Not good. That was the first thing Hiiro thought, upon coming across what was perhaps the most complex animal structure he'd seen yet. It was practically a fortress resembling a wasp's nest, made from the same material as the others.
But this time, with far more intricate care. Much of the surface was even smoothed down, and there were Peons hard at work building it up further.
That discovery was quite some time earlier though.
He’d been curious as to where they found the material needed, but when he checked the maps and zoomed out as far as possible, he realized that all the ‘Nature Reserve Biomes’ were either directly above or very close to these parts of Maintenance layers. Probably for good reason. But, at least that explained the how.
The real question was why they were making it.
He checked his supplies once more.
Less than 20% fuel left, down to four remaining shoulder grenades, not enough Plasma Digger ammo, and moderately damaged armor. Also, 60% Combat Efficiency, at least according to the onboard computer, along with 17 structural alerts which stated that the suit's damage cushioning effect was halfway to failing completely.
That, coupled with the two dozen Oozers and nearly a hundred soft-shelled Peons, lying dismembered and mushed around him, were proof enough of his hard work. But it wasn’t enough.
So Hiiro marched forward, using the Oscillator Spear almost like a broom, since he just needed to whack the Peons to death and only had to worry about the Oozers. Which he noticed, no longer came out of the structure.
It was almost anticlimactic. He never imagined that such creatures, which showed uncharacteristic intelligence, would choose wave tactics as their only defense. But he welcomed it, and stepped right through the shorter dirt entrance; partially collapsing it.
Inside was… he had no idea what he was even expecting.
The was a wide, several-dozen meter tall pillar made of yellowish-white mucus, holding up the nest’s roof.
Embedded into that pillar were almost a hundred children and teenagers. 'I was right.' Unfortunately, even after circling the pillar, there were only 32 positive infrared signatures. Most of the captured, died by blunt trauma to their head and others had missing limbs. There was even a pile corpses, complete and otherwise which the Peons were probably in the process of embedding too.
Sadder still, was that he could not let them rest even now. He raised his hydaulic-powered leg and crushed the pile underfoot. Distinct eggs had been attached to their bodies, and surely those embedded in the pillar had them too.
He then focused on the uniformed petite woman, groaning with only her head and feet exposed. '...specimen size was the criteria. Not age.'
"You're incredibly lucky, you know that?" He gave her a wry grin before opening the Imperial Military Comms. “This is Major Hiiro Dahl. I’ve found the hostages, transmitting the location now. Be advised, there are 32 living souls, but plenty of smaller insects still in the area. Do not use live weapons until all hostages are secured.”
Cheers reached him from many noblemen, heaping praise for his success. Hence, it was a short while after that the Count answered. [“Good Job, Major.”] Before a younger, more pompous and energetic voice resounded. [“Indeed, Major. We’re just about to reach the Loading Docks, but you need not worry. Me and 11 of my men are headed there immediately.”]
“... Lord Duke. Thank you for your quick response.”
[“You need not thank me, Major. Only our rescuees have such an obligation. For they shall soon bathe in the Emperor’s light.”]
----------------------------------------
All her life, she had lived in war. Her planet, much like every other mining planet, was a constant source of suffering. Her only light was her older sister. But then, she joined the military and disappeared as well.
She eventually heard that her sister’s Destroyer had been captured by the enemy, but she could only cry about it for a single night before she needed to go back to work; sorting or on a conveyor belt in a smoke-filled smeltery. That went on for several months, until she too was finally of age and was able to join the Military.
But, that year, just a few weeks after she finished her training, the Federation surrendered. The war was over. Yet, far more importantly, she reunited with her sister, who had actually escaped capture and immediately went back into battle, gaining herself no small amount of fame.
Her sister’s return was what spurred to join the medic corp, all in order to be with her for longer. Though, as a result, she was no longer really viewed as a younger sister. But rather, as a subordinate.
However, by now, her initial excitement at being assigned to the Serenity for her first actual deployment was completely gone.
The last thing she could remember was escaping towards the Kyrsana Opera House, but then, something slammed against her back and she was knocked out cold. Only regaining consciousness for a few seconds, just to realize that she could no longer move, was drowning in mucus, and being dragged somewhere dark.
“... sister-” Just then, she felt another force acting upon her body. This time, it yanked backwards - forcing her to wake up from a half-asleep daze.
“.... urhk…!” Her first reaction was to vomit the remaining hardened, foul-smelling mucus in her mouth. But then, she heard muffled laughter from next to her. She turned her head, and thanks to the bright light being shone on her from a sheer-white helmet, she saw her sorry figure reflected on the eye-slits’ red-tinted glass.
She'd vomited onto her own clothes.
“Well, well. Aren’t you lady-like?” The man inside the armor was clearly mocking her, but she recognized the emblem on his helmet, as well as those on the other armored men around him.
Imperial Ducal House - Aguila. Direct descendants of the First Emperor’s Second Wife. But only the House Head could wear a two-headed Aguila. Which meant…
“L-Lord Duke… Jin-Ho?”
“Indeed, Lady… Private Corteza.” He said, while glancing at the name tag sewn onto her uniform. “I must admit, you do not seem like much of a warrior, or even a Lady, given your stature. But I am no bully, so that'll be the last you hear of that.”
She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was grinning, which only embarrassed her further. But with her confusion finally gone. She lowered her head towards him, even while she was being carried by the back of her uniform. Just like a kitten by its mother.
“Thank you for saving us, Lord Duke.” Corteza spoke with as much of a servile, thankful tone as she could. Then, she raised her head once more. “May I be allowed down? I hope to introduce myself properly.”
“Oho? Very well then, you may.” When she finally felt her feet on the ground, she once again realized just how large the Imperials were compared to everyone else. Especially those with thick noble blood. Wearing his armor, he was nearly three times her height.
But rather than show even more of her sorry display by being intimidated, she decided to bow low at the waist.
“My name is Hazel M. Corteza. Private First Class, Medic Corp-” As soon as she said the final word, the Duke yelled “Wonderful!” She didn't even get to finish speaking, before he called out to his men. “Quick, gather the children!” Before finally returning his gaze to Hazel.
“You can rely on us to protect you and the little ones, but we will be relying on you to take care of the little ones more directly.”
She was awestruck for a moment, before she finally caught up and nodded multiple times.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Yes, of course! You can rely on me!”
“Good, good. That’s a wonderful attitude, I hope you can share that with the little ones, when we arrive.”
They were words that made her feel valued and even glad to help. Maybe it was because she never faced them in battle, so she was able to trust his words. But the way he said it had her worried.
“Are you taking us to the Empire… Lord Duke?”
“... ooh… You’re quite sharp. Correct. Consider yourself an honorary citizen Lady Corteza, until you are officially registered.”
Of course, her only response was to gulp. They were practically being kidnapped, and every idea she had of what awaited them after rescue, scared her. At best, they'd be taken in by some nobles and be able to live the rest of her life in relative peace. Like the Pariah did. Whereas she couldn't even imagine the worst case scenario. Anything she thought of, was quickly be replaced by an even worse fate.
But for now, she just received what medical supplies the soldiers could spare her. There were much more immediate things to worry about, like making it to safety, and… figuring out how she'd explain the situation to the kids, already crying and begging for their parents.
The answer she arrived at was to not do so.
“I am curious, though.”
“About what Lord Duke?” She asked, while raising her head, before bringing her focus back to the supplies.
“How did you know that I was the Duke? Or even what my emblem signified?”
“Umm…” She trailed off, trying to find a hidden meaning behind his question. But she couldn't. “We had a two month-long orientation on all the customs and identities of our passengers, long before the departure date was announced. It was just one of the things we needed to learn, but we had to review it several times more than the rest.”
“Is that so?” The Duke didn't say much after that. Instead one of his accompanying guards gave them instructions.
‘Stay in the center of the group and group up closely.’ All the fighting was to be left to them, and since she didn't even have a weapon anymore - Corteza was more than willing to do so.
“Excuse me… Miss Hazel.” A girl, probably ten years or less, pulled at her pants before looking up at her with teary eyes. For which she stopped and leaned over to ask,
“What is it, Thea?”
“I… it feels like there’s something in my throat.”
“What do you mean?” She asked softly while holding Thea’s chin up, only to see an adult-sized Adam's apple on her thin neck. Alarm bells immediately rang in her head and she called out. “Lord Duke, can we please take a break?”
“Why so…?” He asked, though he didn’t turn around. Instead, he and his soldiers kept their eyes on the perimeter, eyeing the insects that kept circling around them. They had to, since none of them possessed any ranged weapons. Rather, they ran out of ammo a long time ago, and had been using nothing but melee weapons or their bare hands.
They could not resupply either, since, despite what he told the Major, the Duke's group was still half an hour away from the rendezvous point, when the hostage's location was announced. Which explained the visible scratches and hair-line cracks throughout their otherwise pristine white armor.
Just as she was about to answer, however, Hazel held her tongue. If she did tell him about it, then it was very likely that the Duke would leave Thea for dead. But, what exactly could she say which would be a good enough answer, while also giving her a chance to remove whatever was inside Thea?
“Lord Duke, forgive me, but I’m afraid the Children can’t walk much farther. They need the rest.”
Finally, he turned around, but only for a split-second, before nodding to himself.
“Very well, then. Five minutes.”
“Thank you, Lord Duke!”
However, it wasn’t exactly much of a break either. Although they had brought some water and food, the children were quite understandably, fussy and panicky. Being surrounded by massive insects and constant chattering noises was not exactly good for their nerves.
"Sit down kids." She called out to them. "But dont go beyond the tall knights, okay?"
Unfortunately, that was as much attention as she could spare fon her other charges, since she had to help with Thea’s problem before the men figured it out.
Thankfully, they were all still watching the perimeter like guardian monoliths.
“I’m going to reach in now, okay?” She whispered before holding Thea’s head with her left hand, then sticking a pair of tweezers down her mouth. The hope was that she could pull it out without causing too much harm to her throat.
But as soon as she grabbed its head, the thing’s legs pinched Thea's throat from inside, tearing the flesh near-instantly. She screamed in pain, frightening the other kids, though they couldn't see properly, knew that something was wrong. Still, the men kept watch.
“What's happening, Miss Corteza?”
She’d already let go of the tweezers, but the insect kept pinching, then slowly began to curl up, bulging even more from her throat. Until finally, pop, it splattered onto her lap. Her first thought wasn’t to check on Thea further, as much as she was ashamed by it. In fact, she’d let go of the child and allowed her to fall over. Much to the horror of the other kids.
Instead, Hazel tried to backhand the thing, which was almost as thick and long as her forearm. But then, it leapt and curled around her limb.
It was at that moment that she finally screamed too, while facing her arm and mouth away from each other.
“Lord Duke!” She cried out. The insect wasted no time crawling onto the side of her head, and was digging its sharp legs into her skin. Then, to her abject despair, its mandibles push against her hair and-.
“Lord-!”
She was silenced by the sound of whirring servos, followed by a splatter of stinky, slimy fluid all over her back. Hazel didn’t even notice that the Duke had gotten near, and saved her. Before she could even think of thanking him, however, he roared at her.
“What happened?!” then to his men. “How did this get here?!”
He didn’t need to wait for an answer, though, since he quickly got the idea from the sight of Thea’s corpse. Then streams of very tiny insects climbing out her torn apart throat and mouth, while the dull red emergency light and the sharp white lights from the Duke's helmet lamp turned the situation into a truly horrific scene.
The children immediately went into hysterics, screaming, crying and panicking. Some of them even attempted to flee, ruining the encirclement since the Duke’s guards had to break rank in order to keep them from accidentally running towards the enemy. However, Corteza could not take her eyes off the corpse, wondering if she had hastened Thea’s death and if there was a safer way to help her.
“Emperor guide us…” He muttered, then grabbed Corteza by the waist and carried her farther away.
“What mind could’ve made these things?” He asked no one in particular, but his next words were entirely expected. “Break time is over Lady Corteza, you and the children are to start running at full speed. We will pace ourselves with you.”
“Y-yes, Lord Duke!” She recollected herself as quickly as she could, before trying to gather the kids back in the center again. Meanwhile, everyone in the group did their best to block out Thea's still trembling, insect ridden form.
That was, until they heard the sound of whirring machinery.
For some reason, Corteza thought that it came from Thea. But then powerful gusts started to form, made visible by all the particulates and tiny flying insects that got swept up. Soon enough, they felt the wind pull on them too.
The ominous whirring got louder and the wind got stronger, until finally, the nest structure they'd left behind, collapsed. Only then did they realize that it was the worst case scenario.
“Quickly men! Grab the little ones and follow me!!” The Duke roared, then tightened his grip around Corteza, before grabbing two more children with his other arm.