioBed. Her fingers expertly found a number of pressure points that T'Sula hoped would help. She pressed hard against the points, and started to look for something that she could use as a stretcher.

  T'Sula searched around the shattered bridge. Debris lay everywhere. It took her only a few moments to find what she was looking for. A bulkhead had come loose in the crash. T'Sula struggled as she drug the heavy sheet of metal over to her cousin. As gently as she could, T'Sula laid Kamira on the makeshift stretcher and bound her tight.

  T'Sula strained against the drag. The weight of the bulkhead and Kamira combined was too much. She couldn't move it. She tried again, straining every muscle in her body, and yet it still would not move.

  "You get that side, I'll get this one." Corin said, gently pushing T'Sula over. She glared at him, but relented. Together they strained against the weight, and in silence drug Kamira out of the Bridge, and down to the waiting DioBed.

  Corin worked the controls as T'Sula cut Kamira free of the drag. With Corin lifting her feet, and T'Sula her head and shoulders, they gently placed Kamira on the bed. T'Sula couldn't bear to speak as she watche
d the machine begin its work. Finally, she turned to Corin. "I'll go find your cat." was all that she could manage.

  The ship was dark throughout, with debris littering the decks. T'Sula carefully picked her way through the ship, being careful not to injure or jeopardize herself as she searched for the giant feline. She moved quickly but forced herself not to hurry. The last time that she had seen Brutus, they had just met, and the last thing that she wanted was to run headlong into an angry, injured Sand Panther.

  Vengeances’ damage was staggering. Corin was going to need a complete refit in order to be space worthy again. T'Sula wondered to herself just how much of this damage was her fault. Was she responsible for Kamira's condition, or was it simply a coincidence?

  T'Sula forced her thoughts and feelings away, and concentrated on what she was doing. The corridors looked vaguely familiar to her as she passed through them. She had been through these same passages only a short time before, but now they were almost unrecognizable.

  T'Sula stopped dead in her tracks. The door leading to the room with the Matter Reclamation Unit stood ajar. From deep inside the room came the faint mewling of an animal. Brutus had to be inside, and he was most likely hurt. Cautiously, T'Sula peered into the room. Brutus lay against the far bulkhead, pinned in place by the toppled MRU.

  Brutus' head came up as T'Sula entered the room. His mewling instantly turned into a deep, threatening growl. He barred his gleaming white fangs as she drew cautiously nearer. The tiny green and red lights on the MRU cast an eerie hue on the giant tan animal.

  "I'm not here to hurt you." T'Sula whispered, inching closer. "I'm going to help you. I'm not going to hurt you Brutus." she kept her voice low with her movements slow and smooth.

  The big cat watched her intently, and slowly his growl died out to silence. T'Sula slowly reached out her hand, palm down, toward the cat. He studied her for a moment, and then sniffed her hand. Satisfied, Brutus gently licked the back of T’Sula’s hand. She let him do this for a moment, and then lightly scratched behind his big, furry ears.

  "All right, let's see if we can get you out of this mess." T'Sula told the cat as she got to her feet. Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness by now, so seeing was not a problem. The room was a complete wreck. Nothing had come through the crash unscathed. The massive MRU that had previously been secured to the deck was now on the other side of the room and leaning against the wall.

  T'Sula tentatively pushed and pulled at different places along the unit. Nothing worked. There was nothing of sufficient size to use as a lever, and T'Sula was not strong enough to move the machine by herself.

  With a sigh, she turned back to the cat. "I'll be right back. I'm going to get some help." she patted Brutus on the head and quickly left. It didn't take long for T'Sula to reach Corin. He was where she had left him, still watching over Kamira.

  "I need you to come with me." T'Sula forced herself to speak to Corin. The words came hard, almost stopping in her throat. There was something about this man. She wanted to hurt him, and completely open herself up to him at the same time. He was infuriating and completely endearing all rolled into one package. She hated not knowing what it was that she felt.

  "Lead on." Corin said, turning to look at T'Sula for the first time. He understood part of why she wanted to kill him; he would probably feel the same way in her position. Deep in his heart he wanted to tell her why, but he knew that there was no chance of her understanding. He just had to find the right time, the right place, to talk to her. Maybe then T'Sula would understand. Maybe then she would stop hating him.

  Corin followed T'Sula through the darkened ship, picking his way through the carnage. He grimaced to himself at the thought of it. If Vengeance would ever fly again, she would never be the same.

  Brutus continued to mewl after T'Sula left. His voice was strong, but pleading. The cries reached Corin's ears as they drew nearer. "How is he?" Corin asked quietly.

  "He's fine. He's just pinned between a bulkhead and the MRU." T'Sula replied without looking back.

  "Good." Corin paused as he stumbled over some debris. "That MRU's pretty big. Do you think we can move it?"

  "I think so, as long as we can find something to use as a pry bar." T'Sula stopped and looked directly at Corin. "What do you want with me?"

  "Are you sure you want to ask that right now?" Corin had a difficult time hiding his shock. His mind reeled at the question. He wanted to tell her. There were so many reasons to simply open up and talk, and so many reasons not to. Silently Corin waged a vicious battle inside himself. Should he talk to T'Sula, or should he keep quiet?

  "Now's as good a time as any." T'Sula shrugged. "Brutus is trapped, but ok. Kamira is not going anywhere. It's just you and me. Talk."

  "Alright." Corin blew out a deep breath. He was ready for this, or at least he kept telling himself so. "I, ah, need your help." he began.

  "You need my help. You have a funny way of asking." T'Sula turned back towards the waiting Brutus. "Keep talking. We'll help the cat while you explain."

  Corin stayed silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts while he helped T'Sula search for something to use to move the MRU. After a short search, they came across a longeron protruding for a bulkhead. Together Corin and T'Sula worked it free and carried it into the room where Brutus lay pinned.

  "Are you familiar with a group called 'the Regiment'?" Corin ventured as he helped T'Sula wedge the longeron between the MRU and the wall.

  "Yes, I am." T’Sula said with a grunt. "They're really disturbed people that don't care who they hurt." she finished placing the makeshift pry bar, and motioned for Corin to help maneuver it.

  "Yeah, that's them." Corin grunted as he pushed on the longeron. "They think that I'm bringing you to them, and I have no intention of doing it."

  "They what?" T'Sula exclaimed, letting go of the pry bar. Without her added pressure, the bar swung back, barely missing Corin's face. "You captured me for the Regiment?" Her face grew redder by the second. Rage filled T'Sula like a flooding river threatening to break the dam of her control.

  "No!" Corin yelled, ducking to miss the pry bar. As he ducked, T'Sula launched a powerful knee thrust into Corin's face, shattering his nose. She followed instantly with an elbow between his shoulder blades.

  "I didn't capture you for the Regiment!" Corin roared. He rolled quickly to his left, avoiding a stomp to the back of his head. As he rolled, he picked up a meter long piece of cable, and swung it at T'Sula's legs.

  The cable wrapped around T'Sula's ankles and took her to the deck with a thud. She brushed her legs free of the cable and shot back to her feet. "Then why did you capture me?" she hissed as she launched into another attack. Her front snap kick resulted in a Pak Sao from Corin, catching T'Sula by surprise.

  Recovering from her blocked kick, T'Sula attacked again. She faked a roundhouse kick to Corin's head, then dropped down and swept his legs out from under him. With Corin flat on his back, T'Sula leapt on top of him, pinning his shoulders with her knees.

  Both T'Sula Mir and Corin Dante ignored the escalating growl from Brutus, their attention focused completely on each other. "I need your help to take those bastards down, T'Sula." Corin ventured, calling her by her first name, hoping to ease her rage.

  "You have my attention." T'Sula fought hard to hide the smile that inevitably crept to her face. She had enjoyed this. She had enjoyed it a lot.