Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem in Blue ❯ Chapter Seventeen: Kassha’hal ( Chapter 17 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

 “I am going to disable the fleet ship’s cloaking systems.” Bulma explained.  “By now the Aisu-jin already realize that you will not attack from Kuroah; they will cloak the Shafuri and make direct plasma attacks on the Kuroah before you can even mobilize the warriors on the fleet ship.”
“How the hell would they know that?”  Vejiita snapped through his teeth.
Bulma had been sifting through an emergency kit in the wall of the dock on which they now sat.  She stopped what she was doing and leaned back on her heels.  Vejiita’s blood boiled as she grinned out of the corner of her mouth; her bottom lip had begun to swell where he had bitten it.
“They know, Vejiita-Zarshi, because the Aisu-jin are much more intelligent than you give them credit for.  Just because you can’t understand their culture or their language doesn’t make them brainless idiots!  That’s the mistake you’ve made since the beginning--!”
“Perhaps the same can be said of you...”
Brolli’s voice was gaining strength, Vejiita thought with a measure of mirth.  His words were scathingly clear even over the din of engine noise on the dock.  Vejiita glanced over Bulma’s shoulder to where Brolli had crumpled himself moments earlier.  The three of them were hidden temporarily by a hulking star rover; three or four of the vessels were in this corner of the dock.  The Kassha’hal was hunched over, back to the wall, his once powerful arms hanging limply at his sides.  His aura still hung in the air, unstable.
By now Bulma had turned to look at him, and Vejiita wondered what her expression said.  Brolli’s face revealed nothing.  Vejiita found himself shocked when Bulma looked away from Brolli and said nothing.  She merely continued stuffing the emergency bag full of supplies.  After zipping the pack shut and sealing it, she stood and pushed a few loose tendrils of hair away from her eyes and nose.
"We've lingered here too long.  They will be coming…"
Still reeling from Bulma's unexpected silence, Vejiita hardly had time to realize what she had said before the heavy dock gates began to open.  The noise rumbled deep in his belly, and Bulma hurried over to Brolli's prostrate form.  When the doors parted enough to let light cascade into the otherwise poorly lit hangar, the Aisu-jin voices came.  Three, or four of them?  Vejiita was dismayed to realize that he could not tell; his senses had taken a beating since the poisoning, no doubt.  Once the doors had opened completely, and the group’s leader began shouting, Vejiita’s eyes popped open.
“Vash’halla!”  He cursed as he fell to the floor.  There had to be at least twenty of them.  A few searing plasma beams cascaded over his head.  Sweat broke immediately on his forehead, and Vejiita scuttled over between the legs of the star rover.  The Aisu-jin squad leader spat something at his warriors.  Vejiita could not understand, but he was clear on the next words from its mouth.
“We can smell you, stinking monkeys...”  It taunted.  “Come out, zallak sha!”
Vejiita’s upper lip curled and he glanced over toward the direction where Bulma and Brolli were hunched over.  Bulma was frantically pressing more numbing agent underneath Brolli’s ear, and then on the back of his neck.  If even one of the two Saiya-jin were to charge his jal’a, the dampening orbs would tear his tendons from his bones.  Vejiita cursed silently; it would only take one Saiya-jin to wipe out the number of Aisu-jin on this dock, he thought.  But with plasma rifles aimed at them and no use of the jal’a, it was almost hopeless.
Without warning, a small blip of noise shot from where Bulma was crouched.  Vejiita’s eyes narrowed with confusion as he watched her fire that small pulse gun she’d held to his temple not long ago.  A slow, dying wave of noise emanated from beyond the star rovers.  One of the Aisu-jin shouted in surprise, and there was a brief flurry of activity.
Vejiita peered through the legs of the rover and strained to see the ugly white lizards from his hiding place.  Two of them were conversing in angry tones, and it appeared that they were trying to make one plasma rifle function -- to no avail.  Bulma fired again from her position next to Brolli.
And again, and again!  Vejiita was beginning to wonder why none of the Aisu-jin appeared to be injured, but were flustered beyond measure after each shot Bulma fired.  Finally, after a period of silence from her gun, and angry deliberation from the Aisu-jin, Bulma appeared to his far right.
“Vejiita!”  She hissed.  “Now!  You can attack them now!”
Vejiita squinted at her, and then back through the rover legs at the Aisu-jin.  The lizards were spitting and snarling at the sound of her hushed voice; they had heard.
“Have you gone completely mad?”  Vejiita hissed back.  “They’ll blow my heart out!  Shut up!”
“The rifles are non-functional!  Vejiita...!”  Bulma’s voice was urgent, yet typically defiant, and so before Vejiita could find himself irritated, he obeyed.
The Aisu-jin were confused, if only for a brief second, as Vejiita rolled out from behind the leg of the star rover.  The leader shouted in surprise and pointed a long, white finger at him.
“Furi-shallak!  The monkey shows himself!”
Vejiita smirked just before rushing.  The brainless lizard appeared to be preparing to defend itself.  But, Vejiita realized as he jabbed his elbow into its neck, it was unable to perform simple combat moves or defense posture; the bloody things had become so dependent on tech that they could no longer even defend themselves.
The Aisu-jin leader gasped and choked a few times before Vejiita leapt on his shoulders and twisted, hard, with his knees.  A few of the other soldiers cursed and spat as the monster’s neck snapped underneath the strain.  Vejiita coasted down from its body and watched as the black eyes around him fluttered open and shut like window shades.  They were afraid.
He was still able to make use of his strength and speed!  Vejiita again charged between two of the ugly bastards and caught both of them by the necks.  He threw both to the floor and squeezed until he knew both windpipes would pop.  The monsters stopped wriggling.  As he stood, he counted about twelve more of them.  Only this time, they watched him with trepidation.
“What’s wrong, tech perverts?”  Vejiita mocked.  “Useless without your guns?”
They couldn’t understand him of course, the stupid ingrates, and without their leader they were effectively useless.  One of them spoke in quick, quiet tones to its neighbor.  Vejiita could not recognize the words.
“No!”  Bulma shouted from behind the star rover.  “They’ll call more of them!  The com cell, Vejiita--!”
Vejiita turned back just in time to see the Aisu-jin who had spoken holding the small com device in its shiny white hand.  He growled and made way to charge again, but was miserable surprised by a quick, stinging shot on his leg.  He cursed.  An Aisu-jin to his left had fired a stunner, unaffected by whatever magic Bulma had casted on their plasma guns.
His vision blurred, and he would have cursed more if his lips had not begun to hang loosely away from his teeth.  His body lagged and hit the floor with a sickening thud; the stunner had made quick work of him.  Despite his inability to move, Vejiita felt the fury well in him like a great ball of whirling flame.  Fucking slimy bastards!
Bulma had emerged from behind the star rover.  She was pointing her small gun at the remaining Aisu-jin soldiers and was spitting their harsh language at them.  Vejiita’s fingers itched to move, and his ached to defend himself.  Eleven Aisu-jin were poised at his feet, and the other aimed his stunner towards Bulma.  Stupid Chikyuu-jin…
She was still screaming in Aisu-go when the flash came.  Vejiita guessed that she had not even noticed it, or even realized what had happened until the Aisu-jin with the stunner was dangling a foot from the ground.  If Vejiita could have blinked, he would have – instead the drool began to leak from his drooping mouth as he gazed in wonder at the scene before him.
The Aisu-jin struggled briefly, before Brolli’s hand squeezed and crushed the heavy plate of its head.  Its arms went slack, and the stunner clanked to the sheet metal beneath its feet.  Brolli was still squeezing, Vejiita noticed, when he began to roar with pain.  The Kassha’hal’s aura was soaring, his jal’a rose so swiftly that Vejiita thought he could feel the dock begin to shake.  He had used quite a bit of energy in his swift bolt to kill the Aisu-jin… To the very end, his love for that damned female was his only downfall.
“Brolli, stop!”  Bulma shouted to him, her voice strangely hysterical.  Vejiita felt his leg twitch; the stunner would wear off in about thirty seconds.  But it thirty seconds, Brolli’s aura may have already burned the Kassha’hal to a cinder.
Bulma had dropped her gun, and she now scrambled toward the stunner that lay at Brolli’s feet.  Vejiita felt the nerves in his arms begin to crackle with life once more, and as he struggled to keep his own jal’a from exploding with his efforts, he felt the floor shake again.  Brolli’s voice was reaching a snarl, and as Vejiita finally managed to lift his head the Kassha’hal’s feet had left the ground.  The Aisu-jin behind him were frozen with fear.
“BROLLI!”  The Chikyuu-jin cried.  “Control it!  Control it, damn you or I’ll stun your fucking brain stem!  I won’t let you die here--!!”
Vejiita pushed himself to his feet.  His heels were electric with the pain of his reborn nerves, but he spun on them to see that the remaining Aisu-jin soldiers were backing up toward the hangar door.  He looked toward Brolli again and saw that the jal’a had erected a shield around the Kassha’hal.  Vejiita stumbled toward Bulma and gripped her wrists.
“Don’t fire!”  He shouted to her.  “The jal’a will bounce it back!”
Bulma’s eyes came to him then, and in that instant Vejiita saw the creature she had truly become.  Her brows were arched with terror and despair, with eyes underneath that swam with the sad realization that she could do nothing to help.  She gritted her teeth.
“No…”  The Saiya-go word was apparent on her lips.  “He’ll die here!”  She shrieked.  “The orbs will tear the muscle from his bones!!”  Bulma dropped the stunner and turned to him.  She gripped his shoulders and shook with what little strength she had.
“Save him!!  Save him, Vejiita!  All the gods you must not let him die here!”  Those same tears, the ones that had unexpectedly drawn out the shreds of pity that lay dormant in his soul, streamed down her face and into the dip of her neck.  Another boom shook the dock and rocked the two of them on their feet.  Vejiita watched Brolli for only a second.  The Kassha’hal’s fists tightened, and he screamed again.
Vejiita turned away from Bulma, from her frantic eyes, and quickly scanned the ceiling.  When he could see nothing apparent, he rushed over to the cowering Aisu-jin soldiers and gripped one by the sides of its cool, smooth head.
“Where is it?!”  He shouted in stilted Aisu-go.  “Where is the--?  Fuck!  Where is the dock’s orb control unit?”
The mechanical lizard in front of him snarled and licked its lips.  Vejiita squeezed just lightly on its head, and it chuckled evilly.  But it could not hide its empty black eyes long enough; Vejiita saw it glance almost imperceptibly off to its far left.  He looked behind him, but saw nothing obvious.
“Where is it you piece of bloated flesh?”  Vejiita growled furiously in Saiya-go.  “Tell me before I squeeze your brains out of your ears!!”
The animal in front of him chuckled again and spat cruelly into his face.  Vejiita felt the viscous, blood red spit inch down his cheek.  Behind him, Brolli’s voice rose, and Vejiita remembered the night he had transformed… He squeezed more tightly on the monster’s head, but it did not say anything.  It only sneered and grinned at him until he could see its pointed, sharp teeth.
Vejiita squeezed again hard, until the bastard’s skull cracked under the pressure.  The monster’s smile died for good, and he let its body drop to the floor.  Even as the others growled and spat at him, he turned to the direction where the dead one’s eyes had flickered only for a second.  Above them, the ceiling rose to a height of approximately one hundred fifty feet.  If Vejiita had use of the jal’a he could fly to its peak in seconds.  As it was he could only look on until his eyes began to dry up with the strain.
Just as he was about to stop, as he was about to look elsewhere, a panel that differed only slightly from its neighbor appeared to him.  Vejiita squinted.  Brolli would not last long.  If this panel was not the orb control unit, surely the Kassha’hal would perish, just as Bulma had said.  His own body would tear him apart from the inside out.  And, as she had said, he could not allow a Saiya-jin to die in such a way.
Which would require more of the jal’a, he wondered briefly?  A short blast would require more energy than to fly, but flight would require a more sustained and steady stream of energy.  The pain would last much longer and would likely kill him as well.  Vejiita ground his teeth together and lifted his arm.
His eyes narrowed until the panel was in full focus and his palm was at just the right angle.  He gathered his wits and his tolerance; he would require much of both.  Vejiita grimaced and let the jal’a gather…
His face went rigid with the beginnings of the pain.  His life force sent pin pricks first to his feet and then upward into his thighs, stabbing at his groin.  Vejiita’s own voice joined Brolli’s for just a moment before the jal’a surged up his torso and tore at his organs.  The dampening orbs fought with the energy in his body as it pushed relentlessly into his shoulders and neck.  Was that…?  Wait… Were there tears now flowing down his cheeks and onto the floor?
Just before the energy dan exploded from his arm, he heard her voice calling his name.  His vision went black for a split second before the burst of jal’a crashed into the panel above them and sent fireworks of its spawn throughout the ceiling of the dock.  Vejiita fell to one knee.
His gasps of pain were drowned out by the deafening pops of a hundred dampening orbs as they exploded and died above them.  The Aisu-jin soldiers were shrieking and escaping through the hangar door.  Surely, after this, more of them would come…
As the sound of the dying orbs began to soften and recede, Vejiita took deep, reenergizing breaths and stood with great effort.  The pain had nearly debilitated him.  Brolli’s cries had stopped, and just as he looked back the Kassha’hal’s arms drooped and he fell back to the floor of the dock with a riotous crash.  He did not move.
Near his body, Bulma struggled to get up.  She coughed feverishly and writhed until Vejiita had sprinted to her side.  He knelt beside her and put one hand beneath her bottom and one under her head.  Her blue hair was muted only by the dust Vejiita’s blast had caused.  She gasped for air and gripped his arms, looking only slightly confused.
“Gods…” she said quietly.  “Holy gods.  What did you do?”
Vejiita felt a smile creeping up on his lips the way a pyuce rat would creep up a pipe.  He felt his fingers tickle underneath the silken, dusted strands of her hair.  He grinned.
“I blew out the fucking dampening orbs, Bulma-kalzan.  What did you expect?”
For a moment, Vejiita saw the astonishment flicker across the bridge between her eyes.  And then, amazingly, the corner of her mouth turned upwards into a smile.  Bulma laughed airily and blinked.  The dust was clearing.
“How did you do it?”  She wondered aloud, shifting in his grip until she was able to turn herself on her knees.  “Theoretically, the pain should have--?  Brolli…”
Vejiita stiffened, and all traces of relief left her face.  Suddenly, he remembered; the Kassha’hal…
“Oh gods…” Bulma whispered, pushing to her feet and hurrying over to Brolli’s crumpled form.  “Gods… he saved my life, the fool.”
Vejiita came to stand beside her, but he was not prepared for the sight he now laid eyes on.  The Kassha’hal Brolli was on his back, legs bent at the knees and off to the side, while his arms lay slack and splayed out to his sides.  If Vejiita had not seen the quick rise and fall of his massive chest, he would have thought the warrior dead.  He watched Bulma’s fingers reach out tentatively.  She pressed a palm to his chest.
“Kuso!” She hissed in her native tongue and snatched her fingers back to her own chest.  “His skin is burning.”  Vejiita felt his jaw tighten.
“Will he live?”  His question died as some fragments of blown wire snapped and crackled above them.  When she looked up at him, Bulma reached inside her tunic for the bioScan.  Her expression was unreadable.
“Only if we can get him out of here as soon as possible.  If we don’t make it to engineering before Furiza, we’ll never be in time for Raditsu’s surprise counter!”
Bulma held the bioScan to Brolli’s temple.  As she did so, the Kassha’hal shifted and began to moan quietly.  Vejiita knelt and watched the other Saiya-jin’s face as it began to contort in pain again.  His eyes flickered open and shut.
“Vash’halla,” he cursed, but the word was a hushed gasp for breath.  Bulma lifted her eyes from the bioScan reading and set her chin firmly.
“Brolli, you must not move.  I know… I know it hurts but you must try to stay still--!”
As she spoke, the Kassha’hal heaved and coughed until thick globs of blood came dribbling from the corners of his mouth.  Vejiita bowed his head; Brolli would not live if they lingered any longer.  Where in the name of all the gods was Squad 5--!
“Gods, Brolli…” Bulma’s voice wavered, and when Vejiita looked at her he saw that real sorrow had replaced the ever present determination in her brow.  “Brolli, you… you’re going to die, dam you!”  The Kassha’hal smiled wanly.
“Am I?”  He paused and turned his head toward Vejiita.  “Zarshi-kalan.  I hope you will forgive my insolence--?”  He coughed again and spat blood down his chest.  Vejiita clenched a fist and imagined that Brolli’s organs had already collapsed from the damage done by the dampening orbs.  Bulma was right – he was going to die.  Vejiita nodded to him.
“Your death is that of a warrior, Kassha’hal.”
Brolli grinned lopsidedly and turned his head to the side, panting.  The silence was then interrupted by what sounded like several ki blasts.  Vejiita’s brow furrowed, and he looked toward the entrance to the hangar.  Bulma started when her bioScan began to blip.
“Those are Saiya-jin signatures!”  She said, forgetting that he would already know.  “How can they--!”
“The kei jal’a should counter the rest of the dampening orbs.  It is like artificial energy.”
Vejiita watched as three Aisu-jin soldiers flew flat on their backs and slid, dead as flies, onto the hangar floor.  Their viscous purple blood pooled into the main dock area, and Vejiita sniffed the air instinctively.  It reeked of death.
“I’m tired of killing these bloated sacks of myr cat shit!”
Vejiita couldn’t help but chuckle at the sound of the voices when their owners turned the corner into the dock.  He crossed both arms over his chest and stepped past the remains of a star rover until he saw them.  Bardock’s armor and squad crest were visible even through the remaining dust.
“There aren’t any other sacks of shit on this ship, idiot!”  He snapped at what looked to be one of his sons.  When he caught sight of Vejiita, he saluted but did not bow as his soldiers did.  He grinned ridiculously.
“Vejiita-Zarshi!  This is a pleasure, Sire!”
Vejiita grinned in response, then shifted in place as some residual pain shot through his legs.
“Indeed, Commander.”  He replied.  “What the fuck took so long?”
Bardock stepped toward him over some of the rubble.  He actually looked him up and down, the bastard.  Vejiita raised an eyebrow and waited.  But instead of replying…
“You look like the blood goddess raped you.”  Bardock told him.  The soldiers behind him shifted, probably near hysterics.  Vejiita found enough humor in the situation to chuckle, but he nodded toward Bulma and the fallen warrior.
“Not quite that bad…” he said.  Bardock’s eyes followed his, and all traces of humor left his face.  The Commander stepped forward and motioned for his soldiers, who rose and followed tentatively.
“All the gods,” Bardock whispered gravely.  Vejiita uncrossed his arms and motioned to Bulma.
“We have to get the Chikyuu-jin to engineering.  If you can, hail Raditsu and tell him to hold off his surprise counter until we can get her there; I have a feeling we are already late.”
“We may cross frequencies with the Aisu-jin if we hail, Sire.” Bardock said, his voice still hushed and his eyes still on Brolli.  Vejiita shook his head.
“It’s a chance we may have to take.”
Bardock looked back to him then, his lips came together and he set his jaw.  He nodded brusquely and saluted.  Vejiita went back to Bulma and knelt on the other side of Brolli’s body.  The Kassha’hal was still breathing, but his breath had slowed now – and it appeared that his skin had begun to cool.  Bulma’s hand was pressing against his chest, and she held one massive hand in her own, against her cheek.  Tears had made her face glisten, and her eyes were very far away.
“Bulma-kalzan,” Vejiita said coolly.  Brief recognition flickered across her gaze.  “We must go.”  She shook her head.
“It’s too late now…” She whispered.  “Surely Raditsu has lost faith in my promise.  He will attack.”
“It is NOT too late!”  Vejiita hissed, reaching for the hand she had pressed against Brolli’s chest.  “You are the only one who knows how to disable the cloaking systems!  You will come now!”
“We cannot leave him here!!”  She shouted, her voice raw.  Bardock and his soldiers waited, and watched her.  Bulma turned her face to him, and the pain he saw there was almost enough to crack his resolve.  “We cannot leave him here…”  She repeated, and her voice faded into a sob.
The Kassha’hal’s body shook again with coughing, and now Vejiita could see the bruises on his chest and waist.  The blood would flood his body.  Brolli, though it took much effort, raised his hand to Bulma’s face.  Vejiita did not know if the tenderness he saw was only because of Brolli’s weakness, or if it was genuine.
“Shall’la…” He said to her, and his throat was clogged with his blood.  “Shall’la… How many times will you cry for me?”
Bulma only looked at him and shut her eyes.  Her only words were the tears that dug clean trails across his bloodstained hands.  Vejiita could not decide why the burning in his stomach had nothing to do with his earlier pain; he clenched his jaw and watched Bulma’s mouth shatter again into despair.  She bent over and pressed her face into his shoulder.
“Brolli please, please forgive me.  Forgive me, Kassha’hal…”
Brolli’s lips cracked a smile, and his hand tangled loosely in her hair.  His chest heaved a few more times.  Vejiita thought that the effort to breathe was become quite difficult for the other Saiya-jin.
“I forgive you, Shall’la.”  He whispered to her.  “How could I deny you anything?”
Vejiita saw that the words had crushed her.  Her sobs were not quite so loud, but indeed, they were heartrending.  Perhaps, without even trying, it had been Brolli who had broken her.  Not Vejiita…  He looked up to Bardock and nodded toward Bulma.  The Commander came to her and gripped her shoulders.
“No!”  She shrieked, and reached for Brolli.  “No!!  I won’t go!  Leave me here with him!”  Her sorrow and remorse had driven her to hysteria now, Vejiita realized.  And as Bardock hauled her to her feet, Vejiita reached out for her arms and squeezed, hard.
“Listen to me.”  He told her.  She struggled and protested again.  “Listen to me!”  He shook her until she glared back at him, grasping some of what rage still lived inside her.  Vejiita knew then that his desire to survive trumped all others.
“You will go with them, Bulma, and you will de-cloak the Aisu-jin fleet!  You will do it, damn you, or I WILL leave you here to die with the Kassha’hal!”
Some remaining electrical fuses popped and fizzed above them; Bulma’s eyes narrowed, and she stopped her struggle against Bardock.  There was a racking sound below them, and Vejiita realized that it was Brolli’s slow breath.  He looked down at the Kassha’hal.
“Shall’la…”  He wheezed.  “Save us now – prove you seek more… More than vengeance.”
Vejiita clenched his fists at his sides.  If he had not been so desperate to get off of this alien ship, he might have chuckled at Brolli’s resilience. Instead he swallowed deeply; if those words would not convince her, nothing would.
When he looked back to her, Vejiita saw that Bulma’s jaw was set in determination.  The warriors to his left shifted anxiously, and the world moved for one brief moment in slow motion.  She looked back to Vejiita and nodded.
He nodded back to her.
“Good.  Now, go.”
Vejiita glanced at Bardock, who saluted and took Bulma by the arm.  She continued to look back at him as they led her from the dock.  Vejiita watched, his palms sweating, until she was out of sight.  Only the sound of Brolli’s labored breathing again brought him back to the present.  He knelt on one knee by the Kassha’hal.
“Zarshi-kalan…”  Brolli’s voice was barely above a whisper.  Vejiita could hear the liquid pooling in his lungs and could smell the blood on his breath.  “You’ll… you’ll save her?”
Vejiita knew the meaning behind the question.  Bulma’s actions had branded her a traitor to the Saiya-jin Empire, and the punishment for such an offense need not even be said.  If Saiya-jin officials apprehended her upon her return to the fleet ship, her sentence would likely be carried out before any kind of trial could take place.  Vejiita took a deep breath.
“I will try.”  He said to Brolli.  “It will be difficult to--?”
“It is my dying wish, Zarshi-kalan…!”  Brolli hissed, and managed to lift his head slightly.  “You would--!  You would grant me this?”  There was a note of urgency in his weak voice that went beyond mere desire.  Brolli’s soul would not rest until he knew there was a chance to save his Shall’la from the damnation of treason.
Vejiita nodded slowly.  He did not know if he could save Bulma; even his plea may fall upon deaf ears.  She was indirectly responsible for the death of his father the king, and he did not know how deep her betrayal had run.  Still, if he could insist on a trial it may yet be possible…
“I will save her, Kassha’hal,” Vejiita said slowly, “I will do all that is in my power to grant you your wish.”  His voice was even, controlled.
The corner of Brolli’s mouth turned up, ever so slightly, and he coughed violently.  Blood oozed again from his mouth and down his chin into the dip of his throat.  He rested his head back on the floor of the hangar.
With one final heave, Brolli’s chest fell.  It did not rise again.  Vejiita reached out to shut the Kassha’hal’s eyes, and bowed his own head in prayer.
“Vash’halla ka’balat ten.”  May Vash’halla guide you home.