by Vi Voxley
Pelar screamed in horror when the first one crawled out from under the flooring. It was as black as night, so big it almost hit its head on the ceiling of the hall. Burning eyes narrowed down on Tieran and Pelar from his flat face, hundreds of teeth peeking out from its distorted mouth.
It stood on two hind legs but Tieran knew it was ready to pounce on him.
"You better leave," Tieran said, not looking at her. "They are dangerous even when they're fake."
She didn't need to be told twice. He could hear her running for the doors as fast as she could, whimpering, when the mech-Fearless roared after her, making the walls shake. Tieran wondered if that was heard even through the theoretically soundproof walls of the pit.
He adjusted the settings of his armor while the Fearless – one of them, at least – turned to him. Tieran knew no such luxury would be granted to him in a true battle with one. The Fearless were unbelievably fast and powerful creatures. No mech could ever really imitate them perfectly, but it was the best he could do.
His gray armor adjusted. Made of thousands of miniscule pieces that fit together perfectly, it formed the shape Tieran considered best against the Fearless. The normally very plain-looking armor turned into something that resembled a form-fitting cloth around his body, with layers upon layers of nanobots resting on top of each other.
The thin, easily breakable appearance was misleading, but Tieran had no idea if it could actually withstand the attack of a Fearless.
He only had enough time to pull his short glaive free before the Fearless came at him, the creature's pounding footsteps making the ground shake beneath Tieran’s feet.
Tieran jumped out of the way, knocking the glaive to its full length. The handle became almost as tall as he was, with the gleaming blade at the top of it becoming longer as well. Like the armor and Tieran himself, the weapon changed to confront the enemy in the most effective way.
And right on time too, because the Fearless opened its terrific mouth to swallow him whole. Tieran stared the mech down, standing his ground when the creature roared with his five rows of razor-sharp teeth, each as long as Tieran’s blade. He waited, his stance changing in preparation of taking the blow that was to come.
The Fearless bit down, its jaws spreading thrice as wide as they had been before, to allow it to bite Tieran in two.
He jumped at once, right into the creature's gaping maw. Tieran jammed the glaive into the beast's mouth, the blade impaled between the second and third row of teeth. His powerful muscles flexed, aided by his armor, but still the Fearless pressed its jaws together. It was programmed not to react to anything that would indicate pain.
Fearless didn't know pain. No compassion either. They had so little of it that they didn't even have any self-preservation to speak of.
A normal living thing would have tried to shake Tieran off, to pry him away, but the towering black monstrosity only bit down harder. It was still roaring, the volume of its voice so loud it made Tieran shake in the vibrations of the sound waves.
He dodged the beast's clawed hands, finally coming to rip him out of its mouth. With nowhere else to go, Tieran pressed himself deeper between its jaws. His elevated heartbeat told him that his body understood the danger he was in, but Tieran had no doubts about the course he had chosen.
Both his hands were wrapped around the glaive's handle, pushing the weapon deeper into where the creature's brain was. That was the only way to shut the mech-Fearless down.
The Fearless knew it too. Its jaws slammed down on him so suddenly that Tieran barely had time to react before he was almost squished. He could feel his ribs crack under the tremendous pressure. Around him, the Fearless was chewing, trying to chomp him into pieces.
His armor was giving him wild, beeping signals. It was the control room, asking him if he wanted to stop the mech. Tieran ignored it, pushing the glaive deeper with all the stubbornness he was known for.
If he couldn't handle a cheap copy of the real enemy, he had no hope in the field.
Something broke in his shoulder as the Fearless now tried to crush him between his teeth. They were scraping at his armor and tearing layers of nanobots away. Tieran knew he had a minute, maybe less, before the Fearless chewed his unbreakable armor off and spat his mangled corpse out right along with it.
He rested one boot against one of the bigger fangs and put all his strength and will behind the glaive. The Fearless' roar almost deafened him. The teeth cut through his armor now as the beast chewed wildly, clawing at its own mouth with its massive claws to get him out.
None of that was the imagination of the Palian engineers. All of the Fearless' fighting techniques were taken from a real creature that had once lived. A Brion general called Braen had finally killed it, doing something similar to what Tieran was attempting.
It was rare for Brions to share any of their tactics, but the Fearless was special. Every species in the Galactic Union was ready to provide all the information they possessed. It was the only chance they had to even out the battles with the monsters.
Tieran noticed the change in the mech just in time to save his life. He had to be nearing the brain section, because the Fearless suddenly stilled and went for its last weapon, evidently realizing that even maiming itself wasn't going to help.
Instead of roaring, which had made Tieran's bones shake, it screeched. The high-pitched sound was tearing through his head, making even moving seem like cutting himself with a thousand blades. He had managed to alert his armor in time and the nanobots rushed to cover and protect his face. Still, Tieran tasted blood, and it was his.
With a roar of his own, he jammed the glaive into the mech's brain. The sensors recognized the killing blow and the Fearless slumped to the ground. Breathing heavily, Tieran had to exercise all of his strength to push himself out from between its jaws.
He stepped into the hall again. The whole fight hadn't taken more than a few minutes, but it had seemed like ages.
Pelar came back in, her eyes wide on her pale face.
"Commander," she breathed. "I thought we'd lost you."
"Not today," Tieran said, letting his armor flow back into its regular form, now that he no longer needed all his agility.
"That was incredible," Pelar went on. "I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to kill something like that."
Tieran turned back to watch as the AI of the hall cleaned up the remnants of the mech.
"That was one of the smaller ones," he said. "Much slower, much less vicious. Nowhere near as dangerous as the real one. And since no two have ever been completely alike, it's more of an exercise than practice. Is there any information about what the new one is like?"
Turning back to her, Tieran saw honest concern in her eyes. Pelar's entire body language spoke of unease and fear and he couldn't really blame her.
"Have no fear," he told her, his deep voice bearing such certainty she immediately stood up straighter. "We have always found ways to deal with the Fearless. We will deal with this new one too. Now you should really leave, there will be more of these—"
A voice interrupted him, but it wasn't Pelar's.
"Commander," the control center said. "Something has happened down in the mines. We think the lifestone stores are in danger."
3
Audrey
It was the single most beautiful thing Audrey had ever seen.
Like gold buried under layers of dirt and mud, a stone peeked out from under the dark rock of the mountain itself.
Around her, everyone seemed to be in similar awe. Terran and Palian alike stood with their mouths open, staring at that wonder. It was amazing.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't even golden. It wasn't anything at all, almost transparent in its light, gentle glow.
Audrey had no words to describe it. The closest she could think of was the way people sometimes imagined spirits – a white glow, so pure and clear it nearly hurt to look upon it. All of that was captured there in the form of a stone, almost at the core of
an icy planet, more translucent than the brightest day on the surface.
She reached out her arm to touch it, to feel if it felt as divine as it looked, but her Palian guard immediately snatched her hand away. More rudely than she would have expected from one of his species. They were never that sudden.
"This is an amazing discovery," the guard said carefully. "But we must be careful, Governor."
"Is that what you have been looking for?" Audrey asked, pointing to the glowing stone. "If it's dangerous, you should have told me."
"Not dangerous," the Palian said, shaking his head. "Simply mysterious, even to us. We should approach it with caution. If our sources are correct, that mineral contains tremendous amounts of energy. We think the entire station could be powered for a year with a stone that fits into your palm.
“But until we're sure, the commander thinks we shouldn't play around with it."
Him again. I wonder if this discovery will warrant me with some face-to-face time at last.
Audrey nodded.
Facing away from the stone, only seeing the glow behind her, dancing on the walls around them, she realized how cold it was. While her eyes were on the stone, she'd forgotten how deep in the mines she'd come.
She had never been at the lowest level before and she started to feel the effect again. She'd need some warm tea when she got back upstairs.
"So this is it?" she asked the Palians around her. "You've been very mysterious about what it is exactly that we're looking for. Does this mean Verien is valuable to the Union?"
"Yes," her guard responded, and Audrey didn't remember when the last time was that she saw any of them smile, other than Pelar. "Verien will become one of the most important planets in the Union. Congratulations, governor."
Audrey smiled.
"Me?" she asked, raising her voice. "I've barely been down here. You guys have done all the work and it has finally paid off. The whole year we've spent here, the hardships we've endured. The congratulations are all yours.
“I'll make sure there will be plenty of rewards at the feast today. The kitchen better break out their best stuff."
Which wasn’t saying much, considering their austere settings, but it would have to do.
The miners around her cheered wildly and even the otherwise stern Palians were smiling. Audrey was sure she knew what the Terran part of her people wanted for their feast – she had been keeping a score of nice whiskey for just the occasion – but she had honestly no idea what she could do for the Palians.
"Now, now," she said, smiling. "Before you get all cheerful about this, remember that this means we are staying here for good. You better start investing in a very warm wardrobe from here on out."
More laughter answered her. Audrey smiled, raising her hand to make them settle down.
"Jokes aside," she said seriously. "This is a great day for all of us. Verien hasn't always been kind to us, but now it has rewarded us tenfold. So we better treat it well now and make this a colony that will make everyone in the Union want to dust off their snow coats and come live here!"
As the miners clapped their hands together and congratulated each other, Audrey looked around with pride.
It was a glorious moment, all the hard work of the past year coming together. She could finally admit that she'd had had doubts in the last few months about the future of the colony. Knowing they were unfounded let her take a deeper breath, at last. For a while, as they were nearing the point where digging would become impossible, it had felt like every day was a step closer to the last.
But it had all been worth it. Verien would become a Union mining world and she would be its governor until they found a new challenge for her.
Her eyes drifted over the people around her. All the miners seemed to feel the same relief and gratitude she was. Audrey was sure she had never seen some of them smile before, but there it was.
The Terrans in particular brought her joy. Palians might have been satisfied with contributing to the galactic well-being, but she knew for a fact the Terran miners were thinking of the fat reward that would be waiting for them.
Some would bring their families to Verien as soon as the station began to grow, and she could see the anticipation on their faces already. So far only essential personnel were allowed to the surface to preserve vital energy.
And then her eyes stopped on a face she didn't recognize.
All at once, Audrey's heart went cold. She knew each and every person in her station, including the pilots who brought them supplies from the Evela, their support ship on the orbit of Verien. The miner closest to her, for example, was Erik. The one behind him was named Jacob, he had two kids.
But the stranger definitely wasn't anyone she knew, nor the mysterious Palian commander. Audrey squinted slightly, a horrible realization dawning on her. No, she did know the person before her. It was Joseph, a miner who had joined not too long ago with a batch of volunteers… but he looked as if he had somehow been broken and put back together again from the inside.
He was grinning ear to ear. It hadn't alerted Audrey before, because everyone around her was happy, but there was something wrong with Joseph’s smile.
It was completely empty, like someone was holding the corners of his mouth up with strings without there being any emotion in the man himself at all.
"That man," Audrey told Aznim with a hushed voice, pointing. "He is… I don’t know what he is. He’s a miner of ours, but he doesn’t look like himself. I can’t explain it."
She immediately drew her gun and the guard by her side did too. Aznim's expression was thunderous as they stared the man down. Suddenly, the cheerful mood in the space changed completely, turning to apprehension as people began to notice Audrey’s reaction, and then the stranger.
The miners cleared the path between them, looking at Joseph with surprise and suspicion.
"Control," Aznim spoke to his comm link. "We have a situation down in the mines. We need the paladins."
If Audrey had thought the situation was odd before, now she knew it was completely fucked. The Palian paladins never showed themselves and now her guard was calling them down to the mines.
It meant… it meant the plain little man standing in front of them was the most dangerous being she'd probably ever met.
"Identify yourself," Audrey ordered, forcing her voice not to shake. "Joseph, has something been done to you?”
She had been prepared for all kinds of answers. She had expected him to offer excuses or anything normal, really. But she hadn’t been prepared for what happened next.
She almost screamed when the man split open like a body bag. One moment, he was standing there, looking at her with that dead expression of his, and then Joseph split in half straight down the middle, flesh and intestines and blood tumbling to the cave floor.
Instead of the miner that had been there a second ago, a large, sprawling, brown centipede-like creature undulated in its place, clicking and hissing at Audrey.
"A Jorcossi!" the Palian guard yelled by her side. "Protect the stone!"
Audrey had no idea what was going on, but she instinctively stood in front of their discovery, the mysterious stone, along with everyone else. A few Terran miners were confused, trying to run away from the monstrosity that unfolded from the human skin it had worn, but all Palians stood their ground.
Unarmed or not, they defended the stone with their own bodies.
She didn't know what a Jorcossi was, but it was damned ugly. From the man it had been crawled forth a brown, sluggish creature that reminded her of a snake standing on two legs. It was tall and lean, covered in scales and slime.
It didn't look that dangerous until it started growing. Audrey thought it was going to burst until she realized it was growing others on its own flesh. The creatures spawned from the first with horrible speed, dropping to the ground before standing up again. The rest were shorter than the first, a bit stockier but no less hideous to look at.
"Open fire!" Aznim ordered.
Audrey raised her gun and fired, trying to recall all the lessons she'd ever taken about physics, wondering if they were about to bring the mountain down upon their heads.
The creatures burst apart under the fire, but more were coming. Only the guard, Audrey and a few of the miners had anything to shoot with, after all. They beat back the first wave, but by then the Jorcossi were crowding them and the biggest one was approaching with the same horrible grin on its snake face.
The large one had reminded her almost of some cross between a meaty centipede and a serpent, but far slimier and thicker. It was huge, too, seeming to grow exponentially with every moment before it burst into the tinier ones.
How the hell do we fight these things? she thought, dodging.
Audrey calculated in her mind. If the paladins had started moving the second they got the message, they were still long, long minutes away. The bottom of the mountain wasn't easily accessed, but it also wasn't easily escaped.
She hoped they had the sense to try and set up a perimeter not to let the enemy run.
None of it did anything to better their current situation, however. She was firing as fast as she could, thankful to Franco for all his gun instruction.
No matter who the bastards were, they were on her planet and she wasn't going to let them get away with robbing her.
The Palians without weapons were fighting the smaller Jorcossi with their bare hands and Audrey noticed Terrans joining in too. Jorcossi were small, but fast and vicious, trying to choke their victims to death with their long hands.
While they were mostly serpentine in shape, they had these skinny, spindly arms that were surprisingly strong. Slimy, fast, and sinewy, they were not easy to fight, even if they seemed skinny and frail at first glance.
Gritting her teeth, Audrey shot as precisely as she could, but she didn't dare to turn her gun on those already engaged, fearing she'd hit one of her own.
"Are the paladins coming?" she asked Aznim over the sounds of fighting.
