Castaway Planet

Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 153 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Ruins / Galley above Kingdom test camp

Galactic Standard Time / 0915

Zane looked down at the carnage from the window, his eyes locking on the biped insects. This strange organic mass must have spawned them, there was no other explanation! And these people must have been the other members of the general’s army. With this, the plan was destroyed, and that meant one thing. Zane had to do something he never thought he would do, help a lawful authority.

“Our people, we’ve gotta help them!” Karltics said in a rush and almost jumped out but Cadritic grabbed him,

“Wait youngest, wait!” Cadritic said in a rush.

“Let me go! Our friends are down there! We have to help them!” Karltics snarled as he tried to fight free.

Zane just looked at him, remembering his past. That was how he reacted when he learned how the rest of the galaxy would see his homeworld’s fate. That was how he had been. And he knew that he would need something to snap Karltics back to his senses.

“And what will you do from up here!? You need to think boy, we have to think! How are you planning to get down there!?” Ulistix asked with a snarl. Karltics just looked at Ulistix and glared back.

“And what would you have me do!? What can we do to help them? We can’t leave them….” Karltics said before he let his body sink to the ground.

“Get up youngster, we will! We just need to think! There has to be a way to get down there. We just have to find it boyo!” Cadritic said with a grin as he reached down and pulled Karltics back up to his feet.

Zane looked around the chamber, seeing the organic mass all around them. From what he could see, it had covered half the chamber. It was slowly growing while he watched, and this whole mess bothered him. Especially the other change that had happened here while he was gone.

“No, not all of us. For starters, you’ll stay here Ulistix!” Zane declared and looked around. “The white rope things, grab them all. We needed them to get down there!”

“Wait, why am I here?” Ulistix asked before Zane held his blaster rifle out to him.

“Pull the trigger like you did before, aim for their heads. Cadritic with me! And Karltics, stay here and guard Ulistix,” Zane said as he looked around the galley. Like the corridor, there were organic growths all over and more of the white rope things.

“What do you mean I’ll stay here!?” Karltics demanded.

“Look, do you know what made this?” Zane asked bluntly. When Karltics went still and shook his head, Zane sighed. “Well, whatever did this made this in an hour or less. And with the numbers of those things, they must have an extremely short hatch time. That doorway could have hundreds of them coming back here. And always guard a sniper in hostile lands. And there’s that to consider.”

They all looked towards the far wall across from the windows. The wall around the door was broken as if something had pushed it down. The hole went up six and went down to the other walls. And to make things worse, the remains of the door and the wall it was in were in the corridor as if something pushed it down. Surprisingly, the organic mass that was on the wall wasn’t in the corridor, as if there was nothing for it to grow on there.

Zanee felt a little horror when he first saw it. If whatever had made that came back, it would take all of them together to even survive it. All he could hope for was that they would get out of here before it returned.

For a moment, Zane thought Karltics was going to argue. But when Cadritic put his hand on Karltics’s shoulder, Karltics looked at the older soldier.

“The man’s right lad. You’re good, sure but we need someone watching our back,” Cadritic said gruffly yet firmly.

Karltics sighed and looked around, his blade raised. “So should I stay close or between him and the doors?”

“Good man, let’s go…..” Zane began only for Ulistix to interrupt him.

“What in the name of the Forest!? That’s The Wind General! Wilmria herself! What’s she doing here….. isn’t she part of? Then that must mean…..wait. THE YOUNGEST PRINCESS IS HERE!?” Ulistix exclaimed in shocked horror.

“She’s here!? But the Prince was the person who was supposed to come to the Rest!” Karltics exclaimed in shock.

“Who’s here?!?? Zane demanded as he looked around as Karltics and Cadritic joined Ulistix at the window.

“The youngest princess of our kingdom! The royal family is descended from the Captain of our ship!” Karltics exclaimed in shocked horror.

Zane felt his heart freeze. He and his friends had made the holes in the corridor. And they had run from another chamber that overlooked another forest. Could something from that place have followed them or hitched a ride on one of the three of them? Or something else, but he knew that people would blame the deckhands. So to keep this from becoming the worst diplomatic incident, then he would have to help save the child.

“Then we can’t let any more time slip by us! Come on Cadritic!” Zane said as he looked at the nearest white rope thing. He grabbed it and smiled as he couldn’t pull it apart. “Ulistix, give me your blade!”

As soon as Ulistix handed over his sword, Zane sliced through the rope. He thought he could use it to get down, but he was wrong. He quickly found that once it was severed, the rope came apart easily in his hands. “Okay, I wasn't expecting that! New plan, Ulistix start firing! Karltics watch him. And Cadritic, help me figure this out!”

As the others did as he ordered, Zane looked around at the room. The organic white ropes had to be carrying something. But just why and how were they so strong? All he knew, was that he had to figure out the answer. It might be the only way that the four of them could help those below.

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As she ran at the monsters, Wilmria felt her Power flow within her in response to her rage. Where was General Rogix?! He was one of the greatest of all generals. The Thundering General never retreated and he had thrown back the Felines at the Front Lines. So what was happening, where was he? All she knew was that Rogix better have a Forest damned good reason to not be here or so help her! If something caused him to not be here and put the princess at risk!

Reaching the first one, she jumped and thrust with her spear, killing one and bringing it down as she landed. She looked at the red chitin insect and tried to remember if she had ever seen anything like this before. A scream caused her to look up and curse as she saw another one move towards a woman in a Scholar’s robe.

Without a thought she dashed towards the monster, ready to strike. Only for her target to suddenly fall right before she thrust her spear into its body. Her motion carried her beyond it and she almost stumbled. Looking back, she saw the monster had a hole in its head, a hole that emitted smoke.

“What the? How?” Wilmria stammered as she looked at the corpse, completely shocked.

“It must be them!” The woman exclaimed with awe and hope in her voice.

“Who?” Wilmria asked with a hard look in her eyes. If someone had been able to create a Power that could do this, she needed to know. This was the ultimate Assassin’s power. She didn’t even know where whatever killed this monster came from!

“Them!” The woman said as she pointed upwards.

Without a thought, Wilmria turned and looked, shocked at what she was seeing. No matter how she tried to understand, what she saw was impossible. There above her was a soldier holding something, but he was in the Devil’s Realm! For a moment all she could do was stare, and in those moments three bursts of light came out of the thing the soldier held.

“How?” Wilmria croaked out as she stared. But then she heard a scream and as he turned. Coming out of the forest were five red chitin-covered insect wolf-like monsters. Without another word, Wilmria ran at them. She could try and understand this later, for now, she had people to save and monsters to kill!

As she ran nearer, she could see these new monsters clearer. The creatures had the bodies of wolves but were covered in red chitin. Their limbs ended in a single spike that pointed forward. They didn’t have wings and each one’s head had two mandibles that covered their mouths below six beast eyes.

With a roar, she thrust her spear forward into the closest monster. As she killed the first one, the other two both charged at her from opposite sides. As they ran at her, their mouths dropped open ride, ready to bite She jumped over them and pulled her spear free. Before she could land she stabbed out with her weapon, and a cone of green blades shot from it. The blades cut off some of the monster's limbs and carried them to crash against the wall. For a second the wall flashed green before that died down.

As soon as Wilmria landed, she looked around and ran at another of the biped insects menacing a servant. With a scream, she sliced through it. She spared a glance up at the open window, and locked eyes with someone in clothing she had never seen before. She and he both looked at each other before they both nodded at the other.

She would have the answers she needed once this was done. For now, there were monsters to slay! Screams of beasts from the forest told her that something was happening there. Even if more of those insects came, they would only find their deaths!

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As he turned away, Zane nodded at Ulistix. “Keep firing, we should at least be able to talk to them after this. These things are just animals with shells, not too bad really. So no worries.”

“I’m worried about those traitors that attacked us coming back,” Ulistix admitted.

“Why?” Zane asked and Ulistix sighed as he fired again. “Why them and not this Beast Cult back at the Scholar’s Rest?”

Ulistix had to admit, the star traveler was easy to talk to. He had a way of speaking that Ulistix liked, and he was direct. None of that misdirection. But he didn’t know anything about the Kingdom, Ulistix mused as he aimed and killed another of the biped insects.

“The Beast Cult was formed by a break-way faction. They were monsters who spent a long time fighting us. They came out of nowhere after the third century of our people were down here. They didn’t do much, just strikes at the outskirts here and there. We all thought they died in the war about a hundred years ago. That they survived…. It’s bad,” Ulistix admitted as he killed another monster. He never noticed

“Wait, three centuries!?” Zane demanded.

Ulistix looked up and saw Zane’s eyes were wide and he looked shaken.

“Yeah, three centuries. The first two we were here were just us surviving. That’s why this ceremony is so important, it’s the sixth hundred year we’ve been here. Why?” Ulistix asked as he looked at Zane, seeing his eyes widen. “What is it?”

Before Zane could say anything, something happened.

“GUYS! WE NEED YOU!” Karltics called out.

As Zane and Ulistix looked towards the cry, Ulistix stared in horror. Looking through the hole in the wall was a horror that he had never seen the like of. Even in his nightmares, this thing was a monstrosity.

It had deep red chitin covering all of its nine-foot-tall form. It had an elongated skull a foot wide and three feet long that ended in a back arching crest. Its eyes were around a third of the way from the mouth, and they were three set in a line. The mouth took up all of the width and was full of black fangs that dripped saliva. It had four arms just behind its foot-long neck, all four set in a circle formation. Each limb ended in a four-clawed hand. Its torso was five feet long and two feet wide and had ridged down it in rows. It had four legs below that and a tail that ended in a crimson sphere club. Beside it were two of the flying biped insects, both of them looking wounded and one was missing its right arm.

For a second, everything just stared, shocked. Then the giant insect creature threw its head back and screeched. From behind Zane and Ulistix, they could hear three answering roars.

Ulistix looked back and saw two more of the insect bipeds flying towards the window. “Zane!”

“Handle them first. I’ll help the others!” Zane called out before he ran off.

It was all Ulistix could to aim at the insects and fire, missing the head of one but scorching off its right wing. As the other flew closer, he fired and maimed the other, sending it after the first. He turned and aimed at the larger monster, seeing it squeeze into the chamber. While that happened Karltics and Cadritic were fighting the two biped insects. Zane was running towards Cadritic, his borrowed blade pointing to the side. Cadritic aimed at the one attacking Karltics as it was the weaker. But then he heard something from his left and he turned, staring at what he found in horror.

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Zane kept moving, trying to keep calm. He couldn’t get over the fact that these people had been here for six hundred years. The Corp war was only two hundred years back, and his new grandfather had fought in it! Back then the Neo Triads were privateers, they only crossed over after the war. From the stories and the history files he had read, the time was true. So how had these people been here for so long? The question could be answered later, for now, he had to fight!

“Cadritic, dodge to the right!” Zane bellowed as he came at the monster from the right.

Cadritic reacted, ducking down, narrowly avoiding a slash from his foe.

Zane was suddenly there and slashed to the side, cutting the monster’s eyes. He had maimed it and it tried to kill him, but he kept moving. He jumped over the slash and landed a foot away, dashing back and impaling the monster’s head.

Cadritic just stared in shock as Zane pulled his blade free as the corpse of the monster fell backwards.

Zane just looked at Cadritic before nodding. “Help Karltics, I’ll get the big thing’s attention.”

Cadritic just nodded, before he looked at Zane in shock. “Wait, you’ll what!?”

Zane looked at the bigger monster as it tried to fit into the hole, and he glared at it. He shot forward, pulling out his pistol as he ran. He ran out of the chamber and fired at the giant creature’s left side and it roared as the shot hit. The giant turned and slashed out with its left arm, but Zane jumped backwards. The monster roared again as Zane fired again, this time taking off its upper left arm at the elbow. From the wound came a gallon of black liquid that hit the ground and released steam.

It was all Zane could do to keep a smile from blooming on his face. This thing was an even worse foe than all the beasts he’s hunted. As its maimed arm scabbed over, Zane fired at it. He knew that the best thing way to handle this thing was to outlast it, and that was by making it lose blood. He dodged another blow and he felt his blood start to burn.

The monster roared and moved slowly away from the hole, its eyes locked on him. He smirked as it followed after him, trying to strike him. As he led it away, he barely kept from laughing

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Karltics parried a claw strike from the monster attacking him. He needed to handle this before the big one got into the galley. And he had to find a way down to the others. Plus he was in the very unusual position of hoping that the big one was a spawner. If it had spawned the monster he was fighting, then that would be very good. That would mean that all of this was created by the big one, and that was the good option. If something even bigger was out there, then his Kingdom was in danger, more danger than it had ever been.

He moved backwards and his foot landed on a bulge in the floor and he almost tumbled to the ground. He stayed up but that one wrong movement gave the monster he was fighting an opening. A strike to his sword sent it flying into the chamber, disarming him. Before the monster could kill him, it went still as a blade suddenly erupted from its head.

For a moment the monster just stayed upright before the blade was withdrawn. As the body fell, Karltics saw Cadritic standing there flicking the blood off his blade.

Cadritic only grinned at Karltics who stared at him with a shocked look.

“What are you doing here?! What happened to the other one!?” Karltics stammered before he saw the corpse beyond Cadritic. “Well, what about the big one!?”

Cadritic only pointed and Karltics turned, staying in shock at what he saw.

As Zane seemed to dance away from the big one, Karltics’s mouth dropped open. The way Zane was moving, was like something he had only seen once before. It was when a veteran from the Front Line had come back and spared with the strongest teacher at the academy. They were beyond anything he had ever seen, and Zane was just as good, and without the Power!

“He’s very good at this, isn’t he?” Ulistix asked from behind.

Karltics and Cadritic turned and saw Ulistix looking around at the organic mass on the walls.

“But it won’t matter if we’re overwhelmed. So where is it?” Ulistix muttered to himself as he followed something with his eyes.

“What do you mean!? How would we be overwhelmed?” Karltics stammered.

Ulistix only gestured to the ceiling and when Karltics looked up, he stared in horror at what he hadn’t seen.