Ryan frantically looked for Étién in the forest below using Luna, the two Wizard’s Eyes, and even the four repair drones. He suspected she’d gone looking for the one responsible for the blood trails he’d found not far into the forest. He also recalled almost finding nothing in the same spot twice, so if he…

A repair drone spotted movement in the forest below it.

Ryan readied Luna’s turret and jumped to the spot.

A small tree flew from the forest, striking the repair drone and breaking two of its fairy wings, causing it to tumble in the air for a moment until Ryan got it back under control with its FTL.

Jaren arrived at the airlock and grabbed a plasma pistol from a locker, still wearing only a towel, “Open the door! I can distract whatever’s attacking her!”

Ryan spotted something through the foliage, “Just a sec. I’m taking Luna in for a closer look.”

Ryan pointed the airlock towards the forest below and used Luna to ram through the canopy, causing several trees to break and fall over.

Ryan couldn’t see behind Luna with the working sensor or the turret, so he jumped the Mk. II above to replace the damaged repair drone.

A large man stood there, another tree in hand. He was nude except for a loincloth. His head was bald, was missing a nose, had one brown and one blue eye, and his face looked like a patchwork of skin of varying hues. His body was a patchwork too, with four arms, muscles too large for a normal man, and even more patchwork skin, some of which looked like it was rotting.

Étién was crouching in a tree behind him. She looked exhausted, was covered in scratches, and held her left arm to her body.

The patchwork man hurled the tree at Luna, causing it to shatter on impact.

Ryan decided he would open the airlock long enough to let Jaren out and use the drones and Luna to deal with the patchwork man. He trusted Étién’s speed to keep her safe long enough for him to distract the patchwork man and let her escape.

Becky, Sashae, Aoi, Mikan, and Saki entered the airlock. Both Becky and Sashae had put on their space suits.

Ryan would let none of them but Jaren go out, not unless he had no other choice, “I think only Jaren should go out. Becky. Sashae. I know you want to help, but there’s no way you can fight that thing. Jaren can tank that thing, but you can’t.”

He showed them a hologram showing the Mk. II’s view, and now the Mk. I.

Becky put a hand on her hip and scowled, “I’m not going to sit in here while our friend is in danger!”

Sashae nodded eagerly in approval, “We help Étién,”

Jaren turned to the door, “Hurry!”

The patchwork man turned back to Étién and lept at her.

Étién jumped from the tree, barely dodging the attack.

Becky suddenly looked less confident, “Uh… that thing’s almost as fast as Étién.”

Jaren pointed up, “Move Luna up some after you let me out. These two can snipe it.”

Ryan watched as Étién tried to get closer to Luna, only to get blocked by the patchwork man.

Ryan shot it with Luna’s particle beam cannon.

The shot hit the man’s head, but all it did was make a black mark on his skin.

The man ignored Luna and lunged after Étién again.

Ryan swore, “The particle beam barely hurt it.”

Becky’s face went white, “How tough is that thing?”

Jaren put her hand on the airlock door, “Open this already! Étién looks exhausted, and it's not letting her get away!”

Jaren was right. The patchwork man easily cut Étién off, no matter what direction she tried to go, either by blocking her directly or throwing a bush or large branch at her as she jumped, knocking her to the ground.

Ryan cracked the airlock open just enough for Jaren to squeeze through, “Alright, see if you can distract it.”

Ryan fired another shot at the same spot and hit it, making the skin blister. He also started shooting with the Mk. I and Mk. II, but with limited success.

Aoi shrieked and fled back to the main deck as the patchwork man turned to stare at the crew as they fired at him.

Saki turned invisible.

Jaren jumped through and charged towards the patchwork man, her towel falling off as it caught on the airlock.

As soon as Jaren was through, Ryan raised Luna higher off the ground.

Becky and Sashae took several shots, but the particle beam rifles were much weaker than Luna's and barely left any sign of impact.

The patchwork man turned away from Luna again and howled in rage when it saw Étién had used the distraction to get a respectable distance away. He turned, his leg muscles and veins bulging, and jumped at her. The jump sent dirt and forest refuse flying at Luna, and covered half the distance to Étién.

Ryan saw bruises forming on the man’s legs, and it looked like he’d slowed down some. Had the jump injured his legs?

Étién shrieked as a rock narrowly missed her head, and she jumped again.

Jaren narrowed her eyes as she continued to charge at the patchwork man and heard her whisper to herself, “I wonder…”

Jaren raised her plasma pistol and fired, hitting a rotting section of the man’s skin.

The plasma shot easily penetrated the rotting skin, causing the patchwork man to howl in pain as it burned into his flesh.

Jaren smiled and turned her head and upper body to face Luna as she continued to run towards the patchwork man, “Shoot the rotting spots!”

Becky nodded, and looked less despondent, “We’ve got this, Étién!”

Becky hit a different patch of rotting skin, causing the man to howl in pain a second time as the particle beam pierced even deeper than the plasma had.

Still, the man looked as focused as ever on Étién and lept at her.

Saki appeared above and behind the patchwork man, her arm stretched out towards Étién and her face contorted with hatred.

Just as Étién went to jump, Saki fired a beam of light from her arm, just like they’d seen the green-haired fairy do to the shrew.

The beam of light hit Étién’s leg, causing her to stumble and fall onto her face as she screamed in pain.

Saki turned invisible again, but Ryan heard her say, “Mikan is mine!” before she did.

Becky screamed in anger, “Saki, why!?”

Jaren fired a shot where Saki had been, but hit nothing, “Crazy fairy…”

The patchwork man landed next to Étién.

Étién looked up in terror and pushed herself up.

The patchwork man kicked Étién in the stomach, sending her three meters into the air.

Becky shouted in horror as Étién arced through the air, landed with a thud, then rolled into a tree, which she hit hard enough to get the breath knocked out of her and stunning her. Somehow, she’d held onto her rapier.

Ryan shot the patchwork man with Luna and the drones and scored two hits on bits of rotting flesh, Luna’s particle beam cannon causing far more damage than the crew or drones.

The patchwork man howled in rage and pain, then picked Étién up by her leg. He then held her between him and Luna.

Everyone stopped firing.

Jaren slowed to a jog, “Crap!”

The patchwork man ignored Jaren, and instead watched Luna’s turret. Jaren noticed this and picked up speed.

Becky looked up, “Ryan! Lower Luna! We can’t hit it from here!”

Ryan didn’t even think and did.

Becky and Sashae jumped out as soon as Luna was low enough and rushed towards the man.

The patchwork man finally noticed Jaren and grinned, then charged at her.

Jaren met the patchwork man and ducked past Étién as the man swung at her with two of his free hands.

Jaren fired just moments before the man’s fists slammed into her side, the plasma getting a glancing hit to some rotting flesh.

Jaren had taken the full brunt of the man’s two punches and slammed into the ground hard.

Ryan saw she looked fine as she immediately began pushing herself up and focused on finding a gap to shoot the patchwork man.

Becky stopped running just long enough to get shot off with her particle beam rifle, hitting the patchwork man’s leg.

The patchwork man fell to a knee and turned towards Becky. Then he turned away and sprinted into the forest.

Ryan fired at the other leg, blowing the calf muscle apart, and leaving only that tough skin to hold his leg in one piece.

The man tried to stand, but with both his legs severely injured, he fell back down. When he saw he couldn’t run anymore, he looked at Étién.

His face showed a moment of surprise.

Étién had recovered and raised her rapier, where she stabbed the patchwork man in the eye, “Let me go!”

The man howled and flung Étién away as it grabbed at his now destroyed eye.

Étién’s head cracked hard into a tree, and she fell limply to the ground.

Becky pointed to Étién, “Sashae! Get Étién!”

Ryan moved the drones in and started shooting the patchwork man again. Thanks to his severe wounds, he couldn’t dodge, and plasma and particle beams tore into him.

It only took a few seconds to finish him with help from Jaren and Becky.

Sashae reached Étién and knelt next to her, “Still alive! Very injure!”

Ryan brought Bob over, “Let’s get her to the med bay! Bob can take her!”

Sashae gently lifted Étién and placed her in Bob’s manipulator arms, “Fast!”

Jaren kicked at the patchwork man’s corpse, “I’ll stay here and make sure he is dead while you help Étién.” She looked down, blushed, and covered her nakedness with her free hand, “And maybe get me some clothes or the towel?”

Bob immediately took Étién back to Luna.

Becky followed behind Bob, “Let me know if I can help!”

Ryan finally felt a flood of emotions hit him. Yes, he’d been worried and scared Étién wouldn’t make it, but now he felt anger along with the worry and fear. Why had she gone alone? Why had Saki attacked her too?

Mikan waited in med bay as Bob came and dropped her off on a bed.

He’s seen and remembered how to use most of the tools, but still wished Mayu was here.

What bad timing.

Étién, you idiot!

Étién’s scan started, and immediately Ryan didn’t like what he saw. She had a skull fracture, internal bleeding in her brain, lungs, and several other organs, a broken left arm and several broken ribs. She also had several dozen cuts, but none of them were terrible, so he ignored those.

Ryan thought about what tools he could use. He knew what most of them did, but not how to use them. Mayu had no patients or cadavers to practice with, and even then, much of this was beyond her skills, but he was sure she would do better than he could.

Étién coughed up some blood.

Ryan started panicking, and Mikan started opening drawers frantically. He found a device with a tube attached to it he could use to clear the blood from her lungs, and another device to oxygenate her blood. Still, he had to do something about the bleeding in her brain. The scan already showed brain damage and… there were thousands of nanites flooding to her brain and other damaged organs, where they’d started repairing the tissue.

It wasn’t enough. The nanites were helping, but there was too much damage. If only he could get more…

Ryan opened the door to the resurrection chamber, “My brain vat!”

His nanites and the nanites from Mljos Tersa didn’t like each other, but he had many more so his would have to overpower hers first before they could help. If they could help at all...

Ryan picked up Étién with Bob and took her to his brain vat. He wasn’t sure what the nanites could do to help, but it was better than letting her die. The vat also had most of the life support tools the med bay had, so could help there too.

The vat drained partially, and Ryan removed Étién’s armor and clothes while it did so.

Bob slipped Étién into the brain vat, and Ryan closed the window.

Tubes snaked towards her body, much the same as they had for Mikan, and found their places.

A grey mist materialized in the water, coming from the source of the tubes and his brain, and snaked towards her body. The mist reminded Ryan of the medicine Niamh had given him and Mikan. There was much more this time, so he wondered if it was merely his brain vat flushing in more nanites to help with the healing.

He hoped if it was Niamh’s drug, it wouldn’t work on Étién since she had a soul.

Étién’s heart rate appeared in his system. It was showing a fast heart rate, but he didn’t know what was bad or good, but, so long as her heart was still beating, he saw it as a good sign.

Ryan checked on the others.

Becky was pacing outside med bay, and looked extremely worried.

Aoi was with Becky and looked confused.

Sashae had fetched Jaren’s towel, and the two dragged the patchwork man’s corpse to Luna.

Saki was nowhere to be seen.

Mikan entered the hallway and approached Becky, “It’s not looking good for Étién. I’m not even sure Mayu could do much, since she’s not a surgeon. There were some nanites in her body that were helping, but they weren’t enough, so I put her in my brain vat. I don’t know if my nanites can help or if they’ll make things worse, but I couldn’t think of anything else.”

Becky pursed her lips and wiped some tears from her eyes, “Why’d this have to happen while Mayu’s gone? I know we haven’t known Étién for long, but she’s such a sweet girl and she doesn’t deserve this…”

Mikan clenched her fist, “Why’d she have to go off on her own? She knew we’d help her if she asked.”

Becky looked at the ceiling, “Maybe she wanted to do this on her own? I heard how people talk about her. How they make fun of how weak she is. Maybe she thought if she could catch this killer without help, people would respect her?”

Ryan thought that made sense, “Or maybe she just wanted to look and couldn’t get away? I’d like to think she’s smart enough to know when something’s too strong for her.”

Becky still stared at the ceiling, “Yeah, maybe that’s it.”

Mikan turned to go to the deck below and scowled, “We also need to find Saki and…”

Anton opened his comm, “Ryan, can ya come get us? We’re finding lots of stuff and it’ll take a while for us to move it into Luna.”

Ryan noticed Sashae and Jaren had only dragged the patchwork man halfway back to Luna, “Give us a minute. Étién, uh… found the guy that was killing people in the forest. Étién… Well, she got hurt real bad and I’m not sure she’ll live.”

Anton’s face fell, “That sucks… Did ya kill the guy?”

Anton showed him the feed of Jaren and Sashae, pulling the patchwork man’s body to Luna, “Yep. We’re gonna grab his body and head over.”

Anton’s eyes went wide, “That guy’s huge! He’s even got four arms!”

Mikan turned to Becky, “Let’s go help Jaren and Sashae pull the patchwork man to Luna. Anton wants us to head back to the cave, and there’s nothing we can do here.”

Becky pursed her lips again and watched the resurrection room’s door, before nodding and turning towards the hatch to the lower deck, “Yeah, we can look for Saki later. I’m not sure I want to deal with her right now, anyway.”

Once Becky started helping Jaren and Sashae, they easily pulled the patchwork man’s body to Luna, and soon they were back at the cave.

Anton was waiting for them near the mouth of the cave, with several piles of items stacked near him.

Once the airlock opened, he jumped in, found the patchwork man’s body, and kicked it repeatedly, “That’s for hurting Ryan’s girlfriend.”

Ryan ignored Anton’s comment, as he wasn’t in the mood for pointless quips, and fluttered towards the items with Mikan, “Let’s get started bringing that treasure onboard. I’ll get the repair drones to help. The patchwork man damaged one, so it’ll just be three of ‘em.”

Anton stomped on the patchwork man’s head again, then turned back to the airlock, “It’s mostly those weird black balls ya find in animals. That dragon ate a ton of ‘em. Still don’t know how those cat girls could stomach digging through all that dragon poo.”

Ryan could imagine an animal that large would have an equally enormous appetite, “Huh, I didn’t notice. No way I was gonna poke around that stuff.”

Anton looked down the hallway leading away from the airlock, “Becky and Sashae not helping?”

Becky had gone back to her room.

Sashae was playing music in the resurrection room for Étién.

Mikan looked at the patchwork man, “No. They… well. Becky needs some space and Sashae is playing some music for Étién.

Anton turned back towards the patchwork man, “If only I was there too…”

Mikan shook her head, “Let’s not go there.”

Jaren jumped down from the deck above. She was no longer naked, and now wore the loose robe he had printed for her, “Ah… Can’t we come back later? Maybe after we know Étién is gonna be okay? Doesn’t feel right loadin’ up treasure while she’s like this.”

Anton looked at his feet, “Yeah.”

Galette walked to the base of the ramp, “She will not mind. It’s not like she will know.”

Anton balled his fist, “Maybe. But it’s just…”

Galette turned away and looked at a nearby pile of black orbs, “It would be a waste of time to leave and come back.”

Anton stomped down the ramp and grabbed a pile of orbs, “Yeah, whatever…”

Jaren looked at Galette with irritation, and it looked like the two shared a heated telepathic discussion.

Ryan understood Jaren and Anton’s anger at Galette’s attitude, but he knew she was right, “Let’s just get this done. I’m watching Étién with Sashae, so I don’t think we need to stop everything.”

Jaren relaxed but still looked upset, “Yeah.”

The repair drones arrived and started loading things into their parts containers.

Anton glanced at the repair drones, “Let’s hurry, anyway.”

Ryan focused his attention on the Mk. II while he loaded the treasure into Luna. He was not looking forward to what he needed to do next, but knew it was the right thing to do.

The Mk. II jumped above the gate leading to the Aos Si embassy, then lowered it in front of the guards watching the gate.

A guard turned to the Mk. II, “State your business.”

“Lady Étién was badly injured in combat, and might die. I am currently caring for her on the ship, Luna, and wanted to inform her mother of the… uh… situation and that she should come visit her daughter just in case…”

The guard nodded, then ran through the gate and into the embassy.

Ryan hoped Niamh wouldn’t come to Luna to find a dead Étién, and Mikan started crying as he thought about the worst happening.