Post by ErickRey on Dec 14, 2021 5:16:07 GMT
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"Life is strange," said the slender, soft-spoken pilot of the Leon. She turned in her seat, after she had set the ship to autopilot, so that she could face her copilot, a tall, well-bodied Soro.
"What makes you say that, Secada?"
The female Istanic, the one named Secada, shrugged at her partner, and she told him, as if it was simply fact, "Nothing, really."
The Soro now chuckled, a little bitterly, but not without a hint of amusement towards Secada's sudden but half-hearted interest in the philosophy of life. He told her, "Really? Nothing?"
"Yeah. Nothing. Nothing, really."
And so, with a raised brow of his eye, he nodded to her and looked on, away from her, into the darkness of space. It seemed cold and empty outside. But at least in the company of Secada, his long-time friend in the Marina Real.
He never really thought of Secada any differently since they signed up for this mission. A quiet but lengthy expedition beyond the comforts of the boring Aitanian frontiers. And he, Major Gayyel, was happy, if not relieved, that he accepted her invitation, one that freed him from his duties at the 8-hour desk that dealt with pink slips, red slips, green slips, and many more slips.
He was once a great pilot, and he still could fly, but thanks to that stunt over the Cavallería Mountain Ranges, not excluding the incident beyond the boundaries of Barcelona, he was quietly placed upon a comfortable seat behind a cheap desk, dealing with those slips, speaking to all kinds of people, for eight hours, at a pay certainly greater than the one he was assigned to receive as a pilot of an Alvaro.
But with the grace of Ehytan, peace be upon Aitania, he was granted the right to join, in flight, Captain Secada.
Though he didn't really mind the Istanics, Secada was one of the only females from that group that ever stole his attention away from his former lover, Nazaretta, and he was glad that she stole him away from her, the whore.
"How is the ship going along?" a new voice questioned him and his partner, from behind them, at the doorway, right after it silently opened automatically.
Secada stood for her partner, saluting the man, a scrawny looking Tanalese.
The thicker Soro turned around in his seat, facing the man, saluting him from where he was. He didn't have to stand up, not because his legs were incredibly fucked up by shrapnel from being shot down accidentally over the mountains, but also because Majors were not supposed to salute Captains.
Only Secada had to, because she was a, in the eyes of older officers, novata, so to say.
And the Soro did not approve of that. But, alas, he had to keep such thoughts in the privacy, the safety, of his own mind, one which he knew was more masculine, more respectful, than that of the scrawny islander.
"We're still on course," stated Gayyel, with absolutely no hint of flat seriousness placed upon his words as officers who were in'pereto (Aitanian for inexperto, meaning inexperienced), "and no problems have come up on the instruments."
"Of course," whispered the islander Captain, as he stepped into the space between Secada and Gayyel, causing the Soro to lean back into his seat, not because he wanted to relax, but because he thought irritably of what the scrawny fuck did. And this was something Secada noticed, which encouraged her to give a warning glare to Gayyel, hoping that he wouldn't respond or react to Captain Lorenzo in a stupid way that would get him into a job worse than the 8 hour one. But nothing would stop the Captain from speaking, and so on he continued.
A pause developed, and nothing more happened...until...
-----
Inside a command room are the dirt covered, vine-wrapped metal walls, floor, ceiling and furniture, showcasing how aged this room is and for how long this has not been touched by anyone that cares for the cleanliness of a command room. But other than these seemingly normal features of nature overgrowing humanoid-made structures are the unnatural growing, purple roots and reddish moss that look like it is alive.
The control panels are on yet some of it is flickering, perhaps due to the lack of maintenance it has received over the years since it was last used. The holographic images and screens provide dim light into the dark room, but it isn’t enough to actually reveal the entire interior. If anything, some of the panels are completely destroyed and rendered void of any further use.
In the middle of the command room, stands... Or perhaps sits an eldritch figure, the figure has an upper body of a voluptuous humanoid woman, a beautiful visage that would be enough to woe men who yearns for a woman’s body. But the lower part of this figure is horrendous, nowhere near identical to that of a humanoid, insectoid and not even that close to a machine’s. Instead it is a large, melding mass of tentacle-like limbs, lumpy like a jelly yet almost as strong as a strongman’s muscle when flexed, excreting some kind of sweat yet the ends of it gracefully swings in the air.
The figure’s humanoid limbs gradually dissolve into a mass of tentacles, its formation similar to that of a human’s muscles before completely turning into just a long collection of tentacles reaching out for the control panels, strangely enough the outline of humanoids hands can still be seen but not too clearly. The figure starts to type down into the control panels, writing down a message or sorts with her tentacle-like fingers.
The message reads out:
“For anyone who receives this message from the Colony of Kel’Ghan, we are in dire need of assistance. Our supplies are running low, our people are starving, our energy is on its end, the weather has been growing worse for the past months, and we have for somehow lost communication with the net of the galaxy. We doubt we will be able to last this long without any further assistance, please, for anyone willing to help we will repay you with the best of our abilities.”
And with two more clicks for confirmation of the message, a red hazard sign blares into the screens.
The figure can only give a smirk before turning around and gradually walks... Or slithers away.
-----
The distress call was received in no time as the captains and the major heard it and read it as it was translated and copied three times; one copy would be kept at their station, the second copy would be sent to the rest of the ship, and the third copy would be received at the station of Lieutenant Colonel Amel’yah Laca’asaran.
“I’ll leave you both to it,” said the islander, who readily departed from them, passing through the doorway silently until it was shut tight, allowing the woman and her partner to let out breaths of relief.
“Glad he’s out of here,” the major said, a chuckle departing from his lips almost bitterly, much to the amusement of his partner, who silently worked on communicating with the Lieutenant Colonel concerning what to do.
After a brief exchange of words over wireless transmissions via instant messaging, secured by the ship’s systems and computers, the female captain told her partner, “Looks like the LC wants us to make a reply. Let’s start making our ship head over there now.”
“Agreed,” the major said, now adjusting the course of the ship towards the planet, just as the islander captain met with the LC, discussing whatever higher officers discussed, something which the major never really bothered to seriously think about.
-----
“How many do you think will arrive?” Questions an eldritch figure, the same one that appeared on the command room, except this one has a bit of a “tomboyish” or masculine feature with a short hair, reddish tentacle-like limbs with scale-like armour protecting some of its sections, and it stretches delicately with the tentacles.
“One cargo ship, if we’re being generous I’d say three transport ships... Now, depending on the size of the ships, we’re lucky, or we’ll have to improvise.” The same feminine figure that sent the fake distress signal to whatever ships that receives it.
They are currently out in the open, specifically on a hallway of an old structure with a wide window that gives view to wondrous natural scenery, their overall visage and appearance all too visible for the naked eye to gaze upon. The feminine figure- at least on her human torso- has a pale skin, has pinkish eyes, long black-hair with streaks of white running down to her humanoid back, and with a generous chest size. The tomboyish one has the same pale skin, although he is far more toned, has a rugged face but lacking in facial hair, has a short hair with spikes or some sort.
“Ehhh, improvise... I won’t complain, we have already planted our faunas and floras on this planet a year ago, we will just use some of them.” The female but masculine eldritch figure clicks his tongue, gazing out to the window and looking at the dark, cloudy sky of the planet.
The female one lets out a chuckle, momentarily closing her eyes before proceeding to speak. “Overseer Brag’Dash told us to use everything this planet has to offer, and the equipment that were abandoned in this Colony. It’s a little pity that we have to use some technologies, but I suppose we won’t be able to trick ships into coming here if we didn’t. The others are also tasked on other systems and planets, so we’re not the only ones that will improvise when the situation calls it.”
“That is if a ship received the signal, and if the ship that will come is not something akin to that of a cruiser, battleship or carrier. It’s not like the three of us here are enough to lead the Sub-Sikz on this planet and attack a considerable amount of enemy.” The short-haired one replies with a small sigh.
“Ahaha~ Did you forget? Face-to-Face combat is not what we commonly use. Overwhelming number and ‘underhanded’ tactics is what we specialize in.” The feminine figure laughs and snakes one hand into the tomboyish female’s face, turning her around to face her. “And we already know that we love to play with our victims. You may be a bit peevish for now, but you’ll be satiated sooner or later, I’ll make sure of that.”
The short-haired one looks at her for a moment, before letting out a sigh, taking her hands off her face before turning around to the opposite direction.
“I’ll go and call Ilexria, you go ahead and take care of the last preparations.” He remarks before slithering away. The female eldritch figure lets out one last chuckle before gazing at sky, patiently waiting for their potential victims to arrive.
-----
The talks took hours. And that was normal. Briefings, and the rest of the talking that was not really called a briefing, took time, and they had to. It was important in every military operation, especially for Gayyel, as he and Secada were summoned away from their stations to participate and to listen to the instructions, warnings, and other statements of their commander.
Under her, the Lieutenant Colonel, there were three ships.
The first one was the ship they were all in. This was a Humilde. A corvette armed with guns and missiles. On the other hand, it was modified; this was stripped of some of its missiles.
The other two were simple civilian ships that were designed for deep space exploration. Like the Humilde, however, they were manufactured by the same corporation that supplied the Aitanian Royal Navy. Unfortunately, Gayyel could not remember the name of that corporation, but did that really matter to him?
To that, he shook his head. But to the briefings? No.
Eventually, they ended with one thing in mind: The ships would go out of their way to assist. Their answer to the distress call would be their last mistake, the greatest of their lives.
One by one, with the Leon leading the way, the small group of ships headed towards the planet, moving quickly in order not to waste time that may cost the lives of the ones who asked for help.
As they did this, the Leon issued their reply:
We received your distress call. This is the Aitanian Exploration Group #985-ALD. We are coming to you.
-----
The female-eldritch figure stands idly on the center of the control room once more, patiently waiting for the response from any potential soon-to-be victims as the tips her tentacle-limbs slowly wags like a tail. Insect-like creatures crawl all over the place, laying eggs and making their nests on top of those red-purple moss-like grounds infecting the room’s walls and floors.
The Main screen blares and blinks that a message has been received. The figure opens and reads the contents of the message, she can only grin in delight, knowing that there will be some preys that soon fall to their demise and are ignorant of it.
“An exploration group... I suppose we will have a large feast.” She licks her lips before heaving a small sigh. “That is, if they are not too competent enough to escape successfully. Well, it’ll be entertaining nonetheless.”
-----
The planet of Kel’Ghan is lush with forests, swamps, rivers and rich biomes, one may think what they will see from space is a green sphere of a planet, yet it isn’t. There are small hills and mountains, but all of them are completely covered in healthy forests like it is in a tropical climate. The planet is obviously teeming with animal life, undoubtedly new ones that cannot be found on other planets and systems. The rivers are surprisingly crystal clear, clean enough for almost anyone to drink on, and are wide enough for small boats to course through.
The planet’s troposphere is ridiculed with unceasing, white clouds that covers over the planet’s surface like a blanket. The surface itself isn’t much better or clearer as fogs tend to form at nearly all directions, and are mostly present near the swamps and rivers. This results in most of the forests’ looking so dark in nearly all corners, perfect place for predators to latch on to their prey. Fortunately, the clouds are thin enough to allow the star to bring down light into the planet’s surface, but it still isn’t enough to penetrate through the dense forests.
But it will not take any much longer for some foreigners to land on this lonely, planet obscured by its own grey clouds and fogs.
-----
"Here we go." One of the pilots said as they brought the first ship of the Aitanian expedition upon the world. Following after them, the rest of the ships. And one by one, as they entered the world's atmosphere, as their ships adjusted to the gravity of the world, and to the other atmospheric conditions present pressing upon them, their crews and their passengers were able to bear witness personally, without having to consult the screens of recordings from robots roaming eternal space or from the network of this galaxy as they were taken by foreign factions unknown to the vast populations under the reign of Her Majesty and her President, the beauty of this fertile yet disguised world.
Slowly, the ships circled widely over the area they found themselves flying above. They were looking for a clear place to land. And they hoped that they had gotten themselves over the colony that was seeking their aid. That way, they would be able to leave this planet quickly.
-----
The planet’s dense forest is making it hard for the newly-arrived foreign ships to find a good spot to land on, the fogs are not helping either as they are making the visions for these ships even blurry and difficult to find a landing-spot, much less a good and safe one. The wind whistles through the skies, its sound almost matching the pitch of the ships’ powerful engines. Yet those engines almost seemingly make the sky rumble and their sounds echo through the horizon as the place is so silent for a planet that is lush with wildlife.
It may not be obvious unless zoomed in, but there are some unique species of the planet’s animals roaming around with some actually sprinting away from where the ships are at or at least the sounds of the engines and thrusters. Some avian creatures, about the size of normal birds commonly seen on some Terran planets, can be seen soaring away for safety on any direction so long they are away from the foreign sounds brought by foreign objects.
Alas, on some small hill just a few kilometres away from the Colony of Kel’Ghan, there is some patch of land devoid of any tall trees that may be too much of a hindrance to land on. Of course, there are some tall weeds, some young trees and sturdy rocks, but nothing too alarming and it will undoubtedly be considered a lucky spot for anyone wanting to land smoothly.
-----
The female, eldritch figure grins wickedly as the control room of the blares slightly from detecting upcoming, unidentified ships coming through the planet’s atmosphere and showcasing the ships are approaching near where the colony is located.
“Three ships.” She licks her lips with her long, prehensile tongue as she smothers a dog-like Sub-Sikz beside her. “Let us commence the festivity.”
-----
"There," said Gayyel, "we can land over there. Right on that hill."
"Right," replied Secada, "that looks like a good place to settle our ships down on."
"You have our permission to land," said the Lieutenant Colonel over the intercoms of all the ships. "let's waste no time."
At once, the three ships, one by one, landed on the hill, making sure to keep the distance between each ship safe. The first one to land was the ship that Secada and Gayyel were piloting. Once their ship had settled down and the sensors determined that it was safe to come out into the planet's surroundings, artificial intelligence on their ship announced this briefly and then unlocked the doors while also allowing the ventilation to open.
The rest of the ships did the same, just as Gayyels ship began to release their crews and their passengers. The first ones to get out were the Aitanian marines and armed sailors who took to the challenge of setting up a perimeter around the landing ships. Under the command of Nora Gilabert, a Commandant, the three squads, two of them being regular units while the last one was a heavy weapons unit, spread out and formed the perimeter around the ship in the shape of a square. They did this until all the ships had cut their engines and their passengers and crews had ensured that their ships were secure themselves.
Everyone else waited inside or close to the ships until the all clear was given by the marines and armed sailors under Nora.
-----
Just near the hill, right behind the walls of tree trunks, overgrown weeds and hanging tree vines, a Sub-Sikz taking a similar appearance of a canine-like beast with small wriggling tentacles grotesquely coming out of its ears and spines, its yellow almost-frog-like eyes scanning the newcomers setting up a parameter that recently landed on the hill.
It is not the only Sub-Sikz to scan the newly established parameter, another Sub-Sikz sharing similar traits to that of a large lizard, saliva dripping through the small spaces between its closed jaws as it keenly inspects the foreigners and their ships. It felt like pouncing immediately, sniffing the air with its long multiple tongues with an evident hiss, but appear to have retracted and quickly crawls away before it gets spotted.
The presence of these Sikz creatures made the area devoid of any of the planet’s natural wildlife, and in the shadows of the dense woods before the hill, are the reddish-purple moss-like plants that spreads through the natural plants of the world like some taint.
-----
Nora was on the field, getting her boots dirty, the air around her registered as clean and fresh, the gusts bringing to her face a tropical smell that reminded her of the realistic tropical wet naval landings she and her men often went through in the simulators. She watched her men get to their positions, the sergeants and lieutenants working together to keep the men in order. Soon, it was all over, as the officers under her all sounded off the all clear one after the other. No shots were needed as no hostile life was detected, but to Nora, there was always something unknown whenever they landed on strange worlds.
She gave a nod of approval and allowed them to stay put but relax while she turned around to face the head of the expedition, who was already stepping out into the open.
Nora saluted her crisply and said, "Ma'am, the area is clear. No hostiles. Just the environment. Permission to get into the woods and extend our perimeter?"
Nod. Nora turned around and gave orders for one squad to spread out and check the trees around them, hoping that her own fears of the unknown wouldn't materialize.
-----
"Ahh~ They are plentiful and well-armed, I must declare. But surprisingly not cautious enough to scan the surroundings deeply though fortunate on our part." The female eldritch figure remarks, but the thought of why these foreigners are not careful because they are fooled into coming because of a colony in needing of help is left unsaid on her mouth. She watches the foreign men and women slowly trek toward the woods from the stuttering hologram which illuminates the command room.
If the planet they landed on was a planet terraformed to suite the needs and wants of the Sikz, these men and women would have long have their ship damaged and receiving casualties once they reached the ground, immediately attacked by hungry and feral Sub-Sikz creatures. Fortunately for them that is not the case.
"Ilexria, Kizzaran, they are already venturing into the woods. Don't let the Sub-Sikz pounce on them too early, for... Well, you know the first part; to toy and tease with them." She sends her message through the Sikz's signature psionic ability; telepathy.
"Understood." The voices of the two female echoes in her mind. She merely smirks before diverting her attention back to the holographic screen, reclining into her seat which is barely visible through her mass of tentacles.
It's nowhere near early to celebrate or get flustered over the arrival of the foreigners, but she just cannot help but feel excited on what the upcoming situations and events may offer.
-----
The pilots, Gayyel and Secada, followed after their superiors, Amel'yah and the captain, as Nora led the first squad forward. Together, they began to explore the woods while the rest of the men helped the passengers set up a small temporary base around the ships.
"Fan out and don't wander off too far. I want everyone to advance and keep their buddies in their field of vision. No sudden movements and I want everyone calling attention when they see anything of interest." Nora ordered. Quickly, the men obeyed.
And then she turned to the ones following after her, "Commanders, we will have to do this quietly. Who's willing to stay behind?"
When nobody turned around and went back, Nora nodded and turned toward the task at hand, saying to her men using her communicator, "Let's go."
-----
"Fanning out will not do well for any of you, but then again, you won't be able to reach the colony if you are too focused in one spot. Still, not cautious enough." The female eldritch figure in the command room heaves out a chuckle. She watches the squad spread through the woods, and the passengers of the ships setting up a relatively small base right in the open where the ships have landed.
"Ilexria, Kizzaran, send out the Varraneaen-Types, we will use their silk to silently pick out those that wander off too far from their comrades. Ensure that they are not able to communicate with each other." She telepathically send the message to her fellow Sikzelians. 'Though it would also be nice to at least hear a scream.' She thought to herself but left that part out.
-----
Right in the dark corners of the woods, Kizzaran quietly makes her way through the dense shrubs and weeds covering most of the area until she manages to reach the Varraneaen-Types waiting in the corner. These Sub-Sikz types bear similar appearance to arachnid animals, notable spiders and scorpions. Kizzaran signaled them via her own telepathic ability and send them away to start picking their own prey.
-----
Nobody went too far from their friends. Everyone, while maintaining enough distance to make sure they won't be fucked by grenades, was within sight of everyone else. If they had to, unit leaders always made sure their men stuck close. They didn't know that someone with something was out there, but with their mission in mind, they knew to expect it.
While the passengers of the ships started creating a small base out of the materials and equipment they carried in them, the squads didn't go too far from it and returned to the base in a few moments. All the squads agreed with one another that they hadn't seen anything hostile around, their reports making it to the base commanders.
With this in mind, Nora began drafting new plans for this expedition with her fellow squad leaders. Meanwhile, the base was progressing.
Attempts were made to make a long range transmission back home.
-----
As ordered by their “superiors”, the arachnid-like Varraneaen-Type creatures slowly but surely crawl their way through the woods toward the trekking soldiers deep into the forest. However, once the creatures notices the soldiers keeping themselves close to each other and attempting not to wander too far where they’ll be vulnerable to ambushes or traps, they halt their movement like they were cryolized yet they kept their eyes fixated on the nearest prey.
But once the squads returned to the base, the creatures slowly make their way back into the bushes, positioning themselves to get a good view of the now-enlarging base out in the open. The creatures, of course, after getting abrupt orders from their “superiors” to stand down and merely wait, they merely sit down into the dense shrubs and weeds, with some of them starting to lay eggs into the bushes for some reason.
“Well. Seem they were wise enough to not continue the expedition minutes after landing.” Kizzaran- who appears to be the masculine-looking-eldritch humanoid- remarks in her telepathic voice to her fellow comrades.
”Indeed, a shame that we will not have our first victim for this day, but I suppose the wait will be more rewarding.” A female voice chuckles in her head.
-----
The female eldritch-figure heaves out an amused sigh as she strokes the head of a larva in her hands whilst watching the holographic screen showcasing the foreign squads regroup to the now-growing base in the open. She will give them credit, at first she thought they were not careful enough by going into the woods without scanning it further, but then they decided to regroup back into their landing spot when they were almost a breath away from having one of their soldiers become dinner for some long-legged creatures.
“Ilexria, have the aerial creatures prepared, just in case they send someone out to the atmosphere.” She orders with a bit of a stern tone. ‘Although, they could just send transmissions to where they came from, which is something we can still afford considering our presences are not yet known... We’ll have to disrupt their connections once they get wind of the dangers here.’
-----
Gayyel sighed in relief when they returned to base. They were at least able to look around. They secured their perimeter. And then they would wait for just a little more then move out again.
But Gayyel thought that going out in the dark may not be a good idea. And he saw that on the faces of the soldiers around him. Even some of the NCOs, who now huddle around their lieutenants, didn't look confident with the idea of night patrols.
The aitanians were not afraid of the night. But this was strange territory. And they noticed that they didn't hear any local wild life. No birds, no beasts, nothing.
Gayyel went around, hearing rumors that they would get to the wilderness to collect samples and determine if there really is any native wildlife present.
But for now, everyone had to rest and wait and stay here. The ships would be their home, and the squads would have to choose their guards for the night.
At the same time, the higher ups started to try sending messages back home.
-----
Night reigns over the planet, blanketing the sky of pure blackness, at least for this part of the planet. Despite the dense clouds and fog cloaking most of the planet’s atmosphere, the bright stars of the galaxy can still be faintly seen by the naked eye, what helps is that the planet is devoid of any of its own light to create some sort of light pollution.
But while the scenery provided by the starry sky is indeed such a sight to behold, the same cannot be said for the planet these foreigners found themselves in. The already dense forests and marshes of the planet looks eerie and dangerous enough from the day, everything almost look like pitch black with barely any light save for the dim light from the starry sky. The lack of sounds from the forest-filled planet just adds up to the potential hostility of the planet.
Ironically, this planet is already hostile, if only the Sikz have revealed themselves earlier but they chose not to, not now at least. It would be too soon, too early to attack the enemy just when they landed hours ago, that would be such a poor welcoming greeting to the guests after all. Not that the Sikz are ignoring the foreigners, in fact, they are closely watching the small base from behind the trees and weeds, Sikz creatures of many kind stroll around the forest that the foreign base is located at.
-----
Kizzaran watches silently from afar, her eyes boring at the small base that was set up in the small open area in the middle of the forest. Accompanying him are some Sikz creatures with lizard-like attributes, sleeping rather peacefully respite their grotesque appearances due to having the genes and appearances of the Sikz. The tomboyish eldritch humanoid lazily leans on a tall rock as she watches the base which is so quiet.
She can only guess they are so unaware of the dangers this planet has to offer, though she can tell they are more cautious considering that they seem to find nothing after scouring the nearby area. And from what she and the two others with her have discussed, the foreign people are most likely to report back to where they came from, it isn’t alarming as they have not encountered anything yet. But that may change.
She was ordered to silently send some small parasites – namely fleas – to discreetly crawl toward the base and attempt to latch on some unsuspecting poor man or woman, or attempt to sneak inside the ship and lay eggs in the small corridors and ventilations of the ships. One of those parasites will have the ability to temporarily control the mind of a host, and they shall use that host against its allies.
The plan is to slowly weave chaos and distrusts amongst the foreign visitors, and before they can realize what they may be up against, the Sikz shall ensnare them.
-----
In the darkness, as many slept, Secada slipped out of the base, holding a lamp high above her head, looking out to the stars, walking without looking where she went, sometimes getting close to the edge of the forest around her, but often returning to the reach of the light of the base; nobody really saw her do this, for she was light on her feet, and she never let herself stop when she made a twig snap under her toes or a pebble roll from her soles; she never would feel that a flea might find their way to the fabric which she wore. And when she had lost her eagerness to explore the edges of the base, she turned back quickly to the call of Gayyel. "Secada! There is dinner now! Come and eat."
"I am going!" she cried out, her legs carrying her to the light flowing out of the open door of one of the ships.
But she would not be alone. Some of the patrols were being pulled out of the line back to the base so they could eat. But that would mean that they might carry the fleas sent out to ride upon them.
-----
Kizzaran snickers and smirks as soon she sees the men guarding the perimeter pull back to the base, especially that one woman who wandered off too much into the edge of the base and nearly walked straight right in into the cold, unwelcoming darkness of the forest surrounding said base. She honestly would have commanded the creatures nearby to snatch the girl in a very discreet manner but holds himself from issuing such order. It is still the small parasites’ time to shine.
Speaking of the small parasites, the small, flea-like creatures latch on to the fabric of the foreigners’ clothes and even shoes before they can start running back inside the base. Some of them use the wind to glide themselves towards the ships and quickly crawl inside through the entrance of the ships, although they aren’t many of them thus making it difficult for them to be detected thanks to their size. Some of them start to crawl up the ventilation system of the ships, or merely taking cover behind furniture or anything placed on the corner.
Now they have infiltrated the base, and the night is getting deeper, only a matter of time until they slowly start to take advantage of whatever potential victim and host they can find.
-----
At first, the little bugs were not detected. And the systems on the ships didnt really see the tiny intruders as threats. But they were already beginning to register them as unknown biologicals into the data banks of the Aitanian expedition. And as that happened, everyone not busy or needed was about to have dinner.
Things like this just make you hungry.
"Secada, what were you doing outside?" Gayyel asked after she jumped back into the ship through the open doorway. As it shut behind them automatically, the woman turned around and smiled, almost twirling gracefully like a dancer.
She said, "Feeling the night air. It isn't against the rules, and nobody really saw me. I liked it. It was cool outside." She giggled as she turned around again and started walking down the hall with him.
"All right, but be careful. We don't know what's really out there. You could get dragged into the woods by something. You don't want the Babalala to take you, no?"
She laughed, saying, "On a world far from home? I don't believe that."
They finally reached the mess to line up for food.
And nobody knew what was going on yet. Not until Gayyel saw a big crawling along Secadas back. He quickly slapped it away and stomped on it.
"Hey! You're messing up the floor, Major!" Cried a cook who was serving a hot ladle full of onion and garlic stew into a tray for one of the men lining up.
The major chuckled and said, "No worries, I'll handle it later."
-----
“You don’t think they have a system that could detect other foreign life forms that enter the ships to alert them?” Kizzaran asks, still sitting or standing idly deep behind the woods and peeking at the base through a small gap between the trunks of countless trees.
“We can’t say for sure, we have yet to know the extent of their technology. They probably have one, similar to how our ships will react to foreign organisms entering or landing in the body, not all the ships we’ve hunted down and captured after entering our territories have the same kind of system, and usually ships with the tasks for research or patrol have systems capable of detecting and registering life-forms that enter it.” The female voice answers nonchalantly before resuming with a sneering and slightly jovial tone.
”Though, if they were to detect our little pets, then it is all well, they won’t see it much of a threat until later on. It won’t be really entertaining if our guests are too inept on seeing the dangers in front of them, otherwise we won’t be able to hear their screams. We’ve waited so long for new guests to arrive, we might as well savour every moment.”
-----
The fleas scrambles throughout the interior of the ships, it didn’t matter to them if they are already detected, because they do not possess the ability to fear or be anxious, for they are all just mindless parasites carrying out the orders and their thirst for a host to find.
They all start to crawl around, mostly in the darker corners of the ship like the ventilation system, in rooms that are currently unoccupied or mostly devoid of any personnel, some even go hide in the storage rooms. Any place where they won’t be easily identified or seen by the naked eye is a place worth going for them.
Some of the fleas decide to start creep up at the hair of some personnel, going in further until they reach the scalp, hiding behind the countless strand of hair where they cannot be seen unless scrutinized deeply by someone else.
-----
The aitanians, once they realized that their ships have gotten infested with these things, began to react.
Gayyel, on seeing more of these things around, began telling people to get their clothes off and to beat them so the fleas get off the clothes. They did this while someone, a woman with dark skin, grabbed a spray can close to one of the doors, saw that it was a disinfectant, shook it, and used it on the fleas crawling on the floor and walls and benches and tables. People grabbed their trays of food and took them away from the fleas while others started stomping on the fleas or crushing them with their hands. An alert was then sounded throughout the ships by Secada. And this encouraged everyone in the base now to check themselves for it. But the guards around the area stayed in their positions and looked out for trouble.
-----
“They have finally noticed the fleas and have alarmed everyone, what should we do?” Kizarran inquiries, narrowing her eyes at the small base as the guards begins to start checking themselves if they have fleas crawling up in their uniforms and bodies, if they did find one they are quick to kill it even it means slapping themselves rather hard.
“Nay, do not do anything unless something dire happens, let them kill the fleas. The fleas getting noticed is expected, at least we know they aren’t blind or stupid enough not to realize some exotic life entering their ships.” A chuckle erupts from the telepathic voice. ”There will be some fleas that may have gotten into the heads of some, if not well that may be fine, for what will matter is how they will be cautious in the next day after this.”
-----
The fleas on the scalps of some of these foreign soldiers have begun their work, sinking their tiny fangs and needles into the skull of the soldiers. This is the first step; they continue to sink their fangs deeper and keep biting to see how tough the skull of their soon-to-be-host, until it starts to bleed and create wound large enough for them to enter. Once the wound is open enough, the fleas will gradually crawl their way inside the skull, finding their way into the fleshy brain of the host.
The blood that will be acquired will allow them to mutate to become far larger, tiny and almost invisible tendrils sprout from their appendages, wriggling and casually touching the pink cerebrum. Afterwards, they sink their fangs and needles, the fleas planting themselves into the brain as their tendrils starts to work on operation of their new hosts’ brain.
Of course, they are still in the first phase, and that is creating a wound large enough for them to enter.
-----
Shouts and screams from those who got fleas on their heads made things more dramatic than they should be. At this, their comrades began to act quickly. They got them to stop moving and to calm down as those brave enough started grabbing the fleas and pulling them off the heads before crushing them with their hands or with their boots. Others used chemical sprays to kill the fleas or hurt them before grabbing them and crushing them. Of course, this led to some people getting sprayed in the face.
But not everyone would be saved from the fleas. Those who were isolated from their comrades such as those in the bathrooms or in the quiet corridors or in their beds, sleeping, were subjected to the mercy of the fleas.
And Gayyel and Secada, stuck in the mess, could only do so much to help their comrades with them while the rest of the Aitanians in the other parts of the ship and in the other ships did their own best at dealing with the threats.
-----
“Are things going in the favour for the fleas or not?” Kizarran questions with a quirk of a brow, hearing and seeing the personnel now all somewhat panicking but more or less are able to contain the situation, judging by how everyone seem to be helping infested with the tiny insects.
However, this time, no answer is given, leaving Kizarran to merely sigh ass he continues to watch the chaos unfold within the foreign base. At the surface, the situation is contained at best, but he more or less believes there are some fleas that are able to do their duty successfully, now all that is left is for the day is to see these foreigners react to mind-controlled comrades.
-----
Many of them might have fallen, but a few successes are more worth than none, and that is what the fleas are able to achieve. While the fleas on top of the crew men out in the open or crowded areas have been spotted and quickly killed on spot before they are able to take control of their hosts, those that are in the heads of the crew men who are alone have succeeded.
The first ones that were subjugated to the manipulation of the Sikz fleas are those who are asleep, for unlike those who are awake and still managed to resist, those that are asleep were so vulnerable that the small insects did not encounter much resistance when taking control of them.
The second phase of the fleas's objective in their host, is that those who were asleep shot their eyes up open and begun writhing in pain as a surge of pain erupts in their nervous system, little do they know that while they are conscious and see things, they are losing control of their limbs, with one of them falling out of the bed and slowly standing up albeit with frantic movements. Some of them unwillingly start to crash their bodies into the wall or furniture. Some of them begin to scream out for help, hoping that someone would come to help them get out of whatever painful condition they are currently being subjugated to.
-----
The Lieutenant Colonel and the islander from before, as well as some other officers, were taking control. With a few marines, the Aitanians got someone to get a handle on the situation.
"Contain all personnel! Keep the perimeter around the ships steady!" The LC now turned on a writhing Aitanian and removed some fleas off the head of that one with her own hands, crushing them with her fingers or her boots. The others helped out too. The LC stood up and turned to the others, both officers and enlisted men. She had fiery eyes and a voice that turned ruthless because of the situation. "*Start checking your companions! Wake those sleeping! I want all NCOs to start accounting for their men. Now!"
She returned her attention to the officers with her. "All of you, get some men and check the ships. Account for your own groups. Do it now. I will have to check the perimeter."
Gayyel and Secada obeyed. They would have to check their own places. Leaving the mess, they both went to check on their men and on their stations.
Meanwhile, Nora found herself back outside, strongly giving orders to her men. They held steady all around the line, buddies checking each other for fleas while also looking out for threats. Nora had herself checked after she and the other marines got news from the ships.
The Aitanians were on alert. And they realized that perhaps this world had some hostile life. But they didn't know it wasn't native to this world. They knew nothing.
-----
”See, the fleas carried out their duties as they expected to, now these foreign people are panicking and realizing they are no longer alone in this planet, and there is something living here. Though, they are yet to see the main course.” The female voice comes back in with an entertained chuckle. ”We should wait for them to recuperate. They are still in the midst of the fleas’ operations.”
Kizarran nods her head slowly, at firsts he has doubts that the fleas would be able to do their job as they were spotted sooner, but as it seem the fleas were successful in their duty of finding hosts. She watches the soldiers check each other one by one, with the base now on full alert from the looks of it, now she just wonders how they will deal with those controlled by the small insects.
-----
More and more fleas are getting killed and being stepped on like some mash potatoes before they are able to finish their control over their host, but their dwindling numbers and the fact that the more sane or stable ones are trying to take them off only encourages the tiny bugs to hasten their control of their hosts, forcing them to start lashing out and move frantically to the point where it may be difficult to search the heads for any more of the bugs.
The miniature creatures will then force their hosts to act in a way that it will make them attack, or at least hurt their companions, or start banging their heads into the walls, grab something that is enough to penetrate the skin and start stabbing themselves with it in the abdomen or torso. The fleas are ordered to bring chaos as much as possible after all, it means killing their hosts to contribute to the ongoing crisis then so be it, not that these small insects can think or decide like that, it is only their instinct telling them to manipulate their hosts for their masters’ amusement.
-----
The whole base was on fire, fire with concern for their comrades, and then for themselves.
The LC growled as she checked the perimeter, ignoring the cries of men who did not want her to expose herself, to go beyond the safety of the ships, to have to go so far as walking along the lines the men of Nora and the others with their weapons and their orders established. The woman walked up and down the lines, eyes never blinking, hands never stopping in their search of fleas, mind never ceasing to think over the whole situation as the ones who remained with her helped her or looked out for her.
The islander faltered, freezing in place a meter from the group, attracting the wratch of the LC. She had glanced away from attending to a squad of men. The LC glided over to the islander and screamed in his face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU GOD DAMN ISLAND MOTHER FUCKER?! FREEZING UP LIKE THE STUPID ISLAND CUCK YOU ARE? I DARE YOU TO FUCKING KEEP STANDING THERE, SHOCKED BY FUCKERY WE ARE IN! GO AND FUCK YOURSELF BY CHECKING SOME OF THE MEN RIGHT FUCKING NOW, OR I SWEAR I WILL HAVE MY HANDS UP IN YOUR ASS, SEARCHING FOR WHATEVER ROTOR IS MAKING YOU FREEZE LIKE A MALE PORN STAR!!!"
Meanwhile, Gayyel and Secada found one of their men, a tall and bright-faced Aitanian technician, smashing his head against his own instruments, pushing away his comrades who tried their best to save him from the fleas that were burrowing into his head. One of their men, a young woman with brown hair, had fallen on the floor, blood puddling under her face, eyes open, shock still in them. Another woman, someone with green eyes, was shaking in a corner, aiming a pistol at the suffering man and at the comrades she had who were trying to reach for him and to remove those fleas from his head.
His cries. They took to the ears of Gayyel and Secada.
The former walked over to the shaking woman in the corner, speaking to her. The latter looked for a disinfectant spray, to help the man.
As for everyone else getting creatures on their heads, things were not going so well for them.
So many of the men who were caught off guard by the fleas were now becoming threats to their comrades. And they panicked, driving them to use anything they had close to them as weapons to put down their suffering friends.
Only those lucky enough to get those fleas off of them were spared, dragged away and secured in the brigs to be watched by guards who made sure their heads were free of such creatures.
-----
Kizarran suppresses a whistle that threatened to escape her mouth, for at first she had doubts but now she is entertained at the sight of the base attempting to contain the abrupt chaos they are going through. This is more than he initially thought, although she did thought of the scene should this plane succeeded, just that he had too much initial doubts.
”It seems the fleas did their job successfully and brought the result we expected of them. A pity though, for that is far those tiny insects can do, these foreigners will be able to recover eventually and eradicate those fleas by possibly before daylight. We have given them a first taste of what we can offer to them in this planet, the next dish however will have to wait for a day or so, depending on how quick these foreign people act.” The female voice in the telepathic “channel” informs with a slight chuckle.
”Are we sure they won’t request for some reinforcements or supply? It may complicate things down the line for our experiments later on, their equipment and technology may go beyond what we are prepared or have taken into account.” Another female voice, although much lighter, less husky and deeper than the other one, inquiries into the telepathic channel.
”Fret not, Ilexria, should they bring more than what should they bring it only make us contact our brethren to come to this system. After all, this star system is all too close to the Collective’s systems. Should they come in with battle ships, we will ensnare them. But frankly, it isn’t entertaining to just have large spacecraft battle out in the sky.” The deeper female voice clicks her tongue with a snicker before continuing.
”Pressing forward, now that the fleas have done their job and the foreigners have tasted our first but informal greetings, we shall prepare and wait in the colony. I say again, let them recover first and do not commit any unnecessary acts that may jeopardize our proper introduction to them.” The voice then proceeds to giggle at the act of making a potentially melodramatic introduction.
-----
With the fleas, they have done their job well and delivered the expected result, however, that’s where the line ends. Sure they are able to make their hosts rampage or at least lose most of their rational sense to the point they are starting to physically harm others around them, but one by one the fleas’ numbers starts dropping rapidly once the entirety of the base is alarmed.
The number of fleas plummeted and consequently more and more of their former hosts being to recover, at least mentally and psychologically, but physically it depends on just how the former host harmed himself.
Soon, there is only a very few fleas left, and some of those haven’t even found a host yet and are stuck in the corners of the ships or have been thrown away from the heads of their former host, visible and vulnerable to being killed. If anything, some of them are already getting killed.
--------------------------In the following day...------------------------
The Soro looked at the corpses as they lay on the cold metal rolling tables that were in the morgue. In their largest ship, the Aitanians have brought their dead there. Due to the matter with the fleas the night before, there were now six less out of the many who came to this planet. And the Soro could only look at the corpses with eyes that seemed used to loss.
His partner, Secada, stood by him. And though her eyes were towards the corpses too, her focus was on the technician who died on the floor with a puddle of blood underneath her face. The woman glanced at her partner, who seemed not to move nor notice her.
The woman turned back to the corpses. What do we tell the families? she wondered. How will they take the loss? She sighed as she crossed her arms.
Behind them, the door opened. They turned around and found a doctor dressed in whites. A woman, just like Secada.
"Hello, Major Gayyel," said the doctor. The man nodded at her. The doctor looked at Secada and nodded before she said to her, "Hello to you too, Captain Secada."
They recognized her through her voice and through her height. This was Medical Officer Luisina. She had blue eyes and fair skin.
They nodded to her and moved out of her way. She walked over to the corpse of the technician and looked at it from top to bottom. She looked to them and said, "I'm sorry that you lost people. The whole of it was chaos. I hope you are not blaming yourselves."
The both of them shook their heads.
Gayyel said, "We're not. Thanks, Doc."
Secada simply smiled and shrugged.
The doctor nodded to them and sighed as she turned around and walked over to the sinks at the far end of the morgue. She washed her hands and then put on some gloves. She pulled out a rolling table that had instruments and other tools on it, moving it towards the table with the dead technician.
"I have to work on her now. Will you please step outside?"
The both of them obeyed. They closed the door behind them and stood in the corridor. Silent. Shy. And strictly uncertain.
-----
"How are comms?"
"Good." A pause. Some shuffling of tools. A sigh. "You want me to transmit? What do I say?"
Head scratching. A scratch at the neck. "Just transmit. Use emergency codes. Make it a priority message."
Some typing. A click. Two beeps. "All right. Anything else?"
A sigh. A pen dropped. A whisper, curses in the low voice. A grunt. "Add a hazard code to it. Make sure they know that we're probably facing unknown biological threats. Request reinforcements, small size, few people. Ask for a quarantine."
-----
The Aitanians gathered outside, everyone in rows. Officers on the far right and enlisted to their left. They all faced the Lieutenant Colonel and her staff. The woman had no need for a platform or a podium. Under the warmth of the sun of this planet, they all were in deep silence, in thought for their comrades lost.
"Men," she began, in a voice that everyone could listen to without straining their ears. The officers turned to their men and gave orders. The men snapped to attention. And their highest ranking CO took a breath and continued to speak to them. She said, "I understand your pain. I feel the same pain you feel now and as you felt then. I cannot promise you that our duties here will come to an end for our sakes. You all know now that we have reached out to our home. We must wait for their instructions. And for their aid."
She gave it a pause. She looked at their faces. They hoped for something. She knew that they wanted something that she too wanted for herself. To get back home and to let others take their place.
She sighed.
"We must carry on. But I will encourage all of you...all of us...to mourn our fellow men and women. Today, I am encouraging all of you to take rest. However, I must give the order that those assigned guard duties today shall have to fulfill such duties. They will be relieved at the times they are to be relieved. Other than that, I can say no more. Too many words mean nothing to us all."
She turned to her second in command and nodded. The second in command stepped forward and dismissed the men and their officers. Everyone gradually dispersed but only after saluting their Lieutenant Colonel for a moment.
-----
As daylight takes over the skies, illuminating most of the dark forest that spans across the entire planet of Kel’Ghan despite the never-ceasing blanket of clouds hovering in the atmosphere, the abandoned colony deep within the maze and labyrinth of woods, shrubs and weeds is as quiet yet eerie as ever.
Inside one of the abandoned colony’s structure, in the middle of the hallway stands or perhaps sits another feminine eldritch-like figure gazes out into the cracked glass wall, her pinkish tentacle-like limbs idly waving out from the large mass of tentacles while her bright magenta eyes focus on the greyish and gloomy clouds.
She peels her eyes away from the clouds and directs them out into the open centre of the abandoned colony, seeing the small Sub-Sikz creatures crawling around like a small swarm of maggots gathering around then dispersing into different locations. And there are those flying creatures of different proportions, almost like buzzing around like flies gathering in a food or dead corpse. Though, one can say this abandoned colony is a dead corpse should one look at it in a unique perspective.
“Ilexria, I have made the preparations on my part, I assume you have also completed yours?” The tomboyish eldritch-like figure from last night calls out, approaching from the other end of the hallway.
“Why yes Kizarran, I have already done my part, there is no need to concern yourself over it.” The female figure named Ilexria replies, looking at Kizarran right in the eyes.
“Now, now, no need to give a cold shoulder when daylight just came.” The male figure chuckles, gently raising one hand in the air in slight defence although rather jokingly.
“Oh? I thought you were requesting for a status report.” Ilexria quips with a somewhat condescending smirk before shaking it off.
They have been tasked on rechecking the facilities of the abandoned colony, ensuring the traps and nesting places of the Sub-Sikz are still in their designated places in case the foreign troops arrives in the colony. In addition, they were ordered to take care of the eggs in some of the Sub-Sikz nest, to prepare to unleash them or use them for other means against the foreign soldiers. They are sure the soldiers will now be more cautious of approaching anything, as it appears the incident last night was more severe than initially expected, at least for the two of them.
“Those foreigners are more likely to have recovered by now, or perhaps at least managed to completely contain the chaos that we invoked on them.” Kizarran states as he sees the Sub-Sikz on the centre of colony dispersing and retreating back to their nests, he guesses they are now being ordered to start hiding. “I took them only a few hours to recover, especially when such severe incident only happened last night.”
Ilexria clicks her tongue and shrugs with her shoulders. “Well they are soldiers. They may just be an expedition force, but soldiers nonetheless. Regardless, I do not think their recovery rate matters, for once they enter the colony we will prey on them one by one, along with their ships.”
“That is of course, the transmission they might have sent by now does not include sending more reinforcements. After all, they are in the unknown, who is to say sentient species does not get paranoid over something they do not fully know yet.” Kizarran points out.
The female eldritch-figure snorts with a grin. “We all take precautions over something we don’t know. One would be a fool to think they can approach something beyond and leave unscathed. But we digress, how long until those soldiers approach the colony?”
“Rhlatriaxa hypothesized to be around this day which she says is a generous estimation if the soldiers are quick to act and not expect any kind of reinforcement. She is currently making a report for the Overseers.”
-----
“And that concludes the summary of yesterday’s event, Overseer. We are yet to acquire information on who are or what these foreigners are, but as I have mentioned before, they is a high probability they are of an official or legitimate organization or faction.” The female eldritch figure standing in the middle of the dimly-lit command room concludes while stroking the head of a relatively dog-size worm-like creature.
”Then we have made contact with another nation. We will be fortunate or unfortunate depending on what nation this is, if they are near our star systems. As you said, they are most likely an expedition force, which would mean they are indeed travelling far from the reaches of their superiors. Proceed on with the observation and ensnaring of this new race.”
“Understood.” With that, the transmission goes off. The female figure heave out a slight chuckle before looking down with a small smirk at the creature she is petting. “Don’t worry, the actual feast may commence sooner or later.”
Events have been going smoothly so far, although the severity of the event last night was more glaring that what was initially thought, it did not derailed any of the upcoming plans so far. What is the concern however is that if the foreigner’s will receive reinforcements, it is more or less sure they have sent transmission back to where they came from, it is only a matter of what and how many will be sent if they indeed requested for some form of backup and supplies.
Then again, unforeseen events and circumstances are welcome to provide entertainment, even if it derails some of the well-prepared plans. Just one should be ready for the possible consequences.
The female figure watches the foreign expedition base showcased in the cracked monitor screens of the command room she is in. “Now, all you dead visitors need to do is to trek through the woods and find this colony.”
-----
The expedition waited and waited. But as they did, they received no reply. Nothing came to their systems to answer their calls. And on and on it went, despite the repeated calls to see if their home had received them. But nothing happened.
A quick diagnostics check detected several errors in the communication systems, some of them informing the Aitanians that their messages have gotten home but were corrupted during the transmission. And not every message got home.
The Lieutenant colonel called all her officers in and had a long meeting with them. But at the end of it, grim faces came out of the conference. And the lieutenant colonel called the two pilots to her.
She gave them five minutes and in five minutes, the nature of her orders sank in.
They left, and once they found privacy in their shared quarters, the woman asked her comrade, "Do you want to do this?"
The man just nodded. He said, "Yeah. No way to reach home. And we will need to give the other ships time to repair. We will have to go into the colony. See what we can find. We'll bring in a small team. You know what we need to do."
"I know. But are we prepared to face those things again? What if there are more?"
The man nodded. He sighed. "There might be more. But we will be prepared, even a little."
---------
Three days later, the two pilots and a small team, with a researcher, a doctor, a medic, and a squad of marines led by Nora, were on their way in a ship towards the colony.
-----
F
or three days, the Sikzelians have been waiting for the foreigners to start moving, for three the Sikz just hid within the colony, not even bothering to go out and attempt to pull any other scheme on the recovering foreigners. That didn’t mean the Sikz stopped monitoring the foreign ships, if anything almost every hour they have eyes spying on the foreigners to keep track of every movement they take.
Amidst the waiting, the Sub-Sikz creatures have bred over and over in the colony, their numbers multiplying as more eggs cover the interiors and corners of the colony’s abandoned buildings. Ilexria and Kizarran even had some of the creatures be relocated outside of the colony or burrow down into the planet’s crust further, consequently making underground nesting places and a labyrinth of Sikz-infested tunnels reaching far out of the abandoned colony’s vicinity.
However, those are nice bonuses for the Sikz as it may assist in the complete assimilation of the planet.
Flying Sub-Sikz were ordered to keep a low-flight, with the Sikz ordering them to never fly above the trees or at least, use the trees to cover themselves from the sight of the foreigners, making sure they do not get alerted even further as the incident with the ticks made them more anxious of the planet they are in.
Everything is eerily quiet, and the Sikz almost seemingly let the days past like nothing is happening or what operation is underway.
That is until today...
-----
“The foreigners are coming, and with a ship, they must be very cautious not to risk walking by ground.” The female figure in the dimly-lit command room clicks her tongue as she can see the approaching ship via a static hologram close to just shutting off completely. She caresses the large, grotesque worm-like creature beside her before she delves into her telepathic abilities.
“Ilexria, Kizarran, our guests are approaching in a ship, they will be in some advantage if they are to arrive in the sky. Do not attack, once they land and most of them have gone out, ensure the ship is in a condition where it cannot take off.”
The Aitanian ship smoothly flew through the air, cutting forward, keeping at least ten meters off the trees and the rest of the ground. The ship adjusted up and down, moving at a slightly moderate speed. As they flew, the ship regularly made circles around some low-level landmarks. Then the ship would fly towards their original destination.
In the end, the ship finally got to their destination; they have reached an open area of the colony.
-----
As the foreign ship arrived to their target destination, they are most likely to be greeted by an empty colony, devoid of any form of life save for perhaps the overgrown plants that now crawls around at every wall and ground of the colony. Walls of the colony's facilities are either covered in dirt, overgrown roots and plants, or the combination of both. Not to mention, some of these walls have long cracks running along from the ground up to the roof, as if split open by an earthquake.
Additionally, there were also some vehicles, or at least what's left of them. Most of the vehicles bear similarities with some light trucks and utility vehicles, indicating that the colony is more or less for research purposes only as these vehicles don't appear to be formerly armed with any sort of weapons for they lack any room for equipment on warfare. Some of the vehicles have also sunken into the ground on the destroyed roads of the colony, showcasing that they have been there for a long time already.
The ship gradually landed on the location they have selected. It took time. Once the ship was down, everyone in the ship prepared for the time to get out. The marines would get out first, securing the area for the rest of the passengers and crew. But until the doors were opened, they would have to wait.
The pilots remained in their stations while the marines, under Nora's command, were at the doors, just waiting for the all clear. The ship's systems were still processing the things the ship had to clear after landing. It took only a few minutes until the all clear sounded at the doors.
Nora turned to her marines, gestured to them to keep their weapons up. They formed up behind her and watched the doors slide open. Out they came into the open, securing the area as quickly as they can, while the pilots and the rest of the crew made sure the ship would support them. Those who were not assigned tasks were left to assist the doctor and the medic with the preparation of medicine and other supplies. A few assisted the researcher in double checking the machines and tools they had on them.
------
As if it's alive, the exotic plants and mosses that has grown around the walls and abandoned vehicles out in the open has reacted in a variety of ways from the arrival of the foreign ships, especially when the foreign soldiers came out of the ship. Some of the plants, those that resemble flowers, or at least possess some qualities resembling of a flower like petals, shrinks and close themselves down as there were danger nearby. While other plants merely jerks for a second before resuming to being completely still.
Other than that however, the colony is eerily silent similar to the endless forest that surrounds it, the air is humid and the sunlight can barely shine through the thick clouds and fogs up in the sky. The wind blows past the colony for a short moment before calming down.
But one thing they might have noticed or not is that there is no one there to greet the foreign soldiers. After all, a colony had sent a distress signal surely there must be someone waiting for rescue and go outside to see the visitors who would potentially save them, and yet that is not the case right now.
Just behind the cracked walls of the buildings of the colony, some of the Sub-Sikz creatures are already watching from the murky shadows unseen by light at the moment, carefully scrutinizing the soldiers that marched out of the ship with curiosity. They are already jittering to pounce on the soldiers and satiate their hunger for new food, but they are not ordered to attack, not yet at least.
"Life is strange," said the slender, soft-spoken pilot of the Leon. She turned in her seat, after she had set the ship to autopilot, so that she could face her copilot, a tall, well-bodied Soro.
"What makes you say that, Secada?"
The female Istanic, the one named Secada, shrugged at her partner, and she told him, as if it was simply fact, "Nothing, really."
The Soro now chuckled, a little bitterly, but not without a hint of amusement towards Secada's sudden but half-hearted interest in the philosophy of life. He told her, "Really? Nothing?"
"Yeah. Nothing. Nothing, really."
And so, with a raised brow of his eye, he nodded to her and looked on, away from her, into the darkness of space. It seemed cold and empty outside. But at least in the company of Secada, his long-time friend in the Marina Real.
He never really thought of Secada any differently since they signed up for this mission. A quiet but lengthy expedition beyond the comforts of the boring Aitanian frontiers. And he, Major Gayyel, was happy, if not relieved, that he accepted her invitation, one that freed him from his duties at the 8-hour desk that dealt with pink slips, red slips, green slips, and many more slips.
He was once a great pilot, and he still could fly, but thanks to that stunt over the Cavallería Mountain Ranges, not excluding the incident beyond the boundaries of Barcelona, he was quietly placed upon a comfortable seat behind a cheap desk, dealing with those slips, speaking to all kinds of people, for eight hours, at a pay certainly greater than the one he was assigned to receive as a pilot of an Alvaro.
But with the grace of Ehytan, peace be upon Aitania, he was granted the right to join, in flight, Captain Secada.
Though he didn't really mind the Istanics, Secada was one of the only females from that group that ever stole his attention away from his former lover, Nazaretta, and he was glad that she stole him away from her, the whore.
"How is the ship going along?" a new voice questioned him and his partner, from behind them, at the doorway, right after it silently opened automatically.
Secada stood for her partner, saluting the man, a scrawny looking Tanalese.
The thicker Soro turned around in his seat, facing the man, saluting him from where he was. He didn't have to stand up, not because his legs were incredibly fucked up by shrapnel from being shot down accidentally over the mountains, but also because Majors were not supposed to salute Captains.
Only Secada had to, because she was a, in the eyes of older officers, novata, so to say.
And the Soro did not approve of that. But, alas, he had to keep such thoughts in the privacy, the safety, of his own mind, one which he knew was more masculine, more respectful, than that of the scrawny islander.
"We're still on course," stated Gayyel, with absolutely no hint of flat seriousness placed upon his words as officers who were in'pereto (Aitanian for inexperto, meaning inexperienced), "and no problems have come up on the instruments."
"Of course," whispered the islander Captain, as he stepped into the space between Secada and Gayyel, causing the Soro to lean back into his seat, not because he wanted to relax, but because he thought irritably of what the scrawny fuck did. And this was something Secada noticed, which encouraged her to give a warning glare to Gayyel, hoping that he wouldn't respond or react to Captain Lorenzo in a stupid way that would get him into a job worse than the 8 hour one. But nothing would stop the Captain from speaking, and so on he continued.
A pause developed, and nothing more happened...until...
-----
Inside a command room are the dirt covered, vine-wrapped metal walls, floor, ceiling and furniture, showcasing how aged this room is and for how long this has not been touched by anyone that cares for the cleanliness of a command room. But other than these seemingly normal features of nature overgrowing humanoid-made structures are the unnatural growing, purple roots and reddish moss that look like it is alive.
The control panels are on yet some of it is flickering, perhaps due to the lack of maintenance it has received over the years since it was last used. The holographic images and screens provide dim light into the dark room, but it isn’t enough to actually reveal the entire interior. If anything, some of the panels are completely destroyed and rendered void of any further use.
In the middle of the command room, stands... Or perhaps sits an eldritch figure, the figure has an upper body of a voluptuous humanoid woman, a beautiful visage that would be enough to woe men who yearns for a woman’s body. But the lower part of this figure is horrendous, nowhere near identical to that of a humanoid, insectoid and not even that close to a machine’s. Instead it is a large, melding mass of tentacle-like limbs, lumpy like a jelly yet almost as strong as a strongman’s muscle when flexed, excreting some kind of sweat yet the ends of it gracefully swings in the air.
The figure’s humanoid limbs gradually dissolve into a mass of tentacles, its formation similar to that of a human’s muscles before completely turning into just a long collection of tentacles reaching out for the control panels, strangely enough the outline of humanoids hands can still be seen but not too clearly. The figure starts to type down into the control panels, writing down a message or sorts with her tentacle-like fingers.
The message reads out:
“For anyone who receives this message from the Colony of Kel’Ghan, we are in dire need of assistance. Our supplies are running low, our people are starving, our energy is on its end, the weather has been growing worse for the past months, and we have for somehow lost communication with the net of the galaxy. We doubt we will be able to last this long without any further assistance, please, for anyone willing to help we will repay you with the best of our abilities.”
And with two more clicks for confirmation of the message, a red hazard sign blares into the screens.
The figure can only give a smirk before turning around and gradually walks... Or slithers away.
-----
The distress call was received in no time as the captains and the major heard it and read it as it was translated and copied three times; one copy would be kept at their station, the second copy would be sent to the rest of the ship, and the third copy would be received at the station of Lieutenant Colonel Amel’yah Laca’asaran.
“I’ll leave you both to it,” said the islander, who readily departed from them, passing through the doorway silently until it was shut tight, allowing the woman and her partner to let out breaths of relief.
“Glad he’s out of here,” the major said, a chuckle departing from his lips almost bitterly, much to the amusement of his partner, who silently worked on communicating with the Lieutenant Colonel concerning what to do.
After a brief exchange of words over wireless transmissions via instant messaging, secured by the ship’s systems and computers, the female captain told her partner, “Looks like the LC wants us to make a reply. Let’s start making our ship head over there now.”
“Agreed,” the major said, now adjusting the course of the ship towards the planet, just as the islander captain met with the LC, discussing whatever higher officers discussed, something which the major never really bothered to seriously think about.
-----
“How many do you think will arrive?” Questions an eldritch figure, the same one that appeared on the command room, except this one has a bit of a “tomboyish” or masculine feature with a short hair, reddish tentacle-like limbs with scale-like armour protecting some of its sections, and it stretches delicately with the tentacles.
“One cargo ship, if we’re being generous I’d say three transport ships... Now, depending on the size of the ships, we’re lucky, or we’ll have to improvise.” The same feminine figure that sent the fake distress signal to whatever ships that receives it.
They are currently out in the open, specifically on a hallway of an old structure with a wide window that gives view to wondrous natural scenery, their overall visage and appearance all too visible for the naked eye to gaze upon. The feminine figure- at least on her human torso- has a pale skin, has pinkish eyes, long black-hair with streaks of white running down to her humanoid back, and with a generous chest size. The tomboyish one has the same pale skin, although he is far more toned, has a rugged face but lacking in facial hair, has a short hair with spikes or some sort.
“Ehhh, improvise... I won’t complain, we have already planted our faunas and floras on this planet a year ago, we will just use some of them.” The female but masculine eldritch figure clicks his tongue, gazing out to the window and looking at the dark, cloudy sky of the planet.
The female one lets out a chuckle, momentarily closing her eyes before proceeding to speak. “Overseer Brag’Dash told us to use everything this planet has to offer, and the equipment that were abandoned in this Colony. It’s a little pity that we have to use some technologies, but I suppose we won’t be able to trick ships into coming here if we didn’t. The others are also tasked on other systems and planets, so we’re not the only ones that will improvise when the situation calls it.”
“That is if a ship received the signal, and if the ship that will come is not something akin to that of a cruiser, battleship or carrier. It’s not like the three of us here are enough to lead the Sub-Sikz on this planet and attack a considerable amount of enemy.” The short-haired one replies with a small sigh.
“Ahaha~ Did you forget? Face-to-Face combat is not what we commonly use. Overwhelming number and ‘underhanded’ tactics is what we specialize in.” The feminine figure laughs and snakes one hand into the tomboyish female’s face, turning her around to face her. “And we already know that we love to play with our victims. You may be a bit peevish for now, but you’ll be satiated sooner or later, I’ll make sure of that.”
The short-haired one looks at her for a moment, before letting out a sigh, taking her hands off her face before turning around to the opposite direction.
“I’ll go and call Ilexria, you go ahead and take care of the last preparations.” He remarks before slithering away. The female eldritch figure lets out one last chuckle before gazing at sky, patiently waiting for their potential victims to arrive.
-----
The talks took hours. And that was normal. Briefings, and the rest of the talking that was not really called a briefing, took time, and they had to. It was important in every military operation, especially for Gayyel, as he and Secada were summoned away from their stations to participate and to listen to the instructions, warnings, and other statements of their commander.
Under her, the Lieutenant Colonel, there were three ships.
The first one was the ship they were all in. This was a Humilde. A corvette armed with guns and missiles. On the other hand, it was modified; this was stripped of some of its missiles.
The other two were simple civilian ships that were designed for deep space exploration. Like the Humilde, however, they were manufactured by the same corporation that supplied the Aitanian Royal Navy. Unfortunately, Gayyel could not remember the name of that corporation, but did that really matter to him?
To that, he shook his head. But to the briefings? No.
Eventually, they ended with one thing in mind: The ships would go out of their way to assist. Their answer to the distress call would be their last mistake, the greatest of their lives.
One by one, with the Leon leading the way, the small group of ships headed towards the planet, moving quickly in order not to waste time that may cost the lives of the ones who asked for help.
As they did this, the Leon issued their reply:
We received your distress call. This is the Aitanian Exploration Group #985-ALD. We are coming to you.
-----
The female-eldritch figure stands idly on the center of the control room once more, patiently waiting for the response from any potential soon-to-be victims as the tips her tentacle-limbs slowly wags like a tail. Insect-like creatures crawl all over the place, laying eggs and making their nests on top of those red-purple moss-like grounds infecting the room’s walls and floors.
The Main screen blares and blinks that a message has been received. The figure opens and reads the contents of the message, she can only grin in delight, knowing that there will be some preys that soon fall to their demise and are ignorant of it.
“An exploration group... I suppose we will have a large feast.” She licks her lips before heaving a small sigh. “That is, if they are not too competent enough to escape successfully. Well, it’ll be entertaining nonetheless.”
-----
The planet of Kel’Ghan is lush with forests, swamps, rivers and rich biomes, one may think what they will see from space is a green sphere of a planet, yet it isn’t. There are small hills and mountains, but all of them are completely covered in healthy forests like it is in a tropical climate. The planet is obviously teeming with animal life, undoubtedly new ones that cannot be found on other planets and systems. The rivers are surprisingly crystal clear, clean enough for almost anyone to drink on, and are wide enough for small boats to course through.
The planet’s troposphere is ridiculed with unceasing, white clouds that covers over the planet’s surface like a blanket. The surface itself isn’t much better or clearer as fogs tend to form at nearly all directions, and are mostly present near the swamps and rivers. This results in most of the forests’ looking so dark in nearly all corners, perfect place for predators to latch on to their prey. Fortunately, the clouds are thin enough to allow the star to bring down light into the planet’s surface, but it still isn’t enough to penetrate through the dense forests.
But it will not take any much longer for some foreigners to land on this lonely, planet obscured by its own grey clouds and fogs.
-----
"Here we go." One of the pilots said as they brought the first ship of the Aitanian expedition upon the world. Following after them, the rest of the ships. And one by one, as they entered the world's atmosphere, as their ships adjusted to the gravity of the world, and to the other atmospheric conditions present pressing upon them, their crews and their passengers were able to bear witness personally, without having to consult the screens of recordings from robots roaming eternal space or from the network of this galaxy as they were taken by foreign factions unknown to the vast populations under the reign of Her Majesty and her President, the beauty of this fertile yet disguised world.
Slowly, the ships circled widely over the area they found themselves flying above. They were looking for a clear place to land. And they hoped that they had gotten themselves over the colony that was seeking their aid. That way, they would be able to leave this planet quickly.
-----
The planet’s dense forest is making it hard for the newly-arrived foreign ships to find a good spot to land on, the fogs are not helping either as they are making the visions for these ships even blurry and difficult to find a landing-spot, much less a good and safe one. The wind whistles through the skies, its sound almost matching the pitch of the ships’ powerful engines. Yet those engines almost seemingly make the sky rumble and their sounds echo through the horizon as the place is so silent for a planet that is lush with wildlife.
It may not be obvious unless zoomed in, but there are some unique species of the planet’s animals roaming around with some actually sprinting away from where the ships are at or at least the sounds of the engines and thrusters. Some avian creatures, about the size of normal birds commonly seen on some Terran planets, can be seen soaring away for safety on any direction so long they are away from the foreign sounds brought by foreign objects.
Alas, on some small hill just a few kilometres away from the Colony of Kel’Ghan, there is some patch of land devoid of any tall trees that may be too much of a hindrance to land on. Of course, there are some tall weeds, some young trees and sturdy rocks, but nothing too alarming and it will undoubtedly be considered a lucky spot for anyone wanting to land smoothly.
-----
The female, eldritch figure grins wickedly as the control room of the blares slightly from detecting upcoming, unidentified ships coming through the planet’s atmosphere and showcasing the ships are approaching near where the colony is located.
“Three ships.” She licks her lips with her long, prehensile tongue as she smothers a dog-like Sub-Sikz beside her. “Let us commence the festivity.”
-----
"There," said Gayyel, "we can land over there. Right on that hill."
"Right," replied Secada, "that looks like a good place to settle our ships down on."
"You have our permission to land," said the Lieutenant Colonel over the intercoms of all the ships. "let's waste no time."
At once, the three ships, one by one, landed on the hill, making sure to keep the distance between each ship safe. The first one to land was the ship that Secada and Gayyel were piloting. Once their ship had settled down and the sensors determined that it was safe to come out into the planet's surroundings, artificial intelligence on their ship announced this briefly and then unlocked the doors while also allowing the ventilation to open.
The rest of the ships did the same, just as Gayyels ship began to release their crews and their passengers. The first ones to get out were the Aitanian marines and armed sailors who took to the challenge of setting up a perimeter around the landing ships. Under the command of Nora Gilabert, a Commandant, the three squads, two of them being regular units while the last one was a heavy weapons unit, spread out and formed the perimeter around the ship in the shape of a square. They did this until all the ships had cut their engines and their passengers and crews had ensured that their ships were secure themselves.
Everyone else waited inside or close to the ships until the all clear was given by the marines and armed sailors under Nora.
-----
Just near the hill, right behind the walls of tree trunks, overgrown weeds and hanging tree vines, a Sub-Sikz taking a similar appearance of a canine-like beast with small wriggling tentacles grotesquely coming out of its ears and spines, its yellow almost-frog-like eyes scanning the newcomers setting up a parameter that recently landed on the hill.
It is not the only Sub-Sikz to scan the newly established parameter, another Sub-Sikz sharing similar traits to that of a large lizard, saliva dripping through the small spaces between its closed jaws as it keenly inspects the foreigners and their ships. It felt like pouncing immediately, sniffing the air with its long multiple tongues with an evident hiss, but appear to have retracted and quickly crawls away before it gets spotted.
The presence of these Sikz creatures made the area devoid of any of the planet’s natural wildlife, and in the shadows of the dense woods before the hill, are the reddish-purple moss-like plants that spreads through the natural plants of the world like some taint.
-----
Nora was on the field, getting her boots dirty, the air around her registered as clean and fresh, the gusts bringing to her face a tropical smell that reminded her of the realistic tropical wet naval landings she and her men often went through in the simulators. She watched her men get to their positions, the sergeants and lieutenants working together to keep the men in order. Soon, it was all over, as the officers under her all sounded off the all clear one after the other. No shots were needed as no hostile life was detected, but to Nora, there was always something unknown whenever they landed on strange worlds.
She gave a nod of approval and allowed them to stay put but relax while she turned around to face the head of the expedition, who was already stepping out into the open.
Nora saluted her crisply and said, "Ma'am, the area is clear. No hostiles. Just the environment. Permission to get into the woods and extend our perimeter?"
Nod. Nora turned around and gave orders for one squad to spread out and check the trees around them, hoping that her own fears of the unknown wouldn't materialize.
-----
"Ahh~ They are plentiful and well-armed, I must declare. But surprisingly not cautious enough to scan the surroundings deeply though fortunate on our part." The female eldritch figure remarks, but the thought of why these foreigners are not careful because they are fooled into coming because of a colony in needing of help is left unsaid on her mouth. She watches the foreign men and women slowly trek toward the woods from the stuttering hologram which illuminates the command room.
If the planet they landed on was a planet terraformed to suite the needs and wants of the Sikz, these men and women would have long have their ship damaged and receiving casualties once they reached the ground, immediately attacked by hungry and feral Sub-Sikz creatures. Fortunately for them that is not the case.
"Ilexria, Kizzaran, they are already venturing into the woods. Don't let the Sub-Sikz pounce on them too early, for... Well, you know the first part; to toy and tease with them." She sends her message through the Sikz's signature psionic ability; telepathy.
"Understood." The voices of the two female echoes in her mind. She merely smirks before diverting her attention back to the holographic screen, reclining into her seat which is barely visible through her mass of tentacles.
It's nowhere near early to celebrate or get flustered over the arrival of the foreigners, but she just cannot help but feel excited on what the upcoming situations and events may offer.
-----
The pilots, Gayyel and Secada, followed after their superiors, Amel'yah and the captain, as Nora led the first squad forward. Together, they began to explore the woods while the rest of the men helped the passengers set up a small temporary base around the ships.
"Fan out and don't wander off too far. I want everyone to advance and keep their buddies in their field of vision. No sudden movements and I want everyone calling attention when they see anything of interest." Nora ordered. Quickly, the men obeyed.
And then she turned to the ones following after her, "Commanders, we will have to do this quietly. Who's willing to stay behind?"
When nobody turned around and went back, Nora nodded and turned toward the task at hand, saying to her men using her communicator, "Let's go."
-----
"Fanning out will not do well for any of you, but then again, you won't be able to reach the colony if you are too focused in one spot. Still, not cautious enough." The female eldritch figure in the command room heaves out a chuckle. She watches the squad spread through the woods, and the passengers of the ships setting up a relatively small base right in the open where the ships have landed.
"Ilexria, Kizzaran, send out the Varraneaen-Types, we will use their silk to silently pick out those that wander off too far from their comrades. Ensure that they are not able to communicate with each other." She telepathically send the message to her fellow Sikzelians. 'Though it would also be nice to at least hear a scream.' She thought to herself but left that part out.
-----
Right in the dark corners of the woods, Kizzaran quietly makes her way through the dense shrubs and weeds covering most of the area until she manages to reach the Varraneaen-Types waiting in the corner. These Sub-Sikz types bear similar appearance to arachnid animals, notable spiders and scorpions. Kizzaran signaled them via her own telepathic ability and send them away to start picking their own prey.
-----
Nobody went too far from their friends. Everyone, while maintaining enough distance to make sure they won't be fucked by grenades, was within sight of everyone else. If they had to, unit leaders always made sure their men stuck close. They didn't know that someone with something was out there, but with their mission in mind, they knew to expect it.
While the passengers of the ships started creating a small base out of the materials and equipment they carried in them, the squads didn't go too far from it and returned to the base in a few moments. All the squads agreed with one another that they hadn't seen anything hostile around, their reports making it to the base commanders.
With this in mind, Nora began drafting new plans for this expedition with her fellow squad leaders. Meanwhile, the base was progressing.
Attempts were made to make a long range transmission back home.
-----
As ordered by their “superiors”, the arachnid-like Varraneaen-Type creatures slowly but surely crawl their way through the woods toward the trekking soldiers deep into the forest. However, once the creatures notices the soldiers keeping themselves close to each other and attempting not to wander too far where they’ll be vulnerable to ambushes or traps, they halt their movement like they were cryolized yet they kept their eyes fixated on the nearest prey.
But once the squads returned to the base, the creatures slowly make their way back into the bushes, positioning themselves to get a good view of the now-enlarging base out in the open. The creatures, of course, after getting abrupt orders from their “superiors” to stand down and merely wait, they merely sit down into the dense shrubs and weeds, with some of them starting to lay eggs into the bushes for some reason.
“Well. Seem they were wise enough to not continue the expedition minutes after landing.” Kizzaran- who appears to be the masculine-looking-eldritch humanoid- remarks in her telepathic voice to her fellow comrades.
”Indeed, a shame that we will not have our first victim for this day, but I suppose the wait will be more rewarding.” A female voice chuckles in her head.
-----
The female eldritch-figure heaves out an amused sigh as she strokes the head of a larva in her hands whilst watching the holographic screen showcasing the foreign squads regroup to the now-growing base in the open. She will give them credit, at first she thought they were not careful enough by going into the woods without scanning it further, but then they decided to regroup back into their landing spot when they were almost a breath away from having one of their soldiers become dinner for some long-legged creatures.
“Ilexria, have the aerial creatures prepared, just in case they send someone out to the atmosphere.” She orders with a bit of a stern tone. ‘Although, they could just send transmissions to where they came from, which is something we can still afford considering our presences are not yet known... We’ll have to disrupt their connections once they get wind of the dangers here.’
-----
Gayyel sighed in relief when they returned to base. They were at least able to look around. They secured their perimeter. And then they would wait for just a little more then move out again.
But Gayyel thought that going out in the dark may not be a good idea. And he saw that on the faces of the soldiers around him. Even some of the NCOs, who now huddle around their lieutenants, didn't look confident with the idea of night patrols.
The aitanians were not afraid of the night. But this was strange territory. And they noticed that they didn't hear any local wild life. No birds, no beasts, nothing.
Gayyel went around, hearing rumors that they would get to the wilderness to collect samples and determine if there really is any native wildlife present.
But for now, everyone had to rest and wait and stay here. The ships would be their home, and the squads would have to choose their guards for the night.
At the same time, the higher ups started to try sending messages back home.
-----
Night reigns over the planet, blanketing the sky of pure blackness, at least for this part of the planet. Despite the dense clouds and fog cloaking most of the planet’s atmosphere, the bright stars of the galaxy can still be faintly seen by the naked eye, what helps is that the planet is devoid of any of its own light to create some sort of light pollution.
But while the scenery provided by the starry sky is indeed such a sight to behold, the same cannot be said for the planet these foreigners found themselves in. The already dense forests and marshes of the planet looks eerie and dangerous enough from the day, everything almost look like pitch black with barely any light save for the dim light from the starry sky. The lack of sounds from the forest-filled planet just adds up to the potential hostility of the planet.
Ironically, this planet is already hostile, if only the Sikz have revealed themselves earlier but they chose not to, not now at least. It would be too soon, too early to attack the enemy just when they landed hours ago, that would be such a poor welcoming greeting to the guests after all. Not that the Sikz are ignoring the foreigners, in fact, they are closely watching the small base from behind the trees and weeds, Sikz creatures of many kind stroll around the forest that the foreign base is located at.
-----
Kizzaran watches silently from afar, her eyes boring at the small base that was set up in the small open area in the middle of the forest. Accompanying him are some Sikz creatures with lizard-like attributes, sleeping rather peacefully respite their grotesque appearances due to having the genes and appearances of the Sikz. The tomboyish eldritch humanoid lazily leans on a tall rock as she watches the base which is so quiet.
She can only guess they are so unaware of the dangers this planet has to offer, though she can tell they are more cautious considering that they seem to find nothing after scouring the nearby area. And from what she and the two others with her have discussed, the foreign people are most likely to report back to where they came from, it isn’t alarming as they have not encountered anything yet. But that may change.
She was ordered to silently send some small parasites – namely fleas – to discreetly crawl toward the base and attempt to latch on some unsuspecting poor man or woman, or attempt to sneak inside the ship and lay eggs in the small corridors and ventilations of the ships. One of those parasites will have the ability to temporarily control the mind of a host, and they shall use that host against its allies.
The plan is to slowly weave chaos and distrusts amongst the foreign visitors, and before they can realize what they may be up against, the Sikz shall ensnare them.
-----
In the darkness, as many slept, Secada slipped out of the base, holding a lamp high above her head, looking out to the stars, walking without looking where she went, sometimes getting close to the edge of the forest around her, but often returning to the reach of the light of the base; nobody really saw her do this, for she was light on her feet, and she never let herself stop when she made a twig snap under her toes or a pebble roll from her soles; she never would feel that a flea might find their way to the fabric which she wore. And when she had lost her eagerness to explore the edges of the base, she turned back quickly to the call of Gayyel. "Secada! There is dinner now! Come and eat."
"I am going!" she cried out, her legs carrying her to the light flowing out of the open door of one of the ships.
But she would not be alone. Some of the patrols were being pulled out of the line back to the base so they could eat. But that would mean that they might carry the fleas sent out to ride upon them.
-----
Kizzaran snickers and smirks as soon she sees the men guarding the perimeter pull back to the base, especially that one woman who wandered off too much into the edge of the base and nearly walked straight right in into the cold, unwelcoming darkness of the forest surrounding said base. She honestly would have commanded the creatures nearby to snatch the girl in a very discreet manner but holds himself from issuing such order. It is still the small parasites’ time to shine.
Speaking of the small parasites, the small, flea-like creatures latch on to the fabric of the foreigners’ clothes and even shoes before they can start running back inside the base. Some of them use the wind to glide themselves towards the ships and quickly crawl inside through the entrance of the ships, although they aren’t many of them thus making it difficult for them to be detected thanks to their size. Some of them start to crawl up the ventilation system of the ships, or merely taking cover behind furniture or anything placed on the corner.
Now they have infiltrated the base, and the night is getting deeper, only a matter of time until they slowly start to take advantage of whatever potential victim and host they can find.
-----
At first, the little bugs were not detected. And the systems on the ships didnt really see the tiny intruders as threats. But they were already beginning to register them as unknown biologicals into the data banks of the Aitanian expedition. And as that happened, everyone not busy or needed was about to have dinner.
Things like this just make you hungry.
"Secada, what were you doing outside?" Gayyel asked after she jumped back into the ship through the open doorway. As it shut behind them automatically, the woman turned around and smiled, almost twirling gracefully like a dancer.
She said, "Feeling the night air. It isn't against the rules, and nobody really saw me. I liked it. It was cool outside." She giggled as she turned around again and started walking down the hall with him.
"All right, but be careful. We don't know what's really out there. You could get dragged into the woods by something. You don't want the Babalala to take you, no?"
She laughed, saying, "On a world far from home? I don't believe that."
They finally reached the mess to line up for food.
And nobody knew what was going on yet. Not until Gayyel saw a big crawling along Secadas back. He quickly slapped it away and stomped on it.
"Hey! You're messing up the floor, Major!" Cried a cook who was serving a hot ladle full of onion and garlic stew into a tray for one of the men lining up.
The major chuckled and said, "No worries, I'll handle it later."
-----
“You don’t think they have a system that could detect other foreign life forms that enter the ships to alert them?” Kizzaran asks, still sitting or standing idly deep behind the woods and peeking at the base through a small gap between the trunks of countless trees.
“We can’t say for sure, we have yet to know the extent of their technology. They probably have one, similar to how our ships will react to foreign organisms entering or landing in the body, not all the ships we’ve hunted down and captured after entering our territories have the same kind of system, and usually ships with the tasks for research or patrol have systems capable of detecting and registering life-forms that enter it.” The female voice answers nonchalantly before resuming with a sneering and slightly jovial tone.
”Though, if they were to detect our little pets, then it is all well, they won’t see it much of a threat until later on. It won’t be really entertaining if our guests are too inept on seeing the dangers in front of them, otherwise we won’t be able to hear their screams. We’ve waited so long for new guests to arrive, we might as well savour every moment.”
-----
The fleas scrambles throughout the interior of the ships, it didn’t matter to them if they are already detected, because they do not possess the ability to fear or be anxious, for they are all just mindless parasites carrying out the orders and their thirst for a host to find.
They all start to crawl around, mostly in the darker corners of the ship like the ventilation system, in rooms that are currently unoccupied or mostly devoid of any personnel, some even go hide in the storage rooms. Any place where they won’t be easily identified or seen by the naked eye is a place worth going for them.
Some of the fleas decide to start creep up at the hair of some personnel, going in further until they reach the scalp, hiding behind the countless strand of hair where they cannot be seen unless scrutinized deeply by someone else.
-----
The aitanians, once they realized that their ships have gotten infested with these things, began to react.
Gayyel, on seeing more of these things around, began telling people to get their clothes off and to beat them so the fleas get off the clothes. They did this while someone, a woman with dark skin, grabbed a spray can close to one of the doors, saw that it was a disinfectant, shook it, and used it on the fleas crawling on the floor and walls and benches and tables. People grabbed their trays of food and took them away from the fleas while others started stomping on the fleas or crushing them with their hands. An alert was then sounded throughout the ships by Secada. And this encouraged everyone in the base now to check themselves for it. But the guards around the area stayed in their positions and looked out for trouble.
-----
“They have finally noticed the fleas and have alarmed everyone, what should we do?” Kizarran inquiries, narrowing her eyes at the small base as the guards begins to start checking themselves if they have fleas crawling up in their uniforms and bodies, if they did find one they are quick to kill it even it means slapping themselves rather hard.
“Nay, do not do anything unless something dire happens, let them kill the fleas. The fleas getting noticed is expected, at least we know they aren’t blind or stupid enough not to realize some exotic life entering their ships.” A chuckle erupts from the telepathic voice. ”There will be some fleas that may have gotten into the heads of some, if not well that may be fine, for what will matter is how they will be cautious in the next day after this.”
-----
The fleas on the scalps of some of these foreign soldiers have begun their work, sinking their tiny fangs and needles into the skull of the soldiers. This is the first step; they continue to sink their fangs deeper and keep biting to see how tough the skull of their soon-to-be-host, until it starts to bleed and create wound large enough for them to enter. Once the wound is open enough, the fleas will gradually crawl their way inside the skull, finding their way into the fleshy brain of the host.
The blood that will be acquired will allow them to mutate to become far larger, tiny and almost invisible tendrils sprout from their appendages, wriggling and casually touching the pink cerebrum. Afterwards, they sink their fangs and needles, the fleas planting themselves into the brain as their tendrils starts to work on operation of their new hosts’ brain.
Of course, they are still in the first phase, and that is creating a wound large enough for them to enter.
-----
Shouts and screams from those who got fleas on their heads made things more dramatic than they should be. At this, their comrades began to act quickly. They got them to stop moving and to calm down as those brave enough started grabbing the fleas and pulling them off the heads before crushing them with their hands or with their boots. Others used chemical sprays to kill the fleas or hurt them before grabbing them and crushing them. Of course, this led to some people getting sprayed in the face.
But not everyone would be saved from the fleas. Those who were isolated from their comrades such as those in the bathrooms or in the quiet corridors or in their beds, sleeping, were subjected to the mercy of the fleas.
And Gayyel and Secada, stuck in the mess, could only do so much to help their comrades with them while the rest of the Aitanians in the other parts of the ship and in the other ships did their own best at dealing with the threats.
-----
“Are things going in the favour for the fleas or not?” Kizarran questions with a quirk of a brow, hearing and seeing the personnel now all somewhat panicking but more or less are able to contain the situation, judging by how everyone seem to be helping infested with the tiny insects.
However, this time, no answer is given, leaving Kizarran to merely sigh ass he continues to watch the chaos unfold within the foreign base. At the surface, the situation is contained at best, but he more or less believes there are some fleas that are able to do their duty successfully, now all that is left is for the day is to see these foreigners react to mind-controlled comrades.
-----
Many of them might have fallen, but a few successes are more worth than none, and that is what the fleas are able to achieve. While the fleas on top of the crew men out in the open or crowded areas have been spotted and quickly killed on spot before they are able to take control of their hosts, those that are in the heads of the crew men who are alone have succeeded.
The first ones that were subjugated to the manipulation of the Sikz fleas are those who are asleep, for unlike those who are awake and still managed to resist, those that are asleep were so vulnerable that the small insects did not encounter much resistance when taking control of them.
The second phase of the fleas's objective in their host, is that those who were asleep shot their eyes up open and begun writhing in pain as a surge of pain erupts in their nervous system, little do they know that while they are conscious and see things, they are losing control of their limbs, with one of them falling out of the bed and slowly standing up albeit with frantic movements. Some of them unwillingly start to crash their bodies into the wall or furniture. Some of them begin to scream out for help, hoping that someone would come to help them get out of whatever painful condition they are currently being subjugated to.
-----
The Lieutenant Colonel and the islander from before, as well as some other officers, were taking control. With a few marines, the Aitanians got someone to get a handle on the situation.
"Contain all personnel! Keep the perimeter around the ships steady!" The LC now turned on a writhing Aitanian and removed some fleas off the head of that one with her own hands, crushing them with her fingers or her boots. The others helped out too. The LC stood up and turned to the others, both officers and enlisted men. She had fiery eyes and a voice that turned ruthless because of the situation. "*Start checking your companions! Wake those sleeping! I want all NCOs to start accounting for their men. Now!"
She returned her attention to the officers with her. "All of you, get some men and check the ships. Account for your own groups. Do it now. I will have to check the perimeter."
Gayyel and Secada obeyed. They would have to check their own places. Leaving the mess, they both went to check on their men and on their stations.
Meanwhile, Nora found herself back outside, strongly giving orders to her men. They held steady all around the line, buddies checking each other for fleas while also looking out for threats. Nora had herself checked after she and the other marines got news from the ships.
The Aitanians were on alert. And they realized that perhaps this world had some hostile life. But they didn't know it wasn't native to this world. They knew nothing.
-----
”See, the fleas carried out their duties as they expected to, now these foreign people are panicking and realizing they are no longer alone in this planet, and there is something living here. Though, they are yet to see the main course.” The female voice comes back in with an entertained chuckle. ”We should wait for them to recuperate. They are still in the midst of the fleas’ operations.”
Kizarran nods her head slowly, at firsts he has doubts that the fleas would be able to do their job as they were spotted sooner, but as it seem the fleas were successful in their duty of finding hosts. She watches the soldiers check each other one by one, with the base now on full alert from the looks of it, now she just wonders how they will deal with those controlled by the small insects.
-----
More and more fleas are getting killed and being stepped on like some mash potatoes before they are able to finish their control over their host, but their dwindling numbers and the fact that the more sane or stable ones are trying to take them off only encourages the tiny bugs to hasten their control of their hosts, forcing them to start lashing out and move frantically to the point where it may be difficult to search the heads for any more of the bugs.
The miniature creatures will then force their hosts to act in a way that it will make them attack, or at least hurt their companions, or start banging their heads into the walls, grab something that is enough to penetrate the skin and start stabbing themselves with it in the abdomen or torso. The fleas are ordered to bring chaos as much as possible after all, it means killing their hosts to contribute to the ongoing crisis then so be it, not that these small insects can think or decide like that, it is only their instinct telling them to manipulate their hosts for their masters’ amusement.
-----
The whole base was on fire, fire with concern for their comrades, and then for themselves.
The LC growled as she checked the perimeter, ignoring the cries of men who did not want her to expose herself, to go beyond the safety of the ships, to have to go so far as walking along the lines the men of Nora and the others with their weapons and their orders established. The woman walked up and down the lines, eyes never blinking, hands never stopping in their search of fleas, mind never ceasing to think over the whole situation as the ones who remained with her helped her or looked out for her.
The islander faltered, freezing in place a meter from the group, attracting the wratch of the LC. She had glanced away from attending to a squad of men. The LC glided over to the islander and screamed in his face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU GOD DAMN ISLAND MOTHER FUCKER?! FREEZING UP LIKE THE STUPID ISLAND CUCK YOU ARE? I DARE YOU TO FUCKING KEEP STANDING THERE, SHOCKED BY FUCKERY WE ARE IN! GO AND FUCK YOURSELF BY CHECKING SOME OF THE MEN RIGHT FUCKING NOW, OR I SWEAR I WILL HAVE MY HANDS UP IN YOUR ASS, SEARCHING FOR WHATEVER ROTOR IS MAKING YOU FREEZE LIKE A MALE PORN STAR!!!"
Meanwhile, Gayyel and Secada found one of their men, a tall and bright-faced Aitanian technician, smashing his head against his own instruments, pushing away his comrades who tried their best to save him from the fleas that were burrowing into his head. One of their men, a young woman with brown hair, had fallen on the floor, blood puddling under her face, eyes open, shock still in them. Another woman, someone with green eyes, was shaking in a corner, aiming a pistol at the suffering man and at the comrades she had who were trying to reach for him and to remove those fleas from his head.
His cries. They took to the ears of Gayyel and Secada.
The former walked over to the shaking woman in the corner, speaking to her. The latter looked for a disinfectant spray, to help the man.
As for everyone else getting creatures on their heads, things were not going so well for them.
So many of the men who were caught off guard by the fleas were now becoming threats to their comrades. And they panicked, driving them to use anything they had close to them as weapons to put down their suffering friends.
Only those lucky enough to get those fleas off of them were spared, dragged away and secured in the brigs to be watched by guards who made sure their heads were free of such creatures.
-----
Kizarran suppresses a whistle that threatened to escape her mouth, for at first she had doubts but now she is entertained at the sight of the base attempting to contain the abrupt chaos they are going through. This is more than he initially thought, although she did thought of the scene should this plane succeeded, just that he had too much initial doubts.
”It seems the fleas did their job successfully and brought the result we expected of them. A pity though, for that is far those tiny insects can do, these foreigners will be able to recover eventually and eradicate those fleas by possibly before daylight. We have given them a first taste of what we can offer to them in this planet, the next dish however will have to wait for a day or so, depending on how quick these foreign people act.” The female voice in the telepathic “channel” informs with a slight chuckle.
”Are we sure they won’t request for some reinforcements or supply? It may complicate things down the line for our experiments later on, their equipment and technology may go beyond what we are prepared or have taken into account.” Another female voice, although much lighter, less husky and deeper than the other one, inquiries into the telepathic channel.
”Fret not, Ilexria, should they bring more than what should they bring it only make us contact our brethren to come to this system. After all, this star system is all too close to the Collective’s systems. Should they come in with battle ships, we will ensnare them. But frankly, it isn’t entertaining to just have large spacecraft battle out in the sky.” The deeper female voice clicks her tongue with a snicker before continuing.
”Pressing forward, now that the fleas have done their job and the foreigners have tasted our first but informal greetings, we shall prepare and wait in the colony. I say again, let them recover first and do not commit any unnecessary acts that may jeopardize our proper introduction to them.” The voice then proceeds to giggle at the act of making a potentially melodramatic introduction.
-----
With the fleas, they have done their job well and delivered the expected result, however, that’s where the line ends. Sure they are able to make their hosts rampage or at least lose most of their rational sense to the point they are starting to physically harm others around them, but one by one the fleas’ numbers starts dropping rapidly once the entirety of the base is alarmed.
The number of fleas plummeted and consequently more and more of their former hosts being to recover, at least mentally and psychologically, but physically it depends on just how the former host harmed himself.
Soon, there is only a very few fleas left, and some of those haven’t even found a host yet and are stuck in the corners of the ships or have been thrown away from the heads of their former host, visible and vulnerable to being killed. If anything, some of them are already getting killed.
--------------------------In the following day...------------------------
The Soro looked at the corpses as they lay on the cold metal rolling tables that were in the morgue. In their largest ship, the Aitanians have brought their dead there. Due to the matter with the fleas the night before, there were now six less out of the many who came to this planet. And the Soro could only look at the corpses with eyes that seemed used to loss.
His partner, Secada, stood by him. And though her eyes were towards the corpses too, her focus was on the technician who died on the floor with a puddle of blood underneath her face. The woman glanced at her partner, who seemed not to move nor notice her.
The woman turned back to the corpses. What do we tell the families? she wondered. How will they take the loss? She sighed as she crossed her arms.
Behind them, the door opened. They turned around and found a doctor dressed in whites. A woman, just like Secada.
"Hello, Major Gayyel," said the doctor. The man nodded at her. The doctor looked at Secada and nodded before she said to her, "Hello to you too, Captain Secada."
They recognized her through her voice and through her height. This was Medical Officer Luisina. She had blue eyes and fair skin.
They nodded to her and moved out of her way. She walked over to the corpse of the technician and looked at it from top to bottom. She looked to them and said, "I'm sorry that you lost people. The whole of it was chaos. I hope you are not blaming yourselves."
The both of them shook their heads.
Gayyel said, "We're not. Thanks, Doc."
Secada simply smiled and shrugged.
The doctor nodded to them and sighed as she turned around and walked over to the sinks at the far end of the morgue. She washed her hands and then put on some gloves. She pulled out a rolling table that had instruments and other tools on it, moving it towards the table with the dead technician.
"I have to work on her now. Will you please step outside?"
The both of them obeyed. They closed the door behind them and stood in the corridor. Silent. Shy. And strictly uncertain.
-----
"How are comms?"
"Good." A pause. Some shuffling of tools. A sigh. "You want me to transmit? What do I say?"
Head scratching. A scratch at the neck. "Just transmit. Use emergency codes. Make it a priority message."
Some typing. A click. Two beeps. "All right. Anything else?"
A sigh. A pen dropped. A whisper, curses in the low voice. A grunt. "Add a hazard code to it. Make sure they know that we're probably facing unknown biological threats. Request reinforcements, small size, few people. Ask for a quarantine."
-----
The Aitanians gathered outside, everyone in rows. Officers on the far right and enlisted to their left. They all faced the Lieutenant Colonel and her staff. The woman had no need for a platform or a podium. Under the warmth of the sun of this planet, they all were in deep silence, in thought for their comrades lost.
"Men," she began, in a voice that everyone could listen to without straining their ears. The officers turned to their men and gave orders. The men snapped to attention. And their highest ranking CO took a breath and continued to speak to them. She said, "I understand your pain. I feel the same pain you feel now and as you felt then. I cannot promise you that our duties here will come to an end for our sakes. You all know now that we have reached out to our home. We must wait for their instructions. And for their aid."
She gave it a pause. She looked at their faces. They hoped for something. She knew that they wanted something that she too wanted for herself. To get back home and to let others take their place.
She sighed.
"We must carry on. But I will encourage all of you...all of us...to mourn our fellow men and women. Today, I am encouraging all of you to take rest. However, I must give the order that those assigned guard duties today shall have to fulfill such duties. They will be relieved at the times they are to be relieved. Other than that, I can say no more. Too many words mean nothing to us all."
She turned to her second in command and nodded. The second in command stepped forward and dismissed the men and their officers. Everyone gradually dispersed but only after saluting their Lieutenant Colonel for a moment.
-----
As daylight takes over the skies, illuminating most of the dark forest that spans across the entire planet of Kel’Ghan despite the never-ceasing blanket of clouds hovering in the atmosphere, the abandoned colony deep within the maze and labyrinth of woods, shrubs and weeds is as quiet yet eerie as ever.
Inside one of the abandoned colony’s structure, in the middle of the hallway stands or perhaps sits another feminine eldritch-like figure gazes out into the cracked glass wall, her pinkish tentacle-like limbs idly waving out from the large mass of tentacles while her bright magenta eyes focus on the greyish and gloomy clouds.
She peels her eyes away from the clouds and directs them out into the open centre of the abandoned colony, seeing the small Sub-Sikz creatures crawling around like a small swarm of maggots gathering around then dispersing into different locations. And there are those flying creatures of different proportions, almost like buzzing around like flies gathering in a food or dead corpse. Though, one can say this abandoned colony is a dead corpse should one look at it in a unique perspective.
“Ilexria, I have made the preparations on my part, I assume you have also completed yours?” The tomboyish eldritch-like figure from last night calls out, approaching from the other end of the hallway.
“Why yes Kizarran, I have already done my part, there is no need to concern yourself over it.” The female figure named Ilexria replies, looking at Kizarran right in the eyes.
“Now, now, no need to give a cold shoulder when daylight just came.” The male figure chuckles, gently raising one hand in the air in slight defence although rather jokingly.
“Oh? I thought you were requesting for a status report.” Ilexria quips with a somewhat condescending smirk before shaking it off.
They have been tasked on rechecking the facilities of the abandoned colony, ensuring the traps and nesting places of the Sub-Sikz are still in their designated places in case the foreign troops arrives in the colony. In addition, they were ordered to take care of the eggs in some of the Sub-Sikz nest, to prepare to unleash them or use them for other means against the foreign soldiers. They are sure the soldiers will now be more cautious of approaching anything, as it appears the incident last night was more severe than initially expected, at least for the two of them.
“Those foreigners are more likely to have recovered by now, or perhaps at least managed to completely contain the chaos that we invoked on them.” Kizarran states as he sees the Sub-Sikz on the centre of colony dispersing and retreating back to their nests, he guesses they are now being ordered to start hiding. “I took them only a few hours to recover, especially when such severe incident only happened last night.”
Ilexria clicks her tongue and shrugs with her shoulders. “Well they are soldiers. They may just be an expedition force, but soldiers nonetheless. Regardless, I do not think their recovery rate matters, for once they enter the colony we will prey on them one by one, along with their ships.”
“That is of course, the transmission they might have sent by now does not include sending more reinforcements. After all, they are in the unknown, who is to say sentient species does not get paranoid over something they do not fully know yet.” Kizarran points out.
The female eldritch-figure snorts with a grin. “We all take precautions over something we don’t know. One would be a fool to think they can approach something beyond and leave unscathed. But we digress, how long until those soldiers approach the colony?”
“Rhlatriaxa hypothesized to be around this day which she says is a generous estimation if the soldiers are quick to act and not expect any kind of reinforcement. She is currently making a report for the Overseers.”
-----
“And that concludes the summary of yesterday’s event, Overseer. We are yet to acquire information on who are or what these foreigners are, but as I have mentioned before, they is a high probability they are of an official or legitimate organization or faction.” The female eldritch figure standing in the middle of the dimly-lit command room concludes while stroking the head of a relatively dog-size worm-like creature.
”Then we have made contact with another nation. We will be fortunate or unfortunate depending on what nation this is, if they are near our star systems. As you said, they are most likely an expedition force, which would mean they are indeed travelling far from the reaches of their superiors. Proceed on with the observation and ensnaring of this new race.”
“Understood.” With that, the transmission goes off. The female figure heave out a slight chuckle before looking down with a small smirk at the creature she is petting. “Don’t worry, the actual feast may commence sooner or later.”
Events have been going smoothly so far, although the severity of the event last night was more glaring that what was initially thought, it did not derailed any of the upcoming plans so far. What is the concern however is that if the foreigner’s will receive reinforcements, it is more or less sure they have sent transmission back to where they came from, it is only a matter of what and how many will be sent if they indeed requested for some form of backup and supplies.
Then again, unforeseen events and circumstances are welcome to provide entertainment, even if it derails some of the well-prepared plans. Just one should be ready for the possible consequences.
The female figure watches the foreign expedition base showcased in the cracked monitor screens of the command room she is in. “Now, all you dead visitors need to do is to trek through the woods and find this colony.”
-----
The expedition waited and waited. But as they did, they received no reply. Nothing came to their systems to answer their calls. And on and on it went, despite the repeated calls to see if their home had received them. But nothing happened.
A quick diagnostics check detected several errors in the communication systems, some of them informing the Aitanians that their messages have gotten home but were corrupted during the transmission. And not every message got home.
The Lieutenant colonel called all her officers in and had a long meeting with them. But at the end of it, grim faces came out of the conference. And the lieutenant colonel called the two pilots to her.
She gave them five minutes and in five minutes, the nature of her orders sank in.
They left, and once they found privacy in their shared quarters, the woman asked her comrade, "Do you want to do this?"
The man just nodded. He said, "Yeah. No way to reach home. And we will need to give the other ships time to repair. We will have to go into the colony. See what we can find. We'll bring in a small team. You know what we need to do."
"I know. But are we prepared to face those things again? What if there are more?"
The man nodded. He sighed. "There might be more. But we will be prepared, even a little."
---------
Three days later, the two pilots and a small team, with a researcher, a doctor, a medic, and a squad of marines led by Nora, were on their way in a ship towards the colony.
-----
F
or three days, the Sikzelians have been waiting for the foreigners to start moving, for three the Sikz just hid within the colony, not even bothering to go out and attempt to pull any other scheme on the recovering foreigners. That didn’t mean the Sikz stopped monitoring the foreign ships, if anything almost every hour they have eyes spying on the foreigners to keep track of every movement they take.
Amidst the waiting, the Sub-Sikz creatures have bred over and over in the colony, their numbers multiplying as more eggs cover the interiors and corners of the colony’s abandoned buildings. Ilexria and Kizarran even had some of the creatures be relocated outside of the colony or burrow down into the planet’s crust further, consequently making underground nesting places and a labyrinth of Sikz-infested tunnels reaching far out of the abandoned colony’s vicinity.
However, those are nice bonuses for the Sikz as it may assist in the complete assimilation of the planet.
Flying Sub-Sikz were ordered to keep a low-flight, with the Sikz ordering them to never fly above the trees or at least, use the trees to cover themselves from the sight of the foreigners, making sure they do not get alerted even further as the incident with the ticks made them more anxious of the planet they are in.
Everything is eerily quiet, and the Sikz almost seemingly let the days past like nothing is happening or what operation is underway.
That is until today...
-----
“The foreigners are coming, and with a ship, they must be very cautious not to risk walking by ground.” The female figure in the dimly-lit command room clicks her tongue as she can see the approaching ship via a static hologram close to just shutting off completely. She caresses the large, grotesque worm-like creature beside her before she delves into her telepathic abilities.
“Ilexria, Kizarran, our guests are approaching in a ship, they will be in some advantage if they are to arrive in the sky. Do not attack, once they land and most of them have gone out, ensure the ship is in a condition where it cannot take off.”
The Aitanian ship smoothly flew through the air, cutting forward, keeping at least ten meters off the trees and the rest of the ground. The ship adjusted up and down, moving at a slightly moderate speed. As they flew, the ship regularly made circles around some low-level landmarks. Then the ship would fly towards their original destination.
In the end, the ship finally got to their destination; they have reached an open area of the colony.
-----
As the foreign ship arrived to their target destination, they are most likely to be greeted by an empty colony, devoid of any form of life save for perhaps the overgrown plants that now crawls around at every wall and ground of the colony. Walls of the colony's facilities are either covered in dirt, overgrown roots and plants, or the combination of both. Not to mention, some of these walls have long cracks running along from the ground up to the roof, as if split open by an earthquake.
Additionally, there were also some vehicles, or at least what's left of them. Most of the vehicles bear similarities with some light trucks and utility vehicles, indicating that the colony is more or less for research purposes only as these vehicles don't appear to be formerly armed with any sort of weapons for they lack any room for equipment on warfare. Some of the vehicles have also sunken into the ground on the destroyed roads of the colony, showcasing that they have been there for a long time already.
The ship gradually landed on the location they have selected. It took time. Once the ship was down, everyone in the ship prepared for the time to get out. The marines would get out first, securing the area for the rest of the passengers and crew. But until the doors were opened, they would have to wait.
The pilots remained in their stations while the marines, under Nora's command, were at the doors, just waiting for the all clear. The ship's systems were still processing the things the ship had to clear after landing. It took only a few minutes until the all clear sounded at the doors.
Nora turned to her marines, gestured to them to keep their weapons up. They formed up behind her and watched the doors slide open. Out they came into the open, securing the area as quickly as they can, while the pilots and the rest of the crew made sure the ship would support them. Those who were not assigned tasks were left to assist the doctor and the medic with the preparation of medicine and other supplies. A few assisted the researcher in double checking the machines and tools they had on them.
------
As if it's alive, the exotic plants and mosses that has grown around the walls and abandoned vehicles out in the open has reacted in a variety of ways from the arrival of the foreign ships, especially when the foreign soldiers came out of the ship. Some of the plants, those that resemble flowers, or at least possess some qualities resembling of a flower like petals, shrinks and close themselves down as there were danger nearby. While other plants merely jerks for a second before resuming to being completely still.
Other than that however, the colony is eerily silent similar to the endless forest that surrounds it, the air is humid and the sunlight can barely shine through the thick clouds and fogs up in the sky. The wind blows past the colony for a short moment before calming down.
But one thing they might have noticed or not is that there is no one there to greet the foreign soldiers. After all, a colony had sent a distress signal surely there must be someone waiting for rescue and go outside to see the visitors who would potentially save them, and yet that is not the case right now.
Just behind the cracked walls of the buildings of the colony, some of the Sub-Sikz creatures are already watching from the murky shadows unseen by light at the moment, carefully scrutinizing the soldiers that marched out of the ship with curiosity. They are already jittering to pounce on the soldiers and satiate their hunger for new food, but they are not ordered to attack, not yet at least.