Heaterin's hair flowed in the salty wind as the tides crashed against the floor, rushing back into the deep blue. Yet the surface glittered gold, and the sky bled red.
The sun had set.
Heaterin raised her bowed head and looked up to face Bo.
"Well…" Bo started, "I need a moment alone, if you don't mind. To think. I'm not sure about your ways, but—sorry about any… problems back there."
Heaterin nodded once and left.
Bo watched her shrinking silhouette, then turned back to the ocean, drawn to the gas giant dominating the sky alongside the sun's fading light.
"LIRA," Bo said.
LIRA—still kneeling over a digital sandcastle—crossed her legs and faced him.
[Yes.]
"What's a retainer?"
She tilted her head.
[You didn't know, yet you accepted her offer?]
Bo didn't answer.
[I suppose it's… close to a private. But not quite. Think—loyal squire, medieval era. She chooses to follow you.]
"Ah… we'll come to that later. Right now, we need an actual plan."
LIRA clapped her hands like she'd been waiting for it all day.
[I was hoping you'd say that!]
She blinked out of the sand and appeared in front of Bo, levitating in the air. A display unfolded in his view, and with a conjured pointer stick, she began:
[So—beating up the nearest xeno turned out to be beneficial. You've created a power imbalance, and you need to capitalize on that.
1. Gain more influence.
2. Extract information.
3. Procure safe, consumable resources.
4. Leave this area for the drop site with some positive influence.
5. (Optional) Recruit 2–5 xeno conscripts—useful disposables. Kill or abandon when trouble outweighs worth.
6. (Optional) Find a reliable mode of transportation.]
Bo crossed his arms, reading the list again.
"This is decent. Might take longer than I expected," he admitted.
[Yes. But it can't be helped. Even with space travel, a planet is still a planet.]
"If only we had jet-bikes…" Bo muttered, looking at the receding tides. "Okay. I'll take it from here."
When LIRA disappeared and the objectives tucked themselves into a corner of his mind, a sharp voice cut through the air.
Heaterin.
Bo's focus narrowed, catching fragments.
"…me!"
"…ome!"
"Come!"
She was pointing toward the ocean.
Bo looked despite himself.
The tide wasn't stopping. It kept pulling back, revealing a slick, shining seabed—alive with wiggling creatures.
His heels dug into the pale sand as he sprinted toward the rocky step, kicking up wet clumps.
The roar came—deep and rolling—and the waves rumbled like a giant breathing in.
He didn't look back.
He got close enough to see the peering faces above high on the ledge. The imposing height too tall to jump and too late to climb. He needed extra lift.
LIRA already calculated that fact and readied the hip thrusters.
The mini ion pulse jets on his sides flared to life and Bo lept. The hip thrusters hissed and popped carrying Bo in further in the air. He went over the heads of the crowd the rockets dying 5 meters in the air. Bo plummeted to the ground saving himself with a roll.
They were quick to move past him deeper in the cavern as he recovered his senses. A deafening crash of water thundered behind him. He turned to see massive tongues of water spill out from the ocean for a moment before being splashed hard enough to stumble back.
The thrusters hissed in protest boiling the water away to vapour.
Bo turned and backed away from the now raging ocean that crashed against the shore until he reached the next rock step, looking back at mouth where xenos scattered in groups talking to each other.
Heaterin seemed to be dragged by another xeno into their tall wood house.
"LIRA what the hell was that? The ocean rose way too high, was that a tsunami?" Bo asked.
[Negative, I suspect it has something to do with K-B2—the supposed gas giant.]
LIRA projected a digital visual of the sky, the sun, and the small ball above the horizon.
"What about it?" Bo pressed.
LIRA zoomed in—through atmosphere, past space, past a scatter of asteroid-like moons—until the massive red orb of Drejj filled his view.
[The quick planetary scan from the mother ship confirmed K-B2-5—"Cleo"—is orbiting a gas giant. That giant is fourteen times larger than Jupiter, which should make it a brown dwarf… yet it doesn't throw enough light to paint the sky.]
"You're forgetting I'm a soldier, not a scientist."
[Short answer? We orbit a massive, overheated rock, which orbits the sun. But—Cleo's orbit is inclined forty-five degrees off Drejj's equatorial plane. That tilt changes how Drejj's gravity pulls on our oceans. Every so often, the alignment yanks entire coastlines bare, then drops them back. You just stood in the middle of one of those pulses.]
"Hmph, 'our'. Bold of you to asumed we conquered this planet already." Bo chuckled.
[It wasn't meant in that way but seeing that we are already here it might as well be.]
"Right… good talk." Bo muttered.
He looked around himself and the xenos that bustled about now back to their business. As if the raging thunderous ocean crashing at their doorstep was just a Monday.
Maybe it was.
But they were also still very much watching his every move. Probably judging and making fun of how he almost got swallowed up by the sea after beating up their chief.
Bo looked back at that wooden home Heaterin was dragged into and was slightly curious what she was up to in there.
Why does he care?
A xeno approached Bo with purposeful step, fast and determined. He stood out like a sore thumb.
Caped in that white fabric he stood head and shoulders above the average people here. He recognized quickly who he was—the same xeno that called for Bo to stop.
He stopped a few paces in front of Bo, a hand on his hook sword. His stormy blue eyes met Bo's and quickly looked to his feet.
Bow deeply and announced, "[Processing] Titan. I ask you to follow me."
"Follow you? Where?" Bo asked.
"The chieftain would like to meet you."
This was an opportunity for Bo to gain intel but it was beginning to be a problem when new words were not translated, he needed to get Heaterin.
"Tell him I'll be there, just point me to where he is and I'll be there."
"He expects you to be there [Processing]." The man raised his head slowly, his eyes sharp on Bo.
"I will be there. I need to get my retainer first."
"Retainer..." the man's face flashed with surprise then understanding.
"I'll escort you until the end." He straightened, "Get your retainer and we will go to Master Torjin, fast."
Bo nodded to the home, "She is in there." He approached it eyeing the bridge and scaffoldings above, "Now how do we get up there."
The man went to a pillar and casually, swiftly climbed up, swung his legs over the bridge and dropped onto wood with a thud.
He sighed as if he had walked up stairs.
"Is there no..." Bo did not know the names of ladder or stairs in their language. "Okay..."
He backed up and breathed.
Jumping, he gripped railing and vaulted over, dropping onto the wood that creaked and swayed slightly.
LIRA blinked in front of him, "Looks like they didn't account for anyone 140kg."
"Looks sturdy enough." He said in his helmet walking past her.
They walked to the house and his escort decided to wait at the threshold where the wooden area held it.
Bo walked in opening the crude door revealing the modest interior. The walls were painted in a layer of whitish-brown clay and paler brown of their furnished wood.
The living room he would guess and no one was home at a glance. But he didn't need thermals to hear the struggles in one of the rooms ahead.
He walked down the short hall and stood in front of the door. A sound of tumbling bodies reverberated.
He opened the creaky door casually to reveal a quaint bedroom with a desk with a candle, an uplifted chair, a wardrobe on one side spilled open with clothes of fish-scale fabric and leather that trailed to the left.
A bed of fur and wood and the two bodies at the foot of it.
Heaterin laid on the floor beneath the woman that dragged her here.
Now she had her hand holding Heaterin's hands above her head and another with a hand on the leather tunic half off her torso.
Their heads snapped to Bo, the woman panted softly. Heaterin held her breath.
Bo slowly closed the creaking door until it slid into place shut. There was movement on the other side and whispered voices.
[Well... it would seem that our little retainer is a bit of a charmer.]
LIRA commented, beside Bo with her arms crossed.
Bo sighed turning off his hearing sensors, "I didn't expect her to be intimate with the native xeno tribe. Perhaps she knows them."
He stepped back and walked out the house. His escort gave him a puzzled look and Bo just shook his head and settled by the entrance.
[Perhaps these xenos don't hold sexual orientation to such importance as we do.]
LIRA leaned back on the railing opposite from Bo, her voice never getting quieter.
"It doesn't matter. As long as she does her job and is professional on duty. I just hope she finishes up and comes out soon."
Heaterin stumbled out the door slamming it shut behind her. She had those leather clothes the xeno wore and Bo's escort took note with a nod.
She fixed her belt and boots in jerks, eyes flashing up at Bo—defiant for a heartbeat, then dropping away in embarrassment. She smoothed her hair as if nothing had happened.
Bo unmuted and sound flooded into his helmet.
"-Ah! Yeah so that what happened! I'm so sorry!" She bowed to him a couple of times.
"I'm not mad." Bo declared. "We are going to see Torjin. So are you ready?"
"Yes." She bowed a final time, reeling her emotions in.
Bo walked to his escort that began to lead them, Heaterin falling into place in line. Though the escort insisted she walked beside him on the way.
As they walked, the escort leaned toward her, speaking low. Bo's translator caught fragments: "You truly fight with Titan? Then I hope your skills are sharp as your blade, woman." Heaterin's glance flicked to Bo but she said nothing.
They arrived to the third step. On it was the large round house with a roof that flared like an umbrella. They walked up seemingly the only staircase that led up to it.
A weathered warrior who guarded the door opened it for them to reveal the interior.
When Bo stepped in he had to constantly be hunched now unless his head scraped across wood. There was a split that dragged into curved halls and the pit in the middle.
A blazing fire burned, filling the large interior garden in a red glow.
Children played, others older sparred and the elders watched.
Bo's visor swept them automatically, tagging posture, balance, scars, age. He noted which eyes lingered on him. Every hall was a choke point. Every playful sparring match, training to be a warrior themselves.
His escort led ahead, "Come. This way."
He went straight through and around the fire. Bo followed, taking glances at the curious faces. When he reached the other side it was a hall lit by torches that led to a room at the far end.
He looked to his sides to see all the engravings and scratch marks alongside it. His escort pressed into the room. A long table stretched in front of him with chairs lined up, ahead was a throne of something like ceramic. White and decorated with humanoid heads at the armrests.
The walls were lined with skulls of other creatures of this world, larger than Bo's torso, and even in death they seemed to still be roaring—screeching and raging.
His gaze landed on one particular one that reminded him what a shark looks like if it had fangs like spiders.
"I killed it myself, that one." A voice rang out.
All the way to the end of the tables sat Torjin draped in fur coats.
"It was killing our [Processing] and children, so I dove into the water in low tides and killed it." Torjin informed.
"That is good." Bo noted.
Torjin sniffled and shrugged, "You need to do these things as a leader. When there is trouble, you fix it."
"Agreed."
Torjin gestured to a chair, "Come, sit, sit. The chair can handle you. I promise." Torjin chuckled, "I know the roof is too low so, I do not want to talk with you when you look to be a grandma." Torjin's laugh became more hearty.
Bo pulled and took a seat. The chair just barely fitting his thick frame.
When Torjin's laugh finally died down his eyes looked at Bo with a certain intensity.
"Now. Titanborne, I have been thinking a few things. I want to know about you more. Yes?" Torjin leaned forward on the table.
"Okay." Bo nodded to Heaterin and she came forward, "I'll answer to the questions I can answer. I don't know much of your language but I'm learning quickly."
"I could tell." Torjin nodded, "So who is she to you?"
"My retainer." Bo answered.
"Retainer?" Torjin repeated, "So she can fight?"
Bo looked to Heaterin, "Fight?" He looked back to Torjin, "Why would she need to fight?"
Torjin broke out to another laugh, looking at the escort behind, to Heaterin and back to Bo.
Bo clenched his jaw getting irritated with this man.
"Titanborne. Where do you come from?" Torjin asked.
"The sky." Bo answered bluntly. "And a place different from yours."
"[Processing]?"
Bo looked to Heaterin expectantly.
"He asked if you are from another world that is not ours." Heaterin answered quickly.
[Another realm.]
LIRA confirmed.
"Yes. I am." Bo finally responded.
"Titanborne born how much do you know about our [Processing], our rules, our way of life." Torjin asked genuinely.
"Nothing." Bo answered truthfully.
Yorjin nodded thoughtfully, "Well... wether you know or don't know doesn't matter. The [Processing] must be [Processing]." Torjin scratched his beard and spresd his hands across the table, "When I yielded to you. It means that my power over my people is given to you."
Torjin continued, "Of course you can decline but... the offer stands. Now I need to know what you intend for my people."
"Your people... I don't care to hurt them. If that is what you are saying." Bo flexed his fingers, "I must say. I am not much of leader. I'm a... warrior."
"We both are." Torjin fell back into his chair, "Then will you take over?"
"You speak like you want me to." Bo replied.
"I want to know what will happen to this place." Torjin retorted.
"What is this place, really?"
"A [Processing] for all the people hunted out of their lands." Torjin gestured around, "Most of us come from here though. Many flee deeper into our territory."
Bo hummed to himself, "Give me a moment to think." He muted himself.
"LIRA, I need your two cents on this."
[This is an simple choice.] LIRA blink onto his vision and sat at the edge of the table, [Take the offer and you'll get xenos looking for a fight. Don't and you'll have a none and a good reputation, I think.]
"That's fair, but would they give me any resources though if I choose the latter?" Bo asked.
[You've proven you're strong. They'd be dumber than I expect if they don't.]
Bo unmute himself and finally said, "Hmm... and if I say no—let you keep as leader and ask for your stuff in return and leave?"
Torjin scratched his beard and pulled out something and flicked away, "You could but on taking my [Processing]. That is a no." He said definitively.
Bo leaned forward, "Why not?"
"We don't give out resources to visitors if you decide to take and leave." Torjin answered.
Bo retorted quickly, "Don't you want me to leave?"
"Hard to say." Torjin replied.
"Give me what I want and I will leave."
Torjin leaned in silently.
Bo continued, "Wether I become a leader or not, I do not care. If I become leader I will just leave when I get what I want."
"Do not get so [Processing] Titanborne [Processing]. You have not fought my father at his full strength!" Another voice spoke out behind Bo, his escort.
"Keep an eye on your lips!" Heaterin spay back.
"Hush woman-"
A white arcs cut through air and clashed metal sung in the room. Heaterin and Torjin's son were in a bind. Their blades locked together in the hooks.
"You [Processing]! What do you think you're doing?!" The son yelled.
"Fetching lips." Heaterin replied.
"Stop!" Bo boomed, "You two, fight outside!" He turned to Torjin as they left shuffled off reluctantly.
Torjin broke into a laugh—a genuine on, slapping the table as he howled.
When he finally calmed down he stroked his beard amused, "Of course. Right. Then..." he uncoiled from his seat hunched over as his back scraped against the roof, "Have you decided yet. If so them I must leave and [Processing]."
"Why? Where?" Bo asked confused.
"To tell the Forest Lords and the other tribes. I'll be gone." He said, his smile never leaving his face.
"You wanted this." Bo furrowed his brow.
"Of your will and your will is strong Titanborne. Mmh!" Torjin nodded energetically, "A trade. I leave for [Processing]. Stay and protect the place and take what you need within [Processing]. You leave when I return."
"What did you say? On the leave part?" Bo asked.
Torjin shrugged, "Ask your [Processing] if she's still alive. But it's not long. Do we have a deal?" He reached out his hand to Bo.
Bo tapped the table with a heavy finger then to the hand, "Okay..."
Torjin shook it firmly and stumbled off. A roar thundered from outside. The ground shook as he lept of to some part of the settlement and distant crowds murmured.
Bo scratched his helmet uselessly. Then took a long tired sigh.
[Want to tell me why you made that decision?]
LIRA asked.
"I'm not a diplomat, I'm no politician, not a bloody spokesperson and I ain't no negotiator." Bo grumbled, "They don't teach us this in the academy." Bo added.
[And I guess you'll honour that haphazard deal?]
"A deals a deal. With a man, dog, alien—all the same. I don't want to keep my comrades waiting." Bo slouched.
[We must work at maximum efficiency. If you'll allow me. On that note however I must voice my long debated conclusion. ]