FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

New Life

Chapter 2

…………

Advanced protection base Alpha.

Location: somewhere deep below the surface under layers of dirt and concrete.

………

Dereck stepped out of the bathroom, his hands shaking uncontrollably. Now that the adrenaline had left his veins the realization of what he had done struck him right in the chest, like a sharp dagger of sorrow and regrets. He, Dereck VanHevreyk had had doomed hundred, maybe thousands of lives by simply pressing a button. When the ship blew up before his eyes from the second canon shot he received. It had been so easy, too easy even. He just had to put numbers in the console and press a big red button. Shitty job… but it was his, obeying without asking questions. However he regretted his action. He was the one in charge of this machine of death most known among his kind as the Nahavahr canon. Inspired of ancient technologies this beast of a weapon was capable of eradicating a ship in one well-placed shot. It was a threat great enough to affray most of their enemies but… not them apparently. He had been doing this job for the last ten years; well… since he left military school. More than once he had seen great fleets come in their range, showing their vehemence and their eagerness to fight. Often a few warning shots of smaller canons were enough to make them flea, sometime he had to go a step further and shot down one of their ship. Every time he had to use the great life claimer he knew his kind's future depended of it but today he doubted. This lone ship cruising near his planet looked like no threat of any kind. Sure it had canons but they seemed more to be there to say "hey we can fight back…" more than to attack them. They didn't even seem to want to attack them; they just scanned the surface from high above. But orders were orders and he had to bow, silence his doubts and obey.

"Attention please!" shouted a honeyed feminine voice in the speakers "The sergeant VanHevreyk is demanded in the strategic conference room." "Duty's call…" he chuckled with irony.

He headed toward the said room, walking in empty and dead silent corridor. The strategic planetary defense base Omega eight was a huge underground complexes was a real hive of life in normal time but today it was like empty but he knew everyone was working; the silence was just, replacing the usual background noise they all made, like their work absorbed them so much they forgot to talk.

When he turned in another corridor he found himself facing a huge door. He put his Identity card before the reader. The door moved in the wall with a muffed hiss. He entered. The room was austere: bare concrete walls, computers and advanced technology everywhere, a large meeting table in the center and a giant map of their planet floating above it all faces turned in his direction. He answered by a light bow and walked to the only empty chair around the table.

"Now that everyone is here we can start." said a man on the opposite side of the table "Establish connection"

Several holographic portraits materialized before them. "How is the operation going?" asked the first one with a deep tone. "Target has been successfully destroyed commander." answered the base's chief. "Perfect… survivors?" "We're scanning the surface… we're waiting for results." "Debris?" "Only minor ones… we're locating them right now and we'll send team to recover them." "Perfect…" repeated the deep gravelly voice.

The conversation kept going on for five minutes until a soldier handed Dereck several photography "Scanner's result in area Zeta 8, Bravo 10 and Charli 28." whispered the man. "Thanks."

He observed them for a while, a smile curling his lips as he noticed a myriad of red points on each of them. "Commander!" he called letting the pictures slide on the glass table. "These are the scan results… they reveal an important number of alien presence in the designated areas." he said. "How many?" grumbled the voice, the holographic face lowering to glaze at them. "Two hundred and seventy four." answered the soldier next to him." "Must I send extermination units?" asked the base's chief. "Could be… preferable…"

"Sir… I have an idea that I'd like to submit to this assembly…" interrupted Dereck, trembling nervously. "Then speak Sergeant… we're all listening to you…" "I recommend a new approach…" "Develop please."

"Well… sir… I've been observing this ship for quite a while and I…. You are going to find it awkward but… I think it's not a threat to us." "Are you discussing orders sergeant?" hissed a general. "No… not at all. What I say is that we have seen invasion forces before in the past. They were giant fleets with ships powerful enough to obliterate us in one hit. We know all of our enemies yet their technology doesn't match with anything we've faced before." "They stayed unresponsive to our calls." objected someone" "Did they even received them? Did they understand them?" retorted Dereck. "They backfired when we gave them a last warning." "Who wouldn't have reacted the same way? Beside their canons only did minor damages to our lands. It's barely more than a scratch." "It doesn't change the thing. It's an act of war." "Allow me to doubt that sir. We know how powerful our enemies are. Them; even after a full volley of their canon they did almost no damage to us, we have no casualties and no worrying damages. Beside that their technology is unknown to us." adds Dereck, tipping on a tiny computer attached to his wrist. Instantly a precise picture of the space ship appears over the table, turning again and again, showing first the side, then the front, the other side and the back of the ship. "We can't deny they have weapons but apparently nothing dreadful." adds Dereck "These canons are pee guns." he explains, zooming in rotating turrets equipped with rows of small machine guns then moves to other turrets armed of larger canons. "These are defensive armament. And these…" he shouted, exposing lines of larger turrets of two dangerous looking canons "…are the canons they used to replicate. But they didn't use any dangerous munition, just, piercing shells." "You mean that their canon just dug holes in our soil?" asked a woman with an obvious surprise "Exactly Madame. Finally… I'll say that the only real dangers they had on board where this…" he said, showing an energy scan image of the ship.

This time it revealed a large cylinder constantly pounding energy, placed in the center of the ship. "It looks like a class eight energy canon but they were in no position to use it. They would have to be facing us. Then… there are these high velocity weapons, probably missiles." He explained showing long tubes located in the cargo hold. They could count at least fifty. Some other were placed along the ship's flanks "but none of them were armed. And… the best for the end. We located dozens of unidentified creatures. They appear to be cold blooded creatures… made of non-organic materials." "Robots?" asked a man with glasses. "No electric residue" "Androids maybe." "They seem to wear augmentation devices but none of them are innate." "Can I see these pictures?" asked the woman. "Sure… here it is…"

After a long minute of silence the woman said "It seems to be clones, or at least synthetic beings."

Everyone around the table grimaced. "What do you suggest sergeant?" asked the woman, her eyes glued to his face. "I think a shift in our tactics could be appropriate." "Expose your idea…" grumbled the commander. "I simply think we shouldn't exterminate them; not now at least." "Why?" "Well… simply have you ever seen that flag? Or these markings? Or these call sign?" He yelled, showing different pictures. "Well… no…" admitted the commander. "So… I suggest we take precautions and just set watch upon them; observe their actions in order to know better what are their intentions before taking any decisions." "So you suggest crossing our arms and let these unknown creatures roam around our world unpunished?" "Not exactly. My plan is to; like you said let them move around almost freely. The word almost is important because we're constantly going to be on their back, always keeping an eye on them and if they show any sign of aggressively then we'll act as we previously planned." "Sargent VanHevreyk could you tell us your personal opinion on the situation." "Well… I think… they are no threat to us. For me they look like explorers or scavengers in search of resources. If they were invaders they would have attacked way before and wouldn't have come in such a way."

A long silence followed his words. "If the sergeant is right it could be a great opportunity for our kind. Perhaps we could conclude an accord, maybe an alliance with them." "You know miss Swighraz that it won't come without a price." "Well… it would be our job to make sure the price to pay is equal to what they can offer in exchange."

"Accepted…" sighed the commander. A smirk curled Dereck's lips again. He knew he had won. "This meeting is now over. Sergeant VanHevreyk you're put in charge of the operation. You will receive your mission orders in a few minutes and you will only refer to me. All means will be given to you to take care of these… wanderers." "Thank sure… I won't fail you I promise."

He left the room with a satisfied grin on his face and came back to his office.

A few minutes later a sound came disturbing the silence of qhe room as a synthetic voice advised "Sir you've received a message in your inbox." "Show it to me." he answered, swallowing a mouthful of a disgusting coffee. "Decrypting the message… please wait."

Before his eyes several pages appeared on his screen. The first wore the mention he had always dreamed to see "CONFIDENTIAL"

The first pages were the usual advices so he skipped them, directly going to the juicy bits.

Mission commander: Dereck VanHevreyk

Age: 30

Grade: sergeant

Mission call name: DAMOCLES

Confidentiality level: Alpha.

Mission objective: Identify survivors of crashed ship, know their intentions and take adequate decision.

Means available: all means available.

Personal given: All personal needed.

Important information: Temporarily gradating to captain for the duration of the operation.

Referring person: Commander Vaillant M. Dickinson. Great commander of the united armies of the pact.

The rest was a pretty standard briefing he read through in no time.

He had just closed the folder and like it was said inside deleted it that someone tried to contact him.

"Sir… you have an entering call from Miss Swighraz." "Put her in… but first put us on a secured channel." "Understood… stand by while I encrypt the call."

A few seconds later her feminine voice filled an almost headphone he had been wearing all along. "Hi miss Swighraz what can I do for you?" "Oh shut up Dereck. Don't bother me with protocol." "Ahah… sorry mom…" re laughed happily.

"Anyway I'm happy you finally got to put your balls on the table and go against these stupid militaries and I'm proud it's you who is in charge of this mission." "Yes me too…. I'm finally gonna move my ass from that office." She giggled amusingly. "But… Dereck be honest with me. Tell me what is your point of view on all this shit?" "Well… I really think we did something wrong and that we should have talked before acting." "That's my son." she shouted with pride in her voice. "I hope we won't have to kill them… they look so promising." sighed Dereck, throwing another look at the scanner's data. "Yes… we could afford some help." he nodded in agreement. "They're foolish if they think themselves in safety behind their canons and protection domes. Our enemies will get through one day or another and if we keep acting like this we will be alone against their forces." he whispered. "It's why we absolutely need to keep them alive." grumbled his mother. "Yes… but mother… if they attack us I'll have no choice better than to pull the trigger to." "I know… I just hope it won't happen." "Me too… but we don't know a damn thing about them." "Language might be a problem." admitted his mother "but I think you'll find a solution." "I hope so mom… I hope so."

Another noise came disturbing him. "Sir someone is trying to connect should I let him in?" "Yes… sorry mom… have to go… you know… duty's call." "I know… will see you when it will be over."

He cut the first conversation and opened the second. Just before he gave the IA a last command "Keep the encryption level at maximum for now. I want to be sure no one is listening." "As you wish sir…" answered the voice.

The next second the face of a soldier materialized before him. "What do you want soldier?" "Sir Soldier Creigh requesting orders." Dereck took some time to think then answered calmly. "Contact the surveillance division; tell them we need complete control over their drones and send them all to the locations. I'll send you the coordinates in a second. Also… take as many soldiers as you can; put them in combat ship and send them to the same coordinates but tell the ships to stay in cloak and mask their signal. Also tell every soldier to take a camouflage outfit." "Roger sir. Do you have any other orders?" "Yes… give me a ship and bring me to the operation theatre. I want to see it by myself." "Well sir… we're already waiting for you in the hangar." answered the soldier. "I'll be here in two minute, get everything ready we'll be leaving in five."

He put an end to the conversation and; after grabbing his own personal riffle left his office. He ran in the silent corridor; hos steps echoed in these empty corridors every time his reinforced boots smacked the concrete surface. He did several stop; a first in the armory to complete his equipment; a second in the cafeteria to swallow a burning hot coffee that made him grimace, and a last stop in the tactical room to grab a few belongings he would need: a map of the designated areas; and some other papers boring and soon thrown in a bin. He arrived in a giant elevator; he selected the last; the highest floor of the base. The door closed; metal plates slamming hard in a loud sound that made him tremble every time. The ascension was slow; like the machine had trouble pulling him higher. He waited; nervously playing with a small retractable knife he always kept near him; in case of. Finally; after an eternity of hisses and loud metallic noises the doors opened again on a large departing bay. Here; under the brightness fo the sun and the azure blue sky ships were taking off; landing; flying; crossing the sky in all direction like an immense hive of bees; bees made of steel and armed to the teeth. Dereck looked around; he always loved this place; the constant activity; the people running from ship to ship for quick maintenance check; the soldiers and crew taking place inside in the blink of an eye all in the constant roars of the engines. "Sir" shouted someone. Dereck looked around until he noticed someone running in his direction. He was wearing the usual outfit of a pilot; had his helmet screwed on his head; hiding everything except his mouth and was making large signs in his direction. Dereck stepped out of the elevator cabin; the cold air whipped his face as the heavy scent of engine's exhaust and fuel assaulted his nose. He snarled; walking unsurely under the powerful gusts all ships created. The guy met up with him in no time. "We were waiting for you sir… follow me we're about to take off!" yelled the man to cover the loud noises surrounding them. He designated a ship; a large thing all in shiny white painted metal; from here it looked slick and perfect; a pure beauty. The thing was arrow shaped, the cockpit at the front in a spherical part with under the black maws of some canons; behind stood the main part from which protruded a long staircase descending to the ground. The ship was powered by four powerful engines mounted in the back under what Dereck guessed were the control surfaces. The pilot led him to the beast and invited him to come inside, the hot air of the engines blooming at their face. Once on top the pilot yelled in his microphone "CLOSING BAY!" "Roger sir…" replied another voice. Under Dereck's eyes the long metal strip retracted inside the ship as two large panels slit where it was; sealing the ship.

"Much better" sighed the pilot. "So sir… where are we going?" Dereck smiled; adrenaline shouting in his veins; excitement tensing his muscles. It had been so long since he had been on terrain; leading something or being part of a real operation and now he discovered again these forgotten sensation of being the hunter and not the small rat hiding under layers of concrete. He thought for a few seconds; pondering which the wisest choice was. "Charli 28" he answered; stepping in the ship.

…

Meanwhile in the base Dereck just left a soldier observed his screens with an air of fatigue and bore. The scanners were restlessly analyzing each square centimeter of dirt; of each three yet they had not found all the fallen pieces. The guy grumbled under his breath, changing a mode; going to another area; trying different method yet nothing paid off. The scanners only showed green, and green, and greener. "It must be somewhere…" he whispered pestered by the lack of results. He slammed his paw in the virtual keyboard that dissolved under the blow just to reappear right away. Suddenly a loud "bip" filled the silence. The guy's eyes went wide in the instant; going over each screen to locate the source of the pesky noise. When he found it he had to use all the self-control to not shout out in happiness. ON the last screen on his right there was something. The scanners showed a large lump of metal crashed in high millenary trees. The soldier quickly entered some commands to locate the wreckage. His smile vanished; this piece of debris was far from the rest; in a remote area: "India 4" he grumbled… "That’s gonna be more complicated." He scratched his head and sent his report to his commander.

……

Dereck was sitting in a comfortable seat located on the side of the ship as it flew rapidly over the lands. The only sound that filled the air beside the few communications with the pilot and tee control center was the low rumble of the engine propelling the ship forward over the green dome of the forest. In front of him in the quite spall transport ship stood a holographic screen displaying several information’s at the same time: the position of every ship forming the fleet in charge of the operation, the exact locations of the major pieces of debris and several moving point corresponding to the scattered survivors the radars could locate under the natural cover of the thicker jungle of the region where they crashed.

In his minds tones of question were swirling. What would these new strangers look like? What were their intentions? If he showed up with his men and all their war equipment what would they do? What approach should he adopt? Make contact instantly or wait, use his ships to set watch upon them and observe what they would do in the future. At this exact instant a loud blip reached his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. On the screen before him a little square blinked. He opened it. He had a message from a friend of his, one of the men in charge of the radar scanning. He secured the channel and opened the communication window. A fox muzzle appeared in the middle of his screen two amber eyes staring at him in the luminescence of the computers around him. "What do you have for me?" asked Dereck without preamble. "Well… it's… more… complicated than we thought. The radar found other wreckage… big ones… I'm sending you the new locations but we keep getting more of these." "What does it mean for you?" "That we've got a possible little army on our planet." "Great… thank for your help Greg. If you find yew locations could you send them directly please?" "Yes… I can do that." "I'll give you a secured channel to send them to me."

He cut the communication. The map before him blurred before widening, showing much larger zone where yew red cross added up, forming a wider circle around the supposed point of impact. "Great… more garbage to clean." he thought, imagining all these melted, twisted, scorched metal fragments staining the emerald beauty of the great forest; one of the jewels of this planet. "Ok pilot plan changing!" he shouted.

………

Pain; weakness; twisting and buzzing sounds coming from everywhere at the same time. Nick's eyes slowly open, only showing him a red veil. His brain only sends him more pain, leaving him unaware of everything around him. Is he even alive? His constant pain shooting through his body seems to point to that answer. Yes… apparently he is alive… but in what shape? Is he injured? Dying? He doesn't know. Above all of these questions one remains: where the fuck is he? He listen carefully, catching something like an alarm ringing, a really bad sounding one: the evacuation call. An evacuation call? suddenly his mind clears, memories flush back to him. The CRS Hope… the long journey in space… the assault from the planet they were cruising near… Lyam!

A new strength fills his muscles. He tries to move a hand; it reacts just has it expected it. The other does just the same. His legs and feet seem to work properly. He tries to move his left arm. Strangely something denies him that motion. Something heavy, pressing down on him, crushing him into the cold metallic floor. What is it? A piece of the ship's structure that broke and landed on top of him. A furniture or a pod that broke his supports and fell to the ground? Or even a wall that could have been blown by the impact or an eventual explosion. Whatever this is the consequence is that half of his body is paralyzed by it. Did this thing broke something in his fall, something important like a rib or caused any other grave injury that he cannot feel. He doesn't know. Using is only valid harm he pads at the cold ground around him. Only metal, a metal soaked in a strange substance. "Hydraulic liquid." he suspects. At this exact moment something dribbles on his face. Well… he realizes something is dribbling on his face. It looks like a pipe that was above the roof of his room broke in the crash and is now emptying his content on him. He grimaces these fluids are toxic if he doesn't get out of here immediatly he could die from this. Yet… there's an awkward detail, these liquids were usually white or translucent, not a crimson red like this, neither do they have that that scent. He reaches out above him with a hand, probing the large thing above him. It feels cold and kinda slick, covered of the same red liquid. Once he prods forward, dipping his finger in a crack he receives a powerful electrical shock. He gasps, pulling his hand away, catching a smell of melted flesh. "Oh great… an electrical panel." he sighs. "What else could I ask for?" he grumbles.

He raises his head, looking around the room. Everything has been is destroyed, metal plates twisted and ripped apart, exposing shredded edges sharpened like razorblades. Sparkles ignite, raining down on the ground below, coming from mangled cables that look like black and thick tentacles falling from the roof. An alarm kept screaming in the background but the sound was somehow fucked up; it made ear splitting spiking noises before going down to some sort of low whine. A red light shined intermittently in the room, coming from one of the only emergency light remaining alive, basking the room in a dim trembling red light.

Another detail catches his attention: from the metal panel crushing him drips a steady stream of the same red liquid. "This is weird." With his only free hand Nick wipes the red liquid of his face, yet more keeps raining down on him. "So… let's see… I'm stuck… defenseless… in an unknown world… I have no way to get myself out of under this thing and I have no weapon. I don't even know if I'm in one piece." Nick waits for a few seconds and takes a deep breath. "Hmmm… at least the air it breathable… that's a good news."

Suddenly the room begins to shake, twisted metal crackling, plates cascading from the roof, rivets flying through space, turned into deadly projectiles. The roof above him opens like a can, metal parting in a apocalyptic sound, revealing an immensity of green. A green… something so green that it took Nick a few seconds to ponder if he is alive or lost in delirium at the brink of death. "Great that thing is collapsing… what worst can happen?"

At his words translucent droplets fell from the splitting roof, forming puddles in the holes of the floor, puddles that kept growing, overflowing of the tiny holes, spreading everywhere in the room. Some rained on Nick's face; it was light and cold and dripped on his cheek, giving it quite a slippery feeling. He collects some on aa fingertip, observing the alien substance. It had an unusual whitish color and had an odd smell. "What's that thing?… puah…" he spat, a droplet had landed on his tongue as he finished his sentence. Even after spitting the thing away in a big globe of drool the taste remained. It had the same weird taste. "What's that… nasty thing?"

Above him thunder covered the wincing of the metal as a white flash lightened the sky. "A… a storm… so… that must be rain…" he supposed, slightly relieved as the whitish substance now steadily rained down everywhere. Even though the awful flavor remained on his tongue he was relieved. Thankfully the damaged ship was full of hole which worked as a makeshift evacuation system for all the water, leaving only five millimeters of water inside. Nick kept glazing at the colored rain. "Well… at least I won't die from dehydration."

Stering at this white fluid pouring from the widely opened roof made a surprising memory come back to him. This white fluid reminded him of something else, something that had any link with his current situation. He saw himself back in the ship when it could be called so with someone else; someone that wasn't human, someone covered of shimmering splendid gold and black scales. A knot formed in his throat. "… Lyam…". He remembered the la^;t events, how he was forced to live several days with the cloned creature. How lewd he was on his own sexuality, careless he was about the others. He still remembered the many times he saw him pleasuring himself carelessly. It was rather fun though; and… shameful for him. And… the final, the apotheoses of this embarrassing journey; that time when they were stuck in the same room with Lyam undergoing some sort of sex crave of his. He closed his eyes, behind his eyelids he saw like it was happening again Lyam sprawled on his back, his hard draconic member surging with orgasmic delight as it convulsed between the thick ropes of seed it shot. He could hear his sweet moans of pure pleasure as he was rocked by him; nick, a human.

"Lyam!" he called. No answer. "Hey Lyam are you there buddy?!" he said again, almost shouting. Once again no aanswer came. Was he even there anymore? Was he… just alive? "Eh… Lyam… if you're here and… capable of doing so… make me a sign… I don't know… something?"

No sound, no voice, not even a gust of air. "Must be dead…" he whispered to himself "or… or perhaps he just ran out after the crash thinking I was probably dead with that thing over me."

He looked around again; water was till streaming from the roof, pouriog over the walls and floor. Another detail came back to his mind. A few seconds before he passed away, as the ship was about to be disintegrated by that second canon shot he remembered what Lyam did; the last words he said "I love you…"

"Why did he say that?". At that exact second a loud crack echoed through the room. "What now?". The ship began to shake on its remaining foundations. Nick felt a strange change in the wreckage position, everything glided to the left around him. Maybe the ship was on an unstable ground like mud or just tangled in thick tree branches that were breaking under its weight. "Great… if I fall now… I won't survive this… just… fucking great."

Instead everything stabilized again. "It's… weird."

Something slowly drips on his face, mixing to the rain. "Oh god what no… oh shit!" he shouted, his eyes bulging out at the scene unveiling before his eyes. From the hole in the roof appeared long lianas that drop into the room, forming a weirder greenish net over him. "What are these things?" In an instant they've scooper forward, attaching to the roof. The first dangly thing suddenly tense, twisting the metal, folding it like it was thin paper. "Damn… these plants are tough." At the unbearable sound of shredded metal came from above, bouncing on every wall, amplifying until it became too much for his ears. "Ahh… noise complain…" he grumbles. "Damn… my eardrums; just what are these things trying to do?"

At the same instant his wandering gaze met the roof, or what was left of it. The metal had been entirely torn apart, leaving a large opening for the sun light to flow inside. ""Damn… that's how it feels to be in a can."

Slowly… the same low rumbling sound came back, louder than before. "I don't like this."

He tried to locate the source of that sound that made him tremble in fear. His eyes fell on something that he hadn't noticed before: a tree root spurting from the ground in the middle of the white pool. "That… wasn't there before… where does it come from?"

A light cracking sound attracted his gaze toward the roof again. There, a vision of horror awaited him. The gap was entirely filled by the same roots or branches or whatever they were. The outgrowth of nature was brand new for him; he had never seen anything like this. The plants were crawling all over the walls and floor, forming an inextricable vegetal web; all the vines tangled together, trying to dig treir way in the mess of vines to dip in the water. Slowly yet surely all vines found a place in the water, forming several layers of endlessly moving things. "Great… now these plants are invading this place. What a disappointing way to die… killed by alien plants; sounds as shitty as it looks."

He was right the plants were not only extending their wooden tentacles toward him but grew in thickness and number, taking all the available space in the room, until even the hole in the roof was only a swarming mass of alien tree knotted together.

Suddenly another sound made him look the other way, toward the door which was more a squashed piece of steel locked in the badly damaged doorframe. Yet… behind that said door he could hear a familiar noise, a sound he didn't expect to hear anymore: footsteps, in the corridor; not a random person walking by. He could recognize that sound even in darkness: the characteristically sound of a soldier's steel boots clacking on the floor. "Hey is there someone out there?"

The walking person stopped. "Nah… might just be my brain playing tricks." grumbled Nick.

In a loud banging sound the door flew through the room, the center molten, the edges curved following an awkward angle. It stopped its course in the opposite wall, crushing a good amount of vines that stood on its way. The thing began leaking green ooze that once it entered in contact with a solid surface began to melt it.

"Hey inside keep your head down. Nick saw a small cylinder fly before him, bouncing on a wall before vanishing in the white pool. Several other plops indicate that whoever is coming to his rescue he seemed to know how to deal with these things… or did he.

Flames sprang from the puddle, assaulting the plants, turning the vines to ashes in an instant red sparkles ignited as the vines melted, catching fire and transmitting it to another in the blink of an eye. The room soon became a fiery inferno of scorching vines. The rest escaped quickly, avoiding the ravenous fire spreading below. "Nice for the help… but I don't know if been melted alive is a better way to die!" "Chill out it's gonna extinguish itself in a sec."

He was right, like someone had switched it off it had vanished, only leaving black clouds of smoke behind. "Area cleared." "Ok hurry up we don't have much time before these things come back." answer another.

Nick watches in relief as two men step in the room, one looking around, holding a riffle equipped with a grenade launcher. The other seems to be wearing an exo armor and holds a large pipe section like it was a blade. "Good to see you guys!" he shouts in utter relief. "Me too sergeant." replies the one with a rifle. Nick finally recognizes one of his men and other guy must be someone of the maintenance team. "What the fuck was that?" "We don't know and we don't have time to explain now. First we must move you from under that thing." "I wouldn't mind." "You heard the sergeant get him out of there." "Ok ok… I'm on it." "Go easy with that thing… we don't know if he is injured." "I know relax."

The guy named Bruce slowly and carefully pushes the heavy thing on the side, freeing his limbs one by one. Nick grimaces when blood flows normally in the numb members. "Damn… these fucking debris… thought I was gonna stay there eternally, thank you guys I own you one." "It's only our duty sir." "But sir… that… that wasn't some debris which stuck you sir." "What do you mean?" "You… you'd better look by yourself."

Nick turned his gaze in the other direction while still trying to clean his armors of tree fragments. "Holy…" he backed away. Before him, what he had been immobilized under for hours was no plate fallen from the roof neither an electric box. It was simply Lyam… or what was left of him. The dragon couldn't be alive anymore, he was only a pile of scales and flesh coated in its blood and spewing sparkles from his augments. The sight of this discarded body made Nick guts knot; he felq like fainting. Lyam seemed to have been ripped of everything. Several part of his body had lost all the skin and flesh protecting it, exposing the whitish bones. Other deep wounds exposed layers of melted flesh and muscles. Some parts had lost everything, unveiling a complex network of cables and wiring attached directly to his organs and veins, leading to some advanced yet badly damaged mechanic.

His face was in the same state, long gashes covered his neck and forehead, his expression was a grimace of the purest pain he had ever seen. His maw was shredded too, his bones and muscles exposed even there. "Man… that's… gross." mumbled Nick. "He can't have survived this." grumbles the guy with the pipe, giving Lyam a gentle nudge with his makeshift weapon. "Or if he did he probably succumbed due to blood loss." "That's an horrible way to die." "Yes… thought these things could resist anything… it appears we have found their breaking point." "That's not funny." hissed Nick. "I think he… somehow took the blow for you sir." "You mean…" "Yes… without him you'd be dead."

Nick stared in shock at Lyam, his heart squeezed tight by sorrow. He had survived but the dragon he had come to like was dead, sacrificing himself to save his life. To what cost? "Your sacrifice won't be vain my friend"…" he whispered, putting a hand on the blood drenched scales of Lyam's flanks. Instantly he pulled back, he had felt something, something that wasn't right. He dared to repeat his move and felt the same thing: a rhythmic pounding. "No… no it can't be." he focused harder on that feeling. He had no doubt anymore what he felt could only be the beating of a heart. "He… he is still alive." "What!? Sir that's impossible; you must be having some hallucination." "No I swear I felt his heart beat." The two guys frown in his direction, but the one with the armor risks a hand forward. "No… no he is right I can feel it to." "Wait you mean…" "He is still alive."

The unanimated body before them spasmed violently. Brutally Lyam's eyes burst wide open as he inhales sharply, like he was doing some sort of apnea. "Damn… he managed to survive this!" screamed the guy with the riffle. "Tougher than you expected huh?" "Yes… how can he be still breathing in that state?" "I don't have a clue." "Could it be…"

Nick crossed the gaze of the soldier "a power core." "A what?" asked the soldier, keeping Lyam in his aim sight. "A generator which keeps the vital functions even if the body can't sustain it. It's some sort of death cheating if you Will." "That's awesome! Why don't we have the same kind of stuff?" "Too expensive for the army." grunted Nick. "And… who long can this core function?" "As long as it is undamaged." "That's some quality stuff." "And… what do we do now?" "Well… his body looks kinda damaged and… even with the core keeping him alive he won’t go far like this." "I know… what can we no?" "Let me think… we can't heal him here?" "No and we don't have the material to heal him. Beside we must go before these things come out." "They don't give up that easily."

Nick thought, how could he help Lyam before it was too late. "If only we had some of these nanobots… these things would set him back on his paws in no time." "Of course the hive!" he shouted, clacking his fingers "he has a nanobot hive." "Good news man but since the core is activated they must have been turned to default settings to save energy so they won't help us that much." "Hmmm… have you found any electronic system around here?" "Nah only you." "But… I think another team recovered a few terminals and hard drives so… maybe…" suggested the guy with the pipe. "And why would we carry that thing around? It's not like he is much use to us. I've heard that some others managed to find several clones and equipped them with some really nasty armament." "Agreed… and he is damn heavy for such a small thing gonna be a pain to carry."

"Hmm… let me think… what did the other found?" "Clones… weapons… some medical supplies… and some fabrication units." "Did you find some of the higher ranked crewmen, someone with an alpha authorization?" "No why?" "Because without them you won't be able to open the fabricators." "Shit he is right." grumbled the one with the pipe. "To what I know… the officer's module has been obliterated during the attack; for now we have found no survivors." admitted the guy with the riffle, scratching the back of his head. "Then we need him alive" replied Nick in a harsh tone, leaving no room for protests. "Why?" "He has an Alpha access." "What!" they both exclaimed "Why?" "Don't ask I don't know, I just saw he had one." "Damn… that makes him a priority." "Yep so hurry up and leave that god damn place." "I'm good with that I'll carry him." "I'll cover you give me a weapon." replied Nick. The other handed him a rather large handgun. "Careful the trigger is a bit sensitive." "I've got it weapons have no secret for me."

The other guys nodded as the first guy charged Lyam a bit roughly on his back. Lyam hiccupped and unleashed a torrent of blood on the soldier's back. "Please don't tell me he threw up?" "No it's just blood." "Thankfully I'm not carrying that thing." huffed the other, throwing his colleague a disgusted glare. "You know if you want we can switch roles." "No thank I'm way better with my riffle."

Tre ship shook violently, the poor light diminishing even more as more sparkles rained down on them. The walls and floor started rounding, metal howling as it was torn apart. "Shit they're coming back! Run!"

They coursed down the ravaged hallway, the walls frushing behind them, living place to giant tree roots. "Shit they're really angry." "No really; remind me how much of them you just burned." "Forget about that you two gutsacks and run."

A long run later a square of light appeared in the breaking apart vessel. "Jump!" roared the first one before doing it, showing the example. They followed; panting as they glided on thick knotty tree trunks slickened by the constant outpour of rain. "Too close… way too close." panted Nick. They looked up to the sound of metal twisting to see the huge piece of their ship being torn apart like it had been nothing, reduced in shreds by the furious forest. "Well… at least I guess we won't have to worry any longer about the forest." "If only you were true man… if only."

With an apocalyptic sound the shredded parts of the ship sank into the mud. "Where are all the others?" "We've split up; we should come back to our base camp and see if we can heal him." "Great idea; lead the way." "Sure Sir… but be careful the forest is full of wicked traps." "We can literally say it has some tricks up its sleeves." "That was shitty as hell."

………

"Are you kidding me!" roared Dereck, walking around the table in the small ship heading at max speed to one of the new locations he had received; throwing pissed of looks to the holographic showing an embarrassed scientist showing a strange lizard like face. "I can't believe this! Are you telling me it's raining?" "Well… latest weather reports show… an important amount of it… in the sectors you're heading." "Why wasn't I warned of that earlier?" "Well… the report… just arrived to us sir." "Great… send it to me." he grumbled. "It's already done Captain… you should have received it by now."

A blip coming from the screen gave weight to his words. "Thanks…" he rumbled, cutting the communication short.

"Sir we're arriving on zone." warned the pilot. "Ok I want a live feed of the wreckages when you'll locate them." "Understood…"

He sat back in his seat; observing the rain by the window. His mission just got more complex now that the jungle was messing around. He knew the devastating effects the rain had on the crawling nature expending below him. At the first sign of water the entire nature would flare, awaiting and, when the sweet liquid came the already chaotic jungle would become an impenetrable web of trees extending everything they could to get their fill of the life elixir. "Like the situation wasn't already too messy already." "Sir we're on target, right above it. The live feed is available on your screen right now." "Thanks comrade pilot." "Your welcome."

Dereck takes a more comfortable position in his seat, agitating his digits before tee screen. In an instant the image has shifted, showing the piece of wrecked ship suspended to three branches, filling with rainwater thanks to a large hole in the roof of it. "If there's someone inside we can already call him dead." "Sir we're detecting a temperature increase." "What?" A second later flames sprang from the roof, roots retreating to not being melted. "Damn… that's one hell of a way to get rid of these." "No Sir it will just hold them back for some time. Fire is not the good solution at all." "We'll see."

Like the pilot warned the roots came back in full force, tearing through the ship like it was paper, pulling away huge portions of metal as they sink their way deeper inside. A strange detail catches his attention; three shadows jumping from a hole and gliding to the ground. "Hmmm… they managed to escape… impressive… they have some guts I admit." "Or just luck."

In silence he observes the group walking away in the forest, disappearing in between trees, covered by the thick green canopy. In a loud sound their wrecked ship fragment has been destroyed. "Ok… for reports all debris in the areas where it's raining can be considered as destroyed." "Understood." answer the third man in the small ship, a mouse looking thin man quickly entering things in a small tablet. "Pilot, make a ninety degree turn left." "Roger."

As the ship did it's maneuvers Dereck turned his focus to the camera pointed toward the ground, sending him a perfectly clear picture of the flickering foliage where the strangers had disappeared. "Loop back ten seconds ago."

The record went backward, showing the unknowns like they were getting out of the bushes. "Stop." he ordered. The picture froze instantly. Everyone in the cockpit became silent, all gazing at the slightly troubled picture. "Am I dreaming?" whispered the mouse looking man, his tablet on the brink of falling from hs shaking hands. "No you're not…" mumbled Dereck, the same tremor spreading through his body. "Pilot visual confirmation."

Instantly the ship moved to another spot to intercept the three newcomers. The pilot stabilized his ship above one of the rares wells of light in the ever so thick green rooftop. A minute or two later the three went by. "Are we in cloak mode?" "Yes sir cloak engaged." "Perfect… they shall be here… right now."

Like they had been waiting his words the aliens came out of their hiding beneath the cover of the tree, stepping into the light. The first one was wearing some sort of soldier suit and helmet, pointing his riffle in all directions before him. The second wore a bulky exoskeleton and was playing with a twisted pipe. The last one was circling the area with his pistol. His gaze rose toward the sky, scrutinizing the grey blue clouds. "Hehe… smart…"

The last one ordered something and they ran to cover again. However this time everyone saw what the second one was carrying on his bag like a sack. "It… it can be…" mumbles the third guy in the ship, wiping the sweat away from his white fur. "No way…" whispers Dereck, falling back in his seat. He took a long minute to think and put everything back together. "There's no way it's real." "Sir… I'm waiting for orders." "We… we need to report back to command… that changes everything…" mumbles Dreeck, trembling in anticipation. "This mission just got even better."

A wide smile stretched over his lips, adrenaline filled his blood. "These strangers are full of surprises."

He looked at the forest again, at the exact spot where they disappeared in the vegetation. "We'll keep following them, activate thermic sensors and let's keep a constant surveillance on this group. Contact the other ship and tell them to follow groups if they form other; we must see what they're gonna do now." "Understood Sir."

………

Walking in that ever moving jungle was an exhausting trial. Nick stopped, leaning on a tree to catch his breath. Before him the two other had stopped too, one watching Lyam that he had thrown on the ground. "Hmmm… it's strange… I don't even understand how he can still be alive with all these injuries."

Nick turned his gaze toward the shredded corps, his guts tightening again. Lyam's breathing was irregular, yet slow, full of bloody gurgles. Their long walk through the mess of roots and lianas had unfold the true danger of this land: there were places where hid tones of unknown bugs and other creatures; dark looking ponds everywhere, making the whole jungle look more like a swamp. In those said pools Nick had noticed more than one fishes and eels like creatures that didn't look sympathetic to him. During the journey Lyam had awoken several times. Well… awake was a big word His eyes would just open, showing hazy irises. A few words would slip from his gaping maws, mixed with loud disgusting gurgling sounds. More blood spilling from his mouth as he spoke before drifting back into coma. "Men these things do a great job of keeping him alive." "Yeah so sad we can't help." "You're right." "Then let's hurry up and bring him to that camp you've talked about." "Yeah… but I'm not sure if he'll make it… could be nice if I could check the records." "Records?" "His vital signs are saved and analyzed by a control unit directly linked to the core, so it calculates the power it must deliver." "I see. Could you do the check?" "I have the gears for that… well… almost all of them." "Seriously?" "Well… I only need a wire… and to find the connection port." "Can't you use wireless connection?" "Nah the antenna is fucked up." "Great." "Hold on didn't you said you found wires in a case?" "Yeah… I did take them if I remember right." "Give them to me."

The first guys let his backpack fall to the ground, opening it wide for the other to give a look. "Found it!" he yells victoriously, pulling out a thick black cable "and… the port is… rather exposed."

With precise gestures he connects the cable to his own arm. Instantly a small screen showed up, displaying a pentagon like logo holding a red glowing bit. "A pentech gear… damn… that's some crazy stuff."

Just under the logo a few lines appeared

Powered by

Granver LABS FTD department.

"The Future Technology Development… so that's some sort of prototype." "It's what it looks like" confirmed the guy "now let's see what we have exactly."

In a second the screen went entirely red as a picture of Lyam's body appeared, covered of glowing warning signs. "Damn… that makes a lot of damages to the structure…" "Really… I hadn't noticed." ironized the other.

In seconds he had entered the settings and was typing hundreds of code lines. "Yep it's a prototype and not a small one,; this thing has tone of energy in stock." "How do you know about that?" "We all had lives before we entered that silly expedition." "Anyway… can you do something?" "I can… I just hope there are no security programs in there."

They remained silent, observing him work hard on the complex codes. "Here we go… I hope it's not too damaged."

"What are you doing exactly?" "Just reprograming the nanobots to heal the major wounds and stop hemorrhage. However I don't know how long my little tweaking will work." "So we’ve got to hurry then. Come on let's move!"

………

"Can you confirm this information?" asked the commander, shaking his head in disbelief. "Yes sir… we have captured a video showing it." "Great… that situation is getting more complicated by the minute." sighed the general. "With this new finding the whole affair is getting out of hand." grumbled the commander. Dereck was staring at the two holograms, holding to the edge of the table before him. "Do you have any idea of what it means?" asked Miss Swighraz, nervously looking away. "Surely I do. We have no right to attack them anymore." growled the commander. "Not unless they attack us first." replied Dereck. "Yes but the diplomatic situation is getting tensed again." "What diplomatic situation?" "I've made some research since I've been warned and it appears the presence of the creature if confirmed we'll be in trouble." "What do you mean?" "I've found traces of some ancient accords we signed too." "So you mean…?" "As long as they have him we can't even point a gun to their face." "There's still an incoherent detail. The last one of these having been seen in the system was several centuries, maybe a millennium ago." "I may have the answer to that question. I suspect they have replication technology?" "Explain yourself." ordered the commander. "We've already noticed they have similar looking creature but they appear to only be replicas." "You mean clones." "Exactly." confirmed Dereck, finding some composure "however the one we've seen is also the one disrupting our scanners. However even the disturbances aren’t powerful enough to mask a difference in his signature." "What do you think commander?" asked Miss Swighraz. “I don’t know… captain VanHevreyk could you explain what you mean by different?” “Our scans showed he was different; from radar reflection to even body temperature. Compared to their other replicas who are cold blooded this one seems to have a very high body temperature. But we can't get much more precise; he seems to possess some objects that like I said cause perturbations of our scanners."

“It sounds like it confirms my theory…” whispered Miss Swighraz; acting a bit weirdly; like she was happy yet nervous at the same time. “Perhaps…” grumbled the Commander; scratching the back of his head “but the question is… how did they managed to get their hand on one of these?”

"May I expose my thoughts to you?" suggested Dereck. "Go ahead." "I think they might have stumbled across one of them and cloned some of them." "Could make sense… but how? It would me they were already exploring the system five or six centuries ago at least." "So… what do we do?" asked Dereck; stamping impatiently "You said you wanted to observe them to know what their intentions are Then we'll proceed with that first plan; but at the first sign of animosity there will be no going back." "And the creature? I remind you killing it would be a violation of the treaty and it would put us in great troubles." "I know I know…" huffed the commander. "Miss I swear on my honor I will try my best to take it smoothly and avoid a blood bath, for our future." "For the future." agreed the commander "I hope your plan will work… otherwise not even our weapons will protect us."

………

Four hours of muscle ripping walks and climb in the never ending jungle. Making their way in the thick web of these trees tangled together required strength, patience, endurance and a lot of grenades and flamethrower ammunitions. Finally they entered what looked like a clearing. There; they found one of the weirdest spectacles they had ever seen. A disorganized army was running around incoherently, crates were moved around just to be brought back to the exact same place. A few unstable tents had been build, hosting what looked like a tiny hospital or some supply stock. On the edge of the clearing several soldier were posted, observing the surrounding jungle. As their support they had two clones equipped with some flamethrowers. When they entered everyone cheered out on them, running to their encounter. Everyone was happy to see a higher graded crew member who they hoped could bring order and peace among them. However they were surprised to see Lyam yet no one protested when Nick ordered that the few doctors they had made everything they could to save him.

Nick followed a guy that had a thick bandage stained with blood around his shoulder into a larger tent. There three technicians were battling with one of the devices they had managed to recover in one of the crash site. It appeared to be a radio. "We've managed to establish contact with other survivors who have gathered into a small group and created a camp ten miles away from here. The problem is the communication is unstable… probably because of the forest and we can't get to them." "Why?" "Sir… the terrain is… rather dangerous and unknown and we lack the necessary means to move all this stuff around." "And it's all without counting in the rain. As you might have guessed it makes the nature freak out." "I've witnessed it…" grumbles Nick, lost in his thought.

To his own secret fear the soldiers just confirmed to him that he was the one and only high graded person in the camp. "We also have another major issue to deal with." "Which is?" "Medical supply. We have a lot of injured, more or less badly and our supplies are melting like snow to the sun." "I see…" mumbled Nick "and the other group, have they found some?" "You bet they did!" shouted another man upon entering the tent. He was wearing a uniform soiled of blood and mud and had several deep gashes on his face. "They even found the ship's hospital stock room in one piece where we only found scattered crates." So if we could reach to them we could get the necessary stuff." "Yes but actually like I told you it's impossible."

"Yes I know." grumbled Nick "we have to find a way. Alone like this we're weakened and vulnerable; if we could get everyone at the same place we could defend ourselves more efficiently."

"We've established connection!" yelled one of the technicians, wiping his forehead of the sweat that had formed here.

Nick joined the small crowd that gathered around the trembling, blurry holo screen. On the other side they could see a black face covered of light bruises and cuts, like he had fallen into a bush or something. "Finally…" sighed the man "Sargent." he briefly saluted.

Nick answered politely with a quick nod. "How is the situation?" he asked.

"Could be better… but could definitely be worst. We have a lot of supplies three fabrication unit ready to be activated; fifty men equipped for combat, eight clones… ehhh… a medical team and an engineering team." "And the armament?" "We have managed to dislodge five canons from the ship and a few heavy machine guns." "Quite nice news isn't it?" "Yes… the problem is that all these things are locked; the most problematic right now being the fabrication unit. We need someone possessing an alpha access." "Then I have the answer to that problem." answered Nick, quite proud of himself. He exposed what he knew that Lyam had that kind of access but needed immediate healing in order to survive. The major problem being that if he died his access would be instantly canceled for safety reasons. "We have what you need here to repair him but… as you must be aware of by now we're out of reach of each other, a vegetal barrier is separating us and there is no way to go through it." "Is there no way to go around it?" "Probably… but it will take time. Maybe… hold on a second I may have an idea."

The man disappeared from the screen, leaving them hanging in suspense, the air becoming even thicker and damper

He reappeared with a wide grin on his face. "I may have a solution."

The screen shifted, showing a large map of the jungle with two poinst in some almost circular clearings. "So we're here?" guessed Nick. "Yes sir… and here is the barrier we're talking about." A red line appeared on the screen, forming an invisible wall between the points. "Like I said there's no way to go through. However according to that map there's another clearing southwest of your position… at about six miles." A wide circle materialized on the map, signaling the exact position of the said clearing. "It will take us an equivalent amount of time to reach it." "How long?" "I bet on three to four hours to clear a path in that jungle." "Sounds good to me. Let's get everything ready for departure." "Roger; we'll be setting the last things too." "The sooner we meet the better it will be for all of us." "Agreed… I'll contact you later."

"You've heard him guys let's get everything ready!" shouted Nick.

………

"What are they doing down there?" grumbled Dereck. It had been two long hours since he arrived on that clearing where the strangers had established some sort of camp. He had the luxury of observing them now. He had never seen such beings before; they were completely bare skinned, lacking any type of protection, no thick plates or scales, no fur to protect them from the cold and rain, no claws to defend themselves; barely more than pathetic nails. Said like this they didn't even looked dangerous. The real threat came from the heavy equipment they were carrying, thick armors, heavy weapons that could shred anything; and these giant monsters serving them as good obedient puppets. "From here they look like they're preparing something Sir." answered the pilot "maybe they're planning on leaving sir." "Could make sense but where?" "May I suggest you to contact the other watchers you sent to observe the other group?" "Excellent idea pilot." approved Dereck with a wide smile. He grabbed his tablet and established the connection with ease. In seconds he was observing another hologram of a soldier; his face hidden by an integral helmet. "Report soldier." ordered Dereck. "Yes sir. It has appeared to us that the enemy is preparing something." "Explain yourself soldier." "We suspect they're operating a location change." "Just what I expected" whispered Dereck to himself, clenching his fists, feeling his own claws dig into his skin. "Also… we've intercepted a communication between them." "And what did it said?" "Well… we… we don't know." "What?! Is it a bad joke soldier?" "No… no sir… we've actually intercepted the message but it's encrypted and our decryption team is having troubles deciphering the code and even in the possibility where they manage to recover the message we can't understand it." "You mean you don't know that language?" "Yes… sir…" pitifully apologized the soldier. "And the translators?" "Well… that's the big problem… their language isn't in our database."

"Hmmm… interesting… try to decode the message and keep an eye on them; report me any suspect move." "Understood Sir." said the soldier before addressing him the regular salute.

"What are they planning?" grumbled Dereck, upset of being left in complete darkness. "Can I suggest something sir?" asked the pilot. "Go ahead… can't be a silly idea in our situation." "Well… I was thinking maybe they are trying to regroup. I mean… by doing that they will be able to defend themselves more efficiently against an eventual assault. They have the technology for that after all." "You're making your point." "It's some basic strategy sir." "You're right but it's taking way too long!" shouted Dereck. He was really antsy, being in that tiny vessel for so many hours was getting on his nerves and he absolutely needed to see some action." "I agree to that Sir… my butt is starting to ache from sitting all day in here if I may say so." "It's rather crampy in here;" approved the third man. "Then let's give them a little kick…"

He took the radio and called two ships that were flying nearby, describing large circle around them. "Wolfpack leader do you copy?" "Wolfpack leader come in." "I'd like you to descend just above the trees and do low altitudes passage over them." "Do we have authorization to open fire?" "Negative; just fly above them one time or two I'd like to see how they react to that." "Understood, beginning descent." "And don't forget to disable your cloaking." "Who do you think we are?! Beginners?" "Huffed the pilot, quite pissed off too and craving action as well.

………

Two long hour;, two endless hours that he was standing there in the middle of the heavy stench of disinfectant and blood; two unbearably long hours of waiting on his feet in the middle of this place. The small hospital they managed to install in the camp was absolutely full, just walking on the corps lying in the bare ground without stepping one was a challenge. And there, in the middle of this mess, of the constant whines and cries of the injured, in the senseless blabbers of those to they gave painkillers; in the stench of dried blood, surrounded by doctors grumbling under their breath was Lyam, sprawled on some sort of blanket full of his blood. He looked better, slightly better. The nanobots had done a great work of regenerating his flesh and all the wounded areas were slowly covering of layers of red flesh pounding in time with his heart. Some areas even had recovered that absolutely gorgeous mix of black and yellow scales. "How is he doing?" "Fine… we just put him in an artificial coma to avoid him suffering to much but he is doing just fine. We're just having trouble keeping the auxiliary power source we've connected to him; he is draining energy cells at an incredible rate." The doctor stopped to clean his old school glasses that seemed to be a millennium or two old. "Is it everything?" "No… his augments are problematic too." "Explain." rumbled Nick, on the verge of breaking this guy's glasses. "Most of them are prototypes which we've never been confronted before so we don't really know how to proceed with these… on the programming side. Every action seems to trigger security measures."

"Is there no one good enough to break the code?" "Someone is already working on it but the material we are using is… how to put that… in a state not proper for that kind of use. "I see…"

"We've also taken the liberty to shut down some of his augments." "What!" "You don't have to worry; the one we shut down are none vital. For now he cannot move his posterior limbs and do very few limited action with his forelimbs. We've also disabled some other functions like… well let's see… digestive system, his… his tail and… I don't remember them all but there was one about his reproductive system." "Wait he has augments up to there?" "Apparently yes but it doesn't look to me like he has a lot of uses of it and…"

"Attack!" roared someone outside. "Oh no…" whispered Nick, running out, putting his left hand on the stock of the pistol. The gun hadn't left his pocket since he had arrived. Once out he had no trouble finding the source of the panic; at the horizon, just over the top of the trees appeared two black points in the blue sky. "Ships inbound from the south!" screamed another panicked voice. "Everyone gets to cover!" roared Nick.

In a loud, ear shattering hiss the two ships flew over them, following a straight path over the clearing without attacking. "Strange…" mumbled Nick. He kept looking at the sky where the ships were slowly decreasing, returning to the state of tiny black marks in the distance. He had never seen a ship like this. The size said it was a fighter but the shape was unknown to him. This ship was thin, curved like a blade… or some arrow. The only thing that broke the perfect slickness of the metal surface was a large rounded exhaust port at the back from where blue flames flowed. "Oh man what the fuck was that!"

Slowly everyone came out of hiding, examining the sky in search for another threat trying to approach. Yet the skies were peaceful and clear of even a cloud. "Ok everyone we have to hurry; we're not safe anymore here! I want everything to be ready in an hour for our departure."

Without questioning everyone went to work, soldiers sprinting in all direction to prepare everything for transport while he returned in the tent; making sure that all the equipment was there and packing it tightly in large cases they sealed promptly. "Crisis meeting!" he ordered.

Everyone regrouped around an unstable table in the center of the room. "As I suspected we are not alone on this planet." "We all saw Sir." "I even suspect they also brought the Hope to the ground." "It's possible but we cannot be sure…" "I am! I saw them fire at us from the planet surface."

Silence weighted the atmosphere as each person around the table lowered his head in a silent prayer. "So I guess we're on the enemy's ground." "It's what it looks like to say the least." "I believe we all here agree to say that in that situation we can't defend ourselves. We have to meet up with the others as soon as possible. Am I clearly understood?" "Yes sir."

………

One hour later the group of survivors was moving, entering the jungle through a narrow path. Nick was in the first lines of the convoy. He had bartered his small pistol for a heavy riffle better suited to fight the many dangers of the jungle. The convoy was composed of a first line of two clones that opened the way, followed closely by a line of soldiers heavily armed. Then came all the other, some in grapes carrying boxes or helping injured. In the center were all the medicines and engineers forming a circle around Lyam. He was awake but paralyzed and muted, only able to observe the amazing forest. Everyone was silently afraid; everyone was observing each hole, each crack of the bark on tree trunks, each hole in the green roof, each tiny rivulet they crossed; awaiting danger at every corner. Above all they feared the sound more than the sight of the ships. Like this they were making a perfect target, easy to take down for a skilled pilot or a good old incendiary bomb. Moreover above the immediate threat they stared at the sky in search of another sign, clouds announcing the rain. Everyone had in mind the incredible ravage it had done; how the nature on this planet craved for it to the point of becoming as dangerous as an animal. Nick had thought his first experience of the forest had been an exhausting challenge. He had no idea it would be ten times worst at least with all the heavy stuff they were carrying. They spent more time clearing the way, setting temporary bridges for the other and burning tree blocking the way. If someone was watching from the sky it would have been easy for them to see their path.

Tempests of insects were flying with loud buzzing noise, pissing off everyone. Everyone was tired, on the edge of losing their nerves. As the already dim light decreased, announcing the arrival of night they began to hear sounds in the foliage, like someone walking in the bush. What was it? An animal? Soon the shuffling sounds surrounded them. "I don't like this…" grumbled Nick, arming his riffle. "Me neither." added another soldier, imitating his chief.

A violent light flashed them, forcing the entire group to look away. "Drop your weapon!" shouted a voice. "Don't move!" screamed another. Nick could feel all the canons pointed on his head; the heavy and low breathes of tensed soldier, feel their finger on the trigger, ready to press it and unleash a deadly volley on them at the slightest move. "No you drop your weapons!" replied Nick, discreetly throwing a flash grenade in the bushes. The guys looked away, blinded in turn. "You bastard!" roared one. "Stop this nonsense immediately!" ordered another voice, louder than the other. In an instant it had covered all outcries and turned everyone to silent stones. The lights were shut down, leaving them in darkness. "We were expecting you two hours ago." said a voice Nick knew well. "Easy for you to say." grumbled Nick; quite cranky after that exhausting journey and left everyone edgy. "Accept my apologies but we're a bit stressed out. I guess you understand that." "I do as long as you don't shoot us down." "It's ok; everyone let them go they are friends."

There was a moment of hesitation in between them, everyone looking at the closest person, trying their best to understand what was going on. Slowly weapons were lowered in a metallic rattle as everyone began grumbling apologies. "You'd better follow us before night falls." "I couldn't agree more." Mooned Nick in utter relief. They followed the second group through the maze of bushes and trees to a path they had cleared. The soil wore the marks of the roots where trees had been removed; the air was hot and acrid, white puffs of smoke and embers were still igniting where the flamethrowers had done their deadly office. The second group of soldier was at least twice larger than their and were of a great support to carry all the stuff, allowing the other a great relief time they needed. The path they used became larger, forming a clean cut in the tree, offering them a gorgeous view of the sky as the suns fell. To Nick's surprise this planet had two sun orbiting around one another, rising and falling in time, basking the planet in a glow between red and orange he had never seen before. The alley surrounded by fallen trees led to another clearing much like the one they had left so many hours ago but much bigger; at least three time the size of their first lay out. "We've started to install ourselves here." started the man he had seen on the holo screen "but without the fabrication units we won’t go far. I mean we have the resources for them; look around you there is plenty of usable matter here ready to be picked up but the problem is that we can't activate them and without them we are screwed. We need weapons and ammos, we need medical supply and we have to get better things than these tents otherwise we won't go much further." "I know that." "I hope your little protégé will help us…" "He will… we just need the code in his chip anyway."

"You're right." "There is just a slight issue with this…" whispered Nick. "What!" "The chip has been damaged." "Let's hope it's not beyond repair then." "Yes… let's hope so."

Nick observed in silence as Lyam was taken away, disappearing behind the white veil of the medical tent; leaving him alone with the others. He followed the black man whose name was John in another tent. "I have to warn you Sir we've been attacked." He let out like it was an insignificant detail.

The information took Nick like a blow in the balls. "What!? When?" "Right when we were about to leave." Explained the man. "Tell me everything; I want to know every detail." ordered Nick. "We were packing things up when a sentinel heard a sound from what we suppose is the east then two unidentified vessels flew over us at a low altitude." "And after?"

John motioned toward a clone standing outside the tent; he was firmly positioned on his paws and was wearing a wide goofy smile on his face. Yet in that smile Nick could identify a hint of pride and satisfaction; the same satisfaction he saw on soldier's face after a tough mission finally accomplished. "This guy there has managed to take down one of them." "Take down?" "Well… he managed to hit own and inflict him some damage."

Nick's face darkened. "You know they're gonna come back with much more firepower now." "And we will be ready to give them a warm welcome in the human style." "Are you sure we have the fire power for withstand an attack?" "I'd bet my life on it. A single clone was able to damage one of them."

Nick glared at the two machine guns he had installed on his shoulders and the energy gun weighting his back. Damaging a ship was already a respectful act under such circumstances but could they take down an entire fleet? "Beside we haven't used our secret weapon yet." "A secret weapon? We have a secret weapon?" "Let me show you." answered John, slamming his fist in a control unit which's screen trembled before unfolding a large map representing the clearing where they were established. "We have posted several guns we have found in the debris." "What caliber?" "The highest we have."

Nick smiled, relieved. They weren't defenseless after all. "And we have some of the artillery team working on them; they’ve repaired everything and are only waiting to put them to use."

At that exact moment someone made irruption in the tent. He was panting hard, sweating like he had run several miles. His armor was in pieces, cracked and pierced like he had been hit by some sort of explosives yet there was no mark of such thing on his face. Instead there was a large smile of pure happiness on that pale figure. "Sir we have managed to recover the chip access code." An effervescence like he had never seen before took hold the entire room. It was hard to understand the magnitude of the situation at that moment, everyone was shouting, crying out loud, cuddling with the closest person, and simply being happy and relieved. Maybe they had a chance to survive.

"What are you waiting for? Go activate the units."

Nick heard the familiar rumble of the fabrication units getting to work; absorbing matter and forming whatever they needed. Only the limit of their imagination would define the use of these so precious black boxes.

"We haven't waited for your approval sir." answered the man.

………

Dereck was ranting; everything was going wrong. Below him the aliens had installed their camp in another clearing in the forest, cutting trees, melting other to the ground, crafting solid looking homes with a roof to shelter them. Since the sun had settled they hadn't stop. Now the entire clearing looked like a real base; powerful lamps were sweeping the forest and night sky alike; searching for traces of threats. Weapons; walls, pieces of framework kept going out of the ruthless machines working at a restless pace, giving them a constant flow of supply. The giant beast accompanying them were patrolling around the camp, sniffing at the air like they know a danger was coming. Dereck should have been amazed by how quickly these creature adapted to the hostile environment, how they bended nature to their wishes; how they were capable of crafting from nothing, turning the surrounding forest in resources for them. But he wasn't in the mood to be ecstatic. Since a few hours everything was going wrong; very wrong and quickly… too quickly.

When he had sent the fighters he expected to trigger panicky or mayhem not to get a riposte. He had been shocked when he had heard the pilot yelling on the radio "THEY'RE FIRING ON ME!"

At first Dereck hadn't believed the dude. He imagined the aliens firing desperately with their pathetic weaponry, trying to shoot an uncatchable predator. Moreover when he heard the next call he lost all composure, falling back in his seat. "I'M HIT! I'M HIT! RETURNING TO BASE!!!"

A ball had formed in his throat, making him suffocate suddenly, like the ship had no more air to breath. They all waited anxiously, wishing that the pilot would make it safely back to base. Dereck was antsy, walking in the ship like a caged animal, frustrated of not having seen that possibility. Finally the bad news came: the fighter ship had crashed on its way back to base and caught fire on the ground after impacting with the trees at high speed; research had gave no result and the probability of the pilot surviving such an accident was inexistent. Since then he had lost all control on the situation. His ships kept following the two soon to meet groups but he gave them no other instruction. He could only observe powerless as more combat ships stacked around the clearing where they had established, preparing for assault when the order would be given to them. Meanwhile he was receiving calls from every people above him in the hierarchy; blaming him for failing so miserably to lead the operation; for putting the life of his men at risk in such an easy task. No one was giving him credit anymore. Even his mother, miss Swighraz had been cold and barely containing her anger when he had had her in a quick communication. An hour later he had been demised of his functions as commander of the operation and was just allowed to stay there and observe the procedure unfold before his eyes. So ships kept arriving, forming an invisible mass in the dark moonless sky; a Damocles sword ready to stab the unaware strangers. In the end he found himself depressed, sitting on the small table in the center of the ship, looking at the window to see the crowd of combat ship awaiting the order to unleash a barrage of fiery inferno.

"I wonder what they're gonna do of the specimen." mumbled the pilot under his breath. Like Dereck he hadn’t spoke much since the incident and the sound of his voice in the cockpit made everyone flinch. "The… the specimen…" mumbled Dereck, his brain flaccid and numb from the lack of thought. It took him a long time to understand, for the information to make its way in his head and trigger a single reaction. Suddenly he jumped from his seat, his eyes glowing with a new light like he had received a sudden enlightenment. There was still a spark of hope left, a hope of avoiding a blood bath.

Dereck rushed to the console and established connection with the admiral ship located a few yards away from his. Careless he broke all elementary rules and contacted directly the colonel now in charge of the operation. A sinister face materialized on the screen, gazing angrily at this rooky soldier that dared to bother him. "Colonel…" saluted Dereck. "What do you want soldier we're in the middle of an operation so you'd better have a good reason to disturb me in such a critical moment." "Yes Sir I do;" answered Dereck, hiding as best as he could his excitement "We have reported the presence of a protected specimen among them."

The colonel’s face lost all color. Around him the other holographic faces showed different degrees of embarrassment. The commander was looking away, showing a face saying I wasn't aware of that. Miss Swighraz was slyly smiling, amused by the turn of events. She was the only one acting rather naturally, not surprised at all by the turn of events. "In fact we have located a specimen among the invaders." she said; the most casually possible "But I'll let the sergeant Dreeck explain it to you." "Explain then…" grunted the colonel. "This specimen is part of an ancient species inhabiting this system and must be protected at all cost!" started Dereck, putting all the weight he could on the word protect. "May I know why?" "He is protected by some old accords and we will he in even greater troubles if he receives a single bullet in the guts." "What can we expect?" "Not just some scattered survivors but rather an immense army coming at our borders to unleash apocalypse on us. "In that case we shall change strategy." grumbled the colonel.

He examined his plans for some time, hesitating on what approach to choose. "His presence on the site is confirmed?"

Dereck threw a quick glance at the last scan of the area. It took him a second or so to localize the different signal this specimen emitted. "Presence confirmed. He appears to be in the… white… block… like thing in the center. I’m sending you the coordinates right now." "Roger."

Dereck observed as the colonel made appear a sign above the building he had signaled and wrote "PRIORITY TARGET."

He chuckled to himself; maybe he could flip the table once again. "Can I suggest to try a smooth approach?" he asked; throwing an insisting look as the diplomacy chief who winked in answer.

The colonel snarled, apparently it wasn't his way of doing things. "Do you suggest sending a diplomatic team after what happened?" grumbled the commander in apparent disbelief. "Why not?" She replied; on the defensive.

Everyone became silent like tombs, suspended to the lips of the commander who were twitching nervously. "Accorded but at the first sign of aggressively we abort this and open fire. Am I clearly understood Miss Swighraz. "Crystal clear sir."

………

"At this rate he'll be standing upright tomorrow."

Nick was relieved, the good news came at the best moment. Lyam was laying on a blanket a few steps away from him; showing off a warm toothy smile. He was already in a better shape although so/e of the mechanical parts of his body were still exposed and dripping a blue gelatinous liquid everywhere. "I'm not completely finished with his augments; I just need a few more components to finish the repairs on his lower limbs but he'll be able to walk tomorrow at best." "I'm really relieved to know that. Thank man you did an awesome job." "I wasn't alone… I got a helpful hand." he added, nodding toward Lyam who answered with a wide smile. "I wouldn't dare to take all the rewards for myself. Without you I'd be stuck here. All my knowledges are useless if I can't repair myself." "Let's say it's a fifty fifty then." "I like it." approved Lyam.

Lyam turned his gaze toward Nick, offering him a sight that left him puzzled. He was smiling happily yet there was something else in that smile; something that made him feel uncomfortable once again; like every time he was close to Lyam in fact. This smile hid something else he knew it too well. Behind the veil of happiness he was showing another face. Nick knew how tricky Lyam could be; how he played with the others as much as with himself; how easily he could get under people's tail. But it wasn't what Nick saw at that exact moment. He saw something else, a thing intended for him and him only. He tensed, trembling nervously. "Anyway until the last components arrive I'll be in another room to finish the programming; I'll leave you two here." "Thank you man you've done a great job." "It's nothing for me." "From where do you know that?" "Oh I had a life before I boarded in this shit." "Anyway I own you one!” "No problem."

He left; grabbing what he had left on a desk made of several board nailed together and closed the door behind him.

"Pfew thought he would never leave." sighed Lyam, stretching his forepaws, getting of the numbness in them. "Are you ok?" "I still can't move the lower half of my body and I feel kinda naked without my scales and *yowl* really tired but all of that aside I'm pretty fine. I didn't imagin I could survive such a fall."

Nick smiled; the crash hadn't changed him at all. "I'm glad we both managed to make it out of this mess." "Yeah me too." answered Lyam, nuzzling Nick's shoulder. "And you Nick are you ok?" "Yeah I'm fine; just some cuts and bruises and an awkward experience with the plants but I'm alright. In fact… you… you took most of the blow for me… not to say… everything." "I know Nick because… unlike you… I… I didn't faint when we were hit. I stayed awake the whole time until the moment where we impacted with the ground. I felt everything; the heat; the pressure… everything."

Nick's guts twisted violently "How… how did it felt?" "It… it was horrible…. First there was the heat, so… so intense… scorching. I… I felt my scales melt on me, turning into white-hot goo that only harmed me more. Then… the pressure squeezed me, turning my bones to dust, breaking the circuits, doing humongous ravage in my augments. Then… as we accelerated I felt my skin… my flesh… my muscles being stripped away from me layer after layer."

Nick reeled, horrified by the bone chilling story Lyam recalled. "It… it must have been so painful…" he mumbled, trying to not imagine. "There is no word to describe it."

Nick didn't have to ask what happened after. He knew for sure that it kept going on and on until they hit the trees where they remained, suspended above the ground, tangled in branches. "But I'm glad I did this for you." purred Lyam, affectionately nuzzling Nick's arm. "Why do you say that?" "Because I like you silly."

Nick froze. Lyam's words, back in the ship reasoned in his head. "Lyam… when we were in the ship you… you did something…" "I kissed you…" "Yeah…" answered Nick, a warm blush reddening his cheeks "and you…" "I know I, said I loved you. and what?" huffed Lyam like he was annoyed by these questions. "Did you really mean it?" let out, so ashamed by his own word. "What kissing you? Yes of course I meant it I've done it anyway and without regrets. However… when I said I love you… I… I might have been a bit too… brutal… too… quick too. I… I didn't really realize the weight of my words back then." "So you don't mean it?" "Not exactly; I… I like you a lot but… not to the point of… falling in love for you. But… as a friend… a good friend but… not a lover."

Nick didn't say a word "Although I loved what we did together…" "You mean what you did to me?" "Well… not only that… also these few days we spent together were awersome and you're a handsome guy. I mean… for the first time someone didn’t treated me just like a mindless puppet. Sure you did it at first like all the others but I know you changed your mind on me. For the very first time I felt like I had a friend; a true friend in flesh and bones." "I could say the same thing of you… for a clone at least. It’s true you’re rather handsome… and adorable… when you don’t unload everywhere.”

"I'll take that as a compliment; thank you." grunted Lyam, showing the same wide grin. Nick grumbled a few words under his breath and looked away. Next to him Lyam moved around; like he was uncomfortable in that position. "Are you ok?" "Yeah; I'm just bored of lying all the time." "What could I do to help?" "I could enjoy a few rubs." "Smells fishy to me." "What there is no trap; I'd really like a rub… you know… under the chin."

"Oh… like this?" asked Nick as he began to rub Lyam at a specific spot where his neck and face met. Lyam purred loudly like a big scaly cat, grinding back against Nick's hand, begging for more. "Oh yeas… that's the spot." he moaned. Nick smiled, amused by the cuddly behavior of the dragon like everything didn't matter anymore aside from the slow back and forth motion of this soft skinned hand over his sweet spot. "Oh man… for a military guy who has a weapon in hand all day you really do have soft skin." Nick smiled in return, rubbing slightly lower while his other free paw fondled his head in between his horns, earning more low purrs in reward. Wait horns! To his own shock Lyam had two stubby horns protruding from the back of his skull. They had an ivory color and formed a slight backward curve. "Where do these come from?" "The horns… I don't really know. I guess the GMD is messing around again." "The what?" "The Growth Management Device. It's an augment that prevent my growth cycle to follow its normal course. However it's not the only functionality it has. It also prevents out spurts of growth like right now. I mean it's going against the wits of nature." "I see… and these horns are because…" "Because it has been damaged in the accident and stopped functioning from time to time. I always did have the horns but I had them cut short before the beginning of the journey. But let's stop talking about technology and go back to the rub; I really enjoy that part."

Nick smirked, giving Lyam's chin crest a gentle tug, testing the skinny material.

"Nick… could you go a bit lower please?" "Sure…" willingly obeyed Nick, caressing and fondling Lyam's neck. After some weird body maneuvers Lyam managed to roll on his side, exposing his belly and chest for more rubs. "Hmmm… you really know how to please me. Do you?", "It's not hard you're reacting just like a normal pet." "Yes but I'm not your pet; beside I don't think there are a lot of puppets like me." Nick silently agreed. The rubbing session kept going on as Nick explored the dragon’s body, finding out how ticklish these paws were; located exactly where his sensitive points were. Suddenly Lyam pushed his hands away with his paws, staring deeply into Nick's eyes with a cold gaze. "I think that's enough, we both know which part of my body I want you to rub." "I guess so…" sighed Nick, crossing his arms over his lap. "But you know I won't oblige and you won't be able to force me this time."

Lyam looked away "Speaking of last time I guess it's a good time for me to apologize to you." "What do you…" "I… Haven't been completely honest with you…" admitted Lyam, looking away in shame.

"I knew it!" shouted Nick, jumping on his feet "I knew I shouldn't have believed you. It was all a wicked plan of your twisted malfunctioning mind to drag me into your dirty games!" "You're totally wrong Nick it's not that at all." "Explain me then!" "I… I haven't been dishonest with you… well… not entirely." "Lyam don't try to fool me!" "I… I… I haven't lied to you… well… not… mostly…" "Lyam!"

"I… I… I've been… planning it that's true but… but I I… I lost control." "Now you're saying it's not your fault!" "Exactly!" roared Lyam, cutting short Nick before he could open his mouth again "The truth is the nanobots really went crazy and made me produce tones of seed but… it… it didn't started the day when I… trapped you; it had started long before. I suspect it had begun a few days before you awoke. You remember how often I…I… touched myself?" "How could I forget even after you left your stench was still everywhere in my room." "Yeah… anyway I… I think it was already building up at that moment. I… I was so horny back the; I… I couldn't control it. It… it stimulated parts of my brain I didn't even knew existed; awaking these craves inside me and made even a breeze feel pleasurable." "And what is the link with me?" "Well… I… I like you… I… really d." whispered Lyam in a barely audible whimper, gazing at the white wall far away from Nick. "I… I didn't want this to end so abruptly and… I… I wanted to… I… I don't really know… I… I wanted to keep you close and to… achieve… something I had never done before. I suppose you know what it is?" "Mating?" "Exactly." "So you wanted to mate with me?" "Yes… but… I didn't know how to bring it to you. You were already losing your mind when I dared to pleasure myself so I… I was scared to ask."

Nick sighed; he had no idea of the deepness of the dragon's feelings toward him.

"So… I decided to hide it; to keep it for me but the urge kept growing against my will and then you arrived the most casually of the world." "And then you decided to trick me." "It was the smoothest way I found at the time otherwise I thing you wouldn't have left the room unharmed."

Nick gulped down heavily, understanding the hidden meaning. "And you expect me to do that again now?" huffed Nick. "Exactly!" grinned Lyam "Don't deny it; you enjoyed it as much as I did and I'm sure you only crave for more of it." "We aren't all as dirty as you Lyam and as I said I won't fall for your tricks once again." "Oh I don't need to trick you anymore Nick. I know for sure you'll come on your own." "Let me laugh." sniggered Nick.

Lyam chuckled to himself, twisting his body again to manually move one hind paw out of the way, exposing the red tip of his shaft peeking from his fleshy slit. Nick only realized how thick with musk the air had become around him. His own member was pressing tightly against his own pants. He mumbled something even he didn't understood and looked away. "See you're already eager for It." he said on the tone of evidence, designating the bulge in Nick's pant. "You're the horny onr here!" replied Nick; pouncing the dragon's snout. "I have to admit talking about it had me really worked up but that's not the point."

"Yeah yeah don't try to evade the conversation again. Lyam huffed, getting annoyed by the human. "Come on Nick stop denying we both know that you want it as much as I do." This time their gaze met for a split second, a second they spent silently battling together. Nick knew Lyam was right; as much as he could deny it he enjoyed being with the dragon and their heated session even if it hadn't been wanted and not consensual had been pleasurable for both of them. Before his eyes Lyan's length kept growing, swelling with blood as it throbbed; the red spire upstanding toward the sky. Lyam let out a series of feeble moans, showing how aroused he was as pre started to drizzle down his length, giving the red flesh a shiny look. Nick gasped; it was too much for him. The intoxicating stench of the aroused dragon overpowered his senses. With a louder moan Lyam's knot slipped out of his slit in a stream of natural lube. "I know you want it Nick… go ahead… don't be shy." He groaned; teasing his tip with a claw; letting drops of his pre gather on the sharp ivory blade before bringing it to his mouth and lapping hungrily; enjoying the taste of his own fluids.

Nick snarled, keeping his hands close. "Why don't you do it yourself?" "Well I still have half of my body stuck. Beside… I love the sensation of your hands over it." Grinned Lyam; giving his member a long caress; earning an eager throb in reward.

Nick once again was astonished; how could Lyam be so… lewd about it? He was literally offering himself for viewing once again without a hint of shame; like everything didn't matter for him. "Come on Nick… I'm waiting for you." He purred; giving his large member a squeeze; more pre squirting from the tip. "What… what if… what if someone enters?" "Don't worry; he'll be way longer to come back; programming is a complex job that requires precision and focus and a unique technique in that case; so we have a lot of spare time for us.” Lyam became silent several seconds then added "for your last concern I don't want to mate with you; I don't even feel my hole so it would be no fun to do it now." "So what do you want then?" "Your hand… there…" purred Lyam, pointing at his own throbbing maleness; his paws slick with his spilled fluids. "Simply that?" "Yes… simply a few… strokes."

Nick stayed stunned. "Come on… let's not lose any more time." Groaned Lyam; taking an even more attractive position; offering Nick a gorgeous display of virile dragon maleness. Lyam’s balls rested just below that Cock; rolling in their sack; plump and heavy of fresh seed waiting for him to free it of the tight confine of these spheres.

In perfect silence Nick extended a hand toward the dripping member, grasping the thick shaft with gentleness. Lyam moaned loudly, trashing against the blanket. "Oh god… I forgot how these hands felt…"

Nick smiled, focusing on the twitching shaft, wrapping his fingers around the girth; slowly stroking it up and down. Lyam groaned loudly, more pre cum spurting from his tip; like he was already close to the edge. How could he be so pent up already? Lyam’s eagerness and constant desire never ceased to amaze him; he would always be in a mood for a bit of fun down there. Nick observed in silence the dragon edging closer to climax, groaning, muscles tensing and stiffening, cock swelling and bloating with his impending release; all of that under his expert touch. Pleasuring Lyam was easy; all his pole was receptive to his rubs and strokes; every slightest motion seemed to trigger a spike of pleasure in the dragon’s body; he just had to find the sweetest spots and give them the attention they craved for.. "Oh… oh yes… just like this… keep going… I'm so close."

Nick smiled; Lyam; in his lust addled state was panting; howling loudly; slamming himself in the blanket as every fiber of his being impatiently waited the sweet relief. Nick grasped more firmly on the slippery shaft; his other hand massaging the fat knot; feeling every throb and twitch of the hard flesh.

Lyam roared out, his member jumping in Nick's grip, erupting with thick ropes of fresh semen that splattered everywhere on the blanket. Nick kept stroking Lyam’s shaft like a fruit he would extract the juices of; milking Lyam for all the seed he had. "Oh by the stars I'm so… empty." "For once."

"Yeah yeah… you know you're really good with these hands of yours; maybe better at masturbating me than handling a gun." "Shut up." “Come on… I’ll let you use my semen canon.” “Nice way to describe your dick… but I’ll have to refuse. It’s not some reliable equipment you have down there.” “You’ll pay for that… I’ll paint your face of white.” “Yeah yeah… we’ll talk about that once you’ll have recharged that tiny thing of yours. I suppose it will take you a long time to have a new load ready.” “You’ll see.” Hissed Lyam; gently wrestling with Nick “I’ll have plenty of this for you before you know it.”

Nick was about to open his mouth yet Lyam was faster; way faster “Next time… I’ll be the one rutting you… I swear to the stars I’ll make you moan your heart out.”

Nick froze; fear crippling his body. Was Lyam serious or was it some other words he said wityout thinking?

"Enjoying yourself you two?" asked a voice coming from behind. Nick froze; he knew that voice. He knew who was standing in the door frame. He blushed; looking at an empty corner of the room. While doing so he crossed Lyam's gaze. Even though hazy with lust he saw in the two amber eyes a hint of shame. "I see you had quite some fun while I was working?" "It… It's not what it looks like." "Don't deny man I've seen everything. In fact I left a camera on the desk." Speechless Nick glanced at the desk where a small rounded object throned. "It's… embarrassing." mumbled Lyam, blushing hard. "Don't tell me you were aware of thq!" "I… I may have been… part of the plan." "What bastard of a clone." spat Nick; getting on his feet. "Don't be mad at him it was my idea." "What! Why would you do that?" "Because it was fun and because I wanted to see if it was true." "If what was true?" "That you were a dragon lover silly!"

"What… no… no I'm not!" "Come on man; everyone knows what you two did on board the ship!" "What!"

He turned his fiery gaze toward Lyam. "Hey don't accuse me I'm for nothing!" "Chill out… he is right." chuckled the other "He has nothing to do with this. It's not his fault at all… you just forgot that there was a camera in every room and someone sent the records to everyone." "So… everyone saw?" "Yes they did." "Crap." "I… I should have been more careful." mumbled Lyam, looking away. "Nah don't blame yourself these things are so tiny everyone forgets them. You have no idea of how many compromising records we had found." sniggered the man. "Anyway so you tricked me to have sex with him." "Not really… I just wanted to see if it was true. Beside Lyam didn't seem to mind at all."

The black and gold dragon's face turned a deep red. “He… he left me no choice.” He whispered; ashamed. Yet in his gaze Nick caught a fugitive hint of satisfaction.

"You really fooled everyone." "What do you mean?" grumbled Nick, crossing arms. "Telling everyone you hated clones, being all angry and barking at them all the time and while no one was looking screwing one." "He trapped me!"

The guy raised a hand, cutting short to the stream of protest. "Calm down I also know that part of the story but it was all part of a bargain I made with Lyam. He had to trick you in having more fun on camera with you and I promised I would keep some other records secret and erase they whenever I could." "Why?" "Because our dragon friend there doesn’t want others to see him doing naughty things… like… really naughty… and kinda gross things."

Nick threw a quizzical look at Lyam who only lowered his head to the ground, pretending to be grooming his scales with long strokes of his tongue. "You promised you wouldn't even bring it up". "Sorry couldn't keep that for me."

"Anyway!" shouted Nick; slamming his hands together "You had your fun; I was tricked; well done but you had a job to do right?" "Relax its here." he answered, showing a light hard drive with a thin cable attached to it. "Just have to plug it in Lyam and start the transfer the code tables and do the last adjustments and he'll be good to go." "Good to know."

Sounds of footstep echoed in the corridor; coming in their direction. "What again?" sighed Nick in exhaustion. A soldier stopped in the door frame, his mud soiled shoes gliding on the slippery floor. He grabbed to the door frame, panting raggedly; trying to catch his breath. He had a pale face and wore in his eyes an expression that Nick rarely saw before; a mixture of amazement and fear; like this guy had seen the most spectacular yet terrifying thing of his life. "Sergeant *PANT PANT* you… you should come out and *gulp*." "What… what's happening out there?" "Can't tell you… *gasp* just… just follow me."

Nick obliged. "Soldier you should head to your post." advised the intruder. "Can I finish…" "No it's a direct order code 3."

Nicks heart skipped a beat. Code 3… the worst thing that could ever happen in that kind of situation. In the consortium military dialect it meant one thing: an attack.

They both ran in the corridor, following the running man, leaving Lyam alone in his room, stunned. "Well… catches on later I guess." He yelled from inside.

The man running Next to Nick handed him a small object: the hard drive. "Why?" "Just in cas. Put it on his right paw there's a plug hidden beneath his skin and press the button. It will start an automated transfer." "And… and the adjustments?" "He can do them alone once he will be able to move. Beside… I've left something for you… and only you…." "What is it?" "Something I own you… and some confidential thing?" he added before winking. "From where do you know how to do that?" "Like I said I had a life before. Oh and name's Frank by the way." he said, giving him a quick handshake "See you later dragon fucker!"

………

Nick couldn't believe his eyes as he stepped out of the building they used as a hospital. Outside all spotlights were pointing toward the sky, brightening the slick forms of ships; like a swarm of metal insects floating in the sky. Nick trembled as reality unfolded before his very eyes. What he saw was nothing more than an army; an unknown army observing them from above; mocking them from their perch, protected by the thick shells of their ships. "Are the canons ready?" he asked to the soldier rushing toward him." "At your command we will open fire." "Perfect."

Soon John joined him, observing the sky pensively. "We're about to get our hand full." "Yeah it will be a tough fight." grumbled Nick in return. "What happened exactly?" "Don't really know they popped out of the sky like that." "Teleportation?" "Nah we would have sensed it before. I'd bet on some invisibility." "To they were spying on us all along." "Guess so." "I hope we're ready for this." "We are man don't worry. They won't know what kicked their ass back to where they come."

Nick nodded. In the center of the crowd of ships gathering over their head materialized a much bigger one. "The mother ship." whispered Nick. "Easy guessing it's the biggest."

A voice "crépiter" in the tiny headphone he had been given; an old model but still very reliable. "Sir awaiting orders which one must we aim at?" "The big one but don't open fire until I give you the direct order to do so." "Roger; loading the guns and waiting for further orders."

"You should see that." said John, pointing at the sky. "What the…"

On the belly of the largest ship a hole had opened; metal plates sliding in a tiny rift to let some sort of nacelle go out, floating in the sky thanks to four small reactors. It descended slowly toward them. Every gun rose in its direction as fingers caressed triggers. "Get ready guys they are coming!" shouted John.

The pod softly landed in the grass, its engines sending grass flying with dirt in all directions. Nick covered his face with one arm while trying to keep an eye on what was coming. In the clouds of dust and dirt he managed to catch a glimpse of something white but… what was that thing doing here? "Hol4 your fire!" he roared.

Everyone turned their gaze in his direction then looked back toward the new threat. Nick had a bad feeling, a hunch even as the white thing he had seen proved to be a white flag; the universal symbol for peace. This time all the soldiers lowered their weapon to the ground, exchanging surprised and interrogative gazes. Nick stepped forward but was held back by the muscular arm of john. "No I'll go… you stay there."

He had kept his gaze glued to the group descending from the shuttle while he spoke "if this shit goes any worst you make sure none of them leave that place alive." "I'll make sure of that. It's smells fishy for me to." "I have a gut feeling they're preparing something… no one sends ship to attack then come up with the white flag."

John walked toward the newcomers; leaving his riffle to a corporal. Those who got out of the nacelle were dressed in complete outfit that covered their entire body, even their head was hidden. They looked like scientists working in toxic environment. When John stopped near them all their gazes turned in his direction. The situation was tense; a fly could be heard in the dead like silence. The first one stepped toward John and stopped a meter away. Respectfully he bowed. John imitated him. The person facing him began talking, making wide motions with his arms. Silence followed his words. "Did someone understood?" whispered a soldier. "Nah I don't know this language." "And the translators what do they say?" "They've died." "Seriously?" asked Nick. "Yes they can't translate either and the circuits melted while trying." explained an engineer.

"Great let's hope it works the other way…" mumbled John.

He took a deep breath, took a more ceremonial stance and said, with a military salute "Greetings my name is John, captain on the ship named HOPE. We do not plan to invade you and apologize for entering your territory."

Once again silence. This time it was the turn of the inhabitant of the planet to look at each other in distress; blabbering in their alien language. "I guess neither of us understands the other." huffed a soldier. "Hey look at that one… what is he searching for in his pocket?" mumbled another.

All of the sudden all guns were raised; aimed at the newcomers heads. Nick; much like the other had his eyes fixated on the guy, observing every move as he fumbled in his pocket, probably swearing under his breath. After an eternity of silence he pulled out something. "Look out!" yelled one. A detonation snapped in the silence; the guy spasmed as the projectile hit his shoulder, a wreath of blood spurting from the wound. Before Nick had time to open his mouth; already shots crackled all around him as the four forms fell to the ground riddled of bloody holes.

………

Dereck was like electrified; observing the scene from his first seat place. Before him was happening the first ever contact with an alien species coming from a planet out of the border of known space. He was like a child even though pissed off for being excluded like this he was excited all the same. Yet, deep within him he didn't fell right. He had a guts feeling something was wrong. His feelings were soon proved right. He felt the tension in the air as the two groups met on the ground. He clenched his fists, praying in silence for the best yet his bad feeling was only getting more pressing, confirming itself with each passing second.

When guns were pointed at the diplomatic division he tensed like a rope, staring powerlessly. "Come on guys… don't be stupid…" he whispered, sweating like mad. A hunch told him the situation would soon get out of control so by safety he rubbed his pocket; checking if the gun he was always hiding there was still at his place.

He saw the first shot fired, the body trembling under the impact; soon followed by many others. "Nooooooooo!" he cried, slamming his fist against the porthole as blue rays transpierced his comrade’s body as they fell backward; turned into a bloody corps riddled of tiny holes.

Tears flooded his eyes, streaming down his cheeks. All his hopes had been shattered in the blink of an eye. Slowly his eyes went over the dead corps without really seeing them; his vision too blurred by tears to see properly. He remained like this; crying in frustration; rage and disappointment until he noticed an unusual detail on the far edge of the clearing. There… in between thick foliage there was a form that shouldn’t have been there; something totally out of place: a dark hole in a bush; no… protruding from the bush. "Oh no…"

He looked toward the mother ship; where all the high ranked in charge of the operation were sitting, establishing strategies, giving orders. Sparkles ignited from the right flanks. As he was about to initiate a communication a violent shockwave rocked the ship. He fell to the ground, destabilized after such a powerful side blow. When he looked outside through the window he only saw a mushroom of smoke where the much larger ship stood a second ago. He looked down, discovering twisted metal, blown apart crashing to the ground, devoured by ragging flames. "No… no it can't be happening!"

Another ship blew up next to him; a troop carrier that burst into flames after another impact. Then another turned into a scorching ball of fire spinning toward the ground. “Oh no it’s happening!” he yelled staring at the rain of molten aluminum and burning corps alike. "We're taking heavy damage!" yelled a voice in the radio channel "Awaiting orders what do we do? Command? Anyone?"

Dereck was shivering, prostrated on the cold floor; listening to the desperate calls of crews as they were shot down one by one. From the ground he could see Canons firing restlessly, taking down ship in one shot or two, cutting them in two most of the time. Tones of blue projectiles were crossing the skies, raining on the ships as long trails of smoke or particles followed larger auto guided projectile. He had to do something before everyone was slayed. The commandment was silent then he would give orders. He took the communication device and set it for a wide spread message. "To all vessels locate and destroy the enemy guns." "Roger; acquiring target…" The next second a blue explosion flashed the sky as an entire area of the forest disappeared in a blinding glow; leaving nothing more than dust behind. "To all grounds units you have authorization to attack; use of lethal force allowed." "Roger sir; deploying now" "Equip one and two take position on the north and east side of the camp; neutralize all resistance in the area and prevent any escape. Equip three and four sector south and west same objective." "On time and on target…" answered another voice." "Command Falcon team leader we'll provide support fire." "Roger; don't let anyone alive."

He stopped, observing the army setting into motions, rapid fighters hunting the hidden canons and doing low altitude strafe over the clearing; heavier ship letting go of their content of armed to the teeth soldiers while larger vessels shelling the ground under the fire of their fury; taking down these huge monstrous creatures that looked even uglier from up close. A doubt traversed his mind when he saw a bomb exploded near the central building. "To all units target unchanged spare the building in the center. Priority target inside." "Understood… relaying information."

Dereck smiled, adrenaline erasing his fears as he grinned at the show of violence and power unfolding before him. Suddenly an urge grasped his guts, violently twisting them as a spasm made his body quake. He had to get down to the ground and be in the middle of the action. "Put me down now." "Beginning landing maneuvers." replied the pilot without a hint of doubt.

………

Nick opened his eyes. How long had he been unconscious? A second? A minute? An hour? An eternity? His head was killing him; a loud noise filled his ears, blocking all other sound. He looked around, picking up info on his current situation. What he discovered made his bone chill. Soldiers were falling one by one near him, pierced by the enemy's guns as loud explosion covered the panicked cries of soldiers. It was mayhem around him. He remained here, lying in the dirt, covering his face. He could only recall what happened in so few time. How the opponent first disoriented was taken down from the ground before fighting back with an even greater might; crushing them under a rain of fire. He remembered the shockwave of one of many bomb sending him away then… a black hole of nothingness.

Yet he was still alive as his comrades fell. A quick analyze of the situation told him he had no chance of surviving by staying there. He crawled away, hiding behind what remained of a building or anything that could provide enough cover. From where he was he saw enemy soldier’s entering the fight thanks to large weirdly shaped ships dropping them at specific spots. The canons had been silenced; the clones turned to bloody shreds and all those who tried to resist were mercilessly slaughtered. A thought crossed his mind. He saw a red spire of throbbing flesh oozing with whiteness. He gasped "Lyam."

He searched for the matching building, hoping it hadn't been destroyed yet. Surprisingly he found it in one piece, not even a scratch. He crawled toward it, staining his armor with mud, slaloming between dead bodies and fragments thrown away by the blast of an explosion. Projectiles hit the ground around him as bright flashes blinded him. Finally he reached the building and slithered inside. In comparison the place was dark and silent. He ran into the corridor, heading straight for the last room. He stormed inside, discovering Lyam, ears perked, alerted; trying to guess what was happening. "Nick!" he shouted joyfully "What's going on?" "We're attacked!" "What… attacked…" he mumbled, like he had troubles registering the information. "It's… it's impossible. This planet shouldn't he inhabited… the scans showed…"

"I don't give a fuck about your scientifically data; I tell you we have an army knocking at our door and we're been decimated outside so I think this planet has inhabitants." Lyam seemed astonished by the revelation. He stared at Nick with terrified eyes, realizing how wrong he had been. "What shall we do then?" "We must leave before they bomb this place." "Nick… I… I can't… I still can't move." "I know and I have what you need." Grunted Nick; showing the hard drive. He began roaming around the room, more precisely around Lyam, looking for the said plug Frank had told him about. "Damn where is it?" "Where is… what?" "The plug; I can't fix you if I don't find it."

Lyam said nothing "Come on… help me instead of staying here doing nothing." Once again a dead silent punctuated by suffocated gasps. "Hey earth to Lyam I'n talking to you!" he shouted, clacking his fingers to try and get Lyam's attention. He didn't move a muscle, his face frozen on a grotesque expression of panic, his eyes bulging out, unfocused, looking in every direction; his whole frame trembling. "Hey Lyam I'm talking to you!"

No more answer than that panting breath. Was that one of his panic crisis? For a second he wondered if he was cause to this; but he had no time to ask himself these questions; neither did he had time to find out. Already he could hear the gunfire approaching. They even had probably entered the hospital by now; entering each room, and covering the inside of bullets. Suddenly all went dark. "Shit the generator is dead." swore Nick, starting to panic too. Without power he couldn't fix Lyam. He looked around; there was no escape; this room was a dead end. Lyam wasn't helping either, trembling and whining in fear. He grabbed his riffle and posted himself near the door, waiting for the incoming enemies. He made a discreet sign to shut up at Lyam's attention but he got no reaction once again. The door creaked open after several tensed minutes and a black form stepped inside. It had do time to react; nick squashed the trigger, emptying the clip of his weapon in a second; sending the other fly against a wall, his body torn apart.

A black cylinder rolled to his feet. Before he could turn away a bright flash lightened his eyes, blinding him as a loud whistle filled his ears. A powerful blow right hit him in the face as he tried to focus. He staggered back, his head forcefully slamming in the wall. He fell to the ground, knocked down, a trickle of blood sticking his hairs together.

Lyam observed, powerless as five shadows entered the room. One carried a small light he pointed at him. Another talked; probably their chief. In the fain state of consciousness in which he was he saw a hand pointing in turn at Nick then him before he fell in slumber too. Another security activating; avoid system overdrive by plunging him in a deep sleep.

………

"Specimen located and captured." announced a soldier. "Nice job man. Let's take these two and head back home. Our mission is official over."

TO BE CONTINUED

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