The Genesis Saga Chapter 203

Jyn collapsed into a boneless heap on the ground. His primal howls of pure agony sent shockwaves rippling through the rest of the group, so grotesque were they. Jyn’s comms had been set to speak out loud for all to hear. The gru’ul that had shot him raised its gun towards Adrian again, only to be shot in the head by another soldier that had entered the room before it could get another shot off.

Adrian imdiately focused his attention on Jyn and knelt down. “Jyn!” he cried out. He looked up and saw the sa soldier that had dispatched the gru’ul aiming his gun towards Jyn. Adrian jumped in front to block the shot. “Don’t shoot!” he yelled.

More soldiers filed into the room, the fighting on the other side of the wall’s aperture finished. They rallied behind the soldier still aiming his gun at Jyn, forming a group around Jyn’s spasming body. Jyn writhed on the ground, his back arched unnaturally squird into positions they hadn’t thought possible.

“He is suffering,” the soldier said, refusing to lower his gun. “He deserves release from his pain.” He put his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot. He didn’t, however, as Adrian was still in the way.

“He’s the one leading ground operations for the mission,” Adrian said quickly, trying to find any reason he could to save Jyn’s life. “He doesn’t deserve to die a miserable death here on the gru’ul’s ho world.”

“And the others did?” the soldier sneered. “My friends died to save you, shot by the very sa chemical where death was the only rcy I could grant them! People I’ve known for decades, dead! All because you got captured. Do you think your life is worth the countless deaths my people are incurring just to satisfy High Command’s ego?”

Adrian was at a loss, unsure how to respond. “No,” he replied sadly. “I thought I was going to die strapped to an operating table. I don’t even know how you found . My life is not worth your people’s. Especially not when every person is needed to fight on Verilia for your very survival.”

“You’re damn right!” the soldier said hotly. “Give one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot through you to grant your friend the sa fate I was ordered to give mine.”

“Because then their deaths will have been for nothing,” Adrian spat. “I never asked for you to save , but here you are, doing so in the interest of your faction. You don’t know everything behind the events that led us to this mont. Who are you to question High Command?”

The soldier hesitated, unwilling to commit treason over his emotions. “Fine,” he said, lowering his gun. “But Captain Jyn still needs to be put out of his misery.” Jyn’s harrowing screams only grew worse the more ti passed. “Look at him!” the soldier continued. “Do you really want him to suffer so?”

The hesitation on Adrian’s face was plain as day. He knew first hand just how awful the gru’ul chemical weapons were. Though he might dislike Jyn after all that he’d done since freeing him, he didn’t want him to suffer the sa way he and Reya had. He would never wish such cruelty upon another human or a’vaare. “Let bring him back to the ship where our doctor can treat him,” Adrian pleaded. “Jyn doesn’t deserve to die because I made a mistake.”

“Have it your way,” the soldier replied, finally taking his finger off the trigger. “Just know that you condemned him to a fate worse than death because of your pride.”

The truth of the soldier’s words stung Adrian, but he stood firm defending Jyn. “I’ll carry him to the back to the ship if I have to,” he said.

Rann caught up to the rest of the group and joined Adrian at the forefront of what was happening. “All soldiers fall in line,” she ordered. “Captain Jyn is no longer able to carry out his duties, aning command falls to .” She spared a brief glance towards Jyn, who was still screaming. “I want everybody to retreat back to their ships and ready themselves to join the rest of the fleet back in orbit.” Rann eyed the explosives installed throughout the room. Before, murdering the unborn might have bothered her. After seeing her Captain writhe in such pain left her with little compassion for the monsters that had weaponized sothing so awful. “Once we clear the room and are safely aboard our ships, I want these explosives detonated,” she said in a tone that could cut steel.

Every soldier acquiesced and imdiately followed Rann’s orders. Adrian scooped Jyn into his arms, using his strength to maintain a steady hold on him, despite Jyn’s efforts to rid himself of his pain. “What should I do now?” Adrian asked Rann.

“Mount my hover bike behind ,” Rann said. “Are you able to keep a steady hold on Jyn while we retreat back to the ship?” she asked. Given Jyn’s futile struggle against Adrian’s grip, she hoped that Adrian would be able to stabilize Jyn during the short flight into the ship’s hangar. Rann chewed her lip. She would have to fly slowly so that nobody would fall.

Adrian nodded. “I’ll manage,” he said. “Lead the way and let’s get out of here.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Rann said. She turned and ran towards her bike with Adrian right behind her. Soldiers were already airborne and on their way out of the opening Tassie had blown into the spire. Rann wasted no ti and as soon as Adrian was stable behind her, she gingerly took off and joined the others.

Beor and Eimir escorted her slow trip to the ship, ensuring that she would remain protected during the flight. Adrian wobbled dangerously when Jyn thrashed particularly aggressively but managed to hold on. Rann’s heart jumped into her throat as she adjusted the hoverbike to keep Adrian from falling off. High as they were, the fall would be fatal. All it took was one slip.

The team made it back to the ship without any further problems, much to Rann’s relief. The second she landed, she contacted Kell over their comms. “Kell!” Rann barked. “et us in the d bay, Jyn’s been shot, and we need you.”

“Already there,” Kell replied. “Co quickly as soon as you can so I can treat Jyn.”

Adrian wasted no ti and bounded down the ship’s halls towards the d bay with Jyn still in his arms. Despite his aversion to the room and anything resembling an operating table, he didn’t slow down as he burst through the doors and searched for Kell.

“Put him on this cot here,” Kell instructed, pointing towards the empty bed further into the room. He couldn’t help but flinch at the horrible screams coming from Jyn but pushed through to take care of his team mate. Adrian complied while Kell fetched physical restraints.

Adrian held Jyn as still as he could while Kell fastened him to the cot. Normally, he would be against restraining soone. One look at Jyn swiftly disabused him of that philosophy. Jyn needed treatnt, and he wouldn’t be able to get it if Kell couldn’t even approach him. All the while, Jyn’s screaming never stopped.

Kell imdiately set to work and removed Jyn’s helt. He glanced towards Adrian and said, “You don’t need to be here for this. Let take care of him the best I can, and I’ll call you back once he’s stable.”

“He took that shot for ,” Adrian said quietly, his gaze trained on Jyn. “I don’t know if he knew what he was going to be shot with, but that should be on that bed right now.” He looked up towards Kell. “Take care of him,” he said. “Please, just make his pain go away. Jyn doesn’t deserve such suffering.”

Kell nodded. “I’ll do the best I can. Go join the others on the bridge and prepare to enter hyperspace. We still need to make it out of the gru’ul ho system safely.”

Adrian’s brows raised in surprise. “Is that where we are?” he asked. Kell glared at him and Adrian got the ssage. “I’ll leave you to it and ask soone else,” he said, but Kell was too focused on Jyn to notice. Adrian left the d bay and ran towards the bridge as fast as he could.

When he got there, Rann was sitting in Jyn’s usual chair, giving orders to the rest of the team. She spotted Adrian. “Go sit over there,” she said, pointing towards her usual station. “Strap in and get ready for a bumpy ride.” Adrian did as he was instructed and was soon strapped in. Once everybody was accounted for, Rann conferred directly with the Fleet Commander to provide an update on the situation.

The Fleet Commander ordered an imdiate retreat for all units once the ships planet-side joined them in space. She understood that Rann’s ship was now their priority payload to protect and instructed the rest of the fleet to give their lives so that the data crystal in Ava’s possession could make it back to Verilia.

Rann relayed the order to enter orbit to Tassie, and the ship jerked sharply as she complied. Various holoscreens floated around Rann as she took in the battle raging between the fleet and the two gru’ul motherships. She ran countless scans while barking orders to Beor and Eimir on where to focus their fire. As soon as a path was cleared, Rann ordered Tassi to enter hyperspace.

Tassie oriented the ship and within monts, they winked out of existence, leaving the gru’ul ho world behind.

***

A collective sigh of relief resounded in the silence dominating the bridge. Rann slumped in her chair and ran a hand over her face. “We made it,” she said, her voice shaky. “Holy hells, we actually pulled that off.” She looked around the room and saw the sa relief etched on everyone’s face.

Rann allowed herself a brief mont to relish in the simple feeling of being alive. Once her rapidly beating heart stopped thundering in her chest, she snapped back to attention. “Tassie,” she said, “how long until we make it back to Verilia?”

“Approximately one month,” Tassie confird. She grimaced as she read the latest reports regarding the fighting back ho, provided to her by the Fleet Commander before jumping into hyperspace. “Even once we get back to Verilia, we still have to make it to the main base. That’s going to be nothing short of a miracle, given what I’m seeing in these reports.”

Rann grimaced. “How bad is it?” she asked. A new holoscreen appeared before her, sent directly by Tassie. Rann took a mont to scan its contents, her expression turning ugly. “That’s going to be tough,” she said. “We still have a month to strategize how we want to approach the battle. Hopefully, the Fleet Commander will be doing the sa.”

“The only problem is that there’s so much that could change in a month,” Tassie fretted. “Already, the amount of debris is going to alter our flight path and entry point. The sheer number of ships lost in this war is staggering. And that’s not counting gru’ul casualties.”

“Adrian,” Rann said, turning to face him, “how is Jyn doing? Can Kell help him?” she asked.

Adrian hesitated. “Not well,” he replied. “Kell shooed out of the d bay pretty quickly so that they could take care of him. That was right before we jumped into hyperspace.”

Rann took off her helt and ran her fingers through her damp hair. “I’ll go check on him,” she said. “Everybody, take so ti to rest. You all deserve it after that. We can et back here in a couple of hours to decide what to do next.” She received a weak chorus of affirmatives and promptly stood up from her chair.

Leaving the bridge, she strode through the ship towards the d bay. Though their ship wasn’t the largest, it was still large enough to give her ti to contemplate the situation as she neared her destination. A faint sound echoed throughout the halls as she approached. Though faint, it deeply unsettled her. With each passing step, the sound grew, and Rann eventually identified it as screams.

Jyn’s screams.

Even at the door right outside the d bay, Rann could hear them filtering through the doors. She paled, wondering just how loud the screaming must be for her to hear it through the doors. She approached with trepidation, and they opened. She was imdiately hit by an utterly horrific screech coming from Jyn loud enough to hurt her ears. Rann turned green as she approached Kell, who was quickly preparing a syringe to inject Jyn with.

Kell noticed Rann. “None of the sedatives I’m giving him are working!” he scread at the top of his lungs when Rann was finally close enough to hear him. He returned his gaze back to Jyn. The only answer he’d co up with was to induce a coma, much the sa way he’d done with Reya when she was rescued from the facility in the Arvis sector.

Kell knew that adding any other sedatives to the mix would be dangerous to Jyn’s life. Without hesitation, he jabbed Jyn with the needle and injected the powerful dication that would hopefully grant him so asure of peace. He and Rann waited nervously as Jyn’s screams slowly quieted, and his thrashing stopped.

“What did you do to him?” Rann asked, still trying not to be sick

“Induced a coma,” Kell said simply. His shoulders sagged. “That was horrific,” he said. “I hope never to hear those sounds from another living being again.” He eyed Jyn with pity as he teared up. “Tassie once told there were screams she would never unhear. I think I finally understand what she ant now.”

A shudder passed through Rann. She agreed wholeheartedly. She flashed back to the day Tassie, Adrian and Reya had returned from the ship, out of sorts after having witnessed one of Adrian’s experints. “Will Jyn be alright?” she asked. “When will he wake up?”

“I don’t know,” Kell responded. “He seems to have been hit by a particularly heavy dose of the substance if his screams were anything to go by.” He’d heard many screams from wounded soldiers during his career as an army doctor. None of them compared in the slightest to Jyn’s howls of agony.

After Adrian left, Kell had imdiately tried a particularly potent sedative to hopefully relieve Jyn of his pain. It had made no discernable difference. So he used another that could safely be used in addition the one he’d just administered. And still it hadn’t made a difference.

After frantically rummaging through his supplies for a third one, he realized that if he used another one on Jyn, it might outright kill him. His solution had been a coma, and that was the best he could do. He knew not if Jyn was still feeling the pain, only now trapped in his body, unable to find an outlet for it.

Rann eyed her Captain, whose sleeping face hardly looked peaceful despite his lack on consciousness. “Mind if I stay hear a little while?” she asked. Kell nodded and drew up a spare chair for her as well as one for him. Together they sat and watched over their leader, hoping that he would wake up and be able to recover. Despite everything that Jyn might have done out of jealousy and spite, both of them silently agreed that he hadn’t deserved his fate.

No one did.