Chapter 61: Captain Tave Can Hit

"Captain–ugh–please," Lusac cried as he attempted to wiggle out from underneath Captain Tave. This was very much not how a Captain should behave.

Tave didn't answer, all his focus was on wrestling Lus. He was stronger and taller than Lus, both of which gave him a distinct advantage in the fight. Lusac did everything he could to free himself from the body on top, but he was also very concerned about not injuring the Captain.

Lus narrowly avoided one punch to the face by flinging his head to the side, and with that opening, he jabbed his hands against Tave's chest and pushed upwards, trying to heave the man off of him and get a clear escape route.

[Dash] was going to do nothing if he was still caught in the hold since Lus wasn't willing to see what happened when he hit someone while using the [Skill], not against the Captain at least. Yonnex-Quniwel's death, and everything which led to it, remained fresh in his mind.

Captain Tave slammed a fist into one of Lusac's elbows, and his arms collapsed down, bringing the entire weight of the man onto his chest. The Captain then used his chance to push Lus's arms down and get his knees over them, pinning Lus to the floor. With that handled, he then put both hands on Lusac's throat and began to squeeze.

Even the boost from the [Power Burger] wasn't enough to get Lus out of this one, especially with the sickness he was already battling.

"[Dash]," Lus muttered with his fleeting breath, giving up on his earlier goal of not causing harm to the man. If he died, all hope of saving the Argo from the Shaquine died with him. He made sure to think hard, activate [Dash] too, to ensure it actually went through.

[Activating Dash for 50 seconds]

Everything slowed, as a breathless Lusac stared up into the murderous eyes of the man who once offered him a second chance at life. With the increased [Speed], he found that he could finally worm his way out of the hold and jerk free of Tave's hands.

Gasping for air, he climbed to his feet, leaving the slow-motion Captain trying to follow suit. Lus wasted no time collecting a couple of pieces of the artifact and then running to the door. As he opened it, he cursed as he found Yrqw still waiting, hands already reaching towards him.

Thanks to his [Dash], it was a simple matter to dance away, and Lus started back down the corridor, his mind busy thinking of where he could safely go to figure out how to use the artifacts as a defense against the Shaquine.

His feet slowed as he glanced back and noticed Yrqw entering Tave's quarters. A terrible thought crossed his mind, causing him to turn back.

Those two were probably going to fight each other to the death, and he wasn't willing to lose another friend–or worse, his Captain–to the Shaquine. He ran back to them, and just as he reached the doorway, his [Dash] ran out.

[Dash deactivating]

[Cooldown: 5 minutes]

All at once the world returned to normal speed, and Yrqw charged forward to meet Captain Tave in the center of the destroyed room.

"No, Yrqw," Lus shouted as he grabbed the Kremel's arm in a futile attempt to separate the two.

Yrqw shook him off with ease, squaring up against the much smaller form of the Captain who still held murder in his eyes. This was going to be bad regardless of who won–though Lus would bet his cryptin on Yrqw if he had to.

"Even with that [+10 Strength], there's no way I'll be able to stop them," Lusac murmured to himself. He needed someone who could contend with Yrqw's size, but all the other Kremel were just as insane and murder-happy as his superior. He could always try dragging Captain Tave out of the room, but Tave was going to try and kill him too so that seemed like it gained him nothing.

What Lus needed was someone he trusted completely, someone immune to the effects of the Shaquine, like him, someone who could step in to help during a fight…

Not someone…

Something!

Channeling all his thoughts into one simple command: [Summon Avil].

Relief filled him when the notification appeared:

[Activating: Summon Avil]

As Yrqw and Tave screamed and punched each other, a lump of disgruntled black fur appeared in Lusac's arms. Avil's single yellow eye stared up at him, his face sleepy.

"Come on, Avil. Time to earn your keep. Become a cyclops and stop this fight." Lus set him on the floor and gestured to the battle.

Avil looked at where he pointed and then back to him. He yawned and arched his back in a big stretch.

"No. No sleeping, Avil. I need you to help me." Lusac crossed his arms, refusing to pet the gentle being rubbing up against his legs.

The cat curled up at his feet, and Lus sighed as he bent down and scooped up the ball.

"Fine. You've forced my hand, cat." Avil in his arms, he went over to where the two remained locked in their intense fist fight. Tave's nose was crooked and leaking blood while Yrqw had a deep gash on his arm which looked suspiciously like a bite wound.

"Break it up, but don't hurt either of them," Lus commanded Avil before launching into the mix. The cat screeched as he flew through the air, twisting wildly until he landed directly on Yrqw's shoulder.

The Kremel used one meaty hand to swipe the cat away. Avil dropped down with a yowl just before Yrqw kicked him to the nearest wall. He thudded against it and then collapsed to the ground.

"Avil!" Lus started towards his companion, but Tave got in the way, throwing a fist into his stomach.

As Lusac faced his opponent, he noticed a familiar black gloop pile where Avil originally laid that was expanding rapidly. He ducked under another punch from the Captain and landed his own blow into the man's shoulders, knocking him back a few steps. Lus took his chance to run away just as the full cyclops form of Avil rose up from the floor.

It wasn't quite as large as the final form Lus faced all those weeks ago in the cargo bay, but it was still bigger than Yrqw and probably any other Kremel on board. Avil was black and furry still, but with rippling muscles underneath it and four legs to give him extra support.

Avil roared as Yrqw lashed out at him and grabbed the Kremel's fist before using it to throw his entire body to the floor. Yrqw tried to regain his feet, but two of Avil's legs stomped on his chest.

"Careful, Avil. Don't hurt him too bad," Lus chided. "We can't seriously injure anyone, okay?"

The cyclops growled, leaving his feet on Yrqw to hold the Kremel down but not taking any further action to harm him.

This left Tave who had analyzed the new threat and chosen to continue after his original target. He dashed towards Lus with a sharp piece of broken pottery in his hand. Lus ducked a swing that would have slashed his neck and grappled Tave, forcing his arms behind his back.

"Enough of this Captain. You're better than the Shaquine. Snap out of it," Lusac urged him.

Tave struggled against him. "N-no. It's too much."

"I can help. We just need the artifact piece. It'll protect us." Lus's eyes scanned the ground until he found one of the pieces which had been scattered during the earlier brawl. He walked himself and Tave over to it.

"Pick it up." He forced Tave to the ground.

The Captain whimpered as he did as he was told, gently grasping the piece in his hands.

"Better?" Lus asked. His [Sixth Sense] warned that more Shaquine had joined them in the room, bringing the total count up to four.

"No," the Captain snarled.

Before Lus could react, he leapt upwards and once again grabbed Lus in a chokehold.

"A-avil," Lusac stammered as he futilely tried to push the Captain's hands away. Tave's grip remained firm as he squeezed down, crushing Lus's airway.

Spots were dancing before Lus's vision when all at once he could breathe again. Coughing, he absently watched cyclops-Avil rip Tave away and threw him onto Yrqw.

"Separate. Can't hurt… each other," Lus whispered, hoping the cyclops kept the sensitive hearing of a cat.

Apparently he did, because Avil picked Captain Tave up in one hand and tossed him into the closet. The cyclops then returned his attention to the dazed Yrqw, ensuring the Kremel remained on the floor as Lus went to the closet door and locked it, keeping the Captain safe–for now.

Avil then followed him out the door and into the hallway. Lus did a quick short circuit of the door mechanism to keep it closed, thus ensuring Yrqw wouldn't be a problem going forward either. It was only drops in the bucket for what really needed to happen, but at least he was doing something to help after having caused this entire mess.

"I don't understand," Lus said as they walked through the hallway. He tried not to think of Yonnex-Quniwel's body just behind them. "Why didn't the artifact work? Last time it protected me. I can't imagine it only works for people with a system. Maybe it was only on the planet?

"I need a break." He sighed as he realized that the exhaustion was already starting to return. And he was still running a fever, resulting in his clothes being drenched in sweat. "And a shower. Or a bath. Dousing myself in cool, refreshing water sounded wonderful right–"

Lusac stopped walking. The artifact wasn't the only change on his return from the temple back on Aschir Alpha.

"There were no Shaquine outside the temple where all the water was. Or any in the flooded hallway. I didn't run into them again until the pond room, after I swam up to the surface and was soaking wet…" He slapped his forehead. "Avil, it's not the artifact after all. It's water. We have to get everyone wet."

The cyclops offered a throaty screech in reply that Lus took to mean "whatever you say."

He bit his lip. Getting water on everyone was going to be hard, and he technically didn't know for sure that regular water would work. What if it needed to be the infection water from Aschir Alpha? Then they were screwed.

The first thing they needed to do was test this theory out. And if he was right, doing so would give him someone with a clear enough mind to help him puzzle out how to accomplish the rather large feat of dousing everyone on the ship with water in a timely fashion and then figuring out how to get the Shaquine off the Argo permanently.

"Who should it be," Lus murmured as he resumed walking.

He'd need to find a water source. The kitchen would work for that, or the garden deck. He could always go back to Tave's quarters where Yrqw waited. The only problem would be getting the water. Most quarters were only equipped with a small fill station for getting drinking water since all bathroom facilities used the hyper technology with air waves to do things like flush toilets and wash hands.

But the garden deck would have a lot of access points and hoses which would make the task far easier. He would just use whoever was there–unless it was Relf. Not even a ship-wide crisis could convince him to work with that lug.

"Garden deck is down a few floors. You might want to shrink down, Avil." Lus looked back at his hulking cyclops companion.

The cyclops snarled and remained as he was. They reached the ladders down without any problems and descended several floors to Deck 5 where the garden space was. There were several crewmates in the hallway who all sulked into the shadows upon seeing Lus and Avil, no one willing to take on such a large threat.

They soon arrived at the garden deck and inside they discovered Lus's next test subject.