Soulieria: The Otherworld

Book Two:


Soulieria - The Otherworld

---

Future Earth

Spoiler:

Standing there alone the ship is waiting.
All systems are go. are you sure?
Control is not convinced
But the computer has the evidence
No need to abort.
The countdown starts

Watching in a trance the crew is certain.
Nothing left to chance all is working.
Trying to relax up in the capsule
"Send me up a drink." jokes Major Tom.
The count goes on

4 3 2 1
Earth below us
Drifting falling floating weightless
Calling calling home

Second stage is cut.
We´re now in orbit
Stabilizers up runnning perfect.
Starting to collect requested data.
"What will it affect when all is done?"
Thinks Major Tom

Back at ground control
There is a problem.
"Go to rockets full"
Not responding.
"Hello Major To. are you receiving?
Turn the thrusters on.
We´re standing by."
There´s no reply.

4 3 2 1
Earth below us
Drifting falling floating weightless
Calling calling home


Across the stratosphere a final message
"Give my wife my love."
Then nothing more

Far beneath the ship the world is mourning.
They don´t realize he´s alive.
No one understands but Major Tom sees.
Now the light commands
This is my home I´m coming home."

Earth below us
Drifting falling.
Floating weightless
Calling home...

As the connection broke and the last message was sent back to Earth, the ship pummeled through space at the mercy of it's divine beauty and expansion. The sea that the small crew was lost in was enigmatic to detail. There was only so much that Earth knew about it, no matter where you were from.

That's when a ripple was found, only when one wasn't looking for it. The crew members shook within the ship as it gained speed and pace through the mysterious tunnel, knocking each and every one of them unconscious. Was it fate at last? Taking them to the heavens? Or perhaps just the air in which their bodies would rot?

The crew only woke up to a rather loud crash, the ship hit water and it had hit them back in the collision. Time was pressing against their lives, another test of survival. Still no connection to Earth. But where were they?

This question would have to wait. Their ship was sinking. If they expected to exit it to the surface and survive... Action would have to come first.

And fast.

---

Everyone is holding their breath. Everyone is praying to whatever God they believe in. Everyone is closing their eyes and bowing their heads, trying their damnedest not to open them and watch as they get closer and closer to the rather large body of water.

It bugged the shit out Mika. Everyone has a faith when they've given up and think things are out of their hands. It made her sick. She wanted to vomit because at that moment she realized that it was all her who was left in sanity. Or so she assumed.

Then again, she looked over to the seat next to her and found Emi, her childhood friend, laughing, looking at her with that knowing grin. Tying dark hair in a ponytail real fast, she winked, laughing out, "Whooo! What a ride! We better do something, or we'll definitely die when this ship sinks!"

Mika cracked a smile. Only for Emi, though. It was humorous to her, that as always, Emi was never in the moment. She was always just a step ahead. She bet her mind worked something like this: Okay, so that is a body of water, we're in a ship that has grooves that will send us pretty deep if we don't get out before or JUST as we hit the water.... It had to be why Mika liked her so much. The two worked together like peanut butter and jelly.

"Alright, everyone! Listen up! If you're gonna keep praying, y'better expect to meet your maker, so y'better be prayin' for me, too!" Mika's voice was oddly cheerful, or thrilled. She looked around in her seat, strapping herself in tighter as the ship fell. She was calling out to everyone within ear shot, her co-pilot, Emi, getting ready to pump on the comm system. "Strap in as tight as you can get, keep your head back against the rest. We don't need any snapped necks!" And it was done, her voice pounded through the ship to the departments that weren't loaded with seats or restraints: including the engine room which Mika feared in the back of her mind would be doomed.. -- "Brace yourselves. If you can't see it and couldn't guess it, we found our plane! ... And we're about to find out what kind of sea buddies it holds! If we're correct, and we always are, we need to find a way out ASAP when we collide! I expect the exit doors in the back, which are currently pointing downward going first into the water, are the only things that won't be jammed or already filling us in with water in smaller compartments. "

She took a breath, frowning. "It's going to be a bumpy ride. I hope you all remember how to swim." And the comm cut off.

She looked over to Emi, grabbed for her hand, and held on hard. She smiled to her friend who'd become so close to her, they were like sisters, and inseparable to a T. In the back of her mind, Mika was panicing, wondering how in the hell they were to get out, what plans would be most efficient, or who would be left behind. With another squeeze to Emi's hand, she prayed to whatever God was out there that they'd both make it out alive.

Mika had done her job. Under the rather unfortunate circumstances, she'd flown them to a planet that could potentially save their lives, if not the lives of the other Earthlings back at home. She'd even steered them best she could towards a shore line, though they had to be at least a mile or so off. It was a good thing that everyone these days back on Earth had a basic training for cardio and could, with hope that they didn't just pass the training by batting their eyes, swim that long, that far.

But what if this planet didn't even have air they could breathe? The possibilities were endless, and not all of them were making Mika feel any better.

Looking over her shoulder, Mika saw the captain and gave him a smile with Emi turning to look as well. "Our job's as done as it'll ever be. Any ideas, Major?" Mika'd noticed since they lost connection with command, their captain, Major Tom had been a little uneasy. Not the noticable, ohshitohshitwhatwillwedo kind of uneasy. He wasn't panicing on the outside one bit, but Mika adored their captain like a father figure, because he often took care of his crew over any one else like they had become a family. Because of this, she could tell the hair on his skin was sticking up.

Alex eyes worked over time, since the radio had gone out he hadn’t slept nor turned them away from his job. The fire was now constant behind his eyes as he continued to stare at various wires of the radio. All around him were pieces of machinery. Alex had taken many of the parts from various objects found in the ship to repair or boost the frequency to maybe contact the command. Not that he really wanted to hear from them, far as Alex was concerned this was the best he felt in a long time.

Even if they were crash landing on some new strange planet, Alex was as far away from the damn IUNA as humanly possible. But he did have a job to do and like the good soldier he was Alex was following it. Lord knows however that he will not be completing the task, ever since the start of the flight the radio has suffered from major failure. He still hadn’t deduced why. He instinctively rubbed his eyes, clearing it from the sweat and attempting to make piece with the burning. That, of course, would not be happening as the fire continued to burn inside his skull. Alex eyes flashed over to the ships interior communications, once he heard the voice of Mika come through the headphones over his ears. At least those had still be working, kind of. He had lost power to themselves times but was quickly able to restore order before anyone had noticed.

Alex wondered if the reference to praying was more directed at him than others. He knew being any sort of religious in this times was strange to many. With the many advances in science and technology, not to mention the dictatorship itself, religion had become in the eyes of the majority of the world hokey. Even the simple act of wearing his cross was the cause of him getting strange looks in public and by the crew. Alex looked up from his work at the moment, he knew he couldn’t do anymore, and the crash could kill them all. He took the cross from his necklace and kissed it. This was he wanted after all, a way to escape the world, through space or death.

Alex gave one last sigh as he looked at the various wires and machinery in front of him. Nothing he could do now, this radio will not work and it will simply be destroyed once they hit. Alex got to his feet, though the gravity of the coming landing was already taking effect making him grab on to what remained of the radio as he reached for his seat. “Sir. The radio is gone sir. That thing hasn’t had any signal since the final broadcast and I doubt we will get one now. Not like it will matter, once we hit this thing along with the rest of the ship is going down to the crushing deep. It’s likely we will never hear from home again.” Alex tried his best not to sound excited by his last statement.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a very astute human being, Church," Thomas asked over the roar of the wind whistling across the exterior of the ship. Through the glass that surrounded the cockpit, new and entirely different scenery sped past him at high speeds, but he held onto the calm outlook that they'd grown used to seeing so much. His eyes fell on his communications officer, allowing a small nod in his direction. "What I need from you now is to sit down and brace for impact, alright? We'll figure something out."

On the inside, his heart was hammering the beat of the fastest salsa he'd ever heard, the small hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. His eye fell onto the two young girls that sat before him, both of their eyes trained on him. He suddenly felt exposed and he knew that Mika was reading him like she had always been able to. He gave her a small wink and nodded.

"Open that comm link again, Mika," he said. "I need to talk to everyone one more time before make our grand entrance into our new home." He moved his eyes to Emi and gave her a smile. "Emi, begin the preparations to lock-down the ass end of the ship, alright? Don't begin the sequence until I give the O.K., though, alright?" The co-pilot nodded and began flipping switches and twisting knobs, the whir of the ship's computers giving it one final go.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mika toss a thumbs-up his way, signaling that the comm link was open to the rest of the ship. He cleared his throat and spoke with that same definitive tone that he always had.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly. "As you all have probably found out by now, we're hurtling towards a large body of water at an extremely high speed, something which each and every one of us has been trained to deal with."

"As per IUNA protocol, we're going to start locking down the areas of the ship that will be damaged the most in an effort to minimize the casualties. What that means to you is this: All of you, get to the bridge as fast as you can. I am deeply sorry that things have escalated to this point."

"You have five minutes before lock-down begins."

x

From the engine room, Xan was only scarcely aware of what was going on beyond the thick panels of the ship’s exterior. It was better that way. He needed to focus and plan for the worst. He needed to salvage what he could from the ship’s systems before they were stranded on a nowhere planet without a way to contact home.

He moved to the panel nearest the pipelines controlling the fuel injection for the port engine. A few keystrokes along the touch-screen and he had accessed the shuttle’s database. He moved the left sleeve of his jumpsuit and tapped the display of an accessory worn around the wrist like a watch. Such a crude name would not begin to cover the functions his little toy served; yet, none of those functions would help in their current situation, save one. He moved through processes, synchronizing the signal between his watch and the ship. Then, with one final tap, a loading bar appeared in the display of both the device and the engine room’s access panel.

“Well, that’s all I can do, for now.” He sighed heavily, trying to keep his composure while reality was slowly bringing that frightened little boy, buried inside him, to the surface. He’d embarked on the deep space exploration mission in the hopes of discovering new life among the stars. Little did he know that he’d be ripped away from everything familiar to him and plunged into an extraterrestrial world where a countless variety of things could ultimately result in his death.

For now, establishing a remote link to the shuttle’s systems would provide a few basic utilities, such as getting a read on the atmospheric conditions of what would likely become their new home.

Xan felt a smile creep across his lips. While terrifying, their situation was also exhilarating. To think, he would be one of the first human beings to step foot on the surface of this new world. The preliminary scan performed before atmospheric entry had labeled the planet as a rough match for the conditions of pre-Industrial Earth. That much was a stroke of luck. However, that didn’t mean this new world was anything like the planet from whence they’d come. Humans would not be the dominant species here, he told himself. Certainly, humans – the few of them that survived the first week – would be struggling for a niche to survive in.

“As per IUNA protocol, we’re going to start locking down the areas of the ship that will be damaged the most in an effort to minimize the casualties.” Such an ominous way to start an announcement, Xan thought. It made sense, though, and Xan knew that the Major was fully aware of what he was saying. “What that means to you…,” the commanding officer continued, “…get to the bridge as fast as you can.” The Major was preparing everyone for what was coming. Adrenaline was all well and dandy, but the aftermath wouldn’t be a walk in the park. The best way to keep calm was to know what was coming before it happened and to accept the situation.

“Looks like the engine room’s going to be a collision point,” he muttered, mixed with a sardonic smile. It was just his luck that he’d be in the ass end, which was waiting to be locked down. He glanced at the device on his wrist. “Seventy percent.” The Major had given them five minutes before the lockdown commenced. The estimated time for full synchronization was two minutes. That would leave him three minutes to haul ass and get clear of the lockdown. Without a hardwired connection to the console, he wouldn’t be able to finish downloading the ship’s database through the blast doors that would be used to contain the damages.

The wait was long. Every second they drew nearer to the mass of water waiting below to swallow the ship with its pitch dark maul and sink them to the murky depths. Xan contented himself to be as far from a window as possible while he contemplated his options. If they were crashing into a body of water, the obvious thing to do would be securing a means of escaping before the ship was hammered by the current created when the ship dislodged a high volume of water. That would mean busting open the door before the splash-down. The problem there was managing to do so without being crushed as the water flooded in through the hatch.

As the timer on his mobile computer counted the last few seconds, Xan was hatching a plan. The engines were going to be shot anyway, so there was no harm in putting their destruction to good use. If he forced them to overheat, he could blow them the moment the submerged under water. The entire back side of the ship would be blown off, demolishing the engine room, the armory and possibly a good half of the ship, but it would create one hell of an escape tunnel for anyone that survived. As far as he was concerned, those weren’t bad odds.

A nearly inaudible blip signaled that the systems information had finished download to his portable. He was now linked directly to the ship’s control systems, and could access the databank at his leisure. There was no telling how much of that information would be useful once they were stranded in the middle of an unknown galaxy with naught but their wits and knowledge to keep them breathing.

He raced back to the panel controlling the port engine. There was less than three minutes left until he was locked in permanently. If he rigged the engines to blast the ass off the ship and got stuck in the room, his lungs would be incinerated by the massive heat generated when they blew and his skin would be charred black, leaving him dead in less than three seconds. It wasn’t such a bad deal when the other options were drowning or being impaled by shrapnel and other loose items of varying shapes and sizes.

Five minutes. In five minutes, the engines would attempt a full burn. With the rough atmospheric entry and the pressure from smacking into the water, the thrust wouldn’t budge the hulking slab of metal, but the engines would try with all their might. Seven minutes and the entire aft of the shuttle would be eradicated in a blast equal to several tons of C4. The mechanic’s heart ached for destroying such a beautiful work of art, but the ship wouldn’t survive no matter what they tried. He could save anyone who made it beyond the threshold of the blast. He reassured himself, time and again, that he could save lives, even if it would cost so many others.

He slid through the mechanical doors, passing through the halls of the ship as he neared the bridge. As he reached the halfway point, he started seeing rows of the ship crew strapped into the padded seats designed for a normal re-entry. He wanted to warn them – tell them to move to the front of the ship – but he knew that the bridge would be jammed full by now. It was safer to strap into a seat and pray than two stand in the control room without any kind of safety harness.

“When the aft collides with the water, the nose will tip down,” explained one of the older crew members to a worried colleague, who listened intently with the hopes that her unease could be laid to rest. “If we wait in the middle of the ship, we’ll be at the tilting point and won’t feel the impact as much as the aft or bow.” It was a sound theory, Xan thought. Hell, even he felt like waiting in the middle of the ship would be a good idea, if not for the fact that half of the ship was going to be obliterated in approximately four minutes.

He kept moving, closer and closer to the bridge, using the metal rails along the walls to guide him and support his shaking legs. Eventually, he reached a safe point where he knew the blast from the engines wouldn’t reach; especially with a submerged detonation. There were a number of open seats. He figured most of the crew had subscribed to the idea of finding the closest chair and buckling up as quickly as possible. He stumbled into one of the seats, pulling the harness over his shoulders and hammering down the locking mechanism just to be sure. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at his portable. It was almost time.

He bowed his head, the nausea and vertigo setting in. He’d done all that he could to ensure his own survival. All that remained was a question: would it be enough? All the fear that he’d held back washed over him in a torrent of anguish. He didn’t want to die. He was afraid of what waited beyond the curtain of blackness; beyond death.

“If you can see us all the way out here in the middle of nowhere,” he began, lifting his eyes to stare at the indiscriminate metal plates above his head, hoping that the gaze returned to him would be from some higher power, “please don’t let it end like this.”

Queen Jada - Jadan City Palace


The day had already reached the halfway mark as Jada retired back to the palace from which she came. She made a routine each morning of venturing through the streets as soon as her commander would wake up and join her, as he rarely let her out of his sight without a fight. The walks through the city gave her a since of pride, and it was not for the the buildings or the new wall that had been placed around the city under Commander Stanton's request, but her people who all these years still treated her with respect. Jada had heard of cities being overthrown due to the people's distrust or disgust with the royal families, and it had to be her biggest fear, yet it was something she did not trouble herself with often.

Anyone could have told you that the people loved her, even if she had become more of a figurehead since Stanton's promotion into the militant unit. While Jada led her city on the faith that they could get along peacefully, as they had for so many years, Stanton was determined to rank up a defense even so. He was not cruel by any means, just cautious, and while it was something Jada had a hard time understanding, she was learning quickly the habits of the man who'd fallen into her lake from only the stars know where.

There was also the bit about having fallen in love with him, but they never spoke of such things in the public, and as duty calls, Stanton had acted the knight by day, she the queen by day, and two normal people in love by night, or at least behind closed doors.

Unfortunately, the place her mind was beginning to wonder was interrupted by another friend who Jada'd been blessed with in her long lifetime. The young girl with the cutest of all cat ears and a tail to match flung herself through her guards, who were so reluctant to fight against a child, and made a point to reach out and catch the girl before she feared she'd topple over. It wasn't hard to tell that the girl had been running for quite some time.

“My Queen. Please forgive my intrusion but something has fallen from the skies my queen! It was large and possibly metal. It should be crashing any moment. What should we do?”

Combing through the girl's hair, the queen locked her eyes on the girl's, listening to her plea and panic. "Darling, darling, shh." She offered a comforting smile, her nerves calm for the moment as she held the girl with a soothing voice. "Something fell from the skies, mm? Well, we should go see what has come to visit us, shouldn't we?"

There were odd looks from the guards around her, the mood in the atmosphere around them rather apathetic to go and venture in to something that had nothing to do with the utopia that was Jadan City, but Queen Jada was the curious type. It was, after all, her curiosity that had united her with their current Commander.

Standing upright as she released the girl from her arms, she held Elisia's hand and squeezed it reassuringly, looking over to Stanton who'd entered the room not long after her and had to have been there long enough to hear the girl's panic. "Commander, darling? Have you seen this thing from the sky that she speaks of?"

As she waited for a response from him, she spoke once more, her tone not having changed from the lighthearted calm that she felt was slowly washing over the girl who'd been so paniced, or at least Jada'd hoped so. "I want to investigate it. There could be trouble, and whomever is in that device could need help. When can we leave?"

---

Mika Shiloh - Soon-To-Be-Crash-Site in the Water


"Open that comm link again, Mika,"he said.

She did so.

"Emi, begin the preparations to lock-down the ass end of the ship, alright? Don't begin the sequence until I give the O.K., though, alright?"

The co-pilot nodded and began flipping switches and twisting knobs, the whir of the ship's computers giving it one final go.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As you all have probably found out by now, we're hurtling towards a large body of water at an extremely high speed, something which each and every one of us has been trained to deal with."

"As per IUNA protocol, we're going to start locking down the areas of the ship that will be damaged the most in an effort to minimize the casualties. What that means to you is this: All of you, get to the bridge as fast as you can. I am deeply sorry that things have escalated to this point."

"You have five minutes before lock-down begins."

It was go time. The minutes counted down as Mika did standard protocol to double check the gates and doors for lock down, but as the connections had been on the fritz since they lost their communications with command, she didn't expect accuracy. Emi looked behind her as other crewmembers filed in to seats, buckling in. She giggled at them, calling out, "All for one and one for all!"

"Emi, I'm not sure that applies right about now." Mika laughed, wondering how two nut jobs like she and her friend got the positions they were in. Well, maybe it took a bit of brains to fly a ship, but Mika was just thankful she wasn't in the same position as say Xan or Alex. She smirked to herself, realizing they had the same name, just different nicknames from the original.

"Maybe, more like, it ain't over til the fat lady sings!" Mika called out in jest, quoting a movie that was ancient in their time. Thirty seconds to collision.

Looking over her shoulder, the captain gave the nod, the order, and Mika and Emi obeyed just so. Moderating the progress, Mika flipped off their engines. Emi clicked on the lockdown procedures, but for good measure, she flipped up every gate manually as well. One by one, they went up in a matter of 5 seconds each, finished by the time was 10 seconds left.

Then the girls held their breath, sat back in their seats, and closed their eyes. Well, Emi did. Mika looked over at her sister in panic that something was right. It didn't feel right. She suddenly had the dark premonition before her: and then she spotted it.

"Your belt! -- You're not strapped! -- Emi!" Mika called out, reaching with her arm though it wouldn't have done any good since she herself was buckled in.

Those were the last words coherent from Mika's mouth as the ship smacked into the water as if it were the hardest surface. The sound of the material scrunching up together strangled Mika's ears as she shut her eyes, clamped tight. The big push of pressure swiped upward towards the bridge and before it was over, Mika caught herself looking over to her friend, the friend who was no longer there.

The window infront of the copilot's chair was cracked from a strict point where Emi's head had smacked it before ricocheting to the panel and back to the ground, sliding past the chairs, the captain, and the others who were strapped in behind Mika's chair.

Catching her breath, she turned on her side, watching Emi fall towards the pit of the ship that Mika knew was doomed.

x

The impact rattled Thomas' mind more than his body, causing the next few seconds to roll by him as if he was sitting in a theater watching his own life pass by him on film. He looked around quickly, checking to see that the few members of the crew that surrounded were all still conscious and, more importantly, alive.

CRACK!

He whirled about in just enough time to see Emi's skull bounce off of the thick glass that stood before her and then watched helplessly as her lifeless body tumbled back and out of the bridge. He heard some of the other crewmen scream, some of them unbuckling and scrabbling quickly to try and either catch the undoubtedly dead co-pilot or to get away from the falling corpse. He cursed himself inwardly and turned back to Mika quickly.

"Focus, Mika," he screamed. "This ride isn't over yet, and I don't plan on losing both of my pilots in one day! Brace yourself!"

Seconds later, the bow tipped forward and crashed into the water, the quickly sinking ship beginning to tilt up once more. He clicked the strap from around his waist and stood quickly, his eyes darting from person to person once again.

"Everyone, get up! We've only got a couple of minutes before this thing takes on too much water, so we need to-"

From somewhere behind them, an explosion rattled the hull with amazing force, throwing the Major to the ground. Was his head bleeding? It didn't really matter at this point: He needed to get whoever he could off of the ship now more than ever. He looked outside once more, the water level rising even faster now. Whatever the explosion was, it must have damaged some of the blast doors.

They were sinking like a brick.

"Doug," he said, "I need that shotgun. The rest of you need to hold onto each other and hold your breath! Mika, hurry up and move back here like the rest of them!"

He ripped the gun from the Sergeant's hands and turned back towards the glass once more, watching out of the corner of his eye as his little pilot scrambled to her feet and made her way to the closest person to her, gripping their arm tightly. He pulled back on the action and fired once at the already-present crack that Emi's head had caused, cracking the glass even further. He pumped it once more and loosed another slug into the glass, the crack spreading even more.

"HOLD YOUR BREATH!"

With those last words, he turned the rifle around and slammed the butt into the glass, the crack finally giving way. Water rushed in quickly, knocking Thomas off his feet, his own skull bouncing off the floor once and knocking him unconscious.

x

One thing about the communications seat. In every ship from the dawn of communications itself, the seat is always near the back of the bridge. Alex head had snapped perhaps too hard from the impact, it dazed him. It dazed him just enough to make his vision go white, but he knew a falling body when he saw one even if it was just a outline of one. Alex's military instinct took over, as his hands quickly threw off the straps of his chair and his legs threw him off his seat. Alex had just grabbed the arm as his own body made contact with the frame of the door. Alex didn't let go as the body swung passed the door as dark abyss behind it looked hungry for a meal.

Alex vision was finally began to clear and so did his mind, once the ship had finally flopped on to its belly Alex brought the body to him next to the door frame. He looked down at the broken features of what use to be a very young face. Alex recognized her immediately and looked up to the front, wondering if Mika knew the young Emi's fate. Alex might have just caught a corpse, and if that be the case then at lease there would be something to bury. Alex tried to move from the floor, but fire caught hold of his chest. Cracked perhaps broken rips from the impact with the door frame. Alex had just forced himself to his feet before a roar came from behind him.

Alex awoke a few seconds later, hearing nothing but a lone loud ring in his ear. He had looked around, his mind dazed but still working. That was no typical crash explosion, he had been around enough of them in his days to know he difference. Alex then just realized some how in the chaos he still held on to young woman's body. He also noticed he was on something soft, and he looked to his left. The blast had sent him up several rows, and he was damn near on this poor guys lap. Not that he wouldn't mind, half of the top right quarter of his head was missing; shrapnel most likely. By the grace of God alone Alex realized that he was without his own wounds from the explosion.

"HOLD YOUR BREATH!"

Alex heard the roar of the Major even through the dimming lone ring and quickly did was told, as the water rushed over the ship quickly. He held on to the chair he had come across for dear life with one hand, the body of young Emi in the other. Once the water had overtake most of the ship, swimming was made possible. Alex now had cracked perhaps broken rips these had impeded him from taking a real deep breath. In fact breathing in general after this would be a painful experience. Alex knew he had less time than he would if he was in prime condition. It was time to get swimming.

As Alex swam he noticed that the explosion had taken a number of more victims than just the poor sap he had found himself on. There was enough blood in the water to turn even the vast amounts of sea water already in the ship red. As Alex swam pass the rows of seats he could feel his ribs burn hotter than the fires of hell, little Emi may not have weighed much, but the addition of his wounds made her feel much heavier. As Alex neared the makeshift exit he noticed the body of the Major floating down, he was about to reach for him as well until he saw another figure swimming like a fish to get him. Alex decided to let whoever that was deal with the Major, Alex was in no shape and had no time to take 2 bodies to shore.

Big D

Everything was happening at once, but Big D was used to this sort of confusion. Ok, maybe he shouldn’t say that, he was just used to confusion in general. Everyone around him was either praying, or closing their eyes at the impending disaster that could make or break everything for them. Doug chose not to close his eyes. He wanted to see for himself whether he would live or die by this moment alone. Time seemed to slow as he assessed everything that he could. He was the only one equipped with a weapon, so he would be the best line of defense should there be hostiles. The people in here were among the higher ranking members of the ship, including the Major himself, so they wouldn’t be lacking in leadership. Among this, they had several technicians and engineers now occupying the bridge. Despite all this to pep himself up that everything would be alright, he still didn’t like the idea of being the sole defender of this group. He wasn’t saying they couldn’t fight, but rocks and sticks vs. guns and tanks just wouldn’t cut it.


Doug snapped out of his moment of clarity just in time for the ship to crash forward. He heard someone scream, but lost all meaning in the words as sound quickly turned into one long bell. Black dots clouded his vision for a moment before his he was able to see clearly once more. Looking around, he saw that several people were injured, but that one of them was sliding to the back end of the ship. Just the way she offered no resistance to the gravity grabbing her, he could tell that Emi was already dead. Doug was sorry for her death, but he didn’t know her or anyone else for that matter, on this ship personally. He had been a last minute replacement due to the infighting of his so called superiors. Luckily, Church was nearby to grab the body. There would be no bringing her back to life, only simply burying her and giving her peace.



Checking for broken bones and finding none, Doug hit the release button on his harness, and stumbled to his feet. He was not used to not having solid ground underneath his feet, and showed it by awkwardly making his way towards Tommy. Just when he thought that maybe there would be a moment of peace and time to figure out what was going on, an explosion caught them all off-guard. The blast threw Doug all the way across the bridge, and slamming him against the bulkhead. In obvious pain, he forced himself to his feet. “Lovely, why not have the ship flip upside down as well?” Checking his back to make sure the shotgun was still in one piece; Doug shambled towards the center of the bridge.



“Doug! I need that shotgun!The rest of you need to hold onto each other amd hold your breath. Mika, hurry up and move back here like the rest of them!" Before Doug could reply, the Major had already ripped the shotgun from his hands, and blasted the window. This was not a good idea at all, but really what choice did they have. If they stayed, they died. If they left, they possibly died. Big D was always a sucker for risky situations. Doug felt a pair of hands grip his arm, and looked down to see a rather scrawny looking tech. It was the same tech that he had pushed into the room just a few minutes ago. The tech looked up, but showed no embarrasment. He was simply too scared to be embarrased.



“If you piss your pants boy, you’re on your own!” The techie gulped, but otherwise said nothing. Looking around, he saw that nearly half the crew of the bridge had either been killed by the impact, or the explosion. Yet still, they had to survive a swim to who knows where on a planet that none of them have even heard of. Whatever the case, he was not going to die here without a fight. A couple of shotgun shots later, the Major gave the order for them to hold their breath. Doug did as he was told, and suddenly the entire bridge disappeared into a gush of deadly water.



Doug was ripped from the bridge with enough force to send him spinning uncontrollably through the water for a few minutes before he got his bearings. Opening his eyes, he saw that they weren’t that far from the surface. He had gotten a good gulp of air, and was good for at least another minute. Looking around, he saw bodies floating down towards the blackness of the abyss. Some of them were obviously dead, like the tech that had been moments before clinging to his arm. The poor kid had gotten his head caught on something, and plenty of blood flowed from around his scalp. Another body though, he recognized as the Major. He was floating downwards, but did not appear to have a crippling injury. Whatever the case, they would need his leadership to get them through this situation in one piece.



Swimming towards the Major, he noticed others making their way towards the surface. Well, at least he wouldn’t be alone on this planet, but that didn’t comfort him much knowing that they had only just gotten here and this is how it looked for them. Doug reached the Major easily enough, not having suffered any real injuries himself. Grabbing a hold of the man, he started swimming towards the surface. The shimmering gleam of the water above him made him feel peaceful and vulnerable at the same time. Water, which was the lifeforce of all humans, could easily be the death of them all.


Doug’s head broke surface, and he let loose with a loud gasp. He had nearly run out of breath just getting to the top. Looking around, he saw that he had much farther to go. The nearest surface was maybe a mile or less away. Shaking his head to try and get the water out of his eyes, he started making his way towards land. It would be hard enough getting there on his own, but now he carried the Major’s limp body with him as well. Nothing was going to help here, so there was no point in complaining.

Months of walking brought Firdos, to the city of Jadan. It presented itself, on first sight and upon closer examination as a city of much grandeur. After his time of being mostly ignored by farming communities, and other rural towns, this welcoming, resplendent city appeared to him as a sort of heaven.

The men, though towering over him like like colossi, greeted him with hearty smiles, inviting him into the splendid city without even a question of where he was from, or why his stature was so minuscule. Their kindness caused him to wonder about the legend of how the Addanct came to live where they did now. If there was a place such as this in the world, a place so accepting of others, how could their people ever be denied a place to stay after hundreds of years of searching?

Firdos' thoughts were brought to a halt as he entered the city. Every person in the city looked, like the city, divine. All of these people appeared so different from Firdos, he had never seen any other beings in the world save for the Addanct of his homeland and more recently farmers. Being shunned by single farm owner, or even a few of the same looking people from a small town scared him enough, the situation in Jadan was utterly terrifying.

Beings of varying heights and widths, with numerous different skin tones, hairs, and countless other features walked amongst each other in absolute harmony. Firdos had yet to, in his short 64 years of life, experience anything such as this. His eyes grew wide, his senses became muffled, terror took over him, he desired only to find a quiet place away from these beings to take this new city in.

Firdos launched himself away from the main city street, flying straight for an alleyway, like a startled bird, looking for refuge. Darkness blanketed the thin street, shooting a short chill through his person. It was the one time he wished he had kept the puffy coats that used to cover his body wholly. But they were abandoned a month or so ago, due to the seemingly agonizing heats of anywhere other than the mountains of Abdima. The coats would have been no help to him here however, it was only due in part to the reduced temperature that his momentary chill had been brought on. The more unequivocal reason was the shady looks being shot in his direction by the even shadier men who leaned against the wall near the opposite entrance of the alley.

Firdos decided the best thing he could do was to sit down, and clear his head of the shock that the city gave him. He plopped his bottom down on the cold, stiff stone of the alleyway, and tried to clear his head. Images of creatures he saw out on the street flashed by his mind, each one slower than it appeared there. Creatures with tall statures, and tentacles wrapping their faces walked on past, short, stout, swine-like men carrying baskets filled with fish and other, various, miscellaneous food products.

As he remembered these beings, among others, his senses slowly came back to him. He hadn't even realized they slipped his consciousness in the hectic mess. The smell of salt sailed into his nostrils on ships of sea breeze. The boats also brought in scents of a market, of all types of foods. Sweet fruits mixed with fresh fish, and newly cut meat to create a sort of overloaded smell. It contained too much now, Firdos wanted nothing more to do with it, but it stuck around his body despite his resentment.

After he determined he did not enjoy the scent Firdos went to looking around the alleyway. Up above, the buildings rose into the sky, sun was visible on the top of one, though it ended abruptly only inches from the peak. Further down the walls there were windows, all perfectly square, all with a dreadfully awful view of the dark alley. Cracks lined the back street up and down, they were the only sign of age present, even the dim, pale walls looked like they were somewhat new.

Light steamed in from the opposite side of the alley, and since his shock and terror was dissipating Firdos decided that he would move out into the street once again. The two shady looking men still stood at the end of the street though, making him hesitant to get up and pass. But he mustered the courage to leave. He pressed his palms against the cold ground and pushed up, elevating to his feet. With a galliard step he moved to the end of the street. The two men looked less and less intimidating the closer he got the them, their negative features, which had brought about so much of their shady demeanor before slowly disappeared. They were only fishermen taking a break from being in the heat of the market it would seem. His confident walk led him passed the two and out into the market.

Firdos immediately became bathed in illumination as he stepping into the market. His arms instinctively flew to his face to cover his eyes, to shield them from the blinding sunlight. And, slowly, they dropped to his sides, as he adjusted to the sun. Dots still covered his vision, a side effect of the sudden rush of light, as he began to look around the market.

There were as many people here as there had been on the first street Firdos had come in on. The same amount of variety showed here too, it appeared as though aberrant creatures living in harmony was the norm here. Anything imaginable was being peddled here, fish, wheat, produce, trinkets, nick-knacks, and a plethora of other items covered the numerous market stands. Awnings stretched out from most every stand to keep the customers cool and pleased. They were emblazoned with every color of the rainbow it seemed, from vibrant, shinning reds to cool, mellow blues, and every color in between. The colors were likely to attract attention to one stall over the others, though he doubted it worked effectively. Other than the stalls the market area was filled with lavish, large, round water fountains and planter boxes, containing ornate rock designs and outlandish foliage.

He heard a sound coming from his left, though he didn't know where it was coming from or what it was. Heads turned to the sky on Firdos' left, it started with one, a shorter man with hawk-like features, and soon turned to the whole of the market. In the sky, plummeting towards the ground, was a meteor. It looked to be a ball of conflagration, surrounding a smaller ball of some hard substance, likely a piece of rock from another planet. It fell at an ever-increasing rate until it dropped out of view. Only a few seconds after it disappeared water sprayed into the air, and sprinkled back down into the lake it likely came from.

Gossip started up the moment the water dropped, everyone talked about what had just transpired. So many conversations picked up at once, it was impossible to distinguish one from another, main points and questions were usually shouted out for the whole crowd to hear. Questions like, “what was that thing?” Or, “is there going to be someone investigating that?” ran rampant, they were asked so many a time. The shouts and yelling from so many people soon became too much for Firdos to take, he rushed into the alleyway again, luckily he hadn't strayed far.

“Queen Jada!” Stanton heard the squeaky little voice approaching before she’d even fully entered the corridor. Elisia came sprinting up to the small entourage of guards who had been speaking with Stanton and bounded through them, approaching the queen. The commander could only imagine what had riled her up so much this time, but the reports from his lieutenant were far more important at the time to bother listening in on the trivial workings of that child’s mind.

“It appears something has been spotted falling from the sky, Commander,” the lieutenant reported with a tone of skepticism. In truth, it was rather unbelievable, and Stanton returned an inquisitive glance to the man making the report.

“Tell me you aren’t serious, Byron.” The lieutenant made a motion with his hand that indicated his own disbelief, and opened his mouth to speak. However, as he did, the queen turned and regarded them with a look that seemed both inquisitive and concerned.

“Commander, darling? Have you seen this thing from the sky that she speaks of?”

“Thank you, Byron,” the commander motioned for his subordinate to leave them and turned to approach the queen. “I was just receiving a similar report coming in from a guard along the southern road. Apparently he saw a glowing object falling from the sky, and it appeared to be large enough to merit concern.”

“I want to investigate it,” the queen continued, something Stanton expected. “There could be trouble, and whomever is in that device could need help. When can we leave?”

“Immediately, Lady Jada.” He bowed to make his leave and hurried toward the palace entrance. If they were to investigate this falling object under the assumption that it sheltered some form of life, guards would be necessary. While the idea of such a thing was ludicrous at best, Stanton would not dream of stifling the queen’s curiosity or passion for learning, since it had saved his own life five years ago.

“Adrian, summon an escort. I want a full score of men at the ready to investigate this thing that has fallen upon us.” He barked orders with a firm tone that would seem unfamiliar to any but the knights of his order. While Stanton was a kind and giving man, there was a deeply seated militaristic side to him that generated a very weighty presence when matters of the kingdom’s safety were involved.

“Sir!” the young corporal responded, drawing his body to a straight line with his spear held firmly at his side and the free hand saluting with a closed fist along the breadth of his chest. Stanton nodded and the soldier turned to leave.

Stanton turned at the doorway, calling back to Elisia. “With me, child. Show me where this object was headed.” He lifted his eyes to the queen, a smile – small, almost unnoticeable – slipping across his lips for a fraction of a second. “I’ll send for you when the escort is prepared, my lady.” He turned once more, right hand resting on the hilt of his sword, reacquainting itself with the burnished black pommel.

I may have need of you, my friend.

x

Chaos broke loose the moment the ship’s engines smacked against the surface of the water. As predicted, the impact sent the nose of the ship careening downward where it pressed into the water with unreal magnitude. As the ship was rocked by the impact, so too were the passengers inside jostled back and forth. Without a clear marker to keep their gyrocompass steady, a sense of vertigo seemed to be setting in amongst the crewmen buckled into the seats along the hall.

The weight of the engines forced the rear of the ship further into the water, quickly sinking the entire vessel from the back. The panic from the bridge was a bad omen if there ever was one. Xan started to reach for the latch of his harness, but a slow pulsing on his wrist-computer caused him to reconsider it.

A loud roar emanated from the opposite side of the doors leading further into the ship, the shuttle bucking forward unsteadily as the engines exploded one after another. Without their weight pulling down on the ship, some time would be bought, so long as the blast doors to each cabin remained sealed to prevent water from flooding in.

A raucous hammering sound rang out from the opposite side of the door leading onto the bridge. Xan fumbled with the locking mechanism of his harness as another bang shook his already-frayed nerves to the point of borderline insanity. As he tried with all his might to pull the latch apart, a hand reached over and gracefully separated the lock, allowing him to slip free from the restraints. He tumbled forward onto the floor as if escaping the maw of a lion and quickly scrambled to turn and look back. He vaguely recognized the girl because of her green hair, but despite the time spent at the academy preparing for the long journey into the infinite unknown, Xan couldn’t place a name to her face. He had never particularly cared, but she was a goddess in his eyes for having released him from the harness just then.

He got to his feet and looked at her with a mixed expression of anxiety and appreciation. As he did, he could hear the clamoring of other bodies moving around in the room. The noise was a constant at this point, and he had subconsciously drowned out everything that was going on around them. Now, however, it rushed back at him and shook him awake to the knowledge that their time was running out.

Faintly, he heard an electronic buzz, reminiscent of a door sliding open. Sure enough, when he turned his eyes to find the origin, he was met with an open door and a flood of water blasting through the hatch with all the force of a wrecking ball. The poor sap who had opened the door was immediately overwhelmed and launched back, sliding along the floor until his head collided with the metal foundation for the rows of chairs lining the walls. Water was coming in from the bridge. Xan was sure that couldn’t be a good sign, but it meant they were near enough to an escape route that risking getting stuck navigating through the few remaining blast doors toward the back of the ship was unnecessary.

Without truly considering it, he grabbed the wrist of the girl next to him and tugged her toward the bridge. The water was slowly equalizing, allowing them to wade into the control room with little difficulty. As they entered the room, Xan immediately caught sight of the gaping hole in the frontmost window, almost completely submerged by the steadily rising water. He released the hand he’d been holding and leapt down the small set of stairs toward the lower front end of the bridge and lowered himself into the water.

A moment later, he lifted himself back up, shoving his hair back to keep his eyes clear and turning to call out to the young lady behind him. “We can get out through here. Just watch out for the edges of the glass.” She seemed unperturbed and simply nodded her acknowledgement, as if the reasoning had already been obvious before Xan had the notion to point it out.

Taking a deep breath, Xan submerged himself again, lining himself up with the hole in the window and pushing off the dashboard console to propel himself forward and up, out of the bridge and into the lake’s embrace. He turned only once to see that the girl who’d helped him out of his harness was following him to salvation. As he turned, however, she swam by him, cutting through the water with all the ease of a professional diver. With the assurance that she was alright, he began clawing at the water once more, pulling himself closer to the surface with every stroke. Eventually, he felt the cold water give way to the feeling of open air, drawing in a sharp breath as he surfaced above the subtle waves. He had survived.

He could see the striking green of his savior’s hair a few meters ahead, pulling herself through the water with practiced efficiency. He struggled along behind her, pulling himself through the tide with a great deal more effort. Each second brought the shore closer, and the prospect of living another day became more and more certain.

x

Gemma - Firdos' Alleyway in Jadan City

Looking up at the sky in awe, Gemma's jaw dropped. She was a younger civilian of Jadan City, a teenager by her looks, hardly yet a young woman. Her eyes shined like sapphires, much like that of the deep oceans and lakes that remained clear to pollution of Kurek City's wastes. Her skin was a deep tan, having spent so much time outside in the warm air and sunny skies that left everyone in high spirits. Her hair was rather short and choppy, in a style that reminded one of a pixie, and it matched her personality of curiosity almost to a T.

Backing up as she watched the sky light up with a blazing ball of - what was it exactly? - Gemma felt her foot take a step too far back and step on something- or someone. Jumping with a squeal of anxiety, though she felt no real terror in a city like Jadan, she turned around clapping her hands together to begin an apology to whomever it was that she had backed into. Her eyes scanned the area of her eye level, but when they found nothing, she looked down and spotted what had to be the newest being she'd ever seen.

"Oh, my!" She gasped, a hand rushing to her mouth while the other offered itself to the little person in suggestion to help them back up from their feet. "I am so terribly sorry, my small friend! Have I hurt you? - I've never seen someone like you before.. I wonder if you can even understand what I am saying?"

In an attempt to communicate else wise, just in case the small person could not understand her, she touched a hand to her heart, then extended both of them to him. A bright smile on her face, she knelt to sit on her knees, offering them a better view without craning their neck.

After a moment of silence, she bit her lip and spoke once more to him. "My name is Gemma. Being a new person to Jadan City, I should probably take you to see Queen Jada so that she may answer your questions, or at least have someone who can aid you in whatever it is you're looking for. I don't assume you've not traveled a great distance to get here."

Standing back up, she offered the little man her hand so that she could guide him back towards the palace, through the back ways and alleys so that they didn't interfere with the crowds that gathered around to speculate the blast from the sky.

---

Mika Shiloh - ? of Lake Aria.

Thankfully, she thought to herself, she was one of the first ones to swim out through the glass, missing the sharp edges with ease in her small form. For a moment, Mika seemed to have forgotten everything in her small mourning period for Emi. It was only once Church had passed her with Emi in his free arm that she realized no matter if she returned to life or not, Mika was no good to her if she, herself, did not escape. With that, Mika followed Church closely and aided him in carrying out Emi to the shoreline once they reached the surface.

Upon the shore, Mika never let go of Emi's hand, not that a squeeze or a pulse was returned. Shaking violently, Mika felt more than a bit ill. She had prepared herself for space travel, but not to sea-fairing. And motion sickness on the water was miraculously something different to Mika, something she had not found a cure to just yet. After her cheeks turned a bit green and Church moved to lay out Emi's body across the sand, out of the water, before going about recovering himself from the swim, Mika turned away from the two of them and let everything out, including her breakfast that morning.

Once she regained her composure, Mika wiped her eyes of the water and salty tears that came with vomiting and searched the shore for her companions, counting them as she saw them approach themselves from the ship, hoping that the number would be far greater than she predicted. Sadly, it did not seem so. She could make out Doug, who had the Major, and Reeves, who had Xan, but other than herself, Church, and Emi, she didn't recognize any other forms of life. - At least from their ship.

To the left of her, Mika watched in terror as a hybrid being of sorts ran along the shoreline barking, eyes on Xan and Reeves. Mika couldn't tell if the monster was hungry or concerned, but the lack of energy flowing through her body after such a swim left her motionless to their aid. Besides, Mika had heard of Reeves when they'd shared dorm neighbors back at training. If anything, Reeves could handle herself and protect Xan whilst blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back.

A little farther out Mika saw what she recognized later was a woman, and a very pretty one at that. Close behind her was a man barking out orders to men around him who suited themselves in armour much similar in design to one another, and Mika assumed them to be a team of some sort. But where they here to rescue or destroy the crew?

Four guards made their way over to where Church, Emi, and Mika were and Mika stood up next to Church, wanting to protect Emi's body with every bit of her own remaining life. With no weapon on her body other than the two knives placed at her boots, Mika held up her hands in a surrender, hoping that the men weren't there for a fight.

The guards seem to trade looks between one another, calling over to the woman behind them. Mika's trio was the first group it seemed that the woman would visit, and Mika hoped dearly that it would be good news rather than another hardship that would challenge the ship crew for their lives.

"Church, do you think they're going to hurt us?"

---

Queen Jada - Shoreline of Lake Aria.

Upon reaching the shoreline, Jada's heart pounded in her chest with a combination of adrenaline and excitement. She watched as Isa leaped towards two of the people who must have swam to the shore from whereever they came from, and turned around over to Stanton as he rallied his men for a quick search, rescue, and inquisition.

"Commander, do you think we should send men out there to help the others who may still be swimming to shore?" She asked in hope, closing her hands together as she waited patiently for his answer.

Stanton's gaze told her otherwise, and she followed it only to find one of the many things that lived in the dark lake devour whatever was left of the vessel. Tentacles flipped up as if to wave dismissively, as if to thank the Gods for the meal it received. Jada's mouth opened, but her expression fell.

Turning her head to the side to Stanton, her tone rang of sympathy, "Nevermind, sir." She spoke softly, nodding her head as she ventured off the escort after Isa, walking the shoreline behind a few of the men that Stanton began to bark and order around to their positions and commands.

"It appears Isa has found two, and I see three over here. Will you go and see if the two male survivors over there are going to make it?" She looked to Stanton with a plea. With that, two of his men found her side and walked her over to where four of his man had already reached the group of three.

Arriving at the scene, Jada wiped her hair from her face against the wind and the sea spray from the water. Looking from the two worn out people standing before her as the guards cleared the view, she also noticed the person laying on the ground behind them. From the look in the woman's eyes who stood before her, that body was something of importance, something worth protecting.

"Church, do you think they're going to hurt us?"

Jada's eyes lit up as she understood what the woman had just spoke. She quickly looked over her shoulder to look to Stanton, who was a few yards away attending the other survivors, and then quickly returned her gaze back to the two survivors of her own.

"No harm." Jada spoke clearly, her trouble with the language apparent, but understandable. Jada looked to her guards and ordered them in Jadanian to stand down before she continued, as if to prove her point.

She pointed to the body behind the man and woman, her tone of concern carrying through in English, "Are you hurt? We can help you. - Please, tell your aliens - No harm."

Church could feel his legs and arms turn to mush as he continued the long swim to the surface. He may not had shown it but he was now sure several ribs were broken, he could barely hold his breath long enough to break the surface of the water. Now the thought of carrying the young body in his arm to the shore seemed like a Samson like feat of strength. But there was no other choice, as he continued to the shore Church prayed for some assistance to make it to shore. He had not noticed the young Mika as he swam by her. Her assistance carrying the young body of Emi renewed Church’s belief that somebody out there liked him.

As they came to short Church turned to the young pilot and was about to offer his thanks, that was until he saw the green grow in her cheeks. Once she released the hand of her motion less friend, he took the young body and himself just a few feet farther up the shore before laying the body to rest and collapsing under his own weight. He tasted something metallic in his mouth, and let out a wad of spit to the sand. It was completely made of blood. Fuck! Thought the old veteran. I hope nothing got punctured in there. His hand quickly covered the blood in sand.

A familiar but nearly forgotten movement caught his eyes next. Slowly they moved up, from the shore and over the beach. Trees. More trees than he has seen since he was but a small child. Church couldn’t hide it, hell in his mind he was free he didn’t want to hide it. So he let large smile grow on his face as he watched the forgotten and missed sight of green life givers sway in the wind. It was enough to make him forget about the pain inside.

Barking however broke him out of his reverie, he followed the source of the sound and was shocked and even a little scared of what he could only describe as a wolf man. Even more movement was audible now, a different language but Church new orders when he heard them. His eyes followed that source to the group of soldiers. Church thought for a moment that he could make a run into the woods, lord knows he knew how to survive in them. But reason thankfully triumphed over him today, he had no idea what was really in the woods. That and he simply could not bring himself to leave Mika and the others to potentially fight this off without him.

Church scrambled for a moment his mind clouded in pain once again from the movement but eventually found his way next to Mika. Not in front, he knew the young wildcat could handle herself. Church’s arm draped over his broken midsection but still gave off an air of defiance. He was glad to see Mika make the right move, for now, and lifted his own free arm as well. The other armed seemed unwilling to leave his broken ribs.

Church eyes widened a bit from the woman’s words, they were on another planet. They had to be, but how could she know English. Church’s mind ran through the possibilities, and while far off it was still entirely possible for this to have occurred. In the end however, it didn’t matter her words gave him a moment of joy within the pain. The lowered weapons only put him more at ease with this whole situation. His eyes flicked to Mika. “Guess the answers your question.”

Church nearly laughed at the term alien. Sure it had occurred to him when he got this crazy mission that he would be one of mankind’s first true aliens. He had come to grips with that while on take off but even now to be called it was just too strange for him. However he kept the laugh to himself, “I think you should give a signal or something to the others to not piss these people off. I think we are pretty safe long as no one does anything st…” Church’s eyes widened his arm gripped his midsection tightly; he shut his mouth tightly but it did nothing to stop the cough. It was loud, long and was painful until his head started to spin then his body simply became numb. His mouth opened, and the trapped blood in his mouth flowed out of his mouth and onto the sand. God no.... thought Church as his body dropped to his knees. The ground rushed up to meet him.

Blackbeard

The swim from the ship to the shoreline was an absolute test of both physical and mental proportions. It just seemed that no matter how hard or fast he tried to get to land, it never seemed any closer. Big D refused to give up though. He not only had to worry about his life right now, but that of the Major as he carried his limp body through the water. After that, maybe even the rest of the crew. His first thoughts were for their safety, and not his own. Years of fighting alongside people he would easily call family had instilled in him the deepest feeling of responsibility. He was their head of security, if they died, it was his fault. Fiery new determination found a spot inside of Doug, and he swam with renewed vigor. Now, the shoreline seemed ever closer.

It wasn’t until he could feel the land underneath his feet that he allowed himself a bit of reprieve. They were safe from the water; they could take a breather and figure out what to do next. Strength was absolutely sapped from all of Doug’s muscles, yet he still managed to drag the Major onto the beach, and drop him not too gently onto the ground. Hopefully that would wake him up, but just to be sure, he slapped him on the face gently a couple of times. “Rise and shine sleeping beauty! Time to go see what the shit storm has got for us today.” With that he walked a couple more steps and absolutely collapsed. He was simply too tired to think about everyone that they had lost, and could only concentrate a inhaling and exhaling. He hadn’t done anything that exerting since boot camp, and he had been a wimp back then.

After a few minutes of simply laying there, Big D looked up at the lake. Originally, he was hoping to see more people swimming out of the ship, but something quickly put a damper on that particular feeling. Tentacles were swinging around the area of the ship, and it quickly restored Doug’s vitality as he was driven to his feet from shock and confusion. “What the fuck is that?” He had sort of an idea. It could be a Kraken from old mythology, but he really didn’t want that to be true. However, he was one who always believed his eyes, and he simply couldn’t deny what they were showing him right now. The tentacles dragged the ship down, and with it, Doug’s hopes of any further survivors. He knew that more than him and Tommy made it out, but he doubted they counted for even a fraction of the crew.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind him, and quickly turned around. Armed men came running towards him, and he reached for his shotgun. Feeling his back and feeling nothing, Doug cursed himself for forgetting that little fact. As the guards came towards him, he assumed a boxing stance, and put himself between the men and the Major. They didn’t seem to be attacking him, only seemingly observing him. He didn’t like it, and he wasn’t going to let them think he was weak either. The swim had absolutely knocked him on his ass, and there was no way he could take all of them, but he’d make sure they paid for it. “I warn you, I know Jujitsu, Taekwondo, boxing, and shit-kicking 101!” Suddenly, another man appeared. The way he was dressed, and the way he walked seemed to say that he was the one in charge. That, and the men parted before him to allow a straight line towards him. Doug tried to think of something to say, but didn’t even know if they understood his language. For lack of something better, Doug shrugged his shoulders but remained in his fighting stance. “We come in peace?”
_________________________________________________________________________
T’lask’rae

The fireball that illuminated the sky seemed to stretch on forever as T continued to watch it. It grew in proportion, only to crash headlong into the water. This was slightly different. Why would a fireball crash into the water? Why would someone aim it at a body of liquid at all? None of this made any sense to T, who was now so enthralled in the scene that he had temporarily forgotten about his given quest. Steam rose from the water, and waves crashed onto the shoreline a mile or so away from the crash site. However, when all of that cleared, T was confused as to what he saw.

The fireball was not actually a fireball. It seemed that it was a construct of metal, but nothing of this world that he had ever seen. It came from the sky, but not the sky they knew of. This contraption had come from beyond, where the Great Assimilator watched over his kind. This was a message! This was a complete sign that there was something up there. There was something up beyond the blue sky that they had called the limit of their technology. T wasn’t excited though, he was incapable of being excited, but he did know that this was a discovery of great importance. This could be a relic for his people, something for them to worship and for the other races of the world to call an actual religion. They might even be accepted as an actual people rather than ‘things’.

T’s reasoning dimmed as he saw figures exit the machine. They were not of his people, but looked human. This meant that the other humans would see this relic as one of their own, and T could not have this. He had seen it first; his kind was rightfully entitled to the sign from the Creator. In an effort to secure it, T moved at a jog towards where the nearest humans would be landing, and since he needed neither rest nor sustenance, he could keep this pace up for quite the time.

When T was able to once again see the relic, his reasoning shattered as he saw tentacles wrapping themselves around the magnificent machine. Now no one would be able to claim it, now no one would accept his people as a race. Suddenly he remembered the humans exiting the ship. Maybe they would know something about the Great Assimilator. They would know everything, and if they didn’t, then they were of no importance to him. T continued to run towards where he heard voices. One of them sounded extremely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

He found out soon enough as he calmly exited the forest line and was met by two armed guards. They quickly turned their weapons upon him and assuming a defensive stature. One of them quickly yelled back to the others. “Golem!” Hiding behind their shields and swords, T made no move towards them, which confused them. They were unsure exactly what to do, because a Golem would have surely attacked by now.

“A common mistake by your kind, human. I am no Golem; I am of the race that your kind has classified as ‘Junkies’. My name is unpronounceable to most, so I simply go by the name of T. I am not here to fight, so you can sheath your weapons.” The guards seemed to back off slightly. While Junkies were not socially accepted, they were not known to be an aggressive race because of their lack of emotions. Seeing a Junkie in the form of a highly capable and formidable fighting body was completely different. T looked past, and managed to find out why the one voice sounded so familiar to him; it was Queen Jada. T searched his words, knowing but not understanding the effect that his words would have upon the organics.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Queen Jada.” T bowed his head slightly, like he had seen many other organics do when they were addressing someone of value. The words were also chosen for the same reason, though his voice lacked any sort of emotion. Looking past her, he could see another three humans, two of which were on the ground, and one standing who looked scared. At least, that’s what T thought it was. Turning his piercing blue eyes towards the Queen, his telepathic voice once again cut through the group. “These humans are from beyond the sky. It is a sign that the Great Assimilator is a reality. He is shedding some of his host body, and it has fallen from the beyond the stars to secure a place for my people among this world. I require an audience with them.” T then looked at the guards, who then redoubled their defensive stature. T searched his words for anything that may have offended them, but found none. Going through his memories, he started remembering things that people would say to important characters. T then added in an almost polite tone. “…At your leisure, Queen Jada.” Emotions were difficult to understand, as the guards backed off once more. T had completely ignored the fact that two of them looked unable to stand, let alone talk. That was not of his concern, but if it was one of Queen Jada’s, then he would patiently wait while she healed them of their injuries.

"I'm so very proud of you, Thomas."

"Thank you, mom."

The younger Thomas turned to face his father, a stern looking man by all counts, and was marveled by the way his face had softened exponentially on this day. Perhaps it was the sight of his son in IUNA Officer Uniform. Perhaps it was the knowledge that he may never see his only child again. Maybe it was a combination of everything. Whatever it was, Thomas was almost certain that he would break-down if he were to look at the elder man for too long.

"I've never been more proud of you in my life, son," his father said quietly, hugging his arm around his wife's shoulder just a little bit tighter. "No matter what I ever told you, I always knew that you were going to make it. You're going to be the best goddamn officer in the IUNA."

"Second only to you, dad," Thomas replied with a smile. A single tear rolled down his face from the corner of his eye, but the smile remained.

"All newly graduated IUNA Officers are asked to report to the Transport Bay to report to their first duty stations," a voice called out from somewhere in front of them. Thomas turned and wiped away the tear, nodding to his parents slightly.

"Where you off to first, Tommy," his father asked, wiping away his own set of tears.

"Bosnia," he said, suddenly filled with a bit more vigor. "I'm to take control of the 17th Armored Division upon my arrival." His father nodded and pulled his arm from around his wife. The elder man snapped to attention and brought his right hand to the corner of his right eye in a quick salute.

"Please do be careful, sir."

With a slight bit of hesitation, Thomas returned the salute and dropped it quickly. "Will do, dad," he replied softly.


"We come in peace?"

The Major groaned and finally stirred, his heart pounding in his chest, his head aching. He turned quickly to his side and wretched loudly, sea water spewing from his mouth as he cleared his lungs. The first breath was painful, almost unbearable, and his mind swam with the thoughts of what he would do if the air was poisonous. It tasted sweet enough, though, and the daze that covered him so deeply quickly lifted.

He sat up slowly, his chest still heaving, still pulling in deep breaths. He looked around him and counted the small number of heads that surrounded him. It wasn't as many as he'd started this mission with, but those that he did see were in decent-enough condition, save for Church who looked to be spitting up blood from an injury.

"Yes," he called out towards the men that had surrounded them, mainly trying to catch Doug's attention. "We do come in peace." His voice was raspy, but he still managed to call upon that same commanding tone that he'd had on the ship. He looked to where the regal looking man stood.

"We would be most obliged with some medical attention, Sir," he said. "That is, of course, upon your word that you truly mean no harm for myself or my crew. We've just been through one hell of a trip, and I'm not looking for any trouble just yet."

Xander

---

Xan coughed and heaved, drawing in sharp breaths after collapsing to his hands and knees once he and Reeves had broken the shoreline. The waves washed up onto the shore, crawling along the trails of dimpled sand formed by the exhausted engineer’s trudging feet as he was practically hauled away from the tide by the young lady who stood nearby. He wanted to thank her. Though he would undoubtedly have reached the shore without her help, anyone or anything that made it easier for him to keep moving toward safety was duly welcomed. However, the exhaustion had finally caught up with him. He managed to rock back and sit on his behind with his hands planted behind him to prop himself up, but the sight that greeted him was alarming.

A distance down the shoreline, he could see approaching figures, including one that looked like a canine of some variety. It had stopped and began pacing back and forth in a small circle, much like the dogs back on Earth when they were waiting for something. Xan was already planning his next move. If that thing attacked, he’d be making a run for the water. There was no way he’d be able to beat a wolf in a foot race, but he’d be able to out-swim it. Fatigue had rendered his limbs near useless, but fear was the greatest of motivators.

Further down along the sandy rim of the lake, he spotted the glimmer of metal under the sunlight. Something else was approaching at a steady pace.

“If we’re attacked, break for the water and swim with everything you’ve got,” he advised the girl in his company. Her attention seemed to be locked on the canine creature, however, and Xan’s eyes wandered back to the last location where he’d seen the dog-like being pacing anxiously. What greeted him this time was startling, to say the least. A small humanoid creature was waving toward the two of them, a tail wagging back and forth behind her and bearing two pointed canine ears. Speech became impossible at that point. It was now clear that they were not on Earth. Though the atmosphere, the vegetation, and even the gravity seemed identical, this was not home.

From behind him, Xan heard something lurch from the middle of the lake. He turned to find monstrous tentacles writhing in the air and wrapped around the remainder of the shuttle. Some great beast had awakened from the bottom of the lake and sought to claim their chariot as its prey. It took only a moment before the metal plates buckled and all hope for salvaging the remnants of the ship disappeared into the blue.

First it was a wolf turning into a humanoid thing and now a giant squid dragging their vessel to the murky depths of the lake. Any thoughts he’d previously entertained about escaping danger by swimming the breadth of the vast pool had faded quickly with the realization that danger surrounded them completely. His only remaining hope lay with the creatures, seemingly humanoid, that were now approaching the other survivors of the wreckage.

Stanton

---

When the caravan arrived at the shore of Lake Aria, Stanton quickly dispatched his men to the small, scattered groups of humans who now lined the shore in tattered forms. Two of them were unconscious, possibly dead, another was cradling his torso to nurse an injury and the others wore expressions that told of their exhaustion. Stanton’s eyes gazed out to the sinking vessel that had brought the intruders to the proverbial doorstep of Jadan City, attempting to identify the technology. Even for Kurek, it was far too advanced, from what he could tell. However, he felt that it was familiar, all the same. He could remember vehicles of that sort, but not from his time in Jadan City. Perhaps he had encountered it before, somewhere else.

As he watched the sinking ship, tentacles from the murky depths broke the water’s surface, ensnaring the vessel and tugging at its hard outer shell in an attempt to drag it to the abyssal depths. It seemed Jada had not noticed, her attention being fully placed into the care of those who had made it to shore. She turned to him with a pleading look and inquired, "Commander, do you think we should send men out there to help the others who may still be swimming to shore?"

He spoke not a word in response, but simply shifted his eyes back to the quickly disappearing vessel. The queen soon did the same, turning her head to look upon the colossal squid’s flailing and writhing arms as it cracked upon the ship’s hull and wrenched it below the water’s surface.

“Nevermind, sir.” Her tone was remorseful, her sympathy for those who had not escaped evident on her youthful visage. Stanton wanted to comfort her, but it was neither the time nor the place to be making displays of caring and affection for the Eternal Queen. He placed a hand at her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. She seemed to recover after a moment, and her eyes once again scanned the shore.

“Will you go and see if the two male survivors over there are going to make it?” she had turned to ask, to which Stanton merely nodded. He called for three of his men to follow, after having dispatched a small envoy to aid Elisia and the queen, as well.

Stanton approached the two bodies, one looking a bit ragged, but seemingly less worse for wear than the others who had made it; the other was unconscious, possibly dead. His men parted to either side as he approached, his right hand resting idly on the pommel of his sword as he looked upon the two survivors with a scrutinizing glare.

“We come in peace?” was the first thing to greet Commander Stanton’s ears from the newly arrived humans. The sound was strange. There was something about the man’s accent, or his way of speaking, that left Stanton searching for the origin of confusion. The man was speaking clearly enough. Every word seemed pronounced as well as one might expect.

“Yes,” Stanton heard a strained voice from behind the man who’d greeted him. The other male, who had been unconscious up until that point, began speaking, and seemed to have a great deal to say. “We would be most obliged with some medical attention, sir. That is, of course, upon your word that you truly mean no harm for myself or my crew.” Irritation welled up inside of the commander as he looked down upon the man who had made such a bold demand.

“Indeed,” Stanton retorted, though his answer was spoken in Jadanian. As that single word slipped past his lips, he realized what had been bothering him about the words spoken by these unknown travelers. They weren’t speaking the language native to the people of Soulieria. They were speaking Stanton’s native tongue – the language he’d awakened with on the very same shore of Lake Aria.

Despite his surprise, he made no movement or gesture to indicate that he was anything less than composed. He raised his right hand from the pommel of his blade and motioned to one of his men to assist the man who seemed to be in charge, judging by the way he’d mentioned his crew.

“It is not the way of Jadan to harm that which brings no harm upon us. We will provide transport for your crew and tend to your wounds back at the city.” The way he spoke was eloquent; far too eloquent to seem natural to those who used tattered English and slang as their native element. Years of disuse, save the frequent lessons granted to Queen Jada and Celia, had cultured the habit of using only the proper form of every verb and stressed the importance of enunciating each adjective with undue clarity. Surely these men and women would be astonished to learn that there was one among those of Jadan who could speak fluently in their language. Stanton, however, was feeling nervous.

He turned and walked away after delivering a quiet order to his men to assist the two aliens back to the convoy. If these people could speak his native tongue, then surely Jada would be aware of it by now. Though she had been an avid pupil during Stanton’s lessons, even the slightest misunderstanding of intent could breed hostility. The thought of Queen Jada being brought to harm placed a fiery resolve into Stanton’s quickening stride, and he approached the ruler of Jadan City with his hand once again rested upon the pommel of his sword.

Queen Jada - Shoreline of Lake Aria.

The Queen smiled at the two standing people before her. The girl kept looking behind her at her friend, but seemed slowly to be easing her way into a calm demeanor. In the meantime, Jada took note of the man's smile or smirk that seemed he may be holding back laughter, something that would be a good for building up a relationship with the aliens, but for the life of her, she couldn't pin point what she had said to make him laugh.

“I think you should give a signal or something to the others to not piss these people off. I think we are pretty safe long as no one does anything st…”

The man dropped before Jada's eyes and the two guards closest to him reached out to catch him, blood sinking in to the sand and their boots. Jada looked up to the other two guards on her side and nodded for their cooperation in carrying him over.

"Give extra care for that alien," She spoke to them, her voice demanding but concerned more than anything. "Be careful with escorting him from each location. He needs to be placed on a straight cot, -- and be sensitive to his insides! Something must be severely wrong for him to have just collapsed like that, and it makes sense, witnessing where they just came from."

The female alien was left standing there, seemingly frozen. Jada wanted to say something to comfort her, but words weren't forming in her mouth in a language the girl would understand. Turning around, she decided to take the fallen alien's advice and warn the others not to be hostile, but when she looked about to her others, it had appeared thus far that no harm had come at all.

What looked like it may have been a small skirmish over by where Stanton stood with his men turned out to be rather tame, the arms that were up in defense easing up. A conversation between them left the guards assisting what appeared to be two males back to the caravan. With that, Stanton made his way over to her while Isa seemed to be curious as ever, speaking to the other two survivors in the Jadanian tongue, since she did not know English, and not understanding why exactly communication was so much harder for her than the other groups.

Isa looked over to Jada with a pout, helplessly, before Jada bowed her head, calling out in Jadanian, "I will be right over, darling. Do not worry." She smiled at her and once Stanton reached her side, she turned to re-examine the girl and the body.

---

Mika Shiloh - Shoreline of Lake Aria

Mika was frozen in fright, in horror, and in shock. Her best friend and sister was behind her, presumably very dead, and the one who'd rescued her body for burial, as well as guide herself to shore, just collapsed with blood, definitely blood, coming from... Oh, she didn't want to look!

The woman before, apparently their leader or some sort, spoke to her guards as they began reaching for Church. Mika wanted to protest, to move and tell them not to touch him! But what could she do, really, if they didn't take him and try to help him themselves? She didn't have any medic supplies, and her other members on the shoreline seemed to be moving along with the guards as well. Even the Major was going along with them to the distance where they were now carefully taking Church.

Out of panic once this new man dressed in red joined the Queen, another ... Thing joined them as well, sending Mika to dart backwards towards Emi's body, covering the body's face with her back, and placing her hands over head incase the assimilated being decided to take a whack at her. It certainly didn't look like it was part of the Queen's get up of guards and men, but it didn't seem to be attacking her at all, either.

And then the thing spoke, but not really, just in her head. Mika's eyes went wide as she stared at the walking pile of junk.

“I am no Golem; I am of the race that your kind has classified as ‘Junkies’. My name is unpronounceable to most, so I simply go by the name of T. It is a pleasure to meet you Queen Jada. These humans are from beyond the sky. It is a sign that the Great Assimilator is a reality. He is shedding some of his host body, and it has fallen from the beyond the stars to secure a place for my people among this world. I require an audience with them... At your leisure, Queen Jada.”

Humans from the sky? Mika's head spun. Did it know where they were from? Did it know about Earth, really? Who's this Great Assimilator...? What does some new-world 'God' of some sort have to do with the crew?

Apparently, the woman's name was Queen Jada, and this thing, under the impression that the queen had said they meant no harm, meant it would hopefully not be attacking them as well. Mika turned her head, looking to the Queen and the man and the thing who stood together. Her voice quivered with fear, "She's dead, but I don't want to part with her like this.. She doesn't deserve to be buried to a ... Whatever that horrible thing in the water is!"

Slowly, she began to stand up, pulling Emi's arms with her down, carrying the body rather awkwardly. "Please, don't ask me to leave her."

---

Queen Jada - Shoreline of Lake Aria

Jada's eyes widened at the sight of the thing that her guards called out as a golem at first sight, but when it began speaking to her, she let lose the sudden grip she had on her commander's hand, something she hadn't realized she had done at the first sight of terror. Releasing her grip quickly, she brought her hands back to her sides and looked it up in.. the eyes? She wasn't quite sure what to make of something that's face didn't quite make the culture of humanoids she was accustomed to.

"Salutations, "T"." She spoke in Jadanian without a thought, assuming it would understand her. "I cannot speak as if I know what you claim as a 'junkie', but I'm sure you indeed mean no harm. If that is the case, then you shall not be harmed in return. It is a pleasure to meet you." She spoke as politely as she could with her heart racing the pace that it accelerated to.

Clearing her throat, she looked to the girl who pleaded to her. Jada bit her lip, as some of the words the girl spoke were not known in her English vocabulary, especially with the inflection of the girl's concern and sadness pouring through her tone. Looking to Stanton, she spoke in sort of a whisper, indicating she could not respond to the girl's words, hoping he could for her.

"That girl has passed away," Stanton explained in the queen's native tongue, nodding toward the body being hoisted by the pleading woman. "She wishes to honor her friend with the rites of the dead."

Nodding, Jada turned back to the girl and smiled warmly to her, speaking her best in the English tongue,"Just a moment, and I will help you myself carry her back to the caravan, darling."

With that settled, Jada turned back to the 'junkie' and shook her head, "As for your request to speak with them in audience, I cannot grant permission. Most of them seem wounded, one to the point of fatality, and that poor man didn't look far behind. To put more stress on these poor survivors would be cruel, and I think they should rest before an interrogation." Looking from the junkie to the guards who were waiting for herself and Stanton at the caravan with the survivors, she bowed before the 'junkie' and smiled, "But you are welcome to stay in Jadan City, and on the day they are well enough, I would more than be happy to let you know and bring you to which ever one of them claims to be their leader."

Taking a deep breath, Jada walked over to the body and knelt by the feet, reaching for each ankle in the palm of her hands and lifting up the body with the terrified girl. "Commander, I think Isa is having a much harder time communicating with those last two. Could you please help her get them to the caravan as soon as you can? I worry for that one gentlemen who just fell before us." She was sure to give a smile to the girl every time she looked in her direction, a simple use of body language to keep the girl calm enough to carry her friend across the sands.

Curiouser and curiouser, the day was turning out to be.