Castaway Planet

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 3

Uninhabited Island /River Mouth near Sea

Galactic Standard Time / 0755

Three humans in basic deckhand jumpsuits ran behind a human woman in a Security jumpsuit . She had short red hair and piercing blue eyes and a athletic slender figure. As she ran towards the melted half-circle, she tried to think what they could be heading into. This planet had been nothing but trouble but they had to keep fighting. They had handled the strange life that attacked them, then Locke had gained those powers of his. With them, they had created a defensive position and fought off waves of enemies and that thing. Whatever this was, they would handle it

And now they had to fight something that made a ten-foot-wide half-circle. With some kind of Energy cannon. And they were running right at it……. The woman stopped and held her hands out. The others stopped and looked at her and one was about to speak when she held up a hand. As one the three all looked around, trying to find what had caused the woman to stop.

The woman only looked ahead, hearing a low roar, blaster fire, and cries. The burned hole was letting the sound pass through more clearly, and all she could hear was the sounds of battle. Swallowing she pointed forward, breaking into a run. She didn’t even look back, knowing that the others would follow her.

As the woman crested the hill she had to stare in horror at what she saw. Bellow Sal’go was moving back from the ocean, and Xordig was coming back the other way. Across the river was a strange dressed man with an extremely high-tech-looking weapon. And there was Jinn, standing on the middle rock bridge. But they were all firing at the Depths Kraken, its golden energy armor still holding. As it roared it slammed a tentacle down, to her shock Jinn suddenly gained an energy aura and lunged to the side! As Jinn dodged the blow they all watched as he fired back at the Depths Kraken with his pistol.

“Boss Jessie, what do we do? What is that thing!?” One of the three humans asked with a stammer.

The Woman, Jessie heard the note of terror in his voice and swallowed. “Good question. And this is bad, really bad.”

“How? I mean we could probably….. oh.. Not even the Sea is safe. And that thing could one shot the capsule,” One of the deckhands said bleakly.

“And it has to be what made that hole. So it’s got one hell of a range strike too. Well, something to know. Order boss?” Another asked Jessie.

She could only see one thing to do now. And that was fight!

“We’ll talk about that more later. Now let’s get to that trench, it has to be Locke’s work. Fire at that monster as we move, let’s help them out!” Jessie barked and the others nodded.

“Shouldn’t someone warn the camp!? If that thing fires down and gets the capsule!” Another of the three argued.

Jessie gritted her teeth. That was something she didn’t want to think about. But he was right, they had to warn the others about this thing.

“Yeah, so go now …… wait. What’s he doing!?” She exclaimed as she saw Jinn flying through the air, covered in an energy aura. As she watched he landed by a large unnatural-looking trench.

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“Keyman!” Jinn barked and Locke poked his head up, grinning.

“Sup boss! How ya been?!” Locke asked and then he looked up.

“Good! Listen, that thing in the center, I need you to push it up! Thing your powers can do it?” Jinn asked.

Locke only chuckled and grinned evilly. “Sure boss! Just give me a bit of time and I’ll do it. Won’t but a second once I get going!”

“Get down and don’t push it up until it fires again! And I’ll need you for an escort mission once this is done!” Jinn said with a glare.

“Got it boss, want me to cage it in first?” Locke asked with a grin.

Jinn only gave a grin that was so savage and Locke cackled for a moment. Then Locke saluted and dove back into the earth.

Jinn saw and felt the limb coming at him. Without thinking he jumped up and spun around in the air. As he moved he saw the tentacle that came from his side, and he chuckled. The beast was learning, but that was too bad for it now. He fired at it with his pistol and started to jump around. As he began trying to get the Depths Kraken to fire upwards.

But as the beast roared again, Jinn’s eyes found Jessie and the others. Without a thought, he moved, angling towards the newcomers.

Jessie looked shocked at how fast Jinn had appeared in front of her, one of her pistols against his face in a second.

“That thing made the hole behind you. Keep moving and don’t give it a mass target. You need to get out of the front of it when its mouth starts to glow. Get out of the line of fire, got it?” Jinn asked with a hard look.

A roar from the Depths Kraken caused Jinn to wince time’s up. “Just do it!”

With a war cry, Jinn jumped at the monster, willing his Power to his blade. As the River Kraken turned to face him he adjusted his flight. As he passed one of the tentacles he slashed out with his blade. Through it he felt a moment of resistance, then it broke. He slashed through it, tearing off the top half of the limb of the sea creature.

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The hunter screeched in blinding pain as its limb was savaged. It looked at the maimed limb and felt the pain as it scabbed over. This would decrease its attack power by a margin. Plus and already these little things were being more trouble than they were worth! It should just take one of the far strikers and then kill the rest!

This whole hunt was going completely wrong! So far it had only grabbed a small snack and now this! When it had seen those smaller things move near its resting place it just had to get something to eat. But then they were all far strikers! Why had…… of course, that made sense! The little things had tricked it! How dare they use such tactics against their betters!

The hunter looked around and saw more of the little ones join the fight. That was what it expected, it was right. This had all been a trap for anything that tried to eat one of them!

At this, it felt both anger and fear. These things were smart, and it had never even thought of a trick like this, ever. Since it had been driving here from the deep life, it had hunted the other things in the void. And now it was slowly getting a feeling that it should leave soon. If one group had tricked it, then others would. But the one thing that was keeping it back was the worst, its own pride.

It could feel the armor it had called up slowly eroding. And once that happened……. But it couldn’t run, that would just make the little ones bolder. Best to kill at least half before it left, that was smart. This way it would help the little ones out as well. Yes, it was so generous to even want to help its food. This way they would only go after prey and not trick predators! Especially if they were all very tasty!

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As Burt fired at the Depths Kraken, he had to grin. He had only seen a few times where these things were killed by anyone. Most often they were found dead, drifting on the tides with parts of their bodies gone. The losers of battles in the darkness of the ocean. These things were said to one of the alpha species that they knew that lived under the waters. The lords of the realm dark and deep at the bottom of the oceans.

And he had never thought that he would find one that could even hunt around land, much less this! And they had a way to kill it, one that was perfect! And this bothered him a lot. One of the alphas of the deep wouldn’t fall that easily, but the plan was sound. It took advantage of everything this monster had as an advantage and turned it into weaknesses. All in all, this looked like it was their best chance for survival.

As he watched, the Depths Kraken looked towards him just as another of Burt’s shots exploded on the shield. Right in front of its eyes. For a few seconds, all Burt and the Depths Kraken did was stare at each other. For a second Burt was sure that there was a spark of sheer anger and hatred in the monster's eyes. But that was impossible, they weren’t capable of abstract emotions. But then it roared and slammed a tentacle at him.

Burt yelped and dodged backwards, then he jerked to the right. if that thing fired it might hit Sara and Al! He had to make sure the plan worked, and that they stayed safe! A hard thing but he had done worse and harder, so he was sure that would work.

As he ran, he fired another shot and smirked as he saw the golden shield ripple as the others attacked it. With another roar, it slammed a tentacle and cracked the main ‘ rock bridge’. Jinn jumped and somersaulted until he was next to Burt.

Burt only grinned as the Depths Kraken looked at them and opened its mouth. As the steam started to flow and the glow grew, Burt grinned.

“Think the geo-mancer will do it?” Burt asked bluntly.

Jinn just laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, my friend can usually deliver. Ready to take a jump?”

“Yeah. Wait….. wait,” Burt said as he looked at the Depths Kraken.

As the golden energy field of the monster shattered, Burt grinned. “NOW!”

Everything happened in a moment. As Jinn jumped the Depths Kraken fired its blast. A moment later, a shot hit the monster’s face, destroying one of its eyes.

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Al fired another shot and looked down at the False Plants. So far he had been able to hold them back, but it was a losing fight. He just couldn’t figure out where the mind behind this was getting its forces. As he fired again, he had another terrible thought. He swallowed as the worst idea suddenly appeared in his head. If he was right, they needed to get out of here fast. They had to go back for the others and hope they were alive! And they had to get the tunnel completely covered, the False Plants couldn’t spread!

“GOT IT!” Sara said with a laugh in her voice.

“Got what?!” Al demanded as he fired again.

“The thing attack the others! I got one of its eyes!” Sara said, a bloodthirsty tone in her voice.

For a second Al remembered an old friend of his. Someone who loved to work on weapons, and giving their history that was normal.

But that thing they were fighting, it made him shiver. It reminded him of old creations, things locked away in the dark network of his world. Archives that showed the works of made gene-forgers. Things and monsters had to be put down because their bodies were killing them slowly. He had no idea how that thing had evolved, and he didn’t want to know.

As he fired again, he only hoped that sooner or later they could get to the capsule on the beach. The chance to rest with friendlies, that was sounding so good right now.

Al only fired again and then went still as he saw a tree falling in the distance. He felt his heart slowly stop as he saw what was coming at them. “Oh by the First Scholar!”

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The hunter screeched in pain as it lost one of its eyes. This was enough, this was more than enough. It would come and find them again, and then it would feast as they drowned in its world. The void walkers would pay, but for now, it had to escape.

As it went down it suddenly stopped. It then felt itself being raised up and barely got in a half breath of life. As it broke the surface the far strikers all started to attack it. It looked around and saw it was being raised on a slab of hardness, but how? As it tried to get back to life, a savage pain came from behind. It had to be the little one with the hard claw, it had to be! It looked up and saw the life ahead of it and tried to move towards it, dragging itself with its limbs. But then it went still as pain, unlike anything it had ever sensed before struck it. It tried to move, but as its vision darned it felt itself grow so cold.

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Jinn panted as he looked down at the Depths Kraken. The idea to jump on top of it and drive his sword down its length had been crazy, but it worked. He had probably destroyed its brain, and as the water flowed out of its mouth he laughed a little.

“Great job boss!” Locke called out as he came out of his hole.

Jinn looked toward where Al and Sara were, and somehow he knew they needed help. “Job’s not done, second inning time my friend! I need a bridge across the waters for the others now Locke!”

“Got it!” Locke said.

As the bridge started to form, Jessie, the three crew members, Xordig, and Sal’go all moved towards Jinn.

“Hey now! You need to talk to the chief! You can’t just….!” Jessie went still as Jinn looked at him.

“I don’t have time for this!” Jinn said as Locke finished making the bridge. “So listen up! Right now two people are holding off a horde of mobile plants! Burt, that local over there says the plants are killers! And to make things worse, right now a baby and three of our comrades are waiting for extraction from a base! Said base must be destroyed to keep those plants from going all over this island! Do you get me!”

“SIR YES SIR!” Jessie barked as she saluted him.

“Who’s there?” Xordig asked suddenly.

Jinn turned and looked at him, trying to decide what to say. If he was right, then Xordig was like Racha. But if he wasn’t.

“Paige, my friend Roy and I think your friend Racha. She’s in command, and she’s got a special history with things like that,” Jinn said softly. He was rewarded when Xordig’s eyes widened and he felt a small smirk form on his face.

“I’m in boss. I lost ya once, never again!” Locke said with a laugh.

“Thanks, brother. Anyone else besides Burt?” Jinn asked and Xordig stepped forward.

“Me!” Xordig said as he crossed his bottom arms and looked at Jinn

“I need to see how dangerous these plants are. We’ll stay here and help those two you talked about. I’m guessing one is Al?” Jessie asked and sighed as Jinn nodded. “Okay then.”

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Xordig just glared at Jinn as they ran over the bridge. The fact that he used the word ‘Special’ meant that the plan had changed. Racha, his leader, had told others what they were. That was beyond the plan, but this world was beyond anything they planned for. The Spirit had one of the greatest safety margins around, but this happened.

And now he learned that Racha had told others about their job! That was so beyond anything their mission parameters! He had to get a chance to talk to Racha, and soon! “So how bad are these plants? And how tuff are walking ferns?”

“Ferns…..Oh. I didn’t explain it well,” Jinn said as he led the way into the forest.

As they ran deeper, Xordig started to hear the sound of blaster fire. And that had to be the two people Jinn had talked about.

But whn he heard a savage-sounding roar from beyond the rock mountain ahead of him. That was when things happened so fast.

“Locke!” Jinn barked moments before a blue energy aura covered him. He ran forward and jumped up

“GOT IT BOSS!” Locke cried out and gestured forward and with a gesture, a ramp was raised.

As the group ran up, they heard a war cry from Jinn.

Xordig didn’t know much about what was ahead, but he thought he would be able to handle it. But then he saw what the others were firing at. It was then that he felt pure terror. What he had experienced when he saw the monster from the ocean, it paled in compression to what he was feeling now

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Alert, ocean-based Template remains identified. Sample shows signs of being created by the rebel mind.

Clarify. Data for reasoning?

Bio Weapon platform, AHW Template strain three observed with aether blast from mouth. Template designed not armed with abilities.

Observations seconded based on data, template alone, or part of a larger force?

Unknown; the Facility has no aquatic constructs. Flight-capable constructs only use type one sensor units.

AHW template was observed to be a young model. Suggestion that lone template was chased off from birthing source. Possibility that the rogue mind mobile unit is still active. Possibility that template was sent through transport gate alone. Sending flight constructs patrol edges of testing zone. Sending construct to drop guard units at transfer gate. Request monitor construct from central base to be seconded to facility. Purpose to observe transfer gates, to see if rogue mind is attacking facility

Data received, transfer request received. Purge Constructs being prepared for transfer. Aquatic Units added to the order, Under Aquatic Guard constructs added to resupply.

Orders for local mind, send in stealth unit to take sample of rouge AHW template, scan sample for rogue mind genetic signature. Cause of death

New test subjects. Gene lines of test units superior stock, four Aether Augmentation observed in test unit after seventy-two hours passed. Rogue descendent with Aether Augmentation has joined test subjects. Two groups of test subjects met up, both groups worked together to kill rogue template.

Data received. Orders, 1) observe test subjects

Fate of invaders.

Still in null sector