To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Ch48 Unholy Alliance

Unholy Alliance

"Well the good news is that your bones are healing quickly" Alwen said as she looked at Astarte's chart. Out of nowhere Domnall Clancy, the knew King of the pirates, had stepped out onto the roof to inform Alice and Alwen that it was fine to transport Astarte back to the ship. He even graciously offered his own men to help with the transport.

As they were leaving the Great Hollow market Metallica and Mute had emerged out of the shadows with a large hexagonal canister in-between them ominously marked with radiation symbols. Nick, who was leading them home, eyed what was likely a nuclear bomb incredulously the whole time they walked back to the Hellworlder hanger bay. The Hellworlders and Alwen just talked and gossiped as if their wasn't a nuke sitting between them.

Alwen then had to endure all the cheers and hurrahs the crew of the Astaroth gave her, word had spread that not only did she get the killing blow on Kazlum after stabilizing the Captain, but she also had made the discovery that the Aunviry were somehow susceptible to Molotov's. She nearly passed out from embarrassment when Limey had told the tale of 'Bones, the Godslayer", and now had to deal with the new epithet of Godslayer to her nickname. She was going to have to get back at Limey for that one day, maybe she could slip him something when they shared their Sunday tea.

But for now her full attention was on making sure Astarte made a full recovery.

"That's good, right?" Astarte said inquisitively after noticing Alwens frown.

"Typically yes. As long as we set the bone right the body can take care of the rest, and with you Terrans it will even heal tougher than before, which is completely unfair." Alwen added at the end.

Astarte did best approximation of a shrug with all the casts "We're Hellworlders, anything to get a leg up. Life on Earth isn't just about survival, but bouncing back from trauma stronger and faster than before."

Alwen rolled her eyes. "Right, but with you specifically that's a problem. You modified your bones with a highly experimental collagen latus, and some additional mineral reinforcements within the honeycomb like marrow, all to improve rigidity and tensile strength without greatly altering their density."

"Yes, they're the only reason I survived the blow right?"

"Yes, they are likely why you didn't splatter on impact" Alwen said dryly, and Astarte grimaced at the mental imagery. "However healing them properly is going to be problematic, the structures they develop are very complicated, you practically have a mandala micro-inscribed into your skeleton."

"I was under the impression that the procedure only laid down the pattern and let my body naturally fill in the rest, shouldn't it fix itself?"

"If you had only broken you're arm once or twice, maybe. But you shattered your humerus alone four different places, and that's just one bone."

"So what are you saying Bones?"

"Your recovery is going to be very long and painful, I essentially need to let your arm heal then break it again to make sure it heals right. And I might have to do this many times." Alwen said grimly.

Astarte cringed "That sounds painful"

"Yes, the good news is that I wont need to worry about your ribs. Just your arm, shoulder, and ankle."

"Oh wonderful, anything else I need to worry about going forward?"

"Nope" Alwen said cheerily "the MRI says that your concussion isn't likely to develop into an aneurysm, and I can check every day just in case since you Terrans turned magnetic resonance imaging into a standard check-up procedure."