Sasha squinted over the treetops. The warmth from above baking her fur was slightly intoxicating, but she knew not to get too attached. She had a job to do. Not that being so high up changed anything. Everything looked like grass from her vantage point. A part of her wanted to try to jump across it using her gravity field so she wouldn't instantly plummet.

But given they were on a planet-saving mission, she elected to ignore the instinct. Maybe later.

“See anything?” Captain Mercury called.

A small creature flew by Sasha’s face. She squinted at it, noticing what looked like a moth but with sharpened talons.

“No,” she called, swatting the creature away. “Just trees and…Oh crap.”

Her eyes widened at the side of several other moths flying towards her. She instantly jumped off her branch, falling back into the canopy and to the jungle below. A gravity field from GT saved her from breaking every bone in her body.

“Sasha?” Mr. Erin asked.

The panther looked to the sky, relaxing when she saw the swarm wasn’t approaching.

“Ugh. Don’t go up there. Nothing good’s above the canopy.”

Mr. Erin gave her a curious look, but he didn’t press her for answers. Captain Mercury stroked his chin a moment, pacing the ground. According to the commpad, they were close to the heart of the invasion. Both the Stem and Root portals were a short trek away. But other than the one portal the Captain had closed, they hadn’t seen much legionnaire activity.

“No legionnaires yet?” Sasha asked.

“Not in force. We should have the day and place right.” The Captain looked at his commpad once again. “And the radar says they’re gathering, but they haven’t shown themselves yet.”

“You think they’re plotting something?” Xan asked.

“Monsters don’t plot, my friend. It’s more likely they’re just waiting for…something.”

Sasha shifted. Though she was still new to signal sensing, she could feel something about the planet was getting thrown off. It was like the air itself was blowing in warning. The Captain’s commpad pinged.

“Oh. We got a hit.”

“The legionnaires?” Mr. Erin asked.

“No. But something just entered the atmosphere.”

Sasha looked up to the sky. It was impossible to see past the canopy, not that she wanted to after her brush with that swarm, but she could feel a slight change in the atmosphere. She tried to focus on it only to stop as small jolts ran through her brain.

“Sasha,” Mr. Erin warned.

She rubbed her head.

“Augh. Right. Mind shattering. Gotcha.”

The parched sensation in her throat lingered a few seconds less than usual. Really need to start carrying injectable water or something. She looked to Mr. Erin, who held up a vial. She shook her head. Save it for an emergency. The radar pinged again.

“Looks like we’ve got activity,” said the Captain. “Multiple legionnaire signals are converging. Looks like they’re all moving.”

“Still no portals?” Mr. Xan asked.

“No. But they all seem…” He furrowed at the screen. “They’re all headed towards the new signal.”

Sasha immediately raised a brow at that. As did Mr. Erin.

“You serious?”

“That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Agreed.” The Captain shut his commpad. “C’mon. Let’s go see what this is all about.”

He waved for them to follow. For once, Sasha didn’t mind doing so. Something about the situation made her stomach churn. Better to have the annoying guy front and center in case things took a bad turn.

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***

Trekking across the jungle, the group stopped at the top of a nearby clearing. Captain Mercury looked from his commpad to the source they could all see sitting in front of them.

A ship. One with a clear white design and an angular shape that almost resembled an arrowhead.

Captain Mercury signaled for them to move ahead. Mr. Erin was the first to do so, wand at the ready as he scanned around the ship. He gave a signal, and Mr. Xan followed, checking the other side.

“You’re up, kid,” the Captain whispered.

She nodded, jumping down from her branch to approach the flying machine.

She didn’t get very far, though, before an odd sensation washed over her. An image appeared before her eyes. She saw the bridge opening. A human stepping off. Their head turning to and fro before they fled in the opposite direction. Her head thumped, the scene fading away.

“All clear,” Mr. Xan said.

“Clear,” said Mr. Erin.

Sasha took her hand off the ship.

“C-clear.”

Captain Mercury finally came down. “You check the insides?”

“Deserted. No robots or anything,” Mr. Xan said, peering through the windows. “Whoever was on this must have shut them off before they left.”

The Captain thought a moment. Sasha looked at her hand. That was twice now. She touched the ship again, though nothing happened this time around. What was that? She thought about the last time she’d seen it. How she’d watched Cici punching down a monster.

“GT? Any idea what that was?”

“I can’t say for certain, Ms. Sasha. A vision, perhaps? It’s hard to say.”

She touched the ship one last time to be on the safe side.

Vision, huh? She looked around at the jungle world surrounding them. According to Mr. Erin, humans were scattered across the cosmos, but they always tended to stick towards more advanced places like Tuptree. She didn’t see a single hovercraft or commpad inside the mistifian village. So why did a human decide to come all the way to a place like Torpha? Were they on vacation?

“So what now?” Mr. Xan asked.

“The bulk of the horde hasn’t shown up yet.” Mr. Erin holstered his wand. “It would be wise to close the Stem and Root before they all come through.”

“Not so fast, my friend,” the Captain said. “We still have a culprit to catch.”

“Aren’t the legionnaires more important?” Sasha asked.

“Don’t think so small, little kitten.”

She immediately glared at that, but Captain Mercury was too busy peering ahead to notice. Just in front of the cliff was a steep drop-off that led to a smaller section of trees and villages. The lower canopy wasn’t as dense as the one above, most of the mistifian houses were built on the ground or constructed at the height of the trees.

“How about this,” Captain Mercury suggested. “You three handle the Stem, and I’ll go look for the bad guy. Sounds good to everyone, right?”

Noone responded.

“Perfect. Then it’s settled then.”

Sasha looked to her liaisons, who’d reverted to silent mode. You can’t be serious. As much as she loved the idea of getting thrown into a horde of angry legionnaires while the Captain essentially ran off to find one guy, she didn’t- The captain fell off the cliff, cutting through her thoughts.

“Huh?”

She ran to the edge, watching as Captain Mercury dropped into the lower canopy.

“I’ll report back with the body!”

His voice trailed away before he was completely out of sight.

“That slimy little-” She whirled on her liaisons. “Seriously, what’s that guy’s deal?”

Mr. Erin scratched his head. “You get used to it after a while.”

“If you think he’s bad, you outta meet Commander Fera.” Mr. Xan shivered. “Worst three years of my life.”

Sasha groaned a response.

If this was what the AIC was like, she wanted a new job. She still had yet to meet whoever was in charge of the whole group. Or even find out what AIC stood for. It was in his lecture, wasn’t it? Sasha groaned louder. She made a mental note to get the shortened version later.

***

With no other choice in the matter, the trio combed through the jungle, passing by a few more Sasha clones and a nasty serpent that Sasha mistook for a vine, though Mr. Xan took it out before it could bite her. Mr. Erin stopped at the edge of a large rocky cave. Sasha eyed the vegetation growing off it carefully, but nothing popped out to attack her a second time around.

“Here we are,” Mr. Erin said, waving his commpad within.

Light streamed from the ceiling, illuminating the section of shimmering air Sasha recognized to be the Stem portal.

“You’re up, Panther,” said Mr. Xan. “Careful, though. With all these signals, anything can come out of that.”

“Gotcha.”

She took out GT, shoving the staff into the opening. The air shook and crackled. The familiar purple substance materialized, dripping onto the floor. Sasha pulled away, ready to fight whatever would come out and attack them.

Several seconds passed. Minutes. Sasha lowered the staff.

“Nothing’s coming out,” she said.

Her liaisons exchanged glances.

“I-is it broken?” Sasha asked.

Mr. Xan checked his commpad.

“Nah, still getting signals. Erin?”

“Same here. In fact, I can feel something’s on the other side, but it’s not coming…”

Sasha poked the ground. “Maybe I could try whacking it to see if-”

A hand shoved her aside.

Rocks broke away, Sasha falling to the ground as she saw something fly out in front of her.

It retracted backward, shrinking until it became the arm of a glowing white creature she knew all too well. A legionnaire. One that stood directly below the portal that grew from the ceiling. Its jet-black eyes and brutish frame were an instant reminder. She felt a sting, her Argos encounter coming back like it had just happened. But as she watched another giant emerge, a roar tore her attention away.

“ERIN!”

Her head jerked in the sound's direction. The same place that she’d seen the limb retracting only seconds beforehand. In the center of the rocks, a squirrel laid in a motionless heap, Mr. Xan kneeling next to him.

“M-Mr. Erin?”