Chapter 12: Quest To The Aurora

Arriving at the Aurora with a bag of tools on his back, Jake and the other three had departed shortly after the nightmare incident. Since it had to be after Owen refabricated the diving tank, only then they could all set off for the Aurora.

They didn't run into any hostile fauna on the way due to Jake's apparent expertise in the local fauna, but they wouldn't bother to look into the matter since getting off the planet is more important.

Once they had arrived at the Aurora, they found their way in through the largest hole on they could find on the port side of the ship close to the thrusters. After entering the Aurora, their first goal was to head to the drive core and temporarily fix it before it explodes, after that it would be to head to the Captain's Quarters.

Inside the Captain's Quarters they were hoping to find the blueprint for the Neptune, a rocket designed for a single person to get off of a planet and to the nearest phasegate. By using materials found on the planet they could construct the required amount of rockets for everyone to get off the planet, or change the design to accommodate everyone.

It was at this point that Jake realized that they would need 13 rockets in order for everyone to be able to get off of planet 4546B. Shuddering at the thought of the cost that many materials, Jake continued to follow behind the others while they made their way towards the Drive core.

After two hours they had successfully arrived at the drive core and Jake decided he would be the one to go inside and fix it alongside William. Even though it probably wouldn't be as simple to repair it as it was in-game Jake still wanted to try and be helpful.

It took two hours to arrive since they had searched every area they could on their way to the drive room. The areas included the Seamoth bay, the Prawn suit bay, the canteen, the supply room, and the Captains quarters, the laboratory, black box room, and the supply room.

Giving the repair tool to William, Jake helped by simply using his physical advantages, which were his height and strength. There were some repairs that would have needed to be done with a ladder, but Jake had William stand on his shoulders and do the repairs.

Along with that was tearing off or crudely shaping pieces of metal while following orders from William. It took 45 minutes to fix the Drive Core before it was in a stable enough condition to not explode and cause catastrophic damage.

In those forty-five minutes, Owen and Helen had made their way around and looked closer for any useful supplies in the other rooms/areas they had already searched.

While in the captain's quarters, they were able to grab the blueprints for the Neptune Rocket. After they returned to just outside the area of the Drive Core room, they heard footsteps and saw Jake and William come out of the room.

"Welp, I guess that's that. I would've thought it'd be harder, but surprisingly it was this easy." William spoke to the other three while scratching his head in bewilderment.

While they were wondering if they maybe missed something while fixing the Drive Core, Jake was looking at William like he was an idiot. He wondered if Murphy's law didn't exist in the Subnautica universe or was just forgotten.

Jake then silently waited for a few seconds in order to see if there would be some kind of sudden event, like the Gargantuan Leviathan suddenly knocking or pulling the Aurora into The Void. But nothing happ-

And with that thought, Jake felt the entire Aurora shake as if it was being hit by an earthquake. Steadying himself by leaning on the wall, he then checked on everyone else to make sure that they weren't injured.

Frustratedly rubbing his head, Jake formed a plan in his head in a split second, well it wasn't really a plan. "Run!" Starting off with a mad dash, Jake went ahead of everyone and made sure to keep the path clear.

But then he felt something that chilled his heart, the Aurora was starting to tilt and was starting to fall into the void. Turning pale with fright, Jake started to panic slightly as he felt sorry for getting the other three people with him killed.

Trying harder to clear a path, Jake looked behind him to make sure that all three were still with him, and they were. Just as he was about to turn back around, he, along with the others, was suddenly thrown against the sides of the hall they were running through as if they were nothing but ragdolls.

They then felt something so dreadful that they almost started to cry, actually, Helen did start crying. Feeling the Aurora starting to sink faster and faster, they could also hear the distant sound of water rushing in through the large hole in the ship, but it was getting closer.

Orienting himself properly, Jake made his way over to the other three and put on all his diving gear except for his flippers. Helping the others put their gear on, he then picked them up and started sprinting back through the Aurora.

He started sprinting so fast and so hard that he very nearly left footprints in the floor of the Aurora. However he had to slow down and pause when he saw that there was now water rushing towards them.

Luckily they were already very close to the spot that they had entered and only had around a 50 metres left to go. However, seeing as how the rushing water was about to sweep them away in less than ten seconds, Jake quickly readjusted how he was holding the three people in his arms.

Grabbing hold of a doorframe on the left side of the hallway, Jake held all three people close to his body while bracing for impact, and that was when the impact arrived. Slamming into his body like a truck, the water nearly caused Jake to let go of the doorframe and the people he was holding.

However it wasn't just because of being hit by all of the water, it was also because of the pain caused by holding onto the doorframe instead of just going along with the flow of the water. Jake's shoulder was nearly dislocated from the force of being hit by all of the water, but it wasn't.

Instead of his arm being dislocated, part of the muscles along his arm, shoulder, and back were torn, not severely, but close to it and that was what caused the most pain. Screaming in agony in his mask, Jake still held on even though the water currents were trying to sweep him and his companions away.

After ten seconds of sheer suffering, Jake felt the water start to calm down slightly and knew that this was their best chance of escaping before the Aurora imploded or their bodies were crushed by the pressure. Checking to make sure that all three people were still firmly held by him, he started making his way out against the rushing water.

Slowly but surely he was making his way out, but at this rate they wouldn't be out in time as he could feel that the pressure from the water was already starting to affect him, let alone the people he was carrying.

Even though he started getting frustrated at the situation, the pain from the upper left portion of his body made him keep his mind clear. Reaching the spot that they had made to enter the Aurora, Jake pulled himslef through the hole and then started swimming upwards to the best of his abilities.

After he judged that he was far enough away from the Aurora, he let the other three go and continued swimming towards the surface. Looking back at the Aurora that was sinking at a moderate speed, Jake felt like they had made a wasted trip.

Then he realized that if they hadn't repaired the drive core then an explosion might have occurred underwater and caused unimaginable consequences. Unimaginable because he doesn't know what is all the way down in the void.

In the midst of his thoughts and subconscious swimming to the surface, Jake heard the same bone chilling screech that he's heard countless times in his headset and just recently heard in person. It was the same scream that anyone would hear if they managed to swim out into the void when exploring.

Continuing to swim to the surface, Jake looked back and saw the blue bioluminescent creature that gave him nightmares the first time he saw it in the game were over two kilometres away. The Ghost Leviathan was coming, but not just one, there were three.

Surfacing with an extremely pale expression due to more than one factor, Jake made sure that the other three that they had surfaced safely. With a a quick glance he saw that everyone was fine other than a little shaken up, but he couldn't spare the, more than a single glance right now.

Gesturing in the direction of the Base, Jake started heading that way while the others overtook him due to his injuries. Looking back to see how close the Ghost Leviathans had gotten, Jake widened his eyes as a very familiar scene was playing before him.

A large bioluminescent maw was expanding in his eyes in slow motion while he could suddenly feel and smell a foul wind rushing past his face. That wasn't the only family part though, as in the next second he saw the unmistakable figure his favourite Leviathan coming into his vision.

Unlike the last time he it though, this one wasn't the Juvenile Gargantuan Leviathan, it was the adult, which is over five times the size of the Juvenile Leviathan. Eating the entire Ghost Leviathan in one bite, the only the Gargantuan Leviathan left of it was about a 3 metre piece of tail.

While the Gargantuan Leviathan was coming into his vision in what appeared to be slow motion, Jake looked at the largest eye on it's head, and it looked back. In the next moment Jake felt a headache that of which he had never experienced before in his life.

It felt like some was using a chainsaw made of glass covered in rubbing alcohol to cut his head open. Accompanying the headache was a woman's voice, but his brain couldn't process what it was saying as it was in such excruciating pain.

Clutching his head, Jake broke eye contact with the Gargantuan Leviathan and turned back towards the direction the other three had been swimming and followed while in extreme pain. Jake didn't worry about the two Ghost Leviathans that were left as he knew they would also be eaten and caught up with Helen, William, and Owen.

Slowly making their way back to the base, everyone was a little shaken up since they had almost died... twice... in less than an hour. Jake was slightly frustrated at how close he's come to dying so many times already, but surviving like this makes him actually feel alive.

After successfully arriving back at the base the four people went inside and flopped down onto the floor while everyone else came to check on them and make sure that they weren't seriously injured. Mary did a check-up on William, Owen, and Helen before finally tending to Jake's injuries.

Examining him, she noticed that not only were his muscles partially torn on his left side, some of his old wounds are also slightly aggravated. None were bleeding externally due the way they had been stitched/cauterized, but there was some bleeding under the skin along with massive bruises.

As for how Jake felt, he was just glad that the headache was finally bearable enough to think properly after he got back to base, but then the adrenaline from everything started to wear off. Closing his eyes while still massaging his head, Jake immediately passed out due to how tired he felt and went limp.

Mary took some of the medical supplies and started injecting Jake with them while Theodore started to fabricate some different antibiotics and injections that could rapidly increase the recovery speed of Jake's body. Everyone else was busy looking out the windows of the base to see that the Aurora was now gone.

They also thought back to the creature that they had seen not long after the Aurora had sunk into the water. It was the one that Jake must have named the Gargantuan Leviathan, however it was a lot bigger than he had originally described.

Regardless of what they had seen, there resolve to get off this planet as soon as possible was strengthened further since they didn't want to be on a planet with a creature that large. They weren't very excited to see that creature either as it could very easily come over here and kill them in less than 10 seconds.

Getting rid of there depressing thoughts, everyone went back to whatever they were doing and waited until Jake was recovered and awake. Until then they had to wait patiently otherwise they might perish on this godforsaken planet.

Sorry I haven't released a new chapter in forever, I've been busy with real life stuff. I passed an exam for college and had to register for classes next year as well as being busy with work. Also I might be adding in the Void Optic Leviathan, if you just want Garg and not the Void Optic Leviathan let me know. Peace out for now since I gotta go to bed as it's almost 1 in the morning. Oh right, please leave a paragraph comment if you spot a spelling mistake as I'm too tired to proofread right now.