by Vi Voxley
The world was red around Braen. The blood, the raging crimson flashing of his valor squares, the bursting veins in his eyes. The threshold of pain tolerance came and went and his hands were still holding onto the shaft of his spear, resisting being pulled out of the mouth, even when he wasn’t sure whether his consciousness was still with him.
The general and the Fearless both howled in pain, their bodies breaking. As the monster finally slumped to its knees, Braen felt his consciousness slipping away along with it.
One of the Fearless' claws ripped right through his armor, piercing Braen's stomach at that very moment.
Feeling his body shutting down, the coldness of death creeping closer, Braen twisted the spear. The Fearless' dying scream felt like someone was banging his head against a wall, but after what seemed like hours, the vice-like grip around him eased up.
Not today, the thought rushed through his head as Braen’s eyes fluttered open and his lungs filled with air.
With the last reserves of his strength, he pushed the cage of teeth open. It was hard going. The Fearless was still trying to stop him from living through the battle by keeping him until his body gave up.
Using his own body as a lever, Braen pushed through the broken fangs and gasped for the first breath of fresh air like a man dying of thirst getting his first sip of cool, clear water.
He crawled out of the monster's mouth on his hands and knees, clutching the terrible wound in his stomach. With his whole body shaking, he took a moment to gather himself, feeling his wounds breathe right along with him.
Victory.
His vision was foggy and the world swam around him as he knelt there, in a pool of blood, some of his own dribbling off his broken armor. Looking at the massive body beside him, twitching as its nerve endings were shutting down, Braen had expected the victory to taste sweeter than anything else.
Not only had he become a general of the Brion armies, but he had defeated the seventeenth Fearless ever known. His name would go down in the history books.
Yet, the taste in his mouth was nothing but bitter copper, a sense of foreboding echoing over him.
He signaled the gigantic warship Benevolent to come and pick him up, watching the Fearless succumb to its wounds.
The general could have sworn that the enemy whispered something to him with its last breath.
It sounded like "This is not the end".
His injuries were so great that Braen arrived on Briolina with half of his ribs replaced by a mechanical contraption that was meant to stop his chest from collapsing, not to mention the rest of his wounds.
Yet he had killed a Fearless and nothing in the world could have taken that from him. Braen truly was a Brion general now. Always challenged, always doubted, always victorious. No matter what the galaxy threw at him. Just like he’d always known he would be.
"This is going to hurt," General Faren told him instead of congratulations.
The coldest, most terrifying general of them all looked at Braen with icy eyes, daring him to say anything. Faren's own valor squares reached his temples, rumored to have damaged his emotional core so he no longer felt anything. Braen knew it wasn't true, but it sometimes helped to have the Union believe things like that. Reputation always preceded a man, after all.
As it should, Braen thought to himself at Faren’s comment.
Though nothing could really hurt as much as being nearly crushed between the jaws of a Fearless.
He didn't reply. In response, he thought he saw a flash of approval in Faren's stormy eyes as the general personally gifted him with the valor squares honoring Braen for the Fearless kill.
There were many and they did hurt, but it wasn't important. Braen never moved a muscle.
Considering all that, it was a huge disappointment to hear years later that the Fearless he had so painstakingly murdered wasn't as dead as he had presumed after all.
1
Naima
The dark ocean looked like black ink, even in daylight.
Naima was sitting on the edge of the lower side of the research yacht Nautica, her toes in the warm water. Her feet didn't reach deep under the ocean surface, but the mineralogist couldn't make out anything, not even the color of her own skin. It was like dipping her legs into black ink.
She was so focused on the endless field of water before her that she didn't hear Janey approach. The junior researcher was already wearing the dark blue diving suit just as Naima was, not even bothering to hide the look of disdain on her face.
"You look like you're having a staring competition with this ocean," Janey said. "Does it help?"
"A little," Naima admitted, grinning.
Janey popped down to sit by her side, careful to hold on to the railing. She didn't put her feet anywhere near the water.
"I hate this fucking place," she sighed and the tone of her voice showed that she meant it.
"I know," Naima nodded, "but you know as well as I do that there is a good chance the lifestone is here."
"It's just as likely to be on any of the other twelve planets in the system," Janey pointed out miserably, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. “And how are we supposed to find something that apparently doesn’t really want to be found anyway?”
"Yes," Naima said with a chuckle, chiding her young colleague a little. "Or it might be on all of them. Imagine that. We’ll find it."
That made Janey smile a little, at last.
Naima couldn't really blame her for the mood she was in. The ocean was... unpleasant, to say the least. The research team of Doug Purnell had come to Matthos IV with such high hopes and eager hearts. After taking one look at the ocean, the good mood had quickly dissipated. Yet that was their charge and their passion, they’d have to keep going even if the situation wasn’t ideal.
"Do you remember how excited we were at first?" she asked Janey.
Dwelling on the good old days made the girl visibly relax at last, but Naima could see her nerves were getting the best of her.
"Yeah," Janey said, her voice taking on that dreamy quality. "Doug bursting through the door, telling us we have a chance to discover something close to the philosopher's stone. I felt like a treasure hunter, being given a map to the greatest bounty in the galaxy with so many X-s marking the spot that they made my eyes dizzy."
Naima nodded, the memory fresh in her mind too. The news had spread like wildfire through the entire Galactic Union, after all, when the discovery on Verien had been made. Though Naima and the rest of the crew had only heard the beginning of it – the part where something was supposedly found on Verien – it had been enough of a start to send the Palians into a flurry of research funding.
Since the funds came through, Naima and the rest of the crew of the Nautica and their ship Dawnstar - waiting for them in orbit – had been blissfully unaware of the rest of the universe and its dramatics. Personally, that was how Naima liked it. Science had to come first. Palians had found a mineral that had the potential to power everything until the end of time, or so the fairytale said. The truth was, at least for Naima and the rest of the team, a little less prosaic.
The lifestone was real and it was precious beyond anything. It meant no hardship was too much, but it didn't change the fact Naima and Janey were still the only ones who dared to dive into the ocean.
Anything could be out there. Neither Naima nor the officer of the watch would ever see it coming. The black ocean had many bothersome qualities and disrupting all the scanners they had was one of them.
The water was charged with something, possibly a magnetism or low radiation. Whatever it was, it disrupted radio contact and reduced communication to a simplified language of pulling on the rope.
It amused Naima to no end. They were in space, exploring alien planets, but to talk to the Nautica, Naima had to learn Morse. Talk about a history lesson.
At least they were able to conclude there was no danger to the researchers from the water alone. That was a small relief. She would have hated to lea
ve this planet. Why, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she had a good feeling about it.
"Today's the day," Naima said, rising to her feet with determination.
Janey stood with considerably less enthusiasm.
"How do you know?" she asked as they walked along the prow. "So far, it has been months and months of nothing."
"I have a feeling," Naima replied with confidence.
And I do, too. I have to be right. Janey's not wrong. If we don't find anything soon, the crew will lose hope.
They walked over to the prep station, where some of the crew had been prepping their stuff, waiting to be fitted with their diving gear. As the crew worked on them, pitying looks on their faces, Naima only felt excitement. Going into the ocean wasn't something she looked forward to, but every day brought the possibility they'd find the lifestone. That was something to look forward to.
If half of what they're saying is true, the stone is worth a lot more than a little discomfort on our part. How great would it be to get to study something like that?
Janey clearly didn't share her opinion, looking like she was on death row. Her bright blue eyes and wild honey-colored hair made her look much younger than she was. Altogether she looked like a frightened child who was about to be thrown into the water, hoping she'd learn to swim somewhere between leaving the railing and hitting the water.
In contrast, Naima had always thought her own deep green eyes and long, red curls made her look more mature. And she definitely knew how to swim in these dark waters.
"How did Doug approve of this, anyway?" Janey asked as the huge diving frames were lowered over their heads. "I thought he wanted to move on to the next island."
"I convinced him to do one more pass," Naima explained, raising her hands to accept the straps around her waist. "Captain Gordon received a message from the orbit last night. The Palians thought they were able to narrow down the signature to our exact location. I think we didn't go deep enough last time. Doug authorized one more day."
"That is hopeful," Janey said and for the first time in a while, Naima saw actual thrill in her eyes. "What do our guards think?"
Naima snorted.
"Captain Gordon also said," she deadpanned, "that the mighty Brions don't think it is necessary for them to share their opinions with us. Which is a nice way of saying they're still here and until we find the stone, they probably don't care."
They both raised their eyes to the skies above their heads. Somewhere out there hovered a small Brion armada. Ever since its discovery, the search for the lifestone was closely monitored by the Galactic Union. Every world with even a hint of lifestone presence was heavily guarded. The Union didn’t want a repeat of the Verien disaster and Naima couldn’t blame them for it.
Palians, the most intelligent and nurturing species in the Union, had found the lifestone and they weren't taking it lightly. A potential energy source for ages to come wasn't something the thin, humanoid species joked about.
Even Brions fell in line for it, Naima thought. It must be tremendous.
While the events of Verien were somewhat common knowledge, the stone itself was still a mystery. Even the research team hadn’t been told much, other than the fact that they were not, under any circumstances, supposed to touch it. Considering that they were still confined to looking for it as if it were a needle in a haystack, Naima had concluded that the Palians didn’t quite understand it yet either.
So far, the Brions hadn't been needed and Naima wasn't surprised in the slightest. As far as she could tell, the nearest war was taking place three warp jumps away, and Matthos IV was the most boring place in the galaxy. The Brions had to be dying of boredom babysitting the little research crew.
The planet was so unimportant otherwise it didn't even warrant a real name, simply a designation code. They counted the worlds from the lone star Matthos that sat in the middle of the system, reminding the team of Terra and the Solar System.
It was a custom that had stuck ever since the good old days, when getting to the Moon from Terra was an event, instead of a minor inconvenience.
All twelve planets in the Matthos system were devoid of life and all of them were equally tedious. Naima had been on seven of them by now and liked Matthos IV the most. It was the only one with a suitable atmosphere to breathe without masks and suits.
The dark ocean covered about ninety percent of the planet, with the few land masses nothing more than glorified islands.
One of them, the unfortunately named Golgol – sounding like some mythical giant rather than a perfectly bland island - was where their base waited, but they hadn't seen it in weeks.
They were anchored near a smaller island, so tiny Doug hadn't even bothered to name it yet. Naima had searched the shallow waters around it alone the day before, but she felt like she must have missed something. Anything. It was about damn time they found something in the nothingness that was Matthos IV.
Now, Janey had to come along for her gut feeling, but the girl didn't seem to hold it against Naima. Just the ocean itself.
"How are the drones doing?" Janey asked as Captain Gordon stomped down the stairs to send them off as he always did.
"Usual garbage," Naima said with a sigh. "You know how it is."
Other than the problems with the ocean, they also couldn't use any of their advanced machinery to look for the stone. Whatever was in the water was messing with the drones as well, making their readings… well, illegible.
With no composition or heat signature to go by, the drones and AIs were running on the command to find anything that didn't fit known criteria. Which, on Matthos IV, wasn’t really much to go by.
It was a mystery what the Galactic Union was basing the search on in the first place, but presumably the planets themselves fit some profile that matched the criteria of known depositories. Down on the surface, they were on their own, with nothing but an occasional clue being filtered down through the Brions by the Palians.
The haul the drones returned with every night was useless. Derivatives of known substances, mostly. Worthless pebbles.
Captain Gordon reached them, his hard-lined face frowning as ever. Doug Purnell, the leader of their research team, followed with a similar expression.
"Girls," he greeted them.
Naima could feel the cold surface of the boat beneath her bare feet. Night was creeping in and that was when the temperature dropped. She was shivering in her dark blue diving suit, skin-tight over her curvy, fit body.
Over the oxygen mask, Naima could see Doug’s frowning face looking at her.
"Don't be heroes," the man said, always the voice of reason.
"Nice send-off, Doug," Naima replied, smiling to ease the tension, although it never worked with the lead scientist. "Really good pep talk."
"Stop trying to be funny," Doug snapped at her.
“Yes, sir,” she said with a slight salute, making the corner of Doug’s mouth twitch upwards for a moment.
The old gruff bear of a man was one of the most dedicated people she had ever met. He cared deeply about his team and their work, which was why he was such a hardass with them. She knew he was a big old softy underneath, though.
"I know you both," Doug growled, his bald head glinting in the beams of the search lights. "You're damn motivated, but that makes you reckless. Foolish.
“Naima, you know this ocean better than anyone now – which isn’t saying much. I won't pull you up until the monitors say you're fine, but if I see anything I don't like, I'll fish both of you out of there before you can blink, got it?"
"Got it," Naima and Janey chorused.
"Good," Doug said. "Now go find us our stone."
He stomped off, leaving Naima and Janey with Captain Gordon.
As Janey checked her equipment, their military escort glared at Naima pretty much like Doug had. They were so similar the team joked it had to be a case of long-lost twins. Out of their hearing range, Janey would add that Doug had ended up with the brains and G
ordon with the brawn.
Naima didn't quite agree. Doug could pull his weight if needed, literally. And Captain Gordon was not nearly as dumb as he sometimes appeared, even compared to a crew who had about a hundred scientific degrees in various fields between them.
Gordon was tall and heavy like an ox, towering over everyone on Nautica. He and his small unit, spread out among the research ships and base, were there to maintain order and protect the team from anything that might have threatened them on the planet. Which, in the case of the Matthos planets, was nothing. Yet Captain Gordon took his work extremely seriously.
He and the rest of his mostly Terran unit had been with them every step of the way, while the Brions looked on from above. In Naima’s opinion, that was a wise choice, keeping Terrans with the crew instead of Brions. The warrior race didn’t exactly inspire calm, even if they were tasked with keeping it.
Naima didn't even know Captain Gordon’s first name. He looked like the kind of guy who had his first name removed when he joined the military. She imagined even his wife called him Mr. Gordon, and maybe Captain Gordon when she was particularly impressed with him.
"You know the drill," the captain followed where Doug left off. "Let's play this one by the book and no one gets hurt."
“Aye-aye,” Janey said, the tiniest bit of mockery in her tone.
Naima smiled, losing the man from sight for a moment when Janey checked the movement of her camera arm and rolled her eyes a little.
"Move, Naima," a tech instructed. "Clap your claws for me."
Naima did just that. Her diving suit might have been tight and smooth, but the apparatus around her was anything but that. It was equipped with everything she might have needed for the journey into the darkness.