Chapter Twenty-Three
Naraku stalked down the hall, his anger a palpable entity. His crimson eyes glared sightlessly at the faceless people he passed by, daring anyone to obstruct his path. He had been misled in his deciphering of the last armband, an occurrence he would not let happen again.
His fists clenched as he mentally denied all culpability. The door to the lab the armbands were kept in was before him and he impatiently waited to enter as the bio scanner granted him entrance. He nearly stomped toward the latest acquisition to the collection, intent on looking at the energy with a new purpose.
No, it hadn't been his deciphering of the energy that had been wrong, it had been the intent of the fool behind it. His lip curled in empty satisfaction as the pieces fell into place and a different kind of anger took hold of him.
He had been content to sit back and watch the play unfold; knowing who the director was and thinking he knew what the fool was about. This latest bit of idiocy had him rethinking his own self-given role. The sound of someone questioning him from behind had his lips curling into his usual smirk. Turning to find the timid female researcher that always seemed to be in the lab, he turned his nose up, looking down on her.
"Contact Myouga. I find myself in need of an audience with the Western Fleet Commander."
It was time he put the fool down. There was only room for one of them in this universe, and it would be he that would stand on top.
Miroku let out a tired breath as he leaned against the wall of the lift, waiting for it to reach his stop. His eyes felt gritty and the last time he had run his hands over his face he had felt the beginnings of stubble. Sometime after he had been checked into med-bay, they had moved Kagome into quarantine and no one would tell him why.
They wouldn't even give him fake platitudes that everything would be just fine. Each doctor, and there had been numerous, that walked into the quarantine walked back out pale with scrunched brows. He was good at reading people; it was a skill his profession drilled into him. What each of those faces were saying, was that his friend was in a bad way and it confused and scared each of the specialists that went in to examine her.
He didn't even want to think about the fact that they had put her in quarantine to begin with.
After sitting about in the waiting area, the head doctor had come out personally to tell him to go home. She was in a somewhat stable condition and if anything changed he would be notified immediately. When he had again launched his barrage of questions, the doctor had simply shaken her head and told him she couldn't answer any of them now.
As his anger was reaching a boiling point, his fatigue long since dwindling his patience to nothing, he had caught movement behind the doctor. The same massive nurse that had dragged him into med-bay and then the showers stood leaning against the front counter. His arms were crossed and his legs bent as if in nonchalance, but his eyes were trained on the both of them.
Message sent and received, Miroku had admitted defeat for the moment and slumped out the doors. Now arriving at his floor, his exhaustion swamped his senses. His eyes remained trained on the floor, which was why he heard them before he saw them.
"I'm telling you, this isn't your average security."
"Whatever. That's just an excuse for how long you're taking. I'm telling you to move over and let me have a crack at it."
"You might be the boss, but-"
The taller of the two snapped his mouth shut mid-sentence as he caught sight of a newly energized Miroku. Adrenaline kicking into high gear, Miroku eyed the two mismatched men trying to hack the scanner that locked the door to his room.
"Something I can help you gentlemen with?" His voice was silk coated steel as his hand slowly reached for the weapon he kept concealed on him at all times.
The shorter of the two, whose back had been facing him, spun around quickly. The movement telling Miroku the man was highly trained. The placating and sheepish expression on his face told him he was practiced in more than just martial arts.
"Ah, my friend here can't get into his room! The scanner is busted, or something."
Miroku tilted his head slightly, his hair falling forward and shadowing his eyes. "Ah. That would be because that is my room you are attempting to get into." The friendly smile curving his lips had just the right amount of sinister intent to send the message that he was not fooled.
The taller of the two straightened from the lock and took a more aggressive stance, but paused at the hand the younger man held up. Miroku focused on him, pegging him to be the leader of the two. His eyes narrowed when he noticed the man's gaze fixated on something over his shoulder. No, not over his shoulder, his ear.
Understanding hit and another shot of adrenaline piped into his already overly shot system. The man was looking at the earrings decorating his ear. Few people knew what they symbolized, and if the stiffened posture of the shorter man told him anything, it was that he knew. Which only meant one of two things. Either these two were part of the organization, or they were the enemy.
"Apologies, friend! We've recently moved to this ship. It appears my buddy here got his numbers mixed up!"
Miroku kept his eyes trained on them, his hand tightening around the small weapon concealed at his side. "An honest mistake, I'm sure."
The younger man bowed his head in apology, but the cocky smirk on his lips had Miroku narrowing his eyes.
"Sorry again!"
And with that he turned his back, pushing the taller man down the hall with him. Miroku watched until they were down the corridor and out of sight. His tensed frame only relaxing when he was sure he couldn't feel either of them in the vicinity.
It seemed the one who had taken out Kagome's friend knew of the chip and that she had stayed with him, more than likely leaving the chip in his room. His eyes looked over the scanner by his door, noting with satisfaction that the upgrade he had made to the system had done its job. As he entered his room and stood in the dark for a moment, he hoped the two would make another attempt to get in.
He had a lot of pent up rage and they'd be the perfect target to take it out on.
Kaede typed in the last of her observations, her eyes sliding over her screen to rest on the angry looking lesion cut jaggedly into Captain Taisho's back. When he had first been brought in, the amount of blood splattered over both Kouga and Inuyasha had been terrifying. Seeing the actual injury had kicked her into medic-mode; directing the two males on where to put her patient and how, all the while collecting things she'd need off the bat.
Getting his armored suit off had been a chore and she had been thankful that both men had stayed to help. Her first look at the wound had her thinking that, while it was bad, it was nothing she couldn't handle. Cleaning the gash and the area around it had been quick, if somewhat messy. It was when she had tried to use the gun to fuse the wound closed where things got weird.
The laceration itself refused to allow her energy to stitch the skin together.
Trying multiple times had had the same effect. At its best, the wound would look to be closing and would reopen just as she was starting to think it was working. She had been forced to use old fashioned methods and had to hand-stitch the split skin together. Thankfully, her teacher had always taught her to be prepared for any eventuality.
"How's the bastard doing?"
Kaede jumped, thoroughly shocked from her contemplations at the gruff question. Her head swiveled to stare at the awkward and conflicted expression on Inuyasha's face.
"The stitches seem to be holding for now." She answered quietly, turning back to her screen and finalizing her report.
"Any word on his partner?"
Kaede froze at the mention of Kagome, her eyes losing their focus as her brows scrunched.
"No. I won't be able to properly connect with the rest of the fleet until we dock." She swallowed her trepidation and took a deep breath, facing the younger Taisho once more. "We don't even know how this attack would have effected Kag-Higurashi. She could be perfectly fine."
Inuyasha scowled briefly, about to argue a point, but stopped as he noticed a faint tremble in the medic's shoulders. Again, he was reminded that she was only eighteen and the person they were talking about was her cousin.
"Right." He said instead and stood from the lean he had been in in the door way. "Butch says we'll be pulling into Ragnarok in a couple hours. It was the nearest base with the right amenities."
Kaede gave a sharp nod and stood from her chair. "You mind watching Captain Taisho? I've been hovering here for over six hours and I need to use the bathroom."
Inuyasha scowled, but there was no real emotion behind it. More of a habit than an expression. "Yeah, yeah. Take a shower and get some coffee while you're at it. You look like shit."
Kaede shoved him as she passed, hiding the small smile from his view. So, she could kind of see what her sister liked about the idiotic oaf.
Docking at Ragnarok had been more of a circus than anything. The reports they had sent ahead of their arrival had been received and the transmission that Butch had radioed ahead had been unnecessary. Apparently, the higher-ups in the Western Fleet were already aware that something drastic had happened on their mission.
This meant that Captain Taisho's psychic had, indeed, been effected. And if the amount of attention they had managed to draw meant anything, she had been effected in a bad way. Sango stood on the sidelines beside Ayame and Kagura as they watched a team of medics swarm the small medical room and load the still unresponsive Taisho onto a stretcher. The numerous machines they hooked up to him as soon as he was placed on the thing had her cringing.
Farther down the corridor, Inuyasha and Kouga had lead a different kind of team to the storage room they had thrown the body of the strange alien into. At the time, Kagura had caustically remarked she would not be the one to clean out the freezer they had dumped the weird thing into.
Before any of the three girls could do anything other than watch the captain be escorted off the ship, a uniformed officer approached them.
"The three of you were part of the team inspecting the asteroid, were you not?"
"Yeah?" Kagura took a step forward, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I have been asked by my superiors to guide you to a meeting room."
"For what?!" Ayame nearly shouted, taking a page out of Kagura's book.
"You are required to submit your report verbally to the council." The officer shifted nervously for a moment before straightening. "All further questions will be answered there."
"Just us? What about Wolfe and Taisho?" Sango asked anyway, crossing her arms over her chest. She had been planning on getting a hold of Miroku to figure out what was going on with Kagome-chan.
"The both of them will be similarly informed. Now if you please…?" He gestured before him and Kagura scowled to see two other uniformed officers waiting to escort them further into Ragnarok. With a toss of her head and a disdainful sneer, Kagura proceeded down the ramp with all the grace of royalty. Sango and Ayame followed, not as graceful, but emulating the same amount of derision.
Kaede fidgeted nervously in the chair she had been directed to a while ago. The tea that had been set before her had long since cooled, going untouched. The team had been in interrogation since they had docked and Kaede knew when they were released it would be her turn.
For what seemed the thousandth time, she again looked over her report, reading the same lines over and over. 'It's going to be alright. They are just going to ask you questions you already know the answer to. You are just going in there to reiterate what you had already sent ahead. Nothing to be scared about.'
Her mental pep talk wasn't doing her nerves any good.
The sound of the door sliding open had her spinning in place to face a uniformed officer. "Dr. Higurashi. If you'll follow me, please."
She stood, clutching her screen and her jaw so tightly both her hands and teeth were protesting. Not trusting herself to open her mouth to answer, she gave a stilted nod and walked toward the soldier. Her heart thudded with each step they took down the corridor. Just as they were reaching a set of wide doors, she caught sight of her team leaving a set of doors farther down. Each of them looked haggard and worn down.
Her stomach turned over and her heart plummeted. The small mantra she had been repeating to herself died a sudden death. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand curled around her elbow, tugging her forward. "If you would, Dr. Higurashi."
Kaede turned a blank stare on the polite inquiry etched on the soldier's face. She could see the impatience sitting just underneath. Taking a deep breath and pulling her arm from his hold, she squared her shoulders and walked in with as much dignity as one could muster when they were about to shake apart from inside.
Her pluck failed her the moment she came face to face with what exactly awaited her in the large room. All nine shadowed members of the council as well as the four fleet commanders were projected before her on a tiered, raised dais. Her eyes skipped of shapeless projected shadows and stern, grim expressions, again hit with the seriousness of this meeting.
"Dr. Higurashi?" The fleet commander in the center of the collective was the first to speak. Seeing as he looked a hell of a lot like the Taisho brothers, Kaede felt it was safe to assume he was the Inu no Taisho. Belatedly, she realized he had been speaking to her and she rushed the last few steps to the seat she was to take before them.
"Ah, y-yes. I am she…her…Higurashi." She fumbled her words, embarrassed that they seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth along with her tongue.
The Inu no Taisho gave a sharp nod in acknowledgement, his expression never changing. "We are still waiting on Dr. Kendrick from Eden. We would like to hear your medical diagnostic of both parties as a whole."
Kaede found herself nodding like an idiot and clenched her hands into fists in her lap. Taking deep breaths, she attempted to calm herself down, focusing on the silver haired man directly in front of her. Many in the fleet had commented that Inuyasha took after his father the most, but seeing the dangerous gleam in the older man's eyes and the stoic expression, Kaede couldn't help but think they were wrong.
Clearly she was facing the future version of Sesshomaru Taisho.
Another projector flared to life and Kaede turned to take in the pale and harried doctor from Eden.
"Apologies for being late." Dr. Kendrick mumbled out, her eyes roving over the collective before clinging to her own in a similar relief Kaede had felt.
"Now that the both of you are here, Dr. Higurashi, we would like you to begin with your analysis of the wound sustained by one; Captain Sesshomaru Taisho."
Kaede ignored the jolt Dr. Kendrick gave at her last name and instead pulled up her report on her screen. Syncing it to the projector on her table she allowed the pictures she had taken of the injury to be shown to all present. Glancing at her earlier printed words, she felt herself sink into the medical examiner persona she always adopted when she was at work.
Describing in detail the look and feel of the injury when her patient was first brought in and progressing through the changes as she had worked to close the wound, she brought up multiple pictures taken at different angles. "As you can see, in the end I had to revert to stitching the wound by hand."
"You're saying the injury refused any kind of stimulus from outside energy?"
"Rather than refused, I would say it rebelled against any kind of outside energy. The more I tried to use, the worse the wound became."
She stopped her explanation as those before her murmured to themselves, not interested in what they were saying. Her eyes instead took in the way Dr. Kendrick was staring at the pictures of Captain Taisho's back. As if sensing her scrutiny, Kendrick let her eyes fall to meet with Kaede's. The expression in them complex and Kaede wasn't exactly sure what the older woman was trying to convey.
"Dr. Kendrick. Your report was, by far, the most disturbing in this ordeal. If you would care to explain?"
"Of course." The pictures of Taisho's back dropped and another of a small feminine back took its place. In the same place as the captain's, a long jagged slash in shades of red and purple decorated the back of one; Kagome Higurashi.
"As you can see, like all psychics wounded by Baasratu energy, a similar mark to the one received by her partner has appeared on Higurashi's back. However, this is not a psychic burn or, as it is sometimes termed, a bruise. This is a scar, cutting into the actual tissue."
Kendrick paused at the murmurs, careful to keep her eyes trained on the images she was projecting. "While troubling, in its own right, it was not something we were overly concerned with." Her eyes shot to Kaede then skittered away. "What we were concerned with were the pulses of Baasratu energy emanating from the scar."
There was a stiff silence followed by a dull roar of voices. Kaede sat staring at Kendrick with her mouth slightly open in horror. The rumble of voices got louder and Kaede distantly thought it was kind of funny to hear so many mechanically changed voices talking over one another.
"Enough!" The loud roar and loud bang of a fist smashing into marble had the room silenced once again. Inu no Taisho turned a frigid gaze to Kendrick. "You are saying that Baasratu energy is leaking out of Psychic Kagome Higurashi."
Kendrick swallowed and gave a jerky nod. "Yes, sir. We've moved her into quarantine, but frankly speaking…we don't know what to make of this."
"Is it affecting anything?" Came a mechanical question from one of the council.
"Not as of yet. As far as we can tell, it's just…pulsing."
"Pulsing how?"
Kendrick cleared her throat and sat up straight. "We have recordings taken with machines geared to measure energy output." At the impatient handwave she received from one of the fleet commanders, she rushed to project the recording.
Kaede watched with her medical examiner mindset as what appeared to be a heartbeat pulsed from Kagome's back. She blinked and her stomach roiled as she lost the profession edge she had been relying on. Her eyes slid to the grim-faced Kendrick as the council once again began their murmurs.
"And Kag-Higurashi herself? How…" She trailed off, embarrassed that her personal interest was coming to the fore. Kendrick turned sympathetic eyes her way and shook her head.
"Higurashi appears to be in a deep sleep. We thought at first that she had slipped into a psycho-paralysis, but that appears not to be the case. For all intents and purposes, it seems she is only resting."
"The energy coming from her back isn't affecting her in any other way?" The question came from the Inu no Taisho.
"No. As far as we can tell, it isn't affecting anything. But, we didn't want to take that chance, so we isolated her as best we could."
Kaede sat back, still troubled over the state her cousin was in, but relieved that she hadn't lost herself to the ether.
"Captain Taisho is in a similar state, is he not? Sans the Baasratu energy pulses, of course." One of the councilmen asked and Kaede pulled herself together.
"Yes, other than his wound refusing to heal, he is perfectly fine. There are no traces of Baasratu energy in his system. I have also done a scan on other foreign energy that may have escaped my initial inspection, but found nothing. The medical crew aboard the Ragnarok have conducted their own tests. Everything found to be negative. They have even estimated he should be cognizant sometime in the early hours."
Inu no Taisho nodded, seemingly satisfied with her report. Beside him, the elderly fleet commander set to retire leaned forward.
"Now. About the thing that attacked Captain Taisho and his partner."
Kaede gave a sharp nod and pulled up an entirely different report. "As a medical examiner and practitioner, there was little I could do to classify and dissect what we found. Its body has been transported to a lab where more highly qualified scientists can further break it down, but here is what I was able to glean from it."
The picture of a small crumpled form appeared on the projections and everyone leaned forward, as if to see it properly. About a third the size of a Baasratu, it's basic structure appeared the same, if one ignored the fact that it's joints bent in the opposite direction. Its spindly limbs tapered down into three separate claws, instead of hands. The edges of its forearms were serrated, the tips of the barbs hollowed out, as if used to inject their target with something.
Its head was small and eyeless. It didn't appear to have ears, either. Its mouth was wide and its teeth appeared to be more like rows of long sharp needles. Its skin was hardened, tougher than leather but softer then shell, and the dark rusty color of old dried blood. All in all, Kaede had concluded, by sight alone, that it was a subspecies of Baasratu.
Inu no Taisho gave another sharp nod, directing his stern gaze from the pictures of the alien to both doctors. "Thank you, doctors. Your reports have given us much to think on."
Kaede stood and bowed, her hand curling over her chest in a salute, recognizing the dismissal for what it was. She didn't look to see if Kendrick had done the same, because the doors behind her had opened and the uniformed officer was back at her side, ready to escort her out of the room.
As she walked down the corridor in a daze, her mind kept circling back to the energy pulses coming from her cousin's back. What did it mean? A flash of light from outside the small window in the wall caught her eye and she turned to stare at the blinking beacon set to guide ships into the dock. Her stomach dropped and her breath left in a whoosh as a terrifying thought struck her.
Sesshomaru let out a groan as his back screamed in protest when he pushed against the mattress to get his face out of the pillow he was smashed into. Muted sounds rolled over his ears and he wondered if the ringing in his head was what was keeping him from hearing properly. As he struggled to rise, multiple sets of hands pushed him back down.
He let out a growl as he realized he was too weak to do anything else.
"Easy there, ice-prick. You're gonna pull your stitches."
One glacial amber eye made it out of the synthetic cotton to glare at the blurry figure that was his half-brother.
"Don't give me that look. Doc's orders. Your back's all kindsa fucked up."
"How poetic of you, Inuyasha." A snide feminine voice had Sesshomaru frowning. Exactly how many people were in the room? He blinked his eyes slowly, relieved when the fuzzy film fell away and he could see clearly.
He turned his head to see Inuyasha arguing with Kaze and Shiro on one side of him. On the other side stood a worried looking Taijya.
"Would you like some water, Captain?" Her voice was low, out of respect he thought, but with the racket the moron was making, it was rather redundant. A hoarse hum came from him in answer and a straw attached to a cup of water was thrust into his face. Ignoring the indignity of drinking from a straw, his thirst far outweighed any kind of embarrassment.
"I have to say, Captain. You're awake a couple of hours before you were supposed to be." Shiro let out in a huff as she threw herself into one of the chairs stationed around his bed. Letting out another grunt, he again attempted to lever himself into a sitting position, throwing off the hands reaching out to restrain him.
He swung his feet over the side of the bed, cursing the feeling of hellfire tracing over his spine. His eyes opened from the screwed-up position they had been in and he immediately sought the only one who could possibly give him any answers.
"Higurashi." He not-quite-asked Taijya, his eyes now a dark gold. "How is Higurashi."
Sango gulped at the look she was being pinned with, reminded of the fleet commander inquisition she had had to sit through not too long ago. "They won't tell us." She whispered, watching in shock as actual emotion moved across the man's face.
Letting out his breath slowly and dragging it back in, just as slow, Sesshomaru moved as if to stand and was immediately irritated when two sets of muscular hands held him down.
"Jeez! I go to take a piss for five minutes and you're already trying to jump out of bed. Fucking over achiever."
Sesshomaru glared over his shoulder at Wolfe, rolling it to dislodge his hand from his person.
"Hate to say it, but Wolfe's got a point, ice cube. With your back nearly split in two, you ain't going nowhere for a while."
"Like hell either of you will be able to stop me." The rumbled threat had all of them pausing. Before anyone could do or say anything, the door to the private medical room whooshed open and an overly dramatic voice floated in.
"Ooh! Taisho! We heard you had been hurt~!"
Inuyasha blinked at the small flash of horror that had crossed his older brother's eyes. He turned in anticipation to see who could have possibly unsettled the ice block and blinked at the sight of two middle-aged women. One looking reserved and dignified, the other was winking salaciously at Wolfe.
"And who are your strapping friends?"
"Lydia."
Sesshomaru deflated on the bed, the nausea from the pain in his back rushing into his head all at once. "Kitakawa." He intoned by way of greeting and ignored the pout coming from the tech.
"Well, Captain Taisho. Tell us, what the hell happened?"
Miroku awoke to the sounds of a muted alarm and running feet. Heart hammering in adrenaline he really didn't think was good for him, he stumbled into a pair of pants and raked his fingers through his hair even as he opened his door. The sight of panicked people running every which way had him blinking in a stupor before his thoughts kick-started.
"Hey! The hell is going on?" He shouted when he caught the gaze of a uniformed guard rushing down the hall.
The guard opened his mouth, as if to answer but another rush of people and unintelligible screams drowned him out. Scowling at the madness, he strained to pick up pieces of shouted conversation.
"…here!?"
"Can see…garden!"
Brows lowered in consternation, he jammed his feet into his boots and locked his door. There was a rush of people heading for the glass-walled corridor surrounding the botanical garden and he easily slipped in among them, surprised at the light jog he was forced into.
They rounded a couple of bends, and Miroku cringed each time he heard others crash into the wall, forced by momentum and the crush of other bodies. The corridor was just ahead, and he lost his breath as he slammed head-long into those in front of him. Growling under his breath he elbowed and jabbed his way through the packed masses, taking in the anxiety and fear permeating the atmosphere the closer he got to his target.
He spied an empty space in front and squeezed through, falling forward on his knees. For a moment, the only sound he heard was his own breathing and he looked around to see everyone else staring in muted horror at something above them. Following their gaze, his own breath froze in his lungs at the sight before them.
For there, hovering above the Goshinboku, was a fleet of Baasratu warships.
xXx
Ok. So, the plot is gonna hit you guys hard and heavy now. My apologies for the errors here and there. I don't have a beta and I try to catch what I can before I post. My bad. I'll probably go through and edit this once it's completed or something.
You guys' reviews had me laughing and rubbing my hands together in glee. Not going to lie! I love reading speculation, it's my favorite. I'd like to say welcome back to my buddy; you know who you are. I want to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy as I build up to the climax of the story!
Thank you so much for reading and please review!
