Galactic High

"Alright, looks like this is it," Alora called out to the group, having double-checked the map. "Well more specifically, this district is the start of the old town, we just need to find the old metro and hope the tunnels are clear, or even better have a still working tram, otherwise we're going mountain climbing."

We should be careful. Chiyo warned. I sense a negative astral aura around this place.

"Even without your powers this ghost town feels creepy," Jack admitted, remembering how many post-apocalyptic and survival horror video games he had played that looked exactly like this. "And a perfect spot for an ambush, or a lair for something nasty. What even happened to this place? Seems like a good spot for a settlement, so surely some people would have tried rebuilding it?"

"There are uncountable hidden places on the station that have been lost or undiscovered for millennia!" Alora quietly replied, keeping alert with her wand out. "In fact, there are rumours of lost towns or civilisations being rediscovered ever so often. Even though this place is a station, it is many billion times the size of many homeworlds."

It’s much more than that! Chiyo added.

"Well, in other cases," Alora continued, "settlements can get overrun by hostile gangs, they can get destroyed by monsters or it can just experience a natural decline.”

“Don’t forget the urban legends….” Sephy whispered, her guns out and ready for anything. "There are tales of places that just disappear without a trace. Other stories talk of entire populations vanishing overnight. Some even go bad according to rumours on the datanet, once normal villages can suddenly change overnight and turn into cult enclaves, among other things."

"Makes you think," Nika added. "Were these places normal before, or was there always something there behind the scenes."

"Let's try not to spook ourselves," Alora sharply interrupted. "Chiyo, do you detect anything?"

It's hard to tell for sure. The Ilithii replied, deep in concentration. We have some kind of residual negative aura around making it hard to tell at this range.

"Then we should hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Jack firmly replied after Alora had translated Chiyo's analysis for his benefit. "Unless it's not worth the risk?" He asked questioningly. After all, the others knew the risks better than he did.

The aura isn't overwhelming, it’s more residual. Chiyo informed them. Whatever powerful force was here is long gone. That said, it doesn't mean this place is deserted.

"Then we should be careful, as Jack said," Nika concluded. "We take a rest here while one of us climbs the wall to take a look."

"I'll do it," Jack volunteered, still feeling rather fresh and aware that the others would benefit from the break. "Anyone have a pair of binoculars?"

"I can do one better!" Nika grinned, unclipping something from her backpack and decompacting it, revealing a sniper rifle. "Take this, sights are easy to adjust. Stay on comms and don't shoot unless you have to."

"Sure," Jack responded, slumping his pack off with the others and slumping the strap of the sniper rifle over his shoulder before he started to climb the crumbling wall.

Jack knew he wasn't the best climber, but the wall had many handholds, and despite the highly advanced gravity equaliser the station maintained, he was still able to grip and climb without much needed strength, quickly scaling the crumbled section to the amazement of the others, and then quickly sprinting up a nearby ladder to the top of what had to be an old watchtower.

Looking around, Jack was amazed at what he saw. Considering what the others had told him about the old town he was expecting a scene of destruction like in the video games he played. But despite the obvious neglect and decay from at least thousands of years of being abandoned, the town looked relatively intact, though overgrown in places. Though there were a few collapsed structures, others were still standing strong, likely down to the material used in their construction. However, he refused to let that distract him, and he looked around with his scope for any signs of life.

But try as he might, he didn't see anything.

And that gave him a bad feeling.

"Ladies, I can't see any signs of activity from here, but most of the buildings are intact."

"Oh awesome!" Sephy replied. "We can see if there's anything we can grab!"

"We need to find the Metro entrance while it's still light," Alora said. "Can you see it, Jack?"

"Checking," Jack confirmed, looking around with his scope, before eventually seeing a set of stairs going down underground in what was likely the town square. But something looked weird.

"I think I see it in the middle of town. We will need to get to the main square, but we shouldn't be able to miss it since the streets all lead there, but…”

"But?" Alora said.

"I see what looks like a camp of some kind. I can see a few Zorn paintings and there's even signs of a recent fire with a few embers left!”

"You can see all that from up there? How many?" Nika called out, sounding impressed.

"None," Jack replied uneasily. "There's no Zorn there at all."

"Are you sure?" Alora called back. "It isn't like Zorn to not have guards."

Acting on a quick impulse, Jack checked for any movement closer to the ground in case they had already been detected, but found nothing. They weren't in any immediate danger, at least not from what he could see.

"I can't see anything," Jack confirmed. "If it wasn't for the recent fire I'd say this place was completely abandoned."

"Well there's one way to confirm that," Sephy added. "Setting up microdrones now. I'll cycle through visual spectrums to see if we have anything skulking about. I'll feed the view to your commlinks so you can see for yourselves."

Even from the bird's eye view of Sephy's drones they couldn't find anything of note, making several passes of the dark, gloomy town, even using thermal vision to search the buildings, with only the area around the recent fire giving off a reading.

"I don't understand." Jack could hear Nika over the comms. "Where are the Zorn?"

Something tugged at Jack's mind, though he couldn't make sense of it. He knew they were missing a piece of the puzzle. There had been Zorn at one point, and their camp was still intact and abandoned, with their filthy belongings scattered around…

Maybe…

"Sephy," Jack politely asked. "Does your drone have an ultraviolet light by any chance?"

"Huh?" she replied, and paused for a few moments before she added, "That’s what he means? Thanks, Chiyo. Yeah we do. Why?"

"Could you shine it around the camp?” Jack asked, and checked the feed as it confirmed his hunch.

"Great thinking, Jack!" Alora complimented. "Those are bloodstains alright!"

"But still no bodies," Nika warned. "So a pack of undead or a monster of some kind ate them up."

"Unfettered undead are less likely," Alora added. “More likely a monster of some kind.”

“Usually there’s more obvious signs with monsters…” Nika murmured, before sighing in acceptance. “Doesn’t matter, the coast is clear and we can only do so much here.”

“I agree,” Alora replied. ”Come back Jack, and we’ll be careful going in.”

“Streets are too open,” Sephy warned as Jack made the climb back down. “Maybe we could go through a building where there’s cover and we won’t be seen as easily.”

You just want to ransack the place! Chiyo retorted, with Alora mentioning it to Jack for the sake of fairness.

“Well yeah!” The Skritta grinned unashamedly. “But this way we can multitask! It’s not like the Zorn to value the same things we do, and I want a hottub!”

“It would be better to replenish our home savings," Alora grinned, "so if we see anything good we can grab it. We shouldn't dawdle though, we want to be in the metro by the time it gets dark outside."

"And we're probably coming back this way," Nika pointed out, "so if we have the opportunity we can check this place out more when we get back."

"But for now, keep your eyes peeled," Alora told the others as Jack plonked down on the ground, handing Nika’s sniper back to her and checking his gear, plasma rifle out, and axe and pistol within easy reach.

They moved quietly and cautiously, with Jack and Sephy taking point through the buildings, and ready to blast anything that jumped out at them. Though nothing did.

They knew they logically shouldn't be surprised at that. They had gone above and beyond to check out the area and found nothing, but even Sephy knew something felt wrong, and so kept quiet as she and Jack checked rooms for hostiles, barely saying a word unless it was to ask for Jack's help in forcing open locked drawers and doors that contained knick-knacks and loose change which she quickly pocketed, though Jack also kept a tea mug he liked the look of.

"This place hasn't been looted at all…" Sephy wondered out loud in amazement. "That's usually either a really good sign or a really bad sign."

"I'm surprised none of the Zorn have settled the buildings either," Jack agreed. "Seems much more logical to camp in the ruins than in the open outside."

"Yeah," Sephy agreed. "Zorn aren't the smartest, but even animals would use the obvious shelter.

"Then I think the less time we spend here, the better,” Jack muttered, and Sephy nodded in agreement as she swiped an old commlink off a nearby table. Jack knew his paranoia may very well be unfounded and that the place just so happened to be abandoned, but that was a far more preferable outcome compared to being caught off guard by something bad that called this place its lair. He knew they were missing something else here, but what was it?

"Chiyo, are you able to sense anything?" Jack asked Chiyo, just to confirm. But the Ilithii just gave back an apologetic shrug.

The negative aura around this place is making it difficult and throwing me off. Chiyo called back. It's highly unusual, a dark aura like this would usually indicate an undead hotspot, but we've established that it's completely deserted.

"Maybe the undead just got up and moved?" Sephy suggested.

"Maybe," Alora allowed. "Regardless, we could be dealing with hostiles around here.

"If we were, they surely would have attacked by now," Nika argued, unconvinced. "No screwing around from here on out, we stealth our way to the metro entrance and be ready to engage any hostiles.”

"Will do, Jack and I will stay on point," Sephy replied.

They made their way forward as silently as they could, but no matter how hard he looked, Jack couldn't see any sign of the unknown observer.

I will cast a displacement field around us in case there’s a sniper. Chiyo spoke up as they made it to the edge of the main square next to the camp.

"Thanks, Chiyo." Sephy grinned despite the situation. "Does anyone else find it weird there's no obvious collateral damage here? If a monster attacked a bunch of Zorn you'd think they'd be more signs of a fight, instead we just have bloodstains."

"And it looks like it hasn't fully dried," Alora agreed. "Less than 12 hours old I'd say, based on how long I heard it usually takes for Zorn blood to dry."

We're covered. Chiyo alerted the group. Let's focus on ourselves rather than the Zorn.

"You're right, move quickly and get into cover on the other side." Alora nodded at the group. "On my mark. 3…2…1…now!"

They dashed out towards the other side of the town square, Jack easily outpacing the others and leaping into cover behind some rubble, and aimed his rifle to cover the rest at a moment's notice.

But no attack came.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Nika joked. "Maybe there really isn’t anything? At least this is good practice for you, Jack!"

Perhaps there is something here that we’ve missed! Chiyo reasoned, typing away once she got into cover next to Jack. Or something that might come back at any time!

"Well we should assume the worst," Alora sternly replied. “You two stay here with Jack and cover us while Sephy and I check the station and see if we have a path in.”

Understood, keep us updated on comms!

Both Alora and Sephy acknowledged Chiyo’s instruction and quickly made their way down the escalator, where after a few moments Alora called back. “Entrance is shut but it has minimal power, Sephy thinks she can jack in and get it open. It’ll take a little while to open so just stay alert for now.”

“Sure,” Jack replied, checking the sights on his rifle.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, keeping their chatter and banter to a minimum. Though they hadn’t properly encountered anything, they were alert for anything. This place was just too spooky and too quiet for there to be nothing.

“Have we heard anything about the third guy coming after me?” Jack finally broke the unbearable silence, needing to fill it with something.

“What do you mean?” Nika whispered back, confused. “There’s a fuck load of people coming after you! There’s the Red Legion, there’s the Crypts and the Bloods, there’s a bunch of students in our school…”

“Ok, well I wasn’t talking about them.” Jack snorted in laughter despite himself. “The three hunters you said declared for me! Zhal-Han’s down, and the Redeemer’s even more of an idiot than him. Which one was the last one again? A former Nekdon priest, right?”

‘Dubaaku’ Chiyo added, though of course Jack couldn’t hear her. Just a former initiate that claims to have visions, nothing notable.

“Yeah!” Nika grinned. “Some crackpot doomsayer of a dead god just as nuts as-”

A faint noise ahead of them caused all three of them to immediately aim towards the noise from across the courtyard they had come from. It was a faint shuffling sound of rubble shifting in the background, though in the silence of the ghost town, it may as well have been a gunshot.

"We might have company," he said uncertainty, whispering into his comms as quietly as he could to make sure he didn't alert anything else.

"What did you see?" Alora asked, alert.

“Nothing yet, but I swear we heard movement.”

“Sephy’s still jacked in, she says not much longer.”

“Understood, we’ll hold it off,” Nika replied, before taking stock of the situation. “Chiyo, what are we dealing with?”

Hard to tell but I think it’s only one lifesign I- oh you’ve got to be kidding me! Chiyo replied, eyes wide as a familiar-looking shape padded across the courtyard towards them, the ‘dog’ panting excitedly and wagging both its tails on spotting the three.

“Same one as before?” Jack questioned Chiyo, who confirmed it with a nod.

“Alora we’ve been followed.” Nika grinned as she called back into the comms. “The creature from before came to say ‘hi’ again. Don’t tell Sephy!”

“A little late for that!” the tired sound Sephy replied. “Sorry it took so long, tech is ancient and far more complicated than it needs to be, but the door's open!”

“Well done Sephy!” Nika called out. “Gotta get rid of our stalker first and we’ll be down.”

“Don’t be mean to it!” Alora chastised. “Why is it following us?”

It doesn’t appear to have a family to return to. Chiyo replied thoughtfully as she looked through the creature’s mind. It’s hunted and foraged well enough on its own though.

Jack stroked the dog’s fur. “What are you doing here?” he muttered gently to the dog. “It’s dangerous around these parts! How did you even find us?”

The dog only gave a comfortable rumble in response.

It’s hard to tell, but if I had to guestimate, it found us by scent, Chiyo replied in thought. Though aside from initial sensory thoughts, it’s hard to tell with this creature.

“Our displacement spells cover scent though, right?” Nika asked both Chiyo and Alora. “Since monsters are such a big threat.”

“They do!” Alora confirmed. “How curious…”

“Well we definitely can’t let him follow us into the tunnel,” Nika reluctantly confirmed, giving the dog a scratch behind the ears. “Far too dangerous for him.” She nodded to Chiyo who quickly planted a suggestion in its mind to run free and avoid the city, Zorn and the Klowns for good measure. The dog looked sadly at them for a moment, dipping its head before running off away from them.

“Aww,” Sephy pouted. “I hope it’ll be alright.”

“It will be,” Alora replied, a little sad. “Guess this place wasn’t completely deserted after all, but we should make some distance now while we can. These tunnels should lead us straight to a small abandoned outpost on the other side of the mountains, and the coordinates for the Oracle says it should be close by. Let’s go as far as we can and we’ll make camp.”

The entrance to the station was dank, dark and foreboding. The plan had been to get underground before the local ‘night cycle’ and continue on with torches as far as they could, but actually being here gave them all chills. Most of the old equipment was completely out of power, with only a few old ticket machines being barely lit up as they forced their way past, and with the exception of a few side rooms that they quickly scouted out, the station was tiny, with just the platforms, a short connecting bridge, and the old railways taking up most of the space. One end of the tunnel was completely blocked off with rubble and old barricades, but to their tentative relief the tunnel they needed to go down was relatively clear.

“I guess it was too much to hope they’d be a working train for me to drive!” Sephy grinned as the group hopped off the platform and started tentatively walking down the tunnel with Jack leading the way.

“Well maybe there’ll be one further up.” Alora giggled. “If you can actually get it to work then nobody here’s gonna object to that!”

“Hope so,” Sephy replied distractedly before noticing something. “Chiyo, what’s wrong? You tired?”

Something’s very wrong here! The Ilithii replied in a panic. The negative aura gets even stronger the further we go! It originates from down here! It has to!

“That’s not good,” Alora replied worryingly. “You think we should get out?”

Yes, as soon as possible!

The group didn’t argue with that, with Jack taking up the rearguard and helping the others up onto the platform as he heard a deep, grinding noise come from above.

“What’s that?” Jack asked, pointing up towards where the sound came from.

“Oh no…” Alora whispered.

“RUN!” Nika yelled.

Jack wasted no time, dashing up the stairs and towards the station entrance, but it was too late.

As he turned the corner and sprinted down the corridor the light from outside was slowly engulfed by the closing door, until it was swallowed whole by the now shut station entrance.

They were trapped.

*****

“I should be the one to lead this war party!” Xharl snarled. The three-meter-tall reptile stomped in aggression at the centre of the large group of Red Legion supporters, scumbags and hired guns as his cheap beer spilled down his tarnished yellow scales. “The human is in my class and I demand vengeance for what he did to us! Master Kull demands his death!”

“You led a team of seven of the best fighters in your year aspiring to join the Red Legion,” Kralk the Konqueror snarled, the cyber-wolf stalking around the circle. “And you lost against him and Nika Fallos despite your superior numbers. You will not be the one to lead this band. Your vengeance will come under MY command! I am your senior! And Glenphyranix has been my prey long before Jack Frost arrived.“

“Only to fail!” Xharl jeered back. “How many times has her magic forced you back? How many of us will your folly take down with you?”

“LOOK HERE! LOOK LISTEN!” A third voice yelled. One of the hired guns that had attached themselves to the group spoke up. "I'M THE ONE HUNTING THIS GUY, AND I'M GONNA BE THE ONE TO KICK HIS ASS REAL TAWK!"

The obese form of The Redeemer waddled into the centre of the ring to make his case to lead the group. After he had been kicked out of the Tea Garden he had since wrapped himself up in various militia survival gear several sizes too small. No longer just carrying a battered plasma rifle, the avian had added a big stick to his arsenal, which he pointed menacingly at the others.

“You’re not part of this discussion!” Kralk snarled again at the unintimidating avian.

“I REALLY WANT THIS BOUNTY MONEY MAN. I GOTTA KICK THIS GUY’S ASS!” The Redeemer replied, sounding emotional and kicking up the dirt in his tirade.

“Well…no shit, you’re a bounty hunter. According to our unknown ally you were in the same district as them earlier today and they gave you the slip,” Xharl replied, unimpressed. “And despite most of the other aspirants being cowards by either ghosting or refusing to join us outright, this is a Red Legion taskforce. It will be led by one of us. Not you.”

“AIN’T YOU JUST ASPIRANTS MAN? THE RED LEGION AIN’T EVEN SIGNED OFF ON THIS REAL TAWK.”

That led to a further series of arguments, with several squad leaders announcing their demands to lead the war party, getting louder and more aggressive the more the candidates disagreed.

“MY MIGHT IS UNMATCHED! THIS HUMAN COULD NOT BEAT ME IN A STRAIGHT FIGHT!”

“HE DROPPED YOU IN ONE HIT! I WILL DEFEAT HIM! MY CYBERNETIC POWER WILL OVERCOME HIM!”

“I REALLY WANT THIS BOUNTY MONEY MAN. I WANT IT SO FUCKIN BAD! I JUST CAN’T DO IT I CAN TAKE THIS SHIT NO MORE MAN!”

They were all suddenly interrupted by a loud screeching noise that had the entire room clutching at their ears in pain. Only when every single person in the circle dropped to their knees in agony did the spell end, and the newcomer calmly slithered to the centre of the room.

“The human is mine,” Svaartal coldly hissed, dissipating his spell. “I don’t care which one of you leads this band. Just stay out of my way when the time comes and stop the others in his group from interfering.”

“YOU!” Xharl and his band growled at the Nirah. “YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACE HERE?”

“Look who’s talking,” Svaartal said, with a nod at the acid scars he gave the Xarak, before turning to the others and ignoring him completely. “I have discovered that Jack has significant resistances to certain energy sources. I used a concussive sonic round from a sniper rifle yesterday and it barely even phased him. However, from our previous encounter, I know he is vulnerable to cuts and illusion magic, and evocation is likely to work. I have come the closest to beating him, and the spells and equipment I have prepared will allow me to take him down.”

“He still defeated you,” Xharl growled again. “You’re useless to us.”

“And yet unlike you, I can learn from my failings,” Svaartal hissed back.

“ENOUGH!” Kralk roared, as his commlink beeped and buzzed with notifications, which he quickly checked. “Zhal Han the Magic Man has been defeated in Gladespring and the group were spotted heading north from there only a few hours ago, though my source doesn’t know where.”

“Is this the same source that sent information to me this morning?” Svaartal carefully asked. “Many Red Legion aspirants and hunters received this seemingly at random, and the sheer high quality of intel is suspect. It would not surprise me if this was some kind of trap and Frost knows of this, so I would be cautious of getting played.

“No,” Kralk grumbled uncertainly. “My source is a discharged Red Legion family living in Gladespring, though I agree with your insight on the initial intel. Someone powerful has an agenda.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Xharl argued. “We have a target area, we have a shuttle, and we have guns.”

The rest of the group nodded at that, finally coming to an agreement on something.

“Let’s hunt that human!”