Ar’thor kept his eyes shut as he muttered a calming mantra under his breath. He tried to keep calm as he they moved ever closer to the cavern . He had only used his ability with beings who had known his language or beasts he had raised, and he was a little nervous. He was told that by his elders that it was easy to hide things, even when using it to talk. But he was worried, the skill worked on the assumption that both targets had a language. For all he knew they were beasts. But even if they could talk, who knew how these they talked to each other, by smell?!
As the group moved closer, Ar’thor took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. He had no other choice, this was the best thing that he could do to help the others. If they could just talk to those beings, then they might be able to help each other. The way those beings had reacted gave him hope, if they could coordinate then they had to have a language. And if not, then the power he had leaned for his mission wouldn’t work. All that he could do was hope that this would work, that everything would turn out all right.
“[My prince, take heart],” The voice of his guard caused Ar’thor’s eyes to look up, seeing Kon’gric’s glyph on his mask. He forced a small smirk down as his eyes locked on the glyph, feeling a small sense of peace.
“[Was my heart going faster good guard?],” Ar’thor asked and Kon’gric only chuckled.
“[No, I just know you my prince. I have protected you for a long time. And this is just like some of the times in the past when you stepped up. Just remember what the Emperor told you once. Just keep calm, follow the plan, and don’t worry too much. That power you mastered will let you speak to this creature if they can speak. And if they can’t talk, then all we have to do is scare them off while running to the door],” Kon’gric said bluntly.
Ar’thor just took a moment before he felt his spirits rise. He knew that Kon’gric was just trying to help him, he probably saw Ar’thor’s vitals and knew what his charge was feeling. Still, Kon’gric was right. The path before them needed him to make it work, and there was nothing else to do. Ar’thor had to talk to the leader of the creatures, it was the only way that he saw to let them pass them in peace.
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Olv’xic looked around the tunnel as he walked behind them. He wasn’t sure about what Prince Ar’thor wanted to do, but they had to go this way. If they couldn’t get permission to pass by them, then they would have to go through them. And they didn’t know how much of them were their bodies or the stone they used as armor. He had tracked down creatures that used acid to hollow out homes. And he seen the dead used as building materials to make armor. To say that he was worried that if they fought those things it would be a losing fight was like saying the void was cold. The Prince’s plan had to work, there was nothing else to do.
As he dropped another sensor unit, his mask showed a beep and he nodded to himself. He didn’t like this place, something about it just bothered him. There was a strange feeling here, something about it just put him on edge. He didn’t know what was causing it, he hadn’t felt anything like this when the team raided other Precursor sites. He looked around, shaking his head, and for an instant wondered what could be different here. To try and calm his nerves, he started to list all the sites and what made them similar.
“[Je’ndra to team, time to start planning people],” Je’ndra’s voice suddenly came over his comm.
“[Tar’lroia here, what’s the call boss? I’m guessing this is about the problem we might run into]?” Archermed01 asked next as her icon appeared on Olv’xic’s visor.
“[Yes. The prince hasn’t told us just how close he has to be to use his skill. If those things attack us I want us to have options. But above all the Prince must live, that is the mission],” Je’ndra said sternly.
Olv’xic kept silent as the others kept talking, trying to figure out how to handle the prince’s plan. His mind wasn’t on the talk, instead, he went over everything that he knew about the Precursor ruins. There was something he just couldn’t see, something that he was missing.
“[I can’t go with the guard to watch the little prince boss. I’ll do the most good by staying back. Once my guns start going we can fall back. Maybe we can find where that three-legged thing came from if we have to],” Ken’tricx said as his icon appeared next.
Olv’xic started to go over everything he knew, everything each ruin was like. After a few thoughts, he wondered what had caused that Precursor robot to attack. Most of the time, when ruins were raided, the bots were all offline. And then they only fought for a few moments before they deactivated. But then that was obvious, it was expected. After all, all ruins didn’t have…..
As the thought crystallized in his mind, Olv’xic went till and stopped moving. He felt his blood leave his face as he went over that same thought again and again. There was no way, no way in all of the stars! The very thought was so impossible that he was almost embarrassed to even think it! The odds against that being the case, why they were so high to not even bother to count? Every other site was, so why was this one? The only way that this was possible was if…..
Olv’xic felt the last of his blood leave his face as his heart stopped. That explained everything, everything added up. If he was right then they were going towards the heart of the enemy, and they might not leave alive.
“[Hey, Olv’xic? You okay man?],” Ken’tricx’s voice caused Olv’xic to look up and see Heavyweapon1 looking at him.
“[Ken’tricx…. Yeah, sorry. I just thought of something, something stupid. It’s nothing really, just an impossible thought. Nothing to worry about, really],” Olv’xic said and Heavyweapon1 nodded and turned away.
Olv’xic just kept walking, his mind going over the impossible thing before him. If he was right, how had he felt it? He didn’t know anything, nothing made sense. If he was right, what made this place so different? All he could do was wait, and hope that he was wrong.
But if he wasn’t, if he wasn’t….. he could see nothing before him but trouble, pain, and terror. The Precursor Destroyer was just the strongest ENCOUNTERED robot. Nothing that had been found in the Ruins listed it as the strongest. Some scholars even theorized that the Destroyers had only survived the ages by luck. Those same scholars even it was because they were made for defense of the Ruins, not to attack. That the greatest of the Progenitor’s weapons had been used up in the final war that led to their deaths.
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And if they were unlucky, they might find the fabled unit here, finally putting to rest so many theories. But for now, Olv’xic would keep walking and be ready to help his team.
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Ken’tricx looked over his shoulder with a back sensor, a frown on his face. He knew that the kid kept a lot of secrets, but something was wrong here. He never wanted to push, but something was telling him that he would have to soon. He didn’t want to, he thought that the kit was learning that he could trust them.
During the years they had worked together, the kid had stayed away, always wearing his mask even on base. That wasn’t too bad, it was allowed for those who had honorable reasons to hide, but something about the kid. He didn’t act like most of the Masked. The kid talked normally and always tried to fade into the background. He took the most hidden tasks, and did nothing that would let others know his name. Most of the Masked tried to stand out, and always took the most visible jobs. Something about making up for their lost honor or some old-fashioned garbage. The kid was more modern than Ken’tricx, and he was from a planet that was the movie capital of the Kingdom!
Ken’tricx always trusted his instincts, and they were screaming. They said that the kid was hiding something that the others needed to know. But if he pushed, then he would lose everything he had built with the kid and they need to trust each other. If they didn’t, then they would die apart when they had to stand together. So he didn’t have a choice then, to stay silent and hope that the kid told them before they were in the reds. But for now, he would stay a little more alert, if anything threatened his team they would run into him first.
At the head of the group, Je’ndra looked around as she tried and failed to keep calm. So far everything was going okay, but she was waiting for the boot to drop. From the Precursor robot to the three-legged thing behind them. It was like this mission had just gotten worse as time passed. And now they were planning on raiding a Precursor ruin with only half the team.
But they had no choice, there was nothing else to do if they wanted to live. There wasn’t a way out beyond the ruins, and they needed to go through the cavern to get there. And the cavern was full of a possible sentient race. To get by them the Prince would talk to with his skill, and that was the only way they could talk to these things. She could see all the ways this could go wrong, but she saw nothing else to do.
Part of her understood how mad this was, but part of her saw the truth. They needed knowledge if they were to breach the doors. The only way they knew the doors were even there was because of a drone that attacked the queen bug’s chambers. The hole it crashed down led to the queen, and if she hadn’t sent hunters after it, they might smell the team anyway. The only thing to do was breach the doors, hopefully before the bugs found them. But again, the problem was how they would get by the bugs!
She wanted to think that the Prince’s plan would work, she did. But it hinged on the question that they didn't know the team was sentient . For all they knew, the creatures knew that the team could think and they wanted to eat them anyway. If that happened, they would need to fight their way through them, and that would be her problem. If they could strike first, then they might have a chance. But the Prince wanted to try and talk to them, and that would make a first strike impossible. And once the Prince talked mind to mind, the enemy would know a few things about them. But the only other way to do this was to go against her prince’s command, and that was something she just wasn’t ready to do.
A beeping caused her to look up and see Ro’borlar’s icon on her mask’s HUD and she sighed. With a thought, she was connected to him and released a sigh. “[Yes Ro’borlar?],”
“[Leader, the plan…… I want to be one of his guards with you. My blades could buy you some time to get away if it fails],” Ro’borlar said softly
Je’ndra just blinked as she ran what he said through her mind. She was struck dumb for a few seconds before she realized what he wasn’t saying and she scowled. “[NO! There will be no sacrificing on this team, ever! No matter what we will all go home!]”
“[Leader, we don’t have a choice. We have to keep him safe. Ours for his, that the mission],” Ro’borlar said.
All Je’ndra could do was stare at her HUD, her mind going dark places. She understood what he was saying, but she didn’t like it. She ran her team like a well-oiled machine, and it was based on trust. Trust in her to keep them alive. This was not how she led her team, sacrificing others to do the mission. But this was Royalty and the favored grandson of their Emperor. Some said that the Prince was next in line, so they had to keep him alive. But could she allow Ro’borlar to do what he didn’t say?
“[NO! We’ll find another way, I don’t know how but we will! I…. We’ll talk it out with the others and figure out something once we get there, maybe lure one of them to the cave mouth. The Prince could talk to that one first. Or something else, but we won’t do what you said, do you understand me?],” Je’ndra spat out forcibly.
Ro’borlar stayed silent and after a few moments, his icon disappeared.
Je’ndra just huffed and scowled. She knew him enough to know he wouldn’t put the thought down. He was always like that, if the mission needed to leave someone to die, he always tried to do it. She knew that when she took him into her team after his old one died, there would be problems. But she wondered sometimes if she should have allowed him to be discharged from service. Could he have gotten help, would he be happier if she had?
Je’ndra was so deep in thought that she never noticed Tar’lroia come up behind her until she put a hand on her shoulder.
Looking behind her, she saw Tar’lroia and her icon blinking on her HUD.
“[So did he offer to ‘be the rearguard’ again?],” Tar’lroia asked once the connection between their masks was opened.
“[Of course he did. I….. when we get home we have to put him on medical leave, maybe even a medical discharge],” Je’ndra said softly.
“[I think he just needs to face what happened. He needs to know that what he did was the right thing. I……I’m not a mental healer, I might have done all I can do for him. He’ll just become a mercenary if you do that you know],” Tar’lroia said softly.
Je’ndra just nodded. She knew her friend was right. but what else was she to do? Transfer him? He’d just ask for a posting that had a high mortality rate, and that would be the last they’d ever see of him. And he deserved more than that, after everything that happened, he deserved so much more. But then that was the fate of those like him sometimes.
“[For now, keep an eye on him. And be ready for Ken’tricx to carry him if we have to],” Je’ndra said with a sigh, closing the connection.
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As she watched Je’ndra walk ahead, all Tar’lroia could do was shake her head. She didn’t want Je’ndra’s job, she wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure. Just handling keeping everyone alive was hard enough! Well, most of them anyway. As she thought this Tar’lroia looked over her shoulder at Olv’xic. Sometimes she hated the freedom their people offered, especially religious. Olv’xic used that card to keep her from even giving him a physical, and she was still worried why. There had to be a reason he used that card, and she was going to find out.
Still, at least he had installed a one-way medic scanner in his armor. It told her what he needed, and at least that way she could give him medicine. She wondered sometimes what had happened to him. She hated the way he always seemed to flinch when she used one of her healing abilities on him.
She had heard the stories about those who followed the Healer’s path and lived to cause pain. She remembered a story her old teacher had, how one of those everyone thought was an angel was a demon. If Olv’xic had encountered someone like that, it explained much. Much, but not all. She still thought he was hiding a lot, something that explained everything. But if she would ever find it or he would tell them, that was the real question.
Olv’xic was one of the best drone operators she knew, he was smart, fierce, and someone she was honored to know. She just hoped that sooner or later he would tell them the truth.
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As he carried his prince on his back, Kon’gric tried to keep his spirits up. Easier to do now, with the crash. He never thought he would ever have found himself in something like this, but there it was. No matter what he did, his honor would be tainted. He hated what he had planned on doing, but he had no choice! Ever since he had seen that message, he knew he had a choice to make, and either way, he was doomed. But then they crashed here.
For a few moments after the crash, he was wondering if he had already done it. But then he realized no, he hadn’t done it, something else had happened. He didn’t know what to do now, they weren’t expected on the planet for another few months. So he still had time, but time to do what? He couldn’t go through with it, could he? But what else could he do? He was stuck in a terrible situation, where no matter what he did he would lose something. But what else could he do? That person told him that he would have a watcher, so who was it? One of the ones with him or someone else? Could he tell Lady Je’ndra the truth? Could he dare to do it? All he knew was that he had to make a choice soon. A choice that would either damn him or make him a hero. A choice that would affect more than just himself. Go through with it and his family would live, or not go through with it and let his prince live.