Desperate Measures
Cw: Gore, not technically cannibalism but a sentient being is consumed, fuck it this counts as cannibalism, auto-cannibalism, non-human characters, slavery, pet whump if you squint
~~~~
Juni hung back in the shadows as Henry moved busily between surfaces around his office. He’d been in a state ever since the call had come in, running around gathering documents and rounding up officers. Juni had followed dutifully in his footsteps, but everyone else knew what had happened already. No one had needed an explanation, so Juni didn’t get one either.
The door chimed and an officer poked her head in. “Your shuttle is ready, sir,” she said, giving Henry a wide smile and ducking back out as quick as she’d come. Henry waved at her absently, not looking up from the form on his desk. He was in his dress uniform, the one he wore when meeting with diplomats and dignitaries. He’d even dragged out Juni’s dress uniform, an extra step most people didn’t warrant bothering with.
The starched fabric itched at his skin and he fought the urge to tug at the too-tight sleeves. He could just change, make himself smaller, but Henry would notice. He always noticed, and Ahn were never supposed to change themselves for their own comfort. If Henry wanted him smaller, he’d order it.
He finally gathered all of his papers together and took his dress jacket off the hook. Juni fell into step behind him as he opened the door and stepped out into the ship’s hallway. The trip to the launching bay was a quick one. Down one hallway, down an elevator 10 floors, down another hallway back the other direction. The usual people going about their days were happy, excited. They flashed Henry smiles and wished him luck with words and gestures. Juni kept his eyes down, hands folded in front of him as they walked.
The pilot greeted them in the hangar, a wide smile across his face. He gave Henry’s hand an enthusiastic shake and called it a wondrous day. The day we finally get our boys back home.
Juni took his seat in the back of the shuttle, where the acceleration from the thrusters was the strongest and his stomach lurched in his throat with every minute correction the pilot made. He and Henry sat up front by the view screen where they could see the space outside.
Juni closed his eyes as the pilot took off, letting the worst of the lurching fade away into the collective psyche he shared with the Ahn nearby. It was mostly afraid. Apprehensive. The same apprehension he shared, the same apprehension that came up whenever anything exciting happened on the ship. When the Gennie’s happy, the Ahn bleeds.
He wrapped his fingers around the bottom of the seat as the pilot laid in a course. The engines whined, earsplittingly high this close, as they spooled up for a jump. He grit his teeth and tried to absorb the shock of it, only lurching halfway out of his seat when they landed. He reached out for the others, any others, but came up empty. He was alone out here. Well and truly alone.
The ship came into view a couple minutes later. Every society Juni had brushed up against under Henry’s care had had it’s own unique take on space craft. Space didn’t have air or water to resist movement, so aerodynamics weren’t an issue and didn’t hinder creativity. The only real consideration that went into the design was keeping in heat and air, and those were easily ticked off. Some liked to make their craft sleek and slick and aerodynamic anyway. Some made theirs blocky and logical, some made theirs in the same style they made their houses. Humans liked to make theirs shiny, silver and blue that reflected the rays of the nearby stars. They weren’t nearly as bad as the ones that liked to hide as stars, but he could still spot the human ship in the view screen leagues away.
They took a couple more minutes to approach, and as they drew near another mind brushed up against Juni’s. He hid himself quickly. Any mind that wasn’t Ahn was a dangerous one, and with how high the excitement was he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself.
They docked and Juni rose from his seat, swallowing down his motion sickness to fall into step behind Henry and the pilot. A group of humans in different colored uniforms met them a few yards away from the door. One shook hands with Henry and introduced himself as the Captain. He introduced several others as varying ranks and titles and names. Juni filed them away in his memory as best he could. He and Henry ran into a lot of names, ranks, and titles, and Henry was always better about remembering them all.
One woman wearing a different color uniform than the rest was staring at him. He could tell she knew, because he could tell too. They could sense each other and he hoped to anything that she wouldn’t say something about it.
Something was pulling at his brain. Physically pulling, pulling him to the side, behind the shuttle. The captain offered to show Henry his men, the group moved, and Juni caught a glimpse of it.
A Generack life pod, scratched and burned and beaten hell. It drew him closer, pulled on his legs even as he walked behind Henry towards the exit from the hangar, a screaming, desperate help me help me oh god help me please help!
Juni shook his head as the door closed behind him, the story forming in his mind. The fleet had lost a ship of colonists months ago. Disappeared into the void, no communications, no SOS, no trace. Just gone. The nation had mourned for weeks, all those colonists, all those brave men and women that had gone out to the stars in the hopes of establishing a future for our children, lost in the dark embrace.
There had been a hundred Ahn aboard that ship too. The day they flew out of range was mourned quietly in the dark of night.
When a ship was going down, it was protocol to make sure at least one Ahn made it aboard each ejected life pod. They were hearty, requiring no extra rations, and could be used for entertainment and, in case of extreme emergency, a food source. Juni’s stomach churned harder than any shuttle ride in his life.
They reached what the captain designated the medbay. Henry rushed in to the bedsides of the four gaunt Gennies, thanking them for their service and welcoming them home. Juni hung back against the wall, trying to keep his face neutral. Even many floors above, he could feel the imprint of the Ahn in the shuttle calling out to him, drawing him downwards.
~~~
Official paperwork had to be filed signing over care for the four colonists from the captain to Henry. They would have to stay the night. Juni sat at the large bay window looking out into space, chewing on his thumbnail. Ahn didn’t need to sleep. They did better with it, but he could go months without nodding off if Henry wished it. He was a nice caretaker and had requested accommodations for the both of them, and here Juni was not using it. He couldn’t.
Henry wouldn’t be mad. He wasn’t one of those who would be upset at every little misstep. He’d be concerned that he hadn’t slept and would ask what was wrong and Juni would have to lie to him. He knew that he was lucky - Henry wasn’t his first caretaker - and knew that he had gotten soft and careless with his behavior. Going down to the hangar was still a risk if Henry ever found out. He wouldn’t be mad, just concerned. His concern often did more damage.
Still, the shuttle called to him. The Ahn still trapped inside called to him, and he needed to be there. No one else would.
No one stopped him on his way down to the hangar. The hallways were empty this time of night, though still illuminated. One human he didn’t recognize greeted him as he entered the hangar and Juni nodded back. He hadn’t been introduced, so he had no reason to speak to them. He was soft.
The screaming got louder as he approached. It wasn’t a sound he could hear, it was something he felt in his chest. A hollowness, a desperation, a mournful cry in the night. He stepped inside and took in a deep breath. The pod was a similar size and shape to the shuttle, only with four bunks and a waste disposal rather than rows of seats. A large red pool stained the area between the bunks and the console. Streaks of red climbed the walls, although in no particular handprints. Juni leaned against the wall and breathed in, feeling the last vestiges of his brother seep into him.
He could feel the hands on him. Holding him down, iron grips on his wrists and ankles. The knife slicing through his skin and muscle and sinew in so so many strokes down to the bone. The crack, the shock, the searing electric pain as it breaks. The scream scream screaming, long after his throat had gone raw and nothing came out any more.
Juni opened his eyes with a start, sucking in a shuddering breath. The woman from earlier lingered in the doorway, watching him. He wiped his eyes and nose and folded his arms. She stepped inside and looked around, leaning against the wall opposite him. They were silent for a few moments, until Juni couldn’t take it anymore.
“His name was Hennessey.”
She tilted her head to the side. Of course. She couldn’t feel him.
“Do you know what they did to him?”
“I- I can tell that they’re ashamed of something, but not what.”
Juni huffed out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, I bet they’re ashamed.”
She tilted her head again. “Tell me about it,” she said gently.
He sucked in a shaky breath, fighting the urge to scowl. “They killed him. They ripped him apart again and again and again.” His voice broke and he had to take in a breath to continue.
“They cut off his arms and legs, fed him his own bones to keep him going, and when he couldn’t regrow those anymore they cut him down the middle and started on his organs. They shoved whatever they couldn’t eat down his throat just to give him energy to feed them again.”
"They took his tongue and his eyes and his skin until they were so hungry they cracked open his head and took his brain. And then they just threw his skull out the airlock like a piece of garbage.”
He stared at the floor, tears running down his cheeks. “They didn’t even keep his skull around.”
“I’m-“
“Do you know how hard it is to kill us? If they had just left his brain alone, left him as just a screaming, crying, head he would have made it. They had to kill him, for a couple pounds of meat.”
“I’m sure they-“
“And do you know why he let them? He could have stopped it, he could have stopped it so, so easily so many times before the end. And he didn’t, because they had him. In his head they had him so thoroughly that it didn’t occur to him to fight back, or help himself. He was so deeply conditioned that all he would do was scream.”
He stared at the red stain on the ground.
“He was dead the moment he stepped on board.”
The woman stared at him in wide eyed shock, several seconds of silence stretching between them.
“I’m dead too,” he mumbled, “They’ve got me and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
The woman sputtered. “You could request asylum, I’m sure the Federation-“
“I can’t,” he looked up at her, shocked and confused, “I know I can, but I can’t. Do you know how that feels? To have something so close and know you can’t even reach for it?”
He wiped his eyes again and stared at the ground. They both fell quiet for several moments.
“He’s still dying. He suffered so, so much he’s still hanging around in it. He’s imprinted on his own personal hell.”
“I’m, I’m so sorry.”
Juni nodded and wrapped his arms around himself. “I’m gonna stay with him, at least until the sun’s up, or whatever makes it daytime around here. It’s the least I can do.”
She nodded and quietly left. He let out a long breath and tipped his head back against the wall. She was going to tell her captain, he was sure of it. The captain would tell Henry, and Henry would be concerned.
He took another deep breath and pushed that from his mind. He reached out for Hennessey, but there was nothing left, nothing to comfort. It was like watching a looping video, his brother trapped behind the screen. He was gone. Tomorrow Juni would have to smile and please the men who put him to death, who used him up for themselves, because of course sacrificing a leg or a hand was too much to ask of a Gennie.
Juni sank down to the floor and curled his knees up to his chest. Hennessey was still screaming, desperate and so, so lonely, and all Juni could do was put his face in his knees and begin to cry.
