The Nomad hovered silently over the forgotten planet of Prenthosis. Below, crumbling megastructures jutted from the landscape like ribs from a fallen god.
Salam: "You can't go down there alone."
Eve: "I have to. If the Thelarians get that tech, everything changes."
Mira: "Wait for the squad to return. I'll send Nomad scouts in the meantime."
Eve: "Thelarian dropships have already landed. There's no time. Can't wait for Soul Drifter. I'm going in. Drop the Needle."
Twenty minutes later
A 15-foot drop capsule screamed through the thermosphere, piercing clouds and atmosphere in a blur of fire. It impacted the top of a three-mile-high structure with explosive force.
The hatch opened with a hiss.
Eve emerged.
Thelarian scouts had seen her. ExoSuit soldiers—armed and jet-propelled—closed in. She rocketed between towers, twisting mid-air, plasma bolts lighting the skyline. Drones burst apart in swarms. Soldiers fell from the sky.
She cleared them all.
At the edge of the city, atop a stone monolith, she activated comms.
Eve: "Nomad, I'm standing on it."
She scanned the horizon—ruined towers behind her, but ahead, an wide open nature, beautiful view of jungle, desert, and ocean.
Mira: "No more ships. But... a fighter just landed near the base. Might be worth checking out."
Eve: "Copy that. Heading to the entrance."
Eve shed her jetpack, leapt from the building—five miles straight down. Her reinforced boots shattered stone as she landed near the lone fighter.
The cockpit was open. No pilot.
Eve: "It's empty. Moving inside."
She sprinted toward a massive archway lined with ancient glyphs.
Salam (comm-in): "Careful near the creeks. Bio-signatures below ground. Something large. Possibly dormant. Be alert."
Eve: "Understood. Going in."
The interior was colossal. A hollowed-out structure miles wide and tall—part cathedral, part bunker, part alien vault. Stone and metallic alloys meshed into walls that pulsed faintly with power. Massive crevasses cut across the ground like open wounds. Mountainous constructs loomed within.
Eve vaulted over gaps, sprinting across narrow ledges. She reached a sealed structure—no visible entrance. Smooth black stone, carved with angular markings.
She placed a hand on it.
Suddenly—crack.
A shot hissed past her.
She rolled aside, drawing her blade.
High above, a woman stood on a ledge. Sniper aimed. Smiling.
Sable: "Bullets don't kill you, Eve. But I hear they still sting."
Eve (dryly): "Your aim still sucks."
Sable laughed, and leapt. Mid-air, she unsheathed her blade and came down in a blur.
Eve raised her plasma blade just in time. Clang.
A fierce duel began. Sparks. Blades. Echoes.
Eve: "I wiped your team, by the way."
Sable: "I kill them for fun. I don't care about them."
Eve: "You are a cold-hearted bitch."
Sable: "I don't baby-sit. Take this!!" Sable swung her blade, Eve blocked but the mighty strike flung Eve meters back.
They landed near the center of a stone platform flanked by twin chasms.
Eve launched herself upward, slamming her blade downward like a meteor. Sable caught it, but the stone cracked beneath her feet.
They paused. Both breathing heavily.
Eve: "What are they paying you to steal this?"
Sable (spits): "I don't care about the credits. I just don't want you to have it."
Eve grabbed her wrist.
Eve: "Why do the Thelarians want the relic? What's inside?"
Sable kicked her square in the gut. Eve flew backward, hitting the ground hard.
Sable (approaching): "No idea. Could be a creature. Could be a bomb. Something ancient. Something loud."
She swung her blade. Eve rolled aside and swept Sable's legs. Sable dropped—but retaliated mid-fall, kicking Eve upward.
Both landed hard.
Then—
A deep rumble.
The chasm roared.
They paused.
From the pit emerged a colossal biomechanoid. Forty meters tall. Obsidan-plated. Eyes like burning stars. Vines and cables draped its limbs. Its growl warped the air.
Eve (panting): "We kill each other later."
Sable (nods): "Fine. But I'm calling dibs on the head."
They sprinted side by side, leaping into the air—blades igniting—straight at the monster's face.