Fall From Grace
Chapter 11
Zero's torment lasted for a whole day, though he gave as good as he received. Rika and Renamon were sated in just that one day, resorting to cuddling up with the dark fox as he recovered from his numerous ordeals. He had refused to retake his place as Sovereign again, Shade was more than capable of holding that position better than himself. It also allowed him to 'retire', to live with the two females in peace and to do whatever he pleased. Just as long as he 'pleased' Rika and Renamon first.
Shade though was far from comfortable. With their race on the verge of disappearing forever he had yet to find himself a mate. It wasn't because he was picky but rather because his duties kept him from actively searching for one. He was young too, many females would see that as a barrier to him. That and the fact he was a Sovereign, and the son of a former Sovereign and a legend in his own right.
Zero had tried to deny that status but the humans had other ideas. Since he was the one the current age was named after how could he be anything less than a legend? He had refused to be called a hero so they had to label him with something, despite his wishes. Sometimes he wished he didn't invent those Zero reactors, but he knew he couldn't just watch as humanity collapsed. Maybe that's why people secretly called him the hero, because he took action in humanity's darkest hour. But then again, with unknown threats in the vast openness of space, who was to say if he didn't help bring about the total destruction of the very same race he tried to save?
Not many people thought about that though, only Zero seemed bothered by the implications of his actions. He knew he had made mistakes before. His words were poorly chosen and often incited violence against him despite his true intentions. But ultimately he had united humans and digimon in a union like no other. It was just as well. Remember the very thing he feared he may cause? It happened.
"Shields failing! Down to thirty two percent!"
Another explosion rocked the small vessel, sending crew members staggering from the impact. Muffled sounds of energy weapons discharging in retaliation echoed from the bowels of the frigate.
"Target seems unaffected by our weapons! We're being hammered!"
Another blast, this one much louder and accompanied by a wailing alarm.
"Hull breach! Deck four through six, section five! We aren't going to last much longer here! We need to go!"
Zero turned to the helmsman. "What's the status of our engines?"
The response was grim. "Gone, there's no response from them. We can't jump either, we're sitting ducks!"
Zero furrowed his brow in concentration. He engaged the ship's internal communications. "All hands, brace for impact! All hands, brace for impact!"
Those on the bridge gave him a funny look as he closed his eyes, focusing all his energy before they snapped open. "Open! Sovereign Gate!"
A rift opened in front of the ship, easily large enough for the entire vessel and slowly pulled it in. Crackling noises much like electricity echoed through the craft as they left space and entered the data tunnel to the digital world. They were in transition for a few seconds before they were ejected into the digital world.
The ship had sustained heavy damage, also having lost all engine power, so began to descend rapidly to the ground. The crew scrabbled to hold on to something reliable as the frigate neared the ground.
The entire world shook as the craft slammed into the ground, every living being felt the impact. It fell horizontal, the entire underside of the frigate smashing into the ground. The lowest two decks disintegrated from the weight of the craft, the third deck compressed to half its size but held firm after. Bulkheads ripped away as entire sections of the ship crumpled, the craft separating into three main sections with sharp metallic tearing noises.
The forward section slewed to one side, decimating a swathe of trees as the wreck entered a forest. As it slid it pitched over, rolling over as the momentum began to decrease.
The rear section with the engines suffered numerous internal detonations before the drive core failed, engulfing the section with a huge fireball as debris was scattered all around.
The mid section with the bridge and practically all the crew kept sliding, shunting into the forward section before skidding to its side as well. A great trench was ripped into the ground as the craft finally stopped, a few minor explosions rocking the twisted mass of metal. Great plumes of thick black smoke billowed out from the ship, numerous fires visible inside.
The bridge was a tangled mess. The front viewing port had shattered, opening to the outside world, as various consoles sparked and hung from cables, swaying lazily from the crash. Members of the crew were sprawled across the floor, some picking themselves up to see others with lumps of metal piercing their torsos. Others still bore critical injuries, those less wounded helping them to evacuate the wrecked frigate.
The ship's second in command looked around the bridge before leaving, he was the last one to leave the ship. The crew assembled a safe distance away, counting off the survivors as a distress signal was sent off. There was originally twenty two crew, of which twelve were human and ten were digimon. The assembled survivors numbered fifteen, seven humans and eight digimon. Each member was counted off, those who had perished were also accounted for. Of the digimon one was seen to be deleted as it impaled itself on a protruding metal support spar on impact, the other was Zero.
No one had seen him since the crash, there was no trace of him either. The surviving digimon couldn't sense him in range so the worst was assumed. It was highly likely that he had died. Again.
Rika and Renamon would not be pleased. Just in case those who were less injured set off to search for him, some digimon going as well to lend their abilities. If he had survived then he needed to be found, sooner rather than later.
The second in command was right, Rika and Renamon were pissed. Firstly they had been sent to the opposite end of the human and digimon empire, a collection of planets for want of a better name, secondly Zero had been requested to lead an escort fleet without their presence, and now the fleet he was assigned to had been wiped out. The only saving grace was the fact he managed to get the ship he was on into the digital world, even though they had no idea how he still had his Sovereign abilities. But that wasn't much hope when the reports mentioned that he hadn't been located. If he had died again there would be hell to pay. Perhaps he could reform, but neither female was confident of that. And they also had their marks to prove he hadn't died. As soon as the digital gate was online again they would head out to the crash side themselves. They didn't trust anyone else's ability to find their mate.
Sadly it took the team two days to get the gate active, Rika and Renamon being the first ones to use it. A series of gate hops were made until they reached the crash site, the smouldering frigate still laying in place. Even now plumes of smoke were rising from the wreck.
They ventured inside, seeing debris strewn across rooms and walkways. Renamon had to phase out with Rika in contact just to navigate the ship. They moved swiftly, the vixen sweeping the wreck with her senses. She came up empty for fifteen minutes, the entire time it took her to scan the craft.
They circled the wreck next, looking for any signs of his presence. Again nothing showed up. Out of curiosity they proceeded back along the great trench the craft tore into the ground in its descent, perhaps he was thrown clear before the ship stopped. The report also mentioned that the team sent to search for him didn't find anything, but they didn't have long to search before they were recovered.
Twenty minutes into their search Renamon stopped. Her ears flicked forwards as her head tipped to one side. She sniffed the air, not truly relying on just her main sense, and confirmed her suspicion. She sent a look to Rika, grabbed her wrist and took off running further down the trench. Rika didn't quite understand the look she was given but the urgency in Renamon's actions was enough to make her concerned.
Another few minutes passed before they stopped. They had left the trench now, heading into a sparsely wooded area. In front of them, slumped against a tree, was Zero. It was unclear how long he had been there but there were no tracks indicating that he had walked, nor any kind of indication that he had moved from that spot for a long time. There was a gash across his flank that glowed with an eerie blue light but otherwise he looked normal. Except the fact he wasn't moving.
Rika and Renamon rushed to him, crouching beside him and calling his name. No response. The HYPNOS gate was too far away to reach quickly so they had to sort him out where he was. Rika sent a distress call for support but it was unknown when it would arrive. They had no knowledge or resources to treat injuries on digimon and his slash mark looked fairly bad when they got a proper look at him. It wasn't growing any larger so he was stable, but that could easily change if they couldn't get help soon.
However fortune smiled upon the two females when a salvaging craft came into range and picked up the distress call, there were a handful of gates that lead to space in the digital world and the craft had used one such gate. Who needed to find wormholes when you could theoretically create your own with the digital world? The crew abandoned their order to recover as much of the frigate as possible and instead extracted Rika, Renamon and Zero from the surface, before heading back to Earth. HYPNOS was their destination, making the trip with all possible haste before dropping them off and resuming their task.
Zero was immediately rushed to the medical wing, again, where he could be treated. His wound had begun to expand as they neared Earth, now at twice its original width. Flecks of his fur dissolved into thin air as people struggled to stabilise him again. He was a fighter, but not normally fighting in their favour. No one would admit that he seemed to make things more difficult, but everyone thought it. He was in for another battle, one for his life.