In the depths of the mysterious pit, Vanbrook, Reclan, and D'Jarric were peering into the vent opening. The vent was just a three-foot-by-three-foot square cut out of a thin metal wall. Beyond the wall was a massive cave, the walls filled with wires and conduit.

"Well, I guess your capacitor is in here somewhere, Rec," suggested Vanbrook.

"Yeah," she responded. "Why don't you rush in and see if a door closes on you?"

"What are the chances of that happening twice in one day?" joked Vanbrook, not willing to let her barb get to him.

Desperate for an alternative, Reclan turned to D'Jarric.

"DJ, I know a full-powered bolt didn't work, but can't you focus a blast into a welding torch or something?"

The Solaran raised an eyebrow in thought. "Interesting thought, but no. I've never trained to focus my energy output like that."

"Couldn't you try?" begged Reclan.

"Not a great idea in these circumstances. Last time I got experimental with my abilities there was… an incident."

"’Incident' in this case meaning a solar flare that destroyed three million Republic platinum’s worth of property," Vanbrook chimed in as he disappeared through the vent. One brow raised, Reclan looked at D’Jarric, who shrugged and nodded, wearing a sheepish grin.

Reclan sighed and followed. The vent was an uncomfortably tight fit but she survived the ordeal.

The room started glowing with a golden light as D'Jarric's form brightened.

"Oh," remarked Reclan. "So we can't make a torch, but we can do the walking lightbulb routine."

"For a little while," he responded. "I don't want to drain my energy too much. I only get so many megawatts per hour. If we're going to be in a dark, open and unfamiliar space, I figure it's worth it."

"So, where's your capacitor, Rec?" asked Vanbrook.

“Could be about anywhere,” sighed the Dromean. “We’re looking for a large, black cube, probably held in place by some kind of casing.”

“Any reason we can’t just start cutting wires?”

Reclan stared dumbly at Vanbrook. “Because you might activate a failsafe that will keep us locked in here for all eternity. Because you might cut into a cable holding poisonous gas. Because you might start a fire. In short, because that is probably more dangerous than DJ experimenting with his abilities.”

Vanbrook put his hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, I’ll look for a black cube.”

Reclan nodded and started working her way along the wall, only to have Vanbrook grab her collar. He pointed to the place she was about to step, which was a gaping black hole of unknowable depth.

“How about we keep one eye on our surroundings, eh?” suggested Vanbrook.

***

Aboard the Wingspan, Admiral Jasken had once more been summoned to the bridge. This time the caller was a bit friendlier, but only a bit. Well, at least when he was hostile it was open and honest.

Walking into the room, the Prime Minister's pointed face and large, dark eyes were already staring at him through his rounded spectacles from the monitor. His whiskers twitched impatiently as he stroked his pointed beard.

“Prime Minister Skritka. How can the Blue Griffon Fleet serve the Republic?”

“Admiral Jasken. I just got a call from our ambassador to the Astralbian Kingdom. Can you explain why she believes we are on the brink of war with one of our most dangerous adversaries?”

“Since you are directing the question at me, I would have to assume it is related to my discussion with Lord Raelik. The recording and transcript of that conversation was sent immediately to the Republic Parliament and the relevant governors, as well as yourself, of course. You said the ambassador fears war, but I don’t believe I said anything inflammatory. Is there a part of the exchange you find troubling?”

“What I find troubling is that the exchange included clearly insinuated threats between two high-ranking officers of opposing nations, and you sent the transcript along like it was a monthly budget report!”

“This was typical Astralbian Kingdom bluster,” reasoned Jasken. “I don’t see it as an escalation.”

“Well, the Astralbians seem to! There has been a noted increase in naval activity on Astralbia Prime.”

Jasken smoothed his mustache. The Prime Minister should have led with that.

“Prime Minister, you know I am neither a hothead nor a warmonger. I believe we have a rightful claim to Hittania and I can see no course of action other than that which I took that would honor the Republic’s values and interests. I believe there is something of great value on this world that has attracted both the Ramshackle Collective and, more recently, the Astralbian Kingdom.”

“That is entirely reasonable. I suggest saying that verbatim when you address Parliament on this issue.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Despite himself, Jasken flinched. “Is that really necessary?”

Also despite himself, Skritka chuckled, “It’s not a punishment, Admiral, it’s your job. I’ll make sure to set up a time that will work for both of us. Good day, Admiral.”

“Good day, Prime Minister.”

Jasken stood stone faced as the monitor went black. It wasn’t that he disliked the civilian government; he truly believed in the representative government the Republic stood for. He even had a great deal of respect for the current Prime Minister. It was just that he didn’t understand the world of politics. He liked an enemy you could shoot, which was most of the enemies you had when you were in the trenches, but the higher his rank became the more it seemed like he was expected to shake their hands, instead.

***

Back in the pit, the three squadmates had gotten a better lay of the land. They stood on a large shelf that overlooked a deep pit, which was about a hundred feet deep. At the bottom of the pit was a lake with bioluminescent fungus growing along the banks. They could not make out the far shore of the lake.

However, despite a thorough search of the massive network of cables that crisscrossed the wall around the shelf, they could not find the capacitor. Making a third survey of the wall, Vanbrook was starting to get impatient.

"Hey, I think I found something!" exclaimed D'Jarric. He was sitting at one edge of the shelf, where the wall and the edge of the precipice met.

"The capacitor?" ask Reclan excitedly.

"No, but there's a cable here, running down right off the corner. It's snugged behind a stone, but it keeps going down the cliff face."

Vanbrook rubbed his eyes.

"I think our friend may have been insane," he said, gesturing towards the small room and the skeleton inside.

"Well, his home is certainly unusual, even for a subterranean species like a Talpidarian," said Reclan.

"But the capacitor almost has to be down there."

"Well,” sighed Vanbrook, "This is why we have climbing gear."

The crew silently prepared for a climb, with D'Jarric staying behind to ensure someone would be up top if something went wrong. Confident the ropes were secure, Vanbrook scrambled over the edge, repelling into the gloom with Reclan close behind him.

The trip down went smoothly. They kept track of the cable as they descended, but just as they hit bottom the cable took a ninety degree turn, running along the wall that sloped around to the lake. Unclipping the lines from their belts, they followed it.

"Well how about that!" Shouted Vanbrook, spotting the long-sought capacitor. "Just like you described it, buddy."

He rummaged in his pockets for a sample bag.

"Tell you what. You do the honors with the capacitor, I'm gonna grab some of those glowing mushrooms for the scientists. They love stuff that glows, and I don't want to have to come back down here."

"Fair enough," replied Reclan, setting to work immediately. She was anxious to get back out into daylight.

Van was just putting the first sample in his bag, careful not to let it touch bare skin, when he looked up to see two small, wide-set eyes peering at him from the surface of the water, glowing with reflected light, only a few paces out.

"Rec? You about done?" he asked, slowly standing and keeping eye contact with the creature at all times.

"Almost, hrgh… Got it!" came the reply.

The sudden movement and noise of the capacitor falling to the ground set the creature off. A beaked maw rose from the surface and split open wide, revealing a balled up, fleshy tongue that shot straight for Vanbrook. Pulling his sword and slashing with a smooth and practiced motion, he severed the tongue before it could reach him.

"Move!" he cried. Reclan turned and saw with horror the beast that had risen from the lake. It was about three feet wide and mostly frog-like, with clammy pink-white skin and minute, beady eyes atrophied over untold generations of life without the light of a star. Unlike any amphibian Reclan had ever seen, it had orange-tinged armor plates all over its body and a beak-like mouth of the same material.

Enraged at having lost its tongue, it made a second lunge at Vanbrook, who dodged to the side and shot at the monster. The shot glanced off an armored plate and the swashbuckler darted for his climbing line. Reclan made a move as well, but her leg was caught by the sticky tongue of a second frog. She tripped and was dragged towards the water as the tongue recoiled to its owner's mouth. Nearly clipped onto his rope, Vanbrook turned to see Reclan being dragged to the water.

“Rec!” he shouted as he charged back into danger. The first frog was ready to make a third attack, leaping with an open, bloody maw. Vanbrook shot straight into the beast’s throat and dodged the now-dead frog as it crashed to the ground.

Meanwhile, Reclan’s foot was in the second frog’s mouth. She kicked her clawed feet, trying to dissuade the beast from clamping down. It nearly worked, but the frog nearly got its mouth shut tight before Reclan’s claws found a tender-enough spot to force the frog to release her foot. Vanbrook leaped between her and the monster and thrust his saber into its eye, killing it almost instantly.

A golden bolt slammed down into the water, striking a third frog that had surfaced. Vanbrook scooped up Reclan and hurried her to her rope, clicking her on to it. She was bleeding badly and the olive-green skin around her scales was already pale.

“DJ! Pull Rec up, I can handle myself and keep an eye on the frogs!”

“You got it, Van!”

Beside him, Reclan began to rise rapidly, behind him, a small army of frogs had begun surfacing. He fired at the closest one, but the shot ricocheted off the plate on top of its head, barely slowing it down. He turned to focus on climbing for as long as he dared.

He made steady progress, but the frogs were rapidly gaining. One opened its mouth to fire its tongue, but that was its last mistake. Vanbrook fired first. The tumbling frog took out a few of its compatriots on the way down, but there were at least a dozen, probably more. A nearby creature took a quick chomp at his leg, but he had suddenly been pulled away.

Having already gotten Reclan to the top, D’Jarric had started pulling Vanbrook up. Taking advantage of the help, Vanbrook swung his clip to the back of his belt and turned downwards, walking backwards up the cliff face and firing down on the frogs. He was reloading when a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him onto level ground.

“C’mon, I’ve got Rec,” said D’Jarric, scooping her up and heading for the vent. Vanbrook wasted no time following. D’Jarric shoved Reclan’s semi-conscious body through the vent first, trying and failing to be gentle. Vanbrook waited impatiently, firing at a frog that had just clamored over the edge of the cliff. The shot went straight through the soft flesh of its lower jaw, which was exposed as it tried to climb up to level ground. Seeing the others were through, he scrambled after them.

In the little room with the skeleton, they looked out to see that the door had not opened.

“Argh!” shouted Vanbrook. “That was supposed to work!”

Behind him, a frog was attempting to squeeze through the vent. He quickly put a bullet through its eye. That was not enough to dissuade the others, though. A steely beak tore a hole through the thin metal wall. D’Jarric fired at the chewing mouth, serving only to widen the hole.

“Maybe not our best plan,” said Vanbrook. “Come on!”

They left the room and slammed the door behind them, running to the still-closed blast door. To what end, Vanbrook didn’t know. He could hear the sound of rending metal and soft, heavy bodies plodding towards them in the closed-off room. He said a rare prayer, hoping for a miracle.