Chapter 40 #2
"At the current rate, you'll probably be dead in eight to ten hours," She waffled her hands.
My mouth dropped open.
"What?" Lily shrieked, and all pretense of caring about the two divines was gone.
I smiled at Lily. "You did a good job. This was Violet's fight," I told her.
"And look how it turned out." Lily was less than happy. "And now she's even considering sparing them again." Lily scowled at her.
"I'm not, I just—" Violet hesitated.
"It's an important decision for her, Lily.
Don't rush it," I smiled at Violet. "It's not like I'm running out of time or anything.
But I do think if you want to make the changes that you've spoken about, you'll need their tail. You'll need their strength. As you’ve seen, you don’t have the strength to protect the innocent when you give the wicked mercy. "
Violet cringed at the idea and then stared down at the two.
"Release us, and we'll forgive your infraction.
However, if you kill us, you'll be dead minutes later. Our people know we’re here to fight you.
" The two-tailed Ishael cackled, while Lily puffed up, looking particularly ready to pluck said kikai's tail out and perhaps use it to plug their unruly mouth.
Violet huffed, and with a force of will, she grabbed the base of Ushael's main tail before pulling hard on it.
Her toned muscles were visible even through the tight black spacesuit as she ripped the tail clean off at the base, little white tendrils of nerves wiggling off the base, squirming like they were searching for something to reattach to.
Violet pressed the tail to her backside where her first tail joined her hip.
There was an uncomfortably squishy wet sound that filled the air before she let go, and the tail stayed put.
She paused, swishing it from side to side in tune with her other tail.
"No, no!" Ishael tried to squirm, but there wasn't much left of him.
Violet flipped him over and put a foot on his back before swiftly ripping off the two tails to the side, before getting to his main central one and being far more delicate with it.
"No, please, anything but that," he cried out. And Violet continued as his words fell on deaf ears.
Lily defensively put herself between me and the divines, lest they try another attack. "He deserves so much worse." She turned back to me. "Don't worry, Captain, you'll be okay. I'm sure Melgara can fix this." Her eyes trailed over to Madam Chiksai.
"You know, she saved me," I said, before Lily could comment.
"So?" she asked sharply, putting as much blame towards Violet with that simple word.
I gave her a long look. "She wouldn't have been there to save me if Violet hadn't spared her. Even if Violet hadn’t spared Ushael, I’d put money down that Ishael was going to try and take me out before he ran."
Lily grunted uncomfortably, her attention shifting back to Melgara. "So, how long will it take you to put the captain back together?"
"I mean, if I follow the medical protocol for this sort of thing?
" she asked. "Never. He has significant internal bleeding, Lily.
Most people don't recover from that. Thankfully, it was from a beam saber, and the wound was at least cauterized.
That's really the only thing still keeping him alive.
But it went deep enough. Something's going to fail.
All I've really done is load him up with painkillers and made sure there's enough stimulants in the system that he'll stay awake.
I didn't think he wanted his last hours to pass in shock-induced unconsciousness. "
"Is that the medical term?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Might as well be. I don’t expect your brain to be working at full capacity right now."
"Well, that's a rough prognosis. But I'm not going to ignore your comment, ‘if we followed the general practice’. That means there's something you could do outside of the norm," I commented.
"Yes." Melgara smiled. "Some of the experiments we've been producing with kikai tails could potentially be helpful and at least get you to a state where medical intervention is even on the table."
"And I would just happen to need to be awake to give my consent for that as well." I narrowed my eyes at the doctor. This had been why she was excited, damnit.
"Well, yes, I certainly couldn't perform this while you were unconscious. That would simply be in both poor manners as a member of your crew and, honestly, it would be too dangerous. I need you awake and aware of any complications. Well, you’ll have to be woken up. I suspect we won’t be able to keep you awake.
" The way she said that comment, paired with her smile, caused me to shiver briefly.
Though Melgara might not be the most terrifying member of the ship, she certainly had a way of making me very aware of her and that slightly discomforting smile that made me feel like I was laid out like a frog in a science class.
Melgara rubbed her hands together. "Wonderful, then is that consent? Honestly, the likelihood of it working is best if we get started right away."
“What’s going on?” Violet joined the conversation while Tiri and Brick hung back, not far away but certainly within earshot of the kikai.
"Oh, the captain's in—" Tiri started.
Melgara waved a hand as if it weren't a big deal. "But don't worry, he's about ready to consent to some experimental procedures."
My tablet began chiming, and I reached into my jacket for it.
"That can wait," Lily scolded me, and I shook my head.
"No, I don't really think it can," I said, and I pulled it out under several disapproving glares.