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 / 1735
Burt forced himself to stay awake and lunged to the side, dodging the creature. He fired his blaster and bore a hole through the creature’s head in one blast. As the corpse fell to the ground, Burt got back to his feet.
“So that was a threat around here?” Xordig asked with a smirk and pride in his voice.
Burt ignored him and looked out into the forest. “They’re a threat because of one thing. When you see one of them, there’s at least ten hiding!”
As soon as Burt said that, there were growls that echoed from all around them. Shadows lunged at the group from the left, right, and behind and they all tried to dodge. Burt fell backwards, firing up. He hit the one that leaped at him at it flew over his body, scoring a hole through the creature’s stomach.
“How many of them are there!?” Xordig cried out in anger as he dropped his rifle to grab the head of one of the creatures. He slammed it into the ground and then twisted its head around, killing it.
“MANY! These things are such a threat that they are called Saber Swarmers! They say that these things are never in a group less than a hundred!” Burt said as he got up, firing into the darkness. “And even worse! They say these things can wield the Power instinctively!”
“A hundred of these things!? They’ll slaughter the whole capsule!” Sk’p cried out as he fired into the darkness.
“No, they won’t! They have some kind of strange way to fight. They only charge at most five at a time! Against a group of around the same size. People have thought it’s so some of them will stay alive and learn. Find ways to kill those who kill them!” Burt explained as he fired into the shadows around them.
He didn’t say that the last time he fought these things, he had run. He had been on a trade convoy trying to get supplies to a city, one of the many in a way against a horde of raiders. The convoy had been ambushed by the Swarmers, and they had lost a few people. They had been able to escape, and the city had been under siege by the Swarmers for a good two weeks afterward.
“The Power!? That you mean like that Locke block? These things are able to do things like that!?” Sk’p exclaimed, horror in his voice.
“Then let’s try this! Battle Enhance/ Flame!” Jess called out, moments later she was engulfed in a crimson aura. When one of the creatures came at her, she dealt it a savage blow with her right fist before firing at another one. Her blast exploded in a small fireball when it hit, causing the creature to screech in pain.
“What do you know, they don’t like fire!” Jess said with savage glee in her voice.
“Be careful! You’ve got the beacons!” Xordig snarled.
Jess only laughed and looked over her shoulder at them.
“If it was just fire, then they would be a lot easier to defeat! The ones I fought gained power from it! We need to keep them from getting into our blind spots!” Burt exclaimed as he fired into the darkness.
“Then everyone back to back! Diamond formation with the points away from the path! Keep it up!” Xordig barked.
In a moment, the four of them were in an X formation, back to back. Whenever a shadow seemed to try to attack one of them, they fired at it as a group. All they could do was try and survive the next few moments of chaos.
“We can’t stay here!” Sk’p cried out behind Burt.
Burt said nothing, only firing into the shadows of the forest. “Yeah, we need to move! We’ve got to drag these things away from the others! And with the explosion coming, we need to find a safe place!”
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Jess gritted her teeth and tried to keep calm. They had to do this, they needed to get away. But no matter what she tried to think of, there was nothing they could do. Unless they found someplace that they…..
She moved her head towards her left and saw something fifty feet away. It looked like a large clearing, maybe big enough for what they needed. This one thing was so shocking that she almost didn’t believe her eyes. But if it was what she thought it was, she needed to say something. “There! On my right past that knobbed tree! Is that what I think it is!?”
Burt and Xordig both turned their heads and she heard Burt give out a whoop of joy.
“Waves Yeah! That looks good right?” Burt said, laughter in his voice.
“Yeah, it does! Everyone move it! Bounding overwatch into the darkness. Burt, with me! We’ll clear a path. Sk’p, watch our backs with Jess!” Xordig called out, hope in his voice.
“Got it!” Sk’p said before he started to fire.
Jess fired as Burt and Xordig ran, when they were ten feet away she knew and looked at Sk’p. “Time to move!”
As one the two of them followed after Burt and Xordig, firing at anything of the Swarmers that attacked them.
After a few moments, they broke through to the clearing. As she came into it, Jess looked around and smiled. The clearing was at least one hundred feet wide, and there were no bushes. A large space that was perfect for Locke to make a shelter for them. All they needed to do now was handle the Swarmers and think of the others later.
“Keep moving! We can fight them off from the center!” Burt called out as he fired into the shadows of the trees.
Jess stayed silent as she ran, trying to keep calm.
“What is the worst that these things can do?” Xordig asked and Burt didn’t say anything as he fired.
Jess looked over and saw that Burt seemed to be keeping his eyes on the forest around the clearing. She couldn’t blame him for not speaking, this was something that Burt seemed to have faced before. And she was slowly starting to think that he had been on the defensive then as well.
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Finally, after they reached the center of the clearing and got into formation, Burt spoke.
“They’re one of the few things that can use the Power despite being just animals! They could do anything at all! I’ve seen them breathe fire and some throw energy blasts. You can’t know what anyone can do when the Power’s involved!” Burt said with a hard edge.
Jess's heart froze as she looked around the clearing, more at the Swarmers than the shadows. In a few moments, her eyes tracked one of the shadows and fired a blast. The blast hit a tree and broke off a branch that fell through the shadow.
“Like Illusions!? The shadows are illusions!” Jess cried out in shock and anger.
“Illusions!? Then how many of these things are there!?” Burt exclaimed in shocked horror.
“We’ve killed some of them, right?!” Sk’p said, his eyes wide
“Yeah, I punched one myself!” Jess snarled as she fired at the shadows. “But most of them are just shadows! That must be something they can do!”
“I’ve seen skilled illusionists caste their arts before. They could do amazing things of color and shape. But if these are Swarmers…… yeah. This makes sense,” Burt said bluntly as he fired at another charging Swarmer and looked at the body. “Fire at anything with color!”
“Easier said than done! How do we find the one that’s doing it!?” Sk’p demanded as he fired
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Zordig stared at a point at the edge of the two groups of shadows. If these powers worked anything like science, then the source had to be close. And if he was right, it would be right there!
Without speaking, Zordig fired a few blasts into the area he had targeted. As soon as the bolts slashed into the forest, there was a yelp. After that happened, the shadows suddenly disappeared.
“I’ve got it!” Xordig said with a smirk. His eyes went to the Swarmers, they had all stopped. In moments, they all turned and ran away. As he fired at them, he felt his mouth smirking in joy. “I knew it!”
“They’re running! Quick! Jess, get the poles ready! We need to claim this place now! We can’t let the others pass us by!” Sk’p exclaimed.
Xordig looked around and saw a few of the Swarmers were still there, but they were just watching them. He aimed and fired, killing one of them. “I’ll hold here! Sk’p, Burt, go! Get the others here fast! We need to have shelter before the bomb goes up! Jess, set up one of the signposts!”
“Take it and go!” Jess said as she pulled one free.
“Got it! Good luck!” Burt called as he grabbed it and ran back towards the path.
The Swarmers tried to attack the two, but Xordig fired and killed one, and Jess’s bolt tore off one of its legs. As it tried to escape, Xordig shot through its head. As the corpse fell, Xordig panned around the clearing, seeing the last of them falling back.
While he did that, he could hear Jess plunging her beacon pole into the ground.
“So think that’s the only one that can make illusions, the one you killed?” Jess asked as she fired at the forest.
“Who knows if I killed it? It might just know to escape after it hit. They might just still be fighting us so that one could escape!” Xordig snarled as he looked around the clearing.
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As they tried to get the passengers to move faster, Al looked behind him. He tried to keep his eyes on the woods around him, but he kept wanting to go back. He had a bad habit of leaving people behind, and he knew that. But still, he felt terrible about letting Jinn fight alone.
“Don’t worry! Jinn’s strong. He’ll make it!” Paige said from his left.
Al looked at her and shook his head. It was going to be hard to get used to Paige letting those who knew her abilities do what they did. He just sighed and shook his head, chuckling a little. “Don’t worry about me. Just some nerves about my history.”
Paige’s small smile almost made Al speak more, but he stayed silent. He knew that Paige was one of the best people to talk to, but he didn’t want to bring attention to her abilities. Those people that she had escaped from, there was no idea to know who they were. There had to be people who were still out there, and if any of them were here, Nova help those scum! He, Jinn, and even Sara would like to have words with them, from blaster point!
Al looked around and saw something in the trees. He looked closer at it and then saw what looked like a blaster trail. That caused Al to go stern, bringing up his rifle with a hard sense. Paige gasped and he could hear her pull out her own rifle, and he nodded at her.
“Should you go tell Tomkin what you found? What is it?” Paige asked and Al growled.
“Blaster trail. That means the scouts were firing at something. That’s worrying,” Al said with a short quiet voice.
“HERE!” Burt’s voice came from ahead of them.
Al looked up and he felt a smile forming. Ahead of them by twenty feet, Burt and Sk’p stood there. Burt was swinging the beacon like a baton and grinning ear to ear.
Sk’p was directing the others towards the right. “Just keep moving! Get to the center! Guards at the sides, fire at anything that moves!”
Tomkin stepped aside as the people moved on, and he looked around while holding his weapon at the ready.
Al looked at Paige and nodded. “You go with them! I’ll stay here and make sure Locke can make it to the center. Keep a way open for him!”
“Got it!” Paige said before she ran off.
Al watched her move along the column for a second before he ran towards Tomkin and the others.
“….bad is it around here?” Tomkin finished asking bluntly as Al made it to the small meeting.
Burt looked away as Sk’p chuckled.
“Oh, nothing too bad. Just a pack of monsters able to make illusions of more of them! Zordig killed or stunned the thing, and now we’re waiting for you!” Sk’p said with a smirk. “This planet is something else! But we’re stronger!”
Al stared at him, shocked, and then felt his heart clench. Sh’p hadn’t fought the Paralyzer Beast or any of the things he had. He hadn’t even seen the False Plants. How dare he joke about this place!? He was about to say something when he saw the way that Sk’p’s eyes were on the other passengers. It took Al a moment to notice that a few people were staying back to listen in. A moment later, Al looked at Sk’p in awe. “You noticed that some of them were listening in on us, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Sk’p said with a somber look. “The first thing you learn when you’re in officer’s school, keep the morale of your team up. If you can do that, then you can do anything at all.”
Al looked at Sk’p and then shook his head.
Suddenly, there were the sounds of blaster fire behind her. That caused everyone to look back towards the beach and stare. There was Locke, and behind him was Racha firing at something to the side.
Without a single moment’s hesitation, Al ran towards Racha. His rifle was aiming towards where Racha was firing after his second step. He heard someone coming behind him, and then they both fired, helping Racha.
Racha and Locke looked up as soon as the blasts Al and whoever had fired hit near where Racha had hit.
Locke smiled and laughed. “Good to see you! We were hoping that you wouldn’t be too far off. The main horde is there! Jinn’s holding them off, but we need to get under my powers soon!”
Sk’p stepped back and grabbed Locke’s arm. “Then come one!”
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Locke looked at Sk’p as the being pulled him along. He could hear the others coming behind them, but he didn’t care. All he could do was hope that he could handle this. He knew that this was beyond anything that he had ever done before, and he wanted to do this right.
As soon as he reached the clearing, he broke free and ran towards the center. People got out of his way, and he felt a bit of honor at that. They all knew what he was here for, and what he had to do to save them.
He reached down, and then put all his Power into this. All around the group, a five-foot thick stone wall grew around them in a circle fifty feet out. Slowly at first, but picking up speed the wall grew upwards. At forty feet, the doom changed and moved towards the center, and within minutes the wall became a dome. As they were engulfed in darkness, the signpost released a simple light.
He heard the cheers around him, but he kept working. They couldn’t see it, but he felt his work. Beyond the doom a good twenty feet out another doom rose. Every ten feet up, he forced a pillar to grow between the two domes. As soon as the top covered the inner dome, they heard a large explosion. He gritted his teeth as he felt the blastwave hit through the domes until it stopped.
He chuckled and looked at the others who were looking at him. He grinned and opened a door to the outer dome. “It worked! We’ve outlasted it!”
He saw the others scream and laugh. He spotted Tomkin and Racha who nodded at him. He felt pride as he opened something at the center of the top dome. Time to wait for Jinn.
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As soon as Jinn heard the explosion, he dashed upwards towards the sound. As the blast wave went over the trees, they were flattened. As he watched in horror, he felt glad that he had escaped from that. But as he fell, he smiled. There in the distance, the setting sun’s light shined off the Yard-Ship. From here, he could see it at last. It was at least a good six hours away, but the new terrain would help their speed. Even if they had to bring the others with them, they would be able to make it there soon.
As he fell, he spun around in joy. As he turned overhead, he saw a rock dome. With a grin, he started to dash towards it. All he had to do was tell the others and they could leave at first light.
After dashing a few times, he dropped the last foot and landed on empty space. With a laugh, he walked towards the dome he saw a few creatures around the trees, and some of them were still alive. He looked down at one of them and then saw its eyes. There was a self in those depths, some kind of mind was there. He looked at the tree holding it down and sighed. Without a thought, he pulled out his blade. With a single quick slash, he cut the tree in half, and the four-limbed creature pulled itself out. It looked a little like the feline creature that he had seen before at the river. It looked at him before it bowed and faded away as if it had never been there.
After a moment of chuckling, Jinn moved on. Moving closer to the dome he saw that it was completely closed. But then he had expected this, so he dashed upwards. After coming out of it he dashed again until he reached to top. A quick dash to the center and he dropped into the hole Locke had left for him. Falling a good three feet, he landed on the top of the dome and saw the way down. He dropped into the darkness and landed on a stone floor. It was completely dark all around him, but then he saw the light to his left. He moved towards it and stopped when it went down in a small sloop and whistled.
“JINN!? THAT YOU?” Al’s voice called up to him. He saw more light up the wall ahead of him and he smiled. He looked down the side and saw platforms on the side, each one alone and sticking out. But near enough for one of his old bunkmates from his early life.
“YEAH, GIVE ME A MINUTE!” Jinn called out as he started to jump down, using the platforms as a ‘bridge’. After he landed in front of the others, he grinned. “Not a bad workout Locke. Takes me back.”
“I did use the old man’s training idea. Nice way to honor the old fool?” Locke asked with a grin.
“I have a lot of questions about who raised you. And none of them will lead to good answers even if you tell me, won’t they?” Racha asked flatly.
Jinn and Locke looked at each other and laughed a little.
After a few moments, Jinn looked at the others and sighed. “So, we’ve got enough food to last the night?”
“And a few kills to add to it! I’ll be making sure it’s safe to eat first though. We don’t want a virus!” Sara said, a note of anger in her voice.
Jinn only nodded and then looked towards where the Yard-Ship was. The mission was almost over, and then they could get to work.