Warning! This story will have lots of swearing, violence, and blood/gore. If you don't like that, then this probably isn't for you and you shouldn't be reading this.
"Yes, I am Zero." = Regular speech
What is he up to? = Thoughts
"Where are you young one?" = Telepathic speech
"Hello, I am your PDA." = The PDA is speaking
I don't take any credit, nor do I own Code Geass or Subnautica. This story is purely for fun and my entertainment only.
Ch. 13: Aurora Bound
When the revolutionary breached the surface of the water he made extra sure to be right by the Aurora as he did so. A broken, metal floor sloping just enough for Lelouch to pitifully crawl on with shaky limbs. As soon as he was out of the water completely, he collapsed.
Dichromatic eyes were hazy, vision blurry as a deep, painful sense of vertigo hit him especially hard in that exact moment. It felt like he was about to be sick after all of the events that had just passed.
He had survived. Somehow. Some way. He had lived.
. . .
It wasn't until the sound of chittering right by his ear caused Lelouch to wake up from his unconscious state. The teen having not even realized he had blacked out until he blearily opened his crusty eyes only to come face to eyeball with a cave crawler trying to gnash its fierce pincers through his cape extensions. Failing miserably thankfully.
It sent a bolt of sudden adrenaline rushing through his system, and suddenly Lelouch was wide awake as if he had been hotwired like a car.
"Son of a- Ah!" The revolutionist screamed, instantly jerking upwards into a sitting position. The cave crawler was startled out of its gnawing frenzy, only to immediately be hurtled and squashed like a fly seconds after by the cape extension it was trying to munch on. Squashed like a bug against the broken Aurora's hull.
Once the immediate threat was dealt with, Lelouch scrambled up onto shaky legs. His limbs quaking and faltering under the constant shifting of the Aurora and the recent terror he had narrowly dodged alive. Falling right back down, the raven haired teen merely decided to rush back away from the murky, sandy ocean water and towards the more safer, fiery wreckage of the Aurora's unstable hull.
Anything was better compared to what lay hidden down there in those waters.
"Huff… huff… huff…" Closing one eye, Lelouch reached up and gripped his chest in minor pain as he struggled to get air into his lungs. Why did it suddenly hurt so much to breathe? It felt like he had trekked through those floating islands again and had a coughing fit just bubbling beneath his throat.
Despite his best efforts, a light coughing fit escaped past his throat, but he could barely hear it over the chaotic noises happening all over the Aurora. Things on fire, falling apart and splintering, explosions everywhere. All of it and more happening at once it almost overwhelmed the terrorist's sense of hearing entirely.
There was no way he'd be able to hear a thing nearly ten feet in front of him like this. Much less if someone was calling out to him from somewhere even farther away. There was no point trying to call out when Lelouch knew he wouldn't be heard over the chaos.
Kallen. Suzaku.
Did they even make it this far? Or was he too late? Too slow. Too weak as always seemed to be the case with those he got close to.
Maybe father was right about me… The doubt and insecure thoughts were immediately washed away by a harsh bout of shaking that brought about a bad case of vertigo. One hand flying to his helmeted head and the other stabilizing himself on the Aurora's shaky hull. No. No fucking way am I getting into that bullshit. He was wrong. He is wrong. I know this already.
"Ah.. hell." Lelouch groaned as he finally straightened himself out. Temporarily taking his helmet off to rub his eyes with both hands. He lightly pulled at some of his hair from the roots, the pain making him become hyper focused.
Rubbing all of the crust out of his dreary eyes, Lelouch looked up and around at his surroundings. Besides the endless expanse of ocean and the concerning perspective of looking at the Aurora's destroyed hull from the inside instead of the outside there wasn't much else. No sign of that leviathan, though Lelouch was certain it would be back eventually. There were a few other cave crawlers skittering around the place at the edge of his vision, trying to stay out of sight. Apparently the display of the species' squashed brethren was keeping them at bay temporarily.
No sign of Kallen or Suzaku anywhere he looked. No sign of anyone else either, though that was to be expected.
"... great." Lelouch could barely get his voice above a wheezy whisper, his throat feeling so dry and torn from the chaos that had unfolded so recently. He was a torn mess. He felt like a torn mess.
Suddenly, the look in Lelouch's eyes felt so much older, so lackluster, hopeless.
I'm so tired.
With a deep breath through his nose, Lelouch once more huddled into himself. Cape extensions wrapping around his knees as his hands once more rubbed his eyes with the dark purplish blue bags hanging beneath them.
"Warning: Ship's structural integrity is low. Fire suppression equipment and laser cutters may be required. Exploration is conducted at your own risk."
Of course. The only things currently in his possession were the PDA and his bag. It had been pure habit and sheer luck that the thing was still strapped onto his back and intact after the ordeal with that leviathan. Though there wasn't much in his bag to begin with. What with the plan to salvage the Aurora. A few nutrient blocks, bottles of water, his knife, and a few other tools like the scanner and an extra repair gun. The fire extinguisher was in Kallen's bag along with a few med kits, and everything else was with Suzaku.
What was in the Seamoth was destroyed alongside the submarine itself.
At the very least, the habit of keeping his bag close by may have saved his life. At the worst it only prolonged his suffering and survival by a few days.
Looking around, Lelouch didn't see any way into the Aurora itself from his level. There was probably an obvious way in that he just couldn't see from his point of view, but that involved getting back into the water.
No way was he doing that. Not even if you offered him a clean shot at executing the Emperor of Britannia.
The vision of bright blood red at his feet constantly gathered his attention. The color striking a fear into his heart he had never felt so clearly before. Not even his father could attempt to bring this much terror into his being that the color presented before him did.
Multiple glittering red scales of various sizes were scattered about the area. Some as small as Lelouch's pinky finger while the biggest was around the size of his fist. The bigger ones were covered in alien yellow blood.
The scales of the leviathan.
Lelouch remembered it clearly, almost physically painfully so. How he held on for dear life and refused to let go, only to be forced off in the end. He must've had a harder grip with his cape extensions than he thought, coming to the realization that he tore the scales off when he got flung away. Only to keep a solid grip on them in his terror to get away to the safety of the Aurroa all until he passed out.
Lelouch wasn't amused. Not in the slightest, but with these scales came an opportunity to learn. Deciding to pick all of the scales up and place them into his bag to scan later.
He wanted to learn what that thing was with Kallen and Suzaku by his side.
Otherwise, there was a bunch of scraps and junk blocking a doorway into the ship further in from the platform he was on. Some of it was surrounded in flames and on fire, but if he was smart he could move the stuff out of the way in time with his cape extensions. It would be tedious though without a fire extinguisher.
"Ugh." Lelouch bemoaned so softly to himself, not wanting to risk another coughing fit. Taking a moment to chug some water to keep himself hydrated, he got straight to work. Resoundly refusing to even think about the high scenario that no one else but him was left on the Aurora.
Come on, I've got this. If I can be Zero I can move some pathetic scrap metal. I can do this.
Even if his extensions weren't affected by the flames. This was still going to take a while.
. . .
"'Intercepted by a leviathan class predator.' I can't believe we didn't heed that guy's warning, much less even think of fabricating the stasis rifle immediately once we got back to home base!"
"It couldn't be helped. We simply didn't have the resources to make it or even know where to get that magnetite."
Together, Kallen and Suzaku teamed up and took down the cave crawlers attempting to bite into their flesh with ease. Thankfully, this was an enemy Kallen could take down with one hand no problem. There didn't seem to be any bigger threats besides the crawlers either onboard the ship, which was a major plus.
The real threat was in the water. Somewhere. Waiting and lurking.
As the duo swam to the surface and onto the safety of the degrading Aurora's floor they never saw the leviathan again. The moment they made it onto the shaky, rough metal floor they were free and in the clear from the leviathan. At least for now.
After clearing away the cave crawlers, well, most of them at least, the duo climbed up the rising, broken metal floor to get to a higher vantage point. Once halfway up, the two turned towards the water, sat down, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Watching for any sign or clue, any hint or speck. They were waiting and looking for only one thing, one person. Lelouch.
Minutes passed by, and eventually over a half an hour flew by like the breeze rushing by their faces. Still nothing. No sound or sight of the revolutionary anywhere.
As if Lelouch had vanished.
As if Lelouch was-
"Maybe he's already inside the Aurora." Kallen suggested feebly. All the chaos and screaming and pure fear from earlier left her voice and body sore. Her spirit tired. It felt like she ran for miles when in reality she barely did anything but swim and scream for a few minutes. "Or maybe he found another way inside."
It felt like the redhead was scrambling for an excuse. Sounded like she was in denial of the very high probability of Lelouch's demise. The high chance of death being the true cause of his absence.
"...yeah. Probably." Suzaku agreed numbly. His olive eyes were dark and hazy as he gazed out distantly towards the ocean's horizon. He hated it with a dark passion. "With how destroyed this place is it wouldn't surprise me if he's already inside tinkering with the place."
That's okay. Suzaku wanted to play the denial game too.
"So… so we should probably get started looking around the place huh?" Kallen asked again. It sounded so weird to hear her asking all these questions. As if she suddenly lacked the confidence and fiery determination to go her own path anymore.
That was okay too. Suzaku felt like he had lost something within himself as well. This cursed planet changed people.
"..." Suzaku silently took off his scuba helmet and rubbed his forehead. Swiping the sweat off and pushing his clammy, long brown bangs back. I really need to cut my hair badly. It was such a sudden thought that threw him for a loop. As if long bangs were worse than the high reality of his best friend being dead.
Suzaku was so messed up right now. His thoughts were such a jumbled mess that he could barely find one thing to focus on.
"... yeah." Suzaku finally agreed and put his helmet back on before shuffling with his bag and pulling out a flashlight to carry alongside his survival knife. "You still got the extinguisher?"
"Yeah, it's in my bag." Kallen patted her trusty bag with her one usable arm. Tired sapphire eyes looked towards Suzaku with a concerning gaze. "Are you sure you're good to go?"
"No." The answer was so immediate it even caught Suzaku himself off guard, but he was too tired to give a crap about it and just rolled with it. "But then again, are you okay either?"
Kallen grimaced. "Not at all. I'm a complete wreck on the inside. It's a miracle I'm somehow keeping myself together in front of you." She too replied honestly. Too exhausted to give a shit and worry about lying for Suzaku's sake.
Either way, despite the two stating they weren't well. They got up and continued their exploration through the Aurora by climbing higher up to another level of the Aurora's platform.
"This has happened to me a couple times before. Back when I was a kid." Suzaku admitted softly as they traversed the destruction of the Aurora. Most of the scrap was on fire or unsalvageable anyway. "Back during the war over Japan." Kallen's shoulders stiffened minutely, before ultimately relaxing as she remained silent and listened. "I felt so numb. Tired yet I somehow still kept walking. Sometimes it felt like I was watching someone else taking control of my body and walking for me to survive."
"Really? That sounds awful." Kallen admitted, rubbing her sore arm lightly. "Not being able to control yourself and having to watch from another point of view instead."
"Lelouch called it disassociating." Suzaku explained blandly. "Said he got that feeling a lot at night, but only when he was certain Nunnally was asleep and safe."
Kallen couldn't say she's ever had an experience like that before. Not even with the trauma that came with Britannia's invasion of Japan, or her constant fighting afterwards. Even her big brother Naoto's death didn't bring such a feeling from within her, but it felt damn well close to what she was feeling now.
It felt like she lost a big piece of her heart. Torn right out of her chest and the rest was left to bleed and suffer.
Grief.
As the duo precariously walked over an unsteady track of blackened steel towards another part of the Aurora they came across a hallway full of fire. Otherwise empty, it led a clear path into the ship and what possible loot may be hiding inside.
"At least something is going right today." Suzaku grumbled bitterly as he casually kicked a cave crawler that had gotten too close for his liking away from him.
"Help me get the fire extinguisher out of my bag please." Kallen asked instead of giving the burnette's statement a response. With Suzaku's help the redhead got a good hold of the fire extinguisher and put out the immediate flames that blocked their way inside.
As the Aurora gave another loud groan of metal against metal, Kallen and Suzaku walked inside. Not a single hesitant step in their gait.
They found a few crates filled with med kits, batteries, and another fire extinguisher. As they advanced further though, they came upon two separate paths. Looking to the left led to a lower level blocked by debris they'd have to jump around to get past, towards cargo bay three. While the right led to an office only lightly on fire that was labeled administration. The center of the intersection held an abandoned PDA and fragments to a propulsion cannon which was a huge plus.
After taking a moment to read the PDA logs and get the propulsion cannon fragments, Kallen and Suzaku agreed to head towards administration first. The PDA logs merely talking about how a crewmate had to politely ask a robot to get a proper propulsion cannon instead of a repulsion cannon.
"I can't believe the people in this world actually have something like propulsion and repulsion cannons." Suzaku could barely wrap his head around the idea of the stasis rifle. The idea of an actual, working propulsion cannon was like giving someone telekinetic powers in his mind.
"I can't believe these people have talking robots to serve them." Kallen huffed with her arms crossed after extinguishing the most dangerous flames to enter the administration section. "I mean, it's like asking for the Terminator movies to become a reality."
"That too I guess." Suzaku agreed lightly. The burnette heading to a terminal that had some data downloads for the PDA.
The PDA which Lelouch had with him last. Hopefully they'd be able to fabricate another one if they managed to get back to base in the safe shallows.
Otherwise all that was left in the little office were a few batteries, another PDA log, and some scannable fragments of different chairs which Kallen steadfastly decided to scan.
"Lelouch got a kick out of scanning these to see if he'd find one he liked." Kallen explained softly. Suzaku decided to ignore the fact that she was using past tense terms as if Lelouch was deceased. He wasn't. Lelouch was still alive somewhere in this maze of steel walls.
"I'm sure he's still doing it right now somewhere around here." Suzaku said with grit teeth and stiff posture.
"...Yeah, you're right." Kallen agreed meekly after a moment of realization.
The two decided to merely continue on exploring and ignore the awkward conversation that just silently passed.
Heading towards the cargo bay, and with a bit of struggling on Kallen's part with only one usable arm, the knightmare duo got past the debris blockade and continued onwards. Only to immediately get stopped by a locked door that required a four digit code.
There was probably a code somewhere in the PDA files they had picked up along the way, but they didn't have the PDA. Lelouch did when they last saw him. Out there. In the ocean.
With a monster.
"..." Suzaku slammed a fist into the metal door in a sudden bout of rage that had Kallen jumping out of her skin, startled. Though he only gave the door one punch that served to sting his knuckles immensely it was enough to show his true enraged colors and stress on today's events.
"I think I can use one of those old abandoned PDA to look through the logs if I can get it to activate its emergency mode." Kallen spoke up quietly, almost choked out by the falling dust and loud chaotic noises surrounding them. Taking one of the abandoned PDAs out of her bag, she gingerly sat herself down and started working. "Just give me a few minutes."
"Fuck's sake." Suzaku swore under his breath as he sat down to join her on the floor. "This is gonna take forever." Shuffling through his bag the Britannian soldier took out some food and water.
If it was gonna take a while. Then he was going to take a snack break. It was the least he deserved after everything so far.
. . .
Fuck's sake that took forever. Lelouch gasped as he barely managed to shuffle his way inside the Aurora with quivering muscles. It was a miracle he didn't get burned, but he did nearly overexert himself when trying to move some of the junk. Nearly crushed his cape extensions on a cargo box full of ruined metal when it took a tumble.
Now that he was inside however, hopefully things would get a bit easier however unlikely the wish was.
The hallway Lelouch half stumbled through with the shaking Aurora had a slight decline. At the end of the small hallway the doorway further was empty of debris, but wreathed in flames. Halfway through the descent the revolutionary came upon a discarded fire extinguisher. Picking it up revealed it was almost halfway empty, but anything would be useful at the moment.
The extinguisher sprayed its foam loudly, and the flames blocking his way forward were extinguished instantly. Yet there were embers and flickering fires everywhere within the destroyed ship. Everytime he blinked at the corners of his vision and through what seemed to be every crack and crevice had fire billowing through it. So much fire it was a miracle the place wasn't swallowed in itchy black smoke that would be pointless to try and see through.
The place had to have very good ventilation before its demise since the smoke seemed to be escaping somewhere. It was a blessing Lelouch had his helmet on, otherwise with the smoke that was leftover he may have lost his voice permanently.
The next room was a mess. As expected from crash landing on 4546B. The floor collapsed and led to the rooms underneath the level Lelouch was currently on. The door across the room was inaccessible because of the collapsed floor, and the level beneath his feet was flooded in sea water.
The sight of the water made Lelouch uneasy, but he trudged onwards. This wasn't the open waters like outside the Aurora, and he hadn't seen any cave crawlers since entering the degrading ship. Seems even those animals knew it was very dangerous to enter a place about to collapse on itself.
After a moment of preparation, the revolutionary slid into the water, and dived under.
A sizable hole in the wall greeted him instantly alongside sparks of electricity and a strange circular spiraling contraption. Cloaked in thick darkness save for the sparks of electricity, Lelouch took out his flashlight and swam through the hole. There was an abandoned PDA on the floor by the strange device that Lelouch plucked up immediately. Swimming around the small room there was a workable door to the side of the hole in the wall. It was locked and required a four digit code however.
Hmm, perhaps that PDA log has the code. Lelouch pondered, and searched through the PDA's logs to find the one he had just found.
The raven haired teen's assumptions were proven correct, and with quick fingers he typed in the code. 6-4-8-3.
With a green light, the door swished open, and Lelouch was greeted with a laboratory already flooded with water and its equipment scattered everywhere. On the scratched up counter to the left side of the room was another PDA log, and beside that counter was a data terminal. The PDA log talked about a different strange planet the humans of this reality had already traveled to, while the data terminal revealed very useful information.
"Databank corruption was detected on your PDA. Your repulsion cannon blueprint has been resynchronized."
Lelouch's eyes widened in surprise. A repulsion cannon. Ha ha.. Something useful! Finally! Corrupted eyes looked around the room to reveal nothing else of use before looking back to the PDA. Perhaps this trip wasn't a… a waste.
Seeing there was another doorway on the other side of the room, Lelouch swam through it to reveal the room with the collapsed floor. Nothing to gain on this side of the room, Lelouch retraced his steps back to the room with the hole in the wall. There was another doorway across from the door Lelouch just exited. Having first missed it from the darkness the room was swallowed in.
A huge steel beam from below was bent upwards and tore the door off its hinges. While it was a rather tight, uncomfortable fit the skinny teen somewhat managed to squeeze his lithe frame through the cracks and out to the otherside with only a small bit of struggling.
Swimming through an L shaped hallway, Lelouch came to a halt to gaze into a room that seemed to have some form of importance. Water filling most of the room except for the very roof, papers and little debris of metal drifted idly around. Another data terminal sat idly at the end of the hall, and that was all that was within the room.
Slowly creeping forward and looking around with suspicious eyes, Lelouch went to the terminal and downloaded the data. The Aurora black box data.
Well then. This is interesting. Unable to help his curiosity, Lelouch looked towards the PDA and read the information provided to him.
"Initiated slingshot maneuver around planet 4546B.
High velocity energy pulse detected on planet surface.
Emergency distress signal sent to Alterra listening buoy via long-range comm relay.
Impact detected: Lifepod bays on starboard side compromised: outgoing communications compromised.
Emergency evacuation initiated.
Manual piloting transferred to Captain Hollister.
Lifepods 01-25 launched successfully.
Entering the planet's atmosphere.
Massive impact registered, drive core shield compromised.
Emergency bouncebacks received from 8 Lifepods on the planet surface.
Human lifesigns detected over long range at T+8hrs: 3
Personnel unaccounted for : None
Alterra HQ rescue solution received at T+8hrs to [High priority terminal in Captain's Quarters]
Monitoring equipment failed at T+13hrs."
What the hell… Lelouch reread the passage and let the information really sink in. Not only did it sound like the ship was shot down from orbit from something on this planet, but the Aurora only detected three humans on the planet's surface.
Three humans like Kallen, Suzaku, and himself.
That's it?! We're really the only ones left! No one from this ship made it out alive? Though it was very grave news Lelouch couldn't help but feel a small form of relief. Any other survivors were unknowns in his mind's eye. Wildcards that could just as easily help them as well as hurt them.
A stray piece of metal lightly flicked the side of Lelouch's helmeted head as it drifted by. Blinking for a moment, Lelouch looked up and watched as the pieces of debris slowly drifted up and away towards an unknown destination.
There must be an opening somewhere nearby to cause the light current. Lelouch mused, and with that decision the teen swam up towards the top of the room. The room revealed to have a second level and an open hallway. Heading through the hallway showed a hole in its flooring, and a ton of gray steeled pipes and broken shrapnel greeted him.
Carefully drifting down in the water, Lelouch's gaze went towards the empty darkness ahead of him only broken by his flashlight, embers, and bright flashing sparks. The space seemed to be made that way, perhaps to let maintenance crew get into the more hard to reach places. A maze of pipes and darkness.
As his eyes flickered around his surroundings, Lelouch back tracked to refill his O2 tank, and swam forward.
. . .
"Caution. Scans show the digestive tracts of nearby lifeforms contain human tissues."
"Everything here wants to eat us. That isn't surprising." Suzaku griped as he typed another random code of numbers only for the code to get rejected.
"Finally!" Kallen cheered and held up the fizzing abandoned PDA up high in victory. "Alright, let's see if we can get a code now." Having to tap a little harder than necessary on the cracked screen the redhead shifted through the logs in search of any code. "Okay, try 1-4-5-4."
Taking a moment to put the new code in, the panel gave a green light and the door slid open with a light hiss. Suzaku's shoulders slumped lightly in relief as a breath escaped his lungs. "Finally. Thanks Kallen."
"No biggie." Kallen stood up with the PDA in her one usable hand. "Let's just continue forward. We still have to fix the Aurora's drive core to stop that radiation."
"Right." Suzaku agreed with a stern nod, and the duo continued forward. The other side of the locked room spat them out at the top of a railed stairway. Descending the stairs and into the cargo bay with its boxes haphazardly tossed about and most destroyed there was an elevator platform stuck at its lowest setting letting the two humans slip even further down to another level.
First however, before they continued their descent they decided to look around the room for anything of possible use. The search yielded some pleasant results. Some stored food and disinfected water, alongside a few Prawn suit arm fragments, the moments it took to search were worth it.
"Aurora's systems are running on local reserve power. Unable to remotely download black box data."
"That's unfortunate." Kallen said distantly. Her attention was more focused on her careful descent towards the next level and rooms to explore. Lightly sliding down the smooth metal with her usable hand helping to keep herself balanced. "Think we'll be able to find it ourselves?"
"Not likely." Suzaku stated stiffly. The burnette making it to the elevator platform first before turning to help Kallen down. "Most of the rooms are blocked off or too dangerous to explore. Frankly I think it's a miracle we've even managed to get this far. For all we know the black box data is all the way on the other side of the ship, and there's no way we're going to make it that far."
"True." Kallen agreed amicably. "For all we know the data got crushed in the crash and explosions." With a light grunt the knightmare pilots settled themselves after a harsh bout of shaking from the Aurora's unstable position. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Olive green eyes carefully looked over the stuck elevator platform to see dark sea water below. Crates, junk and ruined papers idly floated around the watery wreckage. There was a bay door cracked open wide enough for both of them to easily swim through but otherwise he couldn't see much else. "Looks like we're gonna need to go underwater for a bit here."
"Well, we've got the equipment for that." Kallen quickly checked her O2 supply, which was good to go, before heading to the edge of the platform. "Help me get down there real quick."
"Sure. Give me your arm." With their teamwork, the two soldiers dropped down harmlessly into the water with a light splash. There seemed to be less abhorrently hot flames around this section, and while that might be because of the water it felt like a blessing to them either way. It was starting to get stifling hot underneath their dive suits, and the water was lovingly cool while not chilling them to the bone.
At least it was a relief until some small creature about the size of a small stick idly swam by their face. It had four translucent tentacles on the front of its face with no visible eyes or nose in sight. Only a huge maw of teeth like one would see on a lamprey eel back on Earth. The rest of its body was slightly spiky brown before becoming a clear translucent color at the end of its bubble-like tail.
"What the- woah!" Suzaku reeled back with a cry of alarm as the creature's tentacles suddenly lashed forward and wrapped around his right forearm. Its wicked teeth attempting to bite down and burrow into his arm, but the flash of a green luminous shield prevented it from doing so. "Crap!"
Reacting fast, Suzaku took his survival knife and immediately brought it down on the attacking creature. The sea monster gave a loud, shrill sequel of pain, and its tentacles lashed out madly in agony before finally going still. It's yellow blood gushing out in waves as its corpse slowly floats up towards the surface.
"What the hell is that thing?" Kallen asked in shock before slowly swimming up to examine the dead creature.
"No idea, but it obviously isn't friendly." Suzaku grit his teeth, and looked around the water uneasily. "I bet there's more of those things around too, so we better keep an eye out."
Kallen nodded, and carefully took out their extra scanner before scanning the dead creature. The information was placed into the damaged PDA, and the Guren pilot took a quick read at what it was.
Bleeder. A simple parasitic organism, little more complex than the common space tick, but just as dirty.
Ductile Sack: Used for collection and digestion of blood drawn from host creatures.
Jaw: Rows of teeth and mandibles used to attach to the skin of its victims.
Behavior: The bleeder's low speed and poor defenses suggest they have evolved primarily as carrion feeders, but they are also prone to target living creatures which are less likely to notice and take action against this parasite.
Assessment: Inconvenient and unhygienic- Avoid or incapacitate.
"So their parasites like the ticks we have back on Earth." Kallen tsked in disgust, her facial features scrunched up to show her distaste.
"Gross." Suzaku shuddered lightly before carefully swimming forward towards the cracked open bay doors. "We'll need to keep a careful eye out. Those things are probably full of diseases."
Heading through the bay doors, the two had to take out two more bleeders before reading the signs that showed which hallways led where. The hall to the right led to a seamoth bay, while the one in front of them led to the drive core. The discovery shocked the two, because frankly they thought it would be a lot harder to reach the drive core once they made it inside the Aurora.
Perhaps this planet was just offering them a light mercy after somehow managing to make it inside the ship in the first place.
After taking a moment to decide, the duo went to the seamoth bay first for a quick look. A moment using the repair tool and the door opened for them easily. Thankfully without a code required this time.
A swift yet thorough search gave them an abandoned PDA log, and a module for the seamoth somehow still fully functional and intact. The module worked to allow the seamoth to survive going down greater depths, and from the MK 1 symbol that was only the first upgrade of its kind.
It was a huge find.
"I- this is great." Kallen very, very carefully placed the module in her bag for safe keeping before looking at the broken seamoth fragments scattered about the room. "If we make it back to base we can rebuild the seamoth again and go down even deeper depths. We could probably check out Officer Keen's lifepod unlike before, and maybe find that magnetite for the stasis rifle."
"I don't know." Suzaku grumbled, unsure and uneasy. "It feels like the deeper we dive down in this planet's oceans the worse the monsters get. Lelouch would probably feel queasy about the idea too."
"I-" Kallen's retort fell off her lips silently as she looked at Suzaku. "... What you're saying is true. The farther we go the worse the creatures on this planet get. I mean, we barely survived a fucking leviathan that's hanging out somewhere outside this place." She clutched her wounded arm carefully and looked down. Her body idly floating in the water. "But Lelouch would suggest we continue forwards regardless. We can't get back home unless we learn something useful, and for that we need to expand our knowledge and horizons."
"... I guess." Suzaku reluctantly agreed. His hands tightening into fists before he turned and swam out of the seamoth bay and towards the drive core. "Let's hurry up and fix this drive core now before anything worse happens."
Kallen silently followed the burnette as the two swam out of the room and down the hall towards the drive core. The water slowly teetering out until they had to walk again. With that came the need for the fire extinguisher once more, and once the flames blocking their way were gone the duo stepped into the huge room.
"The drive core shielding sustained internal damage during collision."
There were four enormous metal pillars standing out in the middle of the room going from the ceiling down to the floor. The railing led out to the middle of two pillars, wrapped around the edges of the room, and mirrored the otherside. Though the railing on the other side was more damaged than the side the two were currently on. There was another module terminal in the middle of the pillars, and Suzaku and Kallen stepped forward to investigate the area first.
Beneath the railing the area was swamped in sea water, some areas the water was high enough to lap at the railing's metal floor.
There was one module still inside the terminal, a cyclops engine efficiency module, and while it was a great find they didn't have the blueprints for the cyclops itself. So until then the module would remain virtually useless, but tucked safely inside Suzaku's bag for safe keeping anyways. A quick search above the water revealed nothing else of immediate value, which only left repairing the drive core and searching below the waves.
It was a good thing they waited before immediately diving right in, because sapphire eyes just barely managed to catch multiple little brown blurs slowly drifting in the waters beneath their feet.
"Hey, there are more of those bleeders hiding down there." The redhead stated as her attention snapped to them.
"How many?" Suzaku questioned as he walked by her side to lean over the railing and watch the dangerous parasites swim around in their domain. Trying to count how many was there was rather hard, but it was clear there were a lot.
"I'm counting… twelve. Maybe thirteen?" Kallen's squinted her eyes to try and get a better count, but it was difficult to count any higher with them constantly swimming around and by each other. "I wouldn't doubt there being more."
"Well, I'm not jumping in there until we kill them all." Suzaku stated firmly, and was met with agreement from the Black Knight ace as well. "We'll have to lure them to us and kill them one by one."
"That's going to take a while, you know. What if they don't come?" Kallen questioned with a raised eyebrow, but regardless she slowly lowered herself down to the edge of the railing and took out her survival knife.
Suzaku mirrored her, and carefully placed his bag to the side to get more comfortable. "They'll probably be attracted towards the sound of splashing." With that, he began to splash and mess with the water with his own hands. The noise caused a few of the bleeders to turn from their original swimming routine to investigate. A smirk twitched on Suzaku's lips. "There we go. Once most of them are disposed of I'll jump in and take care of the rest while you repair the drive core's leaks."
"Sounds like a plan." Kallen agreed, and with fast reflexes stabbed her knife down on one of the bleeders that got close enough, instantly killing it. One down, many more to go.
. . .
Breaching the surface with a loud gasp of air, Lelouch made it to the other side of the maze of pipes and live wires. Looking around at his new surroundings, corrupted eyes taking in the large room that had a good chunk consumed in fire. The ceiling was a smokey black from all the smog, while most of the floor was flooded and missing its floor panels. The huge bay doors on one side were sealed shut, but the other side had a blacked stairway leading up to another open hallway.
What had Lelouch's attention the most were all of the Prawn suits scattered around the room, also the spot mainly covered in flames.
"The Prawn Bay. Ha ha." Lelouch wheezed to himself in disbelief, shuffling and readjusting his bag's straps. "I can't believe my luck."
The machines really did look like knightmare frames built for the water up close. While there didn't seem to be any form of propeller in sight, Lelouch didn't doubt that it would at least travel the sea bed very well.
Quickly getting out of the water Lelouch used the rest of his fire extinguisher's foam to put out enough flames to get towards most of the mechs. Scanning three out of the four frames needed to be used as fragments, the last one was a bit risky and troublesome. The diver had to scale past the debris blocking the stairway and then lean past the stair's railing to reach the last part. Cape extensions tightly wrapped around the railings to keep him from falling into scalding hot fire and melting steel.
"New blueprint acquired."
That was probably the only message the PDA had ever spoken that made Lelouch feel somewhat happy.
Carefully stretching and rolling his shoulders back the revolutionary released the tension around the conjunction where his cape extensions connected with an audible groan of relief. Craning his head back till his neck popped he continued his search up the stairs and down the hall past the Prawn Bay. The hallway opened up to reveal multiple rooms and entryways. This section of the ship had been a living quarters most likely for the people that worked maintenance on the Prawn suits. There was a canteen on Lelouch's immediate left, and a storage room on the right side. The hall continued going forward, but the raven haired teen wanted to investigate these rooms first seeing as they most likely had food and water hiding within their depths.
There was indeed a plentiful amount of food and water available and waiting to be plucked up. Something Lelouch was eager to do. Raiding the storage pantry of its chalky nutrient blocks and water filled his bag up near halfway. Something that was a little bit concerning on Lelouch's part.
At this rate I won't be able to take all this stuff back with me. I'd need to make multiple trips. That wasn't an option, seeing as the cave crawlers skulking around the outside of the Aurora's hull would eagerly dig into any unguarded bag for even a morsel of crumbs.
He didn't want to make multiple trips to the Aurora if he didn't have too. Too many bad memories of the place as it was. That, and the danger that lied in waiting like a demented guardian.
The canteen yielded more blueprints that were more for aesthetics and decorations than anything useful, but Lelouch didn't want to miss a single thing. He was going to be thorough. Bar tables, counters, another abandoned PDA log that came from the deceased Ozzy of Lifepod 17, a fire extinguisher to replace his empty one, and a poster.
Yes, a poster.
The poster was simply, yet admittedly cute. A light brown, fuzzy kitten with a simple little fishbowl-like space helmet on its head. The words 'keep calm' in bold navy blue font underneath the cat itself.
It felt like a shitty reward for making it this far in the first place, but Lelouch was going to take it damnit.
The other door in the canteen wouldn't open, so Lelouch doubled back and further down the hallway past the canteen and pantry. The hallway leading into the rooms and living quarters. Most were inaccessible because their doors were shut, but some were also blocked by fire and fallen metal. The few that were available had abandoned PDAs, some batteries, water, and scannable beds and chairs Lelouch would gladly scan. There were even benches that the diver could fabricate later on back in the safe shallows.
There were some other posters miraculously hanging on the walls occasionally, but they weren't as unique as the cat poster. Still, Lelouch had room left in his bag, so he took what he could carry. Most of the posters were about the Prawn suit in different environments like land and sea, but there was also one about some video game that was very popular in this reality. Natural Selection 2.
This planet is so weird. Lelouch grumbled to himself as he pressed onwards. Raising one cape extension to protect his face as he put the fires out blocking the entrance into cabin seven. There weren't many other interesting things. Batteries, med kits, abandoned PDA messages, wash, rinse, repeat. At the very least these people packed prepared. I have so many batteries I almost don't know what to do with them all, good God.
Just as Lelouch's bag was about to become bursting full he came to an end on his journey. The hallway stopped and two locked doors greeted him, both of which required passcodes. With a groan of extreme annoyance Lelouch looked towards the PDA to see if there was any code that'd grant him access to cabin one or more importantly the captain's quarters.
There was nothing on the captain's quarters unfortunately, which irked Lelouch greatly. Even repeating some of the codes he had already gathered gave him zero results except for an irritating buzz to show he was incorrect. Just as looking in these rooms was about to get interesting too.
He did manage to find the access code to cabin one however, so that served to help ease his sudden irritation. Typing in 1-8-6-9, the door swished open almost all too happily. Almost as soon as he stepped foot into the room did the PDA beep to signify that a radio communication was waiting to be answered back at home base. It had Lelouch raising an eyebrow at the near perfect timing of the event.
The room was very small, almost uncomfortably so even for Lelouch. There was a bed tucked in the corner that he scanned and an abandoned PDA on top of it that the teen gladly took. Otherwise it was just some shelves Lelouch scanned, a bench, and two lockers-
Lelouch blinked. His red and purple eyes zeroed in on the thing hiding inside one of the lockers. It was mainly a dark navy blue and bright orange on its stomach and paws. It looked like a mix between a dinosaur and a dragon, and it came up to about the height of Lelouch's shins.
A stuffed animal. There was a stuffed animal hiding in the locker, almost as if the person that once owned this room was embarrassed about bringing it along but couldn't part without it.
Lelouch's eyebrows furrowed in sudden concern. Were there children aboard this ship when it crash landed? It truly was a saddening, depressing thought to think about, but Lelouch wouldn't be surprised if that was a high probability. A true tragedy.
Lelouch turned and headed towards the captain's quarters to try and force the code open by spamming random numbers in it, leaving the stuffed animal behind.
Twenty minutes passed by agonizingly slow, and no matter how many codes he tried the door wouldn't open. Growling in frustration, Lelouch lashed out by hitting the door with both of his cape extensions as if to force it open with brute force. Yet, the only thing that resulted in was a light scratch in the door's metal. The captain's quarters weren't going to open up anytime soon.
Throwing his head back to try and rub his face through his helmet, Lelouch conceded defeat. The great Zero, Man of Miracles, defeated by a locked door. How embarrassing. How humiliating.
It was a good thing no one else was around to see it. This moment would be a secret he took to the grave.
Doubling back the way he came, Lelouch decided to try and mess with the shut door back in the Prawn Bay area. It was a small door at the end of one of the blocked stairways. That door wouldn't open either, and this one didn't have a passcode he could try and use. After a moment of fruitless searching to try and find another way through, Lelouch sat down in front of the locked door to take a quick break.
Great, well I guess this is as far as I can go. I'll have to double back and try getting in further through another way. Lelouch thought sourly, but otherwise began to stand back up to back track once more.
"Warning: Local radiation at maximum tolerable level."
Well, that was bad.
The terrorist had forgotten about that admittedly after everything else that had happened. He needed to somehow find his way to the drive core and fix it before something worse than just radiation happened.
But how was he going to-
"Containment breach repaired. Further breaches detected: 10."
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What?
Hello, good day to everyone that reads this. Just for context, Lelouch explored the Aurora by taking the entrance that required the propulsion cannon (which I admittedly tweaked a bit so that he didn't need it). Suzaku and Kallen went through the normal route.
Anyways. If you have enjoyed the story so far leave a REVIEW, Follow, and Favorite the story so you can keep track of when chapters pop up. Because FYI, I don't have a posting schedule and I just post whenever I feel like it.
Otherwise, I'll be seeing you guys in chapter 14! -MoonlightWright :D