Imperial Guard – 006 Lost Planet of the Ancients

Chapter 3 Touched by a Deity

"I still don't have full control!"

The panic in Le'tan's voice was a rare occurrence which could only be attributed to being in serious trouble. The bridge bathed in the pulsating red glow of alert lighting as the planet's gravity field continued to strengthen its grip. Warning popups flashed on every screen and console except for the left holographic main viewer which maintained a video connection to engineering via their flying drone.

Majih, Jacky, Itan and Seylah worked their consoles with feverish haste. Having exhausted all known written down methods, they now resorted to their own tricks and secrets in the hope of restoring power to the engines.

"Majih, we need the engines now, or we'll be in for a very rough landing."

"I know, Raeth! I know! For the love of The Enlightened, I can't figure it out. Computer says everything's fine, while obviously it's not. Not at all."

That which made it painfully obvious were the shudders that rippled through the Myr'shala's frame as she entered the uppermost layers of atmosphere of what according to Jetreycka's conclusion was the original home planet of their kind. The world that was lost due to cataclysmic geological destabilization, resulting in the downfall of the old Imperium, its many enemies exploiting the opportunity created by this event to strike at its heart.

And that very world could become their collective grave if they could not find a way to get the engines back in full working order within the next dwindling millicycles. With flames licking the Myr'shala's belly, her malfunctioning thrusters unable to slow her down enough, they threatened to become little more than a meteor impact to its primitive inhabitants.

"Hull temperature's rising. Still within safety limits," Trezka reported, adding a grunt. "We better come up with something. We'll be crushed if we hit the surface at these speeds."

While Le'tan's attempts to stabilize their descent did result in them coming in at the correct angle, the ship still dropped like a rock. Her mass was too great for her attitude control thrusters to counter. Her horizontal surfaces too small to reduce drag to any significant extent nor having the correct shape to act as wings.

"Raeth to all crew, if you haven't done so already, clear the lower decks and brace for impact!"

"Raeth." Wondering for a split tick how Jirro managed to pack so much calm and resoluteness into his voice at a critical moment like this, he shook the feeling as his second in command felt the need to intervene. His striking emerald eyes conveyed his thoughts without a vocal explanation, which he still added to be sure. "We need to abandon ship."

All Jirro did was relieve him of the doubt he felt toward this last resort. At their current speed, there was a very slim chance they would all make it out alive. The shuttles and escape pods would at least ensure their survival in the short term. Confirming with a resolute nod, he took a breath before giving the last order a Ginjha wanted to give his crew.

"All crew, prepare to abandon ship."

Majih, who had at least one ear listening in while he wrestled with the systems in engineering, did the expected by protesting.

"Raeth, please. Gimme a few more ticks. I can fix this."

"That's an order, Majih."

"Twenty!"

"You've got ten! All hands, standby to launch escape pods on my command."

The violent trembling of the deck would make it difficult enough for everyone to make it to an escape vehicle of some sort, and the amount of detail in the mountains, forests, lakes and rivers he was able to discern with the naked eye started to become worrying.

The reinforced hull could take a beating, so a large group of trees could at least cushion their landing, may they be forgiven for using them as such. The lower decks would be crushed under the ship's weight and the speed of impact would be enough to cause serious injury.

"Majih, you're running out!" he barked, the perilousness of the situation causing him to lose his calm.

"Jacky! Reroute power through the secondary and emergency power grids."

"Aye! Rerouting power now."

With a rough shock, the Myr'shala's articulating engine nacelles fired. To the relief of Le'tan, who directed their powerful thrust down to save them from being shipwrecked. Groans were emitted left and right from the feeling of their weight increasing threefold, the faces of the crew straining as they persisted.

His knuckles turning white from crushing the armrests of his chair with his bare hands, Raeth ground his teeth at the camera view of the approaching treetops and flashing altitude warning. Even with the engines turned up to full, he wrestled with the idea of launching the escape pods anyway. With no clearings large enough to fit the ship, they were going to have to make do with a crash landing into the forest.

"Brace for impact!" he roared while obeying his own command, his toe claws scraping the deck.

There was a violent shudder as the engines failed again, the heaviness of inertia fading to weightlessness as they floated above the forest canopy for a split tick. Within that fraction of time, he estimated they were still about fifty steps above ground level, the bridge's panoramic viewport allowing them to look out over a dense green landscape bordered by tall mountain ridges in the distance. Lakes of various shapes and sizes, which were connected by rivers interrupted this sea of deciduous trees stretching endlessly in every direction, which covered everything but the tallest peaks.

It took everyone every bit of effort not to be launched out of their seats as the first trees snapped like matchsticks under the crushing weight of the ship's hull. The subsequent impacts did knock several crewmembers out of their seats, including himself, causing them to slide across the deck while they tried to grab hold of anything as the ship tilted to the left.

The shouts and cries added to the booming noise and the twisting, crushing and grinding of what was some of the sturdiest metal known to scientists made for a deafening cacophony as they came to a jarring halt under a slight forward incline.

Raeth coughed as he breathed in a whiff of acrid smoke while trying to pull himself back into his chair from his position on the floor. Small bursts of sparks showered from broken power conduits, exposed through buckled bulkhead plates. Screens and consoles flickered under an unsteady supply of power and dim red emergency lightning flooded the bridge in an ominous glow. A series of cracks spiderwebbed all across the viewport, with one part of it completely shattered. The warm and humid breeze flowing in through the hole at least did a decent job at clearing some of the smoke and refreshing the air inside, something the environmental systems would've taken care of if they were still functioning.

"Is everyone alive?" he groaned.

Observing the different members of his crew as they emitted their own groans, growls and grunts, everyone appeared to be so, their injuries limited to bumps and bruises.

"I think I broke something," Baika complained as she tried crawling back into her chair and failed to do so. Instead, the Orkeht girl made do with the floor, resting the back of her head against the front of the seat as she heaved a sigh. "Not sure what, but everything hurts."

Even Jirro had not been able to evade the floor, rubbing the side of his head after making rough contact with the deck. Snorting in frustration, the mighty Ryrjhii-Goureg heaved himself back on his enormous legs, his thick tail lashing with an audible whoosh as he attempted to steady himself on the tilted floor. Extending a hand, he helped Trezka back on her feet, receiving a grateful nod accompanied by a low grunt in return.

Houn had been flung over his console and was still hanging over the controls like a strip of poetyo hung out to dry, further disrupting the flickering holographic screen projected above the physical controls. Le'tan had managed to avoid that using his arms, and thereby cracked the glass of his console's center panel. Rubbing his elbows while Houn slumped back into his seat with an exasperated sigh, both let everyone know they were all right.

Jetreycka had fared best out of everyone as the angle under which the ship was currently positioned pinned her into her seat, though like the others, she too had to take a few breaths to calm down.

"Comm's still working?" Raeth asked her with his fingers crossed.

Making do with her flicking console, hampering her ability to read the screens, she squinted as she tapped a few buttons, answering with some hesitation in her voice.

"I believe so, though not sure for how long. Most major systems are offline. Can't hurt to try."

"Raeth to all crew, I want you all to ping your wristcom if you're there. Report to sickbay immediately in case of injury. Salu, is sickbay still functional?"

Despite some initial crackling on the internal channel, Salu's voice cut through with enough clarity after a slight delay. Having lost his usual cheerfulness, he still sounded calm and controlled.

"Sickbay's running on backup power. I'll do what I can, Raeth. No reports of anything serious so far."

"Bridge to engineering. Majih, is there anything you can do about our power supply?"

His chief engineer's frustration had the tendency to get the better of him, though this time he had accepted that the odds were very much stacked against him and his team. His response started with a deep sigh and a snort. He could picture him shaking his head at the mess in engineering, but Raeth was glad it wasn't serious enough to warrant an evacuation.

"We had to initiate an emergency shutdown of the singularity core. Secondary reactors are offline. It's a mess down here, Raeth. I'm not even sure where to start."

"Okay, everyone start salvaging what you can. I want a sitrep from all departments in one cycle. Meanwhile I'm putting a team together to check our surroundings. We need to assume that our arrival here hasn't exactly gone unnoticed."


Concurring with her commanding officer's plan to reconnoiter the area around the ship, Trezka had volunteered to lead as soon as he brought it up. They had also been tasked to devise a plan on how to deal with the tribal natives, which assuming Jetreycka was indeed correct, were very far from developing FTL tech, let alone basic modern technology. They were roughly on the same level as the tribes on Solbrecht and Sogowa Prime in terms of it, but instead of it being a choice to stick to a traditional way of life, they did not know any different.

What would make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, if she had any, was the very real possibility of the first tribals they would run into being hostile. Mantra had a violent past, the early tribes being frequently at war with one another in the time before the great unification. Pacts of non-aggression were common, but often broken by minor incidents, resulting in short periods of violence until a new pact was concluded, for the sake of preserving lives. Such incidents took the form of territorial disputes, especially concerning religious sites, blood feuds born out of past conflict or even forbidden relationships between members of different tribes.

Yet despite knowing very well what they were dealing with, Trezka decided to leave the big guns in their lockers, ordering her team which consisted of Nami, Masai and Norgu to put on poetyo and leave everything that could not be concealed underneath aboard the ship. This included all but the universal translators in their ear canals, their wristcoms, which could masquerade more or less as bracelets, and their combat knives, which only upon closer inspection would reveal themselves as not being from this era. To Norgu's suggestion of wearing at least some form of protection, she had to answer negatively, also because the person who asked the question wouldn't be able to fit into anything they had in storage anymore, considering the synthesizers were without power.

"I think with the amount of blubber you've put on, you'll be fine," she concluded on her way to the starboard cargo hold of which the ramp still showed as being functional from her bridge console.

Norgu emitted an amused grunt.

"I am aware that my diet changes can interfere with my duties. I am sorry about that."

"Just don't let it interfere with your regular duties when we get back to where we belong."

Her choices for selecting members from the security and gunner pool for the scout team had also been made with a very conscious mind. All three of them were full-blooded members of their respective races and lacked artificial body parts. This eliminated Azdar, Weyan and Thylun from the selection for a good reason. Upon first contact, they would have to explain less, nor have to come up with a plausible reason as to why a part of Azdar's leg was made of metal.

The central corridor on deck four which connected the shuttle bay to the cargo hold was passable, though the damage caused by their rough landing took the form of loose panels from buckled bulkheads and warped deck plating due to the force of the impact.

"She sure's built tough," Masai commented as they marched toward their destination. "I expected the damage to be worse than this."

"It might not look like much, but most major systems are offline," Nami refuted. "Hopefully engineering can restore power soon. That would be a big help when it comes to making repairs."

"Okay, we're here," Trezka stated after they made it to the starboard bay, which was empty for the most part after their resupply mission. Some of the remaining containers had been shaken loose from their lashings and tossed around, though none had spilled any items. Apart from a few extra dents in the walls and a loose panel here and there, the bay looked intact, and the loading ramp's controls were still lit, being extra visible due to the low lighting conditions. "Let's hope we've flattened enough trees to allow that thing to hit the ground."

Crossing the distance to the outer hull, she pressed one of the buttons. What followed was a tortured sound from the hydraulics, making her and the others flinch. Squinting against a blast of daylight entering the bay through a narrow slit after the four steps tall ramp opened with a hiss, she felt a rush of fresh air forcing its way inside. With a loud grinding, the ramp jerked to a halt, the end of it swaying after it had opened about a quarter of the way down.

Giving the control panel an impatient hit, Trezka grunted as it moved a few more degrees, then stalled again with a loud screech and rattle.

"Oh c'mon!"

Positioning herself on one leg, she retracted the other and dealt the door the mightiest kick she was capable of. The loud bang remained unanswered at first, until the mechanism buckled under the delayed stresses of the impact. The screeching and breaking of metal parts heralded the end of the already damaged hydraulics. With nothing to control its descent, the solid plate of reinforced alloy came crashing the last part down with a loud bang, crushing any vegetation underneath.

Satisfied with the result, she glared over her shoulder and gave the team a satisfactory nod. The expressions on the faces of Norgu, Nami and Masai did not coincide with her expectations. They looked past her into the world waiting for them outside. Returning her gaze to the dense forest outside, she was the last to discover that their arrival had indeed been noticed.

Leaving the cover of the forest one by one, the curious members of what could not be mistaken for a native tribe moved in closer to see what the next day in their tumultuous lives had brought down upon them. In quite a literal sense, for the Myr'shala had crashed on the side of a small hill which had less tree cover, yet she had taken down quite a few.

What worried her, was that the tribesmen and women were quite numerous and armed to the teeth, with pointed spears, raised clubs and the occasional loaded longbow. All of them appeared to be of the Sogowan race, which was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, in this time period it would've been out of the ordinary if some of them weren't.

Their poetyo didn't look unusual either, some of the males choosing to wear only the bottom part, the strips of cloth being the common light tan color, with sparse decorations taking the form of tucked in flowers or wooden ornaments fastened to them. It were their faces however, in combination with the narrowed eyes in their bright copper color and flattened ears that troubled her enough to take a step back.

The stripes and symbols in primarily black and red colors dyed on their skin were meant to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents and also covered the chest area and arms of some. Closing the distance with alarming speed, the first ones beginning the climb the ramp, she signaled her team to stay back. Taking a breath, she straightened herself and broadened her chest as a tall male rose to greet her at the top of the ramp, revealing sharp somewhat yellowed teeth, his position on the ramp making their eyes meet at around the same height.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

His eyes narrowed further as he observed the rest of the team, some of which were not of his race, which could still pose a problem, though his gaze drifted to the alien surroundings of the crashed starship. It took the universal translator a few ticks to lock on to his dialect, causing a significant delay before the meaning of his words became clear to her. The movements of his lips did not match what she heard, though she could match some words to Saerinian as well as Preidogian. This posed another problem, for without a translator of his own, he would not be able to understand her very well.

"We… come in peace," she nonetheless answered in Saerinian, after he returned his piercing gaze to her in a questioning manner.

"Trezka to Raeth," she whispered from the corner of her mouth, her translator doubling as a communicator in combination with the comm still on her wrist.

"That was quick. Should I be worried?"

"Ehm, the natives have already found us. We could use someone with better linguistic skills down here."


"Damn it! What a mess."

Slumped into a seat behind a console, Majih let his arms fall and dangle beside his bruised body, the readouts on the flickering screen blurring as he looked through the holographic panel at what was left of what had been a smooth-running engineering room about half a cycle ago.

With all non-essential systems offline, and everything that remained running on backup power, things looked bleak. With the amount of damage they had sustained, serious repairs were needed to get at least one of the secondary reactors back up and running. Having checked the inventory for spare parts, he was certain they didn't have everything needed to reach full operational status based on the initial damage reports. By his most optimistic estimate, it was possible to restore power, enabling them to synthesize additional non-complex parts, though the amount of time required to make the ship space worthy again was still a guess, if it were possible at all.

"I'm certain we can extend backup power duration by two more days if we shut down life support completely," Jacky reported.

The Sogowan-Orkeht girl let out a frustrated sigh of her own as she and Seylah sifted through the first batch of spare parts they had retrieved from the hold. Kneeling on her middle legs, she compared a burned-out photonic circuit board to a fresh part to conclude they were the same and got up to slide it into a socket in the back of the room.

"I'll do that," he agreed. "The outside air's more breathable compared to any developed world and we're gonna be stuck here for a while anyway. I'll open up all the vents."

With a few taps on his console, the low hum of the atmospheric processors disappeared, and with it the last mechanical sound produced at a constant background level. He chuckled, which was strange considering their situation and the person that he was, but he did. Seylah and Itan gave him a pair of odd looks as well, making him feel the need to explain himself.

"You know, there comes a time in your career where you have to accept that there's nothing you or anyone could've done to prevent ending up in a big pile of gehk. This is one of those times. Regardless of that fact, it's still our job to clean it up. Are you guys with me?"

"Of course," Seylah replied without hesitation.

"We're with you all the way," Itan added.

"You bet, Majih," Jacky's response came from the back.

"Never doubted it." Heaving himself back on his legs, the near absolute silence in the room weighed on his ears like a thick covering. Voices were clear as crystal and every bit of movement and every breath they took was almost obnoxiously loud. He could hear the footsteps of crew members walking through other parts of the ship and as he focused he could also pick up the dampened sound of their voices. Grabbing his own holopad to see which systems required repairs, he joined Seylah to see if the needed parts were already there or if a second trip to the hold was necessary. "You know, I could put on some music to lift our spirits. It's not like that would have much influence on our power reserves and it might even help us get the job done faster. If no one objects, of course."

"Ooo, can I pick something?" Jacky asked.

He chuckled.

"If you insist."


Figuring she might as well have joined the reconnaissance team in the first place, Jetreycka followed her Ginjha down to the cargo hold. As the natives had already found their ship, they didn't bother to put on poetyo. A change of clothes wouldn't make it easier to explain why a starship crewed by the same people whose greatest technological achievement was to forge basic metal objects had fallen from the sky.

Crouching after Raeth to avoid a dangling power conduit, she scrolled on a holopad through information on the most likely language spoken by the people of this time and in this particular region. To make themselves understandable to the natives had become the highest priority and anything from a message of peace to a simple greeting would help matters a lot, even in sign language.

"You think you can help us out here?" Raeth asked in a tone that did not give her the feeling that he had any expectations, positive or negative.

"I feel confident that I can," she responded, composing in her thoughts a greeting that would make their intentions clear as well as explain that the tribespeople weren't in any danger. "If I'm correct about the language they're using, it would be an ancestor of both Saerinian and Preidogian, but closer to the first. Some of our modernized words would sound strange to them, though even if we speak full Saerinian, they should be able to understand around seventy percent of the words."

"That doesn't sound too bad. Careful there's a loose panel over here."

Avoiding the metal plate pointed out by her commanding officer, she joined his side in the broad corridor that led up to the cargo bay, where they could make out the sound of voices around the corner. That the loading ramp had been lowered was evident from the blast of daylight flooding the corridor through the bay's entrance.

"Could've been worse, but that remaining thirty percent could still mean the difference between a compliment or an insult. I better not mess up my greeting, but I think I got this right."

What neither she nor Raeth expected when they turned around the corner of the sunlit bay was to almost bump into one of the natives, who had gathered the courage to do some exploring. Several of them, men and women of various age groups, had scattered around the hold, studying its alien appearance by touching the dull metal bulkheads and tapping their primitive weapons against the remaining cargo containers.

Trezka and her team looked a bit lost, standing in the middle of the large space while a tall powerfully muscled male seemed to be making attempts to communicate with her. Raeth and Jetreycka's sudden appearance provoked another response. Heads twisted with quick motions and bright-colored eyes flashed, confronting them with faces covered in war paint. Some pointed weapons, while the female closest to them did a step back, keeping her wooden spear close and ready to strike.

Although the fierce reaction put her on edge, her hearts starting to beat like powerful drums, she and Raeth halted their advance while keeping a neutral body language. All of a sudden she questioned whether the decision not to change their clothes was wise after all, considering the colors of the Imperial Guard uniform were, not coincidentally, the same as those often used for war paint by the tribes of old.

Figuring it could still work in their advantage, she took a breath and faced the odds with a mask of fearlessness plastered on her face. Under the watch of what felt like a pack of bloodthirsty predators, she fixed her gaze on Trezka as she resumed her walk, with Raeth followed in a similar calm and controlled manner. Rehearsing the greeting in her mind one more time, she gestured for a watchful Trezka to step aside and made her own size work in her favor as she faced the menacing looking male.

For a few ticks he studied her, his gaze resting in particular on the shiny golden leaves on the black collar of both her and Raeth's uniforms as well as the pad in her right hand. She figured the strange clothes in war colors, while their skin remained unpainted were confusing to him, though it might very well be the same thing keeping him from ordering an attack on what could be mistaken for a rival tribe.

"Nyeghari Jetreycka. Naghra deh ohri kii Shiiva. Weh kunrya tahir os."

Without showing fear she maintained eye contact with the male that was her equal in terms of race, though less so in most other aspects. Struggling to retain control over her nerves she observed the tiny muscle contractions in his face, the evidence of his indecision to act. With a light snort he raised one ear, his brow shaping into a frown which made him look far less threatening all of a sudden. But it was the female voice coming from behind him, packing a lot of strength and authority into a single command, that made him back off with a pair of steps.

"Stand down, Johkra. These people are not our enemy."


Raeth's realization that he had been paying too close attention to Jetreycka's performance to notice her approach had to make room for his first impression of her, which left him in awe. A Mantrinesse of the Sogowan race, like Johkra and the others, she boasted impressive muscle mass, outmatching Jetreycka in that regard as well as size. But his mind making the immediate comparison with Nenaii, the Wyr'Mo'Gwi tribe leader who subjected Le'tan and him to torture and condemned them to a slow and agonizing death in Solbrecht's merciless sun, made him experience a brief moment of terror. A mere two ticks to convince himself that they were not the same person.

Her elliptical ears matched the standard shape and size much more than Nenaii's long narrow ones though, and contrary to what he assumed were her subjects, she was the only one with an unpainted face. The heavy spear that was her weapon of choice, she put down on the deck with such care that he could barely hear the sound of wood touching metal. Easing herself into a comfortable stance in front of Jetreycka after Johkra stepped aside, it became clear how big she really was.

Her poetyo was undecorated apart from the single flower she wore on her left breast in the same fashion as Nenaii, except this flower was white in color and of a different kind. The smile she gave her was genuine and the expression on her face appeared to hold no malicious intent, which put his mind at ease somehow. Reaching out with a long muscular arm, she put a hand of impressive size on Jetreycka's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"There's no need to be so tense, my dear." Her voice had a caring quality, yet strong and powerful, which became evident as she commanded her subjects. "Everyone, weapons down." She didn't need to raise the volume by much as they obeyed without questioning. Removing her hand from Jetreycka's shoulder, she rested both hands on her massive thighs and ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip. "I believe your word is just, Jetreycka of the Shiiva tribe. Your offer of peace is accepted. I am Kirliya, daughter of Oywelu and Ayikutan and abwot of the Kunjhea tribe."

The reactions of all present crew of the Myr'shala were not surprisingly the same as Raeth's own. Mouths fell open as they froze on the spot. There was only one person in all of history with that particular namesake. She would become deified for her accomplishments in unifying the people of Mantra and live on forever in the hearts and souls of her people. Cities and starships would be named after her and her image would become captured in statues and paintings fit for the palace of Emperors. Kirliya the Enlightened stood right in front of them as a living, breathing person like any other and made peace with them in a time of great turmoil for her own people.

It meant they had arrived around the time of the great unification. The warring tribes of Mantra would pick up arms against a common enemy and lay down their weapons after the battle was won, continuing their existence in a far more peaceful manner, to eventually build a civilization capable of reaching the stars. Their arrival at this turning point posed a significant risk to the future, for any change in the outcome of these events could drastically alter it. In fact, they could have done so already by being here. Kirliya seemed unfazed by their response, or lack thereof, and continued to speak in a calm voice.

"You couldn't have arrived at a better time, for we need your help."

"Their… sky boat," one of her subjects, a woman carrying a longbow said. "It is made of metal. They must be from the far east."

"Ah yes," Kirliya confirmed like she knew what she was talking about. "We are familiar with the far eastern tribes' ability to forge metal into durable tools and building materials. You must have come a long way."

The history scrolls had indeed written about a number of tribes in this time period which were capable of forging metal and being skilled in the use of it for building materials, tools, weapons and the earliest forms of metal armor. Technologically they were ahead of their time, though not by much and it was a far cry from being capable of building anything that could fly, much less a starship.

However, the alternative of explaining to them where they were really from could have very undesirable and adverse effects on everything they knew and took for granted. It was perhaps best to leave them under the impression that they were indeed from a far eastern tribe.

"Yes, that must be it. It explains the strange accent. Some of your words sound oddly different. But no matter." Retrieving her spear, she gripped it firmly as she held It in front of her like a staff. It was wrapped in part with strips of poetyo and the symbols and markings carved into the wood reminded Raeth of Le'tan's yuchiik, the fighting staff he used for sport. She then turned to leave, gesturing for all of them to come with her. "Come with me to our village. We are expecting more visitors. There a matter of the utmost concern that must be addressed."