My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.
“It calls itself the Warlord KhazaRhan and it has slowly begun taking over the universe system by system, planet by planet.” The Director stated.
“Why do you refer to it as an It?” Sapphire asked.
“It wears a suit of armor the likes of which we have never seen before. Some of the scholars think that it might be a relic of the past, others an artifact left over from the Event. The armor itself hides the gender and species of the wielder, so It seems appropriate for now, that is until we have more knowledge.” The Director explained.
“So what exactly do you want me to do to so that you will share your information on the Scions with me?” Sapphire questioned.
“Capture or Kill it. Either way we gain the knowledge we seek. I would prefer you to bring it in alive however because a living specimen is far more valuable as a source of information.”
“Nel’sunn you are a fucking weird guy you know that?” The Director moved his head to the side again.
“I do not understand?” Sapphire sighed.
Astrobiology 106 Part 3 - Dark Times
“So tell me where exactly are we headed?” Sapphire shouted over the sound of the engines in Hr’lunes ship.
“To the surface luv, KhazaRhan has a compound nestled in a volcanic mountainous range just off the equator of this ice world.” His ship cut through the cloud cover as ice peppered the exterior hull loudly.
“Great. Just great.” Sapphire leaned over to check the port and watched the ship break free of the clouds and saw the massive fields of ice covering the surface. “I know I should make a Hoth comment here but it doesn’t seem appropriate.” Her eyes scanned the surface and focused on the massive bowl shapes covering the ground everywhere. “This is nuclear winter isn’t it?” Hr’lune nodded. “Jesus what or why would they do this?”
“Planets core is valuable and the people here fought over it until they resorted to the big guns. Needless to say they killed themselves right into oblivion. KhazaRhan found the world sometime later and raided it and then set up shop in one of the abandoned cities. The bounty of its head is mainly for piracy as it raids nearby systems for supplies to feed his growing army, which he uses to protect the core.” Hr’lune finished his speech and was quiet as he passed over several mountain tops poking up through the lower level clouds. “Heading in for the final pass before we land.” Sapphire nodded and pulled back from the window and adjusted her harness one more time.
Reverse thrusters popped into life and slowly the descent and Hr’lune tweaked the controls to come in for a landing on an elevated platform near the front of the compound. A single guard stood watch at the door, unmoving.
Sapphire adjusted the controls for the temperature on her suit and fitted her helmet into place as their chairs swiveled and the exit ramp opened and lowered down. They exited and he punched a few keys on his exterior armors pad and they set off for the solitary guardsman.
Hr’lune held up a hand in greeting and the guard continued to stand perfectly still. He slowed his walk and blinked a scan of the surroundings. Readings filtered in and the data was collated and finally spit out as answer.
“It’s a statue. I’m getting only one reading inside the complex but near it is a data glitch, my systems aren’t able to break through it. Might be some kind of masking device or EMP maybe. I’ll need more data,” Hr’lune began to move forward once again. Sapphire looked the statue over as they passed by it and saw that it was made of ice.
“Not a statue, I can feel it,” she spoke quietly.
“How is that?” He asked.
“My abilities are elemental in natural, Fire, Ice and Kinetics. I can feel the life flowing through that ice, normal ice I would be able to manipulate, that isn’t normal.”
“Understood,” Hr’lune pushed the doors open and walked through as Sapphire followed. They swung shut silently and instantly the building seemed warmer. She adjusted the controls on her suit and continued to follow him; his mapping software leading the way to what she assumed was the throne room of KhazaRhan.
The doors swung open as they neared them, again silently. The Warlord sat perched on a throne of ice suspended between two huge engines, their turbines quietly humming softly. Its armor was something to behold, like some kind of bullet made of gold, platinum and silver. Its faceplate swiveled to view them both. Sapphire focused on the rest of the chamber, it was filled with hundreds of the ice statues and near the Warlord was another figure she had a hard time focusing on him, her eyes kept pushing off to the side.
“Is he the source of your data void?” Hr’lune confirmed it with a small nod and took another step forward and spoke loudly.
“ALIEN WARLORD KHAZARHAN YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE HUMANITIES AND TERRESTIAL TRESSPASS ON DEAD WORLD FORMERLY DESIGNATED AS SPYRIA. AS A LAWFUL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED UNIVERSE I PLACE YOU UNDER ARREST.” The Warlord cocked its head to the side to take in the two of them, and then looked to its left at the void being before standing. In the armor it was easily over eight feet tall.
“I find you amusing little one,” the Warlord took a step forward, the ice statues moved slightly to continue to watch it. “You have come to my dead world to arrest me for trespassing? I am here to protect this place from those who would harvest the core before it is ready.”
The being tisked at the Warlord. Sapphire really stared at the thing to try and get a good look at it, try to find some kind of defining attribute so that she could ID it later but it wouldn’t allow her. She grew angrier by the moment.
“DAMNIT!!” She screamed as she slammed a foot down of the ground. The Warlord began to laugh. “You’re really beginning to piss me off. I don’t know what you want here or who your partner is by the both of you are going down.” Her fists began to glow, one of flame and the other chilled.
The being began to laugh with the Warlord. “Mercedes,” it spoke. “We have been planning this for quite some time. This world must live without the constant harassment of people trying to mine the core. This world lives as a chrysalis to a being of vast importance to the future of the Universe.”
Sapphire gritted her teeth. “I need to take the Warlord in so that I can get the answers I want. We aren’t here for you info void guy, you can leave.” He responded by laughing again. The Warlord took another step forward.
“I can tell you exactly what they want Mercedes, they want to know who I am. They want this world for themselves. They want the knowledge it contains.” The armor began to glow in lines across the surface, and then peeled away as it seemed to melt along the seams. A woman’s face was revealed, a cross shaped scar across one cheek.
“It…can’t be…you’re dead…I SAW YOU DIE!!” Black Sapphire screamed. CC laughed at her.
“Alpha saved me little one, before the universes went to war, before everything changed, before William found me.” Crystal’s eyes welled up as memories overtook her. “But now I have purpose again, and I will protect this world from the Academy.” The armor melted back into place. “I will not fight you this time Mercedes, but mark my words if you return to this place again, I will kill you.”
Sapphire stared at her long and hard before responding only with a nod, it was then that she noticed the man had vanished. “What about your partner?”
“William? Oh he has his own agenda and being here any longer must interfere with it in some manner. Hopefully your paths will never cross again.” The Warlord KhazaRhan stepped back and sat in its throne. “Now leave this place unharmed.” Sapphire clenched her fists and forced her inner turmoil to fade before she lost control again, just like the night George had died and she had killed CC, or so she had thought. Again she nodded and turned to leave just as Hr’lune placed a hand on her side stopping her for a moment.
“Are you sure about this?” He asked quietly. She nodded.
“We need to verify why the Academy was interested in this place to begin with. A dead world with only one being on it, not counting her Ice Army, doesn’t seem like an Academy worthy project. He wanted to know more about the Warlord and I have that information, so we can go. But mark my words little bounty hunter, I will be back to kill her once I have the chance.”
TBC in Astrobiology 106 Part 4
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