Evelyn heard the commands before she felt anything. A soft, synthesized voice spoke out of her pod’s speakers while her eyes were still blacked out. “Colonist Evelyn, you are needed for a task. Please follow the highlighted path after resurrection fatigue has subsided.”

It took a few more seconds before she could see anything, and it was only vague outlines at that. Blinking rapidly while pulling herself out of the cryo pod, Evelyn rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath of the air.

She paused at that. It was strange, not the state feel of recycled air, but almost like her father’s repair shop back in New Vancouver. It was a heady smell of dust, rust, and burnt-out electronics. Looking around now that she could make out more than just color and light, Evelyn immediately noticed something was wrong.

The emergency lighting was on, the dim glow poking through small lines on the ceiling and walls, and there was a layer of dust over the room. The ship’s life support system was supposed to keep everything clean, but it looked like that wasn’t happening.

There was also the fact that the ship was slanted. She could feel it as she walked towards the door, following the now red line directing her. That didn’t make any sense, seeing as the ship’s artificial gravity should have kept it level. The only way this could happen was if the core systems were damaged to a frankly frightening degree, or if they had landed.

But if they had arrived at a world the ship deemed acceptable to land on, everyone should have been woken up, not just her. What would the ship want with a teacher that it couldn’t get better from the more technically inclined colonists?

Evelyn shook her head as she moved through the ship’s deteriorating hallways. Colony AIs were designed to be more friendly to organics than their military brethren, but they hadn’t been able to remove the lack of open communication. If it thought she needed to know something, it would say so. The fact that it was keeping quiet meant the task would probably be minimal.

The lines kept leading Evelyn further from the Cryobays, out of the central systems, and towards the auxiliary parts of the ship. Her initial assumption was that the ship needed a colonist on the bridge to fulfill their organic oversight protocols, but that was seeming more and more unlikely with each turn.

Then, just as she was debating asking the ship to explain what exactly she was supposed to be doing, a rhythmic noise caught Evelyn’s attention. It was footsteps ringing out from the metal floors, although not the harsh staccato of the ship’s maintenance drones or the muffled soles of another colonist. It reminded her most of her sister’s pet Jak’al dragon, how its claws would grind and scrap against the front door when it wanted to come inside.

Turning the corner a bit more warily, Evelyn stood face to face with… a lizard person? They were small, reaching barely above Evelyn’s waist, and stared up at her with two yellow eyes. After both parties started at each other for a few seconds, they lifted a clawed hand and broke out into a rapid-fire speech, of which Evelyn couldn’t understand a single word.

Out of reflex, Evelyn activated her translation program, her implant flaring to life after centuries of disuse. As the program started compiling the stranger’s language from their speech, Evelyn sent off a mental message to the ship. What’s happening here? Why’s there a lizard person on the ship?

There were a few explanations she could think of for the unusual inhabitant, but the fact that her codex hadn’t tagged her talkative friend's species pointed toward some of the more unsavory ones. The Therainian splicing experiments had made federation-wide news after all. It wasn’t the craziest thing to imagine there were copycats out there.

The response was as immediate and vague as Evelyn expected from an AI. “REMOVE NATIVE CREATURE, DESIGNATION: CHILD, FROM THE PERIMETER,” it said in its stereotypical synthesized voice. Well, that solved the question of it they had landed or not, this being a native of whatever planet they were on.

So this was a kid? It was certainly small enough for a human child, but you never knew with aliens. Some were behemoths many times the size of even the tallest human, while others might be no larger than a mouse. Heck, the Ya’gol shrunk as they matured, having to merge to produce their goopy offspring.

But the reproductive habits of one of the federation’s founding species was not the subject of Evelyn’s attention at the moment. At the slight ding from her implant, Evelyn activated the incomplete translator.

Slowly the child’s speech started making sense. Not the words, those were still gibberish to Evelyn, but the translator was doing its job, sporadically feeding her the meaning of each sentence.

Yes, definitely still incomplete, Evelyn thought as it started babbling away about “magic.” While she couldn’t understand everything the child was saying, Evelyn could tell she was in bad shape. Dust and sand covered her body, making her fraying clothes look even worse, and she was swaying on her feet. Her speech was affected as well, slurring and stumbling through some words.

With an inviting wave, Evelyn started leading the child deeper into the ship to a mess hall she had passed during her post-revival walk. It wouldn’t be the most palatable food, long-haul rations never were, but they were edible. Plus the ship was required to carry sustenance for the wide variety of species across the federation in the event of a castaway, unique passenger, or any number of other strange happenings of deep space. One quick scan and the ship could match her with the closest federation equivalent to whatever compounds she could digest.

Once they were seated at a long, tarnished metal table with rations brought to them by a rolling cleaning drone of all things, Evelyn turned her attention back to the issue of communication. The girl had stopped speaking as she dug into the compressed bar with unusual gusto. Evelyn hadn’t seen anyone go to town on one of those bars outside of those scenes in movies where a castaway is rescued from certain death.

She hoped this wasn’t one of those scenarios.

Reviewing the translator revealed some bad news. Apparently, it was having trouble piecing together the native language, which was lacking any signs of similarities to the myriad root tongues that spanned the galaxy. No High Percidian, no Old Human, not even a hint of the Progenitor lexicon, and they had an influence on practically everyone, whether they had seeded your world or not.

Hey ship, Evelyn thought through her implant, think you can juice up the translator? Give it some more processing power to work with?

The response reverberated throughout Evelyn’s head. Logically, she knew mental messaging was entirely within her mind, and the implant was physically incapable of movement, but she swore it jostled as the ship yelled back. “POWER AT CRITICAL LEVELS. RATIONING IN EFFECT.”

How? Evelyn thought back, even a single generator should be enough for a hundred translator programs?”

“BESIDES CRYOBAY MAINTENANCE, SCOUTING AND SECURITY DRONES ACROSS THE CRASH SIGHT OCCUPY THE MAJORITY OF GENERATED POWER.”

Just divert some power from the security drones, Evelyn thought with exasperation, you don’t need to record every speck of dust that flies by.

There was a pause, uncharacteristic for an AI, where all Evelyn could hear was an archaic dial tone. The only reason she recognized the noise was from that rabbit hole of research she did for her class on pre-collapse Earth technology. “DIRECT ORDER RECEIVED… INITIATING.”

At that, the progress bar on the translator jumped to life. At the rate it was moving Evelyn could expect a complete, if crude, program in a few minutes. The ship must have added more samples to the program, Evelyn realized, probably audio from those scout drones it mentioned.

Seeing as the girl was content with eating in silence, Evelyn decided to leave talking until after the translator had finished. Taking a bit of her own bar, it contained a familiar taste, or rather lack thereof. They were supposed to have flavor enhancements to make the bars palatable, but it seemed those weren’t as lasting as the rations themselves.

Once her implant sent the complete notification, Evelyn finished her mouthful and set the half-eaten bar down. The girl caught on to her intentions and stopped eating as well, staring warily at Evelyn from across the table.

Activating the micro speakers in her uniform, Evelyn started talking in a calm, reassuring voice. “Hello, you are safe here. My name is Evelyn, what’s yours?” It was strange to hear another voice mirroring her own in the native’s tongue. Only interplanetary businesses used them regularly on Lhira Prime, there not being enough of an off-world population for the average person to require it. Even diplomats usually learned different languages instead of relying on a translator, the personal touch being something many planets appreciated.

But it seemed to be working from the girl’s reaction. She perked up and spoke again. “Oh, you do speak Pliak! I’m Ixel.” Ixel looked around the room, taking in the bare walls and cleaning drone rolling along behind Evelyn. “I’m sorry for intruding on your domain, Evoker Evelyn. I was trying to escape a hunting pack of Blessed in the Wastes.”

Evelyn frowned as Ixel spoke, checking the transcription to confirm her worries. The way she said Blessed was too specific, the transcript tagging them as proper nouns, or close enough for the translator program to put it in terms she recognized. “Don’t worry about it, Ixel. These Blessed must be bad news if you were willing to run to a place called the Wastes to escape them.”

Ixel frowned at Evelyn’s words. When she spoke again it was with a tone of disgust. “They’re a pack of murderers and bandits that hide in the Wastes. They must have been following me from Newgate, waiting until we were out of the Guardian’s reach to strike.”

That… isn’t the worst thing I could think of, Evelyn thought, it would have been way worse if these Blessed were some kind of pirate or warlord force. A native bandit group should be easy for the ship to handle.

As she pondered her new predicament, Evelyn considered Ixel's words. Their content didn’t worry her too much, but there was a way Ixel had said then that put Evelyn on edge. “Sorry if this sounds insulting, but you seem… bright for your age,” Evelyn said with a smile, “and I’m not just talking about your scales.”

Ixel made a peculiar face, halfway between a smile and a grimace. “You have to grow up quick to survive this close to the Wastes, especially on your own.”

“On your own? You don’t have any family in that town, Newgate, of yours.”

Ixel’s expression took on a dour tone at those words. “No, and it's more of a fortress really.” Evelyn could tell she had found a touchy subject, but before she could offer a distraction, Ixel sighed and started speaking again. “My parents were killed in the Skyshattering. It's been just me ever since.”

She was about to try and comfort Ixel when Evelyn was distracted by something the girl said. “Sorry, the Skyshattering? That sounds ominous.”

“I don’t know what you educated folks labeled it, but that’s what most people call it,” Ixel said after a few moments of confusion.

“And pretend I have no idea of what you’re talking about. How would you describe it?”

Ixel shot Evelyn a confused stare but started talking regardless. “The day the world broke? The rain of stars? What made the big ass holes in the sky?” She became more and more incredulous with each sentence.

When Ixel had finished, it took a few seconds for Evelyn to respond in a confused tone. “Holes in the… what? How would that even-”

Evelyn was interrupted by a howling coming from outside the ship. Ixel jumped at the noise, dropping the wrappings from her most recently devoured bar. “That was a dune runner! How did they find me so fast?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Who’s they?” Evelyn said, jumping to her feet and placing a hand on the pistol the cleaning drone had brought her with the food.

“The Blessed! They’re the only ones crazy enough to use them as hunting hounds,” Ixel said while biting one of her clawed fingers.

While Ixel spoke, an alert popped up on Evelyn’s implant. “WARNING. MULTIPLE INTRUDERS DETECTED. PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE MARKED SPOT.” Along with the text was a map showing the local layout. Red dots swarmed over it, moving in the general direction of the two green dots that Evelyn assumed to be her and Ixel.

A cold sweat ran down Evelyn’s neck as she counted at least a dozen intruders, with more pouring in. Grabbing Ixel’s arm she started running, pulling the girl with her to the marked hallway. It was nearby, but a few of the dots might reach them if they were slow.

While racing through the hallways Evelyn sent the ship a frantic message. How did they get inside the ship!

“THEY EMERGED FROM A TUNNEL DIRECTLY AT THE ENTRANCE. NO SECURITY DRONES WERE AVAILABLE TO REPEL THEM.”

Before Evelyn could yell something about stupid AI at the ship, they turned the corner to the marked hall and she shut up. Extruding from the ceiling was a frightening sight. A laser turret, the slight hum revealing it was charged and ready, watched the hall.

A bark from behind kicked her brain back into gear and Evelyn pulled Ixel deeper into the hall. They were halfway to the turret before a six legged dog-like creature, one of the dune runners as Ixel called them, skidded around the corner. The beast didn’t even have the chance to yelp as a blast of concentrated light burnt out its skull.

Ixel screamed, though whether from the pursuers or the laser, Evelyn couldn’t tell. The scream seemed to attract attention as more and more intruders kept rushing into the hall. Like a flood they poured in, and like a dam the turret held them back. Evelyn stopped counting after the tenth person fell to the ground screaming with half their leg seared off. But one of the figures stepping around the corner caught her attention.

She didn’t have the words to describe it, but the man just looked important. With his flowing blond hair that Evelyn could swear was glowing, elaborate jewelry, and tattoes covering his body in lieu of a shirt, something about the man drew her eye.

Ixel had a much different reaction, gasping when she saw him. “A Rune-etched! That hunter must have told his boss about my amulet!”

The man was less concerned with his subordinates being scythed like wheat before a sickle by the laser turret than Evelyn would have in his situation. But as the lasers finished neutralizing his entourage she learned why he could afford to be so uncaring.

With the flick of a contemptuous hand, one which had an elaborate tattoo running up to his shoulder, a blinding dome, radiant as the dawn, sprung into existence in front of him. In the split second it had taken the turret’s joints to adjust their targeting, the dome had grown to encompass the man’s entire form. Evelyn watched in horror as the laser barrage was stymied. Each blast split on contact with the shield, refracting and dissipating into nothingness. From the uncharacteristically rapid calls of “UNIDENTIFIED PHENOMENON DETECTED” ringing in her ear, the ship was as confused and frightened as she was.

“I should have known a structure such as this would hold your kind, wizard.” The words were spat out in hatred as Evelyn averted her eyes from the man’s withering gaze. “Is this your last, desperate attempts at clinging to the power you and your’s used to conquer these lands?”

A sneer spread across his face. “It is no use. You fools who cling to the old ways are blind to the truth. The shattering of the heavens saps you of your might while empowering those strong to claim its gifts!” At that declaration, he flexed his other arm, and an axe of the same radiant light appeared in his grasp. With one savage swing, he hucked it at the turret, the weapon passing through the barrier as if it wasn’t there and smashing the delicate components of the laser emitter to a smoldering husk.

Seemingly satisfied at the shower of sparks and the screams Evelyn and Ixel released at the show of force, the man let his shield fade to nothingness and slowly moved forward.

“And you, child,” he spoke with no less contempt while addressing Ixel, staring not at her but at the amulet hanging over her shirt, “you would waste a relic of such immense power? To feel the call of your noble ancestors yet be content with digging in the dirt like a dog?”

Before he could advance any further, Evelyn drew her sidearm and took aim. He stopped, confused but wary of the obvious threat.

“Back away,” Evelyn said, keeping the barrel on center mass. She was glad the colonist training program included basic weapons courses. Without them, she might have fumbled her pistol in the panic.

“What is that, some kind of wand?” he said with a sneer, “your depleted magic won’t be enough to save you.” He started moving again, another axe forming in his hand.

I warned you, Evelyn thought as she pulled the trigger. The pistol kicked backward as the shot hit home, punching through the man’s armor and boring into his chest. The hit knocked him back, throwing him to the ground as he gasped through punctured lungs.

Evelyn let out a gasp she didn’t know was trapped in her chest. She had never shot anyone before, but this was self-defense. No court in the Federation would say otherwise, save for perhaps those pacifists from the Tellorac system.

That relief slowly turned to dread as the man rose from the ground, the hole in his chest closing as the tattoes across his chest flared to life. It closed completely, spitting out the deformed bullet to clink down onto the floor. She raised the pistol again and emptied the clip at him, but he had already raised the same barrier as before. All she had accomplished was deafening herself with the gunfire.

The man spoke through heavy breaths. “It seems you have a few tricks up your sleeve. I’ll just have to deal with you first.” He exploded forward, moving faster than Evelyn would have thought possible for someone without extensive augmentations. In less than a second he closed the distance, appearing in Evelyn’s face and bringing a light-covered fist directed into her face.

Her brain rattled from the hammer blow as Evelyn crumpled to the ground. It was worse than that brass-knuckle beatdown she had gotten after pissing off those loansharks in her younger days.

When she managed to keep her eyes open for more than a single blink, Evelyn took in a bleak scene. The man had moved on from her, content with kicking the pistol out of her grasp down the hall. He had Ixel in his grasp, a radiant dagger growing from his palm as he lifted the tiny girl up with one arm. Rather than going for the killing blow, the man started talking. “I grant you this one blessing as thanks for… safeguarding the relic from unworthy hands. What would you request of me? Who knows, perhaps you will sway me with your word.”

Whatever the reason for his delay, whether it be hubris or some warped sense of honor, Evelyn was glad for it. She crawled forward, the world spinning faster and faster with each movement.

When Ixel responded, Evelyn couldn’t see her face. But the hatred that spewed out from her mouth was all she needed to know. “Go throw yourself into an Ankar nest, you traitor.”

“I hoped you would say that,” he said with a smirk as he raised the dagger to Ixel’s throat, his back turned towards Evelyn, “too many heretics plead with their last words, a waste on someone as dedicated as I. Goodbyeeeiiiiii-” Evelyn grabbed the man’s ankles and he spasmed, his final syllable extending itself as his muscles locked up

Evelyn looked up from her position on the floor, through the blood trickling down from where she had been struck, and saw Ixel staring wide-eyed at her and her now exposed augment. Unfortunately, the taser implanted in her palm was a civilian model, only rated for low-level discharges, and she hadn’t had much time to recharge the battery after she woke up.

After a few seconds, the worst of the shocks subsided and the man pulled himself off the floor. His rage had been rekindled and redirected, ignoring Ixel as he started laying into Evelyn with kicks to her prone form.

From the fetal position, Evelyn couldn’t see or feel much save for the man’s boots driving themselves into her ribs. But between the vicious strikes, she caught glimpses of Ixel rising to her feet. In her eyes was a look of rage to which Evelyn could not compare.

It was almost like she could physically feel Ixel’s anger at the man. It felt hot, like a burning desire that never relented.

Wait, she thought absentmindedly when the kicks that had been derailing her train of thought stopped, that’s really hot. That’s too hot!

Evelyn stared in awe at Ixel’s growing form, ephemeral wings now taking physical form, along with a myriad of other transformations. She had grown in size, standing a head taller than Evelyn, with a long tail, a mesh of scales running up and down her figure, and massive claws. But what caught Evelyn’s eye the most was the gem embedded in her chest, the same one that was on the amulet the man was so fixated on earlier.

The man stumbled backward, startled but not intimidated by the new development. With a cocky grin, he raised another shield and stood straight. “So you’ve unlocked some of the relic’s potential. I must applaud your talent. Perhaps it is time I stopped playing around.” He brought his hands together in front of his body, then pulled back with his right arm. A bow sprung to life from his outstretched arm, the arrow tightly clenched in his right hand. It pulsed and swelled with each passing moment, growing and compressing until Evelyn had to avert her gaze for fear of being blinded.

He seemed convinced of his victory. But as he fueled his attack, Ixel merely sauntered up to the barrier and opened her mouth. From deep within a stream of brilliant red flame shot forth. It struck the shield and seemed to consume it, the flames eating through the light.

The man faltered at that, his control of the arrow slipping as its power started leaking into the world. His sense of control finally shattered as he cried out in a panicked voice, “How did you… it can’t be. Dragonfire?”

Before he could say another word, Ixel turned the stream onto him. The neon flames spread across his body in the blink of an eye, his screams echoing through the hallway for a brief few seconds before he simply collapsed onto the metal floor. As his body was being burnt to ash, Ixel turned to look at Evelyn. She could see the emotions on the young girl’s face. Her fear, anger, and worst of all guilt.

It was too much for anyone, much less someone as young as Ixel. Evelyn watched as she passed out, her body slowly reverting to its previous form as she lay unconscious. Evelyn felt she was soon going to follow Ixel. In the passing out part, not the transformation part.

As her mind slipped, Evelyn heard one final reassurance coming through her implant. “MAINTENANCE DRONES HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED. ROOMS IN THE MEDBAY HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TO YOU. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE, EDUCATOR EVELYN.”

~

In the hours that they had been out, the ship had scrubbed the halls of any sign of the struggle. The bodies had been removed, probably taken to the ship’s morgue, and the paneling had been replaced.

Outside the ship Evelyn took in the bleak crater before her and Ixel enjoyed an ice cream bar she received from the medical drone. As she polished off the popsicle stick Ixel pushed herself off the crate they were using as a bench and started speaking.

“I need to head back to Newgate. I don’t have much there, but what I do have is… valuable to me. In a deeper way than gold.” She tilted her head to the side, considering something with a frown. “I guess I should also give Euthys a visit. Ask him some questions, figure out what he did, then get my mom’s ring and report him to the Guardian.”

“Euthys is the one that sold you out, right? You sure just reporting him to the law would be enough?” Evelyn had some nasty stories about the police in New Vancouver, and in her experience colonies and especially unincorporated worlds were not bastions of morals and justice.

But Ixel simply nodded her head in response. “The Guardian is often busy with keeping the Wastes at bay, but even it won’t like Euthys selling information to its mortal enemies. His property will probably be confiscated and he'll be sent to work in the mines or reinforce the walls.”

“Well, good luck with that. I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” Evelyn said while panning her vision around the crater, “maybe I’ll spend some time outside. A couple of centuries in cryosleep really makes you crave a good walk.”

The ship's voice rang out from a speaker in the cleaning drone acting as their server. “PLEASE RETURN TO CRYOSLEEP ONCE YOU COMPLETE THIS WALK.”

Evelyn gave the drone a light tap with her foot. “Oh come on, you can’t just shove me back in the meat locker. We're supposed to be colonizing this dirtball, right?”

“COLONIST ACTIVITIES MAY DRAW ATTENTION. NATIVE SPECIES MUST BE UNAWARE OF COLONIST PRESENCE UNTIL DEFENSES ARE IMPROVED.”

“They definitely know this place exists,” Ixel said with a shrug. She took another swig of purified water from the canteen before continuing. “I had heard rumors about The Silver Spires back in Newgate and the Blessed are willing to go deeper into the Wastes than anyone else. It’s one of the reasons they’re still around. That and the fact that their leader can call down meteors.”

The speaker cracked with the ship’s next declaration, its rising volume clashing with the monotone synthesized voice. “YOU MUST RETURN TO CRYOSLEEP, EDUCATOR EVELYN. FORTIFICATION OF THE PERIMETER MUST COMMENCE BEFORE IT IS SAFE FOR COLONISTS TO BE ACTIVE.”

Evelyn shook her head. “You heard what Ixel said, these ‘blessed’ know we’re here. What happens if they attack us in full force. Hell, Ixel just said one of them can summon meteors!”

“GENERATION OR DISPLACEMENT OF STELLAR BODIES IS IMPROBABLY FOR OBSERVED NATIVE TECHNOLOGICAL LEVELS.”

“The same level of improbability as a personal shield that can stop a laser turret?” Evelyn said incredulously. She continued in a mocking tone. “Would you be able to stop a meteor if they could do it?”

“POINT-DEFENSE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN CRITICALLY DAMAGED IN THE CRASH.”

“So that’s a no then.” The silence from the speaker was telling. After a few seconds of thinking, Evelyn turned to Ixel. “Hey Ixel, you said Newgate had a Guardian?”

Ixel looked confused at her question but responded quickly. “Yes. The Guardian is probably the only reason Newgate is still around and not just another ruin in the Wastes.”

“And you trust them?”

“I’ve never met them, but their followers seem like good enough people. They’re some of the only ones trying to push back the Wastes instead of scrambling for power or running away.”

Good enough for me, Evelyn thought. She gave the cleaning drone another tap and started speaking. “Hey ship, search through the colonist database for anyone skilled in diplomacy, and get one of the Raptor transports up and running,” Evelyn said with a growing smile, “We’re gonna go make some friends.”