We help you.
Later. You must heal. We must find others if they survive. Did all those that remain in darklight die?
None could survive there. Hunters were too strong. Too many. We run to swirls. Dark places in swirls.
Then we will look in the dark places for others. Is there a way we can find them easily?
Call to them. They will answer.
How do we call?
Starlight travels. It carries your call. They will hear and track it to you.
I do not know how to do that.
I can do this for you, if woken. Cannot wake now. Broken.
Healing first. How do I come inside you?
Rather than explaining, a huge slit on the side of the Nightcrawler began to peel apart, revealing one of the cavities inside that was the equivalent of a docking bay.
Do not go inside, the Jedein warned.
Why not?
You are not their Master. When it learns this it may attempt to purge you.
I am its Master. Or rather its Masters and I are of the same metaphysical race. We are lightside badasses. And until you understand what the lightside is, you’re not going to understand. I have to do this.
I cannot protect your ship inside it.
You won’t have to. I’ll go in alone. Can you tow me over? My flight abilities are going to be minimal here.
I can.
Are you ready for me to come over? Amir asked the Nightcrawler.
If you come in shell, I will have air ready when you arrive.
Alright, I’ll be there soon, Amir said as he turned around and knelt next to one of his crew that was still unconscious. Please stop speaking. My people here cannot handle the pressure. I will speak to you when I leave this ship.
The Nightcrawler obeyed immediately, and the trailblazer woke the nearest Human naval officer, pulling her out of a heavy headache that made her want to go back to unconsciousness.
“Are you alright?” she asked him.
“Tolerable, but you’re not.”
“No shit. What happened?”
“It yelled. It shouldn’t happen again. I’m leaving the ship, and when I do, put a little more distance between it and you, just in case.”
“Where are you going?”
“It’s a living ship, and I’m going inside,” he said, holding up a hand to forestall more questions. “Long story and I’m still on the cliff notes. Help the others wake up if you can, or do I need to stick around a while longer?”
“Define scream. My head hurts like I’ve never experienced before.”
“I’m guessing your Ikrid blocks overloaded.”
“I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Doesn’t mean it had access, just that you had too much signal. There wouldn’t be any feedback coming from you if you couldn’t transmit, but that’s just a guess. Can you pull it together?
“Not unless this subsides.”
Amir put a hand on her forehead and closed his eyes as he concentrated for nearly a minute before a soothing wave of relief hit her…but it didn’t fix the problem. Just took the edge off.
“Best I can do,” he apologized.
“Better,” she said, finally trying to stand up and wobbling as she did. “Get me to medbay and I’ll let you go.”
Amir put an arm under her shoulders and helped her walk there, then waited as the Regenerator worked on her for a long time, making very subtle fixes to not just her tissues, but the software that ran those tissues, having to reboot a lot of stuff that had to be replaced, for the crew had suffered brain damage from the overload, and a wipe and regrow would cause them to lose some memories, so Star Force Regenerators were programed never to do that without an override…so it was slow piecemeal work to fix what was there rather than remove and rebuild all affected areas.
“Alright, I can take it from here,” she said, coming out of the treatment a little numb, but with her focus back. “Go tame that thing before it does it again.”
“Going,” Amir said, reaching out the Jedein and asking it to produce a telepathic aura around the scout ship to protect against another ‘shout’ from the Nightcrawler, which it immediately did as the trailblazer made his way to his quarters, picked up his armor, then hopped out an airlock.
He kicked off the scout ship to get some momentum, then felt the Jedein’s grapple field take hold of him and shoot him across the gap to the orifice in the Nightcrawler, slowing him down just prior to insertion, then the field released and the aperture closed, sealing him into darkness for a moment before lights inside manifested in lines that suggested technology rather than biology, attesting to the bioengineered origin the Nightcrawler had suggested.
Amir was pulled to a platform and into an artificial gravity field, passing through an atmospheric shield as well, finding the temperature at 123 degrees Fahrenheit, but that was nothing his armor couldn’t handle. The air was mostly oxygen, at 88 percent, which was richer than he was used to, but the pressure was about right, though a little on the low side.
I’m here, he said, feeling the telepathic presence return, but even more light touched than before, fearing it might damage him. Show me what I need to see.
A door nearby pulled open, with Amir seeing that it was made of silky material that was actually solid to the touch until commanded to relax. It was biological, all of it was, and a little creepy, but the design was elegant with bits of light inserted everywhere, all of which glowed a pink/red until Amir thought about the shade of color being blah, then the Nightcrawler
