Chapter 4: Firing Solutions
"The vibrations are getting worse…" Isaac mumbles as the tram shakes. "We must be getting close to the debris field…" He glances at Sora and Kairi, the couple looking over the tools they received back in Engineering. "We're going to have to move quick if we want to get out of here alive." The shuddering of the tram signalled its stop as the door opened to the station. Gentle blue lights illuminate their arrival. Stepping off the tram, Isaac's video comm flares to life as Hammond appears on the screen.
"Guys, I'm looking through the ADS cannons – and they're a mess. I'm going to need your help. I'm not losing the Ishimura, not now."
"The Ishimura, Hammond? Or the Marker?" Kendra suddenly cuts in with an accusation in her voice. The trio were caught off guard by Kendra as Hammond replied in a bored tone.
"That artefact they found?"
"Don't bullshit us." Kendra bites back. "CEC knew all along about the Marker, didn't they? Isn't that why you're really here? Corporate wouldn't send the Ishimura for some off-the-books mining. But alien technology? Yeah, that fits."
"And how does losing my team fit into this 'theory'?" Hammond replies with anger in his voice. Insulted that the deaths of Chen and Johnston were planned all along.
"Hey, knock this shit out!" Isaac interjects between the two, startling both. "We're into the debris field. If we don't get that system back up and running, or it is all over regardless of what theories you're thinking of."
"Isaac's right. We can talk about what is happening when we have time to breathe." Sora agrees as Kairi folds her arms. "This is not that time to be fighting against ourselves." That seemed to cool the both of them off, but the tension could still be seen in their shoulders.
"Then met me at the Captains Next, at the far end of the bridge. Daniels…"
"Fine, I'll drop it. But I'm going through the ship's records, Hammond. I'm getting some answers." She replies before ending her call, with Hammond ending his shortly after.
"This we do not need…" Kairi moaned as the trio began to make their way to the bridge. "Fighting against ourselves while in a ship swarming with monsters as it falls apart? That's a recipe for disaster." They pass by a security office in the winding hallway, a yellow light still turned on.
"Honestly, I'm surprised we've managed to keep it together this long anyway." Isaac replies as they approach a row of glass walls tinted black. "Everything on this ship is doing everything to—" An arm as thick as a human body bursts through the glass, nearly striking Isaac as he jumps back, aiming his Cutter at the trashing limb. Sora and Kairi summon their Keyblades in their left hands as they grab their tools with their right. Eventually, the arm retracts as it fails to break the now-revealed security glass apart.
"What was that?" Sora asks as they begin to move past the hole. Before anyone could answer him, a malformed face burst through the same hole, the split lower jaw roaring at them in anger as it continued to try and breakthrough. Only to retreat as its efforts once again are wasted. "Never mind, that answered for me."
"Just what we need. Another variant…" Isaac grumbles as they continue on, turning left at the next corner. Stepping through the large security door, they arrive on the bridge. A vast, sprawling area with a large central pillar in the centre with smaller stations branching off along the side. Around them, the tall walls making up the room were instead made of thick glass, no doubt designed for the rigours of space travel and re-entry if needed. Holographic panels line the room, all blinking orange. "Alright, here we are. No signs of blood or violent attacks…either the crew had already left, or they took the lift." Just as they strode into the room proper, an asteroid from the outside slammed through one of the glass windows of the bridge. The glass folded like paper as the rock ploughed on through, slamming through the floor right before the group.
The air instantly began rushing out through the breech just before the ship's onboard A.I. closed it by lowering the emergency shutter outside. The room was plunged into semi-luminance as the lights flickered red as Kendra opened a call to the trio.
"You guys okay? I saw the hit on the bridge. Looks like the automatic systems are still working. For now, anyway."
"Keep an eye on those Kendra. The last thing we want is for oxygen to fail across the whole ship. There's so much even I can do on a time limit." Isaac replies, giving the couple a side glance. Their eyes had been trained on the vents above them and the nearby door to their left. Considering its position, the unknown variant that tried to get them through the glass had to be behind it. Seeing the door was locked tight, Isaac motions the couple to follow him towards the front, avoiding the newly made hole in the floor as sparks and fire leap out.
Walking past a circular sign with an image of the Ishimura on top, covered by a smear of blood, the trio walk down a set of stairs before finding a small service lift underneath the floor. Stepping on, the lift descends into a circular room, with four pods embedded in the walls with doors as Hammond stands guard in front of one. He turns around, aiming his gun at the trio before slacking his grip.
"Guys…Sorry." He lowers the gun before taking a deep breath. "Shit, you scared me."
"No, no. Keep that rifle close." Isaac replies as he, Sora and Kairi remove their helmets. They walk up to join him, only now noticing one of the creatures inside the pod next to Hammond.
"Is that…Chen?" Kairi asks as the creature bangs its arms against the pods inside. Hammond frowns in sadness as he looks away in pain.
"Yeah. It is. He's the one that attacked me as well. I managed to trap him in there just barely. Almost lost my head when he swung…" Hammond continues to avoid looking at Chen as Sora and Kairi stand on either side, left arms ready to summon their Keys if needed. Isaac walks over to Hammond before putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You can't help him, Hammond. You know that. He's…" Isaac's words die in his throat. Hammond looks at Isaac with an understanding look as he nods his head.
"Your right. I should…" He pauses before he narrows his eyes. "To hell with it." He stomps up to the pod's side before pulling down a lever next to it. Within seconds, the pod, number 47, was ejected from the Ishimura and into space. "I've worked with him for years. Johnston too. At least she was spared from becoming a monster."
"We'll find out what's causing this Hammond. We won't let their deaths be in vain." Sora says softly. Hammond nods at Sora before motioning over to the nearby door leading to the Captain's Nest. A large elevated chair lay before a giant holographic map as smaller terminals stood around. Before them was a vast glass window overlooking the planet as Hammond walked up to a nearby terminal.
"This is all I've managed to find out. All power running to the ADS is shot." Isaac looks over the terminal with a keen eye, glancing at every power cable and router they could use.
"Well, the administration systems aren't being used or doing much. We could reroute power from them to the cannons. But we need to do it in three locations, and with time running out…" Isaac couldn't stop the grimace forming on his face before turning to look at the couple behind him. "We need to split up."
"Huh?" Sora and Kairi reply as Isaac brings up a schematic of the bridge.
"Two of the boxes that need to be rerouted are on two of the lower floors. The third is located higher up. If we wait and try to do them all one at a time, we risk losing the Ishimura before we're done." Isaac sighs as he rubs the back of his head. "I don't like splitting us up, but we have no choice." Sora and Kairi look at each other, worry spreading over their faces.
"It's all we can do." Hammond interjects before sighing loudly. "Guys, about what Daniels said… I swear I don't know about ANY illegal mining, or the Marker, or anything else. This was supposed to be a simple repair job. Simple and Clean."
"Hammond, we're not going to start pointing fingers and spouting accusations at anyone. That's not who we are." Kairi replies. "But still, if what Kendra has said is true, then someone had to know about this."
"The company, maybe, CEC is large after all. But shit like that is above my pay grade." Hammond acknowledges before glancing back at the exit. "By the way, you guys. Be careful out there. I saw something on the cameras but didn't get a good look at it. But it was big, really big."
"I think we know what that is. Had its face try to attack us through some glass." Sora replies as he, Kairi and Isaac put their helmets back on. "But thanks for the heads up." Hammond nods with a grin before turning his eyes back to the terminal, hoping to do something to help.
"The elevators in the atrium can be used to get to the boxes. I'll update your security so you can access bridge sec so you can activate them."
"And you've updated yours already?" Isaac asks with a grin. Hammond shoots back with his own grin as Isaac's Hud registers the security update. Leaving Hammond alone in the next, the trio returned to the bridge, the lights still glowing a deep red. But just as they began to approach the entrance to Bridge Security, something large and powerful smashed against the door from the inside. Steel rings around the empty space as a second impact dents the doors outward, the holographic lock flickering away.
The trio ready their weapons as a third hit dents the metal even more, as a primal growl rumbles behind. Suddenly, the doors are blasted away from their holdings, slamming into the ground as a lumbering beast storms out of a blood-covered room. The trio dive out of the brute's rampaging charge as they turn back to fire on it with plasma, ripper blades and flame.
Hazardous anomaly detected. Quarantine activated.
The wave of attacks seemed to stun the beast as it turned around at them to roar in a fury, the plasma and ripper blades bouncing off its armoured arms. It charges at them once again, only to miss and slam into some terminals on one of the outcrop stations.
"That's it!" Isaac shouts in annoyance as he blasts the creature with stasis. "Try blocking this split jaw!" He fires at a glowing area on one of its arms, the plasma bolts destroying it within a few quick bursts. The blast severs the arm clean from the shoulder just as Sora launches another blade towards the tiny legs. The diamond-tipped blade tears through the tiny legs without issue before bouncing off the metal surface and into the creature's stomach.
However, despite the wound, it still refused to die as it dragged itself towards them with its one remaining hand. Catching onto Isaac's idea, Sora and Kairi blast it with their own stasis before Kairi runs up behind it. Swinging her Keyblade with her left hand, she slices off the Brute's final arm as it falls to the floor. Defeated and motionless.
"You guys alright?" Isaac asks as the trio regroups near the destroyed door. A quick look inside showed a blood-filled room with smashed glass and walls. The lights were broken and snapped.
"We are, for now." Sora replies as they look over the Brute. "We're just lucky we fought it out here and not in there."
"I hear that." Isaac replies as the three of them enter the room. Looking to the far back, Isaac grins behind his helmet to find a working terminal. Walking up to it, he activates it, returning power to the main atrium elevators. To his surprise, Isaac finds a video recording nearby. Absentmindedly, he reaches for it before it suddenly begins to play, drawing Sora and Kairi over to him.
"It's on record, Doctor." A high-ranking officer says as he walks on the screen, standing next to the Captain and another officer on his left. Standing before him, RiG glowing green on his back, was Dr Kyne.
"This is mutiny! The Marker must be delivered to the church! Whatever the cost!" Mathius angrily shouts, stepping forward towards Kyne before the man on his right grabs his wrist.
"For god's sake, Ben, listen to yourself! The Ishimura's in crisis, you've cut us off!" Kyne shouts back before he reconfigures himself, standing tall and hands grasped behind his back. "By maritime law article 5469, I declare Captain Benjamin Mathius unfit for duty!"
"You heretic!" Mathius shouts back as the two men struggle to hold him back.
"Ben, you're not yourself…" Kyne tries to say as he takes a syringe filled with a sedative. "Let me help you…"
"Traitors! Get off me! This is my ship!" Mathius shouts as he pushes the men off him. Freed, he lunges at Kyne, who holds both hands up defensively. Forgetting that in one hand, he was holding a syringe. The cameras didn't catch the moment, yet Mathius's scream of pain before falling back to the ground was clear as day. The syringe sticking out of his eye like an arrow. Kyne looks on in shock as the two guards look between the two. The video ends with Kyne running as the guards call for security.
"Huh, so that's what happened." Isaac says nonchalantly as his right-hand reaches for his eye subconsciously. "Least we know how he died."
"What do you think happened to that Doctor?" Kairi asks as the trio exits the security room. Isaac huffs in response before moving to the lift.
"Don't know, don't care. All Uni's are the same." He replies, with less venom in his voice than they expected. "Alright, this elevator will take you down to Mining Administrations and Electrical System. I'll take the other one and head to Water Purification. We'll meet up there."
"How do we change the power, Isaac? It's not complicated, is it?" Kairi asks. Computers were never their speciality.
"Don't worry. When you find the terminal, it should already have the option ready. It's a safety protocol in case no system-savvy person is nearby and it's an emergency." Isaac replies before motioning with his hand. "Good luck, and be safe." The couple nod before entering the lift as the doors close behind them. Glancing at the small terminal next to the door, Sora clicks on the second floor down. The lift gently descends to the lower floor before coming to a stop as the doors open.
"Well, guess this is my stop." Sora says grimly. Before he steps out, he quickly gives Kairi a hug. "Stay safe, okay?"
"I will." She replies. The two of them press their helmeted heads together before Sora reluctantly breaks from the hug and exits the lift. As the doors close, Kairi presses the third floor, delving deeper into the ship again.
"Okay. Now what?" Sora asks himself in the dimly lit room. Behind him, he could hear the lift descending, leaving him alone. No one to keep an eye on his back. No one to alert to any suspicious sounds or movement. Come on, Sora! This is not the first time you were alone! Remember back when you first arrived in Travers Town? Or during the Mark of Mastery? Then again…I did have Dream Eaters with me… Shaking his head, Sora holds Kingdom Key high in his right, the soft glow illuminating the room.
To his left were couches and a holographic board, while a door rested on the far end of the wall. "Best keep moving. Those things are still after us." He mutters aloud before remembering he was alone. Pushing past the oppressive feeling, Sora moves through the nearby door, entering a long corridor. A body lies halfway down, leaning against a door. Ignoring the scene and humming a tune he heard from Simba once, Sora begins to head down the hallway, eyes peeled.
Until the door the body was leaning against suddenly ruptures open, sucking out both the body and all the air in the hallway.
"What the?" Sora asks as he sees the air timer flash on his Hud. "A vacuum? Just my luck." Shaking his head in annoyance, Sora sprints down the hallway, turning right and passing another storage room before ducking into a second room. Taking a moment to pause and gaze at the Mining Admin entrance, he notices another door on his right leading to another room. Before he steps through, Kendra suddenly calls him.
"Sora. Just to warn you, I'm reading electrical hazards on the floor ahead of you."
"Electrical hazards? What do you think they are?" Sora asks warningly.
"My best guess is some of the gravity plating has broken down and is malfunctioning. Be on the lookout for bright shimmers in the air. It will throw you into the ceiling if you're not careful. Or shock you till your organs are fried to a crisp."
"Right. Thanks." As Kendra closes the call, Sora returns his attention to the room. "Wonder what's in here?" Opening the door, Sora is met by a dark room, as usual, along with another corpse. But this one was accompanied by something else. Walking over, Sora kneels to inspect the device, putting his Ripper on his hip.
It was a large red device that, despite looking heavy, Sora could easily lift with one arm. While it had a stick, it was connected to the bottom of the handle that held the trigger instead of at the top, like the Pulse Rifle. The front of it was equally strange, sporting a fork-like appearance with a metal venting block on the bottom. Scattered along the floor were what looked to be plasma packs, but larger and more bulky than the streamlined packs of the Plasma Cutter.
"What's this? Maybe Isaac could tell me when we meet up." Sora says to himself, just before his comm link flared to life. How do you even activate that?
"Sora, it's Hammond. Isaac has just rerouted power from water purification. He's staying near it until the other two are up. How's it going?"
"Almost there, I think. But I found this weird tool. It's red, larger than a Pulse Rifle, and has some strange vents on the front." Sora describes over the comm. He could hear Hammond humming to himself in intrigue on the other end.
"Sounds like you struck gold, Sora. What you have there is a C99 Supercollider Contact Beam. The miners use it to break open rocks and meteors to mine minerals. That should be more than enough to kill those things. But be careful with the beam! It can and will melt through anything if given enough time. And it uses a lot of energy with each shot."
Sora nodded as he looked over the tool, his eyes wide at the power he was holding. And with how much responsibility he now held in his hand. "Got it. I'll save it for when I really need it." He replies before Hammond cuts the link. However, another item catches Sora's attention before he can move back. But this one filled him with a sense of dread.
"Isn't this Roxas's necklace?" Sora asks with growing dread as he picks up the bloody shuriken necklace. "But, what's it doing here? Don't tell me…" A dark thought began to grow at the back of his mind, only for Sora to vigorously shake his head. "No way! It's probably just a member of the Ishimura's! There's no way Roxas and the other would have come here. Could they…?" As the thought began to resurface, Sora put the necklace on a clip on his belt before turning back to the connecting room and to the Mining Admin door.
He takes a deep breath, looks over the Contact Beam again, and opens the door. Greeting him were two computer banks on either side, with more terminals further in the room. Hanging from above, hung on nooses, were the bodies of more crewmates. Sparking from the floor in square tiles, electricity sparks and ripples through the air up to the ceiling. At first glance, Sora could not see any creatures in the dark room until two of them lumbered out from behind the banks, dragging bodies to be infected.
Deciding to try the Contact Beam, Sora holds it up towards one of the Slashers. Pressing the trigger, he hears the tool charging up as energy builds around the front. The sound drew the attention of the two Slashers, but it was too late.
Within seconds, a beam of pure energy shoots out from the front of the tool, blasting through the torso of the Slasher and its buddy behind it. Unfortunately for Sora, the Contact Beam was designed to be used in two hands, even with his strength offered as a Keyblade Wielder. He quickly found himself dismissing Kingdom Key to steady the tool before releasing the trigger as the beam went wild around the room, leaving a gash where it struck.
Stashing the tool onto his back with deftness, he grabs the Ripper on his hip and resummons Kingdom Key as snarls echo from the back of the room. Two Lurkers charge towards him, only for one of them to step on a malfunctioning plate as it sparks towards the ceiling, roasting itself from the inside out. The other continues to charge at Sora, spines primed and ready to attack. Taking a risk, Sora fires a Blizzard at the Lurker. While the small shard did nothing to the dead baby other than stunning it in place, it gave Sora the chance to fire a saw blade towards its attack spines.
A single blade was all that was needed to slice the three spines of its back.
That was close. Sora sighs before moving deeper into the room, Kingdom Key glowing in the dark. Looks like I'll have to use both hands if I want to use the Contact Beam. Think I'll save it if we run into any more Brutes. Or those Drag Tentacles… He gives off a shudder as he arrives at the end of the room, small glass windows opening to space with two terminals below them. Nestled between the two was the power router. Okay, just got to change the power going from here to the ADS. It should be simpler than trying to access Ansem's computer. I think.
Walking up to it, a holographic panel appears before Sora, showing power routing to the Mining Admin and an option to send it to the ADS. Not missing a beat, Sora clicks the ADS, resulting in the lights around him dying out and the floors ceasing to spark.
Okay, that's that done. Now, head back to the lift and join up with Kairi. Hope she's okay…
"Just how many screens does one room need?" Kairi asks as she looks around the landing room. Before her, three walls were filled with terminals and screens, each displaying countless pieces of information. Glancing at the door, she notices the information passing above mentions a Comm Relay. "Wonder if that's where we need to go to fix the comms. I'll ask Isaac and Hammond about it later. If only we were told how to activate those comm links."
Not wasting time thinking about it, Kairi opens the door into another screen-filled hallway. Shaking her head at the sight, she walks down the orange-lit room, finding a locked storage room and splitting the hallway into two paths. Looking to her left, she finds a door leading to a break room. Curiosity getting the better of her, she opens it up to find a room devoid of lights. Only a circle of candles on the floor gives the room an eerie glow. All the while, a screen showed an image of a spiralling obelisk, one she instantly recognised.
"It's that thing that Master Yen Sid summoned to bring me and Sora here." She whispers to herself. "Or at least, someone pretending to be him…" She reminds herself. Deciding to not linger around, she turns to leave but notices something on the floor between the candles. Something that shouldn't belong. "That's…Naminé's sketchbook…" She mumbles, picking up the bloodstained book. Opening it, her eyes widened to see Naimné's sketches inside, solidifying that this was hers and not a circumstantial find. But…why would Naminé come here? Did she and the others come to rescue us? If so… Her mind wandered as the weight of what she thought sank in. Before it could take hold, Kendra suddenly called.
"Kairi, you there?" Kairi jumps at the call, placing a hand on her chest as she puts the book on her back.
"Y-Yeah. I'm here. You scared me for a second there, Kendra."
"Oh, sorry about that." Kendra apologises before turning serious. "Listen, just wanted to warn you about some electrical hazards nearby. Keep a look out for sparking bolts of lightning."
"Right. Thanks Kendra." With Kendra ending the call, Kairi quickly leaves the room, grabbing the Flamethrower in her right hand and summoning Destiny's Embrace in her left.
Avoiding the path before her, she continues right and turns a corner, finding glass windows looking into the locked room. A mutilated corpse hangs out the broken window as glass scatters around the outside. In front of the glass was a door leading to the communication array, but it was locked. Ignoring the locked room, she continues on to the next door leading to Electrical Systems, all the while her wearies of her surroundings increase. She had not heard anything other than the groans of the Ishimura, her steel body groaning under the impacts she was receiving from the debris field.
Walking into the Electrical Systems, she suddenly finds herself in a maze of computer banks, orange symbols running up and down their surfaces like ants. Amongst the sounds of the systems running and clicking, she could hear electricity sparking as sparks arced up above one of the terminals. Moving forward through the maze, she finds one part of the floor damaged, as wires and pipes point upward from the floor. Then, from the shadows, a Lurker charges towards her, but before it can get close, the damaged floor erupts into electricity, sending sparks flying towards the sky. And the unlucky Lurker was caught in the middle, its internals fried to a crisp before going limp.
Okay…that makes things harder… She thinks to herself before noting that sparks stopping. A few seconds pass before the floor erupts into sparks once again, falling into a repeating pattern. Got to time it right, or I'll end up like that Lurker.
"Kairi. It's Hammond. Just letting you know Isaac has finished rerouting power from Water Purification. How are things going on your end?"
"Just entered the room. It's a maze in here. And the broken floor is not helping." She replies, quickly walking over the destroyed floor."
"Understood. Be safe and be quick."
Turning around a corner, Kairi was met by a Slasher and a Lurker, waiting for her at the other end of the hall. Glancing around, she spies a faulting floor sparking just before the two as they slowly move towards her. Dismissing Destiny's Embrace, she fires a blast of stasis from her left hand, hitting both as they step onto the plate. Seconds later, lightning surges from below, frying both her attackers as they fall to the floor in slow motion. Re-summoning Destiny's Embrace, she continues through the maze, avoiding faulty floor panels and dead ends.
Eventually, she reaches an area filled with thin metal panels with red terminals, a change to the constant orange. There were even soft glowing lights from above. But before she could get comfortable, the sound of something large and angry began to pound on the floor. Soon, wall panels further in were broken apart as a Brute made its presence known. And it was charging straight at her.
Instantly diving to her left, she avoids the Brute as it smashes through the panel behind her. It turns around to glare at her as she runs behind another panel.
I can't fight it head-on! Kairi mentally cries as she runs into the now open space caused by the Brute, as it smashes through the remaining panels. Got to be smart about this. Knowing that the only weakness the Brute has is its back, she waits for it to start charging towards her. However, a quick glance at her stasis bar caused her to frown in worry. I only have one charge left. I need to make this count! Waiting patiently, she avoids the scraps of metal thrown at her by the Brute before it begins charging again. Wasting no time, she fires her last shot of Stasis at it, slowing it down before running around to its back. Swinging Destiny's Embrace with all her might, she slices off the left arm of the Brute before hurrying round to the right before the stasis ran out.
Just as the blue glow surrounding the Brute began to fade away, she swung once more at its right Arm.
"That was close." She breathes, backing away slowly from the body. Turning around, she spies the doorway from where the Brute charged from. A flaming asteroid illuminates the room as wires spark franticly about. "Well, that answers where it came from." She notes, looking at the gaping hole in the ceiling. "I wonder if this was the same one that almost hit us when we entered…?" Pushing the question to the back of her mind, Kairi glances at the wires spiralling out of control. Following the blue cables, she spies the power box nearby, the reroute option waiting to be initialised.
There's the box. Now, how do I get to it? Those wires will shock me if I get too close, and I don't have any stasis left to slow them down. I could try magic on them, but with what I can use being shackled as it is… She looks again at the box before glancing down at her Keyblade. Could it work? I might end up destroying it instead. Glancing back at the box, she sighs to herself with resignation. Well, only one way to find out, as Sora would say.
Throwing caution to the wind, Kairi throws Destiny's Embrace towards the power box. The Key smacks against the holographic display before dropping to the floor. To Kairi's amazement, the holographic display registered the hit as registration as the dancing blue cables suddenly turned red, dropping to the floor as though their strings had been cut.
"Huh. That actually worked…" Kairi muses as the lights around her shut off. Even the holographic displays and faulting floors grew silent as power was rerouted to the ADS. Re-summoning Destiny's Embrace and illuminating the area, she slowly begins to leave the area.
"Nice work, Kairi. The ADS is at full power. Things should be smooth—wait… Oh, that's not good…"
"What? What's not good?"
"Come on, guys. I know you can do it…" Isaac mumbles to himself in the darkness. Finding the power box for Water Purification had been easy. The only thing standing in his way was a lone Pregnant form one room and a corridor. But still, standing alone in the dark with nothing but his thoughts was starting to drain him. Not to mention the strange sight he saw when he arrived on the floor. That couldn't have been Chen…we saw what happened to him! And yet…that crewmember… He shakes his head at the strange person he saw. Standing in the hallway door before walking to the right and seemingly vanishing in thin air.
"Isaac? You there?" Kendra asks over a comm call.
"Yeah, I'm still here. Could use a conversation to distract me. Standing here in the dark is not good for the mind." He replies. Cutter aimed forward. The lone light illuminated the walls.
"Well, what I've got to tell you won't help. I cracked the med-sci reports. They're a fucking horror show."
"Tell me something I don't know." Isaac replies drily. "We found a hint from a report made from an autopsy about how these things mould dead tissue into new tissue. The different forms we've seen."
"Y-Yeah. That's right. But what I wanted to tell you was they gave them a name. Necromorphs."
"Necromorphs? Well, I suppose it's fitting in a way." Isaac comments as he scans the vents nearby. "What about the stuff on the walls? Nicole's report mentioned that it was the same stuff."
"Not much, other than the crew thinking it was a habitat changer. I'm going to look more into it. I think that stuff is spreading."
"Kendra! Isaac! We have a problem!" Hammond suddenly cuts in, startling the two. "Sora and Kairi managed to reroute the power, but the ADS is still offline! The auto-targeting is offline! The calibration data has been deleted!"
"WHAT!" Kendra shrieks on her end. "But without that data, the ADS is useless!" For Isaac, time seemed to slow down as thoughts ran through his head.
Without the data, the ADS won't do anything. And without the ADS, the Ishimura will become scrap metal! And we don't have time to write up a new one! Hold up… He cups the front of his helmet before glancing at a nearby door leading to external access. I can't write one up, but I can do it manually!
"I'm heading outside! See if I can target the guns manually!" Isaac replies to the comm heading through the door.
"Isaac, wait! You want to go outside, with all that shit raining down, and target the ADS cannons manually!?" Hammond replies with shock.
"If I can target enough incoming debris, I should be able to rebuild the calibration data! Unless you guys have a better idea, this is what I'm doing!" Isaac shouts back as he rushes through the corridor and into the lift.
"Shouldn't you wait for Sora and Kairi to join you? The three of you can get the guns up faster that way!" Kendra offers.
"Sorry, but we are out of time." Isaac rebuttals. Before either Kendra or Hammond could reply, Isaac closes the comm as the lift comes to an end. Rushing through the corridor, he comes across the airlock leading outside. Opening the first door, Isaac rushes inside and up the slope towards the second door. With a deep breath, he opens the door.
In an instant, the air is sucked out into the void of space as Isaac leaves the artificial gravity. Activating his thrusters, he sees countless rocks and asteroids rain down around them. Some of them bounced harmlessly off the ship, but others were more than large enough to smash through her hull. Jetting up to the first gun, he links it to his Plasma Cutter before aiming into space. Pointing at an incoming asteroid, he presses the trigger on his cutter and fires a shot from the ADS cannon.
The shot blasts the incoming asteroid to pieces as Isaac moves to fire on other incoming rocks. Soon, the ADS breaks from his link and begins to fire on its own, other guns linked to it roaring to life as loud as they could in the void of space anyway.
Nodding to himself, Isaac moves over to a nearby O2 supply and refills his air before moving to the second gun. Repeating the process as simple as the first gun soon had more of the ADS opening fire on the incoming rocks.
However, as he began moving to the third gun, two Lurkers burst out of a vent nearby. Even out here, they are still trying to kill me!? How did they even know I was out here?! Ignoring the question for now, Isaac turns his Cutter on the two Lurkers hovering at a nearby air supply. While one Lurker moved along the floor and walls, the other leapt forward towards Isaac, only for a piece of debris to slam into the unlucky Necromorph.
Ignoring the splash of blood before him, Isaac fires at the crawling Lurker as it readies its attack spines. While he managed to shoot off two, the third one managed to throw a spine towards him only to miss by mere centimetres. Finishing off the Lurker, Isaac returns his attention to the last gun.
Cutting it real close here! He mentally chastises himself as he begins recalibrating the last gun. As rocks continued to rain from up high, Isaac began to worry he was too late. Only for the system to take over as the remaining guns roared to life. Done it! That was too close for com—
It was sudden, but it was in an instant. For the briefest of moments, he was surrounded by white as metal impacted into his back.
He couldn't finish his thoughts before he suddenly found himself shot forward by an explosion of white. Spinning uncontrollably, the thrusters on his back struggle to realign him as his consciousness begins to fade.
Is this it? Is this how I die? He asks himself as pain racks his body. Nicole…I'm so sorry… He closes his eyes as he sees his approaching doom. One of the rib like pauldrons running along the hull of the ship.
For a moment, he was sure he was dead.
Until he suddenly felt something grab him as his trajectory changed. The sudden force aggravates his injuries as the pain spikes through him again. Opening his eyes, he was met with an armoured hand holding his right wrist as the airlock came into view. He could hear the beeping in his suit warning him of his air reaching zero just as whoever was dragging him came to land beyond the doors. While he couldn't see it, he felt the doors closing behind him as air rushed to fill the room he was in.
"Isaac! You okay?!"
"Talk to us!"
Those voices… A soothing feeling washes over him, followed by his suit injecting medicine from Med Packs. The pain racking his body quickly fades away as the growing darkness around his eyes vanishes. Blinking his eyes to remove any white spots, he was met by the armoured helmets of Sora and Kairi, fresh blood splattered on their suits. "Sora…? Kairi…?" Isaac asks as he struggles to his feet, helped up by the young couple.
"Thank the Light, we got there in time." Kairi replies with relief coursing through her voice. "When Hammond and Kendra told us what you were doing, we rushed her as fast as we could."
"Would have got her faster if it weren't for some Leapers in the atrium." Sora replies as he folds his arms. "We might have saved you from the exploding air tank."
"That's what hit me?" Isaac asks before he remembers his fight with the Lurkers. So that's what that spine hit…I'm glad it didn't explode the instant it was hit. "Shaking off the chill creeping down his spine, Isaac notes the new tool on Sora's back. "Where did you find that Contact Beam Sora?"
"Oh, this?" Sora replies, hefting the tool from his back with both hands. "I found it in a supply room. It's pretty powerful, but I need to use it with two hands. I'm going to save it in case we run into any Brutes or Drag Tentacles."
"Wish I had that with me. I ran into one on my floor." Kairi replies with a hint of bitterness in her voice. Before anyone could reply, Hammond suddenly interrupts.
"Isaac! You alright!?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sora and Kairi saved me from an exploding air tank. Almost became a stain on the ship's hull." Isaac replies as the two return deeper into the ship, the sounds of the guns echoing through the steel.
"You are one lucky son-of-a-bitch Isaac. You know that, right?" Hammond replies through gritted teeth, but it could be heard he was smiling regardless. "Get your asses back to the nest. We need to figure out our next moves from there."
"You might not need two." Kendra suddenly interrupts. "I intercepted a transmission from Medical."
"Medical?" The trio asks with tilted heads. There should not be anyone left in Medical. That place was a bloodbath. Before they could ask who it was, a video began playing with a familiar face.
"This is Senior Medical Officer Nicole Brennan. Medical is a sanctuary. All survivors, please join us." Despite the static and random jumps, it was clear to their eyes and Isaac's ears who it was on the video.
"Nicole…We're heading back to Medical!" Isaac suddenly declares for the three of them, much to the couple's hidden amused looks.
"Makes sense." Kendra replies, herself not surprised either.
"In that case, I'll head to the crew deck. See if anyone else is alive or if there's a ship we can use to leave this hell." Hammond chimes in with his idea.
"Good luck there, Hammond. According to the logs, there was a ship we could have used, but it left shortly before we arrived. There could be another one we could use, but I don't have my hopes up." Kendra replies with a monotone voice.
"We'll stay in touch." Isaac replies before ending the call. "It's going to be a long trip to Medical." He states before looking at the couple. "How about you tell me what you found on the lower decks. And…" He eyes the necklace and sketchbook they were holding. "Why are you holding onto those…"