Fic: Reverse Invasion - Chapter 1
Title: Reverse Invasion - Chapter 1
Authors: lostscore and that hottie quakewithfear
Rating: R
Wordcount: 3638
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Het, Xenophilia, Shameless science fiction references. Lots of shameless sci-fi references.
Authors Notes: In another six days or so, quakewithfear and myself will be celebrating our 6-month anniversary ^_^;. To celebrate, we decided to have an AU RP one of our favorite joint obsessions: Sci-fi (Don’t give me that look. It was RP! Perverted RP, but ONLY RP!). However, the idea of an RP quickly turned into gracing the KH fandom with more AU that wasn’t High School. So have some joint-written fanfiction (100% recycled RP log-free! No additives!), featuring our favorite characters as deep space explorers and terrifying aliens. Because that stuff just rocks.
The world of Atlantica was located just off the known north-western corner of charted space. It was a reasonably large planet by most standards but as its name suggested, its surface was comprised mainly of water. That obstacle hadn’t stopped enterprising members of the Galactic entertainment trade from capitalizing on the potential for exotic nightlife. Atlantica featured both above and below-ground portions of its city, every inch dedicated to the exciting pastimes of gambling, dancing, dining and theatre of various forms, particularly musical. It was a place where inhibitions ran low and exactly the sort of place that poorly funded Galactic explorers such as the crew of The Savage Nymph, loved.
Invariably, some poor soul would go to Atlantica, get loaded and in a fit of drunken excitement sign themselves up to serve as a Galactic Explorer. They were usually poor alcoholics who would work for cheap just to make up their gambling losses. At least, that’s what Lt. Axel figured might be the case when he went to the Atlantica hub to meet their new deckhand, the soon-to-be Ensign Marluxia.
There were half a dozen drunken bums draped slovenly over every inch of floor space in the hub, so Marluxia could be any one of these unwashed bastards. Space hubs were all the same but Axel spent so much time in them that he barely noticed the funk anymore. Barely. Just as he was deciding to approach one at random, a man with shaggy pink hair and impeccable clothes that were at total odds with the grubby hub waylaid him with a little bow.
“Are you Axel, Sir?”
Axel raised an eyebrow, giving the pretty man a withering glance. “Who wants to know?” he asked. “Who are you, and what have you been smoking?” he smirked. Shit, not even Lexaeus simpered ‘Sir’ at him, and he was considered polite.
“Well Sir, I’m Ensign Marluxia, Sir.” The man smiled, almost nervously.
Groaning, Axel fought the urge to introduce his forehead to the nearest hard surface. Hub bums were one thing, but there were two other sorts of new hirees. One was that rare sort of person who actually wanted to go out and explore uncharted space, loving the job unconditionally with the knowledge in mind that you probably weren’t going to find anything. Then there were the guts-and-glory kids, who believed you’d just fall out of Hyperspace and crash nose first into a new and profitable hunk of rock, becoming an instant hero.
“…and I’ve always wanted to command my own ship.”
Marluxia was definitely the later. Some rich boy who had never been heretofore nerf-herded beyond the boundaries of civilization. “Well, come on then.”
Following the redhead back towards the docking bays, Marluxia smiled to himself. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he wanted his own ship and a couple of jaded, routine loving Galactic Explorers would be an easy crew to subdue. By the time he was done with this pathetic excuse for a government funded program, he wouldn’t just have a ship, he’d have a fleet
***
The Nymph was actually a nice ship for the profession. It was balanced equally with offensive and defensive capabilities. Axel caught Marluxia looking at the gun turrets as they passed.
“Oh don’t worry. Those are mostly there for when we do the asteroid sweeps. You get Lexaeus or Larxene up there and it keeps us protected even better than the holo-shields.” Axel patted the ensign on the shoulder and steered him inside.
“This is the ships’ quarters. Don’t let the size of the room offend your tender sensibilities, Pink. You can trust me when I say you won’t be spending much time in it.”
A large and more muscular redhead chose that moment to squeeze by them in the hall, curtailing any reply Marluxia might have had to that. He gave a brief nod to the both of them as he wiped grime from his hands. “Everything’s in working order Axel, so we’ll be taking off in a few.” He marched down the hallway without another word save for a brief grunt in response to Axel’s hollered thanks.
“What should I do to prepare for take-off, Captain Axel?” Marluxia asked him.
“Hold on to your drawers and don’t piss in ‘em. That’s Lt. Commander Axel actually.”
Marluxia seemed surprised. Typical of a newb. Had he really expected the Captain to come get him personally? “So you’re not the Captain?” he finally asked unnecessarily.
“As you and your incredible mind must have deduced by now, nope.”
“When do I get to meet him?”
“Axel, get your ass up to the cockpit. And I mean now." A voice buzzed over the intercom system, causing Marluxia to flinch at the unexpected noise. Pleased by the captain's unexpectedly impeccable timing, Axel grinned over at the ensign.
"Sounds to me like that's my cue to introduce you, as a matter of fact. Hurry up - we don't want to keep the captain waiting."
"But that sounded like a woman's voice." Marluxia walked rapidly after Axel, still trying to gather his bearings.
"Oooh you're good. Be sure to mention that to her. She loves being reminded of her gender. Stare at her tits too." Axel was actually hoping that the new guy was dumb enough to take him seriously. It had been a long time since Larxene had busted any balls and she was overdue.
“I wasn't expecting a female captain…" Marluxia really didn't know how to react to this bit of news. He had been raised in a modern culture where women were thought to be able to perform any job as well as men and vice versa. But he hadn't ever encountered a female captain before. How did one even react to that?
"No kidding?" Axel hit the button to open the doors of the cockpit. "Never fear, your knight in shining armor is here."
"What knight? All I see is a hedgehog with a bad dye job."
The captain, a woman with blonde hair that was severely slicked back aside from two antennae looked over her shoulder, expecting to see Axel's familiar cocky smirk. Instead, she saw not only his cocky smirk but also a second figure with pink hair. The pink-haired guy's expression was momentarily dumbfounded, but he composed himself quickly and assumed a respectful air. Axel however, was still grinning.
"Captain, I'd like to introduce you to our new ensign." He put an arm around Marluxia's shoulders, hoping that it would freak the other man out. "This here's Marluxia. The fresh meat."
I'm Ensign Marluxia, ma'am." Marluxia stepped away from Axel and tried to smile at the captain. Even though Axel had given him something resembling an introduction, he still felt the need to introduce himself properly. "I'm looking forward to being on your crew."
"Well, I'm sure we're delighted to have you." Larxene eyed him. He was different, that's for sure. The pink hair was somewhat suspect, but most of her crew were gay already, so that wasn't anything new. Why were all the attractive, competent space pirates gay or riddled with venereal diseases? Or both? "I'm assuming you know your way around a ship and I don't have to teach you or anything. I don't have time to babysit. Although, I'm sure that any of my crew would be more than happy to help you out." She eyed Axel.
Axel rolled his eyes. He had this argument with Larxene every other week. He wasn’t ‘gay’. He just kept ALL his options open. “I’m sure I’ll be delighted if you order it, Captain.” To Marluxia’s consternation, he gave a very different sort of salute that she heartily returned, then guided him by the elbow towards the pilot’s chair. “Might as well finish the introductions while I’m up here. You’ve seen Lexaeus - the guy from the hall, got it memorized? He’s our technician and our mechanic when duty calls.”
Marluxia soon came to realize that the chair was not in fact empty, it’s occupant was just very short.
“This is Zexion. He’s our pilot.”
Wordlessly, Zexion held out one hand, and Marluxia took it, fumbling his usual polite reply and pleased he wasn’t being expected to say anything else, because he was on the verge of asking how the hell a man whose hair covered one eye completely was expected to fly a ship competently.
“Zexion does complex calculations in his head to make up for his lack of depth perception. He can calculate impact trajectory to the parsec.” Axel stage-whispered in his ear.
“Pleased to meet you too.” Zexion’s voice was low. If he was purposely ignoring Axel, he was doing an excellent job.
Meanwhile, Axel was taking the time to speak to the Captain. “So what is it you so desperately wanted me up here for anyway?”
“I wanted to know if the cave troll is finished with the upgrades to the engine yet.”
“Yeah, I ran into Lexaeus. He’s got it under control apparently.”
“Then we leave in twelve. Tell the old fart to strap himself in if he doesn’t want the runt to nearly put him through the windshield like last time, even if it would dislodge the stick from his ass. Take Marluxia with you and he can meet the last of the crew.”
“Hear that Marly? We’ve got orders.” Axel took stock of the pink-haired man’s increasingly bewildered expression. “Don’t worry, one day you too will have a derogatory nick name all to yourself.”
The two made their way together down to the ship’s small but functional medical bay. Upon his first sight of Dr. Vexen, Marluxia’s suspicions that Captain Larxene’s verbal abuses against her crew was something that everyone was expected to get used to. In reality, it had very little basis in fact. Lexaeus he expected, could hardly be a cave troll if he could fix delicate technical equipment while Vexen was probably the eldest member of the crew but only by 8 to 10 years at best. The comment about the good doctor having a stick up his ass was however, indisputable.
I assume that since you're down here, we're almost ready to take off?" Dr. Vexen looked down his nose at the two of them. Years of living in isolation in the belly of a ship, primarily under artificial light had given him a distinctly corpse-like pallor and a practiced sneer. He turned both of these on the two men. "And I suppose it's also safe to assume that this is the new ensign?"
"Right to both." Axel hopped up on an examination table, purely because he knew that it annoyed Vexen. The medic reacted to any sort of intrusion on his workspace as a hostile invasion. He had even been overheard referring to patients as "invaders" on more than one occasion. It was common knowledge that he mumbled to himself.
"Boss-lady wanted me to introduce everyone to Marly here. Vexen, say hello and play nice with the new kid." Axel looked over at him condescendingly, which he knew Vexen hated.
Charmed." Vexen didn't even bother looking at Marluxia. He knew that he would spend plenty of time sewing him back up later after they'd all gotten shot up again. God knew he certainly spent enough time staring at the others' gaping wounds. "Shouldn't you be up in the cockpit helping the captain if we're leaving soon?"
It was a blatant dismissal, but Axel wanted to bother Vexen for a few more minutes. But Marluxia already looked confused as hell and Axel didn't want to torture him by making him hang out with Vexen. Axel would never be considered a nice guy, but he wasn't a sadist. Spending extended periods of time around Vexen counted for cruel and unusual as far as Axel was concerned.
"C'mon, Marly. Let's get outta here."
Marluxia followed after Axel, struggling to figure out what exactly it was that he was doing here. This wasn't what he had been expecting at all, but he didn't have much choice now but to make the best of it. If he could just get the captain on his side then maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Of course, a female captain offered up all sorts of possibilities…
"So what do you think of your new shipmates so far?" Axel prodded Marluxia in the ribs. There had been a weird expression on the ensign's face. It had only lasted a few seconds, but it had definitely been there…
"Oh… You're all… interesting. I'm sure I'll learn to get along fine." Marluxia decided that his best bet was to just be as nice as possible to everyone and hope that they would stay with him when he made his move to take command.
At this point, they had arrived back at the cockpit. Larxene was preoccupied with testing the controls, but Zexion was just sitting quietly. The short, dark-haired pilot listened to Axel and Marluxia talk and drummed his fingers on the console thoughtfully. The new guy had a strange smell about him… sweet and sour, like rotten flowers. He wrinkled his nose.
"What's buggin' you, hmmm?" Axel leaned an elbow on the top of Zexion's head. "You're being quiet."
"How can you tell?" Larxene cracked.
"Get your elbow off my head."
Axel laughed and snaked a hand down to try and bat the hair away from Zexion’s perpetually covered eye. He got his hand slammed rather violently into the console for his troubles and Marluxia started. He hadn’t expected the little one to be such a powerhouse. These people just weren’t the stereotypical pushover crew he’d expected at all.
Eventually the door slid open to admit Lexaeus and he took his seat in the co-pilot’s chair next to Zexion without a word. The next second the panel had lit up with a myriad of colorful lights that they both seemed to acknowledge as satisfactory. Maybe they communicated through telepathy or something.
“Everything under control?” Axel asked easily, sliding into his own spot at the controls beside Larxene. He didn’t wait for a reply. “Good. Let’s get off this waterlogged rock and go find us some worthwhile planetary resources!”
Zexion swiveled in his chair to turn a cool eye on the pink haired Ensign who was looking decidedly at a loss as to what to do next. “I suggest you sit down.”
Evidently Marluxia had remembered the Captain’s earlier dig at Vexen, as he quickly located the last vacant seat and pulled his restraints tight.
“We’re going to explore an uncharted sector to the south-west of Atlantica.” Axel said, partly for the benefit of their new crew member, but also for Zexion who was busy setting radar coordinates.
There was a brief sense of vertigo as the ship dropped into hyperspace, the stars a blur on all sides. Marluxia found himself gripping the control panel tightly. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Zexio..okay, he really didn’t trust Zexion. How was he supposed to pilot competently with all that hair obscuring his vision?
As if she could read his mind and mock him through osmosis, Larxene spoke up the moment they came out of hyperspace a few minutes later. “Keep your eyes open Zexion, Lexaeus. We’re close to the Sunset Sweep belt out here. A stray rock could hit if we’re not careful.”
So they were nancing about deep space in a ship driven by a guy with partial vision. Fantastic.
Lexaeus stared at the radar for a long minute before his deep voice rang around the cockpit, laced with something like excitement. “We’ve found something!”
“It’s pretty big! Looks like it might even be a planet!” Axel had abandoned his seat to come look, along with Captain Larxene. Marluxia made to get up but something caught his eye. Just now, Zexion had leaned over to take a look at Lexaeus’ findings. In that split second, the pink-haired ensign had reached over and flicked the autopilot override on. He would feel much better that way.
That’s when it all went to hell.
“Zexion. Something else coming in. Your left. Think it might be an asteroid.”
Checking his own radar, Zexion nodded and pulled the ship to the right to avoid it. It took a few moments for him to realize the ship wasn’t responding at all. The impact was bone-rattling.
“Zexion!” Larxene ground through clenched teeth. “What the fuck!?”
“We’ve got bigger problems Captain!” Axel hollered.. “We’re damaged. We’re going to have to land! Lexaeus, what can you do about this?”
The bigger man was at Axel’s side in a second while Zexion wrestled with the controls. Marluxia just sat there, feeling more foolish and helpless by the second. He was good at giving orders and decision making. Not all this technical shit. What had possibly gone wrong?
“There’s nothing I can do!” Lexaeus said at last. “All the controls are locked! I don’t understand it! We’ll have to make for that planet, best we can!”
“Everyone strap down!”Axel yelled above the din of screaming, protesting engines. “This is gonna suck!”
Crude or not, Axel’s prediction was spot on. The planet was a veritable treasure trove of vegetative life, or it would have been had the situation of the Savage Nymph not been so dire. Crashing through the canopy of trees hadn’t destroyed it entirely, but it was now nose deep in a very mucky pond.
“Is everyone…okay?” Lexaeus lifted his head, looking around. Slowly, the five occupants of the cockpit began to move a little. Zexion had a scrape on his forehead that was bleeding but not seriously so. Marluxia, Axel and Larxene seemed to be fine with the exception of bruises. He himself seemed quite unharmed, though he expected were he to look in a mirror he’d have a bump or three as well.
“Somebody go check on Vexen?” Larxene grumbled, making it very clear she was only saying such as a formality.
***
In the end, Axel finally went to take stock of their medic’s condition. He did not like what he found in the slightest.
Vexen was crumpled against his metal operating table, oozing blood from his head. Several of his sharper tools had fallen onto him, the errant blades cutting here and there badly. His eyes were open and he was clearly fighting to stay awake against a concussion.
“Vexen?” Axel asked. He didn’t care for the scientist, but he didn’t exactly want him dead either. At least not in a manner that wasn’t by his own hand. Besides, they couldn't afford to be stuck here without medical personel.
“Need you to help me…get something to staunch the bleeding.” Vexen gasped rather weakly. “Gotta get some towels.”
“I don’t think we’ve got any towels.” Axel said.
“What kind of crazy idiot doesn’t bring…” For a second, Vexen sounded like his old self. “Anything then. Your shirt.”
Grumbling, Axel slid his cotton shirt off his back, pressing it to the Doctor’s wounds as instructed. He moved around grabbing antiseptics and bandages. When Vexen was finally clean and bandaged, he fell asleep. Axel took his vitals and ensured himself that he was merely in natural sleep before returning to the rest of the crew.
He found the cockpit empty and the ship’s door open, so he went outside.
***
If the planet's vegetation had appeared lush from above, it was ten times thicker on the surface. Axel's shoes crunched on dead vegetation as he walked over roots and between branches. Each rustle in the leaves or birdcall or strange noise caused him to look around. Axel hadn't ever been in a place like this before. It was almost bizarre to see trees even taller than some of the buildings back home. What was equally strange was breathing air that was natural and hadn't been choked with smog or piped in from elsewhere.
Axel kept glancing back to make sure he could see the wreckage of the ship. He didn't know where his crewmates were, but he sure as hell didn't want to lose track of the only familiar thing on the planet. He was tempted to yell for them, but considering that he had no idea what kind of beasties were lurking around here, that could be a very, very bad idea.
Axel had the right instinct to stay quiet, but even that couldn't save him. There were already a pair of yellow eyes watching him from the canopy. Clawed feet jumped lightly from bough to bough as a creature slowly followed his progress. A long tail twitched and hands with wicked claws closed around a branch. Teeth were bared suddenly in a wicked grin.
The creature's name was Xigbar. He shook his hair out of his eyes and crouched down as the pale thing with the strange hair (so much like fire) stumbled through his jungle. His long, reptilian tail twitched. Would it taste as good as it looked? Xigbar hoped so… Because it did look so very good.
The fire-haired thing stopped, as if listening for something. Xigbar crouched down, lashing his tail from side to side. The prey was distracted… now was the time to strike.
Something slammed into Axel's back with such force that he thought for one insane moment that he had been hit by a train. He hit the ground face-first but quickly recovered and tried to pick himself up. In his hurry, he had idiotically forgotten to grab any weapons from the ship so he was completely helpless against whatever had just attacked him. It had to be an animal; he heard growling and hissing. Axel let out a sudden yell when he felt claws and teeth sink into the back of his neck. Blood poured down his back. He struggled desperately, but whatever it was that was on his back just laughed. It laughed. Axel wondered frantically what kind of animal laughed. Then there was another blinding flash of pain across the back of his head and it all went black.
TBC...
Authors: lostscore and that hottie quakewithfear
Rating: R
Wordcount: 3638
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Het, Xenophilia, Shameless science fiction references. Lots of shameless sci-fi references.
Authors Notes: In another six days or so, quakewithfear and myself will be celebrating our 6-month anniversary ^_^;. To celebrate, we decided to have an AU RP one of our favorite joint obsessions: Sci-fi (Don’t give me that look. It was RP! Perverted RP, but ONLY RP!). However, the idea of an RP quickly turned into gracing the KH fandom with more AU that wasn’t High School. So have some joint-written fanfiction (100% recycled RP log-free! No additives!), featuring our favorite characters as deep space explorers and terrifying aliens. Because that stuff just rocks.
The world of Atlantica was located just off the known north-western corner of charted space. It was a reasonably large planet by most standards but as its name suggested, its surface was comprised mainly of water. That obstacle hadn’t stopped enterprising members of the Galactic entertainment trade from capitalizing on the potential for exotic nightlife. Atlantica featured both above and below-ground portions of its city, every inch dedicated to the exciting pastimes of gambling, dancing, dining and theatre of various forms, particularly musical. It was a place where inhibitions ran low and exactly the sort of place that poorly funded Galactic explorers such as the crew of The Savage Nymph, loved.
Invariably, some poor soul would go to Atlantica, get loaded and in a fit of drunken excitement sign themselves up to serve as a Galactic Explorer. They were usually poor alcoholics who would work for cheap just to make up their gambling losses. At least, that’s what Lt. Axel figured might be the case when he went to the Atlantica hub to meet their new deckhand, the soon-to-be Ensign Marluxia.
There were half a dozen drunken bums draped slovenly over every inch of floor space in the hub, so Marluxia could be any one of these unwashed bastards. Space hubs were all the same but Axel spent so much time in them that he barely noticed the funk anymore. Barely. Just as he was deciding to approach one at random, a man with shaggy pink hair and impeccable clothes that were at total odds with the grubby hub waylaid him with a little bow.
“Are you Axel, Sir?”
Axel raised an eyebrow, giving the pretty man a withering glance. “Who wants to know?” he asked. “Who are you, and what have you been smoking?” he smirked. Shit, not even Lexaeus simpered ‘Sir’ at him, and he was considered polite.
“Well Sir, I’m Ensign Marluxia, Sir.” The man smiled, almost nervously.
Groaning, Axel fought the urge to introduce his forehead to the nearest hard surface. Hub bums were one thing, but there were two other sorts of new hirees. One was that rare sort of person who actually wanted to go out and explore uncharted space, loving the job unconditionally with the knowledge in mind that you probably weren’t going to find anything. Then there were the guts-and-glory kids, who believed you’d just fall out of Hyperspace and crash nose first into a new and profitable hunk of rock, becoming an instant hero.
“…and I’ve always wanted to command my own ship.”
Marluxia was definitely the later. Some rich boy who had never been heretofore nerf-herded beyond the boundaries of civilization. “Well, come on then.”
Following the redhead back towards the docking bays, Marluxia smiled to himself. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he wanted his own ship and a couple of jaded, routine loving Galactic Explorers would be an easy crew to subdue. By the time he was done with this pathetic excuse for a government funded program, he wouldn’t just have a ship, he’d have a fleet
***
The Nymph was actually a nice ship for the profession. It was balanced equally with offensive and defensive capabilities. Axel caught Marluxia looking at the gun turrets as they passed.
“Oh don’t worry. Those are mostly there for when we do the asteroid sweeps. You get Lexaeus or Larxene up there and it keeps us protected even better than the holo-shields.” Axel patted the ensign on the shoulder and steered him inside.
“This is the ships’ quarters. Don’t let the size of the room offend your tender sensibilities, Pink. You can trust me when I say you won’t be spending much time in it.”
A large and more muscular redhead chose that moment to squeeze by them in the hall, curtailing any reply Marluxia might have had to that. He gave a brief nod to the both of them as he wiped grime from his hands. “Everything’s in working order Axel, so we’ll be taking off in a few.” He marched down the hallway without another word save for a brief grunt in response to Axel’s hollered thanks.
“What should I do to prepare for take-off, Captain Axel?” Marluxia asked him.
“Hold on to your drawers and don’t piss in ‘em. That’s Lt. Commander Axel actually.”
Marluxia seemed surprised. Typical of a newb. Had he really expected the Captain to come get him personally? “So you’re not the Captain?” he finally asked unnecessarily.
“As you and your incredible mind must have deduced by now, nope.”
“When do I get to meet him?”
“Axel, get your ass up to the cockpit. And I mean now." A voice buzzed over the intercom system, causing Marluxia to flinch at the unexpected noise. Pleased by the captain's unexpectedly impeccable timing, Axel grinned over at the ensign.
"Sounds to me like that's my cue to introduce you, as a matter of fact. Hurry up - we don't want to keep the captain waiting."
"But that sounded like a woman's voice." Marluxia walked rapidly after Axel, still trying to gather his bearings.
"Oooh you're good. Be sure to mention that to her. She loves being reminded of her gender. Stare at her tits too." Axel was actually hoping that the new guy was dumb enough to take him seriously. It had been a long time since Larxene had busted any balls and she was overdue.
“I wasn't expecting a female captain…" Marluxia really didn't know how to react to this bit of news. He had been raised in a modern culture where women were thought to be able to perform any job as well as men and vice versa. But he hadn't ever encountered a female captain before. How did one even react to that?
"No kidding?" Axel hit the button to open the doors of the cockpit. "Never fear, your knight in shining armor is here."
"What knight? All I see is a hedgehog with a bad dye job."
The captain, a woman with blonde hair that was severely slicked back aside from two antennae looked over her shoulder, expecting to see Axel's familiar cocky smirk. Instead, she saw not only his cocky smirk but also a second figure with pink hair. The pink-haired guy's expression was momentarily dumbfounded, but he composed himself quickly and assumed a respectful air. Axel however, was still grinning.
"Captain, I'd like to introduce you to our new ensign." He put an arm around Marluxia's shoulders, hoping that it would freak the other man out. "This here's Marluxia. The fresh meat."
I'm Ensign Marluxia, ma'am." Marluxia stepped away from Axel and tried to smile at the captain. Even though Axel had given him something resembling an introduction, he still felt the need to introduce himself properly. "I'm looking forward to being on your crew."
"Well, I'm sure we're delighted to have you." Larxene eyed him. He was different, that's for sure. The pink hair was somewhat suspect, but most of her crew were gay already, so that wasn't anything new. Why were all the attractive, competent space pirates gay or riddled with venereal diseases? Or both? "I'm assuming you know your way around a ship and I don't have to teach you or anything. I don't have time to babysit. Although, I'm sure that any of my crew would be more than happy to help you out." She eyed Axel.
Axel rolled his eyes. He had this argument with Larxene every other week. He wasn’t ‘gay’. He just kept ALL his options open. “I’m sure I’ll be delighted if you order it, Captain.” To Marluxia’s consternation, he gave a very different sort of salute that she heartily returned, then guided him by the elbow towards the pilot’s chair. “Might as well finish the introductions while I’m up here. You’ve seen Lexaeus - the guy from the hall, got it memorized? He’s our technician and our mechanic when duty calls.”
Marluxia soon came to realize that the chair was not in fact empty, it’s occupant was just very short.
“This is Zexion. He’s our pilot.”
Wordlessly, Zexion held out one hand, and Marluxia took it, fumbling his usual polite reply and pleased he wasn’t being expected to say anything else, because he was on the verge of asking how the hell a man whose hair covered one eye completely was expected to fly a ship competently.
“Zexion does complex calculations in his head to make up for his lack of depth perception. He can calculate impact trajectory to the parsec.” Axel stage-whispered in his ear.
“Pleased to meet you too.” Zexion’s voice was low. If he was purposely ignoring Axel, he was doing an excellent job.
Meanwhile, Axel was taking the time to speak to the Captain. “So what is it you so desperately wanted me up here for anyway?”
“I wanted to know if the cave troll is finished with the upgrades to the engine yet.”
“Yeah, I ran into Lexaeus. He’s got it under control apparently.”
“Then we leave in twelve. Tell the old fart to strap himself in if he doesn’t want the runt to nearly put him through the windshield like last time, even if it would dislodge the stick from his ass. Take Marluxia with you and he can meet the last of the crew.”
“Hear that Marly? We’ve got orders.” Axel took stock of the pink-haired man’s increasingly bewildered expression. “Don’t worry, one day you too will have a derogatory nick name all to yourself.”
The two made their way together down to the ship’s small but functional medical bay. Upon his first sight of Dr. Vexen, Marluxia’s suspicions that Captain Larxene’s verbal abuses against her crew was something that everyone was expected to get used to. In reality, it had very little basis in fact. Lexaeus he expected, could hardly be a cave troll if he could fix delicate technical equipment while Vexen was probably the eldest member of the crew but only by 8 to 10 years at best. The comment about the good doctor having a stick up his ass was however, indisputable.
I assume that since you're down here, we're almost ready to take off?" Dr. Vexen looked down his nose at the two of them. Years of living in isolation in the belly of a ship, primarily under artificial light had given him a distinctly corpse-like pallor and a practiced sneer. He turned both of these on the two men. "And I suppose it's also safe to assume that this is the new ensign?"
"Right to both." Axel hopped up on an examination table, purely because he knew that it annoyed Vexen. The medic reacted to any sort of intrusion on his workspace as a hostile invasion. He had even been overheard referring to patients as "invaders" on more than one occasion. It was common knowledge that he mumbled to himself.
"Boss-lady wanted me to introduce everyone to Marly here. Vexen, say hello and play nice with the new kid." Axel looked over at him condescendingly, which he knew Vexen hated.
Charmed." Vexen didn't even bother looking at Marluxia. He knew that he would spend plenty of time sewing him back up later after they'd all gotten shot up again. God knew he certainly spent enough time staring at the others' gaping wounds. "Shouldn't you be up in the cockpit helping the captain if we're leaving soon?"
It was a blatant dismissal, but Axel wanted to bother Vexen for a few more minutes. But Marluxia already looked confused as hell and Axel didn't want to torture him by making him hang out with Vexen. Axel would never be considered a nice guy, but he wasn't a sadist. Spending extended periods of time around Vexen counted for cruel and unusual as far as Axel was concerned.
"C'mon, Marly. Let's get outta here."
Marluxia followed after Axel, struggling to figure out what exactly it was that he was doing here. This wasn't what he had been expecting at all, but he didn't have much choice now but to make the best of it. If he could just get the captain on his side then maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Of course, a female captain offered up all sorts of possibilities…
"So what do you think of your new shipmates so far?" Axel prodded Marluxia in the ribs. There had been a weird expression on the ensign's face. It had only lasted a few seconds, but it had definitely been there…
"Oh… You're all… interesting. I'm sure I'll learn to get along fine." Marluxia decided that his best bet was to just be as nice as possible to everyone and hope that they would stay with him when he made his move to take command.
At this point, they had arrived back at the cockpit. Larxene was preoccupied with testing the controls, but Zexion was just sitting quietly. The short, dark-haired pilot listened to Axel and Marluxia talk and drummed his fingers on the console thoughtfully. The new guy had a strange smell about him… sweet and sour, like rotten flowers. He wrinkled his nose.
"What's buggin' you, hmmm?" Axel leaned an elbow on the top of Zexion's head. "You're being quiet."
"How can you tell?" Larxene cracked.
"Get your elbow off my head."
Axel laughed and snaked a hand down to try and bat the hair away from Zexion’s perpetually covered eye. He got his hand slammed rather violently into the console for his troubles and Marluxia started. He hadn’t expected the little one to be such a powerhouse. These people just weren’t the stereotypical pushover crew he’d expected at all.
Eventually the door slid open to admit Lexaeus and he took his seat in the co-pilot’s chair next to Zexion without a word. The next second the panel had lit up with a myriad of colorful lights that they both seemed to acknowledge as satisfactory. Maybe they communicated through telepathy or something.
“Everything under control?” Axel asked easily, sliding into his own spot at the controls beside Larxene. He didn’t wait for a reply. “Good. Let’s get off this waterlogged rock and go find us some worthwhile planetary resources!”
Zexion swiveled in his chair to turn a cool eye on the pink haired Ensign who was looking decidedly at a loss as to what to do next. “I suggest you sit down.”
Evidently Marluxia had remembered the Captain’s earlier dig at Vexen, as he quickly located the last vacant seat and pulled his restraints tight.
“We’re going to explore an uncharted sector to the south-west of Atlantica.” Axel said, partly for the benefit of their new crew member, but also for Zexion who was busy setting radar coordinates.
There was a brief sense of vertigo as the ship dropped into hyperspace, the stars a blur on all sides. Marluxia found himself gripping the control panel tightly. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Zexio..okay, he really didn’t trust Zexion. How was he supposed to pilot competently with all that hair obscuring his vision?
As if she could read his mind and mock him through osmosis, Larxene spoke up the moment they came out of hyperspace a few minutes later. “Keep your eyes open Zexion, Lexaeus. We’re close to the Sunset Sweep belt out here. A stray rock could hit if we’re not careful.”
So they were nancing about deep space in a ship driven by a guy with partial vision. Fantastic.
Lexaeus stared at the radar for a long minute before his deep voice rang around the cockpit, laced with something like excitement. “We’ve found something!”
“It’s pretty big! Looks like it might even be a planet!” Axel had abandoned his seat to come look, along with Captain Larxene. Marluxia made to get up but something caught his eye. Just now, Zexion had leaned over to take a look at Lexaeus’ findings. In that split second, the pink-haired ensign had reached over and flicked the autopilot override on. He would feel much better that way.
That’s when it all went to hell.
“Zexion. Something else coming in. Your left. Think it might be an asteroid.”
Checking his own radar, Zexion nodded and pulled the ship to the right to avoid it. It took a few moments for him to realize the ship wasn’t responding at all. The impact was bone-rattling.
“Zexion!” Larxene ground through clenched teeth. “What the fuck!?”
“We’ve got bigger problems Captain!” Axel hollered.. “We’re damaged. We’re going to have to land! Lexaeus, what can you do about this?”
The bigger man was at Axel’s side in a second while Zexion wrestled with the controls. Marluxia just sat there, feeling more foolish and helpless by the second. He was good at giving orders and decision making. Not all this technical shit. What had possibly gone wrong?
“There’s nothing I can do!” Lexaeus said at last. “All the controls are locked! I don’t understand it! We’ll have to make for that planet, best we can!”
“Everyone strap down!”Axel yelled above the din of screaming, protesting engines. “This is gonna suck!”
Crude or not, Axel’s prediction was spot on. The planet was a veritable treasure trove of vegetative life, or it would have been had the situation of the Savage Nymph not been so dire. Crashing through the canopy of trees hadn’t destroyed it entirely, but it was now nose deep in a very mucky pond.
“Is everyone…okay?” Lexaeus lifted his head, looking around. Slowly, the five occupants of the cockpit began to move a little. Zexion had a scrape on his forehead that was bleeding but not seriously so. Marluxia, Axel and Larxene seemed to be fine with the exception of bruises. He himself seemed quite unharmed, though he expected were he to look in a mirror he’d have a bump or three as well.
“Somebody go check on Vexen?” Larxene grumbled, making it very clear she was only saying such as a formality.
***
In the end, Axel finally went to take stock of their medic’s condition. He did not like what he found in the slightest.
Vexen was crumpled against his metal operating table, oozing blood from his head. Several of his sharper tools had fallen onto him, the errant blades cutting here and there badly. His eyes were open and he was clearly fighting to stay awake against a concussion.
“Vexen?” Axel asked. He didn’t care for the scientist, but he didn’t exactly want him dead either. At least not in a manner that wasn’t by his own hand. Besides, they couldn't afford to be stuck here without medical personel.
“Need you to help me…get something to staunch the bleeding.” Vexen gasped rather weakly. “Gotta get some towels.”
“I don’t think we’ve got any towels.” Axel said.
“What kind of crazy idiot doesn’t bring…” For a second, Vexen sounded like his old self. “Anything then. Your shirt.”
Grumbling, Axel slid his cotton shirt off his back, pressing it to the Doctor’s wounds as instructed. He moved around grabbing antiseptics and bandages. When Vexen was finally clean and bandaged, he fell asleep. Axel took his vitals and ensured himself that he was merely in natural sleep before returning to the rest of the crew.
He found the cockpit empty and the ship’s door open, so he went outside.
***
If the planet's vegetation had appeared lush from above, it was ten times thicker on the surface. Axel's shoes crunched on dead vegetation as he walked over roots and between branches. Each rustle in the leaves or birdcall or strange noise caused him to look around. Axel hadn't ever been in a place like this before. It was almost bizarre to see trees even taller than some of the buildings back home. What was equally strange was breathing air that was natural and hadn't been choked with smog or piped in from elsewhere.
Axel kept glancing back to make sure he could see the wreckage of the ship. He didn't know where his crewmates were, but he sure as hell didn't want to lose track of the only familiar thing on the planet. He was tempted to yell for them, but considering that he had no idea what kind of beasties were lurking around here, that could be a very, very bad idea.
Axel had the right instinct to stay quiet, but even that couldn't save him. There were already a pair of yellow eyes watching him from the canopy. Clawed feet jumped lightly from bough to bough as a creature slowly followed his progress. A long tail twitched and hands with wicked claws closed around a branch. Teeth were bared suddenly in a wicked grin.
The creature's name was Xigbar. He shook his hair out of his eyes and crouched down as the pale thing with the strange hair (so much like fire) stumbled through his jungle. His long, reptilian tail twitched. Would it taste as good as it looked? Xigbar hoped so… Because it did look so very good.
The fire-haired thing stopped, as if listening for something. Xigbar crouched down, lashing his tail from side to side. The prey was distracted… now was the time to strike.
Something slammed into Axel's back with such force that he thought for one insane moment that he had been hit by a train. He hit the ground face-first but quickly recovered and tried to pick himself up. In his hurry, he had idiotically forgotten to grab any weapons from the ship so he was completely helpless against whatever had just attacked him. It had to be an animal; he heard growling and hissing. Axel let out a sudden yell when he felt claws and teeth sink into the back of his neck. Blood poured down his back. He struggled desperately, but whatever it was that was on his back just laughed. It laughed. Axel wondered frantically what kind of animal laughed. Then there was another blinding flash of pain across the back of his head and it all went black.
TBC...