The Lion of Light By TimTam
Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction containing scenes of violence and sexual acts between adults. If you are under the age of 18 (21 in some countries or regions), please do not read any farther. Please keep in mind that this is a prototype story, so your feedback is always welcomed. If you so desire, you can send feedback to cassinitelesto@gmail.com, and as always please do not forget to donate to Nifty. Donations are needed to keep posting stories like these. Enjoy the first installment of The Lion of Light, and thank you.
Chapter One
The ship creaked and rattled under the undue stresses of the ocean water. The sounds were as if the whole ship were about to implode. The Vanguard wasn't designed to handle this kind of stress (At least I thought), but at this point, dying by Mother Nature's hand was a far better fate than what we faced beyond the ocean's surface. In an instant, brutal shockwaves pulsed through the waters around the ship reverberating between one another, and our hull. They had found us. Almost instantly, the bombardment started. Each explosive discharge battered the hull which fired the decompression alarm. Only, it wasn't decompression we were faced with, it was compression. More, and more the sounds of the buckling hull increased in amplitude. We only had one last resort. We were forced to breach the water's surface, or be crushed by the waters of this ocean world.
"Bring us about!" I ordered. "We have only minutes before the Vanguard implodes in on itself." I was scared. I was still very young. I also did not ask to be placed here in this situation. If it were up to me, I'd still be waiting tables back on Earth. Instead, I was making decisions over things I didn't fully understand, aboard a ship that I knew very little about. My only saving grace was that the ship's systems were able to interface with my smartphone in a fairly crude way. After all, this was alien technology I was dealing with.
"Bring the bow 10 degrees up," I commanded. I was improvising with terms I learned about in movies I had watched. We should have been doomed the moment I started with that. "Now, increase the breach angle to 45 degrees up. Too much, too fast, will only increase the severity of the hull ruptures, and this ocean world will become our grave." After a few minutes, the pressure began to ease on the hull. The explosive discharges from the surface weren't helping, but our breathing got a little easier, as the tension eased but a fraction. Once we got to what I believed to be only a few leagues from the surface, I commanded the piloting crew to increase the breach angle to 85 degrees up. That should be enough to bring us straight out of the water. "Relinquish helm control to me and give me maximum engine output." I spouted, quickly exchanging seats with the helmsman.
"Hey Siri, Activate launcher program: Pilot Configurator Beta, and set algorithms to surface vehicle standards." That was something nifty that one of the crew members modified on my `archaic' piece of tech, so that I might be able to learn the ship's systems better.
"Ok, I will do that for you," Siri retorted, as the helm controls changed to english text, and a sort of joystick appeared from the console.
As I grabbed the joystick and secured my position at the helm is when the ship finally breached the surface of the water. This behemoth vessel 14 times the size of an oil tanker looked like a houseboat as it emerged from the expansive ocean of this world. As the Vanguard fully emerged from the water, the shields flickered up around us as the bombardment turned into a space battle. The behemoth flagship, quickly approached the enemy vessels. Visually, you could see the Vanguard's defensive weaponry come alive, as the major immobilizer charged. I wasn't quite sure how the device functioned, but based off of the rudimentary knowledge my phone was able to gather from the interface, was that it was some form of pulse weapon that utilized the ship's shield subsystems to repel enemy vessels, or even incinerate smaller objects. It could also be used as a catapult of sorts.
The ship approached the enemy blockade set up around the planet, I began the order to fire the "RUBBER BAND MACHINE" as I liked to call it. The enemy forces were only other small pirated vessels, therefore I had the advantage, and the weapon was more than capable enough to incinerate them. In just that instant, as the charge in the shields began to build, and ripple with energy as it swelled past the bow of the ship, something else appeared. Something massive. Something black. Something more menacing than the Vanguard's "Powerful Lion of Light" appearance. This was something new. This was something that I had never seen before. It was, as my co-pilot pronounced it, the Swa-Helix-Eon (Spelled phonetically of course, because I have no idea how it is actually spelled).
The Swahelixeon was beautiful in it's own menacing right. It was massive. If this was an episode of Monster Bug Wars, then that ship was the Goliath Beetle to my Hooded Mantis. Both of us monstrous and deadly creatures in our own right, but clearly I was the more delicate of the two. Forced to battle, I was once again thrown the disadvantage. My odds weren't good, but if a human could contribute one thing, finding a way to flip the odds would be a start. Afterall, the Vanguard's "RUBBER BAND MACHINE" was already primed for action, and that was something I could use. It was then that I decided that we were going to Ambush them.
"Hey Siri, alter targeting parameters towards the asteroid belt," I commanded. "We don't stand a chance against the Swahelixeon, but if we can even out the playing field a little, we might stand a chance."
"Targets acquired," Siri responded. "Would you like me to propel the near planetary objects, or retract them?" The feigned curiosity my iphone's AI software had wasn't the most convincing, but it at least did understand my intentions.
"Retract them!" I ordered.
"Ok, I will do that for you." In that instant, a flash of bright light slid past the bow of the Vanguard as it approached the asteroids. Once past, the giant bubble stopped, and began retracting back towards the ship. Bringing with it, countless hundreds of varying asteroids.
"Hey Siri, what are the chemical makeups of the asteroids?" Siri took a second on this one, analyzing each asteroid's chemical compounds.
"The asteroids are mainly comprised of iron compounds, silicon, Ammonium Nitrate, Acetone Peroxide, Nitrogen Trichloride, and Nitroamine." Each ingredient, an explosive compound. As siri finished, several small meteoroids began battering the already weakened hull. Hundreds of asteroids combined on the Vanguard's underbelly, and around the outer hull of the ship like a stoney suit of armor. It was a risky move that I was about to perform, but one that I hoped would pay off. As the remaining asteroids collected on the ship's outer skin, my next order was clear.
"Fire!" I exclaimed.
"Ok, I will do that for you."
In a brilliant display, the only thing visible through the display was just chunks of rock, metal, and fiery debris. My breath whizzed through my pearly whites, down my windpipe, and inflated my lungs to maximum capacity. I held in my breath for as long as it would take while I waited to see the results of my little maneuver. The whole ship rumbled and creaked under the exploding pressures at play here. The fiery ballet emblazoned the area around both ships, inadvertently knocking our visual sensors offline.
As the dust, and space flames subsided, I could only see a debris field of rock, metal, and organic matter. Organic matter? Why is there so much organic matter here? There should be just rock, and metal, with just a tiny little bit of organic matter sprinkled lightly throughout.
"Hey Siri, scan the debris cloud for any signs of life." I watched as my phone's loading icon spun around several times, as it waited for the ship's sensors to scan the entire cloud for lifesigns.
"Ok, there is enough structured organic material located within a 20 kilometer radius to classify one life sign." Siri spoke words that I didn't quite understand.
"What does that even MEAN?!" I spat.
"LUX! Scanners are showing a massive object heading our way!" One of the individuals still remaining on the bridge yelled at me. He was standing behind a green glowing holographic panel.
"Can you get a lock on it Hyakk?" I asked the tall, and slender alien.
"Optical sensors are still down! But I might be able to send the harmonic resonance pattern to your terminal." His six long fingers went wild on the holographic panel, trying to send it my way.
"Do it!" I shouted. "But don't forget to route it through my phone's AI software first so that I can understand it, Hyakk!"
Hyakk smirked. "Why would I forget? I designed that thing to help you. I'm not just going to abandon it now!" My expression sank a little at his remark. "Just a few more seconds LUX!" The tension was palpable. "Done! Routing complete! Try to pull it up on your monitor!"
I brushed my hand over the emitter at my station, and my holographic monitor flickered to life. As I brushed through the data I received from Hyakk, I realized that whatever it was that was headed our way was massive based on the resonance signature we were seeing. We had to get clear of this distortion wave that was heading here quickly, but we were flying blind without the optical sensors online.
"I need those optical sensors online Hyakk! I'll try to maneuver this beast out of its path as best as I can, but those sensors would be extremely useful right about now!" I screamed at Hyakk, as I tried to access the thruster algorithms on my panel.
Directing this behemoth using my rudimentary software was a chore, but I knew that it was possible. After several more taps from my fingertips, power was successfully rerouted to the thruster assembly, and the thruster icons on my holographic panel began to flash from red to green. I was a go, and I grabbed the joystick to my left, and the Vanguard began listing upward. As I increased the angle of ascent, I also began firing the aft impulse engines to propel us forward, and away from the harmonic resonance wave that was fast approaching.
"LUX! I have optical sensors back online!" Hyakk acknowledged. "I am putting the disturbance on the main screen."
As the main viewer flickered to life, I saw a massive, black object fast approaching. It was the goliath enemy ship heading our way. My eyes grew wide with terror, as it grew closer. We weren't moving fast enough to clear its path. The aft underbelly of the Vanguard was still exposed to the Swahelixeon. MY teeth began gnashing together with all of my tension, as I held firm to clear the enemy vessel's path. Audible sounds of distress were coming from my cohort's thin frame as he shook with terror.
"That's it!" I shouted. "Hyakk quit your quivering, and power up the rubber band machine!"
"I fail to see how shooting at the Swahelixeon is going to help at this point!" My cohort protested.
"We're not firing at it! Program the weapon to broadcast the same harmonic resonance back at the Swahelixeon! We're going to use it's momentum to push us out of the way!"
"Ah, yes I see!" Hyakk began wrapping his delicate finger pads more rapidly than I have ever seen before on his display. "If we can just match the harmonic resonance coming from the hull of that beast, we might be able to repel ourselves away from it!"
"Exactly, just like two magnets pushing away from each other."
There I sat, just waiting for the goliath beast to make its attack on us. Of course I was still trying to move out of its path to minimize the chances of detrimental contact with the enemy vessel.
"If we get out of this, remind me to apologize for calling your species primitive placental mammals," Hyakk muttered under his breath.
"The key word is IF!" I feigned a slight, nervous chuckle.
The ship entered within the Vanguard's magnetic field, and I began to notice the aft portion of the vessel drifting away from the Swahelixeon, but it still wasn't fast enough.
"Brace for impact!" I shouted, as the slender, pale skinned alien grasped either side of his platform.
Contact was brutal, as audible sounds of bending metal, and stressed synthetic compunds began buckling under the shock of impact. The rear of the vessel began listing up out of control, causing the Vanguard to bend at it's barycenter, and cartwheel over the Swahelixeon. This time the power dropped, and the lights went dark as we spun out of control into the planet's asteroid belt. Smaller objects began pelting us as we drifted farther away from the impact zone, and into the "Devil's Fangs'', as I like to call it. We were completely in the dark, and defenseless against the Swahelixeon, and the asteroids that kept rupturing the hull. Just as things seemed bleak, my phone began to illuminate, as an unfamiliar alien face appeared on it's LCD panel. The transmission was spotty at best, probably from all of the asteroids that surrounded us, and the words were in an indeterminable language of clicks, rattles, and hisses.
"I don't know if you can understand me, but there are injured people aboard this vessel, and we need medical assistance. Any aid that can be provided would be a great sign of respect and friendship. Warning, we are currently under attack by the Swahelixeon. Approach at your own risk." At this, my phone went black, enveloping us in total darkness once again.
I didn't know if my message was received, or even if it was understood by the beings on the other side. All I could do was just lay and wait. I hoped the asteroids would not tear us apart, or worse yet, that the Swahelixeon would not make another pass at us. Right now, all I could think about was my life up until now. I missed Earth. I didn't even know if Earth was nearby, or if it was so far away that it would not be possible to see my friends or family ever again. I felt a warm hand grab my shoulder gently, and I reached up to grip it tight. It was Hyakk's. I could hear him speaking to me, but with the ship's systems down, all I heard was an alien language cooing me softly as I drifted out of consciousness.
The next thing I knew, I was coming to in a dimly lit room that I was unfamiliar with. The lighting cast an amber hue on the walls, and I could see a bright surgical light shining down on me. The light obstructed my view of the other beings in the room with me. There were several small, and slender silhouettes hovering around the table, and there were two taller beings supervising them. One was tall, and slender, just like Hyakk, while the other was massive, and imposing. It was almost terrifying just being in its presence. Soon enough, the lights dimmed again, as I was thrust into unconsciousness once more.
After what felt like decades, I found myself waking again. This time, however, I found myself in a warm, and sunny place. There were sounds of animals like birds chirping outside the windows, and the natural vegetation seemed to be growing inside the room. The soft white curtains were slowly billowing with the breeze, and I could see a doorway just opposite of the windows. Further to my right, I noticed a familiar being sitting next to me. He was tinkering with my phone, as he had all of the bits and pieces strung out on my bedside table. His glance flickered upward at me through his magnifying monical.
"LUX! You're awake!" His expression was ecstatic, as he flung the table to the side, and scootched in closer to my bed. "Thank the Luxor you're awake! The doctors told me you were likely never to wake up again!"
"I am in some sort of futuristic hospital, with doctors and medicine more advanced than any I'm used to, and you're telling me that they couldn't just jumpstart me or something?" I coughed. My vocal chords were strained. "How long was I out?"
"Well, these doctors may be the most advanced in the quadrant, but even they have their limits, especially with your unusual biology," Hyakk smirked. "You've been out for about a week. Your body has gone through alot, and it needed time to recuperate."
"Wow, a week? It feels like I've been comatose for months, maybe even years. And what do you mean by my unique physiology? Hasn't your species helped experiment with human genetics for millennia?" My eyebrow quivered as I tried to look at Hyakk suspiciously, but a sharp pain in my side brought me back to my bedrest.
"Woah there LUX, don't strain yourself. We'll have you back up and running in no time, and I'll probably be done upgrading your tech by then too!"
By now, the door to my hospital room opened, as an average sized human-like being entered the room. Her eyes were the bluest of blues, and her hair was nearly white in appearance. Her skin tone was fair, but she had a slightly olive complexion. The only thing that set her apart from the rest of humanity, were her long, pointy ears. It was as if she was an arian elf princess or something. Her smile was gentle, and her general demeanor exuded grace, and compassion.
"Forgive me," She spoke aloud. "I have forgotten that your species has yet to acquire the skills for telepathy. I will try to remember to address you aloud." Her voice was soft, and musical. It was like a perfect quartet harmony with ever word that escaped her delicate lips.
"Uhm, thanks? I guess?" I hadn't even realized that she was attempting to address me telepathically, or even that it was a thing people could do.
"If you're feeling up to it, there is someone here to see you. He saved your ship from that asteroid field you were found drifting through." She smiled, and I nodded. She outstretched her arm into my room, a massive lumbering figure entered. He was wearing a cloak that covered much of his body, save for his snout. It appeared reptilian in nature. As the woman left the room, she gently grabbed the cloaked entity by his arm, and glowered slightly into his eyes when they made eye contact. She then left, and left me alone with him, and Hyakk. Hyakk, himself was slowly scooting farther away from the hooded figure, as he approached my bedside. The tension in the room was palpable, though it had a sort of intoxicating property to it too. It was almost as if my fight or flight instincts were firing, whilst simultaneously my endorphin levels seemed to keep growing. Whoever this figure was, he was starting to make me feel uncomfortable.
"Can I help you?" I torted gimply, as I feigned strength where none was.
"Victor, is it now?" He started with a question. His voice was deep. It was almost like he used earthquakes to push his words from his diaphragm. "I see you're still trying to imitate strength, when there is none." A deep chuckle began bellowing out of his chest, as my fight instincts were just getting going.
"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced." My strength was low, but for some reason, my every being was telling me to keep my defences up.
"No, I don't believe that we have. At least not in this life." The large figure extended his arm, exposing his greenish-brown scales that covered his hand. His claws were long, and thick, but fairly blunt. I saw him draw his hand towards his hood, and I waited in anticipation as he lowered it behind him. His face was definitely reptilian in nature. His eyes were piercing like those of crocodilians. They were golden in color, with narrow slits that could peer beyond one's soul. His facial structure was strong, and muscular, and his snout resembled that of earth dinosaurs. It was long, and protruded away from his face, with a massive opening for his lipless mouth. Sheathed inside his scaley oriphis, were several long, and sharp teeth. They were likely designed for tearing through flesh. His neck was broad, with rough flaps that connected the space behind his jaw to his shoulders.
By now, my flight instincts were firing madly. Everything about this beastly creature was telling me to run. My adrenaline started dumping, my heart thummed wildly in my chest, and my lungs started taking slower, deeper breaths as if I was about to make a run for it. Yet something about this brute beckoned to me. I wanted to stay. I was feeling the strangest mixture of sensations between anger, fear, and sexual stimulation. And he loved it. Despite this creature's lipless jowl, he began to chuckle with amusement. The copper-gold feathers on his head, and neck ruffled with stimulation. If a T-rex could laugh, this is what it would've sounded like.
"I have waited a whole lifetime to smell you again," His deep voice cooed. "And I see you have chosen a particularly futile mission this time around." His large, clawed finger traced my jawline like I was his tasty morsel to play with.
"I-" I gulped, "I don't believe I know you," I started. His oversized finger withdrew, and the tall creature turned to find a chair.
"No, I don't believe you do, yet." He chose an equally large chair, and sat facing me. His eyes were fixed intently on mine, and his posture read of nobility. "I am Tethis."
"Okay Tethis, would you mind telling me how I got here?" Nearly shaking apart, I held my ground. I glanced over at Hyakk, and the same would not be true for him. Hyakk sat, rattling apart. He was attempting to continue his work on my iPhone, but his hands were jittery, and the screws were too small. Tethis let out a billow of laughter, which completely knocked the tool right out of Hyakk's delicate hand.
"Well, little one, I brought you here," Though not evident from his lipless mauw, it was clear that I was humoring him. Little one? "I had to test you to see if the new Vanguard pilot was truly the one who has always piloted the Vanguard." My face began to flush, but not from embarrassment. I was pissed. Tethis drew in a breath, smelling my anger from across the room. "You showed remarkable courage, and truly surprising tactics on the battlefield little one."
"So you mean to tell me that you were in command of that goliath beetle, and the swarm of pirates that were attacking us?" My voice was calm. Besides the quiver from my resulting injuries I remained cool, but I was very hot underneath the surface. I was practically boiling over. How could someone behave in such a manner? We could have died. He TRIED to kill us. "You need to leave now." I laid back down, flipping to view Hyakk staring back at me with bewilderment. "I will not share company with my attacker." My response was cold, and resolved.
Tethis stood, and I listened to his heavy footsteps as they paced away from me. They stopped only for a moment, and I could hear Tethis's cloak rustle as he turned toward me. "You used to beg for it you know," Tethis began. "You were quite the formidable opponent, and lover in your past lives. I see that nothing has changed." Tethis turned, "We will meet again little one."
"My NAME is LUX..." I spat.
"Yes, I know," And with that Tethis was gone. Hyakk collapsed from the exhaustion of the entire exchange.
"LUX, that was intense," Hyakk sighed.
"Yeah, I know," I breathed a deep sigh of relief as well. "Can you believe that monster tried to kill us? And then brought us HERE instead. I just can't fathom the recklessness of someone like that. As if we are just a game to him!" I stopped myself before letting myself sink into my anger too deeply.
"I can. LUX, do you know WHO Tethis is?"
"A psychopath?" I retorted.
"NO, Lux! Tethis is the benefactor of the Draco empire. He is the Commandant General for the Draco military! Perhaps the most dangerous entity of the whole galaxy, and maybe others too!" Hyakk shook his head at me, before resuming work on my iPhone.
How many times did I have to pinch myself before I could wake up from this bizzare dream. Hyakk saw me wince after pinching myself a few times.
"Lux, what are you doing? Why are you trying to cause additional damage to yourself?" Hyakk's frozen look of bewilderment was quite comical, seeing as he was glaring at me through his monocular device. One of his compound eyes appeared larger than the other.
"No offense Hyakk, but I have had enough of this crazy dream I am having. I just want to wake up, go back to work, and live the rest of my life." A glass of water sat on a table across the room, but I didn't yet have the strength to grab it.
Hyakk chuckled, "If this was a dream, why would causing personal harm help you to wake up?"
"Don't tell me that you've never woken up from your dream right as you're about to die?" Hyakk's face grew concerned. "You know what, never mind. Since this is a dream, I can do whatever I want. Anything is possible when you're dreaming."
"And what do you suppose you want right now?" Hyakk asked. My hand outstretched, looking for that glass of water. Since this was a dream, I could just manifest that glass of water into my hand without moving a muscle, right? I fought for a good fifteen seconds, as I willed the glass into my right hand. My eyes squinted to obtain maybe a more precise view of my target. Then when I couldn't try any harder, I collapsed from my disappointment. Hyakk, grew more concerned by each passing second. "So? Were you able to obtain the thing you want most right now?"
"No," I sighed defeatedly. A gentle smile grew across Hyakk's face as he continued his work on my device.