Within the power station of the fifth sector, the reptilian Kryks were performing the routine maintenance needed to keep the facility functioning without issue.

  Due to the sheer size of the facility, the Kryks were working in dozens of squads composed of ten or more workers. And each Squad was led by a member of the more intelligent, mammalian, Roguar species.

  The maintenance squads made their way through the power station’s metal-tubed tunnels, as if walking through the body of a giant with metal veins. Along their pre-determined paths, the Kryks repaired any obvious signs of wear or tear to the facility’s infrastructure or machinery.

  Whenever they reached a checkpoint, the Roguars would use the implanted communicators in their ears to report to the head overseer of the repair crew, a yellow Saytalz by the name of Yargen.

  “Almost done with the sweep of tunnel eighteen, Lord Yargen. We should be finished within a tick or two,” the voice of the Roguar of repair squad eighteen said as it came in through Yargen’s handheld communicator.

  Relaxing in his durafluff chair, designed to withstand his crystalline quills while remaining comfortable, Yargen replied, “Alright, good work, squad leader. Report back to me once you’ve reached the final checkpoint.”

  Setting his communicator down on the small table beside his chair, Yargen spoke to the ruby Saytalz that this office belonged to, “Satisfied with the results, Mangra-sister?”

  Nodding, the Ruby Saytalz answered pleasantly, “Yes. Your workers are making great time, and the observation grid shows that their repairs are top-notch. Looks like your business venture into the upkeep field was a wise decision, brother.”

  Nodding in return, Yargen shifted his upright posture as he pompously said, “Thank you, sister. Now, about my company’s price-.”

  Before Yargen could get the words out of his insubstantially-sized mouth, he and his sister felt a small rumbling coming from below.

  “I thought all the power stations were completely protected from earthquakes, sister!” Yargen exclaimed with a mixture of panic and impatience.

  “They… are, brother,” Mangra stated in bewilderment.

  Suddenly, the leader of squad eighteen’s voice exploded through the communicator as an alarm suddenly started blaring.

  Through the repeating noise of the alarm, the siblings could only just make out what the squad leader was saying.

  “Intruders in the-! Broke through the walls with-! They’re armed and-! No! Stay back! Gaargh!”

  With the sound of the Roguar’s life leaving him, Mangra pressed a button on her throne and shouted, “Intruders in tunnel eighteen! Intruders in tunnel eighteen! Armed and dangerous! Deploy the Bramos!”

  “Sister! What’s happening?!” Yargen yelled as his confidence vanished and was replaced by slight terror.

  Pulling her finger away from the button and tugging on one of her longer, thicker quills, Mangra exclaimed, “I have no idea, brother! I’d need to look at the city layout around tunnel eighteen to know for sure!”

  Tapping his foot anxiously, Yargen asked, “Okay, so, what should we do, sister?!”

  Slamming her hands into her throne's armrests, Mangra shouted, “We stay right here and keep our heads on, brother! The Bramos should be able to deal with whoever these Letkorns are, but if they can’t… Then you and I might need to step in if we want to keep the Ruby safe.”

  His tone changing to a wheeze, Yargen asked, “You… You think they’re here for our house’s Stone, sister?”

  Jumping to her feet, Mangra shouted, “Why else would anyone break into a power station, brother?!”

  Flinching slightly at his sister’s growing rage, Yargen postulated, “But only the top Saytalz houses and the great Raok Moalm would even know it exists…! You don’t think one of the other houses is making a move to take our house’s Stone, do you, sister?”

  Pulling on her quills even harder, Mangra replied, “That’s the only explanation I can think of, brother… Whatever it is, so long as they didn’t send in Saytalz mercenaries, the two of us should be able to take out anyone that can get past the Bramos.”

  As Mangra made her statement, she made one final pull on her quills, pulling two of them cleanly off. Once they were free of her head, the quills reshaped themselves in her grasp, taking on the form of hooked blades.

  “Right… Of course. You’re right, sister!” In response to his sister producing weapons, the palms of Yargen’s hands began crackling with lightning-like energy.

  “We’ll defend the stone with our all and turn any who make it here to dust!” Yargen roared as lightning crackled off his quills.

  Flourishing her quill blades, Mangra stated, “Alright, let’s go over the possibilities for what we’re dealing with, brother. We need to get our heads in the game.”

  Allowing his energy to arc along his shoulders, Yargen replied, “Yes, sister… As you said, the only real challenge we could face would be is if some of our fellow Saytalz were part of this raid. The other races should be easy enough, but with enough numbers, they could still be a problem.”

Tapping her blades together, Mangra postulated, “If upwards of twenty Roguars show up, then we’d have an issue. Same problem for if two hundred Kryks were to attack us at once… But I doubt that many could even be brought along for a sneak attack like this. And it’d take about five or six Bramos to give us a hard time. But with how big and wild those things are on the field, I’d be shocked if these intruders even had one with them.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Tapping on his chin, leaving a trail of sparks behind his fingertip each time, Yargen asked, “Hmm… What about Humans, sister? You didn’t mention them. How many would there need to be a problem?”

  At first, Mangra gazed at her sibling with dumbfounded bewilderment. It was only after she realized his question was asked in earnest did she reply by laughing hysterically.

  “Bwahaha! Are you serious, brother? Any group of attackers would need to bring thousands of Humans to have them be a threat.”

  For a moment, Yargen seemed to contemplate his sibling’s words before telling her, “You know, sister… You probably should have come to watch the arena fights with Mother and me sometimes.”

  With an offended yet genuinely puzzled twitch of her brow, Mangra asked, “What are you talking about, brother? Why would I waste my time with that brutality? Besides, what does that have to do with anything right now?”

  Running a power current through his fingers, Yargen cautiously explained, “Listen, please, sister. You’re the one who said we needed to wrap our minds around all the possibilities we could face. Now, I know most Humans are extraordinarily weak. It’s why they’re so easy to use as slaves. But once they’re trained for something, they actually become rather proficient at that thing.”

  Resting one of her hook blades on the floor, Mangra asked, “And what’s your point, brother? Are you seriously suggesting that Humans could be a threat?”

  Taking a breath, Yargen went on, “My point is that the Humans they use at the arena for combat are actually pretty tough, relatively speaking, sister. There was even one who actually managed to beat a Roguar in a match of raw strength, even if just barely.”

  As slight concern intruded into her confident posture, Mangra asked, “Are… you serious? Humans vary in ability that much?”

  “Well… That particular Human was a massive specimen, sister. I forget what that one’s name was, but he stood a good head above the other Humans. In fact, he might have even been bigger than the Roguar. Or at least the same size.”

  Picking her blade back up and tightening her grip, Mangra stated, “But that… The increase in size still wouldn’t be enough to account for strength on that level, brother.”

  Running a hand through his crystal spines, causing numerous sparks to fly from his palm, Yargen said, “You’re not wrong, sister. Mother came to the same conclusion… When we were in private, she told me that he might have been affected by the Stones’ energy moreso than most of his kind. And that-.”

  Cutting him off with dread in her voice, Mangra stated knowingly, “And that his strength was what it increased. If this is true… Hrm, alright. I see what you mean, brother. If the invaders trained up and brought some of these types of Humans here, then we should probably consider them equally as dangerous as Roguar mercenaries.”

  With a miffed grunt, Yargen nodded and replied, “Yes. I’m glad we’re on the same page, sister. So, are there any other threats we’re forgetting?”

  Tapping one of her blades on the floor, cutting slightly into it, Mangra pondered the possibilities for a moment before answering, “Well, brother… If what you and mother saw truly was a Human enhanced by the Stones’ energy, then we should consider the possibility that some of the intruders might be able to directly harness the ruby’s power. But that’s a worst-case scenario.”

  His electricity fizzling out momentarily, Yargen stated, “Wouldn’t… Wouldn’t they be as strong as us if they could do that, sister…?”

  Her hands shaking as she clenched her weapons even tighter, Mangra snapped, “That’s why I said it’s a worst-case situation, brother! Ugh…”

  Flabbergasted, Yargan desperately exclaimed, “But the chances of that actually happening should be next to impossible, sister…! Right?”

  Waving her weapons about in exasperation, Mangra said, “Well, I thought it was impossible for Humans to be as strong as you told me, brother. All I’m saying is that we need to be careful.”

  Taking a deep breath, allowing his energy to snap back to life, Yargen said, “Ye… Yes, sister. I understand.”

  Hooking her blades together in an uncharacteristic display of meekness, Mangra explained, “Good, good, brother… If the attackers do have anyone in their ranks capable of harnessing the Stones’ powers, or Raok Moalm forbid, more than one… If that happens, then we need to grab the Ruby and make a run for our family’s palace.”

  Yargen was nearly floored at his sister’s suggestion. For a few seconds, he was unable to speak.

  Eventually, he was able to resolidify his thoughts enough to form a reply as he asked, “Are you crazy, sister?! If we did that… If we did that, we could be branded as traitors! Then there’s also the heresy we’d commit by taking a Stone from its resting place! Not to mention the full tenth of the planet that would be left in total darkness!”

  However, Yargen found his voice going silent when Mangra slammed her foot on the floor and exclaimed, “What’s a greater heresy, brother?! Moving the Ruby or dying and allowing these invaders to claim it for themselves?!”

  Taking a step toward her, Yargen said, “But… But, sister, we shouldn’t go against the Great One’s scripture so easily. So willingly!”

  Suddenly pointing one of her blades at her sibling, Mangra stated, “Do you have any better ideas, brother?!

  Although every fiber of his being wanted to argue against his sibling, Yargen couldn’t think of any logical fallacy in her statement. Not to mention the sense of fear coursing through him as his own family pointed a blade at his throat.

  Clenching his clawed fingers as the currents of electricity returned to his fists, Yargen relented, “Fine, sister. We’ll move the Ruby if we have to.”

  Sighing out an avalanche of stress, Mangra lowered her weapon and told Yargen, “Thank you, brother. But as I said, we’ll only need to take such drastic actions if worse comes to worst.”

  Although his face’s expression remained obedient, internally, Yargen was a twisted mess as he contemplated Mangra’s possible intentions.

  Why would she even think to suggest we do something like this? She isn’t… hoping to take the Ruby for herself, is she? If she is… I might need to dispose of her before she can ruin our family’s good name… No, no. That’s crazy. We don’t always get along, but Mangra’s as loyal as she is smart. She’d never commit such a treasonous and heretical act… Right? But why did she go as far as to physically threaten me?

  Burying one of her hooks into her metal desk, Mangra stated, “Alright, brother. If we have nothing else to talk about, we should start working on barricading my office. It has a handful of its own defenses, but it wouldn’t hurt to layer additional barricades on top of that. Let’s block off the windows and door.”

  At first, Yargen hesitated, his thoughts still in a maelstrom of distrust and panic-fueled anxiety.

  It was only when Mangra was moving her desk did she notice her brother’s stupor and snapped, “Didn’t you hear me, brother?! I said to help me barricade the office!”

  Shaking his head and rubbing his face as he came back to his senses, Yargen replied, “What…?! Oh, yes… Sorry, sister. I’ll get right on that.”

  Picking up the chair he’d been sitting in, Yargen began working alongside his older sibling to build a wall between themselves and the most easily accessible side of the room from the rest of the facility.

  Once more, as he glanced at his sister and considered the possibilities of her treachery, Yargen had to force his anxious energy to die down, lest it give away his suspicion.

  Just relax, Yargen. Just relax. You’re just being paranoid. Mangra has always had an attitude, but she’s always been loyal to the Great One just as much as you. You’re just overthinking things… Probably.