11:49, January 16th, 2135

“This is nice. We don’t get to spend enough time together, just the two of us.” Dawn said as their shuttle rocketed towards the surface.

From orbit, the planet in front of them looked like a perfectly smooth blue ball. The planet-spanning sapphire ocean was only occasionally interrupted by mostly barren volcanic islands on which the inhabitants had chosen to build star ports. From the reports he’d read before arriving he knew that the view could be deceiving though – the roiling ocean could produce waves over 30 meters tall even without the help of the enormous hurricanes the planet was well known for.

Kayden wasn’t complaining though - it was his opportunity to spend time with his sexy succubus of a girlfriend. Her black horns were poking through her deep red hair and she’d put on the barest bit of makeup – enough to accentuate her naturally beautiful face. More than that though, she’d unzipped half her skintight bodysuit the moment they’d entered the shuttle claiming she was ‘too hot’, giving him a teasing view of her curves underneath. Her whiplike tail also rubbed against him every few moments as if it had a mind of its own – one that wanted to be touching him at all times.

“I mean, if you ignore the ongoing war, the looming Voidborn fleet, and the fact that we need to retrieve an ancient alien relic from deep underwater…yeah, it’s nice.” Kayden joked, offering Dawn a wink.

“You ass.” Dawn laughed, smacking him on the arm playfully. “You know what I mean.”

“I do.” He smiled in response. “Remember our first shuttle ride?”

“Back before we were together? Before you had a Vrul AI in your head, before we took down the Black Company, before everything? Yeah, I remember.” She replied wistfully. “I spent that entire ride thinking about what you looked like naked.”

“That makes two of us. In fact, I’m thinking about it now”

“Well, we made up for lost time on Sanctuary. A few times over.” She grinned.

“Simpler times.” Kayden responded, matching her grin. “But I think I’d like to recreate some of those moments with my sexy succubus girlfriend later. What do you think?”

“Oh, absolutely.” She replied before a pensive look crossed her face. “You know, I don’t think I ever actually paid you for that initial job.”

He chuckled. “The life that we’re living together…it’s worth far more than anything you could ever have paid me.”

“You really mean that?” She asked.

“Absolutely.” Kayden nodded without hesitation as they burst through the planet’s atmosphere. “Even with all this other stuff going on…I can’t imagine what my life would be without you.”

She went quiet for a few moments before speaking again. “What…do you imagine when you think about our future?”

“Lots of things. You said you wanted to travel but also have a home base, so I’m thinking we could split our time between Sanctuary, the Broken Shackle, and somewhere in Kel space. We should probably spend a bit more time with your family – we keep missing them whenever we’re on Sanctuary. If you wanted you could probably have your pick of any diplomatic post in the galaxy – nobody else has as much experience negotiating with other races as you do, and I have a feeling that we’re going to need some diplomatic help to make sure everyone plays nicely with each other after the war.”

She smiled at him as they hit the water. “What else?”

“Well…” Kayden paused before locking eyes with her. “I was thinking I’d make an honest woman out of you.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Yeah. Marriage. Kids. The whole thing. Sure we wouldn’t have a ‘traditional’ family, and our kids would have lots of pseudo-moms to help out, but yeah – I want that with you.”

Dawn wiped a tear from her eye before leaning over her chair and kissing him deeply. “I’d love that. I love you, Kayden Reynolds.”

“I love you too Dawn Parker.” He said as she settled back in her chair. “And it’s my fault for not telling you that more often. As much as there will always be other women…you were the first and I want to honor that. I’m going to make it a point to dedicate time specifically to you on a regular basis. We can do whatever you want. ”

“Even if what I want is a threesome with you, me, and Selina?” She asked cheekily.

“Especially that.” Kayden laughed.

They continued to descend deeper into the water, joking and laughing in the way only lovers can. Around them the azure light slowly faded until they were completely enveloped in darkness, with only their instruments to guide them. On their radar they occasionally caught the slow-drifting shapes of enormous sea creatures, but other than that they were entirely alone for the first time in what felt like forever.

As they descended deeper into the absolute darkness, some of the shapes around them started to venture closer. It was subtle at first – just a minor blip on their radar – but before long they were undoubtedly surrounded by aquatic creatures. There were at least a dozen of them, darting above and underneath them while coming ever-closer to actually making contact. Keenly aware of the fact that they lacked weapons or shields, Kayden turned on the exterior lights in an effort to scare them off.

“Fuck.” Dawn said, peering through the front view screen.

In front of them was an enormous cephalopod-like creature. It had what must have been two dozen green tentacles, each of which were easily 30 meters long and covered in suction cups. It had a black, hard-looking carapace covering its body, and in the middle of the writhing mass of tentacles was a gaping maw filled with long, sharp teeth. Apparently it had some sort of sensory organ on its tentacles because it pulsed and writhed the moment Kayden turned on the lights, emitting some sort of screeching noise before swimming away.

Suddenly there was a loud bang on the shuttle behind them. Kayden instinctively checked the sensors to see another one of the cephalopod creatures backing up from their shuttle, clearly having just rammed it with its hard shell. He turned off the lights again before rerouting more power to the engines, leaving the pod of creatures in their wake.

“Shuttle, this is the Broken Shackle.” Selina’s voice rang over the radio. “I’m reading that you’ve taken some damage. What the hell did you run into down there?”

“Oh, just your standard group of octopus-monsters to add to my nightmare fuel.” Dawn replied, shaking her head. “You know how it is. Just another day saving the universe.”

“Based on an analysis of the readings, I believe the creatures you encountered are actually closer to an Earth-born squid or nautilus rather than an octopus.” Ali countered.

Kayden couldn’t help but chuckle at her correction. “Does that classification give you any insight into how to fight these things?”

“Flashes of light will likely throw them into a feeding frenzy. Avoid doing that again. In fact, I recommend that you avoid them altogether if at all possible – repeated strikes from their shells will eventually crack the shuttle’s hull.”

“I see.” Kayden said, pushing more power to the engines.

“Try to stay safe down there.” Selina added. “Let us know if you need any help. Broken Shackle out.”

Kayden looked over at Dawn who then burst into laughter. “Of course our nice quiet moment together is interrupted by octopus-sorry, squid-monsters.”

“What can I say? It’s very…us.”

“Agreed. But it means I’m going to find time to pick up where we left off.”

She slid her hand onto his thigh reassuringly. “I’ll hold you to that. Now come on, let’s go find this thing so we can go home.”

They continued their descent to the ocean floor, stopping only when they reached a volcanic vent at the bottom. Based on their sensors Kayden knew the ambient temperature had risen substantially, but peering through the window he still didn’t see any light – no magma or bubbles to speak of. Worse still, it looked like the artifact’s location was almost a meter underneath the sea floor, meaning they’d have to do some excavating.

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“I’ll head out there.” Kayden said after relaying the information to Dawn. “My nanobot armour works in hard-vacuum, and I can probably create some simple equipment to help me dig. If anything I’ll use my drones.”

“You’ll need some light. I think it’s safe to turn on the lights again.” Dawn said, double-checking the radar. “I know there’s some interference from the volcanic vent, but you’re going to need to see what you’re doing.”

“You’re right.” Kayden nodded, removing his control cable and standing. “Let me get out there first and try my night vision. There’s no need to advertise that we’re here any longer than necessary.”

With a final kiss for Dawn he moved to the back of the shuttle, sealing off the cargo area as he did. He summoned his nanobot armour around him before bracing himself against the wall and pressing a button, causing a loud hiss to sound overhead. The room gradually flooded with water, causing the pressure inside to match the pressure outside. Finally, when the button beside the door turned from red to green Kayden waded through the water and opened it, stepping outside before quickly closing the door behind him.

He was immediately plunged into complete blackness. He took one step and realized that beneath his feet the ground was made of some sort of smooth rounded stone. Taking a breath he steadied himself against the shuttle before calling up the artifact’s location on his heads-up display and turning on his night vision.

“Night vision’s no good.” Kayden announced over the radio as a confusing flurry of lights blurred in front of him, blinding him momentarily before he turned it off. “The heat vision is thrown off by this volcanic vent, and there’s not even enough light to use the night vision mode. I can’t see shit.”

“Alright, come around the front and I’ll turn on a light for you.”

“Thanks.” Kayden replied as he carefully navigated the slippery rocks beneath him. “Just try not to shine it directly in my eyes?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dawn said, the smirk clear in her voice. “Turning the light on…now.”

The area lit up around them, causing Kayden to wince and close his eyes most of the way. When he slowly opened them they adjusted, allowing him to see the strange rocks he’d been stumbling over. He knelt close to one of them, intent on figuring out how to drill through and access the artifact before a horrifying realization hit him.

“Dawn.” He said urgently. “Turn off the lights.”

“What?”

“Turn off the lights!”

It was too late. The ground underneath him began to shift and move as the partially-buried cephalopods noticed the intruders on top of them. Just before the lights on the shuttle went out Kayden saw them kick up enormous plumes of sand all around them as they wriggled free. He was tossed to the side before being plunged into complete blackness, tumbling end over end until he didn’t know which way was up.

“Shit! Fuck!” He swore as he bounced from one cephalopod’s shell to another before finally being grabbed by a set of tentacles.

“Kayden!” Dawn shouted as a boom sounded through the water, indicating one of the creatures hit the shuttle with its overly-large shell.

Fuck this. I didn’t come this far just to get killed by an overgrown squid. He thought to himself as the creature’s tentacles started to squeeze painfully.

Gritting his teeth, Kayden deployed his nanobots in a group around him before electrifying them. The tentacles grabbing him spasmed before retracting hurriedly. He grinned with savage satisfaction as he saw bolts of electricity arc through the water, lighting up the scene around them. They stopped when they hit several more of the creatures, causing them to screech and swim away.

“Kayden! They’re all over me!” Dawn shouted as he slowly drifted down to the sea floor.

“I’m coming!” Kayden replied, pushing through the water as fast as he could. “I’m gonna kill every one of these-”

“Kayden, wait!” Ali warned them both over the radio. “The shuttle’s hull is made of metal! You could electrocute Dawn and kill her!”

“I could use another option!” Dawn said frantically. “I’m getting pressure warnings, hull failure warnings, and a whole lot of red blinking lights here!”

“Can I shoot it?” Kayden asked desperately. “Or use my drones?”

“Likely not!” Ali replied. “You risk puncturing the already-weakened hull!”

“Can I use my nanobots to cut through?” Kayden tried.

“You run the same risk!” Ali responded.

“Fuck!”

“I’m going to shift the ship!” Dawn interjected.

“You’re going to do what?” Kayden asked incredulously.

When she didn’t respond with words he flicked on his suit-mounted flashlight, desperate to see what was going on. Ahead of him was a mass of writhing tentacles from half a dozen of the creatures wrapped tightly around the shuttle’s form, making it look like some sort of eldritch creature. Despite their warnings Kayden charged forward, intent on doing something to protect Dawn.

He only managed a few steps before tripping over something metallic in the darkness. Looking down he caught a glimpse of the onyx-black pyramid they came for. With a thought he ordered his nanobots to encase it, but before he could do anything else the tentacled creatures in front of him began emitting their horrifying screeching sound again.

Looking up, he saw that their tentacles were no longer locked around the shuttle – instead, they were tangled up like some sort of living rope puzzle. His heart leapt into his chest when he thought they’d successfully crushed the shuttle, but soared when he saw the ethereal form of the shuttle cruise out from within their grasp. Even by the dim light of his suit-mounted flashlights he could see Dawn sitting in the cockpit, her face a mask of complete concentration.

Deciding that it was thoroughly past their time to leave Kayden reached down and grabbed the now-encased artifact before pushing off the ocean floor and leaping towards the ghostly shuttle. He slid smoothly through its floor just before Dawn’s concentration lapsed, causing the ship to rematerialize around him. Unfortunately for her it was filled with water when it did, causing her eyes to go wide as she accidentally gulped a lungful of air.

Heart racing, Kayden frantically pulled his control cable from his arm before slamming it into the port, taking control over the shuttle. He vented the water as fast as he could while setting a course for the surface, zooming away from the now-freed cephalopods. As soon as enough water had vented he tore off his helmet and pulled out his control cable before rushing to Dawn’s side, trusting the shuttle’s autopilot to keep them cruising towards the surface. When she didn’t respond at all he pressed his hands to her chest and began CPR, frantically trying to bring her back to life.

The sound of her coughing up water was one of the best things Kayden had ever heard.

He turned her on her side before slumping against the wall, breathing heavily. She coughed and threw up water for several minutes before her yellow eyes locked onto his.

“Did we get it?” She asked weakly.

“Yeah, we got it.” Kayden nodded. “I didn’t know you could do that. It was some show of power.”

“I didn’t either, to be honest.” She replied.

“Maybe next time we can try doing that in a less…urgent situation.”

“Agreed.” She smiled. “I feel like shit though. I don’t know whether that’s from the shifting or the almost-drowning.”

“How can I help? What do you need?”

“Come give me mouth-to-mouth?” She said, her black tail twitching back and forth expectantly.

Unable to help himself, Kayden chuckled before leaning in and kissing her. “I love you, Dawn Parker. Let’s go home.”