New Life
Chapter 2


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Advanced planetary defense base OMEGA-8

Location: somewhere deep below the surface under layers of dirt and concrete.


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Dereck stepped out of the bathroom, his hands shaking uncontrollably. Now that the adrenaline had left his veins the realization of what he had done struck him right in the chest with the force of a blow to the guts, like a sharp dagger of sorrow and regrets sinking deep in his heart. He, Dereck VanHevreyk had doomed hundred, maybe thousands of lives by simply pressing a button. It was for this very scenario that he had trained, participated in countless drills and simulation, to protect his planet and his people from invaders. Yet, when the ship had blown up before his very eyes from the second canon shot it received, shattering in a million blazing pieces he couldn’t help but feel sad, regretting his action. It had been so easy, too easy even, he just had to type a few numbers in the console and press a big red button, the unexpecting unknown ship not standing a chance once the canon had acquired its target. It was a shitty job… but it was his, obeying without asking questions, firing the mighty planetary defense system when required. He was the one in charge of this machine of death and destruction most known among his kind as the Nahavahr canon. Inspired of ancient technologies this beast of a weapon was capable of eradicating a ship in one well-placed hit or severely crippling it if the shot was deviated a little. It was a threat great enough to scare of most of their enemies but… not these new ones apparently which bothered him quite a bit, it felt as if this vessel came poking around oblivious to the fact this planet was inhabited and heavily defended. He had been doing this job for the last ten years; well… since he graduated from military school and he had grown familiar with the usual threats he was faced with, which made this very situation even more out of the ordinary and strange. More than once he had seen great fleets come in range, showing their vehemence and their willingness to fight, every ship stuffed to the brim with weapons and armor, ready to invade destroy and plunder his home. In most cases a few warning shots from smaller canons were enough to dissuade them and make the entire armada flea to safety. Though sometimes they wouldn’t be deterred that easily and he was forced to go a step further and resort to shoot down one, or even multiple, of their ships until they would fall back. Every time he had to use the great life claimer, whether he knew his kind's survival and future depended on it but today he doubted, having second thought about his decision to press the trigger. This lone ship cruising near his planet was different, alien, looking nothing like the warships he was used to, undoubtably resembling a military vessel yet it appeared like no threat of any kind, just casually strolling along. Sure, it had canons, dozens of them, quite massive one at that, and possibly many other weapons concealed on board, but they seemed there to serve defensive purposes, to say "hey we can fight back!" rather than to attack them. They didn't even seem willing or aiming to fire at them; they just scanned the surface from high above, triggering their sensor arrays. But orders were orders and he had to bow, silence his doubts and obey.

“Attention please!” shouted a sweet, honeyed feminine voice in the speakers, “The sergeant VanHevreyk is requested to report to the strategic planetary defense conference room in sector five immediately.” “Duty's call…” he chuckled with irony. After making sure his workstation was locked, he left his office in the orbital artillery control center and headed toward the said room, passing through empty and dead silent corridor. The strategic planetary defense base Omeg-8 was a huge, sprawling, underground complex stretching far and wide below the earth, composed of multiple large sections on several levels, linked together by lengthy hallways and elevators. Aside from the orbital artillery control center, a plethora of radars and sensors and other detection equipment as well as the canons along with their ammo storage the Omega-8 base was the headquarters, the brain of the planetary defense forces, containing full complements for the soldiers assigned to this base, enough resources to last for years, an airport not even mentioning the many bunkers containing enough guns, ammo and vehicles to repeal any assault.

Under normal circumstances, the base was a real hive buzzing with life but today it felt empty, a heavy, crushing silence floating in the rooms and corridors. He knew everyone was working hard, tensed, probably holding their breath, on edge due to the recent alert, all of them fearing another intrusion, checking the display to make sure the ship that was just destroyed wasn’t just a scout or a decoy for a much bigger and fierce assault.

He made his way through the endless, twisted maze of concrete corridors, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the empty hallways, taking an elevator down to a lower level before navigating in even more corridors until he reached his destination. He found himself standing before a huge, reinforced door at the end of a long corridor, a camera glancing at him with its metallic eye. Swiping his ID card in the reader he waited for the system to check his information, emitting a high-pitched noise after a few seconds as the door unlocked, sliding in the wall with a muffed hiss. Taking a deep breath, trying to appease the feeling of uneasiness slowly crawling over him, he finally stepped inside, the door shutting behind him with a bone-chilling metallic clacking indicating the locks had engaged. The room he found himself in was austere, cold and lifeless: bare concrete walls reaching to the dome-shaped ceiling, massive steel beams and support structures holding the heavy-looking roof as well as the tones of rocks and dirt weighing down on the structure. Computers, server banks, monitors and other display lined the walls, soldiers working on them and other pieces of  advanced technology, gathering and processing reports, sending out orders to other defense bases scattered around the planet. In the middle of the room stood a large meeting table around which sat a handful of highly ranked officers glancing up at a large map of their planet and its surrounding space hovering above them, many locations and points of interested highlighted in different colors with a variety of indications for each of them, a large number of red dots plastering the surface over a sizeable area, leaving him no doubt on what these were. Faces turned in his direction upon his entrance, intrigued gazes scanning him from head to toe, making him feel slightly uncomfortable under all the attention. He answered with a light bow of his head quickly followed by a salute before slowly, cautiously making his way to the only empty chair around the table. Taking a quick glance around he was able to identify most of those sat around him, there was the Omega-8 base commanding officer along with several heads of departments including Dereck’s direct superior, as well as several scientist he didn’t know.

“Now that everyone is here, we can start.” said a man on the opposite side of the table, his serious and strict gaze going over all of them, “Establish connection!” he commanded. At his words several holographic portraits materialized before them, everyone around the table addressing a respectful salute to them. “How is the operation going commander?” enquired the first one with a deep serious but worried tone. “Target has been successfully destroyed at one hundred percent my general.” Proudly announced the base's commander. “That is great news commander. Any survivors?” continued the general, nodding thoughtfully. “Our analysis of the wreck has shown no sign of life. We are currently scanning the surface of the planet for survivor that could have escaped the ship, we're waiting for results as we speak.” Responded the commander. “What about debris?” “We have only identified minor ones, we are locating them right now and will soon send team to recover them. We are also considering the possibility of salvaging or destroying the rest of the vessel in orbit.” “Perfect…” mumbled the deep rocky voice of the general, the man seeming lost in his thought, nervously rubbing his chin.

The conversation kept going on for five minutes, Dereck listening closely to every word as the officers debated on the course of action to follow, a part of him wondering why he had been summoned to this meeting until a soldier snuck behind him, patting his shoulder to get his attention before handing him a tablet on which were displayed several images. "Scanner's result in area Zeta 8, Bravo 10 and Charlie 28." whispered the man before disappearing out of sight. “Thanks.” He murmured, diverting his attention to the tablet. He observed the many photos quietly for a while as the meeting ant blabbering went on. There were quite a few, some appearing to be scan results while other were aerial pictures of the surface. A smile slowly grew over his face as he noticed a myriad of red points on each of the scans while the photos revealed large, twisted and torn apart section of the unknown ship; some even, showing small, barely visible shadows escaping from the crashed vessel.

“Commander!” he called, standing up as all the attention focused on him. For a second he froze, nervousness taking a hold of him as a dozen pairs of eyes scrutinized him, waiting, questioning what he had to say. He cleared his throat, regaining his composure, swiping his finger across the tablet’s screen, transferring the pictures to the holographic projector, the images appearing in a much bigger and higher quality for everyone to see. “What you are seeing are the result of the surface scans, they indicate an important presence of alien life form in the designated areas.” He calmly explained, pointing at the different locations on the map, highlighting the position of the crashed pieces of debris and gatherings of survivors. “How many are there?” grumbled the general, traits tensed by worry, the holographic face bowing down to glaze at him. “According to the scanner we have accounted for two hundred and seventy-four.” answered Dereck, surprisingly thrilled and relieved by this information. “Must I send extermination units to dispose of them?” suggested the base's commander. "Could be… preferable…" mumbled the general thoughtfully, his head mechanically nodding as his eyes analyzed the maps displayed before him, “We cannot risk having them set a beachhead on our soil and call-in reinforcement… we have worked to prevent this very situation for eons, and we will not allow them to…” rumbled the man.

“Sir… I have an idea that I'd like to submit to this assembly…" interrupted Dereck, trembling nervously, daring to speak up, all eyes immediately turning toward him, taken by surprise by his sudden intervention. “Then speak sergeant, we are all listening to you…” encouraged the general, seemingly curious. “Of course… sir” he stammered, an icy cold sweat trickling down his spine, his throat feeling so tight and dry all of a sudden as he gulped down in apprehension, “Well… sir I… I would recommend we take a new approach… on this case…” he let out, hesitating on almost every word, feeling them stare at him with renewed intensity and interest.  “A new approach? Please develop your thought sergeant." Commented another voice, urging him to continue, everyone around him seeming suspended to his lips, his few words having caughty their interest.

"Well… sir… I've been observing this ship for quite a while and I…” he halted midsentence, afraid to carry on though the many gazes focused on him were pressing him to continue. “You are probably going to think I’m crazy but… I think it's not a threat to us, I… I think we did a mistake by shooting them down." A cold silence fell on the assembly, the many eyes looking at me suddenly changing expression, doubts and suspicion having wiped away their earlier curiosity, faces now contorted with a mix of anger and disregard. "Are you discussing direct orders sergeant?" hissed the base commander, boiling with contained anger, eyes throwing lightning at him, “Let me warn you, insubordination isn’t taken lightly around here. If you do not want to be court-martialed right here and now you’d better give us a convincing explanation!” "No… not at all.” Gasped Dereck, trying his best to reassure and appease them although he wasn’t even certain himself, “What I’m trying to say is that this ship doesn’t resemble anything we have encountered yet. I believe we have all seen invasion forces before in the past. These were giant armadas with countless vessels, ships powerful enough to obliterate us in one hit. By now we know all of our enemies very well, we know their tactics, we know their agenda and we even have entire databases of the vehicles they use. Yet this vessel was alone, it’s design and technology doesn't match with anything we’ve seen so far, it’s unlike everything we've faced before and it wouldn’t make sense for any of our enemies to send a single spacecraft to take us down. I mean, they know of our defenses, they know we will fight back, however these guys just casually entered our borders as if we weren’t even there, as if they didn’t know they were entering restricted space.” He explained, watching the faces slowly change, turning into an expression of doubt and questioning. “You are raising a valid point sergeant however something still bothers me. If they entered by accident, why did they scan our planet? Why didn’t they leave when we instructed them over the radio? No instead they stayed unresponsive to our calls and showed no sign of leaving our territory." Objected the chief communication officer from the other side of the table. "Do we even know if they receive them? And if they did were they able understand them?" retorted Dereck, “Judging by how alien this ship is, we can’t be certain they heard our radio calls. Heck as far as we know they could be emitting on totally different frequencies or using entirely different communication devices and means.” Around the table everyone had begun whispering and muttering under their breath, all of them mighty generals and other high-ranking officers now doubting their earlier actions and their readiness to dispose of the supposed threat. “They did retaliate when we gave them a last warning instead of fleeing when they still had the chance, that tells us a lot about their intentions." argued another officer. "Who wouldn't have reacted the same way? I mean, in all due respect, it is quite literally what we do down here. Also, I must bring to your attention that the so called warning shot may have crippled their ships too much for them to escape.” pointed out Dereck in return, “Beside, as impressive as their cannonade was, it only caused minor damage to our land, it hit no high value or civilian target. All in all it's barely more than a scratch." "It doesn't change the fact that this is an act of war." Exclaimed another officer, brushing off the sergeant’s observations. “Allow me to doubt that sir. We are all fully aware of how powerful our enemies are, they have the means, they have the firepower and the will to annihilate us. But them they are different; even with a full volley of their main artillery they caused almost no harm to us; we have no casualties and no serious damages to report. To me it looks like these guys were just reacting out of desperation knowing they were doomed.” “It could be indeed…” reluctantly grumbled the officer. “The way I see it, it is not a warship of any kind, more like… some sort of survey or exploration vessel from an unknown, probably alien origin. Their design, their intentions, even their technology is unknown to us." added Dereck, typing on a tiny wrist-mounted computer, forwarding all the data he had gathered before coming. Instantly a precise three-dimensional model of the spaceship appeared over the table, slowly rotating again and again, showing firstly the side, then the front, the other side and the back of the ship before the cycle started again. “We can't deny they have weapons, and quite an impressive amount of them at that, but nothing of the scale required for planetary annihilation.” Continued Dereck, "Compared to what we have faced in the past these canons are mere peashooters." he explained, zooming on different parts of the ship, highlighting small rotating turrets equipped with rows of machine guns or lasers, then moves to other turrets fitted with larger canons. "All of what you’re seeing is defensive armament. And these…" he pursued, switching to the rows of larger turrets lining the sides of the ship, each mounting two menacing-looking guns, "…are the canons they used to fire at us. I will give you that they do look threatening and able to wreak havoc on our cities, but they didn’t do it, all their shots fell in unpopulated areas. Moreover, they didn't use any dangerous munition, no explosive, no incendiary, no emp pulse rounds, nothing of the sort, only armor-piercing shells." He ended, watching the puzzled and decomposed expressions of the generals as they considered his remarks, a heavy, suffocating thoughtful silence falling on the entire room. "You mean that their shots just dug holes in our soil in remote areas?" enquired a woman that had remained silent until now, with an obviously surprised and intrigued tone, "Exactly Madame” he confirmed “From the data we have I would say these people were clueless about our presence, unprepared for an attack coming from the planet and fought back with ammos that are not designed for this purpose, these are more of the type used in ship-to-ship combat. Finally… I will finish by saying that the only real concerning things they had on board where this…" he ended, showing an energy scan of the ship.

This new model exposed the insides of the vessel, going through the thick hull, showing the internal layout of the spaceship, several areas of which were highlighted in a bright red color. These colored parts included the engines and thrusters but not only. It also revealed a large cylinder located in the center of the ship, the thing glowing like a Christmas tree on the scan, rhythmically pounding, sending out waves of energy. “It looks like a class eight energy canon, but they were in no position to use it, they would have to be facing us to fire this weapon. Also it is a bit uncommon to have this canon located so deep in a ship.” Described Dereck, pointing out the uncanny location of the supposed gun, “Then, there are these high velocity weapons, probably missiles.” He explained showing long tubes stacked in the cargo hold. They could count at least fifty in the hold as well as a few dozen spread across the ship’s sides and bow in small stacks of five. “But none of them were armed and therefore none of them could be used.” He quicky stated, preventing anyone from arguing. “And… the best for the end…” announced, Dereck, keeping the mystery for a second before displaying another model of the alien spaceship, this one doted with dozens, hundreds, no thousands of small red points as well as much larger blueish blobs. “We spotted a large number of unidentified creatures among the crew; they appear to be cold blooded and made of non-organic materials." He described, zooming-in on one of the creature, revealing an impressively large shape that was hard to distinguish but resembled some sort of animal. “Robots?” enquired a man wearing glasses, leaning forward to scrutinize the picture from up-close. “No electric residue” “Androids maybe?” “It’s a possibility, they seem to wearing augmentation devices but none of them are innate.” “Can I see these pictures?” asked the woman. “Sure… here they are” obliged Dereck, forwarding all the data directly to her.

Everyone waited, observing the unusual shapes revealed by the scans in utter silence, wondering what those could possibly be while Dereck’s attention was glued to the holographic projection of the woman, impatiently waiting for her observations. “They are undoubtably not robots,” let out the woman after a long, endless-feeling minute of silence, “they appear to be synthetic beings, probably androids or clones, or any kind of artificially made creatures.” Her words had the effects of an electrical shock around the conference table, everyone trembling or grimacing from the realization of what these things were, some horrified, other interested by the thought that this unknown alien species had such advanced technology.

"What do you suggest sergeant?" asked the woman, her eyes scrutinizing his face, making him feel even more nervous. "Well…” he mumbled, nervously tapping on the conference table, “I think a shift in our tactics could be appropriate since we don’t know these newcomers.” “Expose your idea… more clearly sergeant…” grumbled the commander, still not thrilled by the idea. “I simply think we shouldn't exterminate them; not now at least.” “Why?” “Well… simply because they are a new species we have never encountered before and it would be a shame to miss our very first contact with a new species. I mean have you ever seen that flag? Or these markings? Or these call sign?” He yelled, quickly browsing through multiple pictures, some even showing the looks of the unknown foreigners. "Well… no…" reluctantly admitted the commander. "So… I suggest we take our precautions and just set watch upon them; observe their actions from a distance in order to better know what their intentions are before taking any decisions." "So, you suggest we cross our arms, sit on our butt here and let these unknown creatures roam around our world unpunished?" grumbled the general, unconvinced. "Not exactly. My plan is, like you said, to let them move around almost freely. The important word is almost because we will constantly be monitoring their actions and movements, always keeping an eye on them and if they try to call in reinforcements, get too close to a city or any military installation or show any sign of aggressively then we'll act as we previously planned. However, if the attempt nothing we could… possibly… try to establish contact with them…” he explained, describing his plan in details, noticing that some were interested, showing some support to his idea while others were still uncertain if not firmly opposed to it. “Sargent VanHevreyk could you share your personal opinion on the situation with us.” "Well… I think… they pose no threat to us. For me they look like explorers or scavengers in search of resources. If they were aiming to invade us, they would have attacked much sooner, they would have already tried shelling our home and deploy an invasion force to take over… or try at least. If they had wanted to attack us, we wouldn’t be having this conversation altogether."

A long silence followed his words, the generals and officers exchanging quick, sneaky glances, questioning what their neighbor were thinking about the whole idea, a significant number of them still a bit hesitant. After all who could blame them, they had followed the exact same procedure for decades, centuries even, defending their planet from threats and invaders alike and he, a single sergeant was asking them to change their ways entirely for a group of unknown and potentially dangerous aliens. “If the sergeant is right, it could be a great opportunity for our kind. Imagine general, an entirely new and unknown alien species with a very advanced technology. Since they are not from our system and possibly not from our galaxy it would be very interesting and profitable to try and make contact with them, firstly to apologize for blowing up their ship and secondly to know why they came to our planet for. Perhaps we could reach an agreement or even an alliance with them and you know very well that we could use some assistance with our current… predicaments.” Exclaimed the woman, sounding sincerely cheerful and enthusiastic. “You know miss Swighraz that this kind of bargain won't come without a hefty price.” “Well, it would be our job to make sure the price to pay is equal to what they can offer in exchange.” She retorted, undeterred by the warnings of the general.

"Fine… fine… your proposal is thereby accepted…" sighed the general, “However, assault forces will be kept on high alert and ready to intervein at the slightest sign of trouble.” He informed them, his stern and strict expression making it clear he wouldn’t make any more compromises. A smile of joy and relief curled Dereck's lips, a heavy weight vanishing from his chest, knowing he had won. "This meeting is now over.” Proclaimed the general, “Sergeant VanHevreyk, you are hereby put in charge of the operation. All means will be given to you to take care of these… wanderers but you will refer to me and only me.” “Thank you, sir, I won't disappoint you I promise.” He replied, saluting the general respectfully, grateful that the man came around to his idea. “Good, now go prepare yourself sergeant, you will receive your mission orders shortly.”

He left the room with a satisfied grin plastered on his face and went back to his office, not without a small detour by the cafeteria to grab himself a cup of coffee. A few minutes later a sound came disturbing the silence of the room as a synthetic voice advised "Sir you've received a message in your inbox." "Show it to me." he answered, swallowing a mouthful of a burning-hot coffee. "Message description in progress… please wait.” Replied the voice as a loading bar appeared on the screen in front of him. Before his eyes a several pages long document appeared on the screen, the very first page of which wearing, under the official army emblem, the mention he had always dreamed to see "CONFIDENTIAL". The first pages were the usual reminders and advices so he skipped them, going directly to the interesting part.
 

Mission ordre DF0021559841-11
Mission commander: Dereck VanHevreyk
Age: 30
Grade: sergeant
Mission call name: DAMOCLES
Confidentiality level: Alpha.
Mission objective: Identification and surveillance of survivors from the crashed ship of unknown origin, determine their intentions and take adequate decision.
Allocated resources:  all means available.
Allocated personnel: All personal needed.
Important information:  Temporarily gradating to the rank of captain for the duration of the operation. In case of mission success the promotion to the rank of captain will be maintained.
Referring officer: Commander Vaillant M. Dickinson. Great commander of the united armies of the pact.


The rest of the document was a pretty standard mission briefing compiling all the data he already knew as well as a bunch of other mission parameters including a detailed inventory of the available forces put under his command. He went through it quickly, having already gathered all the information he needed before closing the file and deleting it as was standard procedure. He had just finished that and was leaning back into his squeaky chair to relax and think about how he would organize his first ever mission as a commanding officer when an annoying ringing tone caught his attention, echoing in the quiet office. "Sir… you have an entering call from Miss Swighraz from the ministry of foreign affairs.” “Patch her through… but first put us on a secured channel.” He replied, sighing deeply, making sure he looked good. “Understood… stand by while I encrypt the call.”

A few seconds later her feminine voice filled a headset he had been wearing all along as her face materialized on the screen before him, displaying a warm happy smile. “Hello Miss Swighraz, what can I do for you?” he said with a soft, respectful tone. “Oh shut up Dereck! Don't bother me with protocol I’m already hearing enough of it around here.” “Ahah… sorry mom… couldn’t resist” he laughed happily.

"Anyway, I just wanted to call you to tell you how proud of you I am and also to congratulate you my son. I'm happy you finally dared to put your balls on the table and go against these stupid overbearing militaries and their outdated doctrines. And above all I'm so relieved they put you in charge of this mission, it would have gone south very quickly if it was handled by one of those old idiots stuck in their ways of a bygone era.” exclaimed his mother, struggling to contain her joy, enveloping his heart in a comforting warmth. “Yes me too…. I'm finally gonna move my ass from that office.” He let out, not hiding his delight, earning an amused giggle from his mother. “But… Dereck be honest with me. Tell me, what is your point of view on all this mess?” she enquired, regaining her serious composure “Well… I really think we screwed up this time. We should have tried to communicate before acting, tried to make them realize we were here in some way. I’m worried… I’m afraid we missed our only chance to talk to them.” “That's my son.” she shouted with pride in her voice. “I hope we won't have to kill them though… they look so promising.” sighed Dereck, throwing another look at the scanner's data, feeling increasingly antsy, his guts twisting and knotting in anxiety, “We won’t get another opportunity like this one anytime soon… but… one misstep and the general will have no qualms ordering their eradication…” “Yes… we could use some help in these… troubled time but trying to knock some senses in those old geezers and their isolationist policies is like trying to move a mountain." She ranted, her voice trembling with held back anger and frustration. Dereck nodded in agreement, knowing all too well what she meant. "They're foolish to think themselves safe behind their canons and protection domes. Our enemies are learning, evolving while we have stuck to the same strategy for centuries, for now we can stop them but they will get through one day or another and if we keep going at it alone like this we will be alone against their forces when that day comes.” he whispered, recalling the countless reports and stories about the numerous past invasion attempts, fully aware that, each time, even though they succeeded in stopping the assault the enemy got a bit closer. “It's why we absolutely need to keep them alive.” confirmed his mother, as worried and thoughtful as he was. “Yes… but mother… if they attack us, I'll have no other choice but to pull the trigger.” He remarked, wishing this outcome would never come to be. “I know… I’m fully aware of the risks… I just hope it won't come to that.” “Me too… but we don't know a single thing about them, we don’t know why they came here, how they’ll react to our presence; we aren’t even sure that we will be able to communicate with them.” “Language and understanding are going to be problems.” admitted his mother, her gaze wandering away pensively, “but I’m certain you will find a solution, you’ve always been the resourceful type.” “I hope so mom… I hope so.” Muttered Dereck, starting to feel the weight and magnitude of the task ahead of him crushing him down, doubts and fears slowly creeping in, coiling around his heart like vicious snakes whispering their poisonous words at his ears.

He was there, his mind drifting away, drowning into the tumultuous ocean of his thoughts, trying to find a solution when an annoying chime came disturbing him, a new small window popping on the screen right in the middle of his mother’s face. "Sir someone is trying to contact you; it appears to be urgent. should I add him to the current communication channel?" "Yes… err… I mean no, wait a second…” he stammered, “… sorry mom… have to go… you know… duty's call.” “I know… will see you when it will be over, don’t wanna keep you from your mission.”

At her words the communication was cut, leaving him in the heavy and lonely quietness of his office with just the pesky ringing of the new incoming call. "You can establish connection now but keep the encryption level at maximum for now. I want to be sure no one is listening.” He commanded, taking a sip of coffee that had become cold by now. “As you wish sir… establishing connection” answered the cold, emotionless voice.

The next second the face of a soldier materialized before him, a corporal judging by his uniform. “What do you want soldier?” “Sir corporal Craig reporting for duty. All units are ready to head out at your command sir! What are your orders sir?” demanded the soldier after a respectful salute, his face revealing no hint of emotions. Dereck took some time to consider his first action then answered calmly. “Contact the surveillance division; tell them we need complete control over their drones and have them all sent to patrol this location” he added, quickly copy-pasting a list of coordinates to the soldier, “Also… take as many soldiers as you can; put them in combat ship and send them to the same coordinates but tell the pilots to remain cloaked and mask their signal until further notice. Tell them that at the first sign of detection they must retreat immediately, I’m not taking any risks with this operation.” He stopped, looking away, mentally checking if he had forgotten anything, pondering what to do next until an idea crossed his mind, “Also have every soldier take a camouflage outfit or stealth devices before leaving.” “Roger sir. Do you have any other orders?” enquired the corporal, nodding mechanically. "Yes, have the fleet on standby in case of emergency and make sure they stay at a safe distance to avoid detection. Oh, and have a ship prepared for me, I want to see the operational theater for myself.” "Sir yes sir, the fleet will be put on standby and will only intervein at your command.” Confirmed the soldier, “and I took the liberty of requisitioning a ship for your use, it is already waiting for you in hangar 5." He added, a sliver of pride in his voice from having anticipated his superior’s request. “Good initiative soldier.” He complimented, “I'll be here in two minutes, get everything ready we'll be leaving in five.” “Sir, yes sir!” replied the soldier before saluting again.

With a sigh of relief, he put an end to the conversation and after grabbing his own personal riffle left his office with an odd pang of regret, a part of him feeling sad, as if he’d never see this place again. Shaking off this strange sensation he ran down the silent corridor, knowing he had very little time to spare; his steps echoing in these empty hallways every time his reinforced boots smacked the concrete surface. He had to do several stops along the way; the first at the armory to complete his equipment, grabbing extra ammo and armor; the second in the cafeteria to swallow a burning hot coffee that made him grimace, and the last in the tactical briefing room to collect a few belongings he would need: a map of the designated areas with detailed information on the position of wreckage pieces and last known location of the survivors. There was also a bunch of boring papers that he went through as he ran before tossing them into a nearby bin. He arrived, panting and out of breath after minutes of running in the endless halls, in a giant elevator where he selected the last floor, the highest level of the base. Orange lights began blinking as a loud siren blared warning of the imminent departure as the massive doors slowly closed, metal plates slamming into position to secure them shut with a loud clacking sound that made him tremble every time. The ascension was slow, agonizingly slow; like the machine was having troubles pulling him higher, floors going by at a snail’s pace, the top of the elevator shaft looking so far away and not getting any closer. He waited, having nothing else to do, nervously playing with a small retractable knife he always kept near him, just in case, his eyes glued to the small display indicating the current floor, feeling as if years were going by between two floors. Finally, after an eternity of hisses and loud metallic noises the platform came to an abrupt stop before the doors opened on a large airport. Here, under the bright sun and the azure blue sky ships were taking off, landing and crossing the sky in all direction like an immense beehive; bees made of steel and armed to the teeth. Dereck stepped out of the elevator, taking a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill his lungs, his body shivering in the chilling breeze as his eyes wandered around. He had always loved this place, not only because it was one of the few ground level installations of the base but also thanks the constant activity that went on there; the people running from ship to ship for quick maintenance checks, refueling or rearming; the soldiers and crew boarding or disembarking in the blink of an eye, all of that in the constant roars of the engines. “Sir! Captain VanHevreyk!” shouted a nearby voice, trying to cover the thundering rumble of a vessel taking off from a pad next to him. Dereck looked around, intrigued, scanning his surroundings until he spotted someone running and making large gestures in his direction, more precisely a man wearing the usual outfit of a pilot, his helmet screwed on his head, the visor hiding everything except for his mouth. Dereck stepped toward the man; a cold gust of air whipping his face, the heavy scent of engine's exhaust and fuel assaulted his nose as a ship flew by overhead. He snarled; bowing his head down and picking up the pace while battling the strong wind that had begun blowing due to so many vessels taking off simultaneously. The pilot also seemed to struggle, but eventually the two met, finding shelter behind a parked vessel. “We were waiting for you sir… follow me we are about to take off!” yelled the man to cover the loud, deafening cacophony of noises surrounding them, pointing to a large vessel dressed in shiny white painted metal with some bluish accents along some of the panels. From where they were standing it looked slick and but also menacing, a real thing of beauty to marvel at and fear in equal measures. The ship was arrow shaped with the cockpit located at the front under a hemispherical canopy right above the black maws of some canons protruding from under the ship’s nose. Right behind stood the main cabin from which extended a long staircase descending to the ground, offering any passerby a glimpse of the interior. The ship was powered by four powerful thrusters mounted at the back under what Dereck guessed were the control surfaces. Without further ado the pilot quickly led him to the ship, the two making a run for it through the encumbered tarmac, the hot air of the engines blasting at their face as, and quickly climbed the metal steps leading inside. Once on top and into a small galley area the engines of their ship roared to life as the pilot yelled in his microphone “WE ARE IN, CLOSE THE RAMP!” “Roger sir…” replied another, much calmer voice. Under Dereck's eyes the long metal staircase retracted, folding in several sections before disappearing beneath the fuselage right as the door closed, a large metal panel sliding into position, hermetically sealing the ship.

"Much better" sighed the pilot in relief, the cacophony of the outside replaced by a deep, soothing silence. “So sir… where are we going?” questioned the pilot, eager to jump in the cockpit and into the action. Dereck smiled, trembling in anticipation, adrenaline shouting in his veins, excitement tensing his muscles, the thrill of being in control almost addictive. It had been so long since he had been on terrain, leading a team or being part of a real operation and now he was rediscovering these forgotten sensations of being the hunter and not the small rat hiding and cowering under layers of concrete. He thought for a few seconds; pondering which the wisest choice was, recalling all the data he had gone through, the maps, the scans, images; crossing all the information until the answer appeared before him, so bright it was almost blinding, so obvious he wondered how he had not seen it sooner. "Charlie 28" he answered; stepping in the cabin. “We will be heading there right away sir, please have a seat.” Replied the pilot, opening the cockpit door before stopping, as if he had forgotten something, “I almost forgot, connection with the fleet has been established, you can access all information and send your orders directly from any terminal in the cabin Captain.” He announced before slipping in the cockpit, leaving Dereck in the rather spacious and comfortable cabin.


……………………………


Meanwhile, down below, in the base Dereck had just left a soldier, one of many in the command center, was observing his screens with an air of utter fatigue and boredom. The scanners were restlessly analyzing each square centimeter of dirt, each tree, each drop of water, yet they were returning no result, at least no new ones. Despite their best efforts they had not located all the fallen pieces of debris, some appearing to have simply vanished, not anywhere near where the calculations predicted they would be. The man grumbled and cursed under his breath, inputting new settings, changing mode, going to another area, trying different method yet nothing paid off, the scanners only showing green, and green, and even more green, so much green he was getting sick of this very color. “It must be somewhere…” he whispered, scrutinizing the many screens before him, hoping to pick up something new or that he may have missed, pestered by the lack of results. In frustration he slammed his paw in the virtual keyboard that dissolved under the blow just to reappear, unscratched, right away. Suddenly a loud beeping noise filled the silence, announcing that, at last, the scanner had picked up something. The soldier almost jumped from his seat, excitement and joy pumping in his veins, his eyes bursting wide open in the instant, going over each screen to locate the source of the pesky noise. When he found it, he had to use all his self-control to not shout out in happiness. On the last screen to his right there was something, the scanners stopped on a large green square, zooming on a large lump of scorched metal sticking out from the canopy, crashed into the branches of great thousand-year-old trees. Immediately upon seeing this, the soldier quickly entered some commands to get the exact position of the wreckage, his lips curling on a happy grin, proud to be the one to have found the largest piece of wreckage yet. However, his smile soon vanished as the coordinates materialized before him. This piece of debris was far from the rest, in a completely different and very remote area separated by dozens of kilometers from the main wreckage. “India 4” he mumbled, scratching his head, “That’s gonna be more complicated.” He added as sent his report to his commander.


…………………………


Dereck was sitting in a comfortable seat located on the right side of the cabin as it flew rapidly over the lands, his eyes looking outside through a rounded window, watching the landscape passing by under him. The ship was almost completely silent, the only sound that filled the empty passenger compartment, beside the few communications between the pilots and control center was the low rumble of the engine propelling the ship forward at cruise speed over the thick, impenetrable green dome of the forest. In front of him in the quite small but surprisingly roomy compartment stood a holographic screen on a small folding table displaying a multitude of information: the position of every ship forming the fleet in charge of the operation, the exact locations of the major pieces of debris and several moving dots corresponding to the scattered survivors the radars managed to pick up under the natural cover of the dense jungle of the region where they had crashed.

As they neared the first point of interest on the map, he could feel the tension rising up a notch, his hands instinctively gripping his seat’s armrests, a cold sweat trickling down his spine, thoughts, doubts and interrogations swirling in his head. What would these new strangers look like? What were their intentions? What were they planning to do now? If he showed up with his military fleet and his armed to the teeth men, what would they do? How would they react? Would they surrender peacefully, or would they try to resist? What approach should he adopt? Make contact as soon as possible or wait, use his ships to set watch upon them and observe what they would do in the future. And if he decided to make contact, how should he proceed? Should he send a lone diplomate or a small team of them to approach the aliens or should he come in with his entire armada? So many questions to which he would have to figure out the answer as the operation progressed.

At this exact instant a loud blip reached his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts to find a small icon blinking on the screen in front of him. He opened it revealing a message from a friend of his, one of the men in charge of the radar scanning. Quickly reading it, it appeared to be a report containing new scanner data with a small note at the end, asking him to call when he received the message. Intrigued, he did as requested and, after opening a secured comms channel initiated a call. Almost instantly a barely visible fox muzzle appeared in the middle of his screen, two amber eyes staring at him in the luminescence of the computers around him. “What do you have for me Greg?” asked Dereck without preamble, not giving a damn about protocol since he had known this man for years. “Well… it's… more… complicated than we thought.” Replied the fox, scratching the back of his head, his eyes darting from one screen to another, “The scanner found other wreckage… big ones… I'm sending you the new locations, but we keep getting more of these. And it seems like those are entire sections of their vessel.” “What does it mean for you?” “Well it looks like we've got a possible little army on our planet though our scan’s haven’t picked up new survivors yet.” “Great… thank for your help Greg. If you find yew locations, could you send them directly to me, please?” “Yes… I can do that.” Mumbled the fox, his attention caught by loud beeping coming from another of his terminals, probably indicating new findings. “Good, I'll give you a secured channel to send them to me.” Greg only nodded in approval, already going back to work.

Dereck cut the communication as, right before his eyes the holographic map blurred before widening, displaying a much larger zone where new red crosses and dots began popping up, forming a wide circle around the supposed points of impact. "Great… more garbage to clean." he thought, imagining all these melted, twisted, scorched metal fragments staining the emerald beauty of the great forest; one of the jewels of this planet. "Ok pilot change of plans!" he shouted into the intercom, “we’re diverting to the India 4 sector.” “Roger sir, making course changes now.” Replied the pilot, his transmission crippled with static and other background noises. Moments later he felt the ship bank hard to the left as it made a tight turn, the radio coming to life, crackling with messages announcing the heading change.


…………………
 

Pain; weakness; twisting, squeaking and buzzing sounds coming from everywhere at the same time, burned, acrid and metallic stenches assaulting his nose as he difficultly awoke. Nick's eyes slowly cracked open, his blurry vision only showing him a red veil. His other senses were just as useless, only providing him with a few sounds and smells and telling him he was resting on a cold surface. His aching body felt numb and so incredibly heavy, as if it weighted tones, spikes of pain surging through him. His brain was just as fuzzy, only sending him more pain, unable to register or understand anything else, leaving him unaware of his surroundings, wanting only to go back to sleep. Was he even alive? The constant pain shouting through his body seems to point to that answer. Yes… apparently, he was alive… but in what shape? Was he injured? Dying? He didn’t know and the pain rippling through him made it difficult to identify the source of it and diagnose any kind of injury. Above all these questions one very important one remained: where the fuck was he? He tried looking around but to no avail, his vision was still too hazy to distinguish a thing. So, having no other option he listened carefully, even holding his breath, catching many strange sounds, crackles, creaks whines and something else…  something like an alarm ringing in a damaged speaker, a really bad sounding one. It was something like a fire alarm or… the evacuation order from a ship. An evacuation call? suddenly his mind cleared, like an electrical discharge had gone through him, the sound of the alarm triggering, awaking something inside him, memories rushing back to him. The CRS Hope… the long journey in space… the assault from the planet they were cruising near… Lyam!

A new strength filled his throbbing muscles, adrenaline pumping in his veins as he recalled everything until the blinding flash of light of the ship disintegrating from the second hit, his brain finally putting two and two together. He knew where he was; in his room, in the habitation compartment of the destroyed ship, probably crashed somewhere on an alien world. Cautiously he tried to move a hand, it reacted just as it expected it just as the other did, his legs and feet showing the same result. Then he tried to move his left arm, only to find out that he was denied that motion, something heavy was pressing down on him, crushing him into the cold metallic floor, preventing him from getting up. What was it? A piece of the ship's structure that had broken and landed on top of him? A furniture or a pod that had gone loose and fallen to the ground? Or even a wall that could have collapsed due to the impact? Whatever this was the consequence was the same, half of his body was stuck under it, paralyzed and unable to get out. The weight pressing down on him was so great he couldn’t tell if it had broken any bones or caused any grave injuries. Using is only valid harm he padded and prodded at the cold ground around him, hoping to find something, anything that could help him get out. Sadly, he only found cold metal, a metal soaked in a strange substance, hydraulic fluids maybe? At this exact moment something dribbled on his face, or rather he realizes something was dribbling on his face. It looked like a pipe above him concealed in the roof of his room cracked or broke in the crash and was now emptying its content on him. He grimaced, fully aware that these fluids were extremely toxic and that he could die from them if he didn’t get out of here immediately. Yet… there was an awkward detail, these liquids were usually white or translucent, not a crimson red like this, neither did they have that odd coppery scent. He reached out above him with a hand, probing the large thing above him, trying to find a way to remove whatever was pinning him down. It felt cold but somewhat slick and pleasant to the touch, soaked in the same red liquid. He continued, exploring further until his fingers slipped in a strange crack where he immediately received a powerful electrical shock. Gaspin in pain, he quickly pulled his hand away, catching a smell of burned flesh. “Oh great… an electrical panel…” he sighed, noticing sparks bursting from where his hand poked, “What else could I ask for?” he grumbled, rolling his eyes in disbelief. This kind of electrical panel was a massive piece of equipment, there was no way he could get out of under it on his own.

He peaked his head up, looking around the room. To his horror he discovered everything had been destroyed, metal plates twisted and ripped apart, exposing shredded edges sharpened like razorblades, sparkles raining down on the ground below, bursting from mangled cables that looked like black and thick tentacles dangling from the roof. All lights and system had failed except for an alarm that kept going on in the background, urging anyone to evacuate the ship, but the sound was completely fucked up; going from spikes of ear-splitting noises down to a low, barely audible whine. A red light shined intermittently in the room, coming from one of the only emergency beacons still alive, basking the room in a dim flickering red light.

As his eyes began adjusting to the low light another unusual detail caught his attention: from the metal panel crushing him dripped a steady stream of the same red substance. “This is weird.” He muttered, trying to wipe it off his face with his only free hand, but more kept raining down on him. “So… let's see… I'm stuck… defenseless… in an unknown world… I have no way to get out of under this thing and I have no weapon. I don't even know if I'm in one piece.” He sighed, taking stock of his situation, scanning the pitch-black room in the hope of finding a solution. “Hmmm… at least the air it breathable… that's good news.” He added, taking a deep breath of fresh air, catching a whiff of new, foreign scents he had not noticed before. It smelled like a forest after a rain. Was he hallucinating? Were his still confused senses deceiving him or were they telling him the truth?

Suddenly the room jolted, shaking violently, twisted metal ripping apart, plates cascading down from the roof, rivets flying through space, turned into deadly projectiles, cables snapping in a shower of sparkled, slashing through the air like whips. The roof above him began giving way, bending down before tearing open like a can, metal parting and shattering in an apocalyptic cacophony that gave him chills of horror, revealing an immensity of green as light poured in through the opening. A green… something so green that it took Nick a few seconds to ponder if he was alive or lost in delirium at the brink of death but no he wasn’t hallucinating, he was actually seeing it, and it looked like a tree, more precisely a treetop. He had no time to marvel or rejoice however, the room around him continuing to crumble, walls giving way, falling to the ground, the roof pealing open inch by inch, widening the gash in the ceiling, revealing more of the tree in which he had crashed,  “Great that thing is collapsing… what worse can happen?”

At his words, as if fate was mocking him, translucent droplets fell from the splitting roof, forming puddles in the holes of the floor, puddles that kept growing, overflowing of the tiny holes, spreading everywhere in the room until everything was dipping in a small pond of the unknown fluid, some even raining down on his face as the hole widened. It was light and cold as it slithered down his cheek, giving it quite a slippery feeling. Curious he collected some on a fingertip, observing the alien substance under the light. It had an unusual whitish color and an odd smell. “What's that thing? … puah!” he spat, a droplet landing on his tongue as he finished his sentence. Even after spitting the thing away in a big globe of saliva the taste remained, lingering in his mouth, carrying a strange flavor equal to the smell. “What's that… nasty thing?”

Above him the sky filled with clouds, thunder rumbling, covering the wincing of the metal as a white flash lit the sky. “A… a storm… so… that must be rain…” he supposed, trembling but slightly relieved as the whitish substance now steadily rained down everywhere. Even though the awful flavor remained on his tongue he was happy to see rain, enjoying as it washed his face, cleaning his skin of the reddish substance that continued to drip on it. Thankfully the damaged ship was full of hole which worked as a makeshift evacuation system for all the water, leaving only five millimeters of water inside. Nick kept gazing at the colored rain streaming into the room. “Well… at least I won't die from dehydration.” He chuckled in irony.

Staring at this white fluid pouring from the widely opened roof seemed to trigger something, a surprising memory coming back to him, a memory that made him blush. This white fluid reminded him of something else, something that had any link with his current situation. He saw himself in the ship, back when it could be called so with someone else; someone that wasn't human, someone covered of shimmering splendid gold and black scales. A knot formed in his throat. “Lyam…” He remembered the last events, how he was forced to live several days with the cloned creature, how much of a tease he was, how open he was on his own sexuality and careless about the others. He still recalled the many times he saw him pleasuring himself, oblivious or not caring that he wasn’t alone, even making a show out of it, knowing that he would be spotted at some point. All in all, these had been pleasant times, rather fun and… embarrassing for him. And… the final, the apotheoses of this embarrassing journey; that time when they were stuck in the same room with Lyam undergoing some sort of sex crave of his. He closed his eyes, taking a deep relaxed breath, basking in the memories. Behind his eyelids he saw like it was happening again Lyam, sprawled on his back, his hard draconic member surging with orgasmic delight as it convulsed between the thick ropes of seed it shot. He was relieving these memories, his body remembering the pleasure he felt, the feeling of smooth scales brushing against his skin, the tightness of the dragon’s hole, he could even hear the sweet moans of pure pleasure he made as he was fucked by him, nick, a human. His heart sank unexpectedly, somewhat missing the pesky, teasing, lustful dragon. Suddenly, as sorrow gripped his heart a thought rushed back to him. He wasn’t alone when the ship had been destroyed.

"Lyam!" he called hopefully. No answer came, only the constant whining of the steel falling apart and the thunder roaring outside. “Hey Lyam, are you there?!” he asked again, almost shouting. Once again, no answer came, not a sound, not even a movement in the quiet room. Was he even still there? Was he… alive? “Eh… Lyam… if you're here and… capable of doing so… make me a sign… I don't know… something?” he called, his hopes fading quickly, wiped away by a wave of sadness and fear, his voice trembling in despair. Yet again his plea remained vain, no sound, no voice, not even a breathing answered his call. “Must be dead…” he whispered to himself, his heart tightening at the mere thought of it, “or… or perhaps he just ran out after the crash thinking I was probably dead with that thing over me.” He quickly added, trying to reassure himself as best as he could.

He looked around again; water was till streaming from the roof, cascading over the walls and floor, the storm showing no sign of stopping, getting stronger even, winds howling in the tree and in the holes, making the room rock from side to side, lightning slashing across the skies, sloe striking the ground down below. Another detail rushed back to him as he contemplated the raging storm outside. A few seconds before he passed out, as the ship was about to be disintegrated by that second canon shot, he remembered what Lyam did; the last words he said, those words echoing in his head, bouncing around, making him feel all kinds of emotion, ranging from disgust, to confusion, to a soothing sensation of warmth and joy. Those words were “I love you…” “Why did he say that?”

He didn’t have time to question it, at that exact second a loud crack echoed through the room.  “What now?” The ship began shaking on its remaining foundations, more parts failing and crumbling in the room and in other places. Nick felt a strange change in the wreckage position, everything rolling and tilting to the left around him, the rainwater streaming to that side, washing over him as it sloshed into a corner. Maybe the ship was on an unstable ground like mud or just tangled in thick tree branches that were breaking under its weight. “Great… if I fall now… I won't survive this… just… fucking great.” He grumbled, still stuck under that thing keeping him pinned down, the electrical panel undisturbed by the sudden shift in position. However, instead of tumbling down to the ground everything stabilized again. “That’s… weird.” He muttered, puzzled but relieved.

He tried pushing the piece of debris again until he sensed something slowly dripped on his face, mixing to the rain. "Oh god what no… oh shit!” he yelled, his eyes bulging out at the scene unveiling before his eyes. From the hole in the roof appeared long, thick lianas slithering down into the room, forming a weird greenish net over him. “What are these things?” In an instant they had reached forward, spreading out around the hole, attaching to the roof. The first tendril suddenly tensed, pushing against the metal until it buckled and gave way, twisting the thick roof panel, folding it like it was thin paper. “Damn… these plants are tough.” He gasped, staring in utter shock as vines continued to pry open the ceiling, the unbearable sound of shredded metal bouncing on every wall, amplifying until it became too much for his ears. “Damn… my ears; just what are these things trying to do?” he grumbled, grimacing in discomfort, trying to cover his ears as best as possible. At the same instant his wandering gaze met the roof, or what was left of it, the metal had been entirely torn off, leaving a large, gaping, jagged opening for the sun light to flow inside, and strangely enough, all lianas had disappeared. “Damn… that's how it feels to be in a can.”

Slowly the same low rumbling noise came back, louder than before, the ship vibrating again with renewed intensity, leaving him no time to relax. “I don't like this.” He tried to locate the source of that sound that made him tremble in fear when his eyes fell on something that he hadn't noticed before, a tree root spurting from the ground in the middle of the white pool. “That… wasn't there before… where does it come from?” he murmured, increasingly confused and worried, wondering what this alien flora had in store for him.

A light cracking sound attracted his gaze toward the roof again, preventing him from figuring out what the hell was going on, or was it? There, a vision of horror awaited him, the gap was entirely filled by the same roots or branches or whatever they were. The outgrowth of nature was brand new for him; he had never seen anything like this, the plants were crawling all over the walls and floor, forming an inextricable vegetal web; all the vines tangled together, trying to dig their way in the mess of vines to dip in the water. Slowly yet surely all vines found a place in the water, forming several layers of endlessly moving things. “Great… now these plants are invading this place. What a disappointing way to die… killed by alien plants; sounds as shitty as it looks.”. He was right, the plants were not only extending their tentacles toward him but also growing in thickness and number, some now sporting sharp thorns, taking all the available space in the room, until even the hole in the roof was blocked, having become a swarming mass of alien tree mingled together.

Suddenly another sound reached his ears, made him look the other way, toward the door which was now a squashed and deformed piece of steel jammed in the badly damaged doorframe. Yet… behind that said door he could hear a familiar noise, a sound he had long stopped hoping for: footsteps in the corridor. And it wasn’t any random passerby, he could recognize that sound even in darkness, the distinctive sound of a soldier's steel boots clacking on the floor. “Hey, is there someone out here?” he shouted, hoping, praying for on answer, hearing the vines crawling closer and closer to him. Instantly walking person stopped but no reply came, neither any other sound. “Nah… might just be my brain playing tricks.” sighed Nick.

Suddenly, without warning, in a powerful bang the door was sent flying through the room, the center molten, the edges curved following an awkward angle, only stopping its course when it slammed in the opposite wall, crushing many vines that stood in the way. His relief was short-lived however, spotting a green ooze leaking out of the crushed vines, melting every surface it came in contact with, greenish fumes emanating from the corroding door.

“Hey inside keep your head down!” exclaimed an unknown voice as a small, black cylinder flew before him, bouncing against a wall before vanishing in the white pool soon followed by several other plops indicating that whoever was coming to his rescue seemed to know how to deal with these things… or did he.

Flames sprang from the puddle, assaulting the plants, turning the vines to ashes in an instant, red sparkles igniting as the vines melted, catching fire and spreading it to from one another in the blink of an eye. The room soon became a fiery inferno of scorching vines, the rest fleeing quickly, avoiding the ravenous fire raging below. “Nice for the help… but I don't know if being burned alive is a better way to die!" shouted Nick, a scorching heat enveloping him, flames getting too close for comfort as they devoured the nearby plants. “Chill out it's gonna extinguish itself in a sec.” He was right, as if someone had switched it off the fire vanished as quickly as it had started, only leaving ashes and black clouds of smoke behind. “Area cleared.” Announced the first voice. “Ok hurry up we don't have much time before these things come back.” answered another.

Nick watched in relief as two men stepped in the room, one looking around, holding a riffle equipped with a grenade launcher, the other seemed to be wearing an exo-armor and holding a large pipe section like it was a blade. “Good to see you guys!” he exclaimed in uncontained joy. “Good to see you made it sergeant.” replies the one with a rifle, Nick finally recognizing one of his men, more specifically Carlos, the other probably coming from one of the maintenance team judging by his equipment. “What the fuck was that?” he enquired, keeping his gaze glued to the hole, fearing the vines would come back at any second. “We don't know, and we don't have time to explain now. First, we must get you out from under that thing.” “I wouldn't mind.” “You heard the sergeant get him out of there.” “Ok ok… I'm on it.” Sighed the second man, stowing his weapon away and grabbed what kept Nick held in place. “Go easy with that thing… we don't know if he is injured.” Warned Carlos, wearing a worried look on his face. "I know relax.”

The guy named Bruce slowly and carefully pushes the heavy thing on the side, freeing his limbs one by one. Nick grimaced when blood flowed normally again in the numb body, cautiously getting up, massaging his stiff limbs. “Damn… these fucking debris… thought I was gonna stay there forever, thank you guys I own you one.” He let out, relieved to be free. “It's only our duty sir.” Chuckled Bruce in response. “But sir… that… that wasn't some debris you were stuck under sir.” Stammered the other soldier, his face now a pale white. “What do you mean?” “You… you'd better look by yourself.”

Nick turned his gaze in the other direction while still trying to clean his armors of tree fragments, intrigued by the man’s reaction, his mind racing, if it wasn’t a piece of debris what else could it be? “Holy!” he gasped, backing away, almost tripping on a fallen pipe, his eyes popping wide in horror, his entire frame trembling uncontrollably. Before him, what he had been immobilized under for hours was no plate fallen from the roof nor an electric panel, it was simply Lyam… or what was left of him. The dragon couldn't be alive anymore, he was only a pile of scales and flesh drenched in his own blood and spewing sparkles from his augments. The sight of this discarded body made Nick guts knot; he felt like fainting. Lyam seemed to have been shredded, several parts of his body had lost all the scales, skin and flesh protecting them, exposing whitish bones, other deep wounds revealed layers of scorched flesh and muscles or unveiling a complex network of cables and wiring plugged directly to his organs and veins, leading to some advanced yet badly damaged augments.

His face was in the same sorry state, long gashes covering his neck and forehead, his expression frozen on a grimace of the purest pain he had ever seen. His maw was shredded too; his bones and muscles exposed even there, his powerful jaws and sharp fangs on full display, though some appeared to be missing. “Man… that's… gross.” mumbled Nick, on the verge of throwing up, his stomach violently twisting. “He can't have survived this.” grumbles the guy with the pipe, giving Lyam a gentle, cautious nudge with his makeshift weapon. “Or if he did he probably succumbed due to blood loss.” Pointed out Carlos, making a wide circular gesture at the immense pool of vermilion blood. “That's a horrible way to die.” Murmured Nick in a sad tone, feeling sick just by looking at it yet unable to peel his eyes away. “Yes… thought these things could withstand anything… it appears we have found their breaking point.” Sniggered Bruce. “That's not funny.” hissed Nick, holding back the sudden desire to punch the guy in the face. “Hey take it easy I’m just trying to lighten the mood.” Grunted the man. “Sir, it would be wise to have you examined before we head out!” interjected Carlos, taking his attention away. “Good idea…” huffed Nick.

“You look unharmed and healthy, aside from a few bruises, burns and minor cuts here and there but nothing serious, that’s incredible!” exclaimed Carlos after a quick check-up, staring at Nick in dismay and amazement, “I think he… somehow took the blow for you sir.” He added, scratching his head, his gaze darting back and forth between Nick and Lyam. “You mean…” “Yes… without him you'd be dead, or gravely injured in the best case scenario.” Nick stared in shock at Lyam, his heart squeezed tight by sorrow. He had survived but the dragon he had come to like was dead, sacrificing himself to save his life. To what cost? "Your sacrifice won't be vain my friend…” he whispered, putting a hand on the blood-soaked scales of Lyam's flanks. Instantly he pulled back, trembling, as if an electrical shock had gone through him; he had felt something, something that wasn't right. He dared to repeat his move and felt the same thing: a low, weak, barely perceptible rhythmic pounding. “Oh… no it can't be…” he stammered, focusing harder on that feeling, holding his breath so nothing would disturb him. There was no doubt possible, what he felt could only be the beating of a heart. “He… he is still alive.”, he let out in a barely audible whisper, startled by what he was witnessing. “What!? Sir that's impossible; you must be having some hallucination.” “No I swear I felt his heart beat." The two guys frowned in his direction, but Carlos risked a hand forward nevertheless. “No… no he is right I can feel it to.” Gasped the man after a few seconds of tensed silence. “Wait you mean…" “He is still alive.” He let out, as shocked as Nick, the three men looking at each other in disbelief, none of them knowing what to say or to do.

Suddenly, the inanimate body before them shook violently, Lyam's eyes bursting wide open as he inhaled sharply, like he was doing some sort of apnea. “Damn… he managed to survive this!” screamed Carlos, jumping back, dropping his rifle on the ground. “Tougher than you expected huh?” chuckled Nick, an immense happiness washing over him, wiping away the sadness and sorrow. “Yes… how can he be still breathing in that state though?” muttered Bruce, watching as more sparks and arcs surged from the dragon’s body. “I don't have a clue.” “Could it be…” whispered Carlos, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Nick crossed the gaze of the soldier, reaching the same unbelievable conclusion. “A power core.” They exclaimed in union.  “A what?” asked Bruce, keeping Lyam in his line of sight. “A generator which maintains the vital functions in case the body can't sustain it. From what I heard it’s supposed to trigger in case of critical condition or near death to maintain a person alive until they can be treated. It's some sort of death cheating if you will.” Explained Carlos, awestruck by the discovery, “That’s the first one I get to see in action though.” “That's awesome! Why don't we have the same kind of stuff?" "Too expensive for the army." grunted Nick. "And… how long can this core function?” enquired Bruce, curious. “As long as it is undamaged it will continue to work for quite some time, it even has its own built-in power supply.” Explained Carlos, marveling at the piece of technology. “That's some quality stuff.” Whistled Bruce, impressed, “And… what do we do now?” “Well… his body looks kinda damaged and… even with the core keeping him alive he won’t go far like this.” Admitted Carlos. “I know… what can we do now? We can't heal him here right?” enquired Nick, at a loss for solutions. “No, we don't have the material to heal him. Beside we have to get out of here before these things come back.” Replied Carlos with a sense of hurry, pointing at the tree outside.  “They don't give up that easily.” Confirmed Bruce, keeping an eye on the hole in the roof.

Nick nodded mechanically, lost in his thoughts, how could he help Lyam before it was too late? “If only we had some of these nanobots… these things would get him back on his paws in no time.” Powerlessly sighed Carlos, knowing there wasn’t much he could do. “Of course the hive!” he shouted, snapping his fingers to the dismay of his companions, “he has a nanobot hive.” “Good news man but since the core is activated they must have been set to a low power settings to save energy so they won't help us that much.” Retorted Carlos. “Hmmm… have you found any electronic system around here?” asked Nick, an idea coming to his mind. “Nah only you.” Let out Bruce, “But… I think another team recovered a few terminals and hard drives so… maybe…” “And why would we carry that thing around? No offence I know he saved your life and all but it’s not like he is of much use to us.” Remarked Carlos, crushing Nick’s hopes, “Besides, I've heard that some others found several clones and managed to equippe them with some really nasty armament.” “Agreed… and he is damn heavy for such a small thing, it’s gonna be a pain to carry.” Grumbled Bruce, knowing that he would be the one stuck doing this difficult task.

“Hmm… let me think… what did the other find?” Interrogated Nick, taking a few seconds to himself to think. “Clones… weapons… a bit of food… some medical supplies… and some fabrication units… why you ask?” Listed Bruce in response, frowning from the unexpected question. “Did you find some of the high-ranked crewmember, someone with an alpha clearance?” “No why?" “Because without them you won't be able to open the fabricators.” Let out Nick, his words having the effect of a small bomb between the two men. “Shit he is right." grumbled the one with the pipe. "From what I know… the officer's module has been obliterated during the attack; for now we have found no survivors.” admitted Carlos, nervously scratching the back of his head, realizing how dire their situation was. "Then we need him alive" replied Nick in a harsh tone, leaving no room for protests. “Why?” “He has an Alpha access.” “What!?” they both exclaimed, staring at him, trying to see if he was serious or if he had completely lost it. “Why… why in hell would he have that?” stammered Carlos, speechless. “Don't ask I don't know, I just know he has one, even saw him use it.” "Damn… that makes him a priority.” “Yep so hurry up and leave that god damn place.” Said Nick in a hurry. “I'm good with that. Guess I'll carry him.” Grunted Bruce, “We'll cover you, give me a weapon.” replied Nick, Carlos handing him a rather large sidearm. “Careful the trigger is a bit sensitive.” “I've got it; weapons have no secret for me.”

The other guys nodded, only wanting to get out as soon as possible, Bruce lifting and loaded Lyam a bit roughly on his back, the dragon hiccupping and unleashing a torrent of blood on the soldier's back. “Please don't tell me he threw up?” “No it's just blood.” Reassured Nick, mentally praying Lyam would hold until they made it to wherever their base camp was. “I’m glad I'm not carrying that thing.” huffed the other, throwing his colleague’s blood-covered exoskeleton a disgusted glare. “You know if you want we can switch roles.” “No thank I'm way better with my riffle.”

They had barely left what was once Nick’s room when suddenly, ship shook violently, the poor light diminishing even more as more sparkles rained down on them, the walls and floor bulging inward, metal howling as it was torn apart. “Shit they're coming back! Run!” screamed Carlos.

They rushed down the ravaged hallway, the walls crumbling behind them, giving way to giant tree roots. “Shit they're really angry.” Gasped Carlos, as he turned in another corridor, the one in front of them having just caved in. “No really; remind me how much of them you just burned.” Snorted Bruce, following suit, ducking down to not get hit by thick vines bursting through the ceiling. “Forget about that you two meat bags and run."

A long, exhausting run later a square of light appeared at the end of a corridor in the collapsing vessel. “Jump!” roared the first one before doing it, showing the example. They followed; panting as they slid on thick knotty tree trunks slickened by the constant downpour of rain. “Too close… way too close.” panted Nick once safely on the ground. They looked up to the sound of metal twisting to see the huge piece of their ship being torn apart like it had been nothing, reduced to shreds by the furious forest. “Well… at least I guess we won't have to worry any longer about the forest.” Chuckled Nick, gulping down in terror, realizing that if not for the two men he would be suffering the same fate as the habitat section. “If only you were true man… if only.” Sighed Carlos, his eyes saying more than his words.

With an apocalyptic sound the shredded parts of the ship rained to the ground below, sinking into the mud. “Where are all the others?” “We've split up; we should come back to our base camp and see if we can heal him.” “Great idea; lead the way.” “Sure Sir… but be careful the forest is full of wicked traps.” “We can literally say it has some tricks up its leaves.” Giggled Bruce as he readjusted the wounded dragon on his back. “That was the worst joke ever!”


……………………


“Are you kidding me!” roared Dereck, walking around the table in the small ship heading at max speed to one of the new locations he had received; throwing pissed of looks to the holographic display showing an embarrassed scientist wearing a strange lizard like face. “I can't believe this! Are you telling me it's raining?” “Well… latest weather report shows… an important amount of it… in the sectors you're heading toward.” “Why wasn't I warned of that earlier?” “Well… the report… just came in sir.” Stammered thescientist, not daring to look at him straight in the eyes. “Great… send it to me.” he growled, trying to contain his anger. “It's already done Captain… you should have received it by now.” A blip coming from the screen gave weight to his words. “Thanks…” he rumbled, cutting the communication short. “Sir we're arriving on zone.” warned the pilot, “I must inform you that there is a severe storm passing through this area”. “I’m aware, thank you; continue anyway.” “Roger” “Oh and I want a live feed of the wreckages when you'll locate them.” “Understood…”

He sat back in his seat; observing the thick curtain of rain by the window, the sky so dark it felt like night, the rain so dense it was hard to peer through. His mission just got more complex now that the jungle and the weather were messing around. He fully knew the devastating effects the rain had on the crawling nature expending below him. At the first sign of water the entire nature would flare, awaiting and, when the sweet liquid came the already chaotic jungle would become an impenetrable web of trees extending everything they could to get their fill of the life elixir. “As if the situation wasn't already too much of a mess.” He sighed, hoping the storm would pass soon. “Sir we're on target, right above it, the live feed is available on your screen right now.” “Thanks comrade pilot.” “Your welcome.”

Dereck took a more comfortable position in his seat, waving his fingers before the screen, the image immediately shifting, showing the piece of wrecked ship suspended to three branches, filling with rainwater thanks to a large hole in the roof of it. “If there's someone inside we can already call him dead.” He sighed, watching the rain flow into the hole and cascade out from smaller ones at the bottom while the nearby trees were rapidly rushing in the gap to ravenously sip the water collecting inside, crushing everything that stood in-between them and their goal. “Thermal scanner!” he still ordered anyway, out of hope or desperation, he didn’t know. “Sir, the scanner picked up three signatures inside!” exclaimed the pilot in utter disbelief, “No wait… four, four survivors! Two groups, one immobile and one moving.” Dereck was left speechless, eyes glued to the screen, scrutinizing the four reddish dots, the first group slowly making their way in what appeared to be a corridor while the second held perfectly still, the two points so close they were almost merging. He held his breath, hands clenched around his seat’s armrests, eyes glued to the screen as if he was watching a tensed scene of a movie as the two groups slowly converged until, at last they met. “Sir we're detecting a temperature increase!” shouted the pilot in the intercom, is voice trembling as he spoke. “What?” gasped Dereck, snapping back to reality. Second later, tall flames sprang from the roof in a blinding flash fire, roots and vines retreating to not being melted, those that didn’t escape in time catching fire in the blink of an eye, consumed by the ravenous inferno. "Damn… that's one hell of a way to get rid of these.” Whistled Dereck, impressed by the effectiveness of whatever these aliens had done. “No Sir it will just hold them back for some time. Fire is not the good solution at all.” “We'll see.” Mumbled Dereck, observing the flames vanishing after a few seconds. However, just like the pilot had predicted, the roots came back in full force after just a few minutes, tearing through the hull like it was paper, pulling away huge chunks of metal as they sank their way deeper inside. As the enraged nature tore apart the wreckage, crushing and ripping the thick alien alloy with bone-chilling ease, a strange detail caught his attention; three shadows jumping from a hole and gliding to the ground along the threes. "Hmmm… they managed to escape… impressive… they have some guts I admit.” “Or just luck.” Snorted the pilot.

In silence he observed the group walking away in the forest, disappearing between trees, covered by the thick green canopy while, in a loud terrifying wincing noise their wrecked ship fragment was destroyed, ripped in two, the crumpled and mangled pieces falling to the ground below. “Ok… for the records all debris in the areas where it's raining can be considered destroyed and to be salvaged once the weather clears.” Let out Dereck, gulping down nervously; glad to be safe in his ship high above ground, hoping he’d never end in the same state as that alien vessel. “Understood.” answered a third man in the small ship, a mouse-like thin man quickly entering things in a small tablet who had spent most of the journey in the cockpit and had only now moved to the passenger compartment to assist him.

“Pilot, make a ninety degree turn left now!” suddenly exclaimed Dereck, taking everyone off-guard as he sprang to his feet, eyes bulging wide like he had seen a ghost. He had seen something alright, but it was no ghost or hallucination. For a split second, as the group they were following walked in a narrow gap between threes he had caught something, it had only lasted for an instant but he had clearly seen a sliver of gold glimmering under a rare ray of sun. “R-roger.” Stammered the surprised pilot in acknowledgment.  As the ship did its maneuvers Dereck turned his focus to the camera pointed toward the ground, sending him a crystal clear picture of the trembling foliage where the strangers had disappeared. “Loop back ten seconds ago.”

The record went backward, showing the strangers walking in reverse, like they were backing out of the bushes. “Stop.” he ordered, the picture freezing instantly. Everyone in the cockpit became silent, all gazing at the slightly troubled picture. “Am I dreaming?” whispered the mouse-like man, his tablet on the brink of falling from his shaking hands. “No you're not…” mumbled Dereck, the same tremor spreading through his body, the three men exchanging confused and incredulous glances. “Pilot visual confirmation.”

Instantly the ship moved to another spot to intercept the three newcomers, the pilot stabilizing his ship above one of the rare wells of light in the ever so thick green rooftop. They waited, tensed, no one daring to speak or move, the suspense reaching its peak. “Are we in cloak mode?” whispered Dereck, finding himself silly for doing so, as if the aliens could hear them from so far. “Yes sir cloak engaged.” Replied the pilot on the same low tone. “Perfect… they shall be here… right now.”

Like they had been waiting his words the aliens came out of their hiding beneath the cover of the trees, cautiously yet rapidly stepping into the light. The first one was wearing some sort of soldier suit and helmet, pointing his riffle in all directions before him, the second wore a bulky exoskeleton and was playing with a twisted pipe, the last one was circling the area behind them with his pistol, his gaze checking for every blind spot, even rising toward the sky, scrutinizing the grey blue clouds. “Hehe… smart…” chuckled Dereck, both intrigued and amused. The last one suddenly spun around and ordered something and they all ran to cover again, disappearing under the impenetrable canopy, even the scanner seemingly losing track after a few hundred meters.

However this time everyone had seen without the shadow of a doubt what the second one was carrying on his bag like a sack. “It… it can be…” mumbled the third guy in the ship, wiping the sweat away from his white fur. “No way…” whispered Dereck, falling back in his seat. He took a long minute to think, collect himself and put everything back together. “There's no way it's real.” He let out, what he had seen bringing even more questions.  “Sir… I'm waiting for orders.” Requested the pilot, sounding as confused as the rest of them. “We… we need to report back to command… immediately… that changes everything…” mumbles Dreeck, trembling in a mix of shock and anticipation. “This mission just got even more interesting.”

A wide smile stretched over his lips, adrenaline filling his veins, his brain racing, trying to connect the dots, assimilating all the new information that just came in. “These strangers are full of surprises.” He said to himself. He looked at the forest again, at the exact spot where the newcomers had disappeared in the vegetation. “We'll keep following them, activate thermal sensors and let's keep a constant surveillance on this group. Contact the fleet and tell them to follow groups if they spot other; we must know what they try to do now, if they’re organized and where they’re going.” “Understood Sir.”


…………………


Walking in that ever moving jungle was an exhausting trial, each step taken was a fight requiring humongous amount of energy, they had to climb over massive roots, claw their way through the densest of thorn bushes, wade in the thickest of mud, and now to top it all of they had to cope with the heaviest and dampest heat possible now that the rain had gone away. Nick stopped, leaning against a tree to catch his breath, his hairs stuck to his forehead by sweat. Before him the two other had stopped too, one watching Lyam after he had dropped him on the ground while the other examined him. “Hmmm… it's strange… I don't even understand how he can still be alive with all these injuries.” Grumbled Bruce, “I mean, even with that machinery keeping him alive and all… he should be gone by now but nope, the guy is still kicking.”

Nick turned his gaze toward the shredded corps, his guts tightening again at the mere sight of it. Lyam's breathing was irregular, yet slow, full of bloody gurgles. At least it looked like his wounds had stopped bleeding. Their long walk through the mess of roots and lianas had unfolded the true dangers of this unknown land: aside from the massive and very dangerous trees they knew better than to mess with there were places where tones of unknown bugs and other creatures hid; murky looking ponds full of poisonous waters everywhere, making the whole jungle look more like a swamp. In those said pools Nick had noticed more than one fishes and eels like creatures that didn't look sympathetic to him. During the journey Lyam had awoken several times. Well… awake was a big word, his eyes would just open suddenly, showing hazy irises and dilated pupils. A few words would slip from his gaping maw, mixed with loud disgusting gurgling sounds, more blood spilling from his mouth as he spoke before drifting back into coma. “Men these things do a great job of keeping him alive.” Commented Carlos as he checked on Lyam’s injuries. “Yeah so sad we can't help.” Sadly sighed Nick, hating that feeling of powerlessness. “You're right.” “Then let's hurry up and bring him to that camp you've talked about.” Grunted Nick, ready to continue this exhausting walk through the jungle. “Yeah… but I'm not sure if he'll make it… could be nice if I could check the records.” Let out Carlos, a worried look plastered on his face. “Records?” "His vital signs are saved and analyzed by a control unit directly linked to the core, so it calculates the power it must deliver and systems it needs to power up or shut down.” explained Carlos. “I see. Could you do the check?” enquired Nick, a new light of hope warming his heart. “I have the gears for that… well… almost all of them.” “Seriously?” “Well… I only need a cable… and to find the connection port.” Let out Carlos, pointing to a small wrist-mounted device most often used by field medic to perform rapid check of wounded soldiers. “Can't you use wireless connection?” suggested Nick. “Nah the antenna is fucked up.” Grunted the medic. “Great.” “Hold on didn't you say you found wires in a case?” asked Carlos, suddenly glancing back at Bruce. “Yeah… I did take them if I remember right." “Give them to me.” Bruce, without hesitation, let his backpack fall to the ground, opening it wide for the other to take  a look. "Found it!" yelled Carlos victoriously, pulling out a thick black cable, “and… the port is… rather exposed.” He added, pointing at one of Lyam’s many wounds from which the port stuck out like a sore thumb.

With precise gestures he connected the cable to his own arm, then to the dragon. Instantly a small screen popped up, displaying a pentagon like logo holding a red glowing bit. “A Pentech gear… damn… that's some crazy stuff.” Whistled Bruce, designating a similar logo on his exoskeleton. Just under the logo a few lines appeared


Powered by
Granver LABS FTD department.


“The Future Technology Development… so that's some sort of prototype.” Enquired Nick. “It's what it looks like.” confirmed the Carlos as the loading screen disappeared, replaced by a rather simple menu, “now let's see what we have exactly.” He added, pressing the diagnostic button.

In a second the screen went entirely red as a picture of Lyam's body appeared, covered in blinking warning signs, a list of malfunction and failures materializing on the right side of the page, filling up with so many error messages that it quickly exceeded the edges of the screen. “Damn… that makes a lot of damages to the structure…” whistled Bruce, peaking over Carlos’s shoulder. “Really… I hadn't noticed” grunted the other in irony. In seconds he had entered the settings and was typing dozens of command lines, the system displaying hundreds of lines of text in response, the two other waiting with bated breath. “Yep it's a prototype and not a small one; this thing has tone of energy in stock and from the looks of it, it has sustained no damage and thus can keep him alive for a while with tones of energy to spare.” Announced Carlos after an interminable minute of writing commands on the small screen. “How do you know about that?” questioned Nick, fascinated and intrigued by his men’s unknown skills.  “We all had lives before we entered that silly expedition.” Chuckled Carlos in response, “I used to be a medic you know but I also have a computer science degree which meant I could also fix the clones if push came to shove. And well, when I heard about that kind of new technology I just couldn’t ignore it and dug up all I could on the development.” “Anyway… can you do something?” interrupted Nick, determined to not waste a single second. “I can… I just hope there are no security programs in there.” They remained silent, observing him work hard on the complex codes, tensing when an error message appeared, relaxing when he seemed to achieve some progress. “Here we go… I hope it's not too damaged.” He finally let out, pressing one final key. "What are you doing exactly?” “Just reprogramming the nanobots to heal the major wounds and stop hemorrhages, so it should make his state more stable. However I don't know how long my little tweaking will work.” “So we’ve got to hurry then. Come on let's move!” shouted Nick, his body filled with a renewed vigor and motivation.


…………………


“Can you confirm this information?” asked the commander, shaking his head in disbelief. “Yes sir… we have captured video footage showing it.” “Great… that situation is getting more complicated by the minute.” sighed the general, clearly annoyed by the new information. “With this new finding the whole affair is getting out of hand.” grumbled the commander in approval. Dereck was staring at the two holograms, holding to the edge of the table before him. “Do you have any idea of what it means?” asked Miss Swighraz, nervously looking away, as shocked as the rest of them, yet showing some sort of excitement. “Surely I do. We have no right to attack them anymore.” growled the commander, “we may even have cause a catastrophic diplomatic accident by destroying their ship” added the commander to the approving nods of Dereck’s mother. “Not unless they attack us first.” replied Dereck. “Yes it is true but even in that case the diplomatic situation is getting tense again.” She retorted, throwing a disapproving glance at her son. “What diplomatic situation?” “I've made some research since I've been warned and it appears the presence of the creature, if confirmed, will put us in a quite sticky and difficult situation.” “What do you mean?” questioned Dereck, more and more confused as the conversation went on. “I've found traces of some ancient treaty we signed, its decades old but it seems to still be valid.” “So you mean…?” stammered Dereck, on the edge of his seat.  “As long as they have him we can't even point a gun to their face without risking another diplomatic incident and the severe consequences that come with it.” She let out, a freezing cold silence falling upon the room at her words. “There's still an incoherent detail that we must figure out, the last one of this kind that has been confirmed alive in the system was several centuries, maybe a millennium ago.” Pointed out the general, causing everyone to scratch their head in bewilderment. “I may have the answer to that question; I suspect they have some sort of replication or cloning technology.” Let out Miss Swighraz. “Explain yourself.” ordered the commander. "We have already noticed that they possess similar looking creature but they appear to only be replicas, pale copies of what we know. So either they managed to mimic them with the use of some advanced engineering or genetic manipulation, or they got their hands on a live subject, or possibly enough genetic materials to make copies of it.” “You mean clones?” enquired the general, grimacing and snarling as he spoke. “Exactly.” confirmed Dereck, finding some composure as the attention focused on him once again, “the one we've identified looks nothing like their other clones…. Besides they seem to have quite an interest in him.” Added Dereck, earning intrigued gazes and expressions, “Reports from other teams indicate they had no qualms in disposing of or abandoning these creatures if too badly injured… or damaged… I don’t know how to put it.” “Intriguing indeed” commented the general, his curiosity tickled by the captain’s observations. “On top of that the one we have seen is also the one disrupting our scanners, luckily for us even the disturbances aren’t powerful enough to mask a difference in his signature.”  He explained, exposing different scans and images of the thing, quite blurry but all of them clear enough to show what he meant. “What do you think general?” asked Miss Swighraz. “I don’t know… captain VanHevreyk could you explain what you mean by different?” “Our scans showed it was different; from radar reflection to even body temperature. Compared to their other replicas that are cold-blooded this one seems to have a very high body temperature so I am assuming it is warm-blooded. But we can't get much more precise; he seems to possess some objects that like I said cause interferences with our scanners… and actually it’s not limited to the scanners, all drones we have sent for a closer examination have appeared to all suffer some kind of malfunction.”

“It sounds like it confirms my theory…” whispered Miss Swighraz, acting a bit weirdly; like she was happy yet nervous at the same time. “Perhaps…” grumbled the Commander; scratching the back of his head “but the question still remains… how did they managed to get their hand on one of these?” “May I expose my thoughts to you?" suggested Dereck. “Go ahead.” "I think they might have stumbled across one of them and cloned them while tinkering with them to suit their needs.” “Could make sense… but how? It would meen they were already exploring the system five or six centuries ago at least.” Exclaimed the general, everyone going quiet, awestruck by the revelation. “So… what do we do?” asked Dereck; stamping impatiently, eager to go back into action. “You said you wanted to observe them to know what their intentions were right?” questioned the general, “then we will proceed with the current plan; but at the first sign of animosity there will be no going back.” “And the creature? I remind you killing it would be a violation of the treaty and it would put us in great troubles.” “I know I know…” huffed the commander, “We will identity it as a VIP target for capture from now on so if it we have no other choice but to engage them our troops will be advised to neutralize it.” Added the general, his words doing little to convince her. “Miss I swear on my honor I will try my best to take it smoothly and avoid a blood bath, for our future.” “For the future.” agreed the commander with a salute. “I hope your plan will work… otherwise not even our weapons will protect us.” Let out the pensive general as the communication ended.


…………………
 

Four hours of muscle ripping walk and climb in the never ending jungle, that’s what it took them to come in sight of their destination, four endless hours of constant and exhausting struggle. Making their way in the thick web of tangled trees had been the biggest challenge in their lives; it required strength, patience, endurance and a lot of grenades and flamethrower ammunitions to clear a path in this impenetrable labyrinth where death was waiting at every turn. But in the end it had all been worth it, they were getting close, bursts of voices reaching their ears as they neared their destination, until they finally entered in what looked like a clearing. There; they found one of the weirdest and most hilarious, spectacles they had ever seen: a disorganized army was running around in complete and utter chaos, crates were moved around just to be brought back to their original spot, a few unstable tents had been build, hosting what looked like a tiny hospital or some sort of a supply stock. On the edge of the clearing several soldier were posted, anxiously scrutinizing the surrounding jungle, all of them holding some kind of incendiary device, whether they were flamethrower of incendiary grenades. This little ragtag bunch was supported by two clones equipped with some flamethrowers and rocket launchers. The moment they came out of the woods a spotter shouted out to the rest of the camp of their arrival. Nick didn’t hear what was said but immediately everyone dropped whatever they were doing and ran to them, cheering up and welcoming them. Everyone was happy to see a higher ranked crewmember who, they hoped could bring some order and peace to this disorganized camp. They were surprised to say the least, to see Lyam yet no one protested when Nick ordered that the few doctors they had made everything they could to save him, the doctors instead immediately getting to work taking Lyam to a second white tent.

Nick was left alone until a guy that had a thick, blood-stained bandage around his shoulder came to him and asked Nick to follow him into a larger tent. There three technicians were battling with one of the devices, apparently a radio, they had managed to recover from one of the crash site. “We've managed to establish contact with other survivors who have gathered into a small group and established a camp ten miles away from here.” Explained the guy that had led him in, “The problem is the communication is unstable, probably because of the forest. And to make it worse we can't get to them.” “Why?” “Sir… the terrain is… rather dangerous and unknown and we lack the necessary means to move all the supplies we have collected.” Stammered the man, pointing at the towering piles of crates outside. “And it's all without factoring in the rain. As you might have seen it makes the nature freak out.” Continued the man, throwing a horrified glance at the tall, inextricable jungle surrounding them. “I've witnessed it… first hand" grumbles Nick, lost in his thought. To his own shock he realized he was the one and only high ranked person in the camp, the reality hitting him like a blow to the guts as he found himself having to command or at least guide an entire camp full of disorganized and confused survivors to safety through this hell.

“We also have another major issue to deal with.” Added the wounded soldier, not leaving him time to think or adjust to the situation. “Which is?” “Medical supplies. We have a lot of injured, more or less badly and our supplies are melting like snow to the sun.” “I see…” mumbled Nick, sensing the gravity of the situation in the soldier’s voice, “and the other group, have they found some?” “You bet they did!” shouted another man upon entering the tent. He was wearing a tattered uniform soiled with blood and mud and had several deep gashes on his face. "They even found the ship's hospital stock room in one piece where we only found scattered crates.” “So if we could reach them we could get the necessary stuff.” Muttered Nick. “Yes but like I told you it's impossible, we’re stuck here.” “Yes  I’m aware.” grumbled Nick, "we have to find a way. Alone like this we're weakened and vulnerable; if we could get everyone in one place we could defend ourselves more efficiently.” He whispered to himself, pacing in the large tent, trying to find a way out of this mess.

“We've established connection!” triumphantly yelled one of the technicians, wiping his forehead of the sweat that had gathered on it, everyone in the tent immediately rushing to the radio. Nick joined the small crowd that gathered around the trembling, blurry holographic screen. On the other side they could see a black face covered in light bruises and cuts, like he had fallen into a bush or something. “Finally…” sighed the man in relief, “Sergeant.” he briefly saluted upon spotting Nick. Nick answered politely with a quick nod. “How is the situation?” he immediately asked.

"Could be better… but could definitely be worse. We have a lot of supplies, three fabrication unit ready to be activated, fifty men equipped for combat, eight clones… ehhh… a medical team and an engineering team.” Listed the man in the other camp. “And the armament?” questioned Nick. “We have managed to dislodge five canons from the ship and a few heavy machineguns.” “That’s some good news!” whistled Nick, impressed. “Yes… the problem is that all these things are locked; the most problematic right now being the fabrication unit. We need someone with an alpha level clearance.” “Then I have the answer to that problem.” answered Nick, quite proud of himself to the puzzled and amazed gazes of everyone around him and all the way in the other survivor camp. He exposed what he knew, that Lyam had that kind of access but needed immediate medical care in order to survive because if he died his access would be instantly rendered useless for safety reasons. “We have what you need here to repair him but… as you must be aware of by now we're out of reach of each other, a vegetal barrier is separating us and there is no way to go through it.” “Is there no way to go around it?” “Probably… but it will take time. Maybe… hold on a second I may have an idea.”

The man disappeared from the screen, leaving them hanging in suspense, the air becoming even thicker and damper as the tension rose up a notch. He reappeared a while later with a wide grin on his face and stars in his eyes. “I may have a solution!” he exclaimed triumphantly. The screen shifted, showing a large map of the jungle with two red dots miles away from each others, both located in almost circular clearings. “So we're here?” guessed Nick, designating the point the farthest from the image’s center. "Yes sir… and here is the barrier we're talking about.” Confirmed the man as a red line appeared on the screen, forming an invisible wall between the points. “Like I said there's no way to go through, this area contains some of the densest and most dangerous vegetation we have seen. However according to the data we have, there's another clearing southwest of your position… at about six miles.” He continued, a wide circle materialized on the map, signaling the exact position of the said clearing. “It will take us an equivalent amount of time to reach it.” “How long?” interrogated Nick. “I estimate up to three to four hours to clear a path in that jungle.” “Sounds good to me, let's get everything ready for departure.” “Roger; we'll be preparing the last things too before we head out.” “The sooner we meet the better it will be for all of us.” “Agreed… I'll contact you later.” Said the man, saluting before finishing the discussion. “You've heard him guys let's get everything ready!” shouted Nick, everyone immediately rushing out to start organizing and packing up their stuff.


…………………


“What are they doing down there?” grumbled Dereck. It had been two long hours since he arrived on that clearing where the strangers had established some sort of makeshift camp. He had the luxury of observing them now from a bird’s eye view, comfortably seated in his ship, hovering above the clearing, cloaked by an efficient optical camouflage. He had never seen such beings before; they were completely bare skinned, lacking any type of protection, no thick plates or scales, no fur to protect them from the cold and rain aside from the top of their head, no claws to defend themselves; only some  pathetic and rather useless nails. Said like this they didn't even look dangerous and in fact rather fragile. The real threat came from the heavy equipment they were carrying, thick armors, heavy weapons that could shred anything; and these giant monsters serving them as good obedient puppets, some carrying a bone-chilling arsenal of guns. “From here they look like they're preparing something Sir.” answered the pilot, "maybe they're planning on relocating.” "Could make sense but where?” muttered Dereck, watching the aliens running around, packing their stuff up in a hurry. “May I suggest you to contact the other watchers you sent to observe the other group?” “Excellent idea pilot.” approved Dereck with a wide smile as he grabbed his tablet and established the connection with ease. In seconds he was observing another hologram of a soldier; his face hidden by an full-face helmet. “Report soldier.” ordered Dereck. “Yes sir. It has appeared to us that the enemy is preparing something.” “Explain yourself soldier.” “We suspect they're operating a location change, possibly joining another group.” “Just what I expected…” whispered Dereck to himself, clenching his fists, feeling his own claws dig into his paw pads. “Also… we've succeeded in intercepting a communication between them.” Announced the soldier. “And what did it said?” enquired Dereck, ears perked up in interest. “Well… we… we don't know.” Admitted the soldier, his embarrassment visible despite his helmet. “What?! Is it a bad joke soldier?” growled Dereck, his hopes of understanding, staying one step ahead of the foreigners vanishing. “No… no sir… we've actually intercepted the message but it's encrypted and our decryption team is having troubles deciphering the code and even in the possibility where they manage to recover the message we can't understand it.” Explained the increasingly nervous soldier. “You mean you don't know that language?” “Yes… sir…” pitifully apologized the soldier, bowing his head down in shame. “And the translators?” “Well… that's the big problem… their language isn't in our database.” The words of the soldiers sent shivers down his spine, confirming what he already suspected; these people were from a new, unknown, species, probably from the other side of the galaxy or even a different one altogether.

“Hmmm… interesting… try to decode the message and keep an eye on them; report me any suspect move and tell the decryption team to report any progress on the message to me directly.” “Understood Sir.” said the soldier before addressing him the regular salute.

“What are they planning?” grumbled Dereck, upset of being left in complete darkness. “Can I suggest something sir?” asked the pilot. “Go ahead… can't be a silly idea in our situation.” “Well… I was thinking maybe they are trying to regroup. I mean… by doing that they would be able to defend themselves more efficiently against an eventual assault. They have the technology for that after all.” “That is a good point but that would take those ages to find another suitable spot and expose them to more risks along the way.” “It's some basic strategy sir… I mean I’m not sure certain but it seems like a valid solution to me, that’s what we do, that’s what anyone would do, regroup to improve the survival chances. Or they’re possibly heading for some wreckage to salvage more equipment.” Suggested the pilot. “You're right…” admitted Dereck, observing the quick, yet also slow preparation going on down below, “but it's taking way too long!” shouted shouted out of boredom and held back frustration. He was really antsy, being in that tiny vessel for so many hours was getting on his nerves and he absolutely needed to see some action. “I agree to that Sir… my butt is starting to ache from sitting all day in here if I may say so.” “It's rather cramped in here.” approved the third man. “Then let's give them a little kick…” “A-are you… are you sure sir?” gasped the third man, “I… I don’t mean to question your decision but… disturbing them could jeopardize the whole operation and cause an… unexpected and potentially violent response from them.” “I’m aware of the risks” retorted Dereck in a grunt, “but that would also give us an opportunity to observe their reaction in case of danger. “You… you’re right sir, I… I was just making sure that you fully knew the risks..” mumbled the man, going back to his tablet.

He took the radio and called two ships that were flying nearby, describing large circle around them. “Wolfpack leader do you copy?” “Wolfpack leader come in.” “I'd like you to descend just above the trees and perform a low altitudes passage over them.” “Do we have authorization to open fire?” “Negative; just fly above them one time or two I'd like to see how they react to that.” “Understood, beginning descent.” “And don't forget to disable your cloaking.” “Who do you think we are?! Beginners?” Huffed the pilot, quite pissed off and craving action as well.


…………………


Two long hours; two endless hours that he was standing there in the middle of the heavy stench of disinfectant and blood; two unbearably long hours of waiting on his feet in the middle of this place. The small hospital they managed to install in the camp was absolutely full, just walking without stepping on the corps lying in the bare ground was a challenge. And there, in the middle of this mess, of the constant whines and cries of the injured, in the senseless blabbers of those to they gave painkillers; in the stench of dried blood, surrounded by doctors grumbling under their breath was Lyam, sprawled on some sort of blanket full of his blood. He looked better, slightly better but that was already a relieving improvement. The nanobots had done a great work of regenerating his flesh, all the wounded areas were slowly covering with layers of red flesh pounding in time with his heart. Some areas had even recovered that absolutely gorgeous mix of black and golden yellow scales, leaving only barely distinguishable scars behind. “How is he doing?” “Fine… his vital signs are stable, we just put him in an artificial coma to avoid him suffering too much but he is doing just fine. We're just having trouble keeping the auxiliary power source we've connected to him; he is draining energy cells at an incredible rate.” The doctor stopped to clean his old school glasses that seemed to be a millennium or two old. “Is it everything?” “No… his augments are problematic too.” “Explain.” rumbled Nick, on the verge of breaking this guy's glasses. “Most of them are prototypes which we've never been confronted before so we don't really know how to proceed with these… on the programming side. Every action seems to trigger some security measures.” “Is there no one good enough to break the code?” enquired Nick. “Someone is already working on it but the material we are using is… how to put that… in a state not proper for that kind of use.” “I see…” signed Nick, frustrated but still understanding how critical their situation was. “We've also taken the liberty to shut down some of his augments.” Quickly added the doctor, continuing to mechanically clean his glasses. “What!” roared Nick in a spike of anger. "You don't have to worry; the one we shut down are none vital, we just needed to reduce the energy consumption to ensure a stable condition and potentially help his recovery. For now he cannot move his posterior limbs and do very few limited action with his forelimbs. We've also disabled some other functions like… well let's see… digestive system, his… his tail and…  I don't remember them all but there was one about his reproductive system.” Listed the doctor in a reassuring tone. “Wait he has augments there too?” “Apparently yes but it doesn't look to me like he has a lot of uses of it and…”

"Attack!" roared someone outside causing a jolt of adrenaline to run through him.. “Oh no…” whispered Nick, running out, instinctively putting his left hand on the stock of the pistol, the gun having not left his pocket since he had arrived. Once out he had no trouble finding the source of the panic; at the horizon, just over the top of the trees appeared two black points in the blue sky. “Ships inbound from the south!” screamed another panicked voice. “Everyone gets to cover!” roared Nick, the two dots quickly growing in size, heading straight for them.

In a loud, ear-shattering hiss the two ships flew over them at high speed, following a straight path over the clearing without attacking, as if they had not even seen them and were just passing by. “Strange…” mumbled Nick. He kept looking at the sky where the ships were slowly disappearing in the distance, returning to the state of tiny black marks in the distance. He had never seen a ship like this. The size said it was a fighter but the shape was unknown to him. This ship was thin, curved like a blade… or some arrow with the only thing that broke the perfect slickness of the metal surface being large rounded exhaust port at the back from which blue flames came out in a constant flow.

“Oh man what the fuck was that!” exclaimed someone. Slowly everyone came out of hiding, examining the sky in search for another threat trying to approach. Yet the skies were peaceful and perfectly clear, showing a vibrant blue color depraved of any cloud. “Ok everyone we have to hurry; we're not safe here anymore! I want everything to be ready in an hour for our departure.” Without questioning everyone went to work, soldiers sprinting in all direction to prepare everything for transport, working around the clock to ensure everything was ready for their imminent departure, a sense of urgency filling the already heavy air.

Meanwhile he returned in the tent; making sure that all the equipment was there and helping to pack it tightly in large cases they promptly sealed. “Crisis meeting!” he ordered once everything had been taken care of. Everyone regrouped around an unstable table in the center of the room, all of them wearing grave looks on their faces. “As I suspected we are not alone on this planet.” “We all saw Sir.” “I even suspect they also brought the Hope to the ground.” He added, causing everyone’s jaw to drop in shock. “It's possible but we cannot be sure…” protested someone. “I am! I saw them fire at us from the planet surface.” Retorted Nick in a harsh tone. Silence weighted the atmosphere as each person around the table lowered his head in a silent prayer. “So I guess we're on the enemy's ground.” “It's what it looks like to say the least.” “I believe we all here agree to say that in that situation we can't defend ourselves. We have to meet up with the others as soon as possible. Am I clearly understood?” let out Nick, slamming his fist in the table, causing it to crumple unexpectedly. “Yes sir.” Replied everyone, going back to their work, doing all they could to ensure they left as soon as possible.


…………………


One hour later the group of survivors was moving, entering the jungle through a narrow path. Nick was in the first lines of the convoy, having traded his small pistol for a heavy riffle better suited to fight the many dangers of the jungle. The convoy was composed of a first line of two clones that opened and cleared the way, followed closely by a column of heavily armed soldiers. Then came all the other, some in grapes carrying boxes or helping injured. In the center were all the medics and engineers forming a circle around the most seriously wounded ones and Lyam. He was awake but paralyzed and muted, only able to observe the amazing forest. Everyone was silently afraid, observing each hole, each crack of the bark on tree trunks, each gap in the green roof, each tiny rivulet they crossed; awaiting danger at every corner. Above all they feared the sound more than the sight of the ships, listening to every sound, to every shift in the wind, tensing at every rustle in the leaves. Like this they were making a perfect target, easy to take down for a skilled pilot or a good old incendiary bomb. Moreover above the immediate threat they stared at the sky in search of another sign, clouds announcing the rain. Everyone had in mind the incredible ravage it had done; how the nature on this planet craved for it to the point of becoming as dangerous as an animal. Nick had thought his first experience of the forest had been an exhausting challenge, he had no idea it would be ten times worse at least with all the heavy stuff they were carrying. They spent much more time clearing the way, setting temporary bridges for the other and burning tree blocking the way. If someone had been watching from the sky it would have been easy for them to track them down.

Tempests of insects were flying with loud buzzing noise, swirling around them like pesky flies, pissing everyone off. After hours of painfully slow and tensed crawl rather than walk through the forest everyone was tired, on the edge of losing their nerves, the medics increasingly antsy from having the wounded out in the open in the hazardous environment, soldiers so tensed they looked on the verge of snapping, even the clones looked… somewhat annoyed. As the already dim light decreased, announcing the arrival of night they began to hear sounds in the foliage, like someone walking in the bush. What was it? An animal? An enemy? The entire group came to a stop tensed, scanning their surrounding, weapons safety off, ready to fire at any sign of trouble. Soon the shuffling sounds surrounded them yet they still couldn’t see a thing. “I don't like this…” grumbled Nick, arming his riffle. “Me neither.” added another soldier, imitating his chief.

A violent light suddenly came out of the bushed, blinding them, forcing the entire group to look away. “Drop your weapon!" shouted a voice. “Don't move!” screamed another. Nick could feel all the canons pointed on his head; the heavy and low breathes of tensed soldier, feel their finger on the trigger, ready to press it and unleash a deadly volley on them at the slightest move. “No you drop your weapons!” replied Nick, discreetly throwing a flash grenade in the bushes. The guys looked away, blinded in turn, a loud bang echoing in the quiet forest. “You bastard!" roared one. “Stop this nonsense immediately!” ordered another voice, louder and more commanding than the other, covering all outcries in an instant, turning everyone to silent stones. The lights were shut down, leaving them in darkness, everyone looking at each other in utter confusion. “We were expecting you two hours ago.” exclaimed a voice Nick knew well. “Easy for you to say.” grumbled Nick; quite cranky after that exhausting journey that had left everyone antsy. “Accept my apologies but we're a bit stressed out. I guess you understand that.” Spoke the voice, Nick still unable to clearly locate it. “I do as long as you don't shoot us down.” “It's ok; everyone let them go they are friends.”

There was a moment of hesitation in between them, everyone looking at the closest person, trying their best to understand what was going on. Slowly weapons were lowered in a metallic rattle as everyone began grumbling apologies, the tension going away, replaced by an intense and communicative joy of finally be surrounded by friendly faces. “You'd better follow us before night falls.” Encouraged the voice. “I couldn't agree more.” Sighed Nick in utter relief. They followed the second group through the maze of bushes and trees to a path they had already cleared, the soil still wearing the marks of the roots where trees had been removed; the air was hot and acrid, white puffs of smoke and embers still glowing where the flamethrowers had done their deadly office. The second group of soldiers was at least twice larger than their and were of a great support to carry all the stuff, allowing the other a great relief time they needed. The path they used became larger, forming a clean cut in the tree, offering them a gorgeous view of the orangish sky as the suns fell below the horizon. To Nick's surprise this planet had two suns orbiting around one another, rising and falling in time, basking the planet in a glow between red and orange he had never seen before. The alley surrounded by fallen trees led to another clearing much like the one they had left so many hours ago but much bigger; at least three time the size of their first site. “We've started to settle in here before you arrived.” started the man he had seen on the holo screen as the group entered in the perimeter of a much larger and well-organized camp, “but without the fabrication units we won’t go far. I mean we have the resources for them; look around you there is plenty of usable matter here ready to be picked up, but the problem is that we can't activate them and without them we are screwed. We need weapons and ammos; we need medical supplies, and we absolutely must get better things than these tents otherwise we won't go much further, and we won’t survive the next storm.” “I know that.” “I hope your little protege will be able to help us…” “He will… we just need the code in his chip anyway.”

“You're right. Lucky enough we’ve got the gears and the people to extract the data from his chip.” “There is just a slight issue with this…" whispered Nick nervously, to the displeasure of the other man. “What now?” “The chip has been damaged.” Explained Nick in an embarrassed tone, “along with… everything else…” “Let's hope it's not beyond repair then.” Huffed the man, annoyed by this setback. “Yes… let's hope so."

Nick observed quietly as Lyam was taken away, disappearing behind the white veil of the medical tent, leaving him alone with the others. He followed the black man whose name was John in another tent. “I have to warn you Sir we've been attacked.” He let out once they were out of hearing range from anyone else, like it was an insignificant detail. The information took Nick like a blow in the balls. “What!? When?” “Right when we were about to leave.” Explained the man. “Tell me everything; I want to know every detail.” ordered Nick. “We were packing things up when a sentinel heard a sound from what we suppose is the east then two unidentified vessels flew over us at a low altitude.” “And after?”

John motioned toward a clone standing outside the tent; he was firmly positioned on his paws and was wearing a wide goofy smile on his face. Yet in that smile Nick could identify a hint of pride and satisfaction; the same satisfaction he saw on soldier's face after a tough mission finally accomplished. “This guy there has managed to take down one of them.” Proudly announced John, to a vigorous nod from the clone, it’s tail swaying widely. “Take down?!” gasped Nick, staring at the clone in dismay. “Well… he managed to hit own and inflict some serious damage to it.”

Nick's face darkened, his expression becoming grim and serious. “You know they're gonna come back with much more firepower now.” “And we will be ready to give them a warm welcome in the human way.” “Are you sure we have the fire power to withstand an attack?” “I'd bet my life on it. A single clone was able to damage one of them, and now that we have everyone gathered and the fabricators soon running at full capacity, we will be able to handle anything.”

Nick glared at the two machine guns he had installed on his shoulders and the energy gun weighting his back. He wasn’t as certain as his companion about their defensive capabilities in an unknown planet against a foreign and unidentified threat. Damaging a ship was already a respectful achievement under such circumstances but could they take down an entire fleet? “Beside we haven't used our secret weapon yet.” “A secret weapon? We have a secret weapon?” interrogated Nick, intrigued, a devious smirk curling John’s lips. “Let me show you." answered John, slamming his fist in a control unit which's screen trembled before unfolding a large map representing the clearing where they were established. “We have posted several guns we have found in the debris at several points around the camp in the forest and so are barely visible from above.” “What caliber?" “The highest we have.” Nick smiled, relieved. They weren't defenseless after all. “And we have some of the artillery team working on them; they’ve repaired everything and are only waiting to put them to use.”

At that exact moment someone barged into the tent, he was panting hard, sweating like he had run several miles. His armor was in pieces, cracked and pierced like he had been hit by some sort of explosives yet there was no mark of such thing on his face. Instead, there was a large smile of pure happiness on that pale figure. “Sir we have managed to recover the chip access code.” He triumphantly announced. An effervescence like he had never seen before took hold of the entire room. It was hard to understand the magnitude of the situation at that moment, everyone was shouting, crying out loud, cuddling with the closest person, and simply being happy and relieved. Maybe they had a chance to survive. “What are you waiting for? Go activate the units.” Exclaimed John, struggling to contain his own joy. “We haven't waited for your approval sir.” answered the man.

Nick heard the familiar rumble of the fabrication units getting to work; absorbing matter and forming whatever they needed. Only the limit of their imagination would define the use of these so precious black boxes.


…………………


Dereck was ranting; everything was going wrong. Below him the aliens had installed their camp in another clearing in the forest, cutting trees, melting other to the ground, crafting solid-looking homes with a roof to shelter them at an incredible pace, building a reliable and defendable home for themselves on his planet. Since the sun had settled and the two groups had met they hadn't stopped for a single second, as if being together game them new motivation and unimaginable vigor. Now the entire clearing looked like a real base; powerful lamps were sweeping the forest and night sky alike; searching for traces of threats. Weapons, walls, pieces of framework kept coming out of the ruthless machines working at a restless pace, providing them with a constant flow of supplies to build their shelters. The giant beast accompanying them were patrolling around the camp’s perimeter, sniffing at the air like they sensed a danger was coming, their back adorned with a bone-chilling arsenal. Dereck should have been amazed by how quickly these creatures adapted to the hostile environment, how they bent nature to their wishes; how they were capable of crafting from nothing, turning the surrounding forest in resources for them, but he wasn't in the mood to be ecstatic. For a few hours everything had been going wrong; very wrong, the situation degrading quickly… too quickly.

When he had sent the fighters, he expected to trigger panic or mayhem not to get a retaliation. And it had gone according to plan when the ships had flown over the first group, the survivors panicking and hurrying to leave their first location, however the second group had been a completely different story. He had been shocked, left speechless when he had heard the pilot yelling on the radio “THEY'RE FIRING AT ME!” At first Dereck hadn't believed the dude, thinking he was just overreacting. He imagined the aliens firing desperately with their pathetic weaponry, trying to shoot an uncatchable predator, nothing worrying. However, when he heard the next call he lost all composure, falling back in his seat. “I'M HIT! I'M HIT! ENGINE DAMAGED, RETURNING TO BASE!!!”

A ball had formed in his throat, making him suffocate suddenly, like the ship had no more air to breath. They all waited anxiously, wishing the pilot would make it safely back to base. Dereck was antsy, walking in the ship like a caged animal, frustrated at not having anticipated that possibility. Finally, the bad news came: the fighter ship had crashed on its way back to base and caught fire on the ground after impacting with the trees at high speed; research had given no result and the probability of the pilot surviving such an accident was inexistent. Since then, he had lost all control on the situation, relieved of his duties the moment the information had reached his superiors, the admiral himself taking direct commandment over the operation. Orders then came in; his ships were to hold position and expect to regroup with the admiral’s fleet and await further instruction. At this point he was just a mere passenger along for the ride, deprived of all authority. He could only observe powerlessly as more combat ships gathered around the clearing where they had established, preparing for assault when the order would be given to them. Meanwhile he was receiving calls from every people above him in the hierarchy; blaming him for failing so miserably to lead the operation; for putting the life of his men at risk in such an easy task. No one was giving him credit anymore, even his mother, miss Swighraz had been cold and barely containing her anger and disappointment when he had talked to her in a quick communication. An hour later he had been dismissed of his position as commander of the operation and was just allowed to stay there and observe the procedure unfold before his eyes and was to expect a military court trial once back to base. So, he waited, watching through the window as ships kept arriving, forming an invisible mass in the dark moonless sky; a Damocles sword ready to stab the unaware strangers at any moment. In the end he found himself depressed, sitting on the small table in the center of the ship, looking at the map of the area witnessing the hovering crowd of combat ship awaiting the order to unleash a barrage of fiery inferno.

“I wonder what they're gonna do of the specimen.” mumbled the pilot under his breath. Like Dereck he hadn’t spoken much since the incident and the sound of his voice in the cockpit made everyone flinch. “The… the specimen…” stammered Dereck, his brain flaccid and numb from the lack of thought. It took him a long time to understand, for the information to make its way in his head and trigger a single reaction. Suddenly he jumped from his seat, his eyes glowing with a new light like he had received a sudden enlightenment. There was still a spark of hope left, a hope of avoiding a blood bath. Dereck rushed to the console and established connection with the admiral ship located a few yards away from his. Careless he broke all elementary rules and contacted directly the colonel now in charge of the operation. A sinister face materialized on the screen, gazing angrily at this rooky soldier that dared to bother him. “Admiral…” saluted Dereck, earning no better response than an angry glare and a low annoyed growl. “What do you want soldier we're in the middle of an operation, so you'd better have a good reason to disturb me in such a critical moment.” “Yes Sir I do" answered Dereck, hiding his excitement as best as he could, “We have reported the presence of a protected specimen among them.”

The admiral’s face lost all color as he interrogatively glanced at his subordinates, the other holographic faces around him showing different degrees of embarrassment. The commander was looking away with an expression saying I wasn't aware of that. The only one that didn’t seem phased was Miss Swighraz who was slyly smiling, giving Dereck a discreat thumbs up, amused by the turn of events. She was the only one acting rather naturally, not surprised at all by the turn of events. “The sergeant is right admiral, we have located a specimen among the invaders.” she said; the most casually possible, “But I'll let the sergeant VenHevreyk explain it to you.” “Explain then…” grunted the admiral. “This specimen is part of an ancient species inhabiting this system and must be protected at all cost!” started Dereck, putting all the weight he could on the word protect. “May I know why?” questioned the intrigued admiral, leaning forward to better observe him. “He is protected by some old treaty, miss Swighraz can give you more details on that. What you must know is we will he in even greater troubles if he receives a single bullet in the guts.” Explained Dereck insistently. “What kind of retaliation can we expect if this agreement is broken?” “Not just some scattered survivors that’s for sure, but rather an immense army coming at our borders to unleash apocalypse on us.” “In that case we shall change strategy." Reluctantly grumbled the admiral. He examined his plans for some time, hesitating on what approach to choose, everyone looking at him suspended to his lips and decision. “Is his presence on the site confirmed?” Dereck threw a quick glance at the last scan of the area. It took him a second or so to locate the different signals this specimen emitted. “Presence confirmed. He appears to be in the… white… block… like thing in the center. I’m sending you the coordinates right now.” "Roger.”

Dereck observed as the admiral edited his map, adding a sign above the building he had signaled on which was written “PRIORITY TARGET.” He chuckled to himself; maybe he could flip the table once again. “Can I suggest trying a smoother approach?” he asked; throwing an insisting look as the diplomacy chief who winked in answer.

The colonel snarled, apparently it wasn't his way of doing things. “Do you suggest sending a diplomatic team after what happened?” grumbled the commander in apparent disbelief. “Why not?" She replied, on the defensive.

Everyone became silent like tombs, suspended to the lips of the commander who were twitching nervously. “Accorded but at the first sign of aggressively we abort this and open fire. Am I clearly understood Miss Swighraz.” Warned the admiral. “Crystal clear sir.”


……………………


“At this rate he'll be standing upright tomorrow.” Nick was relieved, the good news came at the best moment. Lyam was laying on a blanket a few steps away from him; showing off a warm toothy smile. He was already in a better shape although some of the mechanical parts of his body were still exposed and dripping a blue gelatinous liquid everywhere. “I'm not completely finished with his augments; I just need a few more components to finish the repairs on his lower limbs but he'll be able to walk tomorrow at best.” Explained the man, following Nick’s gaze. “I'm really relieved to know that. Thanks man you did an awesome job.” “I wasn't alone… I got a helpful hand.” he added, nodding toward Lyam who answered with a wide grin. “I wouldn't dare to take all the credits for myself, without you I'd be stuck here. All my knowledges are useless if I can't repair myself.” Humbly replied Lyam, bowing his head down, a light blush growing on his cheek. “Let's say it's a fifty-fifty then.” “I like it." approved Lyam.

Lyam turned his gaze toward Nick, offering him a sight that left him puzzled. He was smiling happily yet there was something else in that smile; something that made him feel uncomfortable once again; like every time he was close to Lyam in fact. This smile hid something else, something he knew it too well. Behind the veil of happiness, he was showing another face. Nick knew how tricky Lyam could be; how he played with the others as much as with himself; how easily he could get under people's tail. But it wasn't what Nick saw at that exact moment. He saw something else, a thing intended for him and him only. He tensed, trembling nervously. “Anyway, until the last components arrive I'll be in another room to finish the programming; I'll leave you two here.” Announced the man. “Thank you man, you've done a great job.” “It's nothing for me.” He chuckled in return. “From where do you know that?” “Oh, I had a life before I boarded in this shit.” Elusively replied the man, not willing to elaborate. "Anyway, I owe you one!” “No problem.” He let out as he left; grabbing what he had left on a desk made of several board nailed together and closed the door behind him.

“Pfew thought he would never leave." sighed Lyam, stretching his forepaws, getting rid of the stiffness in them. “Are you ok?” “I still can't move the lower half of my body and I feel kinda naked without my scales and augments and I’m*yowl* really tired but all of that aside I'm pretty fine. I didn't imagine I could survive such a fall.” Nick smiled; the crash hadn't changed him at all. “I'm glad we both managed to make it out of this mess.” “Yeah me too.” answered Lyam, nuzzling Nick's shoulder, “And you Nick are you ok?” “Yeah I'm fine; just some cuts and bruises and an awkward experience with the plants but I'm alright. In fact,… you… you took most of the blow for me… not to say… everything.” “I know Nick because… unlike you… I…  I didn't faint when we were hit. I stayed awake the whole time until the moment we impacted the ground. I felt everything; the heat; the pressure… everything.”

Nick's guts twisted violently “How… how did it feel?” he asked, immediately regretting his curious question. “It… it was horrible…. First there was the heat, so… so intense… scorching. I… I felt my scales melt on me, turning into white-hot goo that only harmed me more. Then… the pressure squeezed me, turning my bones to dust, breaking the circuits, doing humongous ravage in my augments. Then… as we accelerated, I felt my skin… my flesh… my muscles being stripped away from me layer after layer.” Nick was reeled, horrified by the bone chilling story Lyam was recounting. “It… it must have been so painful…” he mumbled, trying to not imagine. “There is no word to describe it.” Nick didn't have to ask what happened after. He knew for sure that it kept going on and on until they hit the trees where they remained, suspended above the ground, tangled in branches. “But I'm glad I did this for you.” purred Lyam, affectionately nuzzling Nick's arm. “Why do you say that?” “Because I like you silly.”

Nick froze. An electrical jolt shaking his whole frame, Lyam's words, back in the ship reasoned in his head. “Lyam… when we were in the ship you… you did something…” “I kissed you…”, simply and casually responded the dragon, eyes glinting with joy and malice as a broad and warm smile curled his lips. “Yeah…” answered Nick, a warm blush reddening his cheeks “and you…” “I know I, said I loved you, and so what?” huffed Lyam like he was bothered by these questions. “Did you really mean it?” let out Nick in a faint whisper, so ashamed by his own word. “What kissing you? Yes of course I meant it I've done it anyway and without regrets. However, when I said I love you… I… I might have been a bit too… brutal… too… quick too. I… I didn't really realize the weight of my words back then.” “So, you don't mean it?” “Not exactly; I… I like you a lot but… not to the point of… falling in love for you. But… as a friend… a good friend… a great friend with… benefits but… not a lover.” Stammered Lyam, eyes darting in all directions as his cheeks became a deep red, the dragon looking sincerely embarrassed for the very first time.

Nick didn't say a word. “Although I loved what we did together…” whispered Lyam with a meaningful glance at the human. “You mean what you did to me?” “Well… not only that… also these few days we spent together were awesome and you're a handsome guy. I mean… for the first time someone didn’t treat me just like a mindless puppet. Sure, you did it at first like all the others but I know you changed your mind on me. For the very first time I felt like I had a friend; a true friend in flesh and bones.” “I could say the same thing of you… for a clone at least. It’s true you’re rather handsome… and adorable… when you don’t unload everywhere.” “I'll take that as a compliment; thank you." grunted Lyam, showing the same wide grin. Nick grumbled a few words under his breath and looked away. Next to him Lyam moved around; like he was uncomfortable in that position. “Are you ok?” “Yeah; I'm just bored of lying there all the time.” “What could I do to help?” “I could enjoy a few rubs.” “Smells fishy to me.” Growled Nick, throwing the dragon a suspicious gaze. “What there is no trap; I'd really like a rub… you know… under the chin.”

“Oh… like this?” asked Nick as he began to rub Lyam at a specific spot where his neck and snout met, Lyam purring loudly like a big scaly cat in return, grinding back against Nick's hand, begging for more. “Oh yeas… that's the spot.” he moaned. Nick smiled, amused by the cuddly behavior of the dragon like everything didn't matter anymore aside from the slow back and forth motion of this soft skinned hand over his sweet spot. “Oh man… for a military guy who has a weapon in hand all day you really do have soft hands.” Cooed the dragon, greatly enjoying the affection. Nick smiled in return, rubbing slightly lower while his other free hand fondled his head in between his horns, earning more low purrs in reward. Wait horns! To his own shock Lyam had two stubby horns protruding from the back of his skull. They had an ivory color but with a yellowish hue and formed a slight backward curve. “Where do these come from?” “The horns… I don't really know. I guess the GMD is messing around again.” “The what?” “The Growth Management Device. It's an augment that prevent my growth cycle to follow its normal course, so I don’t grow huge like the other you’ve seen. However, it's not the only functionality it has. It also prevents growth spurts like right now. I mean it's going against the wits of nature.” “I see… and these horns are because…” “Because it has been damaged in the accident and stops functioning from time to time. I always did have the horns, but I had them cut short before the beginning of the journey. But let's stop talking about technology and go back to the rub; I really enjoy that part.” Cooed Lyam, nudging insistently against Nick’s hand.

Nick smirked, giving Lyam's chin a gentle scratch, testing the soft, supple scales. “Nick… could you go a bit lower please?” “Sure…” willingly obeyed Nick, caressing and fondling Lyam's neck. After some weird body maneuvers Lyam managed to roll on his side, exposing his belly and chest for more rubs. “Hmmm… you really know how to please me. Do you?” he cooed deeply, delighted by all this caresses. “It's not hard you're reacting just like a normal pet.” Chuckled Nick amusingly. “Yes but I'm not your pet; beside I don't think there are a lot of pets like me.” Giggled Lyam. Nick silently agreed.

The rubbing session kept going on as Nick explored the dragon’s body, finding out how ticklish these paws were; located exactly where his sensitive points were. Suddenly Lyam pushed his hands away with his paws, staring deeply into Nick's eyes with a cold gaze. “I think that's enough, we both know which part of my body I want you to rub.” Cooed the dragon, a devious smirk plastered across his snout. “I guess so… should have seen it coming” sighed Nick, crossing his arms over his lap. “But you know I won't oblige, and you won't be able to force me this time.”

Lyam looked away, his grin vanishing, his eyes avoiding Nick as his lips twitched. “Speaking of last time, I guess it's a good time for me to apologize to you.” Let out Lyam in a barely audible whimper.  “What do you…” “I… haven't been completely honest with you…” admitted Lyam, looking away in shame. “I knew it!” shouted Nick, jumping on his feet, “I knew I shouldn't have believed you. It was all a wicked plan of your twisted malfunctioning mind to drag me into your dirty games!” “You're totally wrong Nick it's not that at all.” Pitifully squeaked the guilty dragon. “Explain me then!” “I… I haven't been dishonest with you… well… not entirely.” “Lyam don't try to fool me!” “I… I… I haven't lied to you… well… not… mostly…” “Lyam! You’re digging your own grave there and I don’t have the patience right now to listen to your bushtit so spill it out!”

“I… I… I've been… planning it that's true but… but I… I… I lost control, it… it wasn’t supposed to end up like this….” “Now you're saying it's not your fault!” “Exactly!” roared Lyam, cutting Nick off before he could open his mouth again “The truth is the nanobots really went crazy and made me produce tones of seed like I was in some sort of… heat season I guess; but… it… it didn't start the day when I… trapped you; it had begun long before probably a few days before you awoke. You remember how often I…I… touched myself?” “How could I forget even after you left your stench was still everywhere in my room.” “Yeah… anyway I… I think it was already building up at that moment. I… I was so horny back then. I… I couldn't control it. It… it stimulated parts of my brain I didn't even knew existed; awaking these craves inside me and made even a breeze feel pleasurable.” “And what is the link with me?” “Well…  I… I like you… I… really do. You make me feel all kinds of new emotions and desires like never before and I… wanted you… like… really wanted you. I… I loved spending time with you and… being close to you but… before I could even try to tell you… we were separated. I guess I missed my… chance back then…” whispered Lyam in a barely audible whimper, gazing at the white wall far away from Nick. “I… I didn't want this to end so abruptly and… I… I wanted to… I… I don't really know…  I… I wanted to keep you close and to… achieve… something I had never done before. I suppose you know what it is?” “Mating?” “Yes…”, mumbled Lyam, shuddering and blushing profusely at the same time. “So, you wanted to mate with me?” "Yes… but… I didn't know how to bring it to you. You were already losing your mind when I dared to pleasure myself so asking you to mate with me… I… I was scared to ask. And… when I finally had the courage to ask you, that last night we spent together… that seemed to just you uncomfortable so… I stopped.”

Nick sighed; he had no idea of the deepness of the dragon's feelings toward him. "So… I decided to hide it; to keep it to myself but the urge kept growing against my will and then you arrived the most casually of the world and… and I felt like if I didn’t catch this opportunity there would be no other chance.” “And then you decided to trick me.” Deducted Nick. “It was the best way I found at the time otherwise I think you wouldn't have left the room unharmed. I… I have to admit I was too horny for my own good back then… but… it really sounded like a good idea at first. And I must admit you felt even better inside me than I imagined.”

Nick gulped down heavily, understanding the hidden meaning. “And you expect me to do that again now?” huffed Nick. “Exactly!” grinned Lyam, vigorously nodding his head, “Fat chance Lyam” chuckled Nick. “Come on, don’t deny it; you enjoyed it as much as I did and I'm sure you only crave for more of it… well… at least a little.” “We aren't all as dirty as you Lyam and as I said I won't fall for your tricks once again.” Growled Nick on the defensive. “Oh, I don't need to trick you anymore Nick. I know for sure you'll come on your own.” “Let me laugh.” sniggered Nick, determined to not fall for the plan the horny dragon had devised.

Lyam chuckled to himself, twisting his body again to manually move one hind paw out of the way, exposing the red tip of his shaft peeking from his fleshy slit. Nick only realized how thick with musk the air had become around him, his own member pressing tightly against his own pants. He mumbled something even he didn't understand and looked away. “See you're already eager for it.” Giggled the dragon on the tone of evidence, designating the bulge in Nick's pant, “You can try to play tough but deep down I know you want it. You wouldn’t have been that hard back then if you hadn’t been excited by it, you wouldn’t have fucked me that vigorously if you hadn’t wanted it.” “You're the horny one here!” retorted Nick; pouncing the dragon's snout. “I have to admit talking about it had me really worked up but that's not the point.” "Yeah yeah don't try to evade the conversation again”. Lyam huffed, getting annoyed by the human’s resistance. “Come on Nick stop denying we both know that you want it as much as I do and this time there is no trickery, no forcing your hand and since I can’t really move… I’m all yours to enjoy.” These words caused Nick to uncontrollably shudder as he turned his attention back toward the dragon. This time their gaze met for a split second, a second they spent silently battling together. Nick knew Lyam was right, as much as he could deny it, he enjoyed being with the dragon and their heated session even if it hadn't been wanted and not consensual had been pleasurable for both of them. His body still remembered the tightness of his hole squeezing and massaging his shaft, the warmth of the dragon’s cock in his grasp and in his mouth, the contact of his slick scales against his own naked skin. And above all, he recalled their intense and passionate kiss as the ship was shattered around them. Before his eyes Lyan's length kept growing, swelling with blood as it throbbed, the red spire rising toward the sky. Lyam let out a series of feeble moans, showing how aroused he was as pre started to drizzle down his length, giving the red flesh a shiny look. Nick gasped; it was too much for him, the intoxicating scent of the aroused dragon overpowering his senses. With a louder moan Lyam's knot slipped out of his slit in a stream of natural lube. “I know you want it Nick… go ahead… don't be shy.” He groaned; teasing his tip with a claw; letting drops of his pre gather on the sharp ivory blade before bringing it to his mouth and lapping hungrily; enjoying the taste of his own fluids, putting on an alluring show for the human.

Nick snarled, keeping his hands closed, not budging a muscle. “Why don't you do it yourself?” “Well, I still have half of my body stuck. Beside… I love the sensation of your hands over it, and I’m not staying that to tease you, I really love how they feel around my dick.” Grinned Lyam; giving his member a long caress; earning an eager throb in reward. Nick once again was astonished; how could Lyam be so… lewd about it? He was literally offering himself for viewing once again without a hint of shame; like everything didn't matter to him, not giving a damn about the fact they were in a public place and someone could come in at any moment. “Come on Nick… I'm waiting for you.” He purred; giving his large member a squeeze; more pre squirting from the tip. “What… what if… what if someone enters?” “Don't worry, nobody ever comes here and the guy that was there won’t come back before a long time, programming is a complex job that requires precision and focus and a unique technique in that case, so we have a lot of spare time for us.” Lyam became silent several seconds then added, “for your last concern I don't want to mate with you; I don't even feel my hole so it would be no fun to do it now.” “So what do you want then?” “Your hand… there…" purred Lyam, pointing at his own throbbing maleness; his paws slick with his spilled fluids. “Simply that?” enquired Nick, still suspicious. “Yes… simply a few… strokes.”

Nick stayed stunned. “Come on… let's not lose any more time.” Groaned Lyam, taking an even more attractive position, offering Nick a gorgeous display of virile dragon maleness. Lyam’s balls rested just below that cock; rolling in their sack; plump and heavy with fresh seed waiting for him to free it of the tight confine of these spheres. In perfect silence Nick extended a cautious hand toward the dripping member, grasping the thick shaft with gentleness. Lyam moaned loudly, trashing against the blanket. “Oh god… I forgot how these hands felt…” groaned the dragon, looking down at the hand enveloping his shaft.

Nick smiled, focusing on the twitching shaft, wrapping his fingers around the girth; slowly stroking it up and down. Lyam groaned loudly, more precum spurting from his tip; like he was already close to the edge. How could he be so pent up already? Lyam’s eagerness and constant desire never ceased to amaze him; he would always be in a mood for a bit of fun down there. Nick observed in silence the dragon edging closer to climax, groaning, muscles tensing and stiffening, cock swelling and bloating with his impending release; all of that under his expert touch. Pleasuring Lyam was easy; all his pole was receptive to his rubs and strokes; every slightest motion seemed to trigger a spike of pleasure in the dragon’s body; he just had to find the sweetest spots and give them the attention they craved for. “Oh… oh yes… just like this… keep going… I'm so close.” Nick smiled; Lyam; in his lust addled state was panting; howling loudly; slamming himself in the blanket as every fiber of his being impatiently waited the sweet relief. Nick grasped more firmly at the slippery shaft; his other hand massaging the fat knot; feeling every throb and twitch of the hard flesh as the dragon came closer and closer to the edge. Lyam roared out, his member jumping in Nick's grip, erupting with thick ropes of fresh semen that splattered everywhere on the blanket. Nick kept stroking Lyam’s shaft like a fruit he would extract the juices from; milking Lyam for all the seed he had. “Oh by the stars I'm so… empty.” He moaned, panting raggedly, eyes clouded with lust, looking down at the mess he had made. “For once.” Snickered Nick, slowly letting go of the shaft, his hands drenched in dragon cum.

“Yeah yeah… you know you're really good with these hands of yours; maybe better at masturbating me than handling a gun.” Taunted Lyam in response. “Shut up.” “Come on… I’ll let you use my semen canon.” Chuckled Lyam. “Nice way to describe your dick… but I’ll have to refuse. It’s not some reliable equipment you have down there.” “You’ll pay for that… I’ll paint your face in white.” “Yeah yeah… we’ll talk about that once you’ll have recharged that tiny thing of yours. I suppose it will take you a long time to have a new load ready.” “You’ll see.” Hissed Lyam, gently wrestling with Nick, “I’ll have plenty of this for you before you know it.” Nick was about to open his mouth, yet Lyam was faster; way faster “Next time… I’ll be the one rutting you… I swear to the stars I’ll make you moan your heart out.” Nick froze; fear crippling his body. Was Lyam serious or was it some other words he said without thinking? The words the dragon spoke had his entire frame trembling in fear, his mind racing with ideas of what Lyam could do to him if he truly wanted to. Having seen how Lyam behaved when overtaken by desire he had no doubt the dragon would get is way with him if he saw fit.

“Enjoying yourself you two?” asked a voice coming from behind. Nick froze; he knew that voice. He knew who was standing in the door frame. He blushed, looking at an empty corner of the room. While doing so he crossed Lyam's gaze.  Even though hazy with lust he spotted in the two amber eyes a hint of shame and guilt. “I see you had quite some fun while I was working?” “It… It's not what it looks like.” Stammered Nick, embarrassed. “Don't deny man I've seen everything. In fact, I left a camera on the desk.” Speechless Nick glanced at the desk where a small, rounded object throned. “It's… embarrassing.” mumbled Lyam, blushing hard. “Don't tell me you were aware of that!?” roared Nick, springing to his feet, snarling at the dragon in anger. “I… I may have been… part of the plan.” “What bastard of a clone!” spat Nick, taking his distances with Lyam. “Don't be mad at him it was my idea.” “What! Why would you do that?” “Because it was fun and because I wanted to see if it was true.” “If what was true?” growled Nick, increasingly confused by the unfolding situation. “That you were a dragon lover silly!” chuckled the man, throwing the two of them an amused glance. “What… no… no I'm not!” “Come on man; everyone knows what you two did on board the ship!” “What!” Gasped Nick, horrified, trembling in a mix of shame and dismay. If it was true, if everyone knew what had happened he was screwed. But how? How could they know? There was only one way.

He turned his fiery gaze toward Lyam. “Hey, don't accuse me!” squealed the now blushing dragon as he bowed his head down “I have nothing to do with this! I haven’t told anyone I swear!” he added, avoiding Nick’s gaze as best as he could. “Chill out man, he is right." chuckled the other, “He has nothing to do with this. It's not his fault at all; you just forgot that there were cameras in every room.” Revealed the man, laughing frantically. “Oh no… don’t tell me…” gasped Nick, struck by the horrible realization that everything he did with Lyam had been recorded. “Yeah, someone found the footage while checking old records and sent everything to the rest of the crew.” “So… everyone saw?” mumbled Nick, his cheeks flushing a bright crimson red in shame and embarrassment. “Yes they did.” “Crap.” “I… I should have been more careful.” mumbled Lyam apologetically, looking away, “I’m sorry I got you into this Nick”. “Nah don't blame yourself these things are so tiny everyone forgets them. You have no idea of how many compromising records we had found.” sniggered the man, waving a hand before him as his face took a rather silly expression. “Anyway, so you tricked me to have sex with him?” “Not quite, I just wanted to see if it was true. Beside Lyam didn't seem to mind at all, in fact he was pretty eager to participate.”

The black and gold dragon's face turned a deep red. “He… he left me no choice.” He whispered; ashamed. Yet in his gaze Nick caught a faint hint of satisfaction. “You really fooled everyone.” “What do you mean?” grumbled Nick, crossing arms, quite pissed off by the unfolding embarrassing situation, expecting something even worse to come. “Telling everyone you hated clones, being all angry and barking at them all the time and while no one is looking screwing one.” “He trapped me!” protested Nick, obfuscated by the comment.

The guy raised a hand, cutting short to the stream of protest. “Calm down I also know that part of the story; there were also microphones, so we know what lengths this devious guy went to get you to comply. But it was all part of a bargain I made with Lyam. He had to trick you in having more fun on camera and I promised I would keep some other records secret and erase the other tapes whenever I could.” “Why?” “Because our dragon friend there doesn’t want others to see him doing naughty things… like… really naughty… and kinda gross things." He added with a knowing gaze aimed straight at Lyam. Nick threw a quizzical look at Lyam who only lowered his head to the ground, pretending to be grooming his scales with long strokes of his tongue. “You promised you wouldn't even bring it up…” he let out after a few seconds of withstanding their combined stares. “Sorry couldn't keep that for me.” “Anyway!” shouted Nick; slamming his hands together, “You had your fun, I was tricked, well done but you had a job to do right?” “Relax its here.” he answered, showing a small hard drive with a thin cable coming out of it. “Just have to plug it in Lyam and start the transfer the new code and do the last adjustments and he'll be good to go.” “Good to know.”

Sounds of footstep echoed in the corridor, coming in their direction, cutting their conversation short. “What again?” sighed Nick in exhaustion. A soldier stopped in the door frame, his mud-stained boots slipping on the slippery floor. He grabbed to the door frame, panting raggedly; trying to catch his breath. He had a pale face and wore in his eyes an expression that Nick rarely saw before; a mixture of amazement and fear; like this guy had seen the most spectacular yet terrifying thing of his life. “Sergeant *PANT PANT* you… you should come out and *gulp*.” “What… what's happening out there?” “Can't tell you… *gasp* just… just follow me.” Nick obliged. “Soldier you should head to your post.” advised the intruder, addressing the other man. “Can I finish…” “No it's a direct order code three.”

Nicks heart skipped a beat. Code three… the worst thing that could ever happen in that kind of situation. In the consortium military dialect, it meant one thing: an attack. They both ran in the corridor, following the running man, leaving Lyam alone in his room, stunned. “Well… catches on later I guess.” He yelled from inside. The man running next to Nick handed him a small object: the hard drive. “Why?” “Just in case. Put it on his right paw there's a plug hidden beneath his skin and press the button. It will start an automated transfer.” “And… and the adjustments?” “He can do them alone once he will be able to move. Beside… I've left something for you… and only you….” “What is it?” questioned Nick, puzzled, burning with curiosity “Something I owe you… and some confidential thing?” he added before winking. “From where do you know how to do that?” “Like I said I had a life before. Oh and name's Frank by the way.” he said, giving him a quick handshake, “See you later dragon fucker!” he shouted as he took a left turn in another corridor.


…………………


Nick couldn't believe his eyes as he stepped out of the building they used as a hospital. Outside all spotlights were pointing toward the sky, brightening the slick forms of ships; like a swarm of metal insects floating in the sky. Nick trembled as reality unfolded before his very eyes. What he saw was nothing more than an army; an unknown army observing them from above; mocking them from their perch, protected by the thick shells of their ships. “Are the canons ready?” he asked to the soldier rushing toward him. “At your command we will open fire.” “Perfect.” Soon John joined him, observing the sky pensively. “We're about to get our hands full.” “Yeah, it will be a tough fight.” grumbled Nick in return, “What happened exactly?” “Don't really know they popped out of nowhere like that.” “Teleportation?” “Nah we would have sensed it before. I'd bet on some invisibility.” “So they were spying on us all along.” “Guess so.” “I hope we're ready for this.” “We are man don't worry. They won't know what kicked their ass back to where they came from.”

Nick nodded, eyes glued to the skies, trying to count all the ships, his guts twisting in apprehension, his heartrate increasing as adrenaline shot in his veins. In the center of the crowd of ships gathering over their head materialized a much bigger one. “The mother ship...” whispered Nick. “Easy guess, it's the biggest.” Snorted John.

A voice crackled in the tiny headphone he had been given; an old model but still very reliable. “Sir, artillery division awaiting orders which one must we aim at?” “The big one but don't open fire until I give you the direct order to do so.” “Roger; loading the guns and waiting for further instruction.” “You should see that.” said John, pointing at the sky. “What the…”

On the belly of the largest ship a hole had opened; metal plates sliding apart, forming a tiny rift from which came out  some sort of nacelle, floating in the sky thanks to four small reactors. Slowly it descended toward them, every gun rising in its direction as fingers caressed triggers, ready to open fire at the first sign of danger. “Get ready guys they are coming!” shouted John. The pod softly landed in the grass, its engines sending grass along with dirt flying in all directions. Nick covered his face with one arm while trying to keep an eye on what was coming. In the clouds of dust and dirt he managed to catch a glimpse of something white but… what was that thing doing here? “Hold your fire!” he roared. Everyone turned their gaze in his direction, doubting they had heard right before looking back toward the new threat. Nick had a bad feeling, a hunch even as the white thing he had seen proved to be a white flag, the universal symbol for peace. This time all the soldiers lowered their weapon to the ground, exchanging surprised and interrogative gazes. Nick stepped forward but was held back by the muscular arm of john.

“No, I'll go… you stay there.” He said in a calm but determined voice, not leaving any room for protest, his gaze glued to the group descending from the shuttle while he spoke, “if this shit goes south, you make sure none of them leave that place alive.” “I'll make sure of that. It's smells fishy for me to.” Admitted, tensed like a rope. “I have a gut feeling they're preparing something… no one sends a whole armada of ships then come out with the white flag.”

John walked toward the newcomers, leaving his riffle to a corporal. Those who got out of the nacelle were dressed in complete outfit that covered their entire body, even their head was hidden. They looked like some sort of scientists working in toxic environment. When John stopped near them all their gazes turned in his direction. The situation was tense; a fly could be heard in the deathly silence. The first one took a step forward toward John and stopped a meter away, the two scrutinizing each other cautiously, apprehending what the other would do. The first to break this little game of looks was the alien as he respectfully he bowed, John imitating him after a short hesitation. The person facing him began talking, making wide motions with his arms. Silence followed his words, soldiers whispering and trading questioning glances at each other, hoping someone could make sense of the situation. “Did someone understand?” whispered a soldier. “Nah I don't know this language.” Replied another. “And the translators what do they say?” asked Nick, as clueless as the rest of them. “They died.” “Seriously?” signed Nick. “Yes, they can't translate either and the circuits melted while trying.” explained an engineer. “Great lets hope it works the other way…” mumbled John, a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead.

He took a deep breath, adopting a more ceremonial stance and said, with a military salute “Greetings inhabitants of this world, my name is John, captain onboard the ship named CRS HOPE. We do not seek to invade you and apologize for entering your territory uninvited, we weren’t aware of your presence.”

Once again silence. This time it was the turn of the inhabitant of the planet to look at each other in distress; blabbering in their alien language. “I guess neither of us understands the other.” huffed a soldier. “Hey look at that one… what is he searching for in his pocket?” mumbled another. All of a sudden, all guns were raised; aimed at the newcomers’ heads. Nick, much like the other had his eyes fixated on the guy, observing every move as he fumbled in his pocket, probably swearing under his breath. After an eternity of silence he pulled out something. “Look out!” yelled one. A detonation snapped in the silence, echoing through the quiet forest, the guy spasmed as the projectile hit his shoulder, a wreath of blood spurting from the wound he had received. Before Nick had time to open his mouth shots were already crackling all around him as the four forms fell to the ground riddled with bloody holes.


…………………


Dereck was like electrified, observing the scene from his first-row seat. Before him was happening the first ever contact with an alien species coming from a planet out of the border of their known space. He was like a child even though pissed off for being excluded like this he was excited all the same. Yet, deep within him he didn't fell right, he had a gut feeling something was wrong. His feelings were soon proved right. He felt the tension in the air as the two groups met on the ground, clenching his fists, praying in silence for the best yet his bad feeling was only getting more pressing, confirming itself with each passing second.

When guns were pointed at the diplomatic division he tensed like a rope, staring powerlessly. “Come on guys… don't be stupid…” he whispered, sweating like mad. A hunch told him the situation would soon get out of control so by safety he rubbed his pocket; checking if the gun he was always hiding there was still at his place.

He saw in horror the first shot being fired, the body trembling under the impact; soon followed by many others. “Nooooooooo!” he cried, slamming his fist against the porthole as blue rays transpierced his comrades’ body as they fell backward; turned into bloody corps covered in bloody holes.

Tears flooded his eyes, streaming down his cheeks. All his hopes had been shattered in the blink of an eye. Slowly his eyes went over the dead corps without really seeing them; his vision too blurred by tears to see properly. He remained like this; crying in frustration, rage and disappointment until he noticed an unusual detail on the far edge of the clearing. There… in between thick foliage there was a form that shouldn’t have been there; something totally out of place: a dark hole in a bush; no… protruding from the bush. “Oh no…” he gasped, eyes widening in shock as he identified what it truly was.

He eyes went toward the mother ship where all the high ranked officers in charge of the operation were sitting, establishing strategies, giving orders. Before his very eyes sparkles ignited from the right flanks. As he was about to initiate a communication a violent shockwave rocked the ship, throwing him to the ground, destabilized after such a powerful side blow. When he looked outside through the window he only saw a mushroom of smoke where the much larger ship stood a second ago. He looked down, discovering twisted metal, blown apart tumbling toward the ground, devoured by ragging flames. “No… no it can't be happening!”

Before he could react, or even think for that matter, another ship blew up next to him; a troop carrier that burst into flames after another invisible impact. Then another turned into a scorching ball of fire spinning toward the ground. “Oh no it’s happening!” he yelled staring at the rain of molten aluminum and burning corps alike. “We're taking heavy damage!” yelled a voice in the radio channel, soon joined by a myriad of other panicked ones, “Awaiting orders what do we do? Command? Anyone?”

Dereck was shivering, prostrated on the cold floor; listening to the desperate calls of crews as they were shot down one by one with no orders to follow, some fleeing, some holding position. From the ground he could see canons firing restlessly, taking down ship in one shot or two, cutting them in two most of the time. Tones of blue projectiles were crossing the skies, raining on the ships as long trails of smoke or particles followed larger guided projectile. He had to do something before everyone was slayed. The commandment was silent, probably dead or too shocked to react then he would give orders. He took the communication device and set it to broadcast his message to the whole fleet. “To all vessels locate and destroy the enemy guns.” "Roger; acquiring target…” replied a voice, visibly relieved to finally hear from an officer. The next second a blue explosion flashed through the sky as an entire area of the forest disappeared in a blinding glow, leaving nothing more than dust and a charred crater behind. “To all grounds units you have authorization to attack; use of lethal force allowed.” He continued. “Roger sir; deploying now” “Equip one and two take position on the north and east side of the camp; neutralize all resistance in the area and prevent any escape. Equip three and four sector south and west same objective.” “On time and on target…” answered another voice. “Command, Falcon team leader we'll provide support fire.” “Roger; don't leave anyone alive.” “Diamond squad leader to command, we will provide cover for damaged ship retreating” “Perfect, you are cleared to use any means necessary to ensure their escape.”

He stopped, observing the army setting into motions, rapid fighters hunting the hidden canons and doing low altitude strafing runs over the clearing; transport ships letting go of their content of armed to the teeth soldiers while larger vessels shelling the ground under the fire of their fury; taking down these huge monstrous creatures that looked even uglier from up close. A doubt traversed his mind when he saw a bomb exploded near the central building. “To all units target unchanged spare the building in the center. Priority target inside.” He shouted, repeating his instructions several time to be sure he had been heard. “Understood… relaying information.”

Dereck smiled, adrenaline erasing his fears as he grinned at the show of violence and power unfolding before him. Suddenly an urge grasped his guts, violently twisting them as a spasm made his body quake. He had to get down to the ground and be in the middle of the action. "Put me down now.” Roared Dereck. “Beginning landing maneuvers.” replied the pilot without a hint of doubt.


…………………


Nick opened his eyes. How long had he been unconscious? A second? A minute? An hour? An eternity? His head was killing him; a loud noise filled his ears, blocking all other sound. He looked around, picking up info on his current situation. What he discovered made his bone chill. Soldiers were falling one by one around him, pierced by the enemy's guns as loud explosion covered the panicked cries of his men. It was mayhem around him, the acrid stench of smore mixing with the metallic perfume of blood, cries of pain and panic barely covering the hellish cannonade they were taking. He remained here, lying in the dirt, covering his face to avoid being struck by flying debris. He could only recall what happened in so little time, how the opponent first disoriented was taken down from the ground before fighting back with an even greater might, crushing them under a rain of fire and steal. He remembered the shockwave of one of many bombs sending him away then… a black hole of nothingness.

Yet he was still alive as his comrades fell. A quick analyze of the situation told him he had no chance of surviving by staying there. He crawled away, hiding behind what remained of a building or anything that could provide enough cover. From where he was he saw enemy soldiers entering the fight thanks to large weirdly shaped ships dropping them at specific spots. The canons had been silenced; the clones turned to piles of bloody shreds and all those who tried to resist were mercilessly slaughtered. A thought crossed his mind. He saw, a confusing image of a red spire of throbbing flesh oozing with whiteness. He gasped “Lyam.”

He searched for the matching building, hoping it hadn't been destroyed yet. Surprisingly he found it in one piece, not baring even a scratch. He crawled toward it, staining his armor with mud and blood, slaloming between dead bodies and fragments thrown away by the blast of explosions, projectiles hitting the ground around him as bright flashes blinded him. Finally, he reached the building and slithered inside. In comparison the place was dark and silent. He ran into the corridor, heading straight for the last room.  He stormed inside, discovering Lyam, ears perked, alerted; trying to guess what was happening. “Nick!” he shouted joyfully, “What's going on?” “We're attacked!” “What… attacked…” he mumbled, like he had troubles registering the information. “It's… it's impossible. This planet shouldn't he inhabited… the scans showed…”

“I don't give a fuck about your scientific data; I tell you we have an army knocking at our door and we've been decimated outside so I think this planet has inhabitants.” Lyam seemed astonished by the revelation. He stared at Nick with terrified eyes, realizing how wrong he had been. “What shall we do then?” he squawked, panicked. “We must leave before they bomb this place.” “Nick… I… I can't… I still can't move.” “I know and I have what you need.” Grunted Nick, showing the hard drive. He began roaming around the room, more precisely around Lyam, looking for the said plug Frank had told him about. “Damn where is it?” “Where is… what?” “The plug; I can't fix you if I don't find it.”

Lyam said nothing. “Come on… help me instead of staying here doing nothing.” Once again, a dead silent punctuated by suffocated gasps came. “Hey earth to Lyam I’m talking to you!” he shouted, snapping his fingers multiple times to try and get Lyam's attention. He didn't move a muscle, his face frozen on a grotesque expression of panic, his eyes bulging out, unfocused, looking in every direction, his whole frame trembling. “Hey Lyam I'm talking to you!"

No more answer than that panting breath. Was that one of his panic crises? For a second he wondered if he was cause to this; but he had no time to ask himself these questions; neither did he had time to find out. Already he could hear the gunfire approaching. They even had probably entered the hospital by now, entering each room, and covering the inside with a hail of bullets. Suddenly all went dark. “Shit the generator is dead.” swore Nick, starting to panic too. Without power he couldn't fix Lyam. He looked around; there was no escape; this room was a dead end. Lyam wasn't helping either, trembling and whining in fear. He grabbed his riffle and posted himself near the door, waiting for the incoming enemies. He made a discreet sign to shut up at Lyam's attention, but he got no reaction once again. The door creaked open after several tensed minutes and a black form stepped inside. It had no time to react; Nick squashed the trigger, emptying the clip of his weapon in a second; sending the other fly against a wall, his body torn apart. However, he had no time to savor this small victory that already other voices could he heard shouting in the corridor, letting him know that others were coming, and they were many.

Before he could reload his gun a black cylinder flew in the room, bounced a few times on the ground and rolled to his feet. A violent bright flash illuminated the room and his eyes, blinding him as a loud whistle filled his ears, leaving him confused and incapacitated while black forms quickly stormed the room, leaving him no chance to react. A powerful blow with something hard and metallic hit him right in the face as he tried to collect himself, causing him to stagger back and drop his empty gun. The next instant he was tackled by one of the quickly moving shadows, his head forcefully slamming in the wall in the process. He fell to the ground, knocked out, a trickle of blood slithering along his cheek, sticking his hairs together.

Lyam observed, powerless as five shadows entered the room, all heavily armed and ready to fire. One carried a small light that he used to quickly scan the room before pointing it straight at him. Another was speaking, shouting to be more precise, probably their chief giving orders. In the faint state of consciousness in which he was he saw a hand pointing in turn at Nick then him before his vision blurred and he fell in a deep slumber too. Another security activating: avoiding system overload by putting him to sleep.


…………………
 

Dereck stood there, speechless, horrified, trembling like a leaf, feeling like a newbie on their first day of training. The acrid stench of smoke and gunpowder waffled at his nose, only rivaled by the gut-wrenching metallic fragrance of blood. His eyes showed him a scene of utter chaos and total devastation. Fires were raging all around him, thick plumes of black smoke rising high into the sky, enveloping the entire clearing in a suffocating haze, tall flames towering above them forming an impenetrable barrier, devouring trees, equipment and buildings alike, casting their orangish glow over the horror that had taken place. Bodies were strewed around the battlefield, dipping in a pool of their combined bloods, some were his men, others were aliens but in the mess of mingled body parts it was hard to tell. Charred and twisted pieces of wreckage had rained down in the clearing and in the surrounding trees, melting away, consumed by the ravenous fires, more corps hanging from the destroyed ships, mingled in the debris. Taking in the full scale of the devastation he couldn’t help but shudder in pure terror, feeling guilty, responsible for this bloodbath, blaming himself for his decisions, wondering if it could have ended otherwise. It felt and looked like one of the old battlefields he had seen and heard so much about, but this was no documentary, this wasn’t a reconstruction, it was real life, and he was standing right in the middle of it, in the place where he wished he’d never find himself in. All around him the area was buzzing with activity, aircrafts were rumbling overhead, trying to extinguish the fires and evacuate the wounded while squads of soldiers were scouring the battlefield, checking every bush, every hole in hope of finding any survivor, friend or foe, helped in their titanic task by the powerful spotlights of nearby vessels. In the meantime, assault teams had entered the buildings that hadn’t collapsed yet, checking every room for hidden or barricaded enemies. From time-to-time a small explosion, a burst of gunshots or some shouting could be heard, causing everyone to halt in apprehension but it seemed the intervention was going well.

“Specimen located and captured sir.” announced a soldier, walking out of the main building, snapping him back to reality, “We also have neutralized and captured one of the aliens, what do you want us to do with them?” “Nice job men. Let's take these two and head back home, the cleaning and scientist teams will take over from here. Our mission is officially over.”