Chapter 13: My First Look At The Black Ops

Neptune filled the viewport like a wounded god: a swirling giant of deep ocean-blue sky, streaked with black storm belts that pulsed with dark electric currents. It looked alive. Angry. Watching.

The moment the flagship Seraphis finished atmospheric lock, alarms buzzed through the dropship bay.

“Squad 7, Black Ops Division, prepare for descent,” the intercom barked.

Hana tightened the straps over her reinforced chest plate, feeling the suit’s internal sync nodes connecting down her spine. Her twin Black-Light Blades blinked online at her hips, humming with contained void-energy.

Chinami finished calibrating her Gravity Scythe, a sleek, obsidian weapon with a crescent blade that folded into three segments when dormant. Kotaro checked the edge on his dual Steel Katanas, and Itsuki tested the charge on his Storm Gauntlet, sparks dancing over his fingertips.

Then the second squad walked in.

The temperature in the ship seemed to drop.

The Black Ops Division.

Leading them was Commander Kaede, a tall, masked woman dressed in matte-black armor. She moved like a shadow given bones. A pair of Void Daggers rested at her waist, each shaped like condensed darkness.

Behind her strode Dr. Shin, calm, sharp-eyed, holding a floating case of surgical drones that hummed like tiny angry bees.

Next was Ivo, tall, gaunt, carrying a plasma longbow longer than his own body. His eyes were unreadable, like he had forgotten how to blink.

Finally, Marra wandered in with a lazy sway, patting the mini-charges strapped across her thighs. Her hair was tied in a messy knot, black streaked with teal.

Kotaro muttered under his breath, “Yeah. Great. The psychopaths are here.”

Chinami elbowed him. “That’s rude. Only one of them is a psychopath.”

“I’d say two,” Itsuki whispered.

Marra smiled pleasantly at them, which somehow made everyone more nervous.

Kaede’s masked face tilted slightly toward Hana.

“You are the Venusian girl,” she said, voice low and smooth. “The one with the abnormal Sync pattern.”

Hana stared back with zero expression. “You’re in my way.”

Kaede stepped aside without a word.

Chinami muttered, “She likes you.”

“She likes efficiency,” Hana replied.

“Same thing.”

Drop Sequence - Initiated

The dropship sealed shut. Red lights glowed. The floor rumbled.

Emica’s voice crackled through the comms.

Squad 7, Black Ops - you are cleared for descent.our objective: secure a landing zone on Neptune’s Mid-Ring coastal sector.Expect heavy storm interference. Rin controls at least six planetary outposts.

Hiroshi’s voice cut in behind her.

“Try not to die, kids. The paperwork sucks.”

Itsuki groaned. “King Hiroshi’s alive? Man never calls me unless something bad happens.”

Hana exhaled through her nose. “Focus.”

The ship shuddered violently as it entered Neptune’s upper atmosphere.

The sky outside turned darker, cobalt clouds streaked with pitch black, lightning crawling upward like reversed rain.

Warning flashes raced across the dashboard:

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE - HOSTILE WIND VELOCITY - EXTREME MAGNETIC FIELD - UNSTABLE

Doctor Shin looked unbothered, calmly checking his medical drones.

“It’s only a little catastrophic,” he said. “Barely lethal.”

“Barely?” Kotaro choked.

Marra casually slapped a charge onto the wall for fun. “Relax. If the ship explodes, it’ll be quick.”

Itsuki put his face in his hands. “I regret coming.”

Hana’s gaze stayed hard. Focused. “We’ll be fine.”

Chinami clenched her scythe. “Please stop saying ominous things while we’re dropping into hell.”

IMPACT

The dropship slammed into Neptune’s blue-black terrain with a bone-shaking roar.

Sand, dark as asphalt, blasted upward around them. Lightning cracked through the clouds above, illuminating jagged coastlines. The air was thick, heavy, electrically charged.

They were here.

“Squads, disembark!” Kaede commanded.

The ramp hissed open, revealing Neptune’s surface.

Hana stepped down first.

The ground felt strange under her boots-not soil, not stone. Something between volcanic ash and wet sand. The air tasted metallic on her tongue, but her Venusian lungs adjusted instantly.

Behind her, the rest of Squad 7 descended.

Kotaro wiped sweat from his brow. “Well. This place is… nasty.”

“Feels like walking inside a dead battery,” Itsuki muttered.

Chinami scanned the air with a hand device. “This entire region is saturated with psychic noise. Good luck sleeping tonight.”

Black Ops landed next.

Kaede stepped into the storm like she belonged there.

Shin looked bored.

Ivo didn’t react at all.

Marra inhaled deeply. “Smells like home.”

Itsuki whispered, “We are NOT asking where she grew up.”

Then the first Neptune native appeared.

A ripple moved through the fog-like something slicing the storm itself. Hana’s hand went to her blade immediately.

A tall, reptilian humanoid stepped into view, blue scales shimmering with wet, metallic shine. Neon veins glowed faintly beneath his skin. His eyes were predatory slits.

An Abyssal Scout.

Itsuki’s HUD flashed:

RACE: NEPTILLIAN - ABYSSAL SUBSPECIES$$$$CLASS: Hunter Lvl.39 ARMOR: Kinetic-absorbing scalesHREAT: MODERATE

He hissed at them, and two more scouts emerged from the storm, claws outstretched.

Kotaro grinned. “Finally.”

Hana’s blades ignited with black-violet light.

Kaede didn’t even reach for her daggers.

She said one word:

“Clear.”

Ivo lifted his plasma bow silently, let the string hum, and released.

A beam of blue light streaked through the storm and pierced the first scout’s skull clean through. No scream. Just collapse.

Hana blinked. “Fast.”

Kotaro muttered, “We didn’t even move yet…”

The other two scouts lunged.

Chinami stamped her foot, activating a Gravity Pulse.

The ground warped violently-the scouts were yanked downward with crushing force, bones cracking under the sudden pressure.

Hana moved in, slicing clean arcs through the restrained bodies. Blue blood splattered across the dark sand.

Itsuki sighed. “Well. That was… efficient.”

Shin adjusted his glasses. “If the rest of the planet is this fragile, this mission will be trivial.”

Marra grinned. “Oh, it won’t be. I promise.”

Hana crouched, examining the bodies.

“These were scouts,” she said. “Low-ranking.”

Kaede nodded. “They were not here by accident. Someone sensed our descent.”

Hana’s magenta eyes narrowed. “Rin.”

The storm howled overhead like something alive.

COMM ALERT

Static burst through their comms.

“Unit status?”

Emica’s voice flickered.

Readings are unstable from orbit-report.

Hana responded calmly, “Three scouts eliminated. No casualties.”

“Good.”

Stay sharp. We’re detecting large energy currents beneath the coast.

Hiroshi chimed in:

“Translation: something big is coming. Do NOT stand near anything that looks like a mouth.”

Marra whispered, “On this planet? Everything looks like a mouth.”

The static finally cut the royal couple out.

Chinami tightened her grip on her scythe. “We need to secure a base before anything worse comes crawling out of the sand.”

Kaede pointed toward the shadowed cliffs. “We move. Black Ops takes point.”

Hana stepped beside her.

“Squad 7 moves with you.”

Kotaro cracked his neck. “Let’s carve Neptune a new coastline.”

Itsuki groaned. “Please don’t piss off the planet-”

Too late.

The ground beneath them trembled with a low, guttural vibration.

Hana’s HUD flashed:

WARNING: SUBTERRANEAN MASS APPROACHING - SIZE: CATEGORY D (LARGE) - ESTIMATED HOSTILE TYPE: ABYSSAL BURROWER

Kotaro read it and went pale. “…D? That’s like… rhino size.”

“No,” Chinami said, eyes narrowing.

“Bigger.”

The sand cracked open.

A massive, serpentine neck lunged upward, hundreds of teeth spiraling like a drill, dripping with blue saliva.

A Neptune Burrower.

Hana stepped forward, blades humming.

“Perfect,” she said coldly.

“Let’s get warm.”