The Sealed Planet

The Aurelian Operation

George Atmell

I was promised an adventure, and I got it.

However, with that adventure came a rather dangerous development: we finally found what was invading the Vyrnians, and it was a tentacled creature that took a dead body and talked through it. It was kind of morbid, and rather unexpected. We expected something else, not an alien that took over your body after death. Even so, like my mentor always said, you could never expect what your enemy would be. You could underestimate them, but only if you knew you were winning. Respect your enemy only if they respect you. Otherwise, undermine their efforts and mock them. Well, that sounded harsh, but what could I say? He was a hellhound. For them, life's always hard.

Anyway, back to our exploration in the colony. The place was rather small, but it was packed with deactivated equipment that seemed to go back to Arcturus's era. The Vyrnian himself recognized several of them, but also noticed that they were fully automated when he turned them on, as Xilna said before.

However, equipment aside, I could sense that Arcturus was rather disturbed. The words that the parasite creature had told us hit the Vyrnian more than me, given that it was his planet and his people that was suffering from them. I could imagine his seething rage and his determination to set things right. Even if that was true, he did not show it, only looking at the dark rooms with a solemn expression his Vyrnian face could show.

The colony was not that big. It was roughly around the size of a two-story building, much like the Academy back on Earth. The fact that it was rather small and was facing the forest meant that this place was used for a research in regards of forestry, and given the size, they did not seem to make it with complete colonization in mind, only as a research post that went full auto. They did not seem to be aware that one of those creatures were not sealed inside Vyrn and as a result, they were taken over. Before the creatures could get out, however, the place was somehow sealed from the inside. The fact that no one knew what happened seemed consistent with the fact that Xilna did not know what's behind the door.

No one was more ecstatic that the Vyrnians who were involved in this project in the first place. While there were several deaths, these Vyrnians finally found their research bore fruit and progress. With their purpose finally fulfilled, they could begin the second phase in their research. I could even hear some of them thanked Arcturus when we got out. I was given some thanks, too, even if I did not really contribute to this except maybe protect some of the Vyrnians. I could take credit for that.

Once we got back out, my partner proceeded to go back to our ship and contacted his father about the discovery. He relayed his findings to his father, including the possibility of knowing anything that could lead to the access to their home planet. Still, he said that the best thing they could get from this was the fact that they had found an ally.

"Xilna will try and contact the other colonies on the planet and see if they wanted to support our cause," said Arcturus. "She knew some of the leaders around Orlonel."

"That's wonderful news," said Andrates. "But, that creature's warning. I never thought they just admitted being involved with our race far longer than we thought."

"Have we...lost before we even fight?"

"No, not yet," said Andrates. "We already knew an enemy was involved, and we already prepared with the Exodus Plan. However, we knew the Plan would not hold all of them if they had been influencing the Vyrnian race for so long. We even surmised that they had actually been controlling us long before the fanatic cult became apparent. That's why we put several plans on several remote colonies including the one you're in for this eventual outcome."

"Wait. You mean...you have a plan?"

"One that complements the sealing of Vyrn. I don't know whether it works or not, so we're making a different plan. I hope things are going well...even if we don't know our enemy's true potential."

I gulped.

"Update me with any info," he said. "And thanks, son. You've been a great help."

His father then cut off the communication. Arcturus turned to me and said, "I guess things proceed faster than I hoped. Will you be alright?"

"Why are you asking me that?" I asked.

"You're not part of all this. You could return to Earth and forget about this. But, knowing you, I think you'd refuse to do that, huh? It's good to know that I have your back."

"Even if the role was...rather reversed at this point?" I was referring to the fact that I was not the guide to Arcturus anymore, now that we were in space. In fact, it was his role, which I found rather strange. If he looked like a dragon, however, it might work, but he looked like a wyvern. A wyvern could talk and reason, but they were not as wise as a dragon, and they clearly needed guidance. The fact that Arcturus, a Vyrnian, guided me seemed strange, but space held a lot of weird things, and this was far from it. I did not really mind about it at all.

"I don't really think about the roles, you know. As far as I can tell, we are in this together as partners, not as a wyvern and a rider."

I chuckled. "I guess you're right there," I said. I guessed Arcturus never accepted the fact that our partnership was closer to that of a rider and his mount. I hoped he had no hard feelings about it.

We stayed in Orlonel for a couple more days as we recuperate and help cleaning up the mess that the creature did. We also wanted to see what the colony had in store, like surprises and such, but given the extensive research data extracted from the colony's memory bank, I doubted that we might even get the result in just hours.

The best course of action was, of course, to wait, but we did not really want to wait, so we trusted the project to Xilna. I mean, it was her project to begin with, so it was naturally her responsibility. Still, seeing the Vyrnian giving orders like she was a commander did not seem right for an archaeologist, given that the only other archaeologist I knew was a kind-looking hellhound (okay. That sounded wrong, too).

After we gave our contacts to Xilna, along with communication link with Andrates, we set off. While we were orbiting Amurlun, I was curious with where we were going next. I walked towards the cockpit and asked, "So, where are we going next?"

"I don't know," said Zarya. "Any ideas?"

"We can go to other Vyrnian colonies and find more allies," I suggested. "Maybe they'll listen? I know it's rather premature to think that way, but given what we are facing, we might need more than just a colony."

"Colonies," corrected Arcturus. "We might get some help from the rest of the planet."

"Yeah, well...maybe we can try get some more?"

"It's going to be hard without some conviction," said Arcturus. "Remember. We got lucky with Xilna. She was curious and was convinced that the danger was real. That kind of danger might not even convince others to join the cause. I mean, this is 500 years since the Vyrnians lost their planets. There is a high chance they don't even have any reason to go back home, especially if they only know their own planet as the place they were born."

"But isn't anyone going to tell them the stories about Vyrn? I thought your kind lives up to 300," I said.

"There might," said Zarya. "Or, we can just travel a bit and see how things go. Whichever you want."

I contemplated on the decision. Deciding that we might be shrugged off anyway, I just say, "How about if we try finding the plans ourselves? There's bound to be a place where we can get them."

"Hmmm...that sounds like a good idea," said Arcturus. "You're right. We can't rely on something in progress. We must try to find it ourselves, too."

"And we might even get a chance to explore," said Zarya. "Good idea. So, where do you want to go?"

I simply told them to find a planet of interest. Asking all the time would lead to nowhere. The two Vyrnians then started going through coordinates of a potential destination. As I waited, Sel pulled my shirt and asked me to follow her. I nodded and walked to the common area. I could see Kilkaja was trying to play one of the games on the table monitor. I once told him about them even if I could not understand how to play them. The Nuoevan seemed interested, but from the look of it, he was as confused as I was.

My attention quickly returned to Sel. She seemed to have things to talk about.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong," she said. "Just want to talk."

Feeling cheeky, I said, "Can't refuse to talk with someone cute."

Sel chuckled. "Are you seriously hitting on me?"

"It depends. Don't you get asked like this all the time?"

"No. Normally, I would scratch their faces, but you're still okay. You won't believe how direct some people can be...or even if they even know what 'consent' is."

"Whoa, wait. I'm not that kind of person," I said, understanding what she was implying.

"No, of course not. You're kinder than most, but not as naïve as Kilkaja. I mean, it makes sense, right? The Nuoevan suffered a wronged life. Even with a Felinian's low standard of living, that's still f****d up."

"I am even more surprised that they still practice that, especially with a technology that can render them invisible."

Sel sighed. "It's not my place to judge. Still, I want to talk to you about how things are now. I always wonder if things will be different if you decided that I was not worth it. What will I do next?"

"You might go your own way," I said. "As a pirate, you must have that adventurer mentality. But you might not get far, not if you still have revenge in mind."

"About Michl, right?" Sel sighed. "Am I really that easy to read?"

"I drew parallels," I said. "And a revenge story is a classic story, except I am old enough to know that realistically, things don't usually end as good as the stories implied."

"I know, I know. That story has an ending. In real life, you end your story prematurely if you die. When a story ends, you must live with the consequences you wrought upon yourself."

"That's a good advice. Sounds like what my mentors said to me back on Earth."

"I guess those kinds of stories have been around in everyone's culture, huh?" she said with a chuckle. "Even if you're a pre-space."

"I always maintained that things are not that different, whether it's on Earth or out here in space."

"I...always wonder how other pre-space might act out here. You're doing things that do not suggest your origin. Everyone always know that taking pre-space out of their lives was a bad idea. They will try to cope, but ultimately, they'll lose their way. Orians don't really think that way. In fact, if the pre-space is unique, they'll put their credits on it. All they ever think about is the money, whether it's illegal or not."

"I'm not surprised," I said. "Earth people are also like that. The Underworlders and the surface dwellers all have that kind of ambition. The only thing that makes them different is whether they have morals or not."

"And because of that mindset, you feel you're ready to tackle outer space?" Sel chuckled. "I guess I can't even call you a naïve tommy after all, Atmell."

"Like I said. It's not that different whether you're pre-space or not."

"Huh. I'll keep that in mind," said Sel. "I've never been able to talk like this since I got out of that crew. I'm glad things turn out this way. You gave me a chance to try and redeem myself. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Sel," I said with a smile.

Sel replied with a sweet smile coming out of her feline face. It reminded me a lot of a Cait Sith, so it wasn't that far away from what I was accustomed with. Well, of course, if you happened to be dating one, you'd know how to read their expressions. Kinda hard with feral ones, of course. You get what I mean.

For some reason, a little talk like this made me feel like I know Sel better. Before this, I thought of her as a disinterested person who felt like she was being forced to join our crew. Now I knew that she was grateful that we saved her from a life of crime. Like she said, things could've ended differently.

We then talked about things that were more general, like our history, about my sword, about magic, space travel...everything. It was around half an hour before Zarya walked out of the cockpit. She then proceeded to turn on a nearby monitor and show us a picture of the galaxy, one that she called a galaxy map.

"Alright, Arcturus and I had decided on our next destination," said Zarya. "As Arcturus had said and based on the historian's accounts of pre-Exodus Vyrnians, there were several small colonies created before the Exodus happened. Many of them were already abandoned years ago, though some, like the one we encountered, were being actively researched."

"But some colonies were still abandoned due to many reasons," said Arcturus. "One of those colonies was a colony on a planet once called Aurelis Three, the third planet from the Aurelis star."

"That sounds like a promising place to start," said Sel. "What's its general characteristics?"

"Well, it's a mixed biome planet with 55 percent water," said Arcturus. "There's no known development on the planet except the colony, which like some Amurlun colonies, is in the middle of a rainforest. It was an outpost on the edge of the Vyrnian Empire's territory and was never developed into a more extensive colony like Amurlun or Arkari. So, simply said, the planet was untouched ever since that colony was abandoned."

"What if there's nothing there?" said Sel. "You know some colonies are abandoned because they have simply served their purposes, right?"

"We won't even consider this colony if it had nothing of interest. Apparently, before the Exodus happened, there was a stream of information coming out of Vyrn that ended up on this planet," said Arcturus. "All communication system was cut off right before the planetary shield was up, and guess where the information came from."

"Somewhere important?" I said.

"The Empire's military intelligence center," said Arcturus. "Where my father worked the Exodus Plan with the last president."

"And how did you know all this?"

"Dad gave me the info," said Arcturus. "He agreed that something important left Vyrn just before it was sealed. He gave us the go. So, what do you think? Care you take a look?"

Everyone nodded.

"Right. Let's set a course there."

Zarya and Arcturus put the ship on warp towards the planet. Aurelis Three was around 6 hours in full warp speed from Amurlun, so in the meantime, we could talk and have our rest. Given the ordeal we had just experienced, we needed this rest.

When Sel decided that she wanted to see the stars from the cockpit, only me and Kilkaja were left. I was responsible for helping Kilkaja with knowing what life would be as a free person. I felt bad for him, given that not only his development was slow, he also acted much like me, a pre-space. I guessed those who enslaved him did not give him any chance to learn anything except to be the source of suffering to them. I never thought Kilkaja could even stay sane after all that, but given that he remembered his name and his past, I guessed that this life was only a brief time for him

He acted so unlike his appearance, and that somehow made him...cute? I mean, I knew he resembled a dog with oval-shaped head and no distinction between the eye and the snout. He also had jackal ears and a prominent underbite. The things that made him rather scary-looking, however, were his black, ebony-colored skin, his lack of hair, and his four black, featureless eyes, which made him look like a monster. Have you ever checked under your bed to see if there's any monsters hiding under there? He looked like one.

Still, a dangerous monster out of a nightmare would be creepy. He had more expression than a creepy monster, and that dispelled any fears I had around him. In fact, he looked like he needed a hug or something. His lanky physique and his emaciated look made me want to give him something to eat.

I approached him and said, "Hey, Kilkaja. How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm fine," said Kilkaja. He seemed rather surprised that I interrupted his little game session. "Thanks for asking."

"What kind of game you're playing there?"

"I...uh, not really sure," he said. "I...picked the first choice and I, well, played it."

"And how was it?"

"It's good. I...never know you play this in your free time. I...don't really have any of those. All I remembered was...was..."

I could see tears swelling from his eyes. I really wanted to hug him, and I did. Kilkaja seemed to understand what I was trying to do, so he said, "I...thank you."

"Man, you've been through a lot, haven't you?" I said. "I won't force you to talk about it, of course, but it looks like you need a little help."

"What kind of help?"

"Maybe a little walk and talk?" I said. "Have you ever made a friend when you're...when you're a slave?"

I wasn't surprised when he shook his head.

"Right," I said. "It's going to change, alright? Things will change for you. I will help you with it, alright?"

"T-thanks," said Kilkaja, smiling. "But you don't have to."

"I won't force it on you. It's your life. Live it," I said.

"But how do I...work it out? My people will always see me as a slave, never a free Nuoevan. It's the fate forced upon you and stays with you throughout your life. I...I don't know what to think of that."

"Then, you stand up upon them and say 'screw you' right in their faces. Show them you're not someone who'll cower in fear and accept what you are. Fight back. But you also need to show control. You don't want to end up reversing the role, right?"

Kilkaja nodded. He then asked, "You seem to be a strong human, George Atmell. H-how do you do it?"

"Oh, well, I am the kind of guy who'd just say 'screw you' right in their face," I said. "I was once being ridiculed for being short and smaller than the others. I mean, they thought being a dragon rider needs to be strong. I mean, you need to be strong if you want to be a rider, but you also need the smarts. I was the mischievously smart guy who showed them that being strong is not the only requirement. Sometimes, even words can be your friend, though don't rely on it too much. Unlike punches and kicks, words hurt your heart, not your body. I made that mistake when I insulted the bully who looked down on me. We got into a fight and, well, turned out I'm the better puncher."

"You punched someone in the face? Wow, I never would've thought about that."

"Got into trouble, of course, but after that, I got my respect, and some enemies. I learned the hard way that some people take things to the heart, and my attempt to fight them with words earned me enemies. Still, by the end of my time at the Academy, they're already long gone. I regretted the fact that instead of getting more respect, I ended up getting a reputation for being someone who's rather manipulative. Some of them even accused me for sweet-talking Arcturus while I had no luck earning a dragon's respect. I know they are being jealous, but it's not wrong, either. Arcturus did not understand our customs and I took advantage of it. So, Kilkaja, a little word of advice. If you want to play it smarts, don't do it in expense of others. You'll regret it later."

"It's not that I have a chance to do that," he said.

"Then keep that in mind, looking forward," I said. "Who knows what the future might brings."

"But still, your words ring true for me, George Atmell. Still...I don't really want to talk about stuffs like that for now. Do you...want to play a round with me?"

"Oh, well...don't expect me to be a challenge."

Which was the case. Kilkaja seemed to know the game's rule while I was still struggling with the controls (there was a controller near the monitor). He clearly got the upper hand earlier, and I could do nothing and eat up my losses. Kilkaja seemed to be rather happy about this and he even taught me how to play. Looking at him laughing and genuinely happy  felt like I had finally achieved something purely out of effort and not sweet talks. His happy face even made his rather terrifying appearance mellowed somewhat, replaced by something wholesome.

After we played for several minutes, Kilkaja looked at me and said, "You're a fun one, George Atmell."

"Please," I said. "Just call me George."

Before long, Sel also joined our conversation. She was rather intrigued with what we were talking about and the fuss we did playing the game. Unlike me, though, she teased Kilkaja several times, causing him to become rather embarrassed. However, Sel's teasing was not malicious, so I did not feel that this would undermine anything I told Kilkaja. She seemed to be even friendlier with Kilkaja than I did, possibly because he seemed to like her teasing and her feisty attitude, just before we automatically dropped out of warp. The ship had been pre-programmed by the Vyrnians to orbit the planet once they had reached it. It also meant that six hours had passed. How time flew when we were having fun.

The Vyrnians had already woke up for a while when the ship dropped out of warp. Sel was already on the cockpit when Zarya came in. She had checked the coordinates beforehand.

"That's Aurelis Three," said Zarya.

"It's...beautiful," I said. It did remind me of some planet. Not Amurlun, but somewhere closer to home. Of course, back then, I had not seen my own planet while on orbit, so I had no comparison except maybe a sense of connection to my home planet. The main difference between Aurelis Three and Earth (or similar Earth-like planets we'd visit later) was the fact that Earth had more water. Only 25 percent of Earth was land, while the rest were blue water that held many mysteries comparable to space.

We immediately picked a place to land, which was an open meadow area on the outskirts of a dense forest. The colony was somewhere inside the forest, based on the coordinates given by the logs regarding the colony. We could not risk damaging our ship trying to land as close as possible to the colony, given how the trees seemed sturdy enough to withstand a substantial amount of impact.

I checked the surroundings as we went out of the ship. I could see some wild alien animals prowling about in the forest and even hear their growls and chitters. Not only that, our arrival seemed to have disturbed the animals. Well, can't blame them. Zarya's ship wasn't exactly a silent craft. In fact, when we landed, we seemed to have displaced parts of the scenery. The only consolation, as Sel claimed, was that Vyrnian crafts were not powered by rocket jets, so their disturbance was nothing more than crushed flowers.

At first glance, nothing seemed wrong. Aside from our landing, nothing seemed disturbed. However, I was rather worried that the animals on this planet would cause damage to the ship. Unlike our previous ports of calls, this planet had nothing to protect us from the alien wildlife. Zarya, who owned the ship, also shared this sentiment. So, before we got out and explore, she activated the ship's defense systems, keyed to exclude our presence. Zarya tested the potency of that defense system by throwing a rock, which bounced off the invisible force shield. She did not want to use the strongest defense system, given that it would potentially cause disaster to the planet's environment, and she did not want that. In fact, it was considered a crime back on Arkari.

Arcturus supplied us with pathfinder devices, tuned to the ship and each other's devices, along with the coordinates. I looked at mine, which was a similar model with Zarya's, but clearly different from Arcturus's device. While Arcturus's looked more futuristic and seemingly more advanced, it was an older piece of equipment that was far more reliable than what its age implied. It also had a touch interface, which was different from the one I had, which was operated by a set of knobs, dials, and buttons. However, the output on the screen was similar, in which it showed the topographical map of the area along with the blips indicating the ship and the other devices, in case we were separated.

I remembered what Zardes said about being prepared for all kinds of situations, so I implored the others to take weapons, just in case. I always kept my handy gun-sword, fully charged and ready to use, while each of the crew were armed with long-range weapons ranging from laser rifles to simple batons for self-defense. Kilkaja was the one with this kind of weapon, citing his problem with using rifles due to his bad eyesight and photosensitivity. I could convince him to use his psychic attacks, but he was not trained in fights.

Walking into the forest wasn't hard for me, but it was rather hard for the eight feet tall Vyrnians, who tried their best in traversing the trees. Sel, Kilkaja, and me were ahead, following the coordinates programmed to our pathfinders. It was an uneventful trek through the forest, though I felt something's wrong. I did not know what, but something was wrong. I did not know whether it was a feeling of someone watching us or maybe the animals stalking us in the forest, but it was there.

However, it wasn't long before the others realized that we were not the only non-feral aliens on this planet. The first to notice this was Arcturus, who saw a damage caused by energy weapon to a nearby tree. We clearly were not the first to visit this planet in a while, as the damage was new.

Then I also noticed that some of the trees were marked. The trunks were damaged by sharp blades, as if there was a deliberate fight. Those were clearly not claw marks, and those were clearly not Vyrnians, given that they were roughly my height and the marks were carved by a sharp, thin blade.

As I examined the marks, Sel drew us towards a spot, where we could see green liquid. However, as we contemplated what the liquid was supposed to be, Sel was the first who reacted with horror. She quickly became alert and brandished the rifle she was carrying, surprising us.

"We need to go back to the ship," she said, looking around. "Right now."

"Why? What's wrong?" asked Arcturus.

"That liquid is blood. Saukauri blood. If they're here, it only means one thing. This place is a battlefield."

"Or was," I said, trying to be optimistic. "They could've been gone before we arrived."

However, Sel was convinced that something's not right on this planet on the get go. Just then, I heard a click, and we turned towards Kilkaja.

"What was that?" I asked.

Sel, however, acted quickly. She said, "Don't move! Kilkaja...you stepped on a mine."

Kilkaja gulped and tried to look down, but Sel said, "I said don't move! Let me look at it."

Sel walked towards it and saw the mine. I also moved towards her slowly and saw the same thing. The mine was circular and was camouflaged so that it looked similar to the grass around us. No wonder Kilkaja did not see it at first. We were rather lucky that we did not encounter any during our walk here. However, now we needed to get our friend away from this perilous situation.

Our Felinian friend seemed to know what she was up against, especially when she said, "Saukauri mine. IFF type."

She then called Arcturus, who walked towards her and said, "I want you to use your ability to short the circuit. Don't put too much at once. It will trigger the mechanism and it will blow up."

"How much do I need?"

"Enough power to short the pathfinder device. Kilkaja, whatever you do, don't move. The shield will absorb the blast, but it won't save your leg."

Kilkaja nodded, but I could see from his expression that he was scared. Sel could be rather direct. She liked stating the fact, but not at the right moment. So, it was up to me to say something so that this whole situation would stay this way.

"Kilkaja, listen," I said to the shaking Nuoevan. "Try to think of something else. You're an empath, right?"

Kilkaja wanted to nod, but Sel's warning was serious, so he could only look at me with a scared expression. Of course, telling an empath to focus on emotions would be the wrong idea, given that everyone was tense.

"Alright," I said. "Don't focus on my emotions. It won't help. Just look at me and take a deep breath. Come on, Kilkaja. It's not hard."

Kilkaja did what I suggested and took a deep breath.

"Now exhale slowly. Now do it again. Keep your mind occupied with something and stay calm. It's going to be alright. Trust Sel and Arcturus."

"Ready, Domel?" said Sel to Arcturus.

"Yeah."

However, luck was not on our side. Kilkaja did say that he could sense emotions. While Arcturus was doing his job, Kilkaja, who tried not to panic, whispered, "We're surrounded. I can sense 6 or so humanoids. They're rather angry towards each other."

"Thanks for telling me. Are they going to attack?" I said.

"Yes, and we are right in the middle of it."

"Okay. Kilkaja, I want you to trust me, okay?"

Then, I saw Arcturus nodded and I could see that the mine was deactivated. Right at that time, I said, "Everybody, run!"

I quickly pulled Kilkaja away from the mine and ran into the forest. Kilkaja sensed the emotions of the attackers and told me. I turned around to see some people shooting at each other, which quickly turned into a sword and shield fight. However, Kilkaja was not referring to them.

"There are three of them right behind us!" said Kilkaja.

"There's no one there!" I said.

"Look up!"

I looked up and saw a figure jumping down towards us. With a quick reflex, I quickly turned around, pull my sword, and defended myself. I kicked my attacker away and shoot them, but that was not the right move if your attacker had a personal shield and a classic rounded shield, which deflected the energy gun.

Realizing that I could not fight and defend Kilkaja at the same time, I quickly used the flash function of my gun-sword to blind the attacker and took Kilkaja with me. He was more affected by the flash than the attacker, so I quickly pulled him away and ran as fast as I could. We did not have time to find our way when we reached a short cliff overlooking a river, where I told Kilkaja to jump. I jumped with him and we quickly felt the freezing water biting through our skins. I told Kilkaja to stay underwater and swim. Good thing Kilkaja knew what to do.

I did not know how far we swam as helped by the river stream. We surfaced after swimming for a while.

"They thought we died and left us," he said while coughing out water.

"Thanks for clarifying."

But that was not a relief. The river took us deeper into the forest. When I checked my pathfinder (I was grateful that it was waterproof), I realized that we had deviated somewhat from our previous position and was a considerable distance away from the ship. The others were running inside the forest, but they were separated.

Basically, we were lost, separated, and got involved in a fight on the planet. What a way to start your adventure.