“How did you…” Ronin staggered back a step, in shock. From beside him, he heard the buzzing sound of Elyria’s wings as she too reacted. Though if it was a shock reaction or her preparing to flee, Ronin didn’t know.
“Oh, come on kid,” Leo said dismissively. “It was obvious. First, you showed up with five fewer people than you could have brought. The explanation you gave was plausible, but I’ve seen your personal realm. Did a virtual tour before I popped in to grab you. There are hundreds of folks in there who would die for you without a second thought. Then there was your plan to save the cave’s people. I’ve been around long enough to know we couldn’t cheat the system from down here. We’d have to be on the ship, with physical bodies, to have any hope of modifying a personal realm to accommodate more than one person, and even then, it would take a genius to pull it off. That’s something you aren’t kid, no matter how good hearted you are… but that android of yours could pull it off. As for another way off the planet, well… you just aren’t scared enough. Whenever lizards are mentioned, both you and your people seem way too confident. From you, with your limited experience, I could believe it, but your bodyguard and your girlfriend are too smart to believe it too. Want me to go on, or was that enough?”
“Wow, he’d got you pegged right down, doesn’t he? Minus the girlfriend comment anyway.” Elyria said, her wings going still beside him. “A kindhearted fool, through and through. There isn’t much arguing with that. Might be time to come clean, White flame. It was fine when he didn’t ask, but now that he brought it up, it will just hurt our teamwork at this point if you lied.” Ronin was really getting tired of being the butt of everyone’s jokes, but like so many times before, he had more important things to worry about than his image.
“You’re right,” he finally said with a sigh, pulling a small tablet from his pack, Xerox had put in there for him. It was the last of the special little toys that had been added to the bags, at least that he was aware of. Turning it on, he thumbed through the saved image files until he found what he was after. Then he handed the device to Leo.
“We discovered this, buried deep below the city we were trying to conquer when you grabbed us.” He said, pointing to the damaged lizard ship. “At the time, we didn’t know what it was… I, made several mistakes while designing my pocket world, and wasn’t sure if this was something I’d added in by mistake.” Taking the tablet back, he thumbed over to a new image.
“When Jade saw this, she instantly pulled up imagery from her own stasis stone and confirmed that it was present in her world as well. Only hidden so deeply that the scans had looked over it for some reason. I only found it because of how much of the mountain I scooped away to create my valley,” Here he set up two side by side arial views. One of his valley, the other of the untouched mountain from Jade’s world.
“Once we realized the threat, we collaborated with Jade, who helped us bank roll the start to our plans. Owl Two created a copy of himself that he named Xerox, who came out with us. I made Jade a body as well and they, along with my pilot are on board the ship right now gathering resources to try and fix the damaged ship. Owl two also increased the time dilation in my pocket world, to give himself ten extra years to study the ship, and hopefully have a plan on how to fix it, using beetle tech Jade is helping him acquire right now, when we get down there.” He turned to Leo, who was the one staring in shock for once. “I’d always intended to tell you if you proved trustworthy, and Xerox was able to pull things off on his end. Sorry for the deception.” Surprisingly enough, Ronin felt better after the confession. Now to see if Leo agreed or not. It could get ugly fast if the older man took offense.
“Well, I’ll be damned if there hasn't been a lizard ship on earth this whole time.” Doctor Mycroft breathed out, from where she was looking at the tablet over Leo’s arm. “Who is this Jade though? I’ve been around a long time, and I don’t know anyone by that name, at least no one with the resources and know how to make what you’re talking about possible.”
“She’s a crystal beetle,” Ronin said. "The one who was assigned to help us make our bodies for this event actually. We made a deal to get as many of her people out as we could, since it seems like our human leaders were planning to just leave them locked in the ship when the lizard...” Ronin trailed off at the stiff expressions and the tense shoulders that his words invoked.
“A crystal beetle, you gave one a body without restrictions. Do you not know what they did to our planet? What were you thinking?” Funnily enough, it was Locke who asked the question. The doctor and Leo were too busy giving each other worried glances to get the first word in. Frowning, Ronin answered.
“Yes. I do know what they did, and after talking to Jade, I can totally see how they would have pushed the launch button without bothering to check first. But even if they had known exactly what they were doing when they wiped out nearly all life on earth, so what? The lizards are coming, and our leaders are running away, leaving everyone else behind to die. Not only the beetles, but all of us too. I took a chance on Jade being able, and willing, to help me save lives. Worst case, I was wrong, and we all die anyway. What’s the difference?”
Ronin didn’t hold anything back. He laid it all out on the table, and what was the first thing they’d done? Criticize his motives. Well, he was done with that. The softly spoken, ‘you tell em,’ from Elyria reinforced for him that he shouldn’t roll over on this point. Since, nothing he’d said was wrong.
“You think that excuses…”
“Shut up, Locke,” Leo said with a growl, before facing Ronin directly. “Ok kid, I’ve known you long enough to know your shooting straight with me here. You’re right too. I don’t trust the government to keep its word. Not to those of us who were put in the nosebleeds anyway, and lizards aren’t a threat we can beat. If we’d known they were coming a year or three ago, we might have been able to mass produce soldiers to fight them off for a while, but that would be it. They would kill us all in the end. So, I’m willing to trust you on this.” He turned his bulk to the busty redhead who was now standing right beside him, “what about you, Red?” Doctor Mycroft was still tense. She clearly wasn’t as willing to trust a total stranger as Leo was.
“I don’t know if you really understand what you’re asking me, child.” She said at last. “I was twenty, when the beetles came. The only survivor of my family, apart from my infant nephew. I watched the world die. You clearly don’t appreciate that time, I mean why would you, it’s ancient history to you. For me, it was a reality… Still, I do trust Dawson here. If he says you are trustworthy, then I’ll go along with it for now. Besides, if you are telling the truth… can you imagine how much there will be to learn and to study aboard a lizard ship? Not only that, but I can’t wait to see how your android plans to marry the lizard and beetle technology together. I could easily draft a thesis on this… Locke, right this down…” She wandered off to her nephew, assistant who was obediently taking notes on a tablet of his own.
“It’s more than I expected,” Leo said, handing Ronin the tablet back. “So, what was your real plan with the caves people? I know you must have a good one, or your fairy queen wouldn’t have let you do it.” Ronin heard the snort of displeasure from Elyria, but thankfully she didn’t mouth off. Regardless of how understanding he was being right now; Ronin couldn’t forget how quickly the man could kill them if he wanted to.
“I sent a message to Xerox,” he said honestly. “He’s planning to collect my pocket world stone, along with yours and Markus’s, and however many more he can grab while he gets what we need to get the ship going again. He should contact me once he’s figured out how I can use a crystallization pod to send everyone into my personal pocket world. There is plenty of room for as many refugees as we can collect down here. I figured, if we survived the lizards, we could give them all bodies later. If not, it won’t matter. But at the vary least they will be able to live in a world that won’t kill them with one breath.”
“A well thought out and reasoned plan. Elyria help you out with that did she?” The lionid asked with a smirk, this time getting a chuckle from the elf. “But in all seriousness, what’s your plan to make this work?”
“There’s a crystallization pod here, according to what you said earlier anyway. I think we should try and get it running. So, it will be ready when we are contacted, and finish building the sealed compartment inside the ship. There should be plenty of air inside the cave. We can run a hose down and siphon it out to charge the chamber. Perhaps add an algae tank with some grow lights, to help replenish the air supply.” That last part was something he’d read about in a book. The spaceship had huge tanks filled with algae, which served as both emergency food and oxygen for the crew. That part of the book really resonated with Ronin, so he hadn’t forgotten about it.
“Fair enough. Tell you what, why don’t you go out and work on the container? Take Locke with you, he looks like he could use a break from his aunt. I’ll catch up with Red then we’ll get the crystallization pod set up. Sound good?” Without any reason to argue, Ronin agreed. The doctor quickly agreed as well, and before long, Ronin, Elyria and a clearly unhappy Locke were heading down the ruined stairs. They hadn’t gone halfway down when a loud crash echoed down to them.
“What was that?” Ronin said, looking back up. “It sounded like the table flipped over, should we…”
“Leave it alone, White flame.” Elyria said knowingly. “They are clearly remarkably close, and if I had to guess, they are getting ‘caught up’ in a similar fashion to how you, Lily, and Vasylia did the night they acknowledged you were their husband.” The wicked look she shot him had Ronin descending the stairs as fast as he could go, her evil chuckling and Locke’s angry growls following him down.
* * *
“I can’t believe how versatile this stuff is.” Elyria said, some hours later. They were in the ship with all the panes of glass, and the T-beams they’d gathered. As it turned out, the beams weren’t necessary at all. The ship had a fabrication unit, like Ronin’s from his pocket world, but this one was only compatible with the beetle technology. Elyria, who was more familiar with advanced technology and living spaceships than anyone else in their group, had figured out how to work the thing. She’d been able to section off a decent sized area in the ship’s cavernous troop compartment and had the biological T-beams grown right in place.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I know, it’s super impressive. In hindsight, we could have done this without the glass too.” Ronin said, thinking of the clear, plastic-like containers they used as tables. He fit another glass sheet into one of the three by three-foot openings. Elyria slathered the entire perimeter with a clear, fast drying and flexible glue, that the fabrication unit had made from tree sap and bark. They’d rigged up a bag for the glue that she squeezed the concoction out of from a hole in one corner. She’d referenced making cakes for some reason Ronin didn’t understand when she’d first seen the applicator.
Ronin didn’t know exactly how it worked, but apparently the fabricator could isolate specific compounds or something. Taking what they put in and recombining specific amounts of it to make what they needed. From food to glue and even clothing and building materials. Granted, it needed a lot of raw materials to make anything in useful amounts, and there was a lot of waste produced. Still, the trees were huge, it wasn’t that big a loss.
“I don’t know.” She said, checking her work before nodding and motioning him to grab another pane of glass. There were five more teams doing the same thing around the hundred-foot square container. “It could have made what we need, but we really do need as much of these resources as we can get. Since we don’t know what Xerox is going to need to fix the cube ship, we shouldn’t waste any of what we have when we can use other things.” Ronin nodded; she had a good point.
“Agreed, but I have to say this is going much faster and easier than I expected. We should have this done in another few hours. If nothing bad happens that…” No sooner had the words left his mouth, than the radio Ronin had put in his ear, before promptly forgetting about, crackled.
“Command team, this is Stone.” The scout said into Ronin’s ear, Elyria, and Karr too, if the looks they were giving were any indication. “I’ve set up high in the crystal tree on over watch. I can’t see it clearly yet, but there is movement in the sky, flashes of color, could be the sun reflecting off a haul. It’s likely we have an incoming ship.”
“You just had to say it didn’t you, White flame.” Elyria said with a glare. “This is your fault; you know that right?” She quickly slathered the panel they were working on in place and set down the glue bucket. “Come on, we need to move.”
“Sergeant Karr, you heard?” Ronin looked at the leader of his troops, who nodded. “Ok, gather your people and get under cover inside the enclosure. Gnash,” he said shifting his focus to the largest lionid woman, and the only one with a name. “Best go too, find Leo and see what he wants you to do.”
“Yes, prince Alexander.” She said, barking out orders of her own. She clearly didn’t like Elyria for whatever reason, but she was always polite to Ronin. Possibly because she still believed he was Leo’s son. Either way, it was convenient. K3 ran in as Karr and Gnash led their people out.
“Ah good, you’re here.” Ronin said, looking at the new arrival and then back to Elyria. “What do you think is more likely, a gatherer like the doctor, or a hunter like us?” He knew there were way more people who’d been sent down to gather resources from the trees, than there were sent to gather resources from the gatherers. They’d started calling them gatherers and themselves hunters, shortly after meeting the doctor.
“Odds are good it’s a gatherer. But we can’t be positive. What do you want to do? Should we get into cover too, or stay out here?” K3 asked as he snapped his helmet shut.
“Let’s meet them on the ramp. We should be able to retreat inside if they attack, and there are enough of our people out there to hit them from behind.” He knew it would be safer to engage them as soon as they lowered their ramp, whoever they were, but he couldn’t bring himself to just randomly kill other people, especially when odds were good, they didn’t have negative intentions.
Giving orders to his people to watch but not engage unless the new arrivals attacked first, Ronin stood out on the ramp with K3 and his giant shield beside him. Elyria a little way back, covering him with her PCP .50. Ronin had to smile a little, despite his tension. This was remarkably similar to his standoff with the elves, only Owl five had been at his back then, and most of Hunter’s team were still alive. He shook the unproductive thoughts away, as he watched the sky. There was definitely a ship coming in, moving so fast that it was already moving to land.
The ship, flashing in every color of the rainbow, came to rest right in front of Ronin’s open ramp. In fact, it was so close that when the newly arrived ship’s ramp opened there was only thirty feet of space between it and Ronin’s ramp. That still didn’t prove anything though, perhaps these people were just excessively friendly. He’d find out soon, either way. He saw movement inside the ship as six people walked into view. Much like many of the other groups Ronin had seen, these were also heavily themed, but Ronin had no idea who they were supposed to be.
They wore sleek, form fitting armor that was styled to look like human musculature. With clearly defined sections as pecks, thigh, bicep, abbs, and well everywhere really. It reminded Ronin of his own armor, except for the color. One by one, the six brightly armored people tumbled, cartwheeled, flipped, or spun their way down the ramp, shouting out their challenges as they came.
“We are here for your resources.” Yelled the man in blue armor. Ronin could only tell from the voice that he was male, the armor concealed the gender otherwise.
“Don’t resist, or we will be forced to act with aggression.” Said the woman wearing pink armor.
“The salvation of humanity depends on this.” The Man in red armor shouted.
“Fighting is futile,” a woman in yellow armor said next.
They were followed by the last two men, the first in black and the last in green armor. They too spouted silly phrases of challenge and just like the four who came before them, struck a martial artist’s pose once they reached the base of the ramp. Then, they all just stood there. Arms and legs extended in their strange poses. Ronin just stared at them with incomprehension, before exchanging looks with K3 and Elyria.
“Um… Hi?” He eventually said, looking down at the impressively armored, if unarmed, group of six. “What can we do for you today?” He really didn’t know how to respond to this… display, so he settled on polite.
“We’re here to take your resources.” Said the man in blue, in an overly loud voice.
“Don’t resist us, and there will be no problems bug man.” The woman in pink followed up in her own near shout. Before Ronin could reply again, his radio crackled into life.
“Hey kid, it’s me.” Leo said, sounding exasperated. “That’s Kimberly Bright and her Boyfriend Billy Blue. Don’t have a clue if those are their real names, but they’re total eccentrics. They Think they’re some kind of pre fall superheroes or something. Anyway, her dad is a big shot in the government on the ship. So, it makes sense that he’d have gotten her into the competition for seats on the escape ship. It’s also nearly certain that they will get seats regardless of how well they perform, so go ahead and shoot them. Be one less opponent we have to worry about.” Ronin looked down at Billy and Kimberly, who had both changed poses while they spoke. They were still just standing there, waiting for him to hand over his resources. Killing them would be as easy as raising his rifle. As good as that armor looked, he had no doubt it wouldn’t hold up to a round from the PCP 1.0. Still, killing them out of hand like that didn’t seem right…
“I cannot simply hand over the resources I’ve so cruelly taken from my fellow ship mates.” He said in a loud booming voice, which echoed between the ships. “If you want them, you will have to take them from my cold, dead hands.” Ronin didn’t know what it was, but seeing these people, who were so much like he was when he’d first entered his world, made him nostalgic. They were clearly as clueless about how the real world worked as he had been, all those… days? ago.
“You think you can come to my ship and tell me what to do?” He continued, unclipping the kanabo from his equipment harness. “It will only take me and two of my minions to put the six of you meddling heroes in your places, ha-ha-ha.” He even rounded it off with a wicked laugh for effect.
“Minions?” Elyria said in a quiet tone, that nevertheless contained more venom than the wasp queen. “Have you grown tired of living, White flame?” Ronin did his best to ignore the holes her eyes were boring into him as he whispered back.
“Just go along with it, will you?” He pleaded quietly, “just put up a fight and try not to kill them. I’d like them alive.” He’d opened his radio channel during his whispered conversation with Elyria, so Leo heard him as well.
“Whatever you want to do kid, we’ll bail you out if you get in over your head, but just know we’re gunna laugh at you for this later, no matter how it turns out.” Not the resounding support he would have liked, but Ronin would take what he could get. At least he didn’t have to convince the kaldarr.
“You got it boss, we’ll crush em real good.” K3 said, deepening his already bass voice even further, to the point it shook the air. He’d swapped his rifle for his simple, unadorned war hammer and pulled the giant shield out, limbering up and looking menacingly at their would-be attackers.
“You are such a child,” Elyria said, swapping out her own rifle for a slender, short sword that looked right at home in her elven hands. “That’s right, this is our loot… scum.” She said in a much louder voice, then added, “I am so going to kill you for this.”
“So, you are going to resist the righteous crusade of the color force?” The man in green armor asked loudly, also switching up his battle stance with the words.
“Then prepare to meet your end, villain.” The woman in yellow shouted, actually doing a standing flip and landing on one knee with her fist on the ground after her one liner. There wasn’t much more to say after that, but the two groups postured and shouted threats for almost another minute, before Elyria got tired of the game and charged forward.
Ronin and K3 didn’t let her go alone, and before they’d taken three steps the other group started their own charge. With a shouted ‘Go, color force’ as they ran. Ronin felt a huge grin splitting his face as he rushed to meet his foe. This was the type of heroic battle he’d wanted so desperately to fight when he’d first been making his pocket world. Two groups, facing off over something important. The heroes and the villains, of course, he never imagined himself in the villain’s role back then. The two groups clashed right at the base of Ronin’s ship’s ramp, two of the so-called color force, moving to intercept each of them in turn.
Ronin found himself facing the green and blue armored men. Elyria was taking on the women in pink and yellow armor, and K3 had the red and black clad individuals. The black armored color force was by far the largest of the group, towering over the pink and yellow members by over a foot. Still, none of them were outside human norms, so he was nearly two feet smaller than the giant K3.
The first few seconds of the clash were filled with flashy movements, but not much actual fighting. Ronin was swinging his kanabo, but the pair of color force members he was facing kept leaping about, jumping, diving, and doing back flips to avoid his blows. Ronin was wondering if they were ever going to do anything, when the green armored man finally stepped forward in a graceful move and punched him in the chest.
The blow sent him tumbling back, head over heels until the ramp’s incline forced him to a stop. Shocked at the pain he felt, Ronin looked down at his armor, to find his chest radiated small hairline cracks from the point of impact. It was the first time he’d been seriously injured since he’d gotten this body. Even the giant ladybugs hadn’t been able to damage him with their vicelike mandibles.
Turning his gaze up to the steadily advancing green and blue armored warriors, Ronin gulped. This fight might be a little harder than he’d anticipated.