The beginning

The two brothers explore the space dock city, Norn. Because Vrak is a hostile jungle, it was quickly colonized and settled on. Terraforming is a massive endeavor that takes time, effort and lots of cash. Most planets can only host life in domed cities. Way cheaper than terraforming, but can’t handle massive populations or war. Since Vrak already has a jungle and therefore an atmosphere that can sustain human life, it’s cheap to settle on, although the jungle makes it impossible to make multiple large cities. Norn is a market hub for traders passing by, but also a hub for mercenary recruitment. The nearby empire of Volsta Imperia and its rival, the United Kingdoms of Gorth, make mercenary recruitment a necessity. Even though the empire and kingdoms both hold vast armies with intense weapons of mass destruction. It’s too expensive to hold and maintain foot soldiers; that's where the mercenaries come in. Ready for battle, armed to the teeth, and some with experience. mercenaries quickly fill the role of combat specialists for a onetime fee. 

They both search for a place to stay but find no housing. They're both used to being homeless from time to time. Back in the orphanage, space was limited, and the kids had a system where they would draw straws and the loser would sleep outside. Granth was, mostly, peaceful with little crime, and the elements weren't much of an issue. The only real problem was that it was uncomfortable sleeping on grass.

Back to Vrak. The brothers find a secluded spot to stay at. They sleep peacefully. Vrak takes three old Earth days to fully go around its red giant. Vrak is tidally locked, meaning one side of the planet is always in darkness and the other in blazing sunlight. The two brothers, not knowing this, were thrown for a loop, thinking they didn't get any sleep. Checking their clocks, they realized 5 hours had gone by. Feeling well rested, they pack their belongings and explore. Triton looks for any ol odd job to make some quick cash while they stay on Vrak. While Vhilem asks around. Vrak's many inhabitants are very unfriendly. Even trying to say hello makes people look at Vhilem with an eye of suspicion. So, to overcome this, Vhilem went looking for merchants, the people who had no choice but to talk with Vhilem. Even then, if it wasn't about buying something, they weren't interested. 

“Welcome, welcome. Please look around and tell me if anything catches your eye.” The merchant looks gaunt, with long earlobes and a big fake smile. He wears only a pair of torn pants, nothing else. “Thanks, but I have a question.” The man doesn't lose his smile, but you can tell he’s annoyed. “If it’s not about my wares, I'm not interested.” Vhilem has never dealt with this before. Most people open up to him quickly and have long conversations about nothing. Though he sees all this as a minor, annoying setback. “…what’s this.” Vhilem points to a random object not caring what it is. “Ahh, very good eye, sir. That's a Grade A skin peeler. Straight from the cannibal tribes all over the dark light jungle.” Vhilem goes wide eyed he thought it was some sort of cheap knife. “cannibal tribes! Dark jungle! What’s all that?” The merchant wiggles his finger to say no. Vhilem understands what the merchant is looking for. With a deep sigh, he asks. “How much?” “10 credits. And if you share an extra 10 more. I might find some time to answer your questions.” His fake smile turns into a real one, a mischievous one. A small amount, nothing to worry about. He hands over the money, and the merchant chuckles. “So ill give you… two no…three questions, since you seem like you could use the help.”

“Thank you. First things first. Do you know how I can become a mercenary?” The merchant shakes his head. “Now, why would a young guy like you want to die so young? Have you even got some pussy before wanting to die? Or whatever you like hehehe.” The merchant looks up to see Vhilem is serious. “…well, I warn you. You don’t have a name or equipment. You should get standard cannon fodder gear before even trying to ask a veteran merc if he’ll let you tag along.” “Tag along?” Asks Vhilem. “That’s your second question by the way, and yes, tag along. You cannot hope to get a basic contract here. With the war going on, all contracts are related to said war. And let me tell ya, something is going on with that war making all contracts of the elite variety. The only way you can get paid is to hope to get the eye of a vet and tag along.” “Huh…wait a minute, you haven't even answered the first question.” The merchant laughs and smacks his thigh. “Guilty.” He points northeast. “Head in that general direction. There’s a big bar filled with dangerous people. It’s called the thirst trap. A lady boy owns it. Nice fellow. Admittedly, I'm not too sure on how to become a mercenary; it’s not straightforward. All I know is that you have to build up a reputation and have the right gear. Ask around at that bar; you should be able to find someone who knows more specifics. You've got one more question.” Vhilem's curiosity gets the better of him. “So those cannibals?” The merchant smiles. “They don’t exist. There are farmers out there in the dark, but it’s practically inhospitable for human life. That knife you bought. Just some cheap scrap metal, hahah.” Vhilem can’t help but chuckle with the merchant. “…you know, kid, I like you. How about this a onetime opportunity just for you…for 20 credits of course?” Vhilem is hesitant but trusts that whatever the merchant can give him will help. He gives the 20 credits. “Ohoho my friend, you are very good at taking opportunities when they come. Find a man called Johnathan. See, he has a contract for this world but can't find anyone to help him, not enough pay. He’s at the bar I mentioned. Tall white fellow, easy to spot.” “And how do you know about this?” asked Vhilem, and the merchant chuckled. “20 more credits and ill tell you.” Vhilem shakes his head. “No, no, that’s fine. We’ll, that’s all I need, so take care.” The merchant waves him goodbye; his smile feels genuine.

Vhilem takes the merchant’s advice, he goes to the thirst trap. Inside are heavily armored mercs drinking away. Looking around, Vhilem can't quite see anyone who the merchant described. Vhilem goes to the bartender and owner Olia. “Wait up a minute, hun. I’ve got sooooo many people hehe, but don't worry, I'll give you all my attention.” Olia takes a deep breath “…in a moment. VIHTH TABLE 20 STILL HASN'T BEEN SERVED. GET A MOVE ON.” The femboy moves quickly, getting people their drinks, while his aid Vihth, carries 4 full mugs of beer. He serves the beers to the patrons, who thank him and he leaves. After a few minutes, Olia finally has time for Vhilem. “What can I get for you, hunny bun.” “Oh, I'm not here to drink; I was looking for someone. A guy named Johnathan?” Olia perks up. “Ohhhh, you wanna meet Johnny. He’s in the back room.” He then points to a set of double doors in the back. “Go through there and uhh.” He leans in closer. “If you wanna have some fun, just ask anyone sitting around.” He winks and leaves to serve another customer. Vhilem is confused but now knows where Jonathan is. He gets up and heads through the door, where he sees a few scantily clad femboys. Vhilems face turns red, and is perturbed not liking the view, he looks down trying to avoid looking at anyone. He’s never been in a brothel, let alone one filled with male prostitutes. Looking around, he finds someone who stands out. Tall, white, wearing armor — probably the guy. Vhilem walks up to him. “Excuse me. Is your name Johnathan?” The man nods. “Yeah, I'm Johnathan. What’s up?” Vhilem takes a sigh of relief. “I heard from someone that you needed help with a contract?” Johnathan gets up. “Oh! You're interested.” Just then, a fake feminine voice calls out to Jonathan. “I’m ready whenever you are sexy.” Johnathan yells. “Sorry Lilith. I got business to do. I’ll still pay you though.” From behind the door, a deep, loud but short “woohoo!” can be heard.

“So you wanna help me out.” “Yes, and also my brother.” “Alright. Two people…and I'm assuming little to no gear?” Vhilem shyly nods his head. “Ok. Give me a minute. I need to make two contracts.” From Jonathan's arm, an army of nanites crawls out to form a touchpad of sorts.

Waiting around, Vhilem notes what Jonathan's wearing. Bulky power armor that makes him look an inch taller, with thick power diffuser plates all over it and a weird cape that’s not made of any cloth or fur. power diffuser plate is a somewhat new technology. It has tiny hexagonal sections that are interlocked and spread energy throughout the plate to lessen the blow. On closer inspection of the cape, he sees movement and figures out it’s made of nanites. He has a plasma pistol on his side, probably for self-defense. Looking up, he sees no helmet, short blonde hair and cybernetic blue eyes. Probably doesn't wear his helmet everywhere or if he even has one.

“annnnnnnd done. Okay, your contracts are made. They're very simple. 1500 credits for both you and your brother. Minus 300 for the gear and another minus 100 for transport costs. So, 1100 for each, and the gear is yours to keep when we are done.” Vhilem is astonished. That amount of money is more than they could ever make in 2 years of working the mines, let alone the bonus of having essentially free gear. “Now, one caveat. I need to see you both here at the bar at around 10 to 11 OET tomorrow. Failure to do so will incur a 2000 cred penalty. Am I clear?” Vhilem nods like his life depends on it. “Alright, and on to the mission specifics. The owner, Olia, told me one of his mushroom harvesters was attacked by non-native creatures. We’re to go find and kill it, simple.” Vhilem agrees to the terms of the mission without question. He then presses his thumb on the contract, giving his signature of approval. “Well, that’s about it. See you here at 10.” Johnathan then gets up and leaves. Vhilem does the same and contacts his brother via a text. “Got us a job. Need to be there by 10 OET tomorrow. There’s only one bar I’ll send the coordinates.” Triton skims the message and nods. The rest of the day is dull. Triton found a quick job lifting boxes, which netted him an additional 25 creds. Vhilem explored some more, finally meeting a group of people not so hostile, and had a good drink. Checking the time, vhilem says his goodbyes and finds his brother in their secluded spot.

“So…our first job. I’m excited, you?”. “I guess.” Triton answers enthusiastically. Vhilem lays down under the cover of some cardboard, and so does Triton. They both sleep, and at 7 Triton wakes up first. He then shakes his brother awake. With time to spare, they both go to a bathhouse that Triton spotted yesterday. 2.5 creds per customer with an extra 1 cred if they want the bathhouse to give them soap. They each pay 3.5 and take a nice hot bath. It’s now 8 o'clock, and Vhilem goes to the re-atomizer more colloquially known as “the bread line.” At this stage of any colony, the re-atomizer is used by the poor for getting by. They throw in whatever they have and or wait for it to suck up enough air to create a sustenance cube. A cube of carbohydrates, fiber, sugars and protein all compressed so much that it risks becoming a black hole, or so they say. Eating one cube whole is a death sentence. It’s way too packed for a normal human digestive system to process. So what people do is chip off little flakes. Those flakes have more than enough calories to keep someone going the entire day. Too bad sustenance cubes taste like dirt. Good food is a luxury. Even a sandwich with fake ham is considered middle class. The brothers are lucky. No one is at the breadline. They take out a small satchel of coal and throw it in. In less than a minute, a sustenance cube is made and then another.

They arrived even earlier than they had originally planned. Yesterday the bar was packed to the brim, but today it’s practically empty. Vhilem takes a seat near the bar, and so does Triton. “So how’d it go with Johnny? He’s a sweetheart deep down, you know. Just a bit…eccentric.” Olia then places two bottles of his homemade mush-rum. “Take it. As thanks for wanting to help take care of that little ol problem of mine.” Triton takes a shot of the mush-rum. "It’s alright.” Olia is almost insulted. “Just alright, your either tougher than a commune slave or you're trying to get under my skin.” Vhilem chuckles. “Oh, don't worry about my brother. He’s always been this way. Honestly, I don’t think I've ever seen him make any kind of face ever, even when he’s wasted.” “No shit. Like…you ever seen him smile?” The brothers look at each other and back at Olia and shake their heads in unison. “Damn…that’s kinda sad, dear. I’m sorry.” Triton shrugs and takes another hit. “Tastes good though. It’s…enjoyable.” Olia sighs and chuckles to himself. “Well, I guess that’s a step up.” Vhilem looks around and sees only some of the street merchants and drunkards but no mercenaries. “So…why so empty?” “My main customers right now are the mercenaries. They're off fighting in the war now.” Olia cleans a glass cup. “I don’t know when they'll come back. It always breaks my cute little heart to see less and less of them.” Triton butts in. “Because of the loss of revenue?” Olia shakes his head. “I get that money is everything…but no, I just hate seeing people go.” Heavy thuds behind the brothers make them turn their heads and see Johnathan walking in. “You two are early. Good, I like people who take things seriously.” He sits down next to them and orders a drink for himself. “Hey Olia. Give me an omelet with whatever meat you've got.” Olia nods and informs the sleeping chef to get to work. “Let me eat first, and then I'll take you to my ship.” The two brothers nod in unison. Not long after, a plate of mystery meat omelet is ready to eat. Vhilem has a hard time not looking at the plate of food. All his life, he lived off sustenance cubes and supplements. Food like that would be a week’s wage for Vhilem. Johnathan notices Vhilem staring and cuts a piece. “Here, have some.” Vhilem is amazed, he nods and takes a piece of the omelet. 

It had a small piece of real meat sourced locally from the jungles. The omelet was warm and fluffy, and inside was cheese. The cheese is fake. Real cheese is extremely expensive; no way you’ll find it in a place like this. Though it’s still gooey and makes everything come together. This is the first time he’s had a taste of actual food. Johnathan offers some to Triton. He eats it and is unimpressed.

Johnathan quickly finishes his food and gets up. “Follow me. We’re headed to the docks.” The two brothers nod and get up to follow Johnathan. Olia waves all of them goodbye. Walking through the city, Johnathan strikes up a conversation. “So…how you feeling? You excited about your first mission?” Vhilem answers. “A bit nervous, honestly. Never even heard of Old Earth monsters. What are those?” Johnathan rubs his chin and contemplates how to answer this question. “….to be honest. I don’t know. Which is ironic, cause I'm the number 1 hunter of old earth monsters.” “And you know nothing about them?” Asked Triton. Johnathan shakes his head. “No. I've killed probably…hundreds?…maybe thousands? I don’t remember. But what I do remember is that I have never seen the same monster twice. Hell, even the classification of ‘old earth monster’ is a generalization; some aren't even alive. I've had contracts that made me kill beings, fix anomalies, explore buildings that just popped into existence. Sometimes it’s just a rare animal, but we’re being a nuisance, and they swore they were Old Earth monsters, haha.” Vhilem then asks. “number 1? So how long have you been doing this?” “Probably 150 to 160ish years, give or take.” Vhilem looks shocked. Johnathan looks like he’s in his mid-thirties at best. “Woah, woah, 150?! Nahhh, you're just screwing with us!” Johnathan shakes his head. “Kid, I'm about 212 years old right now. You don’t know about ascendancy?” Vhilem shakes his head. “How does that work?” “There are a few ways to extend your life well past its due date. In my case-” he lifts his arm to show off his nanites. “I chose the path of pure machine ascension, a Nanid. These nanites have consumed my brain, my body, everything. I have nothing biological in my body at all. Everything has been replaced.” Vhilem is shocked. “But…but you need to eat? You have skin? You went to a brothel to have sex? You still have needs?!” Johnathan shrugs. “I still need to eat. It’s just an effective way for me to get matter and energy to make more nanites, and I can still taste. The skin is just Mimic brand fake skin. Fucking, on the other hand, Is fun haha!” “Are there other paths?” asked Triton, Johnathan nods. “Excluding mine, there are three other paths. There is psyonic ascension needing mastery over basic psyonics and a patron. Then there is genetic ascension, going through intense training and gene therapy to become an immortal demihuman. Then there is a rare third, cyborg ascension. A mix of biology and machine fused together to ascend a person. It’s rare because of the amount of cybernetics required to achieve ascension. Most bodies reject that amount of cybernetics, and so my path becomes the inevitable choice.” Vhilem talks to his brother. “Duuude. We definitely need to ascend! It’ll give us the time we need! Which one are you thinking of doing, Triton?” Triton shrugs. “I dont know. Whichever, I guess.” Then Vhilem asks another question to Johnathan. “What does it mean to ascend?” Johnathan shrugs. “To be honest, it depends on who you ask. For me, it just means immortality, nothing more.” Vhilem nods. “I see.” The docks come into view. “And we’re here.” Johnathan points to a ship that looks like an osprey. “That’s the one. Nice ship, isn’t it.” 

It’s jet black with dark blue lights over the back door, a side door, and the front of the vessel. Upon closer inspection, Vhilem notices that the black paint isn't paint; it's nanites. “Wait…that’s not paint?” Johnathan nods and pats Vhilem's back. “Good eye, Vhilem. The entire exterior of the ship is covered with my nanites. I can see with the ship and they provide a magnificent barrier to most weapons and so much more.” Johnathan walks to the back, and the back door automatically opens as he gets close. “Come on in. Even got a place to lie down on.” Inside it's lit up with a dim blue hue. To the right is a fully stocked armory and workbench with two bags filled with gear resting on the bench. To the left are Johnathan’s private quarters. All the way at the front is a door that leads to the cockpit. “Whoa…this is way cozier than the cargo trucks.” “You offloaded cargo for a bit?” Johnathan asks. “Yeah, it’s how we got to Vrak in the first place. Load up the truck and down to the planet and then back up once you're done. Up and down, up and down for the next 30 hours. It was a bitch.” Vhilem laughs, and Jonathan also laughs. “Ohoho yeah I bet. I remember doing cargo in my early days too…never again. Anyway, these two bags are for you. Try em on.”

Both of the brothers go to the bags and open them. Each bag contains identical items. A modern-era long gun, and lots of mags. Then there’s the armor. Elastic shrink liner means it will fit to form, no matter the body type, plated with carbon fiber plates on the outer arms, upper chest, crotch, stomach, legs, and neck and armored gloves and boots, but the helmet is surprisingly higher tech with a built - in multi-vision visor. It's low-level gear, but it’s still good. Triton immediately strips and puts on his new gear. Vhilem does so as well. Now kitted out, Vhilem looks at himself and is ecstatic. Triton just sits down, waiting for what comes next.

“Sasha, hover over the coordinates.” “Yes, sir.” A feminine voice answers Johnathan. The back door closes, and the ship flies off. On a screen, they all see the city get smaller and smaller as the ship enters low orbit. It goes over to the dark side of the planet and lowers itself over the mushroom jungle. Unlike the light side of the planet, that is filled with tall trees and endless swampy green. The dark side has massive bioluminescent mushrooms. Vhilem is astonished by what he sees. “Fun fact. Those giant glowing mushrooms are all actually connected to one another and have mycelium that go all the way to the core of the planet where they use the heat of the core to get their food. On top of that, this mushroom isn't native to this planet; it makes spores that travel the galaxy for eternally dark areas like this.” “Damn. So that's what Olia is using to make moonshine.” Johnathan nods in response to Vhilem.

“Ok we are where I first left off yesterday. I’m still trying to find where the monster is hiding. Sasha send out the scout drones and search with thermals.” A holographic depiction of Vrak pops up with sections colored in green and red. “Hmmmm, focus on this area in particular.” “Yes, sir.” Johnathan circles a red section of the hologram. He then leans against the wall. “Might not find it today. If that happens, we meet up same time and try again tomorrow.” Vhilem and Triton nod.

After a few minutes of waiting, Vhilem distracts himself by looking at the armory to see Jonathan's collection. He sees a Gauss sniper rifle, an assortment of plasma weaponry, a grenade launcher, a massive conventional rifle, but one gun stands out like a sore thumb a lever action rifle with engravings. “…what’s that one? I vaguely know the other ones, but not that one? Is it a rifle?” Johnathan moves his head to get a better view of what Vhilem is looking at. “Oh, that one.” Johnathan walks up to the armory and picks it up to show it off. “This is a replica of a lever-action rifle. This model was made back when guns were still in their infancy and automatics weren’t a thing yet. It’s called a Marlin 1894 chambered in .44 Magnum. Though it’s really only for fun…wanna try it?” Vhilem looks like a kid in a candy shop. “How…we’re inside the ship!?” “Sasha, shooting practice.” The back door opens slowly. A gust of air hits all of them, and then holographic targets appear. “Sasha, is there any other human life around?” “…no other humans detected.” “Sasha, make 30 rounds.” “Processing…will take two minutes to create.” Vhilem is intrigued. “You have an onboard printer.” Johnathan chuckles. “Two onboard printers with inbuilt tier 2 re-atomizers capable of complex orders.” “Why two?” Asks Triton. “In case one fails or is destroyed. Believe it or not, this ship has seen its fair share of combat.” A ding indicates the printer is done printing. Johnathan heads to the freshly made bullets. He then inserts one bullet at a time into the rifle. After that, he goes near the edge, aims, and fires. After firing and hitting 5 shots, he turns to Vhilem. “That’s how you fire it. You pull down on the lever.” *bang.* “After every shot. You get a feel for it after a while.” *bang bang bang bang* all shots fired, zero missed. Johnathan grabs the gun by the barrel and hands it to Vhilem. He then shows him how to reload and aim the gun. “Nice and steady…no need to rush.” In truth, this is his first time firing a gun. He takes his time to steady his aim and…*bang* “miss by…5 centimeters to the top right.” Sasha announces. Johnathan pats Vhilem on the back. “Ey, not bad, not bad. For your first time, that was alright.” “Uh…I never mentioned this was my first time?” Johnathan chuckles. “Well, with how you hold it, your posture, and your unsteady aim. You could've fooled me!” He smacks Vhilem on the back with a hearty laugh to go with it. “Here, let me help you with the basics.” Johnathan gently grabs Vhilem's arm and shoulder, puts the gun in a better position and teaches him what to look for when aiming. *bang* “hit…55mm off to the left. Aim further right.” Sasha announces. “That’s great. Go ahead, shoot till its empty.” Vhilem nods and aims the gun. He fires 8 more times, 2 more misses, 5 shoots getting closer to the center until *bang* bullseye. “Hey, I did it! Fuck yeah hehe. Hey Triton, give it a shot.” Triton nods and walks up to Vhilem. Vilem hands him the gun, and Johnathan hands him the bullets. Triton reloads the gun and aims. Triton has an unparalleled focus with nothing able to break his train of thought, not even death itself. His strength makes holding it steady trivial. then…*bang* bullseye. Johnathan is impressed but dismissive. “Hmm, lucky shot. It’s more about consistency than luck.” “Nah, I think my bro is just a natural born shot!” Vhilem takes pride in Triton. “Hehe, either way, keep going.” Triton nods, aims, and fires. Nine shots, nine hits, all centered.

Johnathan is genuinely speechless. “Oh, damn…you actually are a prodigy at this.” Vhilem hugs Triton by the neck with one arm. “That’s my bro. A fucking natural he is, hell yeah!” Triton hands the gun back to Johnathan, and Johnathan puts the rifle back in its place. Sasha closes the back door of the ship. “So when did you find the time to practice?” Vhilem asks Triton. “Never did. This was my first time shooting.” Vhilem looks both shocked and impressed. “Warning…unusual life signs spotted.” Sasha announces.

Johnathan gets up, arms folded. “Bring up the map.” A small holographic depiction of Vrak pops up in front of everyone. It zooms in and shows the ship as a blue dot. To the southeast of the ship a red dot representing the unusual life sign. “Not too far, good. Sasha, fly us over to this spot and make a quick landing pad.” “Yes sir.” The ship moves in close. The giant shroom trees make it impossible to get on top of the area, so they get as close as possible and lower themselves close to the location. The ship then fires a high explosive round that makes the surrounding shroom trees fall over and make enough room to land. The ship lands, and the back door opens. “Sasha, keep the lights on and set a defensive perimeter around the ship. Also make a beacon of light, don’t want to get lost.” “Yes sir.” The ship ejects two robots formed by Johnathan's nanites armed with plasma rifles. The trio head out fully armed. Johnathan taps his neck, and a barrier encapsulates his head. The barrier then becomes invisible. Johnathan is armed with his gauss rifle, conventional rifle, and plasma pistol. Alright, follow me and keep an eye out. We know its general location but don't know what it looks like. If you see anything even a regular-looking animal, tell me.” The two brothers nod. As they get away from the ship's light the two brothers turn on their helmets multi vision, specifically infrared vision.

Out in pitch darkness with little light from the bioluminescence, it freaks out Vhilem. Every little sound makes him jump. To try and calm down, he talks about random topics. “…so, uh, Johnathan…what guns did you bring?” Johnathan looks back to Vhilem confused. “Huh. Why now?” “No reason, heh…hehe.” Johnathan shrugs. “The conventional rifle is a C-Max series made by Nox Etra. It’s great for on the fly customizing and has an auto chambering barrel meaning it can take whatever cartridge you put in.” “Do uhh…and wh-what does conventional mean.” “it just means it’s a weapon that takes cartridges. Like that lever action rifle or the guns you're using. Those are conventional.” “Oh, yeah….yeah.” Vhilem jumps in fright. “To our right, I think I see something.” Johnathan steps up in front of Vhilem and scans the area. His cybernetic eyes see perfectly well in the dark and can see very far with great clarity. Turning on thermals, he spots a creature and whispers. “Good job, Vhilem. Sasha quick scan the thermal signature to see if it matches any known animal on Vrak.” “…no known match. Unique biology. High likelihood of being the target.” Johnathan nods. “You two flank left and right. Your helmet has thermal optics; turn them on and keep an eye on it.” Triton immediately turns on his thermals and spots the creature, so does Vhilem. They both go wide to flank the creature in question. Vhilem has sight of the creature, through comms he talks to the rest of the group. “I can’t tell which is the front of this thing….but I think it’s eating. Should we take the shot?” Triton then responds. “Take the shot. I have it in my sights too.” Triton and Vhilem fire a small burst, and it falls. Triton steps up to make sure it’s dead by hitting it with the butt of his rifle. It’s squishy and caves in with a slimy sloshing sound that would make most people feel uncomfortable; Triton is unfazed. “It’s dead.” Triton's monotone voice declares to the rest of the group.

Johnathan is suspicious. It was way too easy, especially with the reports Olia was giving him of the damage this thing was causing. Johnathan gets on his knees and takes a picture. He then places a small object on top of it. “What’s that for?” asks Vhilem. “This is a marker. A drone will come pick it up and bring it back to the ship for further analysis. Regroup for a minute.” The two brothers stand next to Johnathan. Johnathan rubs his chin. “…there has to be more of them. Though it would be a death sentence to split up. Let’s rest here for a moment and keep an eye out. We wait for Sasha's report. Shouldn't take too long.” From a distance, the whirring of multiple nanites formed into a flying drone come over and lift the corpse of the creature and haul it away. Johnathan sits on the floor, and so does Vhilem. Triton stays standing and is on guard.

“So Vhilem. You afraid of the dark?” Vhilem gives a defeated sigh. “Yeah. I hate pitch black. Freaks me out.” Johnathan nods. “It’s definitely something that takes a while to get used to. That or just do what I do and get a pair of enhanced eyes, ha.” Johnathan then looks at Triton and asks. “he seems ok with the dark don’t you think. Is he just not afraid of anything or…” Vhilem nods in agreement. “he worked in the coal mines for a long time. He’s just used to dark places.” “I see, I see.” Johnathan then kneels and examines the area the creature was to see if he can gleam any extra info. He sees bite marks on the shroom trees. “It was eating the mushrooms. Hmmm, I wonder.” Johnathan then flicks his wrist, and his nanites come to form a basic flying drone. He then flies it up past the top of the shroom trees. Using a sonar pulse, he captures the layout of the nearby surrounding area. He then recalls the drone, and his nanites go back into his cape. A hologram projection is made, and Johnathan spots something of interest. “Aha! Look here.” He points to a section that is suspiciously devoid of shroom trees. “These mushrooms cover everything they don’t do this, and the nearest mushroom harvesting group is miles from here. That must be where the main colony is located!” Johnathan heads in the direction where he suspects the rest of the old earth monsters are located.

“What about the analysis?” Asks Vhilem. “They can die when shot, good enough analysis for me. I just wanted the analysis to get another clue to their whereabouts.” He moves forward, and the two brothers follow. Crossing through the wilderness, they spot the opening. From afar, Johnathan scouts the surrounding area. He sees them clearly in the pitch darkness. They have round open faces with razor-sharp teeth lining the opening. They walk on six spindly legs, and they all have an abdomen that store large amounts of food. They all feast on a fallen shroom tree. He then sees the fat ones going into a cave. Using thermals, he sees the cave has a massive heat signature, but he also spots something else. “…that cave is alive…I think…. that’s a heart?” “Huh. A heart? What makes you say that?” asks Vhilem bewildered. “There’s a hotter signature beating like a heart.” “Should we aim for the heart?” Asks Triton. Johnathan takes a moment to think. “…you two behind me and shoot the ones that are going to flank us. Then once we’re in the cave entrance, protect me while I power up the gauss rifle and blow it to pieces.” Vhilem takes a few deep breaths in preparation. Johnathan gets up and barges straight into the fray. The cave is surrounded by the gooey spider creatures. Once they spot the trio and they all run towards them, even more come out of the cave. Johnathan fires into the crowd with no care. He hits multiple at a time, and they die quickly enough. Johnathan slowly walks up, and as he does the creatures move wider. As they try and encircle the trio but the two brothers fire wildly into the crowd and stop them from fully encircling them. As they get closer to the cave Johnathan notices the cave is not made of stone. “That's no cave. I think this entire thing is the Old Earth monster.” Taking a quick look, Vhilem understands what Jonathan's saying. Upon closer inspection, the outside is made of some sort of chitin that blends in well enough with the dark to fool Johnathan’s eyes. “Doesn't change the plan. Shoot the heart. We can see it from here.” Triton says calmly. “You're right. Alright, cover me while I-.” Johnathan is interrupted as he sees the walls of the living cave move. The flesh moves to cover the heart, and the heart itself retreats deeper. “Tch. The gauss rifle won’t do shit now… Alright, we retreat to the ship.” The two brothers answer in unison. “Yes, sir!” Johnathan pulls out his plasma pistol and shoots at the floor. The explosive blast turns the floor into a searing hot surface. As the creatures walk over it the heat makes them burst into flame, and the other creatures stop. Seeing the opportunity, they all flee into the mushroom jungle. Following the beacon, they quickly reach the light and safety of the ship.

“We made it!” Vhilem excitedly exclaims. “What’s the plan now, boss?” Asks Triton. “Let’s head inside to take a break. I guess I'm gonna need that analysis after all.” They all head inside. “Sasha give me an update on the creature.” “…the creature is a walking stomach. It eats and digests. It has a very tiny brain, but interestingly, the brain doesn't send signals like a normal brain; it receives them.” “Intriguing. Explain further.” “The creatures brain is incapable of self thought. It relays everything back to its master and receives new orders every second. All other organs are as minimal as possible. It doesn't have a means to dispose of waste nor process the contents it eats, suggesting it’s meant to die soon after it eats. Its skin has no time to develop, leading it to have a very slimy texture but also making it very flammable.” “I noticed that when retreating, alright I have a plan. Sasha make a few tanks of vitrulium grade adherent and two fire foam canisters.” “Yes, sir.” The re-atomizers turn on and get to work. “It’s gonna be awhile before it finishes. Luckily, your suits are flame retardant, but this stuff is very sticky. Use the canisters if you are engulfed or if the vitrulium sticks to you.”

“How long?” asks Vhilem. “About an hour. I’m going to work on the C-Max and give it a flamethrower. You two can do whatever.” Johnathan heads to his workbench, and his nanites do the work for him. “Hey Triton. Follow me outside. I need some fresh air.” Triton nods, and he follows. Outside, they sit on the ground and enjoy some fresh air. An hour passes, and they hear a ding from the ship. They head in and find Johnathan taking two small canisters and loads one of them onto a new attachment on the C-Max. He then hands two different canisters to the brothers. “If you catch on fire just smash the can, and you’ll be fully enveloped in moments.” They both nod and take one canister each.

“Sasha get us over the location of the old earth monster. It’s wide enough for us land on. Once over the position, wait for my next orders.” “Yes sir.” The two brothers head over to Johnathan. “What’s our next move, boss?” Ask Triton. Their ship is already hovering over the Old Earth monster. “Sasha power up the railgun and make us an entrance and kill any creature on the surface. You two listen up.” The back door opens to show how devastating the ship is. In mere moments, all creatures on the surface are turned into gooey paste. “Once Sasha makes an opening we’re going to run in there. I’ll take point and you two cover me like last time.” With an ear shattering bang, a glowing hot, enormous hole is made in the living cave. The living cave makes a loud guttural scream as if it feels pain. Some more creatures come spewing out on fire because of the residual heat. They get in close and jump out of the ship and run into the entrance. The living cave insides are fleshy, burnt, and spewing a rancid liquid. It doesn't take long for more creatures to dig their way through the living caves flesh and surround the trio. Johnathan uses his flamethrower to spew blue flame all over the place. The creatures catch on fire and skitter like demented spiders, bumping into each other and causing a chain reaction. Some keep barreling towards the trio, and the two brothers take extra care not to let them through. As they get deeper they hear the beating of the heart.

Deeper and deeper the waves never stop coming. Johnathan's first canister is half empty. Behind them is a sea of blue flame, and the front isn’t too different. They finally reach the heart. Once they do, they notice a slightly different creature, one that is more developed. It’s harder and faster, but when they die they explode into a disgusting blackish green mess. Some of it gets on Johnathan and his nanites quickly analyze the compound.

“ugghh what the hell is this crap.” he stops and notices Vhilem is becoming erratic. “Ahh…AHH AHHHH OH MY GOD NGGGHHH I-I-I CAN’T S-SSEEE.” His body shakes, and in Vhilem's eyes the world crumbles, repeats and speeds up at random. Johnathan quickly catches Vhilem and notices the same green blood on him. “GODDAMMIT, HOLD ON MAN!” He takes off Vhilem's helmet and sees his pupils are the size of his eyes. His eyes are bleeding, and his mouth chitters. “Sir analysis complete. Substance is an extremely potent hallucinogenic. It immediately evaporates in body heat, and the fumes cause the brain to speed up its processes, causing seizures and hallucinations. Likelihood of death without immediate treatment guaranteed. Suggestion, nanites can regulate brain function and can get rid of the Substance.” Johnathan immediately puts his hand over Vhilem's ear and a stream of nanites crawl in. The horde is relentless, and Johnathan makes a hand with his nanites and grabs Vhilem's gun to fight off the horde. He looks back and sees something terrible. Triton has the same green substance splattered on him.

Johnathan carries Vhilem on his shoulder and shoots the incoming horde. He walks towards Triton but notices Triton is ok, in fact, he's become something monstrous. Triton is being affected by the green blood, and its effects are making him faster, more precise, and extremely deadly. One shot is all he needs to take down a singular creature. He fires, aims and fires with machinelike precision and speed. Johnathan is genuinely terrified. Understand, Johnathan has no biological function. He cannot feel emotions that he doesn't want to. Fear is only present in extremely small amounts to tell him something is wrong but not make him afraid. He’s only felt genuine fear with old earth monster that have otherworldly power and can force a machine like him to feel things. Triton turns around and points at Johnathan. Johnathan reaches for his plasma gun ready to strike down Triton, and Triton fires. A bullet flies past Johnathan and hits a creature that was about to jump him. Even though that bullet had no means of actually hurting Johnathan, for a second he genuinely believed that, that bullet was going to end him. Noticing how extremely efficient Triton is right now, he uses it to his advantage. He gets close to Triton and then throws his C-Max to him, and Triton grabs it. Triton now duel wielding two rifles crouches in front of Johnathan to get as good of an angle to attack. A pair of long guns being duel wielded like this is godawful at best, but Triton under the influence of the blood and his high strength makes it doable. Johnathan then uses his nanites to help Triton reload his guns quickly, allowing Triton to focus on firing. The waves never end and only get worse, but with Triton unappareled killing ability it gives Jonathan just enough time to load his gauss rifle, power it to the max and with one silent shot it flies and blasts through the heart. The heart explodes and is left dangling lifelessly.

But the creatures don’t stop.

Seeing this, he knows there must be one or more hearts deeper within. The living cave rumbles and chunks of flesh fall. Its scream vibrates with so much force it nearly pushes Johnathan to the floor. He gets his balance back grabs Vhilem and puts him over his shoulder. “TRITON WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW THIS PLACE IS GONNA FALL DOWN!!!!” Triton nods without saying a word. He follows Johnathan. Johnathan then takes Vhilem's fire foam canisters and smashes it causing a giant puff of foam to cover everyone and give them all a small barrier to safely go through the ever-growing wall of flames behind them.

They all make it out, and the living cave collapses in on itself. Then, a giant explosion of the old earth creatures bursts out of the collapsed cave and land everywhere. The creatures are on fire; most are dead corpses but some still have life. A corpse on fire lands on Triton setting him on fire. He quickly smashes the fire foam dousing his flames. The few that remain alive hobble over to the duo with broken legs. It’s a fight to get back to the ship, but they make it and finally get out. It flies into the air and hovers over the area. Johnathan uses the ship to see the situation below. The ground is covered in those creatures some even fall off the ship. “…I think we are dealing with something way worse here.” Johnathan lays Vhilem down on the bench and talks to him. “Are you ok Vhilem.” Vhilem’s breathing is laboured, but he is ok as the nanites get to cleaning his system. Vhilem gives a weak thumbs up. Triton on the other hand just sits next to his brother. Johnathan takes off Triton's helmet to see black blood seeping through his eyes and nose, but most importantly his eyes are completely pitch black, Triton seems unbothered. In Johnathan's long life, he has seen nothing like this before. Just to be safe Johnathan injects Triton with his nanites, and they get to work cleaning his brain.

“Sasha, what is going on with Triton?” A blue analyzing deep scan laser scans Triton, checking brainwaves and body status. “Analyzing…unknown. Effects are the same as Vhilem.” Johnathan talks to himself. “What the hell was that? Why did I feel fear?…Sasha check Triton for possible psychic dormancy.” The laser scans Triton again. “Analyzing…no signs of nascent psychic emissions detected.” Johnathan scratches his head, wondering what could have caused him to feel such a pang of fear. “Any possibility that the old earth monster we were dealing with is the reason behind this?” “Negative, psychic emissions from the old earth monsters are only capable of giving and receiving commands and information.” “…so it has to be him Interesting. Sasha fly us back to the docks and land. Leave one survey drone in the area.” “yes sir” The ship makes a drone and leaves in an inconspicuous area. They then fly off and are back in the docks of the city.

“you two. I need to make a call and get some things done.” Johnathan then makes a screen on his wrist and sends the brothers their money. Vhilem now a little better, checks his phone to see payment has been put into his account. “Wait…but the…the job….isn’t done?” Vhilem wobbles and can barely keep his head up. “change of contract. This old earth monster is now a Tier 2 and possible tier 1 threat. Which means me and Olia have to renegotiate a new contract. You two can go home.” “Can we help you again?” asks Vhilem. “You can, but you should go around and buy yourself some better gear. At minimum, a closed-circuit re-breather. oh and Olia has got a place up for rent. It do you some good to get a good bed and rest.” Vhilem nods sluggishly. He gets up, and Triton helps Vhilem walk steadily. 

Following Johnathan. Johnathan makes a call to someone. Out on war torn x-12-55th a planet besieged by the empire and held by the United Kingdoms of Gorth. a woman named Cammy flies her own custom Blaird heavy assault ship. Blaird make assault ships specialized in taking damage and being capable of going in and out of orbit, guns not included. Blaird, dodging is for pussies choose Blaird. The cockpit was upgraded with multiple layers of power diffuser plates made to deal with small arms fire and can handle explosions fairly well. It also sports two filled nanite repair pods and 4 “Blender” brand Paste Maker auto-cannons with auto aiming and independent firing capabilities. Blender has been a company since the time of old earth. They make all kinds of insane and deadly heavy weaponry that kill the user as often as it kills the intended target. Blender, the meat grinder of the battlefield. In the middle of battle, her screen pops up with an incoming call from Johnathan. She angrily picks up the call. “I'm in the middle of a fucking fight Johnny!! Make it fast!” Another explosion rips through her hull. She exhausts a portion of the nanite pod, and it quickly fixes the hole. She gets a read on the position of a heavy weapons squad and flies over them. In a straiff run, she blasts them to high hell and retreats to relative safety. “FUCK YEAH, GOT DOES ANNOYING BASTARDS, FUCK EM! Now make it quick.” “You still got that planetary deep scanner?” “yeah what about it?” “Fly over to Vrak real quick and use it on these coordinates.” She is flabbergasted. “Wait like right now! dude I'm not just abandoning the mission on a whim!” “when do you think you will come back?” “pffft I don’t fucking know, oh fuck!” another missile hits directly at the cockpit making Cammy fly off her chair. The autopilot takes over as Cammy is on the floor. Her head skull has been replaced with a chrome shell. It does its job in protecting her from a fatal hit to the head, but she still takes some serious damage. Her head is bleeding over her eye, partially blinding her. Her nose is bleeding heavily, and her body is shaking. She powers through and gets back to the cockpit, She gets back on the chair all the while she can hear Johnathan yell, “Are you ok!?” with the wind knocked out of her she has a difficult time answering. “hit my head. I'm fine though.” She then retreats further back to a safer range. “dude I really can’t right now. These guys need me, and this will hit my rep really badly!” “Double what they're paying.” She can’t believe what’s she’s hearing. “That’s 40k! no fucking way!” “I got a bad feeling over here. If my prediction is correct, this old earth monster might be a tier 1 or 2, and if that’s the case, this planet is in serious danger.” “Ahhh fuck…Give me a sec.” She contacts her commander. “bad news. Need to pull out for a minute to do some repairs.” “understood eagle. Men hold the line. Eagle needs time to repair.” He ends the call, and she then lands the ship the battle still raging on. She leaves the ship and does some needed repairs. All the while she has a headset on to talk with Johnathan.

“Ok I got a minute.” She inspects the diffuser plates and sees they are still usable. “me and two others we’re able to find and attack it, but it wasn't enough. It seems to be embedded deep within the planet, and my fear is that it’s way deeper than the crust. If that’s the case, I need a detailed map of the underground.” “Uh huh uh huh. Why do I need to leave! Why can't it wait till I'm back!!” “It’s growing fast. This thing was only here a month ago and I fear what may happen if we leave it for too long.” “THEN WHY DID YOU GO FUCK AROUND!!! LITERALLY!” “I thought this was a tier 4 or 5 not a tier 1! I wanted to have some fun at this backwater place.” Cammy takes a deep breath and calms down. “Look, I'm not taking my big payout just yet. I need way more cash in the future for…things.” Johnathan sighs. “Well, what can I do then to convince you?” Cammy focuses on repairs and takes a minute to think. “…come over and help me!” Johnathan is annoyed. “What? I fight old earth monsters. I don’t do war anymore.” Cammy bashes her ship in frustration. “Well then, fuck off! I can’t help you until this mission is done. Either get your ass over here or wait, your call.” “……..fine what’s the mission.” Cammy fists the air in joy. “Yes! Ok the mission is to destroy a forward base. They have two anti-air guns that can fuck up my ship real easy. So I can’t progress until the ground units get rid of it. Thing is, they can’t progress either since the enemy has had time to fortify. But you and that fancy nanite ship can pull maneuvers I can’t and get rid of the problem!” “Eh, sounds simple enough.” Cammy finished her repairs. “Great! I’ll contact my commanding officer and inform him of the extra help.” “I’ll see you there then.” Johnathan ends the call. Cammy calls her commander. “Yo boss man. I've good news. The ship is repaired, but on top of that, I got an ascended friend of mine coming to help fight this battle!” “I see. Stay put until your friend arrives.” He then contacts the ground team. “All other units pull back and regroup. We have a new ally coming who may change the tides of battle. Head to Section Alpha and hold there. For the empty throne!” The other soldiers also yell “for his weeping angel” and they retreat.