Alternate Journals: Balthis' Death (4)

      Now acting captain Lockey presiding over the hunting vessel Leviathan takes up the quill to mark the passage of our former captain, Balthis. Many outsider saw him as an arrogant and cold man but to those that sailed with him, he was a leader that could take you into the fires of the underworld without fear or worry. I can only hope and pray that the sailors will feel the same under my command even if I was just the technician aboard this special vessel.

      It had been quiet for weeks. No sign of rifts had been detected and Balthis had us working at testing the special systems of our ship. I was doing my normal checks upon the Lemurian drive while keeping track of the power spikes being caused from the weapons' testing. We drifted under the power of the waves ignoring placing either our sails or using the Lemurian engine. The Leviathan could jump anywhere upon the globe in seconds if needed thanks to this creation of my people but for now we simply let the currents guide us in the middle of the calm Ocean.

      “Any odd reading from the weapons?” Balthis asked. His head stuck in from the door to the engine room with a look of unhappiness and concern upon his face.

      “Normal energy spikes showing.” I replied calmly. “Are they not giving a proper performance?” I continued. I moved from the combined display to check the actual panel for our weapons systems. “They are all registering proper function.” I added after a momentary glance at the numbers. I heard Balthis mutter. I turned to look at him still wearing that mixed concern and worried face.

      “Just feel that something is off about them.” he finally muttered clearer. “Could just be that this peacefulness is driving me crazy from worry about the next rift dumping stuff on out heads.” he added in a grumble.

      “I will recheck all the crystals, power shunts, and targeting systems Captain.” I replied with false merriment. He grunted his thanks before leaving me to my self assigned task. I pulled out the schematic tablet of the weapons we had on board though only three were actually in use.

       It took only minutes to go quickly through the lines of crystal for our trio of speciality weapon finding nothing amiss. The shunts read nominal transferring power from all the other systems except for the main engine. Targeting still had a humanoid component making me think it was simple the sailor manning the weapon being sloppy because of the silence we had been living in for the last week. I decide to look upon the test myself to see what Balthis might be having problems with. I kept the tablet in my hand as I verified the main panel one last time before heading to the deck. A had barely left the engine room when the warning cloister sounded ship wide.

      “Rift detected!” it squealed in a repeating cycle separated by a loud buzz. I was in mid turn when I heard Balthis scream at the stairs heading below deck.

      “Right above us boys!”

      “Damn it!” I swore angrily. I grabbed a nearby rifle with my free hand as I still had the weapons tablet in the other. With a quick practised flip, I had the butt of the rifle pinned in my armpit as I rushed toward the stairs. The boat rocked under me as I began climbing the stairs to the deck warning me that we had heavy company on board. I tumbled from the stairs to the deck as the ship lurched in the opposite direction forcing me to roll from the stairwell to the main mast. Both the tablet and rifle were squeezed to me breast as I rolled back first into the timbers of the mast.

      The blazing sound of the projectiles whizzing pass my right had me glancing toward the winged behemoth that sat on the Starboard aft side of the ship. The projectiles from our velocity cannon seemed to mostly bounce off it as it glared and roared at the few sailors crazy enough to face it. Balthis stood toe to toe, face to gut with this monstrosity with nothing but a sabre in hand. He was a madman not willing to let his men face something he would not face himself.

      “Rifle!” I screamed at him. I was already flipping it in my hands to toss it at my Captain. Balthis darted forward shattering his sword, point first, upon the creature's armoured knee before twisting away to catch the rifle I had thrown at him. He continued twisting himself as he caught the butt end of the riffle in one hand. He slapped the triggering section into his other hand as his back hit the aft deck. The white blazing light erupted from the barrel of the riffle at the rift beast but to no avail other than melting the few yards of steel from our velocity cannon that had actually penetrated it's armoured hide.

      The sailors scrambled to yank Balthis off the aft deck as the creature struck with one mighty claw and black oozing tar poured from the few puncture wounds now free of blockage. Its claw shattered the deck sinking deep into the upper set of rooms beneath it. The black ooze smoked as it touched the oaken deck. I hazarded a upward glance spying more twisted rift creatures descending at our ship from the large multicoloured gash in the sky.

      “Nail them before they land!” I screamed. I pointed skyward while glaring at the man behind the velocity cannon. I saw the muzzle of the great gun rise upward before it began blasting the heavens. I half smiled as I looked at the carnage being handed to those falling creatures. The ship lurched again making me glare at the behemoth. It was gone from its perch. I turned slowly toward the prow to see it lightly touching down on the prowl of the ship by the missile turret. It had its claws grappled into the sides of the turret forcing the firing ports tight against its armoured body.

      I had the tablet in my hand instantly. With a tap I had sent word to the two men manning the turret to abandon it. I glance at it seeing little trails of smoke rising where the black ooze blood touched the metal of the ports. I just spotted the two men diving down to the lower section of deck before I tapped the screen of the tablet once more. The turret erupted in a blaze as the missiles fired and exploded within the tubes that ended in the creatures body. I scream a feral roar of triumph as the monstrosity was blown away from the ship hopefully dead or at the least fatally wounded.

      “Some are still making it to the ship!” one of the other sailors cried out. I barely had time to move as the claw swipe sliced the air by my head to get stuck into the main mast at my back. I grimaced in pain from moving as my dagger went from my belt to slice into this spindly creature's throat. I back peddled as the spray of greenish blood gushed from the wound. The mast and deck creaked and smoldered as the viscous green liquid splattered against it.

      “They are corrosive blooded!” I screamed back. I was back peddling using just my legs to push me away from the creature as it tumbled face down on the deck. “Definitely we will have to pull in for repairs captain!” I added. I grimaced more as the pain of making solid contact with the main mast increased with every leg motion. No response came from Balthis. I glance to where he had last been to see him on all four as a pair of sailors knelt by him forming a protective circle.

      I attempted forcing myself to my feet failing miserably. I crawled on all four toward our captain wincing from the burning ache that spread from my spine along the ribs in my back. The other sailors handled the straggler escaping from the rift while I moved as slowly as a turtle. I reached Balthis and grappled his shoulder. He looked up at me with a face ashen in colour and flecks of foamy green edging his lips. My eyes moved down his body as I searched for the cause. I could not see the wound as both of us were forced on all four on the deck but the pool of crimson with gobs of putrid green pus floating in it was warning enough. The behemoth's claw had contacted with our captain's body even with the help of the others pulling him back.

      “You do not look in any better shape than I am Lockey.” he croaked at me. Balthis reached out to grapple my shoulder mirroring my position. “We have to get that rift closed some how.” he muttered. “I have never seen those monsters having gathered into these numbers before.” he added. His eyes rolled in his head as his fingers dug into my shoulder harder before going limp.

      “Get him below deck with a healer on him!” I ordered in a half growl. “And someone to get me to the engine room to figure out how to close that damnable rift!”

      “Aye aye! Lockey.” one of them stated. I stared at the deck as they lifted Balthis to a semblance of standing. I did not want to see the wound that was killing him. Time seemed to stretch to infinity as I held the position that very young children are forced to use when learning to move themselves around. The hand that touched my shoulder was firm but too small to be one of our normal sailors drawing my gaze upward.

      “Too many still fighting to protect the ship.” the girl told me. “Maya and Delilah have headed to the engine room to be your hands while me and Zane help you get there.” she explained. I felt someone's head forcing itself under my left arm and a their arm wrapping around my waist. I gritted my teeth as I nodded to her.

      I am proud that I did not scream as Zane hoisted me to my feet. Gabrielle was at my other side trying her best to help but it was a lost effort. She was to short to hold me the way Zane did but she was taller than the other two galley helper that waited below deck for us. I focused my mind on the problem at hand to push the pain back. I knew without any doubt that even my Lemurian ruggedness had not been enough to prevent my ribs from cracking. The pain spoke louder to me than any healer could about my condition.

      I barely remember getting from the deck to the engine room finding myself before the main panel staring blankly at it. The other two waited quietly to my left for orders while Zane held me standing. Gabrielle had realized at some point that her efforts were in vain but she was intelligent enough to have grabbed the main tablet listing all the little bits of technology I had spirited away when I escaped from Lemuria.

      I reached out with one hand to run my finger along the names on the tablet looking for something, anything that might be of help. The pain in my back throbbed but my mind ignored it as I forced it to resolve this problem. The pain was not the only thing my mind fought off in the effort to think. I worried about Balthis condition.

      “Too bad we cannot just sow it shut like a ripped apron.” Delilah stated glumly. She was frowning as my head snapped up to look at her.

      “That be the answer!” I screamed. The pain shot through my back and chest as I felt my lungs burn. “Best get this done quickly before I need to be healed myself.” I muttered. The three girls stared at me fearfully. “Get me the tablet for the rift engine Gabrielle.” I stated. I forced my voice to be calm to not betray this new pain I felt. “I will need you two to set pathway lines from that box thing sitting at the back of the room.” I continued quickly. “Makes sure you use four different colours so we can get this right ladies.” I added with a half smile. The pain ebbed as my mind was formulating a plan of attack.

      It was sheer insanity but if I could some how send the impulse of the experimental rift drive through the Leviathan's shielding device I might be able to mend the tear just like sowing it. I hoped that I was right since the last time a rift drive had been active, it had open a rift in the harbour of Lemuria. It had been a unpleasant fight but the Lemurian soldiers enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

The thought brought a different pain to my heart. That little accident had been how I meet Balthis to begin with. The irony was not lost on me that I was about to use a similar device at the moment Balthis might be departing from my life. I leaned heavily on Zane as I watched the two girls rush to set lines from the rift drive to place each well apart at my feet. The tablet was suddenly being shoved into my view from below. I flicked through the designs and notes to see if this was even possible.

      I will not bore you with the details of attaching everything together. Suffice it to say the galley mates were truly wondrous to have helping me at this moment. While one stood by the drive screaming the colours as I called out the attachment nodes, the other would run the wire to the devices and make the connection. I had Zane turn me to face the main panel allowing me to power each device in sequence. I watch the warning signal after everything was activated. It suddenly went back to green showing no rifts existed.

      “What did you just do?” the sailor that had rushed to the engine room door screamed. “I why have we not used it before?” he added haltingly. I smiled as I leaned more on Zane who was using all the strength he had to hold me standing.

      “Just did a little sowing.” I replied before laughing. The pain lanced through me but I could not stop myself from laughing even if it hurt. Everything went black at that point. I awake at night fall feeling the tension of wrappings holding my chest in place.

      “Glad to see at least one of my patients will live.” the healer, Coran, stated softly. “What order should I be giving to the crew captain Lockey?”

      “Balthis is the only captain on the Leviathan.” I returned angrily. He motioned to the other cot. I looked as tears formed in my eyes. Balthis lay unmoving. His chest barely rose with the shallow breathes that rasped in the room. In the illumination of the fire globes, I could clearly see his skin had turn grey as the dead. Green pus still oozed from the tightly packed bandages at his chest and stomach. “Is there nothing you can do for him Coran?” I whispered.

      “The wounds are infected beyond anything I have ever seen captain.” he answered. “Worse is that the creature's claws never made direct contact with his flesh.” he continued. “All the sailors present attested to seeing lines of something black glowing from the edges of the claws as they plunged into the deck and it was those energy lines that wounded Balthis.” he concluded.

      “Tell the men to search for the creature that did this to him to make sure it is dead.” I ordered bluntly. “You will not be dying alone if that rift scum lives Balthis!” I added angrily.

     “They have already tracked it down mam.” Coran replied. “It is floating face down to the port side of the ship but we cannot approach it because of the slick that surrounds it.” he explained.

      “Get the men to toss oil and pitch at him before lighting it on fire.” I retorted. “Burn that thing to make sure it never comes back.” I added. Coran nodded to me before going to the door to report my commands to a sailor waiting on guard there. I looked up at the ceiling spotting one of the melted holes letting me see stars above us.

      “Once it is done, we head for port to get this bucket repaired.” I stated half to myself. I heard the gurgling gasp escape Balthis forcing me to close my eyes. I felt the tears running down my face knowing that Balthis had just taking his last breath. “Have Balthis' corpse loaded into a row boat.” I stated through the tears. “Have it soaked in oil, put adrift, and lit with a single arrow giving him a true heroes farewell.”

      I spent that night crying over having lost my captain, the man who believed in a little junior engineer's warnings and stolen technology. I asked for the captain's log to be brought to me so I may note the events of the great captain Balthis' demise as sunlight showed through the hole in the ceiling. Let it be known that he died doing what he always did, fighting the monsters that were being dropped into our world. Good parting captain Balthis, until we meet again during your next life old friend.