Koldan, Sin and the Doomed Ship

(This is a continuation of a previous post: Feast)

  Wrath and Krof stayed in the refectory for a couple of days, waiting for the Demoness to recover from her wounds. She healed quickly. Meanwhile, the Skoll tried to convince her to stay still as much as she could, but she could not resist the temptation to look at him when he cobbled together some more ammunition. Maybe he was also reluctant to go to their next destination: the reactor. Maybe it was a way for him to push back this moment.

  But they finally went. They stocked some food, Krof took his weapon, and before they knew it, they were going down in the elevator to their destination.

Elevated

  Krof had grown steadily more anxious as the secure elevator descended to the reactor deck, his taloned finger tapping against the trigger guard of his weapon. He had not been idle during his time sleeplessly watching over the demon as she recuperated - the shells he'd assembled for the portable cannon were crude, but serviceable. She'd seen first-hand that he did not seem to know the specifics of the munitions he built - some program in his helmet transmitted the instructions to him visually.

  When the elevator finally ground to a halt and began to open, he dealt with the egress in the way that had proven the most survivable during his time on the ship - he charged out as soon as the doors opened, training the muzzle of his weapon on every corner in quick succession. It was best to exit a lethal choke point like the elevator as soon as possible. Satisfied that the room was clear, he stepped aside to make room for Sin, motioning for her to follow.


  Wrath walked out of the elevator, now aware of the dangers that the ship could host. She was probably a little more confident than the Skoll as she had the knowledge of how most demons operated, but since her last certainty led her to be wounded by a lesser demon, she kept her awareness level high. She kept a small knife she had found on a corpse on their way here close to her hand, ready to use it if necessary. It wasn't a very efficient weapon but that'll do.

  She took the time to appreciate the situation. She was close to her goal: finding this portal and getting the hell out of here. But strangely, the idea was making her a little sad, but she didn't know why. Was this place making her mad?

  "Let's move on."

  Her tone was firm; she was determined. The remains of the bite she took two days ago (were they days on this ship?) could be seen on her hip. It still hurt, but it was manageable.

  "This is active zone," Krof said, dialing at the security panel with one claw, resting his rifle on his shoulder. "Echelon 2-1-1 and kill on contact." He paused as the door whirred and began ratcheting open. "Sorry. Disregard."

  He led the way through the door with the muzzle of his Akula, advancing cautiously down the corridor, snout pointed down the sights of his weapon. After advancing past the lit elevator the surroundings became very dark. Unsure of whether Wrath could see in the blackness or not, he detached a flare from his harness and knocked the striker against his armored leg, not taking his eyes from his sight picture as he tossed the sputtering light source into their path. He fell silent as he simply observed, watching for movement.


  Wrath was blinded by the shadows at first, her eyes capable to see in very low lighting but not in complete darkness. She looked at the Skoll with curiosity as he threw the flare forward in the darkness. She had discovered two things in less than 20 seconds. First, that the creatures here could talk to security panels to open them. Second, that they could generate light with little tubes. She listened as the tube bounced on the floor, the sound resonating loudly in the corridor. No sign of a living creature. She was starting to mistrust her ability to sense other demons in this ship. What happened to her? At least, the presence of the Skoll made her more comfortable. He knew what could happen here. And she would be back home soon enough. What could happen to the wolf-looking creature was... unimportant.

Jellyfish

  Krof pulled his weapon up to a closer lock with his sights as something translucent emerged from the armored wall of the corridor as if it was made of smoke. An amorphous blob of matter, shot through with pinpoints of luminescence, pulsing and throbbing as if to the tune of a heart. It drifted slowly from right to left, as if borne on a current, trailing a tangled mass of tentacles behind it. A pair of the tendrils detached from the main mass to gingerly meet the opposite wall, before it drifted into that too, disappearing.

  And then an entire swarm of them...varying sizes...emerging from one wall and disappearing into the next as if neither existed. If Krof had ever seen a jellyfish, the similarities might have struck him. He backed up a step to shield Wrath with his body, withdrawing out of the path.

  "Do not touch them," he said grimly, probably needlessly.

  Wrath looked at the floating... things... with curiosity. They were almost hypnotizing, but she had seen similar forms in her home world, just not exactly these. The... jellies seemed to be a little more evolved, but still very empty of any consciousness... besides the will to kill. She could have done a fine job of getting rid of them with her sword if she hadn't lost it, but the knife she had was probably going to melt down in their acidic body.

  Better not to capture their attention.

  She unconsciously hold her right hip, as if she suddenly remembered the attack that happened two days before. She muttured.

  "Is it far from here?"

  If they had to go through multiple corridors with these floating things around, it would take forever. Wrath tried to distinguish something in the far but wasn't successful, even now that her eyes had adapted to the darkness. She put her hand on the Skoll's arm, as if it would improve her safety.

  Krof kept his weapon pointed down the corridor, able to keep it steady with one paw. His other turned to come up under Wrath's hand as she touched his arm, swallowing her hand with his larger paw. His arm trailed behind him as he led her onward by the hand, but still kept her behind him. It was probably not the most tactically sound way to proceed, but he found himself not caring. It gave him something to occupy himself with as his mind raced. He was about to literally wade into the mouth of Hell with this demon-woman, and some distant muffled portion of his mind was demanding to know why. And he had no answer.

  "Is far, yes. Most armored part of entire ship. Cooling stations and power nodes. Security stations - When this was running ship, did not want stray crew wandering by."

  He was not entirely sure how the deck was laid out - The persephone was an experimental vessel and not one of the Nastrand ships-of-the-line that he had committed to memory. And the technical schemata stored on board were of a security clearance beyond his.

  "And you are still not sensing these, I am taking it?"

  It was slow going, pausing to stop for another flock of the drifting creatures about fifty meters down.

  Wrath slightly resisted when Krof took her hand, not understanding why the Skoll would reduce both of their protection abilities to move forward. Maybe it was the way to behave when facing those jelly-looking creatures? A smile however appeared on her face, and she quickly erased it after noticing she had it. What was this false sensation of security she was feeling? She had to be careful. She had been surprised once, and it wouldn't happen again. Zhukov's question worried her, though.

  "No. I can't feel them."

  She wondered if they had evolved so much that they could bypass a high-ranked demon ability to detect them. She couldn't see how it was possible. No one in Hell would ever allow that. Especially since it would have compromised the security of all the high authorities.

  "We need to be careful."

  As if the Skoll didn't already know that.

Chasm

  Krof let go of her hand, focusing ahead as he advanced ponderously forward.

  "This is best advice I have heard al-"

  He stopped dead in his tracks, dropping into a crouch, raised his weapon. He was oblivious to whether she managed to stop in time, or collided with his back. As they rounded a bend in the corridor, approaching the thrum of a power capacitor, a figure stood in the corridor to meet them - hooded, face downcast, unnaturally long and taloned hands steepled as if in contemplation. The worst part was that he hadn't *smelled* it. His finger found the trigger and poised against its tension.

  Wrath didn't see the Skoll stop in time, so she stumbled upon him but thankfully not hard enough to fall over.

  "Wha-"

  She paused, immobile, looking at the creature that she immediately recognized. A Chasm. But why the hell would it be hooded? Who would have summoned such a creature here, a creature mostly uncontrollable even by the most powerful demons? They were mostly used for defense, where they would be unleashed on enemies to wreak havoc as the only thing these demons were looking for was blood. There was two possible outcomes from this situation: either the Chasm had not seen them and was not looking for food, and they could be fine; if it was not coming in their direction. Either it was on the lookout... and they needed to be prepared. Hopefully it would not be the second option, but who knows.

  Wrath slowly moved her hand towards her weapon.

  "Do... not... move..."

  She hardly knew if the Skoll's weapon would even hurt the Chasm.


  Krof seemed to share her doubts about being able to harm the being. He only continued to point his weapon at the Chasm because dropping his aim would require moving. He followed the demoness' command literally, standing rock-still. The Chasm, for its part, allowed the awkward silence to continue for many nerve-wracking seconds before opening its fanged skull-grin to, amazingly, speak. It was not a talent many of them displayed.

  "No further," it proclaimed, abyssal fire billowing from its maw as it slowly formed the words, as if it took it great effort. "In the name of Moloch."

  It cocked its misshapen head and peered at Wrath around the Skoll, big enough to tower over Krof. It seemed to be grinning at her, but it seemed to grin at everything.