The dry snapping of the commander’s sternum and ribs had filled Josh’s ears with sweet music when he moved in for his finisher.

And then the wussbag had run!

He had been using some type of matter to Essence conversion skill. Josh had almost followed his instincts and automatically moved to flash out the door after the coward, but his legs suddenly stopped and his brain was frozen for the first time since coming to the Brigantine. His heart torn between pursuing the immediate threat and necessarily leaving a wounded Alysa behind.

Or not...

His thoughts raced back to when he had first entered the room and he stood in the portal he had just smashed the door from. Josh’s first sight had been Alysa as she had been dropped to all fours by the release of some telekinetic power of the commander. On hitting the ground, she had scrambled back to a defensive position in the corner. That had been the good news...

The bad news... had been very bad.

She had been stripped down to her underwear and beaten ruthlessly.

Her ulna and radius were sticking out from both wrists and she had a tibial fracture on her right leg. Her face had been crushed multiple times across her orbital bones and cheeks. Surprisingly, his first thought had been objectively devoid of emotion. She was alright.The bastard had been taking the express lane in systematically beating her to death. After that cold calculation, the emotion came. Rage filled Josh like an empty vessel.

After that realization, Josh had been almost overwhelmed with the urge to charge in screaming for vengeance leaving a pureed puddle of Kaizuko behind him. Slowly, he focused his mind with a calming breath and a lot of teeth grinding. He had still been a careless whisper from taking off after that disgusting savage, but his training with Sen and the Sundai had been too dearly earned to forget a warrior’s absolute need of bridling his emotions during combat. Emotions were impossible to avoid for spirit beings. Especially in the defense of family and loved ones. But those feelings had to serve the warrior. Not the other way around. ‘At least it needs to be so if you want to win, Joshua.’ The memory of Sen’s voice echoed in Josh’s mind. By the thinnest of margins, Josh held back and moved in with control like Sen had taught him at least a thousand times.

Besides, what would Alysa have thought of me if I had run in, screeching like a maniac?

After that, the fight had been anticlimactic and Josh was pretty sure Meni, the Mouse Affin could have brought the loser down. Tono the Komodo with his unstoppable naginata would have been able to for certain... But now with the immediate threat dealt with, Josh was stuck between staying to help Alysa and flushing the douchebag down the nearest pay toilet. It was then that Alysa showed him the steel she was made of. She jumped up with minimal wincing, she looked at him as if he was the stupidest man in the multiverse.

She waved him on with her least broken arm and shouted, “What are you doing? Stop standing there like a scared little girl and go get him!”

Shamed back to reality, Josh licked his lips, sure he was making the wrong decision but doing it anyway. He nodded once and took off, speaking in Alysa’s mind as he ran. “Absorb the ones at the door and heal yourself! I’ll be right back!”

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Enhancing his legs and cursing under his breath the cool power of teleportation that he didn’t have, Josh sped out the door looking for where he had felt the Kaizuko’s presence in his mindscape. Strangely the fool was just standing approximately 200 yards away and staring in shock at the destruction Ishan and Lobo had wreaked in his hangar bay.

Good for you! The perfect last sight for me to send you screaming into hell with!

Unfortunately, but as usual, Sen was faster. One quick pommel to the face and the commander’s Mind Aura showed the constant low-level glow of dreamless unconsciousness even before his body even slammed into the wall behind him.

Josh took a last enhanced step and stood over the man’s crumpled body. He slowly raised his sword parallel to the deck in both hands while keeping his shoulders squared. He must have looked every inch the executioner, he was about to become—

Sen lowered his chin and narrowed his eyes. ~He does deserve that... but Alysa would be the first person to tell you that we should get as much information from him as we can, before his time for reintegration with the mortal soul nexus comes.~

~I know you’re right.~ Josh dry-swallowed thickly. I~It’s just really hard...~

Josh clenched his fists around the pommel of his sword until his knuckles were white. With eyes rolling under his lids, he took a cleansing breath...

And stepped away.

Ishan and Lobo, who at this point both qualified for ad honorem master’s degrees in interior destruction, landed on either side of Josh and Sen.

Lobo’s left ear was missing, along with most of the skin on his forehead. Bone showed where the slap bandage he had applied wasn’t covering it. He also had several bloody holes in his leg plates, causing him to walk with a slight limp. Ishan had lost his left paw, and the trailing ends of a tourniquet flapped as he used his stump as effectively as he had his paw. The senior chief adjusted his shoulder weapon and looked at them. With his head up, Josh could tell that his muzzle was also covered in blood but, looking closer, it was more likely the blood there was someone else’s...

The other thing readily apparent was that there was no visible or audible opposition in the hangar. For the moment, the bay was theirs.

“Sirs! There is a party of three approaching under a flag of truce. None are carrying weapons. The sigil on their uniform designates them as administrative command... the Kaizuko who actually man and operate the ship.” He pointed with his bloodied chin at the Kaizuko commander Sen had KOed. “I suspect this lower-life form is the active command. That is, the lead Cultivator on the brigantine.”

The tips of Ishan’s fangs appeared as he snarled. “... I can smell the LT’s scent all over him!” His last few words were growled as much as spoken, revealing several of the sharp and enormous teeth in his maw.

Josh only agreed with the sentiment and clenched his jaw as he reached again for his sword.

“What are your orders, sirs?” Lobo wisely intervened.

His words brought Josh and Ishan back from the edge of the unsalvageable. As if rousing from a trance, Ishan leaned back and fidgeted with the loose ends of his tourniquet while he cleared his head with a shake that snapped his black and orange mane. Josh looked to Sen.

Sen looked back at Josh and nodded. ~This is political, brother.~ Squint. ~We’re on a bloody battlefield!~ Sen chuckled in their mental communication. ~If they start attacking, I’ll gladly take over the discussions... until then, you’re up.~

Josh swallowed and squinted up at Ishan. “I’ll meet them halfway. Please shackle, blindfold, gag, and anything else you can think of to secure this living waste pile. He seems to be able to warp space to teleport, attack with invisible forces, and let physical objects pass through him. He can also move objects with his mind.” Josh finished, giving as much information about the Kaizuko commander as he had, then continued, “After that, take up defensive positions in case this is some form of diversion.”

“Sir!” They both acknowledged.

Josh turned away to head toward the approaching three Kaizuko. Thinking better of it, he took a step back and kicked the commander hard in the nose with a quick enhancement to his lower body. A loud crunching sound indicated that his new cranial fracture included a large portion of his skull. A syrupy gout of blood flowed out his nose and down his chin to confirm this.

“That should keep him quiet for a few micro-gyras until I get back to have a more satisfying conversation.”

Appreciatively nodding, Ishan began pulling bindings and a piece of cloth from a utility bag on the crossed-bandoliers he wore.

Noting the commander’s Mind Aura was at an even lower level of steady illumination, Josh flashed away toward the administrators with one last request of Sen.

~Sen, Alysa was beaten to within an inch of her life. I left her to absorb Essence and start healing. Please check on her?~

~On my way.~

An instant later, Sen sped toward the room Alysa had been kept in. Rolling his eyes at the entire situation, Josh continued toward the approaching three figures in dark crew jumpers. They were climbing over a pile of demolished transport containers that occluded the walkway between some heavy machinery and several destroyed attack ships.

“What could they possibly want to talk about?” He muttered to himself.