Project Enneyac

Project Enneyac
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Warning: Mature Content

Scene Twenty One

Seripa gained access to the medical room with En following after her. The air conditioning was still strong as ever and she could feel the hackle stand up as soon as she entered, the smell of sterilising chemicals packed a punch to her nose as well.

"You know I can heal pretty well myself, it's not like I have a fracture or anything." Said En, her right eye still swollen from Seripa's punches so everything looked raspberry pink through her scouter lense.

"That planet's notorious for cannibalistic aliens, so every part of you body needs to be top shape, take your top off and sit down." Said Seripa as she took off her own scouter, placed it on a table and pointed En to a chair.

While Seripa opened a medical cabinet and retrieved a cloth and a bottle of medicinal alcohol, En took a seat on a back-less chair with wheels. From the waist up she stripped down to her brasserie, took her scouter off and put it on the table facing Seripa's one.

Seripa took another chair and sat in front of En, she tilted the medicinal alcohol onto the thick, prestine white cloth, letting the dark green alcohol soak generously onto it before reverting the bottle to its original position.

"This is going to sting so bear with me, hold it there after I put it on." Said Seripa as she gingerly pressed the soaked cloth over En's swollen eye. En's eyes well up with tears as soon as the cold but strong chemicals start to heal the injuries but she still gentle pressed the cloth against her right eyelid.

"We really need to work on your close combat skills, you may be a pro at energy controls and sneaking around but to this day you still can't take a punch, ironic really 'cause most of your training is done with Mr. Hardknocks himself." Said Seripa as she finished soaking another cloth and pressed it against En's stomach, then with a few swift actions she taped the edges of the cloth and left it there.

En winced again from the unpleasant sensation but she remained where she was.

"You saying that he hasn't trained me hard enough? I made more visits to the regeneration tank more than anyone in this station put together, and that's just counting the first year." Questioned En as she hissed painfully through her teeth.

"You're way over your head kid, if only you've met Kabo..." Seripa stopped in her tracks and looked at the scouters on the table as if they were talking back to her.

"Kabo?" Asked En as she adjusted to the healing process, the sensation has gone from a burning cold sensation to a dulling pain on both parts.

"Bardock doesn't like us talking about him behind his back." Said Seripa.

"But why?"

Seripa continued to not face En, when she knew that En was not going to sit through this quietly without getting an answer out of her, she gave a sigh and spoke again.

"Kabo was our captain before Bardock."

"Yeah? So what?"

"We were all hand picked through infantry-enlisting tournaments, that's where I got to meet Bardock and Toma. Bardock's shown promise even from then and Kabo picked all three of us to train directly under him." After saying it out loud, Seripa took another deep breath before continuing on.

"He was Kabo's favourite, but at the same time, because he knew that Bardock had great potential, he trained him harder than both me and Toma put together, it sounds selfish but that's the way it was. Kabo became so obsessed with Bardock's power growth that he checked his power level on a daily basis." Said Seripa.

"Anyway, Bardock got sick of having all the expectations shoved on him constantly and he knew that Kabo would have his back no matter what, so he went around and caused trouble around the station, getting into fights just to win bets, either that or provoking people just to enjoy beating them up." Seripa spoke.

"Of course, Kabo wouldn't put up with it, he punished Bardock severely by sending him to tougher planets on a solo to straighten him up but it only made him even cockier, his talent and power level at the time already showed a lot of promises at the time."

En took her time digesting what has been said, but at the same time she urged Seripa to continue.

"Bardock was his prized pupil, he refused to admit that despite him being his master, he could not have control over him just to see his power level grow." Seripa said, casting the direction of her look at En's clothed and taped stomach.

"At first people tolerated Bardock's recklessness for he always got the job done anyway, also partly because Kabo was hugely respected at this base, he was very well known for leading his team into successful planetary conquests, skilled in various forms of combats as well as medicinal application. But eventually when we as a team start being sent to tougher planets in the later years, it was starting to get obvious for Bardock to realise that he can't do everything himself but he wouldn't admit it, so me and Toma had to be there to pick up the pieces. Toma idolised him and still do, but even I started to build resentment towards him, at the time that is." Seripa delivered a long story before stopping again. You? Being resentful to Bardock? Thought En, the concept never occured to her for Seripa always had his back no matter what, it puzzled her but she waited for Seripa to continue.

"And then that day happened." She said.

"That day?" Asked En, she knew that it was hard to Seripa to bring up the topic to begin with but now that the Pandora's Box has been opened, she wanted to know everything about it. It felt like a very long time before Seripa spoke again.

"When Bardock became captain." She said.

"Isn't that what he always wanted to be?" Said En.

"Truth to be told, he never wanted the responsibility, he just wanted to fight in combats and get away with it when he could." Said Seripa.

"We were in the middle of conquering planet Yeus and Kabo died in the process." Seripa finally formed the words and said it out loud. Noticing that En didn't react, Seripa took another deep breath before speaking again.

"We were supposed to wait behind enemy lines and attack at Kabo's signal, we were surrounded by the ancient ruins and we hid among them as our camouflage. Our goal that day was to assassinate the higher ups of planet Yeus so there would be no one left to lead their troops to go against us, they were heavily guarded by their foot soldiers though. Of course, Bardock couldn't wait despite heavy scolding from Kabo himself times and times before and went ahead anyway. Needless to say, the enemies spotted us immediately and we had to fight despite being in a disadvantaged position. He and Kabo managed to kill a great number of them of course, but from a blindspot, one of the remaining foot soldiers shot at Bardock." She paused again. This time, it took the longest for her to tell the rest of the story.

"Kabo pushed Bardock away from the beam and took the hit himself, what he didn't know was that it that it killed him from destroying the blood vessels inside, we didn't know that until after they performed the autopsy. At first he seemed fine but within minutes he started bleeding from his ears as well as his nose and mouth, even I at the time could tell that it was too late to seek medical help. With his last words, he told Bardock that it was his turn to lead the team."

"At the time I was sad, shocked but at the same time, my resentment towards Bardock hit its peak, I could not understand why Kabo would still give him, of all people, the responsibility of being the captain, especially after what Bardock has done. There was an outtrage when we brought Kabo's body back to the station, no one believed that even before his death he would still hold onto the last straw that Bardock had the real potential to be captain, despite the fact that he was blamed for his death. Worst of all, none of them wanted to see him as a captain, they were far too angry and it did not help that he started drinking and getting into more fights."

"I was so angry at Kabo even when he died, I asked myself, why didn't he give the responsibility to me? It wasn't until when Bardock admitted to me that he regretted every single day that he never listened to Kabo and how he realised that even he, couldn't keep everyone convinced all the time that he was capable, that I realised that I've been spared and finally understood why Kabo did what he did." Said Seripa.

En tilted her head to the side and tried to comprehend, after a while when she still couldn't understand, she asked Seripa to clarify.

"Because if I got made captain, people will still be blaming Bardock for as long as he lives, but by making Bardock a captain instead and outdo their expectations, that is something that Kabo would have wanted about and he will be redeemed in time. In the end, he wanted to live through Bardock's legacy and not his alone."

"He used to drink?" Asked En, still trying to wrap her head around the newly uncovered history.

"Yes, it was a very big cross for him to bear, everyday when he wasn't drinking he'd be fighting, it took a long time for him to stop doing that, and after a while, he found you."

En was not expecting that, before she could speak Seripa spoke again.

"He saw a fighting spirit in you that he had lost, this is why he has so much expectations from you but at the same time, he'd rather have died that day just to save you from harm. He cares a lot for you En, we all see it, still can't believe you can't."


End Scene Twenty One

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Uni's gonna start in less than a week's time, I'm hoping to churn out at least one more chapter after this.
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