Force Rising: Dead in Space/Part II

Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. He counsciously had to think to draw in fresh, life-giving air, and to expel the noxious, death-bringing air. In. Out. In. Out. Kaox Kruhl was meditating; keeping himself alive hundreds of years longer than he should have lived takes concentration, and this rigorous meditation he was putting himself through honed that concentration. As he lowered himself from his handstand, he immediately began hanging upside down from the fifth birth up of the escape pod... by the fingers of one hand alone. He could not rely on the Force to help him; the ysalamir in the cage next to him made sure of that.

"Kaox."

The voice came from inside. Even though the Force was negated here, the voice still existed.

"Kaox."

"What? Why do you torment me? Why can't you just leave me alone?" He punctuated that sentence by using his physical strength alone to rip another bunk off its wall mount and throw it at the viewport. It barely held.

"Kaox. You have disobeyed me. Now, you will pay."

"No. NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

His shouts were heard down the corridors. The ones closer to the pod were quickly stripped of their decorative plating and reduced to masses of pipes, wires, and ducts. The droids that had been attacking T'ra Saa were blasted at her, and she barely was able to use the Force to shield herself. When the screaming subsided, T'ra barely recognized the ship around her. The hallways in front of her had fused closed, the absence of the scream had caused a vacuum that closed its compromised integrity and sealed it like a tomb.

The hand reached for the comlink. As it was drawn to the bloodied mouth of Kaox Kruhl, his eyes a disturbing white stare, he spoke into it, a dull, lifeless monotone.

"Bring the ships in. The hull has been weakened."

On the bridge, Admiral Klaxon had let me go.

"It's about time. Why did you do that? Master T'ra isn't strong enough to take on such a powerful Sith, Neti or no!" I was furious that this... this... madman... had been let on this ship.

"It was General Saa's wishes that you be contained", the admiral said. It was for your own safety. You say Master Saa isn't powerful enough to take on Kaox Kruhl. If he is that powerful, what makes you think you could have helped? You dont even have your lightsaber." His tone softened. "Besides, I need help here. Kruhl has control of this ship, and you're the best computer slicer we have on the ship."

The admiral had a point. But still... "Do we have any men we can send to help her?"

"Even if they're alive, we have no way of contacting them without leaving the bridge. I cannot do that, and neither can you. It's too dangerous. Here, we are protected if we can get these turrets and shields back online."

I was near tears. Just thinking about my master dying was... scary, for lack of a better way to put it. I had nothing I could do. I was about to turn to the viewport so the admiral could not see my tears, when a feral scream blasted through the corridors and the forward viewports. As they shattered and the blast doors slammed over them, the scream faded, and bits and pieces of the hallway embedded themselves all around the bridge, in consoled, in both of the officers that were left alive, and, most importantly, they embedded themselves in the control box for the ray shields. As the red screen dropped over the bridge doors, I resigned myself to getting these turrets and shields back online.

"Admiral... I'm guessing that was a sign." My voice was bitter as I spoke. "What console is the most operational."

"This one right here", the admiral said, two of his left hands indicating a computer just to the right of the command seat.

As I stepped up to the console, I began to ask the admiral what should come online first. "Which of the ship's-". For the second time that day, I tumbled across the deck as an explosion rocked the ship. Admiral Klaxon also toppled over, and the Harch rolled down after me, towards one of the nearly-shattered viewports, the razor-sharp bits of hallway still embedded in its cracked, weak-looking surface!