Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 3
Uninhabited Island /Beach near crashed escape Capsule 20045
Galactic Standard Time / 1700
“Remember, we’ve got about two hours of light left! We have to be in a place to sleep by then!” Tomkin said as the four members of the scouting team gathered in front of the escape capsule.
Jess grinned and looked at the chief, feeling a bit of pride and eagerness that she destroyed a moment later. “Don’t worry boss. You just bring the people after us in about half an hour. We’ll drop these and you just follow them.”
Jess was pointing at a pack of Augmented Reality poles. They worked by sending out a broadcast that anyone with the proper nanites could pick up. Al had spent a few minutes changing their programming so they would work right. Now they just sent out a direction based on the crash site that three of the scouts could change. She looked at Burt and scowled a little.
The man seemed larger than life, and the stories he told! This world was more dangerous than she had thought, but there were good people here. All they had to do was survive this.
“So what are we looking for?” Sk’p asked. “And who’s in charge?”
“Me,” Xordig said as he looked around, a scowl on his face. “And what we’re looking for is someplace that we can defend or someplace large enough for us all. Once there, Locke can make a chamber for everyone to sleep in. After that, we deal with it tomorrow or tonight.”
“Got it,” Jess said with a grin. “So we’re banking on Locke’s magic powers. Good to know.”
“Hey, those Powers are important! People base their leaders on who has what ability in some cultures. Not mine of course,” Burt said with a laugh.
Jess looked at Burt and shook her head. There was just something about him that seemed to be fake. She couldn’t understand what was bothering her, but it was there. Maybe it was what had happened to her once before.
“That’s enough. We’ll be after you all soon. You must lead the way at least for tonight. That’s all we can ask of you. And it’s more than you all deserve,” Tomkin said with a bitter tone.
Jess looked at him and saw the way his head was pointing down. She had known that the chief was bothered by something, but this? Before she could say anything, someone else did first.
“Sir, this is something none of us could have gotten ready for. We’re doing what we can to stay alive, and that’s all we can do. You have to believe that sir. That’s the truth,” Xordig said with a firm tone.
Tomkin only grinned at him and shook his head. “And that’s what your experience is telling you?”
Xordig only nodded, his face blank.
Jess wondered just what kind of experience the being had. There was just something about the way he spoke like he had done more experience than even Burt. With medical technology, he could have fought in the last great War. But then that was just something that was his business until it became the rest.
“Then I’ll take it. Good luck, all of you,” Tomkin said softly as he saluted them all.
Jess saluted him and the others all snapped and did so as well, Xordig and Sk’p with military grace.
Xordig looked around and nodded. “Then let’s move out!”
As one he led the way towards the back and as he moved around the side of the escape capsule, he stopped and stood there. Jess passed him, looking at him, and saw his wide eyes. She turned her head and stared, shocked at what was before her.
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Burt blinked and then shook his head as he saw the bridge. It was unlike anything that he had ever seen before. Ten feet wide and a hundred long. Two sloping arches that had lines of stone between the bridge and the arches. The arches went to a tower ten feet high and then more slopes that led to another two towers. “Okay, wow. I’ve seen some great works of art, but that bridge. Like nothing I’ve ever seen anywhere on my travels.”
“Just wait until we find the spirit. Then I’ll show you the library. You’ll love it!” Jess said with a smirk.
“Not my best work. I’ve been rushed after all. You know how it is,” Locke said with a shrug. He was sitting against the right tower closest to them, and putting his hand on the ground. At the looks Burt sent him Locke just shrugged. “I found I can make my work stronger if I touch it. This way everyone will get over it with it in one piece.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Burt said after blinking. He looked into his past, remembering some people he fought against or with. How they always tried to touch their elements as they fought with them. The empowering aspect was something he had never thought of. A lot of things that he had seen made a lot more sense now. If the empowering worked on more than just keeping a construct stable.
“Keep watch. If something attacks from the forest, kill it,” Xordig said softly as he walked past.
Locke only chuckled and shook his head. “That was some special advice there.”
Xordig only stopped and turned his head down, looking at Locke who looked back.
For a moment Burt wondered if something was in Locke’s words, but then he shook his head. He could try and figure out what they weren’t saying later.
“Now I’m sure that this is important, but the sun’s falling! Time to move!” Burt said as he walked by Xordig and Locke. He kept walking before turning to look at them, and he hoped they saw how serious he was. “Because none of you want to know what’s out in this forest at night!”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“He’s right, let’s move!” Xordig said with an edge to his voice. He walked past Burt who just shook his head.
“Wow. I think you might have gotten him to think about this,” Jess said. Then she punched Burt’s right arm as she and Sk’p walked past him.
Burt just rubbed his arm and shook his head, smiling. Something about all this was telling him they were going to survive.
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As he looked around, Sk’p tried and failed to keep from thinking about the bridge. The way that Locke said ‘Special’, it was bothering him. He had been around for a while. He had led his flight against Pirates and even a few Corporate Stations that went ‘Rogue’. The combat he had seen in his fighter and on the ground, they were all telling him that there was something there. But he could think about it later.
“So what can we expect out here?” Jess asked from behind him.
He heard Burt sigh and he waited for what the native said. He had lived on this island for a while and any clues that he had to survive were worth hearing.
“Well, I’ve been mostly on the other shore past the river. And with the swarms on this island gathering around their alphas, anything really. But most of them aren’t ambushers, so they’ll make noses before they strike. Keep calm, and look at any sounds,” Burt said softly as they moved through the forest.
Sk’p looked at the forest and tried not to think about the things that could be watching them. The way that Burt talked, he probably had a few scars from this place. But then all things worth doing might make scars. “So what was your home like?”
“Nice place to live. A mountain that we used to watch the seas, and forests with wonderful fruit from all over. And the people! Beings from all over lived there! Races whose ancestors fought were friends. It was one of the greatest places on the planet! But we liked to be unknown, so there’s that. It was perfect,” Burt said with a sigh.
Sk’p smirked and shook his head. “Sounds like any place in the Federation! That was our creed ya know? From many places unity and strength! Sure some species liked to stay by themselves, but on the whole, everyone stood together.”
Sk’p looked around before his eyes and noticed a tree with a small hanging mass near the top. For a second he looked at it as he took stock of it. As he watched it, his fur started to stand on its ends, and his eyes focused on the mass as it moved. For a few moments, he wondered why his instants were telling him to strike now and keep striking until it was dead. But he stayed still and tried to not let the thing know he was watching it. “Burt, above me. Follow my eyes.”
Sk’p felt more then heard Burt move towards him and then look up, and then Sk’p heard the sounds of chocking. “One of those!? Bad, really bad.”
“How bad?” Xordig’s voice held a note of worry in it, and then Burt swallowed again.
“Scavenger really, not that deadly. But they always nest near a stronger….. wait. I learned about those in the Mountain Region. How’d it get here?” Burt asked.
“So it’s the sign of a threat, not the threat itself?” Sk’p asked as he looked around.
“Yeah, but near is tricky for a flyer. The predator could be nearby or miles away. But we’re in its hunting zone. But why didn’t it attack the beach?” Burt asked as he looked towards the ocean, a scowl on his face.
“Was it scared?” Jess asked.
“Yeah. But if it was, what scared if?” Xordig asked.
Sk’p turned away from the tree, looking toward the ocean. All he knew was that there had to be a reason for the scavenger’s actions. But what would those actions mean to the group?
Sk’p swallowed, looking at the horizon and tried to keep calm. “Let’s keep moving, now.”
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The lone hunter looked around the seabed, trying to think. It had lost all but the last ten of its hunting ones. And the food things had killed them from so far away! Without a way to beach the surf, let alone their nest it was stuck! And the leader would be here soon with the rest of the horde. And without finding a good meal, the hunter would be food! It slammed its hand down and then blinked as it realized it hit something hard. Not a rock, not the ground, but something else.
It looked down and saw that it had hit a large chitin shell. It called its hunters to it and then slowly two eyestalks the size of its fist rose from the floor. The hunter saw the backs of them, and only then did it realize what it was looking at.
The hunter felt its mouth widen in joy and then it called for its power. It threw it at the creature that it had found, grabbing the stalks to send its power through them. The creature tried to buck the hunter, but the hunter held on tight. From the ocean floor, four limbs started to thrash around as silt rose and clouded the water.
The hunter held on and kept throwing its will and power at the creature. This was his one chance to live and win! With how big this one was, it had to be strong! Once it sent this at the food things, it would win!
As the thrashing died down and the creature relaxed, the hunter felt joy. The hunter could feel this one’s strength and its power. The hunter felt joy that soon this brute would destroy the food thing’s nest. But why stop there? The hunter could become the leader with such power!
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As Jinn looked out at the ocean, he frowned. As the sun slowly started to fall, what he could see was being blocked. He didn’t like this, but what could he do? The more time passed, the closer night came. And the closer to when they would leave. He spared a glance to see the survivors were all getting ready to follow the scouting group. He was staying back, his dashing trick would let him escape quickly.
He had told Tomkin about it, even demonstrated it and Tomkin had grinned evilly. He had gotten to work on making the escape capsule explode after it was locked. His new job was to hold the horde off if it got here, and then escape to once the survivors escaped.
The waters suddenly burst as a monster broke from the waves. It was large, ten feet tall, and ten feet long covered in black chitin. Its body was streamlined and it was standing upright on four legs set in a square formation. It had four long lobster-like arms with snapping claws, one set above the other. Its head was a snout covered by four flexing mandibles with a mouth of needle teeth. It had four eye stalks just before where the arms were on the body. Behind it, the fish biped stuck its head up and looked right at Jinn for a moment before one of its arms glowed blue.
With a shriek, the lobster monster charged forward.
“Nova! TIME’S UP, MOVE IT!” Jinn barked before he ‘dashed’ to the beach. As soon as he touched the sand, he ‘dashed’ forward, his blade drawn and ready. He landed next to the lobster and slashed down, the flame in his weapon. As the blade slashed into the lobster’s lower claw, it just wounding the limb, not severing it.
When the upper claw on that side sped towards him, Jinn dashed backwards, drawing his gun as he put the blade away.
“Okay, let’s try this! Aether Bolt!” Jinn called out before he fired, the blue coating the red energy blast. The blasts hit the lobster in its side and staggered the beast, but it kept standing.
Before Jinn could fire again, something hit him, something wet. As he went flying he dashed upwards for a good twenty feet. When he came out of the dash he was still moving in the direction he had been before. As he looked towards the source, he saw the biped fish pointing its upper arms where he had been. But then he snarled and dashed forward, and when he came out he just fell. Aiming at the biped, he snarled as he aimed and with a word, fired another blue-covered red energy blast.
The blast hit the fish biped in its upper right arm and blew it off at the elbow. It screamed before it fell into the water, and the lobster monster looked up.
“KEEP IT ON YOU JINN! WE NEED A MINUTE!” Racha’s cry caused Jinn to nod and dash above the lobster monster. As he fell, he fired at it three more times, two of them hitting the head and one destroying two eye stalks.
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Racha looked around the survivors as all forty of the civilians were being led across the bridge. They were mostly adults with fifteen children, and twenty crew members to guard them. Al and Sara were on the other side, with Paige upfront with Tomkin. Locke was staying back with her, ready to pull up the bridge the moment he had to.
Catching Locke’s looks, she knew that she had to stop him. She moved until she was in front of him and looked him right in the eyes. He looked back at her for a few moments before he turned away.
“Can you blame me? I thought he was dead!” Locke said as the last of the survivors had left.
Racha looked at him and felt for him, she did. The two of them had to have been friends for a while, and he was worried about Jinn. But then every bit of her training was telling her to try and pump Locke for any bit of information about their home.
“Jinn mentioned that you were raised to be defenders of this ‘True Federation’. What can you tell me about it?” Racha asked.
Locke looked at her and chuckled. “So you’re the Special he told me about?”
Racha almost reacted, but she kept calm. Jinn was running from something, it stood to reason he would have told anyone he trusted about her. “Yeah. And any organization that calls itself ‘True Federation’ is a problem.”
“Yeah. Jinn wouldn’t know anything about that. He just tried to keep down from what I’ve got from him. But he was raised to break the enemy, I was raised to spy on them. Something a lot like you come to think of it," Locke said with a shrug. But then his face went hard and he looked at her. “But I’ll be keeping quiet. I’ve still got some people out there that I want safe.”
Racha looked at him and was about to say something but then Locke kept talking.
“When we left, the biggest backer was there. We killed them and all the teachers. Me and Jinn, we both got into separate shuttles to take out the last of the rats. Jinn just ran, I spent a few weeks trying to find where I was raised. By the time I did, the others had escaped or given the dead a burning funeral. I won’t put them in danger,” Locke said with a scowl as he looked at her.
Racha looked at him and nodded. She understood, but her training told her that there was something else here. “Fine. For now fine. But I want to talk to you and Jinn about this.”
A scream came from the forest that caused Racha to look at the survivors and crew members. They had stopped halfway to the forest and looked back. And to her horror, Racha saw some of them start to move the others around backwards. She didn’t need Paige’s abilities to tell that something had to be done.
“Keep moving!” Racha bellowed. As everyone on the bridge turned to look at her, she felt herself rising. She looked at Locke who grinned.
“I thought you’d need a stand so they can see you. Good luck,” Locke said with a grin.
“Keep moving! We have nothing here! We have to keep moving! Trust in the others!” Racha called out.
For a moment, everyone looked at her. As Racha looked at them, she had to trust that they would want to live. But would think enough to understand that? That they all had to work together, that there was nothing else they could do.