People have been disappearing for months now, and no one’s doing anything about it! I'm not talking a couple of people; entire towns along the outskirts of the city have fallen silent! I need help. Please come to the following coordinates... and please come armed - I can’t lose anyone else! - Oxyi.

Diego slowly ruffled his slicked back, dark messy hair, his eyes carefully reading over the advert in his hands. There was no further information; just the coordinates and a cry for help. Another opportunity for a man like him to try and earn back some good grace from the universe. He nodded slightly to himself; there was yet more work to be done.

There’s always more work to be done.

A black-scaled coralith komodo, Diego was a little leaner for his profession than perhaps he should have been, but he was well-built nonetheless. A rare and unusual species, the komodo are considered reptilian despite their wolf-like snouts, with large ears more akin to a bat than any type of reptile. Equipped with a massive, single edged meta-steel sword strapped across his back and unusual plated armour, saying that Diego stood out from the crowd was an understatement. The other, more typical nomads around him were dressed mostly in heavy duty work clothes, nipped here and there with wear and tear. Most also wore a pistol or melee weapon of some sort strapped by their sides, and carried a rucksack full of only their most important travelling possessions. Nobody came even close to Diego’s aesthetic, metal plate armour and a sword the length of a typical human - or roamer-sized - being. He didn’t mind the curious stares, but saying that, the crowd on the shuttle seemed to have other, more important things on their mind than this unusual passenger.

His ears twitched as he picked up on a conversation just a few seats over from him. A nervous-looking passenger was sat in his chair, upright and alert, legs tapping against the floor. He was a ‘premapis,’ a bee-like humanoid with a series of glowing, colourful, twitching antennae on his head, and a vibrant third eye planted squarely in the middle on his forehead. A stronger, more confident-looking human girl sat next to him, looping her arms around his and trying to comfort him as the bee’s anxiety intensified. Behind them, a crowd of equally nervous looking nomads of various species huddled together, all watching the bee closely and exchanging worried glances between one-another.

“I trust you.” The girl whispered gently to the bee, gently pushing her face into the soft golden collar of fur around his neck.

“S-Something is going to go wrong there. I know it. That reactor just felt wrong. It's just… I-I can’t explain it.” He replied shakily.

“They don’t call them ‘devil reactors’ for nothing… At least your brother lives close. Is he still okay with us crashing there for a bit?”

The bee nodded, doing his best not to take notice of the crowd following him.

“W-What if I’m wrong?”

“You didn’t force anyone to follow you. Trust your heart.” The girl replied softly, guiding the bee’s head into the crook of her neck.

Diego sat in silence, listening, contemplating the bee’s words. The premapis were a species that could feel disturbances within the universe; they had a way of detecting anomalous activity in the space around them, but their gift came with a cost. Many of them were paranoid, anxious and self-loathing individuals. But, be that as it may, if a premapis was running away from somewhere, or something, it was generally a good idea to follow. The lizard made a mental note in his head, after he was done here - there might be somewhere close that needed help too.

His seat suddenly started rattling loudly. He watched through the window as the dark, seemingly endless void of space was shattered by a brilliant scattering of light, and blue sky with fluffy white clouds. The shuttle would be landing any moment now. Passengers around him quickly began to gather their belongings, interrupting Diego's train of thought. All eyes landed on the premapis as he grabbed his one bag off of the floor, and held it tightly in his lap.

The ship landed with a gentle thump. Fresh, cool air rolled into the craft and the ramp slowly unveiled the landing pad to the shuttle’s occupants, who had gathered around to alight.

But something was wrong.

Tension filled the shuttle as the passengers laid eyes on who was trying to board the shuttle.

It was another premapis. And behind him was a significant crowd of assorted nomads, following the bee in exactly the same nervous fashion as those already onboard. This one's demeanour was closer to out-right panic than just anxiety, his antennae twitching in an awry and chaotic way. His third eye stared out into the surrounding treeline of the landing pad, firmly fixed on something, but there was nothing there, nothing other than the usual autumnal trees.

The first bee, who had shuffled towards the front of the barge, was staring at his brother in open mouthed shock.

“W-We can’t stay here.” The second bee murmured, clutching his bag close as he ascended the ramp. “I-It’s wrong. This place is wrong. I can feel it. Not here. I-I’m sorry, Reeva, we have to keep moving.”

The crowd within the shuttle exchanged further worried glances, waiting for the first brother to make his move. As the bee hurriedly made his way back to his seat and sat down, the crowd immediately followed suit. The shuttle’s seating rapidly filled with boarding passengers… or, perhaps, fleeing passengers.

By the end of it, Diego was the only passenger to disembark and a sudden rush of quiet hit him. Now that he was alone, the welcoming autumn breeze felt more like a slap in the face.

The concrete landing pad wasn’t completely empty though. Diego spied a concerned looking security official, manning a table off to the side of the queue of boarding passengers. She was a lioness, dressed in decent security gear consisting of a bullet proof vest, combat trousers, thick black boots and two handguns strapped to her hips. Normally, there would have been nothing unusual about a member of security waiting on a shuttle platform, but her slightly puffy and reddened eyes told him that the lioness had been recently distressed.

As Diego approached, he noticed a sign on her table: ‘Missing Civilian Recruitment Aid.’ He breathed a gentle sigh of relief; he was in the right place. He squinted his eyes as he attempted to read the nametag on the officer’s chest: ‘Oxyi.’ She was thickly built, muscular and tall, with short, spiky blonde hair, nothing out of the ordinary for someone who worked a demanding job like hers. She was just turning to leave, gathering her things and sniffling quietly, trying to hide her face, when Diego approached the table.

“Oxyi? I saw your ad for help? The missing people?” He spoke softly, placing a hand on the table. “My name’s Diego Harley.”

“Oh! Excellent! Th-That's good, thank you!” Startled, she turned back around. Several emotions flickered across her face as she quickly looked Diego up and down, her eyes lingering for a moment on his chiselled chest, before quickly flicking her gaze away to his gear. “T-uhm-uh. Yes! Uhm, that's great! I - I see that you're already armed! With a giant sword... That's not… strange at all... I mean, God I’m so sorry! You’ve actually come here to help me and I’m just prattling on and embarrassing myself -”

Diego laughed and smiled warmly.

“I can understand the scepticism! I can’t imagine you get many wanderers geared up like this around here. That’s not all though; check this out.” He held his hand out, palm flat and a series of bright yellow electrical sparks crackled from his fingers. Oxyi gasped.

“Oh! You have psyonics! Amazing! Well, you must be confident in your abilities if you're wielding half a lamppost as a weapon… There might actually be hope on the horizon! You’re uh… not put off by the bee leaving?” Her words were punctuated by the heavy rush of the shuttle leaping into the air. As she shifted to a more positive tone, a subtle southern twang appeared in her voice.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Nah, just means I'm in the right place!” Diego said, and with a flick of his wrist the sparks faded. “Your advert caught my attention... I don't want to sound like an ass or anything here, but it sounded pretty desperate. I hate to mention it but it didn’t say anything about payment either.”

“I am desperate, and… I've got nothing to pay you with… I hope that’s not…” Oxyi paused and looked Diego in the eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. He stared back without a flicker of doubt in his eyes.

“That's okay. I came because I want to help. How about just a place to stay and something to eat?”

Oxyi’s face broke into a warm and genuine smile.

“Yes, I can do that! Help me fix this mess and you can stay at my place as long as you want!” Her smile faltered as she realised what she’d just said. “OH-SHIT, UHM, I didn't mean it like that-I-just-meant that-” She scrambled for words.

*

Oxyi continued to ramble away. Unnoticed by the pair, sitting on a rooftop near the landing pad, a draconic figure took particular note of the conversation, his eyes narrowing as he observed Diego closely with a pair of binoculars. He thought for a few moments, then ducked back down and spoke softly into his wrist communicator. “Potential CW exile spotted on nomad freighter route, investigation requested.”

*

“It's all good Oxyi, I know what you meant.” Diego snickered, placing his hands on his hips. “Let's get to the bottom of this for you, shall we? You got anyone else helping?”

Oxyi shook her head. “Just me, I'm afraid. I meant what I said in the advert. Look, let me give you a bit of background on the way to my headquarters.”

She stood from her post and quickly gathered her belongings, wiping her eyes dry as she turned her back briefly to Diego.

“Some of what I say might sound a little… crazy? But you seem like the type to at least give crazy a chance.”

Diego smiled warmly at her comment, taking one of the heavier bags from the lioness as they made their way into the city.

“Just over a year ago, we noticed an unidentified space station in orbit. Must have been a big one because you could see it pretty clearly at night. There was nothing on the city’s records about it, it didn’t make contact with us and didn’t respond to any calls.”

“Is that when trouble first started?”

“Not quite, took a couple months before I noticed anything. I've been doing light security jobs in the nearby towns around here, and my work had been drying up fast. I couldn't figure out why, so I decided to check on some of my old clients… but they were just gone. The more I looked, the more people I noticed had just gone… missing. It must have started slow, because nobody seemed to have really noticed, or cared enough to notice, but it's speeding up now. Entire villages have disappeared, starting with the ones in the mountains towards the north.” Diego carefully took in her words, his ears alert and twitching. “It all seems to be centred around the forest between us and the mountains.”

“How many people do you think have gone missing?” Diego helped Oxyi pack up her table, and then the two made their way from the terminal.

“I... can't say for certain. But based on the most recent population counts of those villages, I reckon at least ten-thousand peop-.”

“Ten-thousand?!” Diego exclaimed. “Ten-thousand people have gone missing and you're the only one looking for them?!”

Oxyi nodded sadly. They exited the station and she took Diego down the winding, near-empty streets, leading into the city. The land pad was stationed on a clearing between the outskirts of the city and a thick line of trees that surrounded the area. A wide, concrete road took them to the nearest connected street.

“I don't know what's happening, but people disappear overnight and are never seen again. Some of the locals from around the forest swear they can hear screaming, but no one dares to go look. I know families who've lost their loved ones and they're just leaving, Diego, packing their bags and running... I'm not scaring you off am I? I must sound crazy.”

“No. I’m the type to give crazy a chance, remember?” He smiled, her relief palpable as they continued through the city. “What about the space station you mentioned?”

“Disappeared completely towards the start of all this.”

“Disappeared?” Diego frowned. “An entire space station?”

“Yeah. I saw it. There was a bright blue flash in the middle of the night and the entire thing was… gone. But that wasn’t even the weirdest thing, it was mid-summer when it disappeared and we had a massive cold-wave afterwards. It snowed in summer! Had to go find my hat and gloves! There was a village that actually lost quite a few people that night… they uh, froze to death.” She shuffled uncomfortably, unhappy with her telling of the story.

“That cold?” Warp drives usually heat things up, not cool them down. Diego pondered heavily; he wasn’t the most knowledgeable when it came to modern technology, but he knew the basics. “So, the station disappears one night and is followed by how much cold exactly?”

“Snow all across the planet for a week, I think? Things returned to normal after that. W-Weather wise, I mean. But that was when the disappearances really started, or at least when I noticed them. You know the bee who left earlier? His name was Glen, and his antennae were looking all strange and full of colour that week, he was super unsettled. Kept saying the snow wasn’t right, like, duh, obviously. But being a premapis, I think he meant it was anomalous or something. Kinda surprised he didn’t leave earlier!” She chuckled nervously. Not following a premapis was a very difficult decision for a nomad to make. And yet, the lioness seemed to be digging her heels into the ground quite firmly.

The city itself was nothing special, but far quieter than it should have been. A mix of brick and lumber buildings, constructed traditionally with only the very most centre buildings being higher than three or four stories tall. Perfectly suited to the moderate climate of the planet, they had clearly been well maintained, loved and lived in. Diego imagined these streets would have been busy as little as a year ago, but now stood empty and quiet. The whistling autumn wind further added to the lonely nature of the city as only other noise besides their footsteps and echoing conversation.

They’d reached her building now, a four story brickwork building, separated into flats and Oxyi paused to face him, key in the door.

“You sure I'm not putting you off? I just want you to know what you’re dealing with.”

“Nah, you're fine. This does sound serious though; why hasn’t anyone off-planet come to help?”

“I can't get their attention. None of the bigger factions or corps give a damn. No one cares much about these little villages on the outskirts of the solar system, and because the locals are leaving, there aren't enough funds to get a merc force down here. I tried to pay for a merc gang myself but they thought I was making the whole thing up, and without the towns folk funding it, there was no way I could get the money together anyway. I'd have to sell my apartment just to get a scout, nevermind an actual squad!”

Diego sighed and thought to himself for a second, scratching his chin briefly.

“I’ll be honest with you Oxyi, this sounds like too big a job for just two people to take on - we'll need some reinforcements. I may have some friends we can call on, who should be able to help, but for the time being I think we should just run some recon tonight.” Diego rolled his shoulders a little as they made their way up the stairs, still stiff from the shuttle ride.

“Yeah, that sounds reasonable, maybe we shouldn’t get into anything too deep tonight - Ah shit, phrasing. Sorry.” She clenched her fists briefly in frustration.

Oxyi opened the door to her apartment to reveal a messy clutter of various bits of defence and surveillance equipment scattered over wooden furnishings, the odd weapon or leftover takeaway box distributed evenly throughout the mess.

She beckoned him in and apologised for the clutter, navigating her way through what looked like discarded maps on the floor. She pulled up a chair for him around a table in the centre of the room, sweeping leftover takeaway boxes onto the floor and grabbing some maps.

Oxyi had sketched out the forest’s entire perimeter, showing where it started, ended and where all the villages were. She showed Diego her calculations for her missing population figure; if anything she had been conservative in her estimations.

“Diego, can I be honest with you?” She placed her hands flat on the table and closed her eyes, letting her head drift back slightly. “I'm scared. I feel like I'm out of my depth here. You’re the only person who’s turned up to help me, and I feel like you may be the only one who ever does... I'm just one girl, how am I supposed to find thousands of missing people? Nevermind stop what's actually happening here! I mean, look at me! I’ve just let some random guy into my house because I'm that desperate! …UGH!” She looked visibly annoyed at own phrasing, turning back to Diego with glassy eyes.

Diego reached out an armoured hand, placing it on top of her.

“You know what I see? I see someone who wants to make a difference. Someone who stood her ground when things got tough. You’re holding on even after the damn premapis have left! That takes serious grit. But you're smart enough to understand the scale of what's going on here.”

“Y-You think so?” A gentle warmth flowed from him, filling the room. The lioness’ shoulders began to visibly relax at his words.

“I do. There's no point focusing on what we can't do, let's focus on what we can do tonight. We can try and establish what's causing these disappearances. We'll play it safe, gather as much intelligence as we can and see if we can round up some additional help once we know what we're dealing with. I'm sure I can wrangle some mercs to our aid, call in some favours.”

She wiped a tear teasing the corner of her eye and nodded in agreement, clasping his hand tight.

“Thank you. You're like my guardian angel right now…”

“Oh shush.” Diego laughed, swiping at the air. “I'm just some twat with a sword. Let me actually do something useful for you before you start laying on the compliments. Oh, I do have one request though.” He turned towards her, his eyes meeting hers.

“O-Oh?”

“Stop apologising for your phrasing. Do I look like I'd be offended?”

She looked him up and down, noting the visible abs between his armour, the cheeky grin and the sharp eyes. She couldn’t help but note that he really did not look easily offended. Her face softened and a soft giggle escaped her mouth.

“How about that snack you asked about earlier?” With a warm smile and some newfound confidence, Oxyi stood from her chair, went to the kitchen, and came back with a couple of bars of chocolate for them. Between bites the two continued to plan their route into the forest for later that night. I hope we’re armed enough for this; who knows what we’re going to meet out there, Diego thought as he watched Oxyi’s slender claws trace along the map.

He wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into, but something told him it wasn’t going to be as simple as it appeared.