The Final Flash of Lightning

You settle down, practicing your breathing as Sensei taught you, and enter a meditative state. You feel it instantly. The Mantle of the Walker. And it’s… Massive. Your mind reels a little, wondering how your body could even contain such a power. You feel the Haze swarming to protect you, an old friend, attempting to guard your psyche against an absolute wealth of knowledge. You realize your heart is pounding, but after some more steady breaths, you feel your heartbeat slow again. Your new approach is gentle, cautious, even. Like sitting at the top of a slide, and gripping the sides the whole way down. You’re certain it’s been hours, but you feel comfortable. Calm. And then you reach. Balio Sondern. Lightning in the Wind. The day of his demise.

Alarms blare as smoke fills the Maelstrom. You look back, eyes scanning frantically across your crew mates, until your gaze settles on your younger brother. Blood pools from his brow where he must have smacked his head against the control terminal. Your stomach flips. You know. Mist isn’t ready for this.

Oliver West: “Balio, we just got fucking boarded.”
Nei Shou: “Babe, guns are down!”
Annwen: “They just blew the fucking power core!”

Panic begins to divide the crew as they scramble to right all of these wrongs, but you’ve already seen it… Ships don’t survive this kind of damage. And rarely do their captains.

Lightning (Balio): “Shut up!”

The crew quiets immediately. Everyone looks to you. Lightning in the Wind freezes, but Balio doesn’t. You call upon Raemus’ lessons, and remember the way of the Walker. Persevere. Carry on. Fight.

Lightning (Balio): “Oliver, Yawan, Nei-Nei -- you’re on point. Shoot anything that doesn’t walk on two legs. Annwen, I need those escape pods ready ASAP. Ricardo, take Mist. He’s not going to be able to walk like that.”

As orders fly from your mouth, men and women leap to action, throwing each other their guns and strapping on their armor. As the airlock door bursts -- Sammy would likely guess a powder charge, but Balio knew the Barathus used synthetics -- you pull a tactical laser pistol from under the captain’s chair. For a moment your fingers fumble on the grip. Panic is making you pull from too many at once. You push away Lightning, and throttle Sammy. Raemus and Balio would be good enough for this.

Mist: “Give me a gun.”

You look over to your brother, who is shakily accepting a pistol from Ricardo. For a moment, there is a lingering protest from Lightning, but he isn’t here. He couldn’t cut it. All guns were needed.

Lightning (Balio): “Let’s move, people. Eyes on the prize.”

As a group, you wade out of the command deck, and into the mess. The smoke is thick in here, but you can hear the Barathu rubbing up against the walls. They’d have to squeeze through some of the hallways, which would buy you all time. Without command, your people move. Lasers lash out from one of the service bays, but Nei dodges the ray, and responds with the hasty toss of a grenade. The first Barathu dies, and you move onto the engineering bay.

That’s where it all went wrong. Twelve Barathu, all swarming out of the broken airlock. A halo of gunfire. Yawan goes down from a bullet in his neck. You all dive for cover. You pick up Yawan, ears ringing, your paws covered in blood as you attempt to stop the bleeding. Nei is screaming something at you, but you can’t hear her. Yawan dies.

Nei grabs your arm, and pulls your head to the side. Oliver’s eye is blown out, with a corresponding hole bursting out of the back of his head. The nanites have all gone dark. Lightning comes to the forefront, pushing Raemus aside. Mist… Oh gods, where’s Mist? There. Next to Ricardo. They’re firing back at the Barathu. Your brother was never very good with guns. So stuck on those outdated bow and arrows...

Nei: “Balio! We gotta go!”

Annwen snarls as a laser black sears her neck, but the wound isn’t fatal. Nei rips a cord on her grenade belt, and throws the entire thing over the barricade. The Barathu scream in alarm. There is a blinding flash, and the world rocks. Annwen lifts you up by your shoulders, and you all start running. But as the last Barathu fades from the deck of the Maelstrom, an order is given from afar. Another blast wracks the ship, and the front of it explodes. Everything goes black for a moment, your body floating freely in space, before it all comes crashing down.

Ricardo’s hand slides from the emergency airlock door in the escape bay, leaving a trail of blood as his palm skates down the wall. Mist is leaned up against the door, his eyes falling out of focus as he goes into shock. Where’s Nei? Where’s Annwen? You try to ask the question, but you can’t speak…

Mist: “Brother!”

Mist is suddenly standing over you, holding something against your neck. You swear he was just on the other wall… Ah. Now you get it. Funny. You’ve seen it happen so many times before, but never like this. When you died before, it was always violent. This is… Slow. The gentle shutdown as you bleed out on the floor.

But Mist was alive. Vaughn kept his promise.

Ricardo: “Oh, Captain.”

The Android gasps, his eyes filled to the brim with tears. But he knows what has to be done. You nod at him. He understands. The remainder of the Maelstrom groans, chain reactions building as floating shrapnel pelts the wreckage of the ship.

Ricardo: “Mist. We have to leave. He’s gone.”

You look into your brother’s eyes. It’s time. If only you could speak… You would say.

Lightning: “I’m sorry, buddy. I was supposed to hold onto it longer…”
Mist: “I can’t hear you -- what are you trying to say? Brother? Brother!”
Lightning: “Just don’t… Just don’t wear it like I did.”

Someone speaks, but you can’t hear them. Everything’s in a fog.

Yeah… This part you remember.

Just like last time.

Going… Going… Gone.