Krikstak Plateau
Chi Herculis IV
1032 hours

Skilik was a typical member of the soldier division; tri-segmented with six legs and two reticulated arms sporting six digits each. His crystalline exoskeleton was black with a red stripe, indicating a leadership class. From the head of the creature two antennae sprouted, measuring movement within a half kilometer range which might indicate the presence of carnivorous animals. Along his back the black exoskeleton absorbed light from the system's star; a life-giving source that filled his body with energy and purpose.

To his left, Krakta, the builder, marched along flanked by two more members of the soldier division to protect her. Her arms were thicker, used for construction and demolition, but her exoskeleton lacked the protection of the soldiers. Demolition would be her job on this mission.

Krakta waved her antennae about fretfully.

"I see a chicta just a dozen meters from here." She said.

"I see it," Skilik responded. "It's moving this way. Huddle up, everyone. Cover the builder."

The two accompanying soldiers moved to flank Krakta more closely.

They didn't have long to wait. The chicta mounted the nearby rise, its tracked globes digging into the silica as he moved at breakneck speed. Both its arms were tipped with spinning buzzsaws that could crack the strongest exoskeleton and dismember its prey with ease.

It had come out into the open, which was its first and last mistake.

Twin beams of crimson-red energy shot from the arms of the two soldiers flaking Krakta, cutting into the chicta's exoskeleton and splaying the covering open to the elements. Its battery exploded, sending sharp bits of its body in all directions.

The chicta slid to a halt, rendered harmless instantly. Without its battery it was unable to move and wouldn't last more than a minute before powering down for good.

Krakta shivered.

"Relax, Krakta," Skilik said. "It's as good as dead."

"There are so many dangers in the wilderness." Krakta said. "I've never been in the open before."

"You're well protected. No need to worry." Skilik said.

"I don't know why I'm worrying. It's practically a suicide mission."

"With any luck our improved batteries may well get us out of enemy territory after the sun goes down."

"That's the theory."

"A well-tested theory. We should have six hours of life after dark and our new light-emitters will show us the way."

The group continued on. After another few kilometers they came within sight of their target.

Below, a tall wall of glass blocks barred the way. From the group's vantage point, high up on an approaching rise, they could make the buildings and monuments that marked the city. Concentric circles of pathways and roads radiated out from the central tower.

Skilik stuck out his head, emitting a hologram of the city layout. He indicated the central tower.

"That's undoubtedly where their historian will be found." He said.

Skilik switched off the hologram and the team moved forward, approaching the southern gate. There Krakta got to work, dismantling the barrier, her claws digging in and reducing the portal to rubble in mere minutes.

"I've done my part," Krakta said. "Now we find the historian and get out of here before they wake up."

The team moved into the city, headed for the central tower. Along the way they paused now and again to allow the soldiers to destroy groups of nocturnal guards, hopefully reducing the inevitable pursuit. The guards were proportioned much the same as the rest of the nocturnals; four thick limbs supporting a medial trunk, itself supporting a long neck and a head.

The noonday sun revealed the main door to the central tower once they reached the inner courtyard. Krakta got to work again, ripping the door off its hinges. Inside they found and eliminated more guards before reaching the center of the complex.

There stood the historian, in the open. No attempt to hide or protect him, beyond the scattered clusters of guards they'd passed on the way in. He was short for a nocturnal, black in color, but his trunk was thick with memory nodes along the top.

The soldiers, Skililk included, wasted no time peppering the historian with laser blasts, quickly exposing and detonating its battery. Special attention was paid to the memory nodes, ensuring nothing could be salvaged.

"That's it." Skillik said. "Now we go. It looks like we've many hours before the sun sets. I doubt we'll have to worry about pursuit. We'll nearly reach home before we power down and Krakta will build us a makeshift shelter to protect us from predators."

The team moved out in good order, exiting through the shattered southern gate and out into the wilderness.

As the sun set, the team turned on their light-emitters, allowing them to see well enough in the dim light. Krakta got to work fashioning blocks out of the raw earth, beginning to build the shelter that would hopefully protect them from wild animals while they slept. With any luck their efforts to obscure their tracks would throw off any pursuit by the nocturnals.

"Sir," Said Skrit, one of the soldiers. "Are you seeing this? I'm sensing a wounded animal nearby, sixty meters to the east."

"I see it." Skilik said. "You and I will check it out. Make sure there are no predators operating in the twilight hours."

Approaching the creature, it was immediately clear that it had been terribly wounded, but there were no further signs of predation. It was as if an animal had killed the creature, then decided not to eat it.

"Wait a minute." Skillik said. "Where's its exoskeleton? Did something skin it, then leave it uneaten?"

"It's strange." Said Skrit. "It doesn't seem to have had an exoskeleton at all."

"That's impossible." Skilik said. "How would it stand?"

"Look at the limbs. These two are legs, surely, but these other two seem to be arms."

"Again, how could it stand?"

"I can't imagine. Wait, let me check something."

Skrit approached the unconscious creature, waving his antennae over it before touching it directly.

"Amazing." Skrit said. "I'm sensing strong calcium deposits all along the creature's length. I think…its skeleton is on the inside."

"What? That can't be possible!"

"It's what I'm sensing."

"I've never heard of such a thing. Creatures in the ocean have an endoskeleton, but I've never heard of a land creature with one."

"It is remarkable. Should we take it with us? I'm sure the physicians will want to examine it."

"Seal its wounds. We'll let Krakta carry it. She has the strength."

Skrit got to work, sealing the wounds on the creature with his saliva before the two soldiers lifted it up and carried it back to the camp.