Author's Note: WildStar has been a point of contention for me, but I still enjoy the plot behind this story so... I've decided to re-start it and (hopefully) finish it. I will be updating chapters as I finish them.

Disclaimer: WildStar is property of Carbine Studios, and WitchBlade is owned by Top Cow Entertainment. Akki Assentia and all other characters, however, are mine.

WildBlade

Prologue

The gentle rumblings of the medium-sized ship we're all seated in has been trying to work it's magic for two weeks, trying it's best to lull me to sleep when all I want to do is stay awake. I give a great yawn and gently slap my cheeks, urging my brain to stay on. You wouldn't think there would be any kind of turbulence in space, but you'd be unhappily surprised to find out that's not the case. I'm seated in a Jarrad-Class Medium Luxury Shuttle for my trip, most of my twentysome employees sound asleep for the trip. Can't blame them, really... sleeping was a good way to pass the time, and time was one thing we had oodles of on the trip over. I couldn't sleep, though... too many important details I had to sort out on the way over and entirely not enough time to sort them out. Being your own boss had it's ups and it's downs. We were well over halfway there – a few hours short of landing, I understand – and I didn't even know where 'there' was. I had been told so little in my initial briefing that it was almost criminal.

I gave in, finally reaching into the satchel bag at my feet and retrieving the datapad within. It was sealed inside a Protostar envelope and marked with 'Assentia Construction, LLC Property' in big, bold red letters. Breaking the seal with a nail, I slid the datapad out of it's envelope and turned it on, sliding the headphones that came with it over my ears (which I'm sure looked goofy as fuck, what with these tall-ass rabbit ears I've got) as the pad clicked on to show the Protostar Logo. The little hourglass span and span as it loaded my mission briefing – straight from Protostar Headquarters – for my viewing displeasure. Knowing my luck, we were probably out to fix some broke-ass water pump on a farm on the planet ButtFuckNowhere, or – Heaven forbid – fix fences like we've been doing for the past year. With a click, the loading screen vanished and was replaced with a black screen.

Welcome, Akki Assentia. The datapad displayed. The following is the culmination of ten years of Protostar study and cooperation with the Dominion. You are not to discuss this with anyone outside of your own company, and even then, discretion is advised. The fuck? I don't think I've ever been gag-ordered that hard before. Where the hell could they be sending me where I'm not allowed to discuss the details of a construction project? Seemed... asinine. The black screen faded and showed a grass-green planet with two rings circalling it in an X shape. I didn't recognize the look. Area of Operations: The datapad began, zooming in on one of the planet's four larger continents – a smaller one to the south. Area of Operations: Helidor Contenent, Planet Nexus. I blinked.

Wiping both my eyes, just to make sure I hadn't misread that, I looked at it again. Planet Nexus. Yeah... that was really there, written on the datapad like it was no big deal. I didn't recognize the planet's look... but that name I was all too familiar with. Planet Nexus was the creation myth of the galaxy. It seems every race – from humans to the Granok – have a creation myth that somehow references Planet Nexus and the Eldan race. For the longest time, though... Planet Nexus has always been just that... a story, a myth. No one had any proof that it could exist, let alone that it did. Any fatigue I was still feeling vanished the moment that realization came to mind. I read the next words intently.

Protostar Headquarters has been informed of a token Dominion force on the Helidor Continent, several kilometers west of your Area of Operations. The Dominion Commander on site has been appraised that you shall be landing, and has been required to announce his presence within two days of your landing. You will find enough materials to establish a foothold on Helidor, however full project execution will require OSP of any further metal or wood you may require. Protostar Headquarters has comped you a Mark XIV mineral dredge and blast furnace for your refinement and procurement of materials.

Instructions: The Dominion has expressed interest in cultivating an area where it's soldiers can relax and unwind. You have been contracted to construct a social district for their soldiers. ADDENDUM: As the location of Planet Nexus was provided to us by the Exiles, this social district will be for both Exile and Dominion soldiers. BE ADVISED: The Dominion is not currently aware of this addition, nor are they aware that the Exiles have laid claim to the planet. This information is not to be disseminated amongst anyone but you. Oh fuckin' great. Not only do I have to build a damn city on the most sought-after planet in the world – not a bad thing, mind – but now, I've got to keep the Dominion in the dark that their little plan will also benefit the Exiles. That'll totally not come to bloodshed at all, no, couldn't possibly. The rest of the datapad just spewed it's whole manifest on me for the last part, so I shut it down and tore the headphones off my head. Standing from my seat I stretched, cracking my back and knuckles after the long trip. Finally, I decided to take a look around.

My employees were all very different, hailing from different planets and societies. Most were human – Dominion or Exile regardless – and quite a few looked very much like they didn't belong. Far to the back, I saw a pair of curved horns peeking over the seat, the pair unmoving as their owner – a Drakken named Andrin – slept soundly, awaiting instructions. I liked Andrin, he was a good sort. A bit weird at times... sometimes I wondered about half the shit that came out of his mouth... but give him a task to do, and I can promise you he'll do it. Seated beside him – I just knew, even if I couldn't see him – was Igon, our resident explosive expert and the only Chua on the whole team. I can't much complain about him being the only Chua... the Chua sometimes even give me the willies. Igon wasn't completely there in the head... but he had a mind for explosives and always seemed to know exactly how much was just enough.

My eyes turned to another set of seats which had a young human man speaking animatedly – though quietly – to a Mechari woman. The Mechari was Annha, and the Human was Jake. Annha was my go-to girl for making sure everything measured up, both people and buildings. She was the first person I hired, and it was she who made sure everyone I hired after her was a fine, upstanding person. Annha was a good person – a glitch in the system, I understand – and was free from the usual arrogance that followed Mechari everywhere. Jake was her best friend, and insisted that he was also a good worker. He has his moments, of course, of slacking when he should be working, but all-in-all, I have fewer problems with him then I have praises, so he stays. The two work fantastically together, even if they do get a bit chatty when they're paired up.

Finally, I turned my eyes to the woman sleeping next to me. Damn, it's impossible to think that we've been together for five years already... Her name was Lyndrys, and she meant the galaxy to me. She was Human and had soft brown hair which was often filled with dirt and sand. Aaah, but she wore that dirt and sand like little badges of honor, and I loved her for it. I met her after my rather absymal first attempt at love, before this construction company thing ever started. My first fiance was the greatest person I've ever known... a little rough here and there, but a good person. A mercenary by trade, I even stayed with her after an accident with some acid left her face horribly scarred, and almost skeletal... then... on our wedding night of all things... it turns out she had received a contract to kill me... and took it. I've heard of running away at the alter, but never when one party's firing a plasma pistol at the other, and the other's trying not to die. We – of course – broke it off after that and I never want to see her again or think about her, if it's all the same to you.

"Lyn." I speak softly to Lyndrys, nudging her with a finger. "Lyn, c'mon, wake up." She stirs, muttering something in her sleep. "C'mon Lyndrys. We've got work to do." She finally gives a great yawn and sits up properly, her eyes bleary and half-open as she smacks her lips together to get that funky sleep taste out of them. Heh... even looking like a disheveled rooster, Lyndrys is the most beautiful woman I know.

"Mmmmph..." She grumbles, rubbing an eye. "Mornin'." She smiles at me sweetly. "Did you manage to sleep?"

"Sleep is a luxury reserved only for those who are not the boss." I responded in a typical 'not a wink' fashion before standing fully and turning to face everyone. "Can I have your attention, please?" I spoke clearly, my voice carrying easily in the small ship. "I have an announcement I'd like to make." I saw Igon bouncing in his seat to see, then watch as Andrin lifted him up and sat him on the chair back, the aforementioned Drakken looking over the seat to confirm he was, in fact, awake. "Now, I know ya'll've been rather antsy these last few weeks, tryin' to figure out where we're going, and for that, I'm sorry. But... you patience has been rewarded." No one spoke as I did, everyone had enough respect to know if I was speaking, it was because I wanted people to listen. "I would like to be the first to announce where we're going. We have been contracted by the Dominion-" I heard someone wretch in the back. "-to build a social district for their soldiers-" Another, louder wretching sound. "-Markus, are you going to be sick?" I asked the Human who was wretching.

"No, ma'am." He answered. "It's just a conditioned reaction whenever someone mentions that word."

"What? 'Dominion'?" Came a playful female voice to his left, causing him to wretch again. The whole ship erupted into a low, rumbling laugh. I couldn't suppress the chuckle myself.

"I know, I know, not a big fan of them either." I answered. "But they're money is just as good as everyone else's. But that's not the important thing!" I launched right back into my speech. "This social district... is going to be built on the Helidor continent of – wait for it -" I paused for effect. "Planet Nexus." I watched twentysome sets of eyes all blink at me.

"Planet Nexus?" I heard Annha chime in. "The Planet Nexus?"

"The one and only. Apparently it was discovered two months ago by an Exile fleet, it's location sold to Protostar – probably for some extra money to pay for supplies – where we now go to get paid as well. It's a nice cycle of Silver and Gold, iddn't it?"

"Fuck, let's go!" I heard Jake shout. "Planet Nexus! FUCK YEAH!" His outburst caused a cacophony of 'fuck yeah's, which made me smile.

"So glad everyone's on point! So, first thing's first. Once we're down, we've got a lot of unpacking to do, so Alpha and Bravo Teams, that's your job. Charlie and Delta, I'll have special instructions for all of you, so once we've landed, I want Charlie and Delta teams to seek me out for those instructions." I broke my whole team up into five teams, Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Delta and Omega. Omega teams was pretty much Lyndrys and I, where as Alpha and Beta were my go-to for heavy lifting, and Charlie and Delta contained a lot of specialized talent. Andrin was Alpha Team leader, Jake was Beta Team leader... which made Igon Charlie Team lead, and Annha Delta Team lead. I took my seat once everything was said and done, Lyndrys' hand touching my arm, her cheek snuggling into my shoulder.

"Mmmm... I'm still tired..." She muttered. I chuckled and reached over with my other hand, patting her head gently. We must have looked like one hella strange couple... the Aurin and the Human... not that anyone in this outfit complained. We were all mix-matched and off-kilter in our own ways, so it didn't matter to them either way.

"You've slept more then anyone else here..." I mused. "You okay? Not getting sick, are you?"

"Yeah, I'm sick..." She mused. "Sick'a this ship." I snorted out a laugh.

"You and me both, sugar."

-A Few Hours Later-

That first view of Planet Nexus... I wish it was something I could capture in words. The pilots had put it on the big screen at the front of the ship... and there wasn't a full pair of lungs in the lot of us. The picture I had on the tablet paled in comparison, it's vivid green oceans and it's verdant blue grass... all of it paired with those two chaotic rings of asteroids crossing one another vengefully... it was a beautiful sight... a sight – daresay – almost as beautiful as the one sleeping beside me at the time. I, of course, woke her for the view... I would catch all hell if I let her sleep through it. Entry through the atmosphere was calm by comparison, our entry announced only by two stifled pops which followed closely behind, only to fall flat several seconds later. I watched our approach on the screen, the continent rising up to greet us with rolling hills, the swaying grass of an all-expansive prairie, and a single spine of mountains alone the northern coast... a single volcano on the edge of the mountains, near the ocean. I wish I could just... burn this memory into my brain, store it to look back on it at a whim or... or erase my memory of it so I could go back and relive it all over again. In a lot of ways, I envied Annha for that reason alone.

Our landing was gentle and quick, the shuttle touching down without so much as a thump on the ground... as if the ship was too scared or perhaps too enraptured with the planet like the rest of us to touch the ground. We all piled out of the ship as the cargo hold under us opened, everyone walking around and taking in the sights. I had to take control of the situation.

"Alright, alright everyone, listen up. Once the ship's unpacked, I'll let you walk around for an hour or two and take in the sights... but not a minute before. So! Everyone buck up and get everything off that ship. Large cargo containers are to be stacked no more then three high! I'm looking at you, Ven'rat!" I glared at a Drakken man who had a habit of seeing how high he could stack exceedingly heavy cargo containers until they all collapsed like a Jenga tower. He almost killed Jake doing that one day. Never let him live it down, either. He only smiled and nodded to me, going right for the magna-crane which was folded up and stashed near the front. I swear, I should just revoke his license to use the thing but... he's the only one who has one, so I can't. Ven'rat was part of Alpha Team, one of the teams assigned to unload the heavier pieces of equipment off the ship.

"Igon, Annha!" I called out, the two mentioned souls (do Mechari have souls? Questions for later) sauntering up and nodding to me.

"What can I assist with?" Annha spoke in her usual calm demeanor – a direct difference from almost everyone else.

"What'cha need go boom?!" Igon sputtered out instantly.

"No explosions yet, Igon. I feel we'll get there soon enough, though. Igon, Annha, I want you two to hop onto the bike and get a feeling for the area. I want to know anything of interest you find. We don't have all the materials we'll need for the whole project – those are just to get us started. So, I need to know of any mineral deposits in the area, along with trees, the like." Annha nodded gently.

"Of course. Anything else we should be on the lookout for?"

"Yeah..." I mused. "There... may be a Dominion Staging Area not too far from here. I want you to keep your eyes open for any Dominion patrols... it's why I'm sending you two. If you see anyone wearing Dominion red, you let me know immediately." Annha nodded again.

"Yes, ma'am." Sending the Mechari and Chua was probably one of my smarter ideas in a while... if there are any Dominion patrols out here... I'd hate for Lyndrys or Jake to run into them... or me. The pair jogged over to the shuttle where we keep the one hovercycle we have. We usually use it for scouting operations, or if we have to travel far. The sidecar can be converted into a material skiff, so we can also use it to ferry larger quantities of materials over greater distance then by hand. So... you know. Pretty useful. The pair dug it out from between two containers and unfolded it, Annha throwing her lanky, mechanical legs over the bike itself while Igon hopped happily into the sidecar. I watched them speed off, a trail of detached grass and sand puffing up as they left.

As I waited for Annha and Igon's report, I saw to overseeing everyone unloading the shuttle and piling everything out of the way for future use. The shuttle took off once it was empty, leaving us alone on a mythological, alien planet. I let everyone go off an explore under the warning not to stray too far from the site. I decided not to drop the 'Dominion Staging Area' card, but I knew I'd have to come clean with that sooner or later. I knew a lot of my crew were budding botonists and geologists, having taken a liking to the various flora and fauna of the different planets we were sent to, so it came as no surprise as some people were picking up and examining rocks, while others were studying the various species of plants in the area. Whatever, I didn't care. It made them happy, and that's all I cared about. As they galivanted about and did their own thing, I went about emptying one of the containers – one I instructed Ven'rat to put aside – and began pulling out all the equipment we kept it in. It had all our mobile drills, a few backhoes and one or two Earthmovers stashed inside. I parked all the vehicles near the container before flagging Ven'rat down again. "Ven'rat! I need this container moved again!" He nodded and dropped what he was doing, going to the Magna-crane once more to lift the container up. "Put it here." I pointed to a relatively flat portion of the ground and took a few long steps back as he slowly lowered it down. I was kind of a sticker for tradition, and traditionally, I slept in one such cargo container, because it provided the same protection from the elements as a tent... and it wasn't going to blow away in hurricane-force winds. Opening the doors – which had closed on their own from the container moving – and jamming the locking rod into the soft dirt, I motioned for Ven'rat to drive one of the Earthmovers closer. The scoop on the front of the Earthmover was ladened with a mattress, a collapsed bed frame, a pair of solar panels, a battery and a ceiling-mounted air-conditioning unit.

"Hey boss?" Came a crackle in my ear. It was Jake, his voice coming over the small radio I had equipped everyone with. Touching the piece in my ear, I acknowledged him.

"What's up, Jake?"

"We've got a meteroite not too far away from camp... but it's smack dab in the middle of one of our build sights. I can't seem to move it, but it needs to be either moved or removed."

"Alright, I'll take care of it." Lifting my hand, I touched the piece again, this time queuing into Andrin's signal. "Hey, Andrin. Grab a few sledgehammers and meet up with Jake and I. We've got a rock to remove."

"On it, boss." He answered with a happy chirp. Fishing the small disk-shaped locator from my pocket, I homed in on Jake's signal.

"Hey Lyn." I poked Lyndrys – who was overseeing the deployment of the Ground-Penetrating Radar Delta team was busy setting up (some of Delta Team. Two of their members were out looking around, but the rest stayed about). "We gotta go check out a meteorite that's blocking a build site. Radio Igon and get him back here post haste. If the sledgehammers don't do the job, we may need him to blow it up." She nodded and went about radioing Igon. Igon was kind of a one-trick pony as far as his usefulness in the team went... but all-in-all his 'one trick' was an exceedingly useful trick, when it was needed.

I strode across the plains into a small dip in the land where I found Jake hanging over a small-ish meteorite set halfway into the ground. It was jet black and seemed to have buried itself into the ground around it. "Heya." Jake waved at me as I got close, eyes locked on the rock. "So... this is the asteroid boi I told you about." God, I hated it when he used that term. Before Andrin arrived... I wanted to give lifting it a shot.

"I know you said you already tried but... I wanted to give it a go myself. Help me?" He nodded as I dipped down, my claws struggling to find purchase on the smooth surface. "Man, it's almost perfectly smooth."

"Yeah... think we could maybe sell it? You know... if we could-" We both pulled hard on the rock, our combined strength failing to dislodge it from it's home. "-fuck, if we could just get it out." Jake exhaled hard, ready to make another attempt. We tried two more times to pull it out, but it proved too strongly lodged into the ground to be removed by hand. "Dammit, should I get the backhoe?"

"No, I don't want to do too much damage to the ground... who knows how much you'll pull up. Igon's comin' with some Dentonium, if that don't take it out, we'll try the backhoe." He nodded casually as Andrina arrived, three sledgehammers in toe.

"Eh, thought it was you who found it, Jake." He held one out to me and passed a second to Jake, both of us hefting the tool in both hands. "On three? Me, boss, then Jake." We all nodded to this, raising the hammers over our heads. Andrin's dropped first, the head bouncing uselessly off the top of the rock, then slid off only for the head of my hammer to strike in the same spot, having about the same effect. The three of us continued to pound on the rock for five minutes before I finally called it.

"Alright stop... this bitch ain't movin' for nothing." Dropping my hammer, I started back towards camp. "If Igon gets here before I do, keep him here. I'mma go find the Thermal Drill we have stashed away."

"We sold that, remember?" I paused, thinking back.

"Shit, we did..." We had to sell it to buy passage to this contract, and so far it's been a pretty lucrative one... well, it will be once we get rid of this bastard. You know, it never fails. We find the contract of a lifetime – be the only ones to get it – and everything goes swimmingly until we get on planet, then one things leads to another, and before you know it, six months have gone by, and we've not put up one building. This meteorite is just stage one of 'fuck you' that I don't need right now.

"NEVAH FEAR!" Came a familiar, high-strung voice. "DA BOMB GOD IS HERE!" And that would be Igon with his explosives. He came hopping over the small knoll, ten sticks of a green, clay-like substance in his little fire-singed paws, then came to a hopping stop right before me. "What does boss lady need boomified?" I motioned to the meteorite in the ground.

"I need this gone. Do try not to overdo it, okay? There may or may not be some valuable minerals in that rock we could potentially sell for a profit."

"Boom, but don't Boom-Boom, got'cha!" He scampered over to the meteorite and put the sticks on the ground, surveying the rock. "You try da hammers?"

"We tried the hammers, it laughed at us." Jake responded with a heave, noting the hammers lying on the ground around the rock.

"Well, it not gonna laugh at dis! Nuttin' laughs at da Dentonium!" Dentonium is a highly explosive, highly illegal compound that is produced in very small quantities. A single stick that Igon has? It's enough – when placed strategically, of course – to render a Dominion Battlecruiser into scrap. I'm talking about a full battlecruiser just... bam. Dust. The thing about Dentonium is, until it's charged with an electrical pulse, it's completely harmless. It can be thrown, abused, you name it. It won't explode. Which... is good... because I've caught Igon snorting the stuff like cocaine. You... you think it would be a lot funnier then it is. Igon opened one of the sticks and broke off a small piece – about the size of a copper coin – and place it on the very top of the meteorite. "Okay, we try da baby dose, first." He fished a wire and a small battery out of his pocket and looked at it. "May wanna like... be far away. Dis boom gon' be good." Picking up all the hammers, we vacated the immediate area, watching him press the wire into the putty, then connect the wire to the battery. I'd seen it dozens of times... in a few precious seconds, that putty is going to bubble and eventually explode with the force of twelve crates of dynamite. He calls it a 'baby dose' but that much Dentonium is almost always enough.

Almost.

Igon dashed out of the way of the explosion a few precious seconds before the putty popped like an overfilled ziplock bag going through a pneumatic press. We all shielded our eyes from any debris that may have been flying our way and – upon opening them again – discovered that aside from some loose, tossed dirt... the small speck of Dentonium did no better then our hammers.

"Son of a bitch..." I heard Jake mutter.

"No... no no no no!" Igon shook his head, going back to the rock. "Rock not gonna beat Igon! Igon got dis!" I watched him break half a stick of Dentonium off and slather it across the top of the meteorite.

"I-Igon man, be reasonable!" Jake pleaded with him. "That's a lot of goop!"

"Rock not laugh at Dentonium! Nuttin' laughs at Dentonium." Like I said... Igon was a one-trick pony who was very proud of his one trick. He takes events like this rather personal. I watched him coat the top of the rock in the Dentonium the retrieve the wire and battery again. "FIRE IN DA HOLE!" He shouted, touching the putty with the wire before breaking into a full sprint to escape the explosion. He was barely out of the blast range as the entire field was engluphed in an explosion that made it look like a missile had struck the meteorite, causing Igon to fall face-first into the dirt and roll the rest of the way. We all shielded our eyes again, and when we opened them, were once more caught off guard.

"Uh... Igon, I don't know how to tell you this, buddy but... I think it's laughin' at you." Jake mused, pointing to the once-more undamaged rock. Igon looked at it, his usually big, cheery eyes turning hard and slanted.

"Okay. Play time over." He grumbled, marching back to the meteorite. "May wanna get WAY clear, boss lady! Igon never used this much Dentonium before." I watched him slather the rock with the rest of the stick... then draw another one out and mould it on top of the first then...

Five... six... seven... Jesus fuck, he was going to kill us all!

"Back up... back the fuck up!" I barked to everyone. "Get to cover!" Andrin, Jake and I dropped to our bellies on the knoll, just behind it to shield ourselves from the explosion. Seconds passed before I heard those terrifying words.

"NINE AND A HALF STICKS! FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Remember when I said a copper coin's worth was enough to blow up a Dominion Battle Cruiser when used properly? This much could be placed anywhere on the ship and split it in half. Cross-section style. I heard him running his little heart out before the explosion could claim him. That's when we all felt it.

Ppppppppppfffffff-THOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion deafened all of us, the ground rumbling from the force. Jake and I looked up in awe to see a red-orange mushroom cloud rising into the sky as pebbles, sand and chunks of meteorite rained down on top of us, both of us covering our heads from the stone rain. A full minute passed before I was confident to raise my head. "Igon! Sound off!"

"BEST! BOOM! EVER!" I heard him yell from a few dozen feet away, an arcing trail of smoke in the sky telling me he had been picked up and tossed from the explosion.

"Jake, Andrin, go help Igon. Make sure he's not hurt too badly."

"Aye." Andrin nodded, the pair standing and walking towards the bushes that was his landing site. I, in the meantime, decided to check the condition of the meteorite... or... crater...

"Good news, Igon! You got it."

"Wi' dat much boom, Igon friggin' hopes!" I slid down the now sandy side of the crater to the remains of the meteorite. I could now see why it was unable to be picked up. With the giant hole in the ground, I could see that the portion of the meteorite we saw was only the top tenth of it. The rest had been so far buried underground, it was invisible. I looked about, chunks of the stone had pockmarked the ground around them, valuable gemstones glittering in the remains.

"Jake, call a cleanup crew. Got plenty of gems to make us all rich." I chuckled. "I might just retire after this." I walked towards the center of the explosion and found the strangest sight before me. Lying on the blasted bottom of the meteorite was a silver gauntlet – a right-handed one – with a shimmering ruby set in the back of the hand, and a glistening sapphire set near the bottom of the glove. It looked like it was built for a human hand, the fingers entirely too short to be worn by an Aurin, or anyone else for that matter. "Hello, beautiful. What are you?" I dipped down and picked it up to look it over.

Suddenly, as though it were alive, it spasmed in my hand and slipped out of my fingers. "Wha-th-" I sputtered out as it clattered to the ground, supporting itself of it's five fingers like legs. "What the fuck!?" I continued to look at it, the glove almost... seeming to do the same. As we stared at one another, I watched it change, the bulky glove fit for a human slimmed down, it's fingers distending into longer, lither digits... almost like it was changing to fit something else. That's when it pounced, grappling onto my chest with it's fingers and scurrying across me to my right shoulder like gravity didn't phase it. "Fuck! Fuck!" I found myself shouting, swatting and batting at it to try to get rid of it, like it was some giant bug. "Get off me!" I called as it scampered down my arm. It's powerful fingers wrapped around my wrist, and as though I had gripped a twenty ton weight, I felt my arm get pulled powerfully to the ground and pinned there with it's impossible grip. "A-aaaaugh!" I let out a scream as one finger – the index finger – rose up and extended quickly to a long, sharp needle-like point. "N-no no you don't!" I tried to move my arm, but it was too powerful, the spike piercing my wrist and boring deep into a vein. "A-aa-aaaauugh! F-fuck that... that hurts!" I tried to grab the back of the gauntlet, but almost as a defense mechanism, it popped a menagerie of spikes all across it so I could find no purchase. "J-Jake! Andrin! Get back here! Help!" I called to them, using my other hand to trigger my communicator.

"Boss!? What's going on?"

"Get out of there! That... that hurts you... A-aaaaaugh!" They must have sensed the distress in my voice as the channel went dead. The pain in my wrist was white-hot now, like a fire igniting my blood and flowing all the way up my arm and into my heart. I don't know if it was the shock of this happening, or a reaction to the pain, but as the fire consumed my chest, I couldn't help but break into tears. It just... it hurt so bad... the hottest flame consuming you from the inside.

Seconds passed before Andrin and Jake reappeared – both weilding sledgehammers – ready to kill whomever was attacking me. "Boss!" I heard Andrin call as he leapt into action, hammer ready to strike.

"Andrin, don't! You'll crush her arm!"

"Do it! Do it!" I called to them, urging him to just... crush my arm... anything was better then this fire threatening to consume me from the inside. He let out a yell as he brought the hammer down, before suddenly, my own arm lashed out and caught the head. Scariest part... was I didn't feel a thing.

"B-boss, what the hell!? You said-"

"It's not me! God dammit, it's not me, it's controlling my fucking arm!" The gauntlet discarded the hammer easily to the side, the twenty pound tool flipping end over end ten times before landing with a dull thud in the sand. I watched in horror as my fingers spazed out, flexing and stretching in unnatural ways. As quickly as it started, the entire horrific event ended. The needle-like spike was pulled out of my arm and the pain vanished.

My Queen.

As these words entered my head, the entire gauntlet slipped onto my wrist, several other needles digging into my skin as the gauntlet... I don't even know how to describe it. It was like the gauntlet was... sinking into my skin, the silver disappearing beneath the pale blue of my arm, the only thing remaining was the tube-like veins that ran across the fingers and down the back of the gauntlet... and those two gems... one red, one blue. Once everything was over, I held my arm at the base of where the gauntlet was, panting and heaving as the pain slowly drained out of my body.

"Boss... are you okay?" Andrin asked, looking at me.

"Lyndrys, get over here now... Akki's been attacked by... fuck you're gonna think I'm crazy but... Akki's been attacked by some kind of glove." I could almost hear the dry sarcasm in Lyndrys' response. I secretly hoped that the glove would fully disappear but... no, it was still there. It still looked like some kind of hyper-futuristic glove, caps over my fingers and bands around the different phalanges of each finger, a single tube-like vein running the entire length of my finger, mixing at the red gem on the back of the hand, and then all flowing into a larger vein which ran to the blue gem. I was sweating and heaving as I looked at the glove on my hand.

"Can we pull it off?" Andrin asked. Leave it to the Drakken to suggest the brute-force path. I tried to grip onto the mass of tubes and the red gem but... my nails couldn't find any purchase. It was exactly like the glove was fused – completely – with my skin.

"If I were to rip my skin off..." I answered him.

Lyndrys arrived a few seconds later with no hurry in her step. "Christ woman, your girlfriend's hurt and you show zero damn pep." Jake chastised her.

"Don't be so hard, Jake..." I muttered, rubbing my wrist. "It's not like getting attacked by a glove is an every day occurance." I smiled, trying to banish the fading pain. "Maybe you should have said I was mauled by a Dagin."

"I'm not a liar, boss, you know that."

"Okay so... a glove." Lyndrys mused. "Tell me this is a poor excuse for a prank." Everyone shook their head.

"Take a look." Andrin offered her as I finally found my feet. Lyndrys gave him a dry look and came over.

"Okay, let's see this killer glove." She took a look at my hand and turned it over. "Wow, that's gaudy." She mused. "Have you been just... dying to prank me since we left station? Buy this at a cheap costume store?"

"Lyn, honey, this isn't a prank." She looked at me with a flat expression and took hold of the gem.

"Uh huh." She nodded dryly, attempting to rip the gauntlet off my wrist. I felt it tear, like it was peeling my skin away.

"Ow... ow, Lyndrys ow..."

"Akki! Stop this childish-" She was cut off by a spray of crimson and a yelp of pure pain from my lips. Yanking my hand out of hers, I clasped my other hand around my lower arm where – upon looking at it – I discovered that portions of my skin had, indeed, separated from the glove, creating a bleeding wound. Lyndrys looked at me, shocked as a stream of crimson rolled down my arm and splattered the sand below my feet. "...akki..." She had both hands clasped firmly around her mouth, devistated that I wasn't pulling her chain, that this was real and happening to me right now. "...oh god, akki, i'm so sorry..." Her voice was low as the weight of what happened settled in.

"It's... it's okay..." I struggled out, then looked down at the gash. Just as quickly as it had formed, it was gone. "Honest mistake, right?" I smiled to her, my left hand stained red with my own blood. "But... I need to get this scanned I... I need to know what this is and... why it attached itself to me."

"Sure!" Lyndrys returned with ferver. "Let's get you lying down, and I'll have Dyenes scan you, okay? We'll figure out what's happening, I promise." She put her arm around my left and lead me towards camp. What, oh what, did I get myself into?