《Embrace of the Ancients》


 Prolog

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    Prolog


    When I stepped down the gangway, I already knew what this place would provide me with. The very first thing I saw when looking to my right, was someone getting shanked. Right there on the docks during daylight hours. The people around the small group didn''t even care. One or two might have paused for a second but soon enough went on with their own business. That was what a man getting killed was worth, a single look and already the people hurried off back into the masses.


    Honestly, I was disgusted by this display of so-called humanity. And yet, what right did I have to see myself as superior? Could I really say with sincerity that I was any better? Instead of running over and helping the man, I simply shook my head and stepped to the side letting my crew unload the shuttle¡¯s cargo.


    My ship, the ¡°Empress¡¯ Refuge¡± still hung outside in the void of space, too large to dock at the station. She was a massive ark-class ship, which with its Ancient design and the obviously mismatched but ludicrous amount of weaponry was almost looming over the station. Even now she was clearly visible on one of the hangar''s largest video screens. I could only guess as to how long they had streamed the live feed of my ship already.


    But to be fair, it wasn¡¯t that often that one got such an exciting visit. Either way, even if the station had pointed all of its attention ¨C and possibly weaponry ¨C at her, with Vis¡¯adilia, my eternal and ancient chaperone, operating her in my absence, there was little I had to fear. Looking over the people rushing by, it became clear, that my crew and I garnered a lot more attention than I had hoped. Every now and then, I could see someone staring at me but rushing off as soon as my gaze was on them. A small crowd was already gathering on the entrance to our shuttle space, some fans, some haters. Nothing new there.


    I could feel their emotions in the air, awe, fear, disgust, anger and even hatred, over all the years the human¡¯s perception of my crew ¨C my people ¨C hadn¡¯t changed. But now that we had power they couldn¡¯t just ignore us anymore. At least if the hangar-master himself coming down to greet us was any indication for a change of the status quo. I leaned on the railing, and couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it was my reputation or the ship that had them so spooked.


    Thinking back, that beckoned the question, as to what I had done to earn all this. By now almost twenty years ago I had left my planet, my family, my lover and my entire life to join the fourth corporate rush. Of course there had been begging and crying. People had been yelling at me not to do something so stupid. But in the end, I had turned my back on all of them and turned towards the stars.


    From my position now I could with certainty say that it had all just been a soupcon of adolescent behaviour. That had been all of it, a nineteen-year-old kid lashing out against the world. Since then I had only ever gotten a single message from home. It had been of my little sister Cassidy. If I recall correctly she must have been thirteen when sending the message, begging me to come home already. Due to being on the job I had gotten the message almost a month late. My answer to her had never gotten a reply. By now she must be twenty-eight, almost as old as I was when my life took a drastic turn. I was shaken from my thoughts by a familiar voice echoing in my head.


    ¡®Crys? We are about to have company, I can sense a group of agitated people approaching. Several of them seem to be shielded. Through the shuttle''s systems, I count ten people but can sense only seven. Wait, hang on, one of the seven is a Psion!¡¯


    ¡®Thanks, Serin, I sense it too. Ah, this is going to be annoying, I hate politics. Sure I can¡¯t just push this onto you?¡¯


    ¡®Hahaha! If only the young ones knew about their beloved Matriarch talking like this! Despite how you give yourself, you haven¡¯t really changed all that much from the old days.¡¯


    ¡®Well, you haven¡¯t either. I wonder who even brought up the rumour that the change erased someone¡¯s personality.¡¯


    ¡®No idea, probably the normies. Anyway, I''ll come down quickly and give you back up.''


    A smile stole its way onto my face. I liked Serin, always had, she was one of the old guard, so to speak. Back in my corporate days, she ¨C or rather he at that point still ¨C had been one of my closest friends. Together we had gone through several corporate campaigns, and somehow both of us had always survived. Now she was my executive officer and a damn good one at that, there had been not a single time where she had let me down. Even if the way of our people and the change itself had been a much-discussed and controversial topic between her and me, I still trusted her. I was more than certain that I could count on her having my back for decades to come.


    When the conversation was over only a few seconds had passed. Our way of communicating was much faster than anything normal technology could come up with. But as so often Serin was right, the person ¨C who I suspected to be the hangar-master ¨C was already rather close by. And with him being shielded my "special powers" would have no effect on him. It was always such a bother whenever a person with a little bit of authority thought themselves to be important enough to take up my time.


    Not long after, I could already see the small group approaching. It wasn¡¯t all that hard considering that there were at least six heavily armed guards. The small crowd of onlookers that had formed quickly rushed to the sides when the mercs pushed them almost over. Before they made it up the ramp I already felt Serin stalking closer to me. No matter how often I told her that it was impossible, she still hoped to surprise me someday. I didn''t even bother turning around when Serin embraced me from behind. Our link was enough to share our feelings after all. Only when I felt a rather cheeky appendage make its way up the inside of my leg, I felt the need to speak up.


    ¡®Serin, just what do you think you are doing?¡¯


    ¡®Hmm~, I have absolutely no idea what you might be referring to, oh Matriarch~!¡¯ I could feel her sliding up higher, already softly touching my clit through the fabric of my pants.


    ¡®Serin... Take your tail away from my vagina! Immediately!¡¯ I almost facepalmed when I realized that in my indignation I had broadcasted my words. The few chuckles from the shuttle crew where enough to tell me that every one of mine in the vicinity had heard me.


    ¡®Oh, my. That was most unprofessional Crys.¡¯ Serin kissed me on the back of my neck before releasing me.


    While she proceeded to stand next to me with a stony expression, the mental grin being broadcasted from her made me only sigh in frustration. At times it felt more like working with a group of adolescent children than proper adults. While the young ones could be excused for the hormones flooding through their brains, a hardened Soldier like Serin should know better than that. I would probably need to punish her once we were alone. For now, the little welcoming committee would require my attention.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    When they finally got close enough to get a proper look at all of them, I was surprised at the fact that Psion was not one of the people carrying an air of arrogance and importance, but a young and plain woman in a cheap black costume. Additionally, her body language was curious. She seemed incredibly insecure and shy but at the same time, her eyes held an almost offsetting intelligence. Sadly, instead of the interesting one, a heavy set older man stepped forward. His hair was already greying at the sides and his body only had traces left of the muscular frame he must have had in his youth. Yet when he spoke he did so with an authority and certainty that made clear he used to be in high military command.


    ¡°Well, well, well, the infamous pirate queen herself, the captain of the rumoured ¡°Empress¡¯ Refuge¡±, graces this little haven of filth with her presence!¡± His voice dripped with sarcasm when he continued. ¡°Say ¡°Empress¡± how should a lowly being such myself address one such as you?¡±


    Seeing as he was shielded I couldn¡¯t talk directly into his brain and so had to broadcast my answer to all around. ¡®Captain Crys will be fine. I need no acknowledgement from humans.¡¯


    While some of my more fanatical crewmembers didn¡¯t leave out any chance to remind everyone of my supposed glory, I had no illusion about my grandeur. I may have changed far beyond what most people could understand, but still, I was not infallible.


    ¡°Oh, do you hear that?¡± The man, who I now assumed to be the station commander and not the hangar-master, turned to his companions. ¡°She wishes to be called by a sobriquet as if she was no one special! Though I hear you go by a different name these days.¡±


    He made an obvious theatrical pause; for someone, I guessed to be a former general he sure liked to put on a show. Or more likely he was just acting to impress the rest of the group. Looking them over I realised both had insignia on their clothes. And if I wasn¡¯t entirely stupid, those two were captains of other pirate crews. This just got a whole lot more interesting.


    ¡°The name the echoes across the hyper-net these days is ¡°Matriarch¡± if I recall correctly. And that wouldn¡¯t happen to refer to you, former second Lieutenant Crystal Dyer?¡±


    I would have cocked an eyebrow if I had them; not many people still knew me by my given and my family name. This man clearly had made his research before my arrival or ¨C and this was unlikely ¨C he had known me from before. Still, I was more interested in the shy Psion than him, she didn''t fit in with the group at all. But for now, I would have to humour him.


    ''That is correct; both names refer to my person. While I make no effort to hide my past, oftentimes the rumours overshadow the truth. Yet, now I am at a disadvantage, you know of me yet I am unsure about your identity.''


    ¡°Hahaha! How boorish of me!¡± He went into a mock bow before me. ¡°I used to be General Jacquie Proulx, I used to command the sixteenth fleet of the New Moon Corporation, now though I look over this cesspool of pirates, degenerates and thieves.¡± He winked at the two captains with him.


    ¡°You may refer to me as Overseer Jack. And these two wonderful people,¡± Jack motioned over two his companions.


    "On the left, we have the illustrious Copper Raven of the Steel Birds or Captain Raven for short.¡± The woman he referred two was decked out from head to toe in obvious cyber-tech, all dyed a stylish copper or bronze tone. She simply nodded at me with a cold smile.


    ¡°And on the right, the renowned Captain of the Laohu Ya pirate outfit, Mister P¡¯an." The man was from obviously Asian descent and the way he silently eyed me and Serin I wasn''t sure if he wanted to rape or vivisect us.


    Going with the flow I nodded my head at the three of them ignoring the fact that the Psion had not been introduced. ¡®A pleasure Overseer Jack, Captain Raven, Mister P¡¯an.¡¯


    I motioned over to Serin, as social conformities bid me o introduce any person of importance. ¡®The Soldier to my side is called Serin; she is my executive officer as well as one of my mates. I expect her to be treated with the same respect as you would me.¡¯


    Much to my dismay Serin just had to enjoy this situation a little too much. Instead of nodding or saluting, which would have been entirely fine, she smiled and went down in something between a curtsy and a bow. Two of her hands grabbed the sides of her armoured skirt and flared it out almost like a peacock¡¯s feathers. While one was clasped to her chest and the last splayed out to the side. Considering her impressive height doing this brought her face merely on level with the humans.


    ¡®My greetings. Serin, eternal Soldier of my Matriarch and proud defender of the ¡°Empress¡¯ Refuge¡±. I am pleased to meet you.'' With this she smiled at the little group, exposing two rows of shark-like teeth.


    I didn¡¯t even have to turn around to notice the reactions of my crew. Several of the Workers turned around to watch this spectacle with bated breath. Over the crew-only-frequency, I could hear several ¡®Aww~¡¯s¡¯ and ¡®Ohh~¡¯s¡¯, for some reason the younger generation was really fawning over Serin''s relationship with me. Apparently, they had also started a fan club, complete with posters and video collections of us together.


    ¡°Well, now that we have introduced each other, let¡¯s go down to business! Isn¡¯t that right, ladies and lad.¡± Jack picked up the conversation smooth as an eel with a wink to P¡¯an, who in turn only grimaced.


    ¡®Indeed. What business is it that the Station Commander and two Pirate Captains have with me?¡¯


    ¡°Oh, it is simple, really! Two things to be specific. First of we would like to extend a hand in greeting in the hopes of us discussing the finer details of a potential relationship between the Hive and some of the other pirate groups.¡±


    Oh, how I hated that name. Calling my crew a hive was demeaning. We were not stupid insects - actually we weren''t even close to insects or any earth species at all - and all had separate and individual personalities. While there may be similarities between hive insects and our social structure in the way it was organized, I by no means forced anyone to obey. And even now I still gave everyone a choice, even my enemies.


    ¡®Interesting. What is the second?¡¯ I looked towards the Psion who had still not been introduced. While she quickly averted her gaze when our eyes met, it was still very much obvious that she had been staring at me.


    ¡°Ah, I see you are quick to catch on, very good. Yes... Our dear Captain Raven here, let¡¯s say picked up this unfortunate young thing on a suspicious cargo ship bound for the station. Once inside she had to discover that the ship had been hijacked by our ward.¡± He slapped the young woman on the back, making her squeal in surprise.


    "The girl herself was half traumatised when they picked her up. And kept on mumbling how she had to find the "Ancients", how they would help her. We, of course, being the generous people that we are, we took her in and cared for her until we could present her to one of her "Ancient". Am I wrong in thinking that one such as yourself would be interested in her?¡±


    ¡®I see, an interesting proposition indeed. Very well. I shall take her off your hands. Serin will go with you and discuss your other offer.''


    "Ah. Such a shame I had thought the "Matriarch" herself would honour us with a sit-down. But I guess one has to take what is given. Captain Crys." He nodded to me, turned around and motioned for the rest of the group to follow.


    Serin only looked to me and glared, obviously not happy with having to babysit the Captains. I paid her little mind, she may be grumpy at times but she would still do what was asked. Instead, I turned my attention to the woman. Looking her over, she really didn''t look like much, but that fact that she was a human Psion made her very interesting.


    ¡®What is your name?¡¯


    ¡®Felicia Peery, my Matriarch!¡¯


    ¡®You already know telepathy? Such talent indeed... Say why did you want to meet the Ancient?¡¯


    ¡®Ah, I used to be a researcher for Blue Moon, I studied the Ancient ruins. I loved my job but during a dig a... a power awoke in me. It made me hurt the people around me. I assumed it was the same as in your people. I can barely control it... therefore I sought you out for help.¡¯


    ¡®A researcher you say? Interesting... Come, Felicia, I will tell you a story. Specifically the story of how a stupid little nobody touched something she shouldn¡¯t have.¡¯


    I lead her towards the shuttle and sat down in a quieter spot, away from all the distraction of my crew passing by. It was not much just a few pillows on the ground but it would suffice. When she sat down I started slowly and gently pushing into her mind, explaining all the way what I was doing to her. Once she was comfortable and in an almost trance-like state, I feed her memories.


    I showed her my past, my mistake and everything that came after, I showed her my story.

 My Past – Part 1

    My Past ¨C Part 1


    Atmosphere of the dwarf-planet Zebi 2


    06/3056 Teran, during the Fourth Corporate Rush


    ¡°Attention! Impact in less than 2 minutes. Please, remain seated, secured and alert until impact!¡± The Virtual Intelligence ¨C or VI as it was usually called ¨C coordinating the battle, blared through the onboard speakers. Sorry for the volume, it is hard to filter raw memories.


    Though I guessed I was the only one to hear it at the moment. Sitting right next to the speakers apparently did have some advantages, because the screeching and tearing of the pods metal alloy drowned it out for everyone else. Well, those that were still left at least. I just hoped that the rookie to my right didn''t have any family, ¡®cause they would not get another look at little Johnny¡¯s face. When the shelling started the stupid idiot had leaned forward and stared at the ground. The first bullet that penetrated the floor went straight through his visor and right out the back again. Tough luck for him, I guess. ¡®Sorry rookie, your cooking will be missed.¡¯


    The second recruit went out in an even more questionable fashion. Seeing how our recruit number one got his head blown up, the dumb little girl thought it clever to un-strap herself from her seat! Even my angry motions for her to sit back down did nothing. Apparently, she also hadn''t listened to the security briefing before the mission. Because if she would have or if she had ever taken a single closer look at the pods, she would have seen that there were only a few heavily armoured spots in the drop-pods. The five seats, the stabilisers and directly beneath the parachute were the only places that provided any kind of decent protection.


    You might have figured it out by now, but the corporation I used to work for didn''t give much of a shit about its employees. In fact, you could say that they invested as little money in us as possible. During each rotation, there were thousands if not millions of people signing on for the corporate rush. Each and every one of them came from one of the dozens of pacified worlds in our galaxy. And as always, all of them had bought the corporate shit about the massive riches and fame one could earn as a corpo privateer, and so the influx of rookies didn''t stop. Then again it was mostly men that joined, so I had gotten excited about another woman on the team.


    Let¡¯s just say that my luck didn¡¯t last long. Once she had unstrapped herself the girl climbed her way over towards our obviously dead comrade. Not even paying any mind to the increasing structural damage, she shook him as if thinking that he would respond. She even motioned over to me, trying to get my attention. As much as it pained me I knew better than to react. Even if she didn¡¯t know it at the time, she too was already as good as dead.


    What I hadn¡¯t expected was for her to float over to me and try to unbuckle my straps. She seemed dead set on getting me to help. Well, a second later she wasn¡¯t dead set anymore but just dead. When a big breach in one of the pod¡¯s sides opened, she ¨C being the only one not strapped in ¨C got sucked right towards it. A nasty crack later her body was stuck in the opening and I had the distinct pleasure of seeing her choke due to a broken spine. ¡®Well, fuck that¡¯s gonna haunt my dreams the next few days¡­¡¯


    ¡°Attention! 30 seconds towards parachute release! Please brace!¡±


    Once more it seemed that only I had heard the VI, as my buddy Serin ¨C yes the Serin, that woman is like a cockroach ¨C stared at the other rookie instead. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was making sure that the guy was okay or if he had just bet with himself how this one was going to die. One could never be sure with Serin, that guy was as reliable as they come, and prettier than most women but also had a sadistic streak a mile long. Seriously though that guy counted and marked down every kill! I had taken a good long peek at his body once to make sure that he indeed wasn''t female, and had seen the scars on his body. They weren''t bullet wounds but razor cuts¡­ After that, I hadn''t been able to look him straight in the eyes for at least a week.


    Like any sane person, I normally just used scrubber meds to erase the faces of the peoples I had downed. Can''t be haunted by your victims if they all have no faces! Makes them look just silly, or at least so I told myself. Of course, I knew that the corpos just gave them out for free so we privateers would stay sane and compliant, but in this case, I didn''t mind being manipulated. Better to be blissfully stupid and continue on than to crack and break like the once that refused the meds. Once you broke the company dropped you, and no one in their right mind would employ a corpo soldier ¨C or corpse as the people tended to call us ¨C after they broke down.


    ¡°20 seconds to parachute release! Please brace!¡±


    Realizing the situation I was in and what it might mean for my friend, I started motioning to get his attention. It wasn''t an easy task as the g-forces working on my body were far above anything comfortable. Still, after a second or two he finally glanced over. I pointed upwards and showed him the number twenty with my fingers. In return, I go a nod and him pointing at the third recruit and acting as if he was being chocked. Reminding me once more that Serin was also another thing ¨C a total idiot!


    ¡°Release in: 10!¡±


    ¡°9¡±


    ¡°8¡± I started to slow my breathing and slowly but surely pushed the air out of my lungs.


    ¡°7¡±


    ¡°6¡±


    ¡°5¡±


    ¡°4¡± With the state the pod was in this one was going to be rough.


    ¡°3¡±


    ¡°2¡± I pressed myself into my seat and gripped onto my bracers with all my strength.


    ¡°1¡± From the window in the door I saw one of our stabilizers fly off.


    ¡°Release!¡± In an instead, the pod was thrown around like a leaf on the wind. With several of the stabilizers damaged we could be happy if we landed at all. Far more likely was it for that damn flak gun down there to shoot us to bits. In this very moment I had made my decision, I would never again set even a single foot into another drop-pod!


    ¡°Pod malfunction! Emergency stabilizers not able to deploy, please use manual release!¡±


    ¡°Fuck.¡±


    I looked over to Serin to see if he had heard it, but one glance at the mangled speaker above him told me all I needed to know. Seeing as the noise was still too loud to allow the use of communicators, I could only rely on myself for this one. As quick as I could I released the straps and stood up. I made sure to remain inside of my seat space, as the pod was still being pounded by heavy flak fire. ''Just why do those fucks have to focus on my godforsaken pod like this!'' With unsteady footing, I carefully turned around to the hatch above my seat. I could already hear Serin unbuckle behind me, seemingly he had understood our predicament without any VI yelling in his ear.


    I pulled the lever to open the manual release hatch¡­ nothing. The hatch wasn¡¯t even budging! I pulled again but received the same answer. Behind me, I heard the swoosh sound of one stabilizer firing. At least Serin had it easy. The only bad thing was that almost immediately the pod lurched to the side throwing me flat against my compartment! I shook my head and went back to work. This time I wouldn¡¯t even try and open that shitty thing. After all, there was a reason why I had gone through advanced close quarters combat training, and that was the exo-suit a close-quarter specialist received! ¡®Yeah, I had suffered through that hellish training only to get a bit of cool tech and damn the Ancients it was worth it!¡¯This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Powering up my suit, I started punching the hatch with as much force as I could possibly muster. With each punch, the metal gave in a bit more, until it resembled more a piece of a modern art installation than a hatch. Just before I could land my next punch another swoosh told me that Serin had released the second stabilizer. Before the parachute could even fully leave the pod I already had a stupidly clever idea. In an instant, I grabbed the edge of the destroyed hatch and jammed my feet against the pod wall. Even considering my exo-suit I hadn¡¯t expected that the hatch would give in so easily.


    Instead of just ripping off the hatch, the pod''s sudden deceleration also catapulted me together with the hatch away from the wall. Still not believing just what had happened, I watched the distance between me and the wall increase. It felt almost like slow motion as I realized that I was both too far away to fire the mechanism and that I was floating in the bullet filled ¡°danger zone¡±.


    ¡°5-5-5 seconds to impa-!¡± ¡®Ah, shit¡­¡¯


    In a last attempt to revolt against the clutches of death, I flailed around for anything to hold onto. My hand hit something squishy and kinda hard at the same time? I looked up and could have screamed out in joy. Apparently, the gods watching over this universe still weren''t done with me! I barely mumbled an apology before clinging as tightly as I could to the still strapped-in body of the last of the recruits. I didn''t care how this would look to outsiders, but I was going to survive this stupid day!


    ¡°Impac- Immedia-!¡± All I noticed was a strong shock, two bones breaking between my thighs and a man screaming before something hit the side of my head and I blacked out.


    .           .           .


    ¡°Hey! Hey, Crys, damn it! I know you''re not dead. Wake up, you big idiot!¡± Grumpily I had to realize that two strong hands were trying to shake me awake. Now, that was rude, waking me so early on my day off. I was gonna punch the person that dared to wake their lance corporal while she was sleeping straight into their stupid face once I got up!


    ¡°Go away! I''m tired!¡± My words came out slurred and somewhat hard to understand.


    ¡°Yeah, that''s probably your adrenaline crashing. You need to get up now! Unless you feel the desire to be shelled that is¡­ ¡± I recognized the voice now, it was Serin, of course. He never had given much of a shit about the fact that I was higher in rank than him. My guess was that he was still pissed about me being promoted before him.


    ¡°Ugh, fine.¡± I finally opened my eyes and suddenly was very confused by my odd double vision. To my left side, it looked mostly normal, if a bit blurry, but my right was a messed up collection of various shades of reds. Only than noticed how numb the right side of my face felt. Something must have happened while I was out of it!


    ¡°Wha- what happened? Why is everything so blurry and red? And why is my face numb!¡±


    ¡°It is okay, Crys. For now, I simply need you to move. I already have my hands full with the rookie."


    ¡°He- He survived?¡± As careful as I could I tried getting up but was quickly assaulted by vertigo and pulsing pain.


    ¡°Yeah, you may have crushed his legs with those insane thighs of yours but at least he didn¡¯t get shot...¡±


    While he talked I managed to get into a somewhat upright position and looked him over. From my entire fireteam, he seemed to have once more come out the luckiest. While his helmet¡¯s visor was cracked the rest of his nerve-suit was intact and he even still had all of his equipment attached. Behind him, I could see the shattered remains of our drop pod. I was pretty sure that salvage would be able to reconstruct that one, not. And by the looks of it, we had apparently crashed on a cliff overseeing a dense forest. A good way of in the distance I could see the city. Noises of battle echoed through the morning air.


    ¡°Fuck, I feel like shit. What about the rest of the platoon?¡± The numbness of my face slowly faded, only to be replaced by a strong stinging pain.


    ¡°Not sure, the resistance¡¯s flak took out a large swath of our pods.  Seem as if our squad was hit by the brunt of the attack, one of the pods didn¡¯t even have time to fire its landing-¡®chutes before the flak turned it into cheese. The other crashed a short while from here.¡±


    ¡°What about the equipment pods?¡±


    ¡°Eh, no clue, to be honest, they either landed or got shot down before our pod."


    I frowned, taking out an entire squad with mere border-world weaponry should have been impossible. The fact that they had been able to punch through our pods alone gave me cause for worry.


    ¡°Say, Serin, Any idea how the fuck those degenerate settlers even managed to take us down?¡±


    ¡°Yep, I have, take a look for yourself.¡±


    He reached in one of his packs and threw me a pinkie sized piece of metal. I tried catching it but with my one eye still out of commission it just uselessly bounced off my chest armour. Doing my best to ignore the little voice yelling at me to find a medic, I picked up the piece. It was surprisingly heavy for its size. Armour piercing ammunition usually was but this was suspiciously heavy. Even more curious was the fact that the projectile wasn¡¯t even deformed. I looked up from the bullet and back to Serin.


    ¡°Fucking Uranium Bullets? How?!¡±


    In return, he only shrugged his shoulders. "Guess Intel fucked up again?"


    ¡°No matter, did you check if the pod¡¯s radio still works?¡±


    ¡°I did... and you¡¯re not gonna like it.¡±


    I paused for a second unsure if should scream or spare myself the misery and just shoot myself in the head.


    ¡°Okay, that is fine, other question... Where the fuck is my helmet?¡±


    By his look alone I could already see that he would have liked to avoid that question. ¡°Yeah about that, you remember blacking out? Or how I said you saved the recruit from being shot?¡±


    ¡°How bad is it?¡±


    I lifted my arm and felt for the injured side of my head. I didn¡¯t feel hair or even skin but smooth plastic; a medi-patch covered the entire right side of my skull. Now it kinda made sense as to why I couldn¡¯t see through my right eye. It together with much of my bone just wasn¡¯t as it used to be anymore. Logically I realised that it was the truth but emotionally it just didn¡¯t really settle in. I had lost a part of my fucking head and was still talking. At least I knew that my ocular-nerve was still functioning otherwise I wouldn¡¯t even ¡°see¡± red.


    ¡°How am I even still alive?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask the doctors about that, my guess is that you are just incredibly lucky. The ricochet must have already lost a lot of power and your helmet protected you from the worst. You saw what a direct hit did to recruit Baser. In the end, it is just pure chance that we''re still talking."


    ¡°Well, nothing I can do about it now. I wouldn¡¯t have won beauty pageants before, now I have just one more incentive not to enter them. Come on, help me up will you?¡±


    With Serin''s help, I finally managed to get back on my feet. While the pain persisted it wasn''t hard to ignore, for now, we had to organize what we could from the wreckage. The first thing I did was taking one of the dog tags from both of my fallen. It was unclear if they would ever be retrieved but like this, their families would at least know of their fate. Even if it was not the most ethical thing to do, I still took the intact helmet of the girl''s corpse. When I saw her pained blue face she looked a lot younger than when she was still alive. Once more the corporation¡¯s greed cost the lives of kids just barely past their teenage years. She had been just twenty years old, only two years older than my little sister.


    It pained me to think about my family; as soon as I felt the thoughts clawing on my consciousness I put them back into the dark hole they had come from. There was no time for feeling bad. I could sit down and be dumbish, once I had gotten out of this shit. Instead, I focused on gathering any intact supplies from the pod while Serin rigged up a way to carry the still living recruit.


    About a quarter-hour later both of us were ready. Even if I would have normally carried the injured due to wearing a proper exo-suit, my current injuries made that next to impossible. In turn, Serin was dragging the stretcher and I was on overview. Sadly my destroyed eye made that task just as unfitting as anything else. And to make matters worse here hadn''t even been a lot of salvageable equipment in the pod.


    All in all, we had two carbine rifles, a machinegun ¨C that miraculously had survived the fall ¨C a couple of grenades, several magazines of ammunition, and a few field rations. I had also relived the two fallen of their sidearms and now had three pistols strapped to myself, making me look utterly ridiculous to any that could see me. At the moment I could only hope that any enemy would die from laughter before firing on us.


    ¡°Okay, here is the plan Serin. Seeing as one of the pods crashed close to here, we will try and find any survivors that are left. The corpos might not care for our lives but I do! Also if we are lucky that pod still has a functioning radio.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me, Boss.¡±


    A last time, I looked back over to our crashed pod and the fallen in it. A glance down the cliff showed me a half a dozen pods of our platoon securely landing about half a days march of in the forest. I raised my arm and fired my flare gun. The yellow ball of light was sure to attract attention if it was good or bad one I couldn''t be sure. For now, I had done all I could for my fallen comrades. I turned towards Serin and followed him down the hillside.


    It was time to move on.

 My Past - Part 2

    My Past ¨C Part 2


    The hike towards the closest crash side took us longer than expected. The first hurdle came with having to find a save way of the cliffs, which considering the recruit''s and my injuries was not the easiest of tasks. But even with my usual grumpiness, I had to admit, that us crashing had one good thing going for it. The view from up here was simply amazing. The forest stretched for kilometres without end.


    The entire area was vibrant green as far as the eye could see. Thanks to the early hours a light fog was sticking to the treetops. The entire scene was made even more fantastical by the few mountains and green hills that poked out of the thicket. I only wished I could see it with more than one eye... still, even so, it brought back memories I had long repressed.


    Back in my teenage years, I had loved hiking. My home planet Picarus One had been a paradise for any kind of nature exploration. Its low gravity, high tectonic activity and far above earth levels of rainfall had lead to an impressive almost fantastical geology covered in massive vast stretching forests. Together with my father I had spent weeks at times out in nature climbing and wandering across yet uncharted areas.


    Thinking back to it, those days had probably been the happiest time of my life. Once we had been asked in school what we wanted to do when we grew up. I had answered with ¡°Becoming an Adventurer¡±. And now? Now I was a professional killer for hire, my adventures were merely legalized piracy and my discoveries turned out to be seized cities and rebelling natives. How life could change from what our childish minds imagined. With a frown on my face, I turned away from the sight. For the moment I had other problems.


    While it had taken us almost half an hour of climbing and sliding, we had finally made it close to the forest ground. At one point Serin had almost fallen down while exploring a small outcropping. Different from me he had grown up one of the urban world from the earliest planet rush. Most of his youth he had to spend in one of their massive cities reading adventure novels, making him a bit rusty in anything regarding nature.


    But to be fair while even with one eye I was still a much better climber than him, there was no doubt in my mind that he was far better educated than me. At times he could spend hours immersed deeply absorbed in his ever-growing collection of books or silently stare at nature documentaries. I''d rather spend my free time training or doing sports than sitting around but to each their own I guess.


    My thoughts were interrupted by a stinging pain from my head. With each step down the small slope, we used to descend the pain grew worse. By the time we had reached the bottom my dizziness had increased so much that I had a hard time staying upright. My vision grew worse with each second; already it was almost impossible to focus on the path before me.


    ¡°Hold . . .¡±


    ¡°Crys? Everything alright?¡±


    ¡°No, stop!¡±


    The pain and vertigo had gotten so worse that even staying upright was akin to torture. By now I had realized that without proper medical care it would soon enough no longer matter that I had survived the bullet to my head. I may not have been the most well-read person but I had almost ten years of experience on the battlefield. A headshot, dizziness, vertigo and nausea... that sounded very much like brain swelling. Another wave of nausea overwhelmed me and I pressed my one eye shut, to reduce the overstimulation.


    ¡°Crys! Fuck, take off the helmet! You need to breathe!"


    ¡°Something is... wrong... Serin . . .¡±


    .           .           .


    . . . I took one long deep breath and opened my eyes again. I was looking once more at the forest. A forest that seemed almost as ancient as the planet itself. Massive trees the size of skyscrapers growing around high towering stone monuments. In some places, the vegetation had grown so strong that instead of the ground holding the trees, there were entire rocks and boulders raised high into the air by branches and roots with a diameter of meters. No matter how often I looked at it I still loved it every time. If only I could stay here forever.


    ¡°Sis! Where are you? You promised to not to leave me behind!¡±


    ¡°It is okay¡­ I''m right here.¡±


    Turning around I went back the way I came. I slung my rifle over one shoulder, grabbed on to a low hanging branch and began vaulting up to the ridge I had jumped down from before. Having been born on Picarus, traversing these ancient forests had become second nature to me. But I still prided myself in just how much time I spend outside in the wilderness. I was certain no one knew these woods quite as well as me, not my father, and especially not my sister.


    ¡°Ah!¡± I dropped from a branch right before Cassy. ¡°Mama said you shouldn''t scare me anymore!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­¡± I scratched the back of my head. I hadn''t even intended to scare her; it was simply the fast way up.


    ¡°Also Mama said that people have to stay  close together in the forest!¡±


    I was still looking around the brush, earlier I had seen the tracks of a cracklion, a native catlike predator. While most of them stayed away from the human settlements, there had been cases of lone wanderers or children being attacked. In a normal situation, a few noisemakers or a signal flare could keep them at bay but recently there had been rumours of a crazed man-killer in the surrounding villages. If it truly was one I would have to take care of it before it became a serious problem. As I didn''t see any more tracks I turned my attention back to the litter annoyance next to me.


    ¡°Really? Did she now? Because if I recall correctly I knew exactly where you were and also was still able to hear you. Does that not mean I was close by?¡±


    "I- I guess so! But still, you left me alone! So, anything could have happened! For example, a cracklion could have attacked me! Or I could have been taken by the bayujie!¡±


    ¡°Ugh, how often do I have to tell you there is no such thing as a bayujie. That is simply a story to scare kids. Now-¡±


    ¡°Not true! Dickon Greyser said he has seen one with his own eyes!¡± My sister interrupted me before I could even finish.¡±


    ¡°Hmph, Dick is nothing more than a drunk, a pervert and an idiot.¡±


    ¡°You only say that because he asked you out and you rejected him like all the other men! Gracie told me the people say you¡¯re a lesbo because you and Amanda always hang out and she is a lesbo too!¡± She stretched her tongue out as if to mock me.


    I, on the other hand, turned around and grabbed her by both ears and pulled her face towards mine. "Now listen closely you little twerp, what Amanda and I do in our free time is our thing and ours alone! I swear by the Ancients, next time some fuck is going on about colonizing the planet and that all must contribute, I gonna punch their stupid fucking face in! So you better shut your mouth right fucking now! Understood!?¡±


    With this, I pushed her away. It was already bad enough that half the village was gossiping about me and Amy, my sister should know better than to join in on the shit. Yet much to my peril, instead of sucking it up and apologising, like a good little kid, she began to cry. Unsure as to what I should do, I tried getting closer but Cassidy only jumped back and showed me the middle finger.


    ¡°I hate you! You''re mean and a lesbo and everyone hates you! You''re the worst sister ever!!!¡±


    Before I could hold on to her she turned tail and ran off into the thick undergrowth.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°For Fuck¡¯s sake! Cassidy! Hold on!¡±


    As quick as I possibly could I ran after her. I vaulted over rocks and roots and used the braches to catapult me forwards quicker. But no matter how fast I went, Cassidy had grown up around these woods too and with her small stature and squirrely body she could easily reach places I never would and so she quickly left me behind. Still, I had no intention of giving up; there was no telling as to what could happen to a lone girl in the forest rife with danger.


    After a few minutes, I saw no more of her and had to rely on the tracks her stormy escape had left behind. I wasn¡¯t all that worried about catching up to her, she didn¡¯t train as much as one had to on a low gravity planet and so her stamina was shit, also I was ten years older and far more experienced. For a brief moment I thought about letting her stay alone for an hour or two but that dark idea was quickly shattered when I heard a girly scream a short distance in front of me.


    ¡°Fuck! Cassy! Stay where you are I¡¯m coming for you!¡± I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping that she had heard me.


    Before I could even see her I already heard the sounds. A deep feral growl accompanied by the fizzle of a signal torch. I rushed forward with all of my determination, no longer caring if I scratched my skin open or if my hair got caught in the twigs. If I was right about this and I hoped I wasn''t, then my little sister was in serious trouble!


    Finally, after what felt like hours but must have been only a minute or two I crashed through the thicket surrounding a small clearing. One of the massive aeon-trees had fallen either due to age or during one of the storms that ravaged Picarius so often. In turn, it had created not only a large breach in the forest but also ripped open a deep underground cave system. Only I couldn''t care less because at the moment my sister was cowering between several entwined roots and an adult cracklion was trying to get to her!


    ¡°Hey! HEY!¡± I tried to get the attention of the terrifying predator to no avail.


    Seeing my plan fail I ripped the rifle from my shoulder. As I was still in a full run, there was absolutely no way that my shot would hit. And even if it did, there was a good chance that I would only wound the creature making it angry and desperate, well more than it already was. But still, I had to get it away from my sister and focus on me.


    Running straight at it I set the stock against my shoulder took quick aim and fired. The Cracklion flinched, yowled and jumped back. For a second I thought I had hit but the seething rage-filled eyes looking my way told me differently. These beasts were clever enough to disassemble traps, I was certain that it knew the danger of my loud stick, but still, it didn''t back down!


    No matter, I had to protect Cassy! Already rushing towards the two I did something the beast didn¡¯t expect, instead of levelling my gun at it again or running to my sister I ran straight at the big alien. With all my meagre bodyweight I slammed my shoulder into its side.


    The camo-fatigues I was wearing did little to protect my skin from the impact. But the creature too had nothing but soft fur to protect it; if I was going to die today at least I knew I had bruised a Cracklion. Together we went down in a heap of clothes and fur, the animal was unquestionably more massive than I was and so I had to act quickly.


    In our tumble, I had lost my rifle. But as it was only a short distance from where I had landed, I started crawling towards it. Before I even made it a meter, something heavy pounced on my back. Not sparing me a second the predator went for my throat. Seeing this coming I jerked to the side. I didn¡¯t avoid the massive jaws but at least they only got my shoulder. I cried out in pain when the teeth penetrated cloth, skin, muscle and even bone. With my left arm almost numb from the pain I used my other to punch it repeatedly in its snout.


    The animal may not have a nose but the rows of pit organs along its front were sensible enough to provide a good punching target. As I had expected ¨C or rather hoped ¨C once I started to seriously hurt the Cracklion it released my shoulder and jumped off of me. With one quick motion, I turned around to face it.


    If didn¡¯t knew better I would have almost said that it was weighing its chances. The predator took one look at me, then at the caves and back to me before settling on the gun that was almost in my reach. For some reason, I made the stupid decision of following the creatures glance. It was like a switch had been flipped, as soon as it had realized the danger coming from me it had decided to end me.


    There was no way by the Ancients that I could reach my gun in time. Already the Cracklion had closed the distance between us in two leaps. Its massive paws pushed me down and its jaws opened up before my face... and they also closed before it! Seeing as I couldn¡¯t reach the gun I had slipped my combat knife from my belt and had rammed into its lower jaw. It wasn¡¯t enough to kill it but for now, I hadn''t been mutilated.


    Still struggling against the overwhelming muscles of the beast I screamed towards Cassy.


    ¡°The gun! Shoot it, Cassy!¡±


    ¡°I- I can¡¯t I¡¯m scared!¡±


    The Cracklion¡¯s long claws ripped my vest to shreds and began digging into my skin. ¡°And I¡¯m dead if you don¡¯t do it! Shoot it now! That is an order!¡±


    ¡°Ahh!!!¡±


    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cassy emerge from her hidey-hole and grab the rifle. She knew how to use it, all of our kids knew that because if they didn¡¯t they could easily end up dead. Now all she had to do was actually use that knowledge. She was almost there but never had she shoot at a living target before and especially not one so massive and deadly. All she needed was a push... and so I pushed her.


    Gasping in pain and still wrestling the beast on top of me I looked her dead in the eyes. ¡°Do it or will burn your happy unicorn pillow! SHOOT!¡±


    ¡°I hate you!¡± The gun went off. Something wet and warm splashed across my face and all of a sudden it felt as if the weight on top of me had suddenly multiplied.


    ¡°Oof!¡± The air was almost completely pushed out of my lungs.


    ¡°Heavy bastard.¡± With all the power I had left I pushed the Cracklion¡¯s corpse off me and stood in front of my still shaking sister.


    ¡°You did good Cassy, Dad would be proud.¡±


    Cassy looked up and stretched out her middle finger. ¡°Fuck you!¡±


    I only grinned and did the same. ¡°Fuck you too kid.¡±


    For a moment she looked at me blankly before suddenly the corner of her mouth twitched upwards. In a manner of seconds, her hopelessly suppressed giggles turned into full out childish laughter. I didn''t interfere and instead went to the equipment box I had chucked away before tackling the Cracklion and opened it. In it mostly medical equipment and rations but deep down in the cooling compartment, I had hidden a little surprise.


    Before Cassy could recover from her panic and adrenalin induced laughter, I had already stripped out of my rendered stab-vest and the destroyed top of my fatigues. The wounds were deep and painfully but none had managed to hit anything too vital. I took off my tank top and winced when I realise that not only was my shoulder mangled but one of the paws had dug its claws deep into my left boob.


    After I finished dressing my wounds, with not a small amount of pain and more wincing, I finally walked back towards Cassidy. In my hands, I held the same price that my father had given me after proving myself in his eyes. My deeds had only earned his respect with eleven so in a way Cassy was breaking a new record. Still, I cared little if she was elven or nine, she had saved my life today and I had saved hers.


    ¡°Here, drink.¡± I handed her the cold can.


    ¡°What the- Are you serious!? Mama said I''m not allowed to drink until I''m sixteen!¡±


    ¡°So what, I have tasted beer my first time with eleven and your only one and half years younger, so there is no harm done. Also, you did prove yourself more than enough today, so in my opinion, it is okay to make a small exception."


    Almost shoving the beer can into Cassidy¡¯s hands I sat down next to her.


    ¡°You know what is weird... That Cracklion was unnaturally aggressive. I thought it was sick at first but looking at it from up-close I¡¯m sure it isn¡¯t. So why did it attack you and after you held a signal torch in its faces of all things?¡±


    ¡°Huh? How should I know! I just stumbled in here and it was all roar and growl!¡± Glancing away unsure she took a sip of her drink and immediately grimaced. ¡°Eww! It¡¯s so bitter and weird! How can you adults even drink this!¡±


    ¡°Hehe~, I reacted the same way, so I suspect you won¡¯t want to drink it again for a while.¡±


    I looked back to the Cracklion before us and got curious. There had to be a reason for it to attack us so viciously. Even though my muscles screamed in pain I got up again and kneeled down next to it. After a quick look over of the corpse, I was certain of it. The animal had been a nursing female. A sigh escaped me as the realisation washed over me; we had just killed a mother that had only been protecting its young. Now was only the question as to what we should do about


    ¡°Hey, do you want to see cracklion babies?¡±


    ¡°WOAH! You mean little kittens!?" Almost immediately the scare from before was forgotten and my sister''s eyes shone brightly.


    ¡°Sure. They are probably down in the caves.¡±


    After making sure that our equipment was properly hidden away, I looked down into the caves. They were surprisingly roomy but still, while a cracklion might have been able to easily traverse them I had no intention of just jumping down there. So instead I took out the climbing equipment from Cassidy¡¯s pack and began making a climbable way down. One end I wrapped around one of the ¡°smaller¡± roots, they were still thicker than my thighs and that was saying something.


    Being satisfied and certain that it would hold even our combined weight, Cassy and I began making knots into the rope we would use to climb down. Normally that would not be needed but for one she wasn¡¯t the strongest and two I was seriously injured, so it would be saver if there was something to hold on to. About twenty minutes later we were finally finished and began our descent down into the darkness.


    I had Cassy go ahead as she was most interested in finding out what lay down below. When she reached the bottom though she did what she had done so many times before, she ran off.


    ¡°Cassy wait up!¡±


    Before I could reach the bottom I heard a loud gasp from inside the cave. Fearing that she had once more gotten herself into trouble I dropped down the last two meters. I ignored the pain in my left side and instead rushed after Cassy. Curiously I found her pretty quickly, intensively staring at something.


    ¡°Cassy! I told you . . . to . . . wait . . . Woah . . .¡±


    ¡°Sis, what is this?¡±


    ¡°That- That is an Ancient ruin!¡±