Right, so 2k words is a lot more limiting than I thought, so if it sucks I blame Katsu and his ass.
“Contact left! Contact left!” Skorl snapped to his senses when his wingman’s voice came over his communicator. A volley of shots came in from the Syngyuanni light attack fighters that had ambushed him, nearly blowing the Qworg into space dust. With a flick of his wrist he pulled his ship around and towards his attacks.
“Skorl, are you mad?” that was Gaar, his Leirynn wing mate. Tough fellow, but did not like it when Skorl tried something out of the box.
“I know what I am doing, just watch and be amazed.” Skorl could swear he hear Gaar groaning. Skorl smiled. Too often Qworg ships were underestimated in battle, in particular the Flitter-class, his preferred ship. Small and agile, but known for being soft and lacking in firepower. Of course, Skorl had his tricked out in ways most ships of this class were not. Three Dominitus-class fighters we known for their speed and power, but Skorl had defeated them before. They rained fire upon the little ship, but none could touch Skorl. Skorl took aim and squeezed the trigger. One, two, three ships were crippled. Zooming past their now powerless hulks, he opened up his scanner to look for incoming enemies. Several blips began to show up. More than expected. “Gaar, what is going on? This was not in the parameters?” Gaar did not respond. More ships, hundreds were surrounding him. This was not good, not good at all. Hundreds of Synguanni ships surrounded him, but if he was going down, he was going to take as many of the bastards down with him. Pumping all of his auxiliary to his thrusters, he charged the Synguanni line, dodging fire and taking out ship after ship. Unfortunately, he could not dodge all of the shots, and soon his ship took one too many hits and everything went white.
The hood went up on the ship simulator, Skorl looking rather cross with whomever changed his parameters, crawled out and walked over to his laughing wing mates. Tail between his legs, he walked over to his crew. “You did this on purpose didn’t you?”
His old friend, the Arkdaevian woman Atuun-Da spoke, “You get too cocky sometimes Skorl, I know you have always been this way but you have to work with the team, or that happens.” Skorl of course, was still unhappy, and was still angry when the call went over the inter com, ‘Skorl to Admiral Herrera’s office.”
He always hated going into this office. It was always so cold and sterile. You would think that the most prominent man in the human military would spring for some creature comforts, but he almost seemed to prefer the most minimal lifestyle possible. He honestly was not sure what he wanted with him. Skorl had been a family friend with the Herrera’s ever since he met his great-grandmother when he was just a pup. They had come to rely on his legendary bravery and smooth charm in order to get the most difficult assignments done. Yeah, that was it. Obviously he was needed for something they could not do themselves. He slicked back his ears and strutted his way into the Admirals office.
“Ah, greetings Skorl.” The Admiral was in his seat, talking to a Xin woman. “Skorl,” he said, “You are strutting again.” Skorl, with missing a beat just puffed out his chest.
“Captain Skorl here, ready to save the day!” he announced, wagging his tail. Skorls charms were largely only effective on himself and other Qworgs. Qworgs were a race of short, dog-like aliens that humans likened to bi-pedal Corgis. They found the resemblance uncanny, but disliked it when they were viewed as pets. The other alien in the room was the Xin. They looked very much like humans, but they had red to purple skin, with hair similar shades. Of course, their true secret is that they were all born with Aeonic power, which is the ability to manipulate Aether to perform all sorts of amazing feats. He wagged his tail at her. This one had a nice lavender tone to her skin, quite pleasant Skorl thought.
The admiral coughed to give himself a moment and then, “This is Zuki Quasoto, her family was a member of the priest caste before first contact. You know all about this so I am not going to go over that more with you.” Of course he did. The Xin home world, Alast was under a rather brutal Theocracy that decreed that the Xin were the only species in the galaxy, so when a ship carrying himself, Alicia Herrera and her children crash landed on their planet, it caused a series of events that led to the topple of the priest caste. The look the woman was giving Skorl right now suggested she was not too happy with him. “As you know this war has gone on for some time, and Ms. Quasoto here may have an answer.” He nodded at her to respond.
“On our home world, there is legend of a weapon developed a long time ago. It is said that it is a device that can tear entire cities into the Aether, a weapon to be used as a threat against those who would rise up against the Priests. However, it was sealed away and forgotten except in a few old texts. I believe I may have uncovered its location. Unfortunately, so have some of the radicals.” Skorl cringed. There were a few splinter groups on Alast that wanted to bring back the theocracy, and were willing to commit atrocities to do it.
“So how will this help us against the Horrors?” Skorl betrayed a bit of fear in his voice. Decades ago, these creatures were things of myth, occasionally reported by a drunken yokel but never taken seriously. Unfortunately, they were all too real and they attack in mass a few years ago and proven to be all but resilient to most types of warfare.
“We are planning a siege on their Great City, we will set this weapon off there. We think that that is the source of their power, since it appeared first and if we can destroy it, we can win. Unfortunately, it seems that traditional weapons cannot pierce it, but if we assault it and place this within its Great Cathedral, we can send it into the Aether.” There was a note of hope in his voice, one Skorl had not heard in a long time.
“So what do you want me to do?” the Qworg asked.
“You will accompany Ms. Quasoto to the ruins and help her retrieve it. You can take the Sigurdr.”
“So,” Skorl said, “You were in the priest caste?” he had been grilling her for the last several hours and had he bothered to pay attention to the look on her face, he would have picked up on that she was not amused.
“My family was, however thanks to you are your friends, we are just regular folk.” She frowned. She did not hate the humans for what they did, but since the fall of the Divine the priest caste has been treated with suspicion, and it has made her life rough. “Skorl, how much longer until we arrive?” She was desperate for this ride to end.
Skorl checked the navigational computer. “Less than five minutes.” He looked out into the mists of the Aether. He was not sure if he could trust this woman, but he hoped that her artifact could end this war. Dropping out of the Aether was always an experience. The flashes of blue that meld into the blackness of space, and in this case to a red planet. It had been a long time since h had been to Alast, and he was curious as to how this place has changed.
They landed far from the space port. Over 1000 kilometers away from the nearest one. Skorl hoped this woman knew what she was doing. “It is not far from here,” she said. “My family was in charge of this temple and it was set out here for a reason the weapon was developed millennia ago, during a war that consumed the planet. It is said that it is capable of sucking entire cities into the Aether, as if they never were.”
Skorl frowned. The war against the Horrors had taken its toll on everyone, but he was not sure if this was needed. “What are the effects? Doesn’t that sort of thing damage the walls between what is real and the Aether?”
She shook her head. “It works much in the way that Aeons can tear small holes into the Veil and send objects through, just on a far more massive scale, and permanently.”
She seemed to notice he was going to ask that. The Aeonic Rifts he knew of only temporally displaced objects, it did not seal them away for good. “Why didn’t they use it?”
She shrugged. “The war ended before they could implement it, so it was sealed away. Fortunately, I know where it is.”
Hours later, they finally arrived at the temple. Deep within the lavender jungles of Alast, stood a small, unassuming temple. “It does not seem that important.” Skorl remarked.
Zuki walked up to the entrance. “It’s not in the building, but under it.” She stood silently at the entrance, her eyes closed. Skorl recognized this, she was drawing Aether to do…something. Skorl was about to open his mouth, when the ground began to shake. The walls of the temple began to rearrange themselves, forming an entrance to below the building. She waved him over. “It’s not too deep, should not be much farther from here.”
An hour later they finally approached the final junction. The last few were perilous and fraught with taps, but they had made their way to the last one. The room was large and like most of the others, was filled with strange statues and walls covered in mosaics. Zuki approached the door and examined it. “This should be it, but where do I open it…” She pondered out loud. Skorl noticed that she was arranging something on the door, but his attention was brought to something he saw out of the corner of his eye. A dark shape was lurking nearby and he turned to face it. He wished that he had not done that. What stood before him was once a Xin, but its rotting flesh, twisted skull and the long arms ending in claws meant it was only one thing. “The Enthralled!” yelped Skorl. “Zuki, hurry up, Horrors are here!”
This was the last thing she needed. “Hold them off, I almost have this completed!”
Skorl gulped. All right, he could do this. He drew his twin pistols and fired, taking down the creature. He meant to cry out in victory, but more began to pour out of the walls. The walls were hollow and the mosaics were just panels, containing these creatures. He fired and fired, finally he heard the door open and Zuki ran out with a round object clutched in her arms. “Let’s go Skorl!”
“Why?”
The building began to rumble, and the room that contained the object was enveloped in an Aether storm. “I….I may have triggered a trap, let’s just go”
Skorl yelped and dropped to all fours and ran. The device triggered an old trap designed to prevent anyone from stealing the device, by sucking the whole place into the Aether. The horrors went in first, but Skorl and Zuki ran as fast as they could. They had just managed to get out of the temple when the last of it was sucked in. Panting, Skorl said, “I’m never going on a trip with you again.”
“Skorl, are you mad?” that was Gaar, his Leirynn wing mate. Tough fellow, but did not like it when Skorl tried something out of the box.
“I know what I am doing, just watch and be amazed.” Skorl could swear he hear Gaar groaning. Skorl smiled. Too often Qworg ships were underestimated in battle, in particular the Flitter-class, his preferred ship. Small and agile, but known for being soft and lacking in firepower. Of course, Skorl had his tricked out in ways most ships of this class were not. Three Dominitus-class fighters we known for their speed and power, but Skorl had defeated them before. They rained fire upon the little ship, but none could touch Skorl. Skorl took aim and squeezed the trigger. One, two, three ships were crippled. Zooming past their now powerless hulks, he opened up his scanner to look for incoming enemies. Several blips began to show up. More than expected. “Gaar, what is going on? This was not in the parameters?” Gaar did not respond. More ships, hundreds were surrounding him. This was not good, not good at all. Hundreds of Synguanni ships surrounded him, but if he was going down, he was going to take as many of the bastards down with him. Pumping all of his auxiliary to his thrusters, he charged the Synguanni line, dodging fire and taking out ship after ship. Unfortunately, he could not dodge all of the shots, and soon his ship took one too many hits and everything went white.
The hood went up on the ship simulator, Skorl looking rather cross with whomever changed his parameters, crawled out and walked over to his laughing wing mates. Tail between his legs, he walked over to his crew. “You did this on purpose didn’t you?”
His old friend, the Arkdaevian woman Atuun-Da spoke, “You get too cocky sometimes Skorl, I know you have always been this way but you have to work with the team, or that happens.” Skorl of course, was still unhappy, and was still angry when the call went over the inter com, ‘Skorl to Admiral Herrera’s office.”
He always hated going into this office. It was always so cold and sterile. You would think that the most prominent man in the human military would spring for some creature comforts, but he almost seemed to prefer the most minimal lifestyle possible. He honestly was not sure what he wanted with him. Skorl had been a family friend with the Herrera’s ever since he met his great-grandmother when he was just a pup. They had come to rely on his legendary bravery and smooth charm in order to get the most difficult assignments done. Yeah, that was it. Obviously he was needed for something they could not do themselves. He slicked back his ears and strutted his way into the Admirals office.
“Ah, greetings Skorl.” The Admiral was in his seat, talking to a Xin woman. “Skorl,” he said, “You are strutting again.” Skorl, with missing a beat just puffed out his chest.
“Captain Skorl here, ready to save the day!” he announced, wagging his tail. Skorls charms were largely only effective on himself and other Qworgs. Qworgs were a race of short, dog-like aliens that humans likened to bi-pedal Corgis. They found the resemblance uncanny, but disliked it when they were viewed as pets. The other alien in the room was the Xin. They looked very much like humans, but they had red to purple skin, with hair similar shades. Of course, their true secret is that they were all born with Aeonic power, which is the ability to manipulate Aether to perform all sorts of amazing feats. He wagged his tail at her. This one had a nice lavender tone to her skin, quite pleasant Skorl thought.
The admiral coughed to give himself a moment and then, “This is Zuki Quasoto, her family was a member of the priest caste before first contact. You know all about this so I am not going to go over that more with you.” Of course he did. The Xin home world, Alast was under a rather brutal Theocracy that decreed that the Xin were the only species in the galaxy, so when a ship carrying himself, Alicia Herrera and her children crash landed on their planet, it caused a series of events that led to the topple of the priest caste. The look the woman was giving Skorl right now suggested she was not too happy with him. “As you know this war has gone on for some time, and Ms. Quasoto here may have an answer.” He nodded at her to respond.
“On our home world, there is legend of a weapon developed a long time ago. It is said that it is a device that can tear entire cities into the Aether, a weapon to be used as a threat against those who would rise up against the Priests. However, it was sealed away and forgotten except in a few old texts. I believe I may have uncovered its location. Unfortunately, so have some of the radicals.” Skorl cringed. There were a few splinter groups on Alast that wanted to bring back the theocracy, and were willing to commit atrocities to do it.
“So how will this help us against the Horrors?” Skorl betrayed a bit of fear in his voice. Decades ago, these creatures were things of myth, occasionally reported by a drunken yokel but never taken seriously. Unfortunately, they were all too real and they attack in mass a few years ago and proven to be all but resilient to most types of warfare.
“We are planning a siege on their Great City, we will set this weapon off there. We think that that is the source of their power, since it appeared first and if we can destroy it, we can win. Unfortunately, it seems that traditional weapons cannot pierce it, but if we assault it and place this within its Great Cathedral, we can send it into the Aether.” There was a note of hope in his voice, one Skorl had not heard in a long time.
“So what do you want me to do?” the Qworg asked.
“You will accompany Ms. Quasoto to the ruins and help her retrieve it. You can take the Sigurdr.”
“So,” Skorl said, “You were in the priest caste?” he had been grilling her for the last several hours and had he bothered to pay attention to the look on her face, he would have picked up on that she was not amused.
“My family was, however thanks to you are your friends, we are just regular folk.” She frowned. She did not hate the humans for what they did, but since the fall of the Divine the priest caste has been treated with suspicion, and it has made her life rough. “Skorl, how much longer until we arrive?” She was desperate for this ride to end.
Skorl checked the navigational computer. “Less than five minutes.” He looked out into the mists of the Aether. He was not sure if he could trust this woman, but he hoped that her artifact could end this war. Dropping out of the Aether was always an experience. The flashes of blue that meld into the blackness of space, and in this case to a red planet. It had been a long time since h had been to Alast, and he was curious as to how this place has changed.
They landed far from the space port. Over 1000 kilometers away from the nearest one. Skorl hoped this woman knew what she was doing. “It is not far from here,” she said. “My family was in charge of this temple and it was set out here for a reason the weapon was developed millennia ago, during a war that consumed the planet. It is said that it is capable of sucking entire cities into the Aether, as if they never were.”
Skorl frowned. The war against the Horrors had taken its toll on everyone, but he was not sure if this was needed. “What are the effects? Doesn’t that sort of thing damage the walls between what is real and the Aether?”
She shook her head. “It works much in the way that Aeons can tear small holes into the Veil and send objects through, just on a far more massive scale, and permanently.”
She seemed to notice he was going to ask that. The Aeonic Rifts he knew of only temporally displaced objects, it did not seal them away for good. “Why didn’t they use it?”
She shrugged. “The war ended before they could implement it, so it was sealed away. Fortunately, I know where it is.”
Hours later, they finally arrived at the temple. Deep within the lavender jungles of Alast, stood a small, unassuming temple. “It does not seem that important.” Skorl remarked.
Zuki walked up to the entrance. “It’s not in the building, but under it.” She stood silently at the entrance, her eyes closed. Skorl recognized this, she was drawing Aether to do…something. Skorl was about to open his mouth, when the ground began to shake. The walls of the temple began to rearrange themselves, forming an entrance to below the building. She waved him over. “It’s not too deep, should not be much farther from here.”
An hour later they finally approached the final junction. The last few were perilous and fraught with taps, but they had made their way to the last one. The room was large and like most of the others, was filled with strange statues and walls covered in mosaics. Zuki approached the door and examined it. “This should be it, but where do I open it…” She pondered out loud. Skorl noticed that she was arranging something on the door, but his attention was brought to something he saw out of the corner of his eye. A dark shape was lurking nearby and he turned to face it. He wished that he had not done that. What stood before him was once a Xin, but its rotting flesh, twisted skull and the long arms ending in claws meant it was only one thing. “The Enthralled!” yelped Skorl. “Zuki, hurry up, Horrors are here!”
This was the last thing she needed. “Hold them off, I almost have this completed!”
Skorl gulped. All right, he could do this. He drew his twin pistols and fired, taking down the creature. He meant to cry out in victory, but more began to pour out of the walls. The walls were hollow and the mosaics were just panels, containing these creatures. He fired and fired, finally he heard the door open and Zuki ran out with a round object clutched in her arms. “Let’s go Skorl!”
“Why?”
The building began to rumble, and the room that contained the object was enveloped in an Aether storm. “I….I may have triggered a trap, let’s just go”
Skorl yelped and dropped to all fours and ran. The device triggered an old trap designed to prevent anyone from stealing the device, by sucking the whole place into the Aether. The horrors went in first, but Skorl and Zuki ran as fast as they could. They had just managed to get out of the temple when the last of it was sucked in. Panting, Skorl said, “I’m never going on a trip with you again.”
