We Need a Deathworlder!

“No, even Jamie can’t have pizza for every meal, so that ain’t gonna fly for you two either.” Jackie chuckles as he turns vegetables, nutrient paste, rice and broth over in a hot pan with a back and forth flicking motion.

“But Daaad…” Katie protests.

“Sorry kiddo, it’s for the best. And trust me, when it comes to food the more of ‘good’ stuff you eat, the less special it becomes.”

“Nuh-uhhh…” Katie grumbles as she crosses her arms and slumps on the dining table dramatically.

“Uh huh, you’ll see when you and your taste buds are older.” Jackie insists, “Now go get Jeanne and wash up, momma should be home from work soon.” he says before adding steamed protein cubes into the pan.

Grumbly, Katie complies in a pout and slides off of her seat.

“Thank you, sweetie.” Jackie calls after her as he reaches over and picks up a mug of warm chai.

Taking a deep sip, he hums a tune to himself as he splits the food portions of food and picks out extra seasonings from a side cupboard. The girls are not fans of ‘spicy’ yet, so he ensures to keep their share of dinner much more mild. Though Jeanee is coming around, already liking banana peppers and such.

Cooking until the protein cubes are properly toasted he turns off the stove and begins plating.

Halfway though the process, there’s a sudden slight buzzing in the air. He stops and looks around feeling the hair on the back of his neck and arms stand on end.

“Kids…” he heard himself say as he put the pan down.

The kitchen lights flicker before a subtle but very noticeable vibration rattles the floor.

“Katie! Jeanne! Get to the panic room, now!” he shouts while he abandons dinner and hurries out to collect his girls.

As soon as his eyes land on them exiting the bathroom, there’s a far more aggressive shutter of the floor and walls followed by the lights slowly dimming into a complete blackout.

“Daddy?” Jeanne cries.

Moving up to his kids, Jackie feels in the pitch darkness to find each of their heads. Kneeling down he simultaneously picks them up so that they sit in one of each arm.

“Everything’s going to be okay…” he calmly states as he carefully moves towards the panic room door at the end of the hall.

However despite his convincing fatherly tone, he struggles to not believe the opposite is true. There were or are any expected alarms. So something unexpected and intentional just occurred.

His toe hits the bottom of the door he’s searching for and with a somewhat encumbered arm maneuvers his hand to the latch and pulls it down. Dragging it open he hears another door be forced open behind him. Fear spikes throughout his core until he hears a voice call out.

“Jackie!? Girls!?” Donna shouts.

“Oh thank the stars… We’re here, just getting in the panic room.” Jackie replies as he feels his eyes burn in the darkness while he slips in with the kids and sets them down on an already deployed wall cot, “Stay, right here you two. Mom and dad need to set stuff up.” he tells his children before quickly stepping away to activate the isolated system room generator.

“Do we have any idea what happened?” Donna asks, now much closer.

Jackie finds the small standby red light indicator, he flicks it on and after a few seconds the overhead light comes to life.

“No. No alarms and…” he replies as he tries to access the comm and net on his personal devices, “...we’re not receiving any signals.”

Curious as to what’s taking Donna so long to get in the panic room, he turns to see a feminine figure taking her time.

“I see…” Donna said as she stopped as though recalling something, “One of us should find Simone’s kids. Make sure they’re safe.”

“We could… but Vin was shown their panic room and knows what to do. You were very thorough, and procedures’ there for a reason. Maybe once we get notification of what’s going on from security or the Union we can venture out. No doubt they're already dispatching people to address the issue. Now come on, hun.” Jackie responds with a summoning wave before checking the food and water stores.

“Still, I’m really worried. I’ll make a quick run to check up on them. Where would they be around this time?” Donna says.

Jackie furrows his brow confused.

“They’re just over…” he begins to say before trailing off, feeling his heartbeat in his ears as he peers back at the silhouette.

“Where?” Donna’s voice asks.

Jackie stares for a few seconds before forcing himself to turn and pretend to count sleeping bags and pillows in a rack over the cot.

“Uhhh, around this time? I guess Vin might be getting dinner with those kids, maybe Ted’s place?” he says with a casual shrug.

“I was just there. I didn’t see them.” Donna informs.

“Shoot… maybe they went a bit further and got some at the Ramen place? I mentioned it once to Vin, so maybe he wanted to check that place out?” he proposed.

“Broth Bliss? By the high school?” Donna inquires for clarification.

Feeling a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face, Jackie nods.

“Yeah… that’s the one.” he confirms.

“Okay, I’ll check there. Be right back.” Donna says before stepping back and exits the housing unit with urgency, while still making sure to reseal the door behind her.

“Is mommy going to be okay?” Jeanne asks.

Jackie nods slowly as he stares out into the empty pitch dark abode, his gut continuously screaming at him.

“We need to go.” he says before leaning down and picking his kids up again.

“What about mommy?” Katie questions in confused worry.

“Mommy will understand, sweetheart, we just need to get to an even safer place.” he assures.

“But what if she comes back and we’re gone?” Jeanee points out through her shaking tone.

“That’s exactly why we’re going.” Jackie thinks to himself.

Years back when she was still pregnant, Donna lamented for days on end that their childhood ramen place closed down. It was her favorite place for nostalgic comfort food and she nearly convinced Jackie to buy and run another in its place. Obviously with kids on the way they ended up deciding their saved funds should be strictly for the twins once they were born.

Donna knows this, and has been in constant communication with Vin regarding schecualing kid’s stuff. Whatever stood not ten feet away in the shadows… Jackie’s gut knew that despite it sounding exactly like her… there’s no way in hell he’d wait around for that Donna to return upon discovering his ruse. Not with his girls there.

Yet he can’t tell his kids that, or think of a way to explain it that wouldn’t scare the shit out of them. So instead he continues on with his parental mode.

“She’ll know exactly where we’ll be, don’t worry kiddo.” he assures confidently.

Waiting a few standard minutes to pass, Jackie made his way through their home and to the front door that’s a bit more difficult to reopen. In fact he’s only able to shunt it partly open just enough to squeeze himself through.

He nearly shudders at how ‘Donna’ managed to open and close it with such ease earlier, encouraging him of this being the best action to take.

The darkness within their own home is off putting enough, but stepping out to the void hallway where distant panicked and confused echoes of resident voices communicate to one another feels straight up haunting.

“Be brave for dad, okay? We’re not going far.” he softly says to his girls before moving along the wall towards where Vin’s rented unit resided.

His pace is conflicted, wanting to take it slow through the darkness to not trip or hit anything while also desiring to hurry as he felt so very exposed.

Still at the very least he knows this place like the back of his hand. So knowing where obstacles and doors are is of no issue.

With each child burying their faces into each side of his neck to shield from the scary world around, Jackie eventually makes it to the door he’s searching for.

With a light tapping he knocks to notify those inside of his presence before grabbing hold of the manual lever and with just as much effort as before drags it open enough to grant entry.

“Dr. Vin?” he says into the darkness to no response, “Doctor?”

Moving in, he slowly navigates back to this unit’s panic room door, believing no one can hear him.

Again, he knocks. After no one comes to answer he takes the chance and opens it just a crack.

“Vin it’s me and-” he quickly says before realizing the light inside is off, “The girls…” he finishes as she opens it the rest of the way.

Not a sound came from the void, no breathing, no clacking of chitin, no growl of a dog and surely the fearless Manarian would utter something if present. Yet no life is heard in this room.

He begins to question himself, this was Vin’s rented unit right?

Stepping in he flicks at the panic room light and as the world comes into view again it reveals no one had entered before him.

Setting his girls down on the cot like before he rumages for a small flashlight -to preoccupied carrying his kids earlier to bother at their panic room- and lights it up down the hall. Judging by a few familiar toys on the ground, this is most certainly Vin’s place.

“Doctor?” he calls out once more just in case he and the others are hiding in another room.

Yet again he’s met with silence.

“Daddy? Are we going to wait for them to come back from the place you said?” Katie asks.

Blowing out air as he thinks of a response, Jackie can’t help but to shrug.

He can’t leave his kids unprotected, especially with someone using their mother’s voice creeping around. Unfortunately all he can do is hope the others and the real Donna are safe. If they were actually out doing something while this happened, then it’s likely they’re with other people in a bigger safe room.

Plus the fact that so many Union ships and personnel are so nearby is actually a huge comfort for once. Help is nearby for everyone.

“Yep. We’ll be hanging out here for them.” he confirms before sealing and locking the panic room door.

-

Unknown to Jackie and many within the colony, a sudden and violent battle rages above the asteroid.

Children of Gaia ships had rushed in after an unexpected surge of a powerful EMP stunned the majority of Union vessels and crippled the colony they’re protecting.

Union ships are too preoccupied bringing their vessels back up to combat readiness to search out where the EMP’s origin, and unfortunately couldn’t stop many of the terrorist shuttle forces from their blitz straight for the mining colony.

By the time they may have been able to do something about it, they are immediately tied up with the fewer but tremendously aggressive battleships of the terrorists.

Kole smiles as his shuttle latches onto a sealed bay door, and his soldiers begin using the emergency responder manual cranks to gain full entry.

He reaches down and places his hands atop the heads of his new leashed pets as his forces begin to pour into the colony.

The lion-sized, winged, quadrupeds thrum at attention as their plumes twitch to hear any orders.

“Remain by me.” he says simply before being the last to disembark.

“What’s going-” he hears an authoritative voice of either a security officer or Union soldier start to shout before he’s silenced by pulse-weapon’s fire.

Soon enough, the Gaia troops wipe out initial responding forces who are unable to message via comms of the invaders arrival. Just as Kole planned. They can press on to their target’s destination with residence all tucked away and opposing forces unable to communicate with one another.

He’s almost sad at the ease of it as his troops roll their way deeper into the colony. It’s not until they have an unbreakable foothold that the enemy starts to have some compelling sense of defensive organization. Though once they do, they prove more effect than he would have expected. Though it did make sense upon further consideration, the local security forces guiding the supplemental Union forces don’t need maps or blueprints. They understand all the shortcuts and secret paths through their home. No doubt they are the most motivated of everyone fighting, their kin are here. They’ll gladly give their lives like ants to their brood and queen.

Kole respects that, but they won’t prevent him from reaching his primary goal.

Eventually hallways begin to lock into stalemates, elevator shafts and stairwells all become narrow deathtraps and the predictability of where the Gaia soldiers will go proves more successful than not.

Striding into a recently secured plaza, Kole takes a look around, allowing himself to truly take in this mundane, cramped habitat. It’s not without its rustic charms of course, but he fails to understand how such a place could give rise to someone like Thatch.

Certainly, those who reside here are hard, hearty folk who can both maintain order while fending for themselves against the various thieves and raiders. Yet… they are still simple minors, algae farmers and vendors that ‘get by’. They just care about living to the next day without a thought about striving for more.

Is Thatch’s ideals simply a reflection of this? No… surely her spirit must have been something she learned from Union, or she really is a unique someone who won’t break easily. Her record, both military and life afterwards proved she has a resilience strong enough to rise from ashes.

She could have been something great had she only accepted his truth. Terrans are now weak and must be reborn to persevere and prove themselves once more when the Empire arrives. Perhaps, one day, Terrans will be strong enough to surpass even their so-called conquerors.

It won’t be in Kole’s lifetime, but once reminded of where their strength lies, Terrans will be ‘Human’ by his definition again. With that, they can achieve any greatness through any hardship.

Yet… Thatch turned him and his future away at every turn. Even as he stripped her down to the core of who she is… she refused.

After his own death, she then continued on to disrupt everything. Not only his own plans, but those who he deemed allies to the cause.

As impressive as it’s all been, she refuses to accept the inevitable. The Empire will come one day or another, and they will succeed in their galaxy-wide conquering crusade. But in her desired future, no one will be ready to endure, least of all Terrans.

They will clash fleets until completely broken, rendering so much worth from them and once the Empire wins… would they even accept Terrans as suitable servants? Or will Terrans be casted aside with the rest?

He will not allow that to happen. Brought back from death itself, he won’t let her claim anymore victories. The redhead alone has accomplished more than even himself in these clashing of fate.

He’s going to break her once and for all and she doesn’t even need to be present for him to do so.

“Chief Kole.” an officer addresses him over comms.

“You have a report?” he asks as his mind tears itself from his deepening thoughts.

“Yes. As expected, the defending forces are primarily focused on where the Ambassador is being secured.” the officer informs.

Kole smirks.

“Good. Keep pretending that we give a damn about the Ambassador until we locate and take out our true targets. Keep them caged right there, no need to press.” he instructs.

“Yes, Chief.” the officer replies before the line ends.

Giving the plaza one more glance, Kole shakes his head and continues on to where his spies have indicated where his prey are likely located.

But he stops as the colony backup systems appear to have been repaired. Dim lights activate and a subtle breeze kicks in as basic life support systems reenaged. No doubt local comm networks are soon to follow, and once that happens the Gaia’s advantage will be spent.

It’s unfortunate the bulk of his fleets were tied up engaging alongside Cali of all species to remove the Central presence in the Malchite world. Otherwise he would have had all the time he wished to play hide and seek, but unfortunately… time was not on his side.

With his pets leached at his hips he marches on at twice the pace.

-

Jamie’s plumes twitch as he hears fighting all around. He’s not fearful of it, his Manarian nature doesn’t grant him that particular survival instinct. But he certainly feels uneasy all the same, especially with their sibling clinging to him and shaking so much that their back plates rattle.

There’s a round of sighs as the backup lights are finally restored and people no longer require flashlights and mining headgear to see.

Jamie personally didn’t mind the darkness, he can perceive just fine and it was amusing to see Terrans and Mikk stumble around. With these lights on however, Essjay seems to calm down a bit at the sign of good news, so Jamie prefers this too.

“Looks like life support’s back up too.” a Mikk reports as she removed her face tendrils from a vent.

Another round of comforting relief goes through the current occupants of the gym. Vin and Donna being one of them.

“With the lights on we should move to a security station.” A Terran suggests.

“And get shot? Or risk those kids getting shot? No. I say we just barricade and wait for comms to be restored, then we coordinate and decide where’s best to go.” Donna counters.

Vin nods.

“I have to agree, that seems like our best option at the moment.” he says as he places two paper cups of water down for Jamie and Essjay.

Zrume sits upright with perked up alert ears, lips twitching at the potential danger she can hear.

“We could at least go to the closest panic room, that’s where we’re supposed to go at a time like this.” The male Terran points out.

“The gym in its entirety act as a public panic room… we’re fine in that regard.” the female Mikk shot down, almost in a scolding tone.

The man rolls his eyes and makes a ‘fine…’ gesture with his arms before moving back to lean against a corner.

Donna lingers her eyes on the man for a second, before walking to Vin and the kids.

“You two doing okay?” she asks Essjay and Jamie sweetly.

Essjay shook their head, but voiced no words.

“Oh honey, everything will be okay. We have a lot of good guys helping us out.” Donna assures, hiding her own concerns for her family.

Though thankfully as far as anyone can tell, these attackers had no interest in the general residence. So her home and area should be clear of fighting, and she trusts Jackie to do whatever it takes to keep their girls safe.

She just wishes that she would have left her small pulse pistol at home for him to have access to. But at least she could use it here, if the attackers came this way.

“Mmmmom saaavvve ussss againn?” Essjay asks in a small voice.

Donna pursed her lips for a moment.

“She’s helping save a lot of people right now, both your moms are. But don’t worry, Aunt Donna and Uncle Vin are gonna keep you safe. I know this is very scary, but we’ll be okay, I promise. Right, Vin?”

The Noxii nods, causing his ear flaps to snap at the air.

“Of course. Not only that,” he points a mitten up at the large framed picture of the gym’s previous owner and a child that they came here to visit when this all began, “nowhere’s safer than the castle of your grandfather Robert!” he speaks in a playfully dramatic manner.

Both of the kids look back up at the memorial depicting their mother as a kid and her father.

“Like Aragorn!” Jamie squeals in glee as he starts swinging his hand as though holding an invisible two-handed weapon.

“Uhh… well I don’t know who-” Vin starts to say before Donna cuts in.

“Yeah! Like Aragorn.” she confirms before tilting her head towards Vin, “A character from some old movies he’s been infatuated with after that movie night with the girls. Fantasy hero with a sword and all that.” she explains.

“Ah… I see. Very good.” Vin replies in amused understanding.

Jamie smiled up at the picture enthusiastically. Though to him the Terran looked a lot more like a giant Gimili, he felt a proud reverence towards him. He’s a cool hero like his mom, which means he can also be one too!

Essjay however keeps their upward gaze on the young face of their mom, wishing that she will magically step out of the picture and keep them safe in her protective arms.

Jamie’s plumes distinctly twitch as he picks up a peculiar sound.

An unknown voice.

It comes from the man that wants to leave for better safety, but it’s not his voice talking.

“Do you still have visuals?” the voice asks.

Jamie’s plumes perceive the man taps a finger on his comm once.

“Are you able to relocate them?” the mystery voice responds to the tap.

The man then taps twice as he pretends to scratch at an itch.

“Very well. Chief Kole has been notified of your current location. Prepare for his imminent arrival. Assist in terminating everyone but the targets, Kole will handle the targets personally. Is that understood?”

Jamie’s plumes ‘see’ the man turn to look directly at him and Essjay before tapping once.

Although his toddler brain was still learning the commonly known language of his parents, he’s watched enough movies to understand what was being said.

The boy’s thrum shifted to utter aggression, causing those around him to stare in surprise.

“Hun, what’s wrong?” Donna inquires.

The boy stands up with claws at the ready followed by his tail hammering the ground.

“Bad guy!” he sneers as he points at the man, “Calling mmmore bad guys!”

Not normally one to take the words of a rambunctious toddler as gospel, Donna reaches into her pocket to put a hand on her weapon.

The man’s eyes widen as the attention of the room all turns to him.

“Whoa, whoa, kid… that really isn’t cool.” he scolded in defense, “We’re in a serious situation here, don’t go doing that shit.”

Some around did concede that he had a point. The high stress situation shouldn’t let them turn on each other because of a child’s imagination.

“What’s your name?” Donna asks firmly.

The man huffs a ‘are you kidding me!?’ laugh.

“Seriously? Lady, relax, the name’s Will.” he says.

“You a resident Will?” Donna inquires as her eyes elevate the man in inspection.

“Uhhh, yeah? Semi recent transplant, but yeah.” the man casually answers with a shrug.

“So you’re new? That’s interesting, not very common that people come to settle down here. But not unheard of.” Donna points out.

“Came for work. I’m no stranger to mining and this colony seems friendly enough… well not now, but yeah.”

“Fair enough. But to put everyone at ease would you mind us checking that comm of yours? They shouldn’t be working anyway so it should be no problem for you to-” before Donna can finish her sentence, the man whips out his own pulse pistol and fires in a quick-draw fashion, striking her square in the shoulder and collarbone.

“I’m compromised-” the man started to speak into his comm while aiming at the other adults in the room to take them out, but before the trigger can be pulled again he lets out a scream as powerful canine jaws clamp down on his raised arm.

In one moment the dog was across the gym, the next right up to the man.

There’s an audible crunch of bones as the Z’ah’tuck-crafted breed of canine revealed just how strong her bite force really is.

The man’s topples over hitting frantically at the massive mutt’s head, however he might as well be striking his fist against a ball of solid iron.

His arm drops the pistol as it loosely dangles in a very incorrect angle. His screams out in pained terror break as the powerful jaws relocate over his exposed windpipe.

Yet despite what the onlookers expected, Zrume doesn’t immediately easily rip out the man’s neck. Not that she can’t, but instead she drags him by that grip further away from the children as physically possible.

“Please! Help me! Fuck! Help!” the man frantically calls out for anyone else to interfere, but no one dares moves to save their would-be killer.

Instead, they just watch as he’s helplessly dragged into the lavatory.

Just as he gasps to release another thunderous round of begging, the people hear another echoing snap of bone.

This time it is only followed by silence and the dog stamping back out to resume her protective duties.

Only until the dog started to approach the prone Donna did people start to shout and move in panic fearful of another display on an innocent woman.

However, Zrume simply nudges her muzzle against Donna’s leg and sits down.

She then whines and softly howls to summon help that she can’t provide.

With a very shattered clavicle, Donna gasps as her adrenaline allows her to roll on her back.

“Good girl…” she rasps before the current gym owner approaches to help inspect the damage with caution towards the animal.